:00:08. > :00:12.If we told you five years ago that inflation would hit a 19-year high,
:00:12. > :00:15.the Bank of England would respond by printing still more money, all
:00:15. > :00:21.to the cheers of a Conservative Chancellor, you would either say we
:00:21. > :00:28.had gone mad or the world had. But that's where we are. The Government
:00:28. > :00:31.doesn't care about you if you have saved or done the right thing. It
:00:31. > :00:35.has, when push comes to shove, it will take the money away from you,
:00:35. > :00:40.and give it to other people who they decide needs it more. The man
:00:40. > :00:45.from the Treasury is here to defend himself. In the tented city in the
:00:45. > :00:49.heart of the City, the talk is of a long drawn-out occupation.
:00:49. > :00:53.Camping on concrete is the new form of global protest. What do these
:00:53. > :00:59.protestors want? The fame Micker, Michael Moore,
:00:59. > :01:02.joins us from New York, to - film maker, Michael Moore, joins us from
:01:02. > :01:07.New York to tell us what Occupy Wall Street is all about.
:01:07. > :01:11.Gus O'Donnell, stands in judgment on Liam Fox and finds him wanting.
:01:12. > :01:19.The Israelis swap 1,000 prisoners for a single one of their soldiers.
:01:19. > :01:23.What does the arithmetic tell us? After a slap-up dinner, the Booker
:01:23. > :01:33.Prize is announced. Julian Barnes for The Sense Of An Ending. We will
:01:33. > :01:33.
:01:33. > :01:37.be talking to Julian Barnes. Any money you have, any debts you
:01:37. > :01:42.have are worth quite a bit less than they were a year ago. The
:01:42. > :01:47.latest inflation figures show it is running at 5.2%, way ahead of the
:01:47. > :01:53.rate at which wages are rising. As a result? Misery. The Bank of
:01:53. > :01:58.England's job, by the way, is still formally to keep inflation at 2%.
:01:58. > :02:03.Our economics editor, Paul Mason, is here. These are pretty bad
:02:03. > :02:06.figures? 5.2% CPI inflation is the highest for 20 years. We will see
:02:06. > :02:10.in main the detailed impact it is having on real people's life. For
:02:10. > :02:15.now, let's just consider the political problems it creates. They
:02:15. > :02:21.are two fold, first of all, it is helping, this level of inflation is
:02:21. > :02:24.helping to push the recovery off track. Mervyn King, the governor of
:02:24. > :02:27.the Bank of England, admitted today in a speech that it is off track.
:02:27. > :02:31.It is taking spending power out of the economy, at a rate, which I
:02:31. > :02:36.don't think the Government or George Osborne, understood would
:02:36. > :02:39.happen when they set out a year ago on the austerity plan. Problem
:02:39. > :02:43.number one, it is hampering the recovery. Problem number two,
:02:43. > :02:48.closer to home for the politicians, is it is hitting the middle-classes.
:02:48. > :02:53.If you consider 5.2% CPI means pensions and benefit also go up
:02:53. > :02:58.next year by 5.2%, wages are rising at about 2%, for those in
:02:58. > :03:02.employment. Transport costs, 12%, energy costs 18%. Now Mervyn King
:03:02. > :03:07.says, in the long-term, it will probably fall back, and our real
:03:08. > :03:13.worry is we get a collapse in the economy, not a rip roaring
:03:13. > :03:19.inflationary problem. But whoever invented the term "squeezed middle",
:03:19. > :03:23.it is skweegs the middle. We have been - squeezing the middle. We
:03:23. > :03:26.have been looking at where the inflation is coming from and who is
:03:26. > :03:31.affected most. Included in the basket of goods
:03:31. > :03:38.used to measure CPI inflation, is daily cup of frothy coffee. Even
:03:38. > :03:42.though the cost of our skinny mugochino is going up, we are
:03:42. > :03:48.trying to stay calm and hang on to our little treats. Coffee is not
:03:48. > :03:51.the only thing going up. Energy prices have risen 18.3%, after the
:03:51. > :03:54.big three raised gas and electricity prices three times this
:03:54. > :03:58.year. Anyone commuting to work on anything other than two legs will
:03:58. > :04:03.have noticed the rising cost of doing so. Transport is up nearly
:04:03. > :04:08.13%. Supermarket shoppers will tell you that the bill at the till is up,
:04:08. > :04:11.6% according to the ONS. While all these things have been going up,
:04:11. > :04:16.average earnings haven't kept pace, they are up by only 1.8% over the
:04:16. > :04:20.past year. I think there is a real issue about
:04:20. > :04:23.the fact that real disposable incomes are being reduced, first
:04:23. > :04:28.because of tax increases and then because of the price increases we
:04:28. > :04:31.are seeing now. Which means the take-home pay is considerably
:04:31. > :04:34.reduced. What can people do about it? They will not spend as much.
:04:34. > :04:38.They could dip into savings and carry on spending, they are all
:04:38. > :04:41.worried about the debt and they are trying to repay debt, as we know,
:04:42. > :04:46.over the last couple of years. Of course, if they are not going to go
:04:46. > :04:49.out and spend, and instead they save. There is a serious issue
:04:49. > :04:54.about what happens in terms of the impact on the retail sector and
:04:54. > :04:58.loads of other sectors relying on the consumer going out and spending.
:04:58. > :05:02.There is a school of thought that high inflation is tolerated by
:05:02. > :05:06.policy makers like central banks and Governments, because it is the
:05:06. > :05:10.only way of distributing debt reduction evenly throughout the
:05:10. > :05:15.economy, without the political pain of raising taxes or cutting
:05:16. > :05:20.spending. So now that we have high inflation, who the real winners are
:05:20. > :05:24.and losers? The main winners are those who owe
:05:24. > :05:27.money. Inflation erodes away debt. So mortgage holders and big debtors
:05:27. > :05:31.benefit, especially if interest rates are at a record low. And
:05:31. > :05:36.because the Government has a massive debt mountain, it gains too.
:05:36. > :05:41.Of the losers, today's RPI inflation, as opposed to CPI, came
:05:41. > :05:45.in at 5.6%, that means retailers will have to pay 5.6% higher
:05:45. > :05:48.business rates from next year. But the biggest losers from high
:05:48. > :05:53.inflation, will doubtless be savers and pensioners. Although the state
:05:53. > :05:56.pension will rise a bit faster next year, their savings, usually a
:05:56. > :06:00.bigger sum, will be eroded away by the same amount. Ironically, as
:06:00. > :06:04.well as being a winner, the Government is also a looser, as it
:06:04. > :06:10.has - loser, as it has to pay the higher benefits. I would advise the
:06:10. > :06:13.current Government not to ignore the needs of pensioners. And to
:06:13. > :06:18.take their suffering seriously. Older people, older generations,
:06:19. > :06:23.not just those already retired, but now increasingly those coming up
:06:23. > :06:27.for retirement, are in deep trouble. And through no fault of their own.
:06:27. > :06:31.Most of them have saved, tried to look after themselves, have been
:06:31. > :06:37.prudent, and everyone else is seeing that what's happened is,
:06:37. > :06:41.despite the fact that they have done all that, they are not doing
:06:41. > :06:45.well. The message seems to be, the Government doesn't care about you
:06:45. > :06:49.if you save, the Government doesn't care about you if you have done the
:06:49. > :06:53.right thing. But is today's high inflation figure as bad as the
:06:53. > :06:58.headline numbers suggest? If you look at the official measure of
:06:58. > :07:02.inflation. CPI - If you look at the official
:07:02. > :07:06.measure of inflation, CPI, it is up and twice its target since the
:07:06. > :07:10.start of the year. If you strip out indirect taxes such as the rise in
:07:10. > :07:14.VAT and excise duties, the resulting inflation rate, known by
:07:14. > :07:17.the boffins as CPIY, has been much closer to the target 2% over the
:07:17. > :07:21.past two years. And the rate at which average wages have been
:07:21. > :07:27.rising is also much lower than the headline CPI rate. When inflation
:07:27. > :07:32.is largely imported, it is much more volatile and much less easy to
:07:32. > :07:36.predict, than when it is dependant on domestic factors. When it is
:07:36. > :07:40.domestic wages you can make a pretty good guess at inflation and
:07:41. > :07:43.how high it will be. With commodity prices they go all over the place.
:07:43. > :07:48.In these circumstances anyone who thinks they are certain about what
:07:48. > :07:53.is going to happen is probably telling you a lie. There is a not
:07:53. > :07:57.so cheery economic barometer, called the "misery index", linking
:07:57. > :08:02.inflation with unemployment. It says for every 1% rise in
:08:02. > :08:05.unemployment, it equals a 1.7% rise in inflation. It basically says
:08:05. > :08:13.people tolerate inflation a lot better than unemployment. The
:08:13. > :08:16.problem is, they are both going up. As inflation - has inflation peaked
:08:16. > :08:21.for now? Probably. That is what most economists think. The economy
:08:21. > :08:25.may have to chug along for a bit longer in these straitened times,
:08:25. > :08:31.until the wind blows in our favour. Here now to discuss today's figures
:08:31. > :08:36.are the Treasury minister, David Gauke, and The Shadow Line dough
:08:36. > :08:40.chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Reeves. Are you going to sit
:08:40. > :08:44.there and say there is nothing the Government can do about it?
:08:44. > :08:48.recognise inflation is high and having an effect on people's living
:08:48. > :08:53.standards, that is why we have reduced fuel duty, and petrol is 6p
:08:53. > :08:55.a litre cheaper than it was. It is why we are freezing the council tax
:08:55. > :09:01.and increased the personal allowance ahead of inflation. It is
:09:01. > :09:04.a difficult time. We don't deny that. We have limited room for
:09:04. > :09:07.manoeuvre because of the state of the public finances. You have done
:09:07. > :09:12.what you can, and you have failed to get it very good? It is a
:09:12. > :09:15.difficult time. We accept that, but the fact is, we have public
:09:15. > :09:19.finances in a mess, we have inherited that, we are trying to
:09:19. > :09:23.get our way out of that. We don't have a lot of money to throw at the
:09:23. > :09:26.problem. If it is true, as everybody says, that much of the
:09:26. > :09:31.driver of this is higher energy costs and higher food costs, there
:09:31. > :09:35.isn't really that much they can do about it? Well, we have now the
:09:35. > :09:40.highest inflation rate in Europe, apart from Estonia, so there are
:09:40. > :09:44.particular things going on here in Britain, it is not just imported
:09:44. > :09:47.inflation from overseas. It is little relief for pensioners and
:09:47. > :09:50.families right now to think that inflation may come down in the
:09:50. > :09:54.future, when they are struggling right now with rising food prices
:09:54. > :09:57.and energy bills. There are things that the Government can do, for
:09:57. > :10:02.example, Mervyn King has said, that the main drivers of inflation,
:10:02. > :10:07.right now, are the VAT increases and the increases in energy prices.
:10:07. > :10:11.Labour have suggested a reduction temporarily in VAT to help families
:10:11. > :10:14.and pensioners, �450 extra for an average family. If Mervyn King says
:10:14. > :10:19.he expects the rate of inflation drops next year, what is the point
:10:19. > :10:23.of a temporary cut in VAT now? know thainflaigs has overshot both
:10:23. > :10:26.the Bank of England's - that inflation has overshot both the
:10:26. > :10:29.economists and Bank of England's forecasts over the last few months.
:10:29. > :10:33.But if you cut it it is immediate money into people's pockets. There
:10:33. > :10:38.are many people and pensioners struggling to make ends meet, and a
:10:38. > :10:40.cut in VAT will make a big difference. You have a feeling a
:10:40. > :10:46.different analysis, - uch a different analysis to the Bank of
:10:46. > :10:51.England, you don't think inflation will drop next year? I hope it will,
:10:51. > :10:57.but for families suffering now. disagree with Mervyn King? No, I'm
:10:57. > :11:02.saying for families right now struggling with rising prices and
:11:02. > :11:07.many of us turning our heating on this week, energy prices going up,
:11:07. > :11:12.and pensioners feeling the squeeze as the winter nights draw in. A
:11:12. > :11:17.temporary relief and a cut in VAT can do that. You expect a drop in
:11:17. > :11:22.inflation next year? That is what the Bank of England predicts and
:11:22. > :11:27.most commentators, the IOF and the FOCD, they think so. What is the
:11:28. > :11:30.guess in the Treasury l it drop next year or not? The position the
:11:30. > :11:35.independent office of budget responsibility has taken, is
:11:35. > :11:38.broadly in line with the Bank of England. So, yes, there is an
:11:38. > :11:42.expectation that inflation will drop next year. On the specific
:11:42. > :11:45.point of benefits, linked to the rate of inflation in this set of
:11:45. > :11:49.figures, that would mean if inflation drops next year that
:11:49. > :11:55.those on benefits will get some sort of gain from the fact that it
:11:55. > :11:59.is pegged to this number. There is talk of you trying to peg it to
:11:59. > :12:03.some other date maybe in the new year or some sort of average, are
:12:03. > :12:07.you going to do that? The September number, which is what we have today,
:12:07. > :12:10.is the number which is used. will stick to that? That is the
:12:10. > :12:15.policy. You are sticking to it? That is the policy, it remains the
:12:15. > :12:20.policy. You will stick to it? the policy, and that's where it is.
:12:20. > :12:25.Do you think it is fair to working people? Well, I think it is a
:12:25. > :12:32.difficult time all round. We don't deny that. That wasn't my question,
:12:32. > :12:36.is it fair? I think we don't want to, we heard in the report talk
:12:36. > :12:40.about the impact of pensions. Pensions are hit by inflation, we
:12:40. > :12:46.don't want that to happen. We need to look in the surround. We don't
:12:46. > :12:54.want to try to get the deficit down on the backs of the poorests.
:12:54. > :12:57.is going to happen. You have told us twice, it is the the policy. The
:12:57. > :13:01.benefits will go up at the time that inflation goes down? Let's see
:13:01. > :13:09.when we are nearer the time as far as where inflation is going to be.
:13:09. > :13:12.We do want to protect pensioners who have seen inflation go up.
:13:12. > :13:15.you think that is fair to working people? Let's have a look at the
:13:15. > :13:20.circumstances at the time. You can have a view on whether it is fair
:13:20. > :13:23.or not, without waiting for the circumstances at the time?
:13:23. > :13:26.depend what happens with various trends as far as inflation is
:13:26. > :13:30.concerned. The important thing is that we have, and I just want to
:13:30. > :13:35.come back to something that Rachel was saying, the idea that we can
:13:35. > :13:39.just cut VAT and that would be just a win-win, we have to bear in mind,
:13:39. > :13:43.if we lack credibility in our fiscal plans, what you would see is
:13:43. > :13:48.interest rates going up. We have one of the lowest interest rates in
:13:48. > :13:52.Europe. As a consequence, that has a squeeze on mortgage s. What you
:13:52. > :13:56.see at the moment is the Government borrowing �46 billion more over
:13:56. > :14:00.this Parliament, because the cuts that we are seeing are resulting in
:14:00. > :14:06.higher unemployment and lower growth. The Institute of Fiscal
:14:06. > :14:11.Studies have said today that the increase in inflation will mean
:14:11. > :14:14.�1.8 billion extra this year on benefits payouts. It is clear the
:14:14. > :14:21.Government's policy isn't working at the moment in bringing down the
:14:21. > :14:24.budget deficit. There is a slowdown in every country you look at. The
:14:24. > :14:28.Americans had a fiscal stimulus and a lot of money thrown at it, their
:14:28. > :14:33.growth is lower than our's. There is a slowdown across the world,
:14:33. > :14:37.there is a crisis in the eurozone, that is damaging confidence
:14:37. > :14:41.everywhere. In the past nine months the British economy hasn't grown at
:14:41. > :14:45.all. The only economy to have grown more slowly is Japan, hit by an
:14:45. > :14:48.earthquake. The only countries in the economy growing less slowly are
:14:48. > :14:51.Greece and Portugal. There is something about the economic policy
:14:51. > :14:54.being pursued here that is hitting growth and jobs and pushing up
:14:54. > :14:58.inflation at the same time? We can play the game of choosing a
:14:58. > :15:04.particular period, and if one looks over six months the answers are
:15:04. > :15:09.different. The fact is, there is a slowdown across the eurozone, in
:15:09. > :15:11.the UK and the US. And the Government's policy hasn't changed
:15:11. > :15:14.at all to changing global circumstances.
:15:14. > :15:17.Many of the drones pouring in and out of the City of London this
:15:17. > :15:21.morning and evening had to survive the scorn of protesters, camped out
:15:21. > :15:27.in front of St Paul's. They are part of a movement, it would be
:15:27. > :15:32.wrong to call it an organisation, which began with the campaign to
:15:32. > :15:35.occupy Wall Street in New York, it has spread to other cities, where
:15:35. > :15:39.citizens have found their lives poorer by the greed of bankers and
:15:39. > :15:45.their friends. What, apart from venting anger, are they trying to
:15:45. > :15:52.It did not start with Wall Street. All this year protestors have been
:15:52. > :15:57.occupying squares, in Cairo, in Athens, and in Spain. The whole
:15:57. > :16:01.world is watching! But the Wall Street occupation, and the
:16:01. > :16:08.associated protests, have now given birth to a worldwide movement. The
:16:08. > :16:15.protestors claim to be the 9%, as opposed to the 1% who - 99%, as
:16:15. > :16:20.opposed to the 1%, who they say own most of America's wealth.
:16:20. > :16:25.It is this that struck a chord with the environmental groups, the trade
:16:25. > :16:29.unions have backed it and politicians noticed it.
:16:29. > :16:34.protestors are giving voice to a more broad based frustration about
:16:34. > :16:38.how our financial system works. In London, since Saturday,
:16:38. > :16:46.protestors have been camped outside St Paul's Cathedral. They include
:16:46. > :16:50.students, environmentalists, the guy fauks masks warn by the Hacker
:16:50. > :16:54.Group, anonymous. The days are filled with meetings and
:16:54. > :16:58.discussions, the aspirations, huge. Why are they here? Because they
:16:58. > :17:03.feel powerless, politicians are ignoring their demand, people here
:17:03. > :17:08.no know the cuts aren't necessary, they know the banks gambled and
:17:08. > :17:11.lost in �850 billion pumped into the banks, it is unfair for us, the
:17:11. > :17:17.general population to be paying that money back by losing our
:17:17. > :17:21.services, our jobs, by losing our welfare benefits. People here know
:17:21. > :17:25.it is wrong. What is new about the movement here and across the world,
:17:25. > :17:28.is its intention lack of connection with mainstream politics. Faced
:17:28. > :17:32.with this global occupation movement, what the mainstream media
:17:32. > :17:36.and politicians tend to ask is what do they want from us? For many
:17:36. > :17:40.people here, that is the wrong question, many of the protestors
:17:40. > :17:44.think they are here to create something completely alternative,
:17:44. > :17:49.and separate from the political processes they think have failed.
:17:49. > :17:52.There is a cry sifs political representation. People have seen -
:17:52. > :17:55.crisis of political representation. People have seen time and time
:17:55. > :17:59.again that their needs and interests are not being represented
:17:59. > :18:03.at the level of state. And to the contrary, the austerity measures
:18:03. > :18:06.being pushed through are harming them and taking away their
:18:06. > :18:10.livelihoods. Therefore, that is what the crisis of political
:18:10. > :18:14.representation is. They have seen the interests being offended and
:18:14. > :18:20.pursued at the level of state are those of a minority with access to
:18:20. > :18:25.wealth and power. If people want to show by silent clapping if they
:18:25. > :18:29.agree. To the uninitiated the methods look strange, and some
:18:29. > :18:33.worry the counter culture is too weird to involve the majority of
:18:33. > :18:36.problem. The other thing is, as the nights get cold, how long do you
:18:36. > :18:40.stay and how do you know you have won. Joining us now from New York,
:18:40. > :18:46.the film maker and author, Michael Moore. Michael Moore, how
:18:46. > :18:49.significant do you think these protests are? I think they are
:18:49. > :18:54.quite significant. I think this is something that is certainly
:18:54. > :18:57.spreading all over the United States. There are new occupy
:18:57. > :19:01.movements beginning in towns and cities every day. Now it has spread
:19:01. > :19:04.across the world. It has really touched a nerve. What your
:19:04. > :19:11.correspondent said about, that it may seem weird, because you have a
:19:11. > :19:16.lot of young people there, in the park. It is only weird in the sense
:19:16. > :19:22.that all movements for justice begin with people who are not, who
:19:22. > :19:25.are willing to be out there on the edge a bit. Somebody in the
:19:25. > :19:28.feminist movement burned their first bra and that shocked
:19:28. > :19:33.everybody, and everybody thought that was weird and crazy, then we
:19:33. > :19:40.had a feminist movement, and things got a bit better. That's how things
:19:40. > :19:42.go. When women wanted the right to vote, 100 or so years ago, talk
:19:42. > :19:46.about being weird. They were completely ostracised, everybody
:19:46. > :19:52.who starts a movement is talked about in this way, this is how they
:19:52. > :19:58.are being talked about now. It is much, much larger. In the campaign
:19:58. > :20:02.for woman's sufferage, the methods and tactics, the objective was to
:20:02. > :20:05.get votes for women. It is unclear, in this case what the objective is,
:20:05. > :20:13.what it would take to get the campaign called off. Do you
:20:13. > :20:16.understand what it is for? Yes, I do. It is, there are a whole bunch
:20:16. > :20:22.of reasons that lead back to the greed of an economic system that is
:20:22. > :20:25.built around n this case, in our country, around Wall Street. People
:20:25. > :20:30.are fed up. We have 50 million people in the United States that
:20:30. > :20:36.have no health care. 50 million. We have millions who have lost their
:20:36. > :20:45.homes, due to foreclosure. We have 46.2 million living in poverty.
:20:45. > :20:49.That is at least 13-18 million kids every night going to bed
:20:49. > :20:52.malnourished. People, millions of people have been abused by the
:20:53. > :20:57.system and they have had it. I think it is enough. Remember, we
:20:57. > :21:01.are in the first 32 days of this movement. It is enough that people
:21:01. > :21:04.have just gotten up off the sofa and gotten involved. It is enough
:21:04. > :21:08.that people have pushed through their despair to say, you know what,
:21:08. > :21:12.I'm not going to sit by and do nothing. First you have to get up
:21:12. > :21:17.and move. That is what people have done, we are in the first phase now.
:21:17. > :21:23.This will grow into something with various political demands to up end
:21:23. > :21:28.this system that has caused so much pain for so many people. You say up
:21:28. > :21:31.end this system, is the objective to reform capitalism or end it?
:21:31. > :21:36.depends on who you ask. As far as I'm concerned it needs to be ended.
:21:36. > :21:40.It is an evil, evil system. I'm talking about 21st century
:21:40. > :21:44.capitalism. I don't want a lecture about what Adam Smith intended or
:21:45. > :21:50.whatever. I'm talking about a system now that is set up so that
:21:50. > :21:55.the richest 1% get 40% of the pie. A system where the richest 400
:21:55. > :22:02.Americans have more wealth than 150 Americans combined. What do you
:22:02. > :22:06.want to replace it with? Well, it is not about replacing it with
:22:06. > :22:10.something, or going back. Here is what is confuse, especially some
:22:10. > :22:16.people in the media, - confusing, especially some people in the media,
:22:16. > :22:20.they are thinking why aren't they joining in the political system
:22:20. > :22:23.that has always been done? But it hasn't worked. They are not
:22:24. > :22:28.interested in pass ago bill in the Senate or a Congressman saying the
:22:28. > :22:31.right things to them. You have told us this will end up with political
:22:31. > :22:38.change. How will you get political change if not by political action?
:22:38. > :22:41.We will have to see what happens, right. You are watching the birth
:22:41. > :22:44.of a massive worldwide movement against the banks, against Wall
:22:44. > :22:51.Street, against the City. People literally have had it, they will
:22:51. > :22:54.not take it any more. And things are going to happen. We just don't
:22:54. > :22:57.know it now because we are really in the actual birth of this
:22:57. > :23:01.movement. So, what do you imagine will
:23:01. > :23:07.replace capitalism at the end of all this, if the movement is
:23:07. > :23:12.successful? I think what people would like is a democratic economic
:23:12. > :23:16.system. If we say we live in democracies, we should have
:23:16. > :23:20.economic systems where the people have a say in how they are set up
:23:20. > :23:24.and run. The pay should be divided fairly amongst the citizens, and
:23:24. > :23:28.those who have more are taxed more, so that they have to pull what is
:23:28. > :23:33.their fair share of the weight. That is ultimately what people
:23:33. > :23:36.would hope. You know, when I was a kid, people really weren't mad at
:23:37. > :23:41.rich people, because the rich people built the factories and it
:23:41. > :23:46.was kind of like, OK, they gave my dad a job, now we get to have a
:23:47. > :23:52.house and car, and the kids get to go to college. That is all gone now.
:23:53. > :23:57.There was never really enough for the rich, they had to keep, they
:23:57. > :24:01.wanted more and more. Enough is the dirtiest word in capitalism. We
:24:01. > :24:06.need an economic system that is fair, just and democratic, that is
:24:06. > :24:10.not what capitalism is now. I'm afraid this isn't just me saying
:24:10. > :24:13.this, the people have had it. They want something new, and maybe
:24:13. > :24:17.something new will have to be invented out of this.
:24:17. > :24:27.What would it take to persuade you that it was not necessary to have
:24:27. > :24:29.
:24:29. > :24:34.this campaign any longer? You mean what would need to happen to stop
:24:34. > :24:38.me occupying Wall Street? Yes. of a number of things. A fair tax
:24:39. > :24:42.rate so that the rich pay their fair taxes. Bring back the controls
:24:42. > :24:47.and regulations on Wall Street, so they won't be able to do what they
:24:47. > :24:54.did in 2008 and before that again. There is a whole bunch of specifics
:24:54. > :24:58.that I would be happy to see happen. But ultimately, I don't think that,
:24:58. > :25:03.we have a political system where essentially now our candidates can
:25:03. > :25:08.legally be bought by billionares, money has to be completely removed
:25:08. > :25:11.from our political system. There is a declaration, if you go on-line to
:25:11. > :25:15.the Occupy Wall Street, there is a declaration that the general
:25:15. > :25:18.assembly voted on down there. You can see 19 or 20 different points
:25:18. > :25:22.that people are concerned about. It is not that people haven't
:25:22. > :25:26.expressed these concerns. It is just that it is not like the old
:25:26. > :25:30.way, where it is let's get somebody elected President, let's get that
:25:30. > :25:34.bill passed in Congress. We are way beyond that now. We are not into
:25:35. > :25:41.fixing or reforming or tweaking. This is simply has to end. The way
:25:41. > :25:46.of doing business, as we know t has to come to an end.
:25:46. > :25:48.It is only nine and a bit pages long what it lacks in length it
:25:49. > :25:55.makes up for in strength. The Cabinet Secretary's report into the
:25:55. > :25:59.relationship which led to fox folk fox's ris nation last Friday, as
:25:59. > :26:02.Defence Secretary, is pret - Liam Fox's resignation last Friday as
:26:02. > :26:07.Defence Secretary is pretty straight forward. He was told of
:26:07. > :26:12.the risks to the relationship and he chose to ignore the warning. We
:26:12. > :26:17.watched the birth of today's report. Waiting for the judgment of God, in
:26:17. > :26:25.Whitehall, God denotes the initials of Gus O'Donnell, the head of the
:26:25. > :26:29.Civil Service. As close to an ominousent being as any mere mortal
:26:29. > :26:34.could be. It is him sitting on in wise consideration of the since of
:26:34. > :26:40.Liam Fox. He took his time, and some began to doubt his existence,
:26:40. > :26:45.some wondered if Oliver Letwin had put the report in bin. When it
:26:45. > :26:52.finally came it was not handed down on tablets of stone but it is clear
:26:52. > :26:57.cut. This report by Gus O'Donnell is so cit calf Liam Fox, - cil
:26:57. > :27:03.critical of Liam Fox, if he had not resigned when he did he would have
:27:03. > :27:10.to know. We knew plenty about the case. Liam Fox's former flatmate,
:27:10. > :27:14.Adam Werritty, met him on 22 occasions in the MoD building and
:27:14. > :27:18.17 overseas. Sometimes the President of Sri Lanka was present
:27:18. > :27:24.and others. Adam Werritty was funded by rich donors keen to voice
:27:24. > :27:28.their policy concerns. At least one donor, Jon Moulton, suggested that
:27:28. > :27:32.Liam Fox himself solicited these donations. When Dr Liam Fox
:27:32. > :27:37.resigned last Friday, it was because he knew today's report was
:27:37. > :27:42.critical of his conduct. The report concludes that security had been
:27:42. > :27:47.compromised. Not national security, but the disclosure outside MoD of
:27:47. > :27:52.diary details about future visits overseas posed a degree of security
:27:52. > :27:56.risk, not only to Dr Fox, but also the accompanying official party.
:27:56. > :27:59.Sir Gus goes on to condemn Liam Fox's frequent meetings with
:27:59. > :28:04.foreign dignitaries and contacts with Werritty present and no civil
:28:04. > :28:08.servant. This, says Sir Gus, should not have been allowed to happen.
:28:08. > :28:12.The report concludes that the contact damaged the proper conduct
:28:12. > :28:17.of Government business. Dr Fox's close and visible association with
:28:17. > :28:20.Mr Werritty in the UK and overseas, he says, and the latter's use of
:28:20. > :28:24.misleading business cards, has fuelled a general impression that
:28:24. > :28:28.Mr Werritty spoke on behalf of the UK Government. The risks of Dr
:28:28. > :28:33.Fox's association with Mr Werritty were raised with Dr Fox by both his
:28:33. > :28:37.private office and the permanent secretary. Dr Fox took action in
:28:37. > :28:42.respect to the business cards, but clearly made a judgment that his
:28:42. > :28:48.contact with Mr Werritty should continue. It is obviously a serious
:28:48. > :28:57.situation where a minister of his experience did breach the
:28:57. > :29:03.Ministerial Code. And also, put the security of other ministers and
:29:03. > :29:07.officials at possible risk, because Adam Werritty had access to his
:29:07. > :29:10.diary. We have had the official report, the minister has already
:29:10. > :29:17.resigned, surely an end to the matter? Possibly not. For a start,
:29:17. > :29:23.this afternoon the speaker, the Commons Speaker gave a powerful
:29:23. > :29:28.hint he's minded to go with Labour's question of an urgent
:29:28. > :29:32.matter request tomorrow. Labour suggesting this goes beyond
:29:32. > :29:36.one minister and one so-called advisor? David Cameron said last
:29:36. > :29:41.week he would answer all unanswered questions, clearly it hasn't. In
:29:41. > :29:47.terms of the relationships that Mr Werritty and Dr Fox had with
:29:47. > :29:51.funders, and also organisations such as Atlantic scam bridge, which
:29:51. > :29:53.also involved at - Atlantic Bridge, which involved at least four
:29:53. > :29:57.serving ministers. Tomorrow there will be a Government statement on
:29:57. > :30:01.the report in the Commons. It won't be the Prime Minister making it.
:30:01. > :30:05.But the leader of the Commons, Sir Tony Young. There are questions
:30:05. > :30:10.about other ministers, and whether this network of contacts around
:30:10. > :30:13.this organisation, Atlantic Bridge, raises any more questions about
:30:13. > :30:16.undue influence on ministers. Are you clear in your mind that there
:30:16. > :30:20.hasn't been that? One of the recommendations in the report is
:30:20. > :30:26.the moment you become a minister, in addition to declaring that your
:30:26. > :30:30.financial interests, you should declare the sort of friendships and
:30:31. > :30:34.acquaintances mentioned in the report. Anyone with an interest in
:30:34. > :30:37.policy and contacts revealed to the permanent secretary. If we
:30:37. > :30:40.implement that recommendation, and the Prime Minister has said he's
:30:40. > :30:43.minded to, that will address the particular issue you have just
:30:43. > :30:49.talked about. On a question of process, is it right you will be
:30:49. > :30:52.talking about this tomorrow in the Commons, if there is an urgent
:30:52. > :30:56.question? The Prime Minister has asked me to make a statement giving
:30:56. > :30:59.their response to this particular report. As leader of the House I
:30:59. > :31:09.have a broad range of responsibility, the Prime Minister
:31:09. > :31:16.has asked me to discharge this one. This is putting your broad range of
:31:16. > :31:21.responsibility at its broadest? Liam Fox dismissed two of the
:31:21. > :31:27.serious allegations against him, that he made money, or jeopardised
:31:27. > :31:33.national security in his relationship with Werritty. God is
:31:33. > :31:35.expecting to be receive with heads slightly bowed, but many don't
:31:35. > :31:39.believe this is the end of the matter.
:31:39. > :31:44.My guests are with me now. This is damming report, and yet
:31:44. > :31:49.last week you were all defending Liam Fox? He resigned, because he
:31:49. > :31:53.knew he had broken the Ministerial Code. You were defending him up to
:31:53. > :31:58.that point I don't think people were defending him to that point.
:31:58. > :32:01.What people were saying about Liam Fox was that he had done a very
:32:01. > :32:04.good job as the Defence Secretary. He had clearly made very serious
:32:04. > :32:09.errors of judgment, and then the next question to be asked, which is
:32:09. > :32:15.what the report was all about, was had he broken the Ministerial Code.
:32:15. > :32:18.He knew he obviously had, he paid the ultimate price for making
:32:18. > :32:20.serious errors of judgment. No financial impriority, no threat to
:32:20. > :32:24.national security, that is important as well. This isn't an
:32:24. > :32:27.end to the matter as far as you and your colleagues seem to think?
:32:27. > :32:33.report would have been unsurviveable if Liam Fox was still
:32:33. > :32:39.in a job. He jumped before he was pushed. He acted honourably?
:32:39. > :32:44.doesn't touch pont issue of money or the issue - touch upon the issue
:32:44. > :32:49.of money, and which other people met Dr Fox. Two members of the
:32:49. > :32:53.Government, two defence ministers met Mr Werritty. We can understand
:32:53. > :32:59.why Liam Fox let Mr Werritty, because he's his flatmate and best
:32:59. > :33:04.man. What bu what are other ministers doing meeting a shadowy
:33:04. > :33:08.figure, it is perplexing. What do you think? I don't think it is
:33:08. > :33:11.finished. Were I advising the Prime Minister, I would say you need
:33:11. > :33:14.further processes here. Perhaps Gus O'Donnell should be asked to
:33:14. > :33:18.broaden his inquiry with a different remit. Because there is
:33:18. > :33:22.the question of ministers, to which reference has already been made,
:33:22. > :33:25.and also there is this general question about access. One of the
:33:25. > :33:30.things which I believe is we ought to have a register of lobbyists.
:33:30. > :33:35.But, of course, Mr Werritty wasn't a lobbyist, and therefore would not
:33:35. > :33:39.have appeared on that register. We need a different system, which
:33:39. > :33:43.allows both transparency and scrutiny. The Liberal Democrats are
:33:43. > :33:48.calling for the extension of Gus O'Donnell's investigation? I am.
:33:48. > :33:51.You are a Lib Dem? You were leader once? You are not an insignificant
:33:51. > :33:58.voice, I would imagine? That is kind of you to say. But if I may
:33:58. > :34:02.coin a phrase, I'm not an advisor to the Prime Minister. It is not
:34:02. > :34:08.your formal policy? It was our policy in the general election.
:34:08. > :34:14.is in the coalition agreement that we will have this register of
:34:14. > :34:18.lobbyists. He make as good point. It is taking a long time to get to?
:34:18. > :34:21.The transparency last been put into place, ministers have to give
:34:21. > :34:26.details of their expenses and foreign trips, and meetings they
:34:26. > :34:30.have. All of these things, which was not introduced by the last
:34:30. > :34:35.Government. There is a transparency that has come into it. Mr Werritty
:34:35. > :34:39.was on no-one's books, not a lobbyist or registered in any way
:34:39. > :34:44.whatsoever. David Cameron said sunlight is the best deterpblgent.
:34:44. > :34:49.Let light shine on these issues to clear these things up. The public
:34:49. > :34:53.are being kept in the dark, this is a ten-page report, very superficial,
:34:53. > :34:57.we need to look wider at the issue of money and ministers. Who gave
:34:57. > :35:04.money to Mr Werritty and his networks, what did they get in
:35:04. > :35:08.return, we need that answer. language is typical economics Civil
:35:08. > :35:15.Service, but actually it is a very powerful report, it is not a
:35:15. > :35:19.superficial report. Everyone says it is very strong. If you don't
:35:19. > :35:22.mind, hang on. What does it tell us about the nature of this Government,
:35:22. > :35:26.and that it can find itself in this sort of mess. It reveals something,
:35:26. > :35:30.does it not, about the nature of coalitions? I don't think that's
:35:30. > :35:34.the case, they reveal something about the way in which Liam Fox
:35:34. > :35:40.fulfilled his responsibility. Nobody had the faintest idea of
:35:40. > :35:45.what was going on? I think they did. That is one of the points in the
:35:45. > :35:50.document, is there had been conversation, there had been
:35:50. > :35:56.concerns, and he had not taken advice. The Permanent Secretary in
:35:56. > :36:01.his department did. No-one did anything about it? Can I ask either
:36:01. > :36:05.of you. He did do something about it, he resigned, we keep for
:36:05. > :36:08.getting that. After the event. any other minister know about any
:36:08. > :36:13.of this. I don't know the answer to that. I think your question, to try,
:36:13. > :36:23.if I may say, to make political capital out of this, is really not
:36:23. > :36:23.
:36:23. > :36:27.acceptable. Let me just finish. an opposition politician, what do
:36:27. > :36:31.you expect? It is about the honourable point he makes. To ask
:36:31. > :36:35.about Werritty, you ask questions about him. But it is not the job of
:36:35. > :36:43.Gus O'Donnell and the Prime Minister and anybody else to ask
:36:43. > :36:45.the questions of someone who has no locus. You would rather a broader
:36:45. > :36:50.inquiry Not particularly. I genuinely believe. That everything
:36:50. > :36:54.that needs to be found out has been found out? The things he has done
:36:54. > :37:01.wrongly, in his position, as defence secretary, has been
:37:01. > :37:09.examined in that report. No impropriety and he has resigned.
:37:09. > :37:13.How can you do that, he's a private citizen. How do we know who else he
:37:13. > :37:17.has seen? He may have been a private figure but he's a public
:37:17. > :37:20.figure now. It is not a difficult question. The Prime Minister
:37:20. > :37:24.confused about how Government does these things. The Prime Minister
:37:24. > :37:28.should ask all of his ministers did you meet Mr Werritty and why. And
:37:28. > :37:32.publish that list tonight. Werritty is publishing his own list.
:37:32. > :37:34.That is the parliamentary protest, anybody ask questions of any
:37:34. > :37:38.minister. We will be back on this tomorrow.
:37:38. > :37:43.Extraordinary scenes in Israel and Gaza today as one Israeli corporal
:37:43. > :37:46.and many hundreds of Palestinian prisoners returned home. That one
:37:46. > :37:50.captured 19-year-old can generate such commotion, speaks volumes
:37:50. > :37:54.about Israel's attitude to its citizens, a massive military
:37:54. > :37:58.operation against Gaza failed to find him. The winners in all of
:37:58. > :38:03.this are obviously Mr Shalit, the many Palestinians released, Hamas
:38:03. > :38:11.and Egypt, which acted as broker in the deal. The losers, that slightly
:38:11. > :38:15.more complicated. The return of Gilad Shalit required
:38:15. > :38:21.a political journey. And for this young soldier, that odyssey took
:38:21. > :38:26.five years. Shrunken and pale from his ordeal,
:38:27. > :38:34.the young man fell at last into the arms of his father, who had
:38:34. > :38:38.campaigned, tirelessly for this day. Gaza, meanwhile, the first buses
:38:38. > :38:42.carrying freed prisoners were rolling in. Many heading for family
:38:42. > :38:48.reunions too. The city had turned out to celebrate, 200,000 at the
:38:48. > :38:54.main rally, and to give the men a hero's welcome. We thank God for
:38:54. > :38:58.this big party, and we thank the parties here, Hamas and all the
:38:58. > :39:02.other parties, for what they did and do. We feel very happy.
:39:02. > :39:08.But if the political benefits of this to Hamas and the Israelis were
:39:08. > :39:12.so apparent today, why the years of machinations, why so long.
:39:12. > :39:16.My involvement in this has been since the third day after the
:39:16. > :39:22.kidnapping, five-and-a-half years ago, almost when someone from Hamas
:39:22. > :39:25.called me and said, gerb shone is being bombed, the electricity is
:39:25. > :39:29.off and we have to do something. From that moment three days after
:39:29. > :39:34.the kidnapping in June 2006, I have been trying to bring people
:39:34. > :39:40.together behind channels to pass on messages. I believe this could have
:39:40. > :39:44.been done a long time ago. Serpblgt Shalit was seized nine months after
:39:44. > :39:52.his arm - Sergeant Shalit was seized nine months after his army
:39:52. > :40:00.unit had pulled out of Gaza. In the summer of 2007 Hamas took control
:40:00. > :40:04.of Gaza. There was encouragement across the world to boycott the
:40:04. > :40:09.Islamic movement. With Hamas taking over Gaza, it was harder for Israel
:40:09. > :40:17.to have intelligence there. Israel had no idea where Gilad Shalit was.
:40:17. > :40:22.Thomas Merton, as Prime Minister, he was so - Ehud Olmert, he was so
:40:22. > :40:26.concerned with the moves made in Gaza, he wasn't willing to go in
:40:26. > :40:30.for a long time and try to get him out militarily, or make a deal for
:40:30. > :40:37.him that would result in hundreds of terrorists being released.
:40:37. > :40:42.So were they trying to get him out? With political will lacking, little
:40:42. > :40:48.energy was put into finding them. Rather with rockets falling on
:40:48. > :40:50.Israel, Gaza was pounded, and indeed, invaded early in 200,
:40:50. > :40:54.making meaningful negotiation impossible. But the release of a
:40:54. > :41:01.video of Shalit, several months later, and campaigning by his
:41:02. > :41:07.father, started to change the political equation in Israel. 18
:41:07. > :41:11.months of negotiation and haggling ensued, so the question is, why
:41:11. > :41:17.now? Israeli negotiators say that Hamas, at last, was ready to reduce
:41:17. > :41:22.its demands, and that's what finally brought the two sides to
:41:22. > :41:26.agreement. On July 14th we worked out a document that talked about
:41:26. > :41:31.finality, the closing of the agreement, we talked about the
:41:31. > :41:35.principle that Israel would select from a list of 30, between 25 to 30
:41:35. > :41:39.of the most difficult names, something the Germans called the
:41:39. > :41:43.VIP category, and the Palestinians agreed most of them would be
:41:43. > :41:53.deported forever. By its choreographing of today's
:41:53. > :41:55.
:41:55. > :42:03.celebrations, Hamas has sought to derive maximum political wealth.
:42:03. > :42:07.TRANSLATION: I swear to you, that hiding Gilad Shalit inside Gaza is
:42:07. > :42:12.something we are proud of today. The Palestinian military mind has
:42:12. > :42:17.defeated the Israeli mind that is supported by all the Secret
:42:17. > :42:20.Services and intelligence apparatus and means.
:42:20. > :42:24.Inevitably there are many asking what next? Does the ability of
:42:24. > :42:28.Hamas and the Israelis to agree on this open the way for positive
:42:28. > :42:33.change? Or will it just prompt more hostage taking?
:42:33. > :42:38.As he travelled through Egypt this morning, Gilad Shalit expressed
:42:38. > :42:42.this hope? TRANSLATION: I hope this deal would help the conclusion of a
:42:42. > :42:50.peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
:42:50. > :42:54.I hope that co-operation links between the two sides will be
:42:54. > :42:58.consolidated. There may now be further steps to ease the Gaza
:42:58. > :43:02.blockade, perhaps creating a more normal life there, and in
:43:02. > :43:05.surrounding Israeli towns. Today's deal, could also improve the
:43:05. > :43:11.atmosphere for the resumption of some kind of peace talks.
:43:11. > :43:17.But as to a meaningful peace process, that's still a long way
:43:17. > :43:24.off. In the warriors he' reception given to the detainees today, there
:43:24. > :43:29.are the unmistakable signs of two people still locked into an
:43:29. > :43:34.intractable conflict. It is posh bingo, the phrase
:43:34. > :43:39.doesn't spring to mind, but Julian Barnes did it. The Booker Prize has
:43:39. > :43:44.come out, this time there is a row about whether it is infiltrated by
:43:44. > :43:51.books people might want to win. The winner gets �50,000 and a boost to
:43:51. > :43:56.sales. The six finalist, publishers, agents and hangers on, have been
:43:56. > :44:03.troughing at Guildhall tonight. Gavin is with him. Here in the
:44:03. > :44:07.Guildhall I'm joined by the 2012 winner of the Man Booker Prize,
:44:08. > :44:11.Julian Barnes. It has been a long time coming? This is the fourth
:44:11. > :44:15.time I have been shortlisted, I know the ins and outs of not
:44:15. > :44:20.winning it, now I know the winning of it. You once said this was posh
:44:20. > :44:25.bingo, I know the judges are now impecable, is it still true?
:44:25. > :44:33.point I was making is the book has a tendency to drive people it
:44:33. > :44:37.touches mad. Writers are more susceptible than others, it does
:44:37. > :44:41.drive judges and some publishers mad. The way to protect against
:44:41. > :44:45.this is treat it as posh bingo unless and until you win, then it
:44:45. > :44:49.is the decision of the wisest judges in the literary world. That
:44:49. > :44:55.is what I maintain at least for the next 24 hours. On that point, there
:44:55. > :45:00.has been a bit of a fuss this year about the question of readability
:45:01. > :45:03.and literary merit, as if they are sometimes mutually exclusive, which
:45:03. > :45:09.they aren't, what are your thoughts? It is a false argument
:45:09. > :45:15.and people are going mad on both sides. Jane Austen, what is she if
:45:15. > :45:24.not readable, Dickens incredibly, in the modern age, Graham Geem, pen
:45:24. > :45:29.Nell lop pee Fitzgerald. All good righters - PenelopeFitzgerald. All
:45:29. > :45:32.good writers are readable, or you go to fin begin's Wake and it is
:45:32. > :45:35.unreadable. This prize may drive people mad,
:45:35. > :45:39.but does it change you, given where you are in your career, you have
:45:39. > :45:44.this track record of amazing books in the past as well. Does it change
:45:44. > :45:51.you or is it not that important? won't change me in terms of what I
:45:51. > :45:54.write, or how I view the novel and the world. But I hope that it will
:45:54. > :45:59.bring new readers to me. There will be people who think they will have
:45:59. > :46:03.a go at that, and then if they like they will discover there are quite
:46:03. > :46:07.a few more books in the bookshop. That is what I hope for out of it.
:46:07. > :46:10.And of course, it is very nice to receive a large cheque from the Man
:46:11. > :46:15.Booker Prize. The book, The Sense Of An Ending,
:46:15. > :46:19.which I enjoyed immensely. I found it on many levels and will read it
:46:19. > :46:23.again, it is very short and very subtle. I wonder did you spend a
:46:23. > :46:27.long time on it or not. Is a short book a quick write or not? It was a
:46:27. > :46:34.clear, I don't know if you call that quick. Do you call it quick?
:46:34. > :46:38.It is funny, my previous shortlisting was for something that
:46:38. > :46:43.was 450-pages, I wrote that in 12 months. You could say this is a
:46:43. > :46:46.more leisurely 12 months. I think 12 months for 150-page book is
:46:46. > :46:51.about right. I tend to have a sense when I'm starting a book of how
:46:51. > :46:56.long it would take. When I started my first novel it took seven years
:46:56. > :47:04.to write. He I was bored with it by the time I finished it. As you
:47:04. > :47:07.learn how to write you get a sense of how much time you will be alive
:47:07. > :47:11.in your head with it. So I think I have got that, I have got that
:47:11. > :47:16.licked now. Just a final thought, again on the
:47:16. > :47:23.book. I find it whistful in places, and in one or two places - whistful
:47:23. > :47:28.in place and in one or two places laugh out loud? That is great, a
:47:28. > :47:35.start. Humour is part of your writing? Yes, and being funny is
:47:35. > :47:39.often a good way of being serious. Congratulations to Julian Barnes,
:47:39. > :47:43.the winner of the Man Booker Prize. Tomorrow morning's front pages, now
:47:43. > :47:49.the Financial Times, Mervyn King's speech saying the recovery has gone
:47:49. > :47:59.a bit off track. Also the lead in the Telegraph, above a picture of a
:47:59. > :48:11.
:48:11. > :48:19.gorgeous, alleged pouting Russian That's all from Newsnight tonight,
:48:20. > :48:28.at the end of a day in which the financial BMOF Goldman Sachs said
:48:28. > :48:33.instead of its usual guzzling, it declared a loss already. It was
:48:33. > :48:40.Rolling Stone magazine that described the firm as a great squid
:48:41. > :48:50.wrapped around the world. This is what the vampire squid does in
:48:51. > :48:51.
:48:51. > :49:00.trouble. The vampire quid from hell. Disturb it, and it only retreats a
:49:00. > :49:07.little distance. Luminous bacteria shine from pockets on its arms, to
:49:08. > :49:17.confuse predators, a bite there would leave the head unscathed. The
:49:18. > :49:18.
:49:18. > :49:24.threat diminishes and the vampire It is cold out there, isn't it. It
:49:24. > :49:27.will stay cold as we go through tomorrow. Showers tomorrow, showers
:49:27. > :49:31.in different places compared to today, they will drip down into
:49:31. > :49:36.southern parts of the UK. One or two sharp ones. Further north, for
:49:36. > :49:39.northern England and the Midland, dryer and brighter. But chilly,
:49:39. > :49:44.wherever you are. Temperatures struggling for double figures.
:49:44. > :49:48.Sharp showers across the south-east as we end the day. Hail mixed in.
:49:48. > :49:51.Most of the South-West will end the day on the dry and bright notes.
:49:52. > :49:55.One or two showers left behind across the north and west of Wales.
:49:55. > :49:59.Not as frequent or heavy as they would have been earlier on in the
:50:00. > :50:02.day. The breeze will keep the temperatures down. 10 degrees will
:50:02. > :50:07.be typical. Northern Ireland will have much more sunshine than in the
:50:07. > :50:12.last couple of days. Things settling down, that is the case for
:50:12. > :50:16.most of Scotland, wintry showers continuing across the high ground.
:50:16. > :50:19.Looking further ahead into Thursday, a change in the weather for the
:50:19. > :50:22.more north western parts of the country. Clouding over with rains
:50:22. > :50:25.for western parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. The wind picking
:50:26. > :50:31.up too. Further south and east, things settling down for a time.
:50:31. > :50:34.After a frosty start on Thursday, plenty of sunshine, and the wind