Browse content similar to 14/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Britain's put on negative watch by a leading ratings agency. With | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
unemployment up, years of austerity ahead, and a budget round the | :00:13. | :00:17. | |
corner, what is the adrenaline jab the country needs. FITCH, the | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
ratings agency, is worried about the shocks we can't predict, and | :00:20. | :00:22. | |
the growth we can't seem able to generate. | :00:22. | :00:29. | |
So can the do anything to get big business to spend some of the | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
billions they are sitting on. We will hear from the Shadow | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
Chancellor, Ed Balls. Are too many children failing to | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
reach literacy standards, are the standards too lax. The new head of | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
the schools inspectorate, Ofsted, is here in the studio. | :00:42. | :00:52. | |
The uprising in Syria has been going in for a year, we ask is the | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
opposition too fractured. David, we are chuffed to bits you | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
are here. Cameron and Obama cosy up in the | :00:58. | :01:04. | |
White House. Are the Tories more pally with the American right. | :01:04. | :01:12. | |
Why one banker has given Goldman Sachs the blues. | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
(plays the blues) Good evening, in the last two hours | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
the ratings agency, FITCH, has announced it has revised the UK's | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
economic outlook to negative. They point to the risk and uncertainty | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
to the possibility of reducing risk and debt by the middlele of the | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
decade, and the eurozone crisis which it says could intensify. The | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
UK could find itself losing the coveted triple-A rating. We will | :01:40. | :01:46. | |
speak to Ed Balls in a moment. Paul Mason is here, what does it mean? | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
We still have our triple-A rating, that means British debt is among | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
the safest in the world. Peg put on negative watch by a second of the | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
three being -- being put on a negative watch by a second of the | :01:58. | :02:05. | |
three big agencies, the other one last was -- was last month. FITCH | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
is concerned about three things. The first is the eurozone crisis, | :02:09. | :02:15. | |
what they are seeing is that the eurozone credit crunch has narrowed | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
the shock absorption of the UK economy. If anything more bad | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
happens we may have to hike borrowing. That is problem number | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
one. The second is the pressures on the Government to try to rein in on | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
the austerity. FITCH says there is a danger the Government will cut | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
less fast, or raise, maybe even cut om taxes, under pressure. Given the | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
-- some taxes, under pressure. Given the Government is clear it is | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
not going to do. That read between the lines of what FITCH is really | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
worried about over the next few years the coalition fails, and | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
replaced by another Government committed to a slower pace of | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
austerity. The final thing they are worried about and that is what | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
Vince Cable is worried about, where is the growth coming. They are | :02:59. | :03:01. | |
worried when the Government statisticians look again later this | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
year at the UK economy, we might find we have shrunk even more than | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
we thought. If we have, it is a whole bigger hill to climb. These | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
guys are paid to put fine detail on to risk analysis, they just | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
slightly notched up the risk of lending to the UK. | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
A week today the budget will be on the table, as we have been hearing, | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
there in Westminster and over the phone from Washington, they are | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
still arguing about what should be done. One of the big curiosities in | :03:27. | :03:35. | |
our economy is what can be done to get big business spending. We have | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
been told there is no money, that is not true. The corporate City is | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
spending on several hundred billion pounds, that doesn't get out to the | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
real economy. Why not? And how can that change? | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
This is bank, and here are people in suits doing bank-a-like things, | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
like lending people money, or not lending people money. But are | :03:55. | :04:02. | |
things about to change? This doesn't look like a bank, and | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
it doesn't look like a hole in the wall, but why, in future, couldn't | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
it be a bank, that is the question one of the Prime Minister's own | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
advisers asked me recently. They point today Travis Perkin, every | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
day lending plilding equipment to builders up and down the country. | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
If you are lending other things why not lend money, lasering the | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
economy in the bits that needed it. As the Government presses ahead | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
with public spending, they are expecting the private sector to | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
meet half way with investment, driving the economic recovery. It | :04:35. | :04:42. | |
is not really happening. corporates are sitting on around | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
about �730 billion in cash. That is very high by historic standards. | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
The reason they have the cash is they have been very good at cutting | :04:49. | :04:55. | |
cost, building profits through the downturn. The future for all the | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
corporates is one certain, we live in a volatile world. I don't think | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
it is by any means certain these corporates will want to run down | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
cash in a big way. It may be high cash balances are here to stay. | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
There are, of course, policies in play to get money into the real | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
economy. The Government will soon announce how it will underwrite | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
loans from banks to small business, credit easing. This week will also | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
bring a report on non-bank financing. But the sluice gates to | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
the �730 billion will probably remain shut. | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
One new Tory MP, working closely with the leadership on this, says | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
they know they need to do more? debate has so far focused on the | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
fiscal measures who will we tax, and where will we spend money. This | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
is an area that is not non-fiscal, it doesn't relate to tax and spend. | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
But getting money into the real economy is really going to oil the | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
recovery. So this should be a big part of it. What Governments should | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
be doing is trying to accelerate this process, because if companies | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
invest, that is how we get jobs and that is how we get growth. | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
The problem for the Chancellor is so acute, solutions might have to | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
include ideas that were once ruled out of bounds for Conservatives. | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
The most important thing is confidence, a credible strategy for | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
how we will grow the industries, the businesses of tomorrow. I think | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
that does mean that all of us, Conservatives who believe in | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
industry, need to embrace it and set out a Conservative industrial | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
policy for the next generation, backing the industries of tomorrow, | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
the sectors of tomorrow, so we have a sustainable recovery. There is | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
attention within the coalition on exactly how to rebuild confidence | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
in the economy. The current strategy rests on getting banks and | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
other actors to start lending again, but there are some Lib Dems who | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
think this is not enough, you need a more muscular approach, set up | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
your own state bank and take control. In his letter to the Prime | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
Minister, leaked recently, Business Secretary, Vince Cable, called for | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
the Royal Bank of Scotland to be turned into a state infrastructure | :06:51. | :06:57. | |
bank, able to get money flowing direct to industry, great and small. | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
But RBS becoming a state bank is a no-no for Conservatives, for the | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
Liberal Democrats the idea has its attractions. One possible solution, | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
and I think we will see whether or not it is a solution by the success | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
or otherwise of the Green Investment Bank, is the possibility | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
of some sort of state infrastructure bank. We have RBS | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
that we own 86% of already, maybe that would be the vehicle for | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
creating a state infrastructure bank. But I think we need to see | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
how successful the Green Investment Bank to see whether or not it will | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
make a positive difference. Whatever the mechanism, they need | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
to get a move on. Forecast by the Government's own office of budget | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
responsibility, insists companies will get stuck in, a 10% increase | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
this year, that is double the rate we have seen before, so possibly | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
wishful thinking. I think the Government needs to see corporate | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
spend. We know that the Government, which has been a big engine of | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
growth in this economy, before the recession, is not going to be | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
present. So we are going to have to see more activity from the | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
corporate sector. The challenge for Government is to create the | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
conditions in which corporates think they can make good money by | :08:04. | :08:10. | |
spending those cash balances. This is a builders' merchants, | :08:10. | :08:17. | |
these are builders. Oh, and there's a dummy. How odd! But then again, | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
this could be a bank soon. Ahead of the budget what we have focused on | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
so far ahead of the debate is tax and spend. But it will be as much | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
about getting companies to relax and lend. The increased threat from | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
a downgrade from another ratings agency this evening, makes the dash | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
for growth even more urgent. I spoke to the Shadow Chancellor, | :08:37. | :08:46. | |
just before we came on air. The credit ratings agency, FITCH, has | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
warned the UK is on a negative outlook, your response to that? | :08:52. | :08:59. | |
credit ratings agencies are a weather vane, they tell you the way | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
things are moving. There is a growing worry our economy is not | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
growing, unemployment is rising, and our borrowing is not coming | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
down, as George Osborne planned. I said to George Osborne always, | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
don't set your policy by the credit ratings agency, they are a weather | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
vane and they say the weather is going in a difficult direction for | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
the economy. FITCH is not saying spend more, they are saying not | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
reducing debt quickly enough, your policy would make that even worse? | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
FITCH were the people who said four years ago, sub-prime mortgages, | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
keep them on triple-A. So they are wrong, then? The credit ratings | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
aegsz have consistently got the financial crisis wrong, they said | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
Lehman Brothers was a safe bet. My point to George Osborne was you | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
should never make your policy by the credit ratings agency. | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
George Osborne shouldn't really worry about it, broadly, it is not | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
a worry? If it wasn't for the fact that George Osborne set this as his | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
test. Go back a year-and-a-half ago, he said he would have stronger | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
growth, unemployment down, borrowing down, all that has | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
disappeared, because the economy has flatlined, unemployment is | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
rising. The only thing he has been saying for the last six months is | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
he can't change course because he will lose the support of the credit | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
ratings agencies, even now, this is the second ratings agency in a | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
month-and-a-half who have moved things to negative. George Osborne | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
made the wrong call to let the ratings agencies dictate the policy. | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
It is the wrong policy, too far, and too fast and it is not working. | :10:34. | :10:41. | |
A week away from the budget, and the Chancellor is looking at | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
convoluted schemes to sort things out. Does it take you back to the | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
good old days of Brown and Balls? Is unemployment going to come down | :10:51. | :10:57. | |
and growth happen. If the economy isn't growing you can't say keep | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
going. The clever tricks policies, do you think we have all done a bit | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
of that? The thing about George Osborne at the moment is he wants | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
you to focus on the tricks policy, the 100-year bond. Like Gordon | :11:08. | :11:14. | |
Brown did? The thing was. You say no, but, yes he did? Every | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
Chancellor now and then has gimmicks, the question is, are the | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
fundamentals going in the right or wrong direction. George's problem | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
is the economy is not growing. He's doing nothing about it. He's saying | :11:25. | :11:31. | |
steady as she goes, he wants to say he can't change course whatever, | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
the problem is, it is deeply complacent in this situation. I | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
want the budget to be fair, but I want a budget for growth and jobs, | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
without that we can't get the deficit down. Let's lock at | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
policies, the 50p rate, -- look at policies, the 50p rate, much talked | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
about, if that goes, would you reintroduce it? I would be | :11:52. | :11:54. | |
surprised if David Cameron allows this to happen. We have had | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
speculation in the last few weeks from the Liberal Democrats saying | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
we will let you get rid of the 50p rate, if you replace it with a | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
mansion tax. That is not a worry, it will stay? I think it will stay | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
next week. Who could possibly think, when fuel bills are going up, when | :12:09. | :12:14. | |
child benefit is being cut, when Working Tax Credits are cut, who | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
thinks the priority is not people on �30,000, but only people above | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
�150,000. You think they have that policy right? I would be amazed if | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
they take it away. George Osborne clearly wants to, that would be so | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
out-of-touch. If took it away you would -- if he took it away, you | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
would reinstate it? I have said no tax rate is set in stone, but is it | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
a priority to get rid of the 50p rate, no. You said it would be | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
absurd to get rid of it, logically you would reinstate it if they did? | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
If there was a general election right now, our manifesto would not | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
say get rid of the 50p rate. off the fence for a minute, mansion | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
tax, you said you support the mansion tax, would you introduce it | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
and it become a Labour policy? mansion tax needs careful thought | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
and done properly it can't be done in a way for fish low income widows | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
with lots of wealth -- for low income widows with lots of wealth. | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
I will say I will make it work. don't want to make it your idea? | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
was originally a Vince Cable idea, originally something David Miliband | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
supported in the leadership election. I support it too. | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
child benefit, you are actually supporting a lot of new tax for | :13:32. | :13:42. | |
:13:42. | :13:42. | ||
rich people, you would still retain for rich people? Some things we | :13:42. | :13:49. | |
would do is bring back the bow bank tax for youth jobs. Don't cut | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
pension tax relief for the highest income earners, use that to | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
reinstate the tax credit cuts. Use stamp duty avoidance to stop the | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
terrible cut in Working Tax Credit. Child benefit, you would keep that | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
for everyone, even the rich? believe in universal child benefit, | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
I always have. Ed Balls thank you. In today's unemployment figures we | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
learned 1.15 million young people are out of work. Do they have the | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
skills they need. The new Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
Wilshaw, will warn tomorrow that too many primary school pupils in | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
England leave without being able to read properly. We are falling | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
behind international competitors, he will pledge to raise the bar, | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
and warn teachers they have to get specialist training in teaching | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
phonics, a system of sounding out letter combinations. We were given | :14:38. | :14:44. | |
an exclusive preview. Hammer, hammer, shake, shake, shake. | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
One essential skill, not in the job advert for Her Majesty's Chief | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
Inspector of Schools is, the ability to sit for long periods on | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
a tiny classroom chair. Sir Michael Wilshaw, who took the job in | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
January, has clearly mastered this, now he wants to revolutionise the | :15:02. | :15:11. | |
teaching of English. This lesson is teaching synthetic | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
phonics, virtually all primary schools teach children to read like | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
this now. Sir Michael is a big fan. This teacher would have been | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
trained in the use of phonics, that is putting letters and sounds | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
together and merging that in what is called a systemic and synthetic | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
way. But the kids seem to think it is fun? It is fun. But not all | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
English teaching is going so well. In his short time as Chief | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
Inspector, Sir Michael has started something of a debate within the | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
teaching profession about whether existing standards are actually | :15:48. | :15:54. | |
high enough. Consider this, out of all the children who get the | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
satisfactory grade aged 11 in literacy, half of them don't go on | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
to get five good GCSEs. So what is going on? | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
Sir Michael's report is called Moving English Forward, it is very | :16:09. | :16:19. | |
:16:19. | :16:19. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 45 seconds | :16:19. | :17:05. | |
In the lest learning was hampered The school Sir Michael is advising | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
today is St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School in Battersea south | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
London. It was judged satisfactory in its last Ofsted inspection, but | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
as we know, Sir Michael does not regard that as good enough. Since | :17:16. | :17:24. | |
then it has been working hard to improve health by a good school | :17:24. | :17:30. | |
nearby, with which is now shares a head. To encourage reading it has a | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
library with books donated by Selfridges. They can come with | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
reading volunteers which we have. The class teachers can use the | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
library to support the curriculum in the work they are doing, it is | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
fantastic, lovely. For Sir Michael instilling a love of reading for | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
its own sake is vital if we are to address the problem with literacy. | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
Do you enjoy reading? Yeah. reading at home, do you read at | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
home? Every night. Michael Wilshaw has long held the attention of | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
politicians. He was head of one of the earliest and most successful of | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
the Blair Government's new academy schools. Gordon Brown too visited, | :18:08. | :18:15. | |
but he was less keen than his predecessor of setting schools free | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
from local authority control. Now, under David Cameron, the academy | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
programme is accelerating, with the addition of free schools set up by | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
parents or other groups, this puts more power in the hands of Ofsted. | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
Michael Wilshaw was seen as so critical to this new schools | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
revolution, that the rumour was he was really picked for the job of | :18:35. | :18:38. | |
Chief Inspector from a shortlist of one. | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
There is a rumour that you were not really given a lot of choice about | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
taking this job or not? No, I'm a believer in free will, I took on | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
this job because I want to replicate what I did with the | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
school I was leading across the country, and I want to see children | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
doing well across the different phases. | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
Another school day comes to an end, critics say there is a tension at | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
the heart of the Government's education reform, on the one hand, | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
schools are supposedly being set free from central control, yet on | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
the other, there is a powerful Chief Inspector telling them how to | :19:13. | :19:21. | |
achieve success. Sir Michael Wilshaw is here, and we | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
will speak to Mary Bousted from the Association of Teachers and | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
lectures, in a secretary. Are literacy standards for pupils in | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
England too low? Standards in literacy and reading went up over a | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
ten-year period between 1995 and 2005. But since then, standards | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
have stalled. What we are seeing is that other nations are doing much | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
better than us. We have fall in what is the interNational League | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
stables from 7th to 23rd. Other countries, as I have said. So our | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
standards should be higher? That that, in effect, means, is | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
something like one in five children in primary schools, at the age of | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
11, are leaving Primary School without the national average. What | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
that really means is that they can't access the curriculum, in | :20:08. | :20:10. | |
secondary school. They find it difficult to pass examinations, | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
they find it difficult to proceed to the next stage of their | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
education and training, and of course, they find it difficult to | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
get jobs. Let's get to the root of that, what are teachers doing, that | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
make standards so low? We have to make sure that phonics teaching, | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
you saw in the clip how important phonics is, is taught well. To do | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
that properly, we need to make sure the trainers, the training | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
providers, the universities that train teachers teach it well. | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
percentage of teachers are not doing that now? In talking to quite | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
a few teachers in the primary sector, they will say they have | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
been inadequately trained in the training institutions, and that | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
they need a lot more professional development in the teaching of | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
phonics, which is not an easy thing to do, in their primary schools. We | :20:56. | :21:03. | |
have to make sure that the training provideers train teachers, and the | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
teaching of phonics, also schools and leaders in schools car yie on | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
the professional development in the -- carry on that professional | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
development in the schools. There is this tension, you talk about | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
setting them free, but the rhetoric you are using now is about needing | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
to keep them to the guidelines of what you want to happen. If they | :21:23. | :21:29. | |
want to teach X, Y and Z, are they allowed to do that? Came from an | :21:29. | :21:31. | |
academy background, an autonomous institution, I believe very firmly | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
that is what works, giving power, resources and freedom to people on | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
the ground, the head teachers and teachers in the school to make a | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
difference is the right approach. There is an irony now that you have | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
become this chief? But, it is a big but, but we have to make sure this | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
freedom works and standards are rising and people working in those | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
free institutions are held to account. What would you promise | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
then. You are now going to be in this place, for five years, you are | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
replacing LEAs, essentially, with a different kind of bureaucracy, | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
people have got to be able to measure your success, right? | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
Remember there are only 1500 academys and a few more free | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
schools, the great majority of provision isn't in academys yet, | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
they will be increasing over the next few years. We have to make | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
sure accountability matches freedom. In answer to your question, what do | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
I expect, I expect better results from primary school children at the | :22:28. | :22:37. | |
ages of seven, a vital age, and 11 as well. What with would that mean | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
better results? At the moment 70% have between A-C in their grades? | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
Many leave without the national average. If one in four did? | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
they hit the national average that is no guarantee either of success | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
at GCSE. One of the things I will be urging the Government to do is | :22:55. | :23:00. | |
look at standards at the age of 11 to see if that level 4, which is | :23:00. | :23:06. | |
the national average, is sufficient as a predictor for success five | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
years later. But it should go higher? As soon as possible. When | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
would we start looking for a change now? As soon as we put the | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
necessary changes in. Thanks very much. | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
To you Mary Bousted, literacy standards are too low, and your | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
teachers have accepted that? don't think Sir Michael's read his | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
own report very well. The report says, for example, about phonics | :23:30. | :23:36. | |
that in most schools, all schools teach phonics, and the strengths in | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
teaching phonics far outweigh the weaknesses, that is what his own | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
inspectors have written in the report produced today. In key stage | :23:46. | :23:52. | |
one 80% reached the standard, standards have plateaued at key | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
stage II, that is entirely predictable in the testing regime | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
we have got. In key age IV. Is that about the way they are tested? | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
is, in the report it says that, national tests, and an preparation | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
for national tests nar rogue the English curriculum. It may be one | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
of the major causes that children at Primary School with an | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
overemphasis on test items can't access the National curriculum. | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
know you don't want to debate directly? I'm happy. He has said | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
literacy standards are too low, you would agree with that? I would say | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
there are always improvements to be made. There are real problems | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
outlined in the report, the difference in standards between | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
boys and girls, the fact that the standards of writing are lower than | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
reading, although writing is a harder skill. I would also say that | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
in this report it details some myths about English teaching, which | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
your correspondent brought out. It says, for example, that lessons are | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
too pacey and action-packed, there is a focus on lesson activities | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
rather than outcomes, and teachers are writing far too detailed lesson | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
plans. All those activities are not what teachers have to do, they are | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
a direct result of Government interference. Do you see this as a | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
chance for teachers to have more freedom, or do you think Ofsted | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
will be more domineering? I think you have the answer very clearly. | :25:19. | :25:25. | |
Ofsted has got a very clear agenda, it is not an agenda around teacher | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
empowerment. It is interesting Sir Michael talking about initial | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
teaching training providers and phonics, his own inspectorate come | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
in and give these providers very good results for the teaching of | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
phonics. What we have to do, and the question you asked Sir Michael | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
is absolutely right. How is it you say you set schools free, and then | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
you all have to teach like this. In your report it said the report is | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
very critical, I have read it very carefully, actually it is very | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
balanced and said there is an awful lot of very good work being done in | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
terms of literacy and reading in schools. | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
Two points to you, just to come back. One, your words don't match | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
what your report says, and two, that you are not really for teacher | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
empowerment at all, you are poacher turned game keeper? Of course I'm | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
for teachers, teachers make the difference. That is at the heart of | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
the academy programme, it is the heart of the changes that are being | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
made by the Government. We want to give more power, more resources to | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
teachers on the ground to make the difference. But we need children to | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
be able to read so that they can access the curriculum, they can | :26:28. | :26:35. | |
read and write extensively, both in Primary School and secondary school, | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
we are falling behind our inter-- primary school and secondary school, | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
we are falling behind our international competitors, if we | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
are going to grow economically and with a cohesive society, we need | :26:46. | :26:53. | |
all children to read and write well. Tomorrow Michael Wilshaw will face | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
the much trickier task of being interviewed by the BBC's School | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
Report, you can catch them there. One year ago tomorrow marks the | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
official beginning of the Syrian uprising, a war where the violence | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
is rising and solutions are shrinking. In Washington President | :27:09. | :27:14. | |
Obama and David Cameron made clear any direct intervention remains off | :27:14. | :27:20. | |
the agenda and restated the need for a diplomatic conclusion. All | :27:20. | :27:27. | |
this in the allegations of a widespread attack on the population. | :27:27. | :27:36. | |
First, we ask why the regime is proving so resistant. | :27:36. | :27:44. | |
A year on, the images of anger and grief in Syria have barely changed. | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
Today in Idlib, there were funerals for those killed in a Government | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
assault. While according to unverified YouTube footage, troops | :27:53. | :27:59. | |
were again gathering outside Deraa. The same town where the longest of | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
the Arab uprisings took off in ernest, 12 months and perhaps | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
10,000 deaths ago. The spark was a demonstration | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
demanding the release of young people arrested for scribbling | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
anti-regime graffiti. Soon they were burying fellow | :28:18. | :28:24. | |
protestors, shot by Government troops. | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
It was the first taste of the state-sponsored brutality that | :28:28. | :28:37. | |
would target even children. This is evidence of how 15-year-old Tamra | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
from Deraa was tortured in detention, his arm broken, teeth | :28:42. | :28:48. | |
knocked out, before his dead body was finally returned to his parents. | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
TRANSLATION: He had two drill holes in his hand, and a fracture. His | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
pelvis had five bullets, a total of 11 bullets, not including the drill | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
holes. When I brought him home to his mother, she couldn't have | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
identified him, were it not for a childhood injury. | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
Deaths like this have fuelled the uprising. As thousands have turned | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
out to demand, not just freedom, but justice, and increasingly | :29:15. | :29:24. | |
vengence. From Deraa the uprising sproud to | :29:24. | :29:33. | |
Douma, and other towns, including Homs. Last summer troops besieged | :29:33. | :29:40. | |
Jisr ash-Shugur, skilled scores in Hama, and attacked other cities. | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
Fighters were in Damascus and Douma, they were driven out of there, and | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
Homs, scene of the worst violence in the last few weeks. A year on, | :29:49. | :29:53. | |
how come President Assad is still in power. The rebellion has spread, | :29:53. | :29:59. | |
showing remarkable resilience and bravery. It is acquiring arms from | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
defecting soldiers, much of the Arab world, as well as the west | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
backs it politically, and sanctionss have helped half the | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
value of the Syrian currency. But it is not enough. Because the | :30:11. | :30:17. | |
regime, as far as we can see, remains united and ruthless, while | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
its enemies, the opposition leaders, and their foreign backers, are | :30:21. | :30:26. | |
often divided or uncertain. Most protestors I met recently in | :30:27. | :30:32. | |
Syria were desperate for any form of foreign assistance. | :30:32. | :30:38. | |
Arms supplies, a no-fly zone, a protected humanitarian corridor. | :30:38. | :30:44. | |
But with the outside world unwilling to intervene, they are | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
hopelessly outgunned by Government forces. And President Assad has | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
played on the country's religious divide. Christians form a large | :30:52. | :30:56. | |
minority in largely Sunni Muslim Syria, as do the all Wight | :30:56. | :31:01. | |
community the President belongs to t -- all law Wight community the | :31:01. | :31:07. | |
President loings to. And some -- belongs to, and some believe they | :31:07. | :31:15. | |
would be targeted. You heard shouts calling for the deaths of the | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
Alawites and the Christians, forcing them outside the country | :31:19. | :31:24. | |
into Beirut. You had some shouts against the Jews, for example. | :31:24. | :31:33. | |
Someone in Deraa actual accused them of spreading infidelly -- | :31:33. | :31:38. | |
infidelity and other things. Here life look normal, it is hard to | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
know if people fear the opposition or the regime. For whatever reason, | :31:41. | :31:44. | |
most still aren't joining the revolution. | :31:44. | :31:48. | |
The central Government is pretty much coherent, it is pretty much | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
intact, they are still doing everything that any state would do. | :31:53. | :31:59. | |
A lot of Syrians believe this level of violence is temporary. That the | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
Government will go out of this and the whole country will go out of | :32:02. | :32:12. | |
this. Even though they will be bruised, but intact. President | :32:12. | :32:18. | |
Assad thinks the violence is temporary, e-mails downloaded from | :32:18. | :32:24. | |
his account, shows a leader un touch -- out-of-touch with the | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
crisis with his luxury lifestyle. Meanwhile the parents of the | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
murdered schoolboy, live in two rented rooms in the Jordanian | :32:31. | :32:38. | |
desert, God is with them, they tell me, as for the world, they believe | :32:38. | :32:43. | |
is against Syria. I'm joined by two Syrian opposition | :32:43. | :32:48. | |
activists who come from rather different aspectives, one holding | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
dual Syrian and British nationality, and spent much time in Homs, and a | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
member of the opposition group building the Syrian state. | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
Welcome to you both. Danny, do you want the outside world to be arming | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
the opposition now? Of course, that is the only way for us to defend | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
ourselves. You can see, I'm seeing what is going on in my home town. | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
We have only two areas which aren't protected by the Free Syrian Army. | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
The army, the Assad forces actually went in there, stabbed the | :33:17. | :33:21. | |
civilians, raped the women and killed the children. These are two | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
areas that aren't protected by the Free Syrian Army, all the other | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
areas are protected. Where should those arms come from, you have | :33:28. | :33:34. | |
taken moves to ask for them? These arms should be coming from outside, | :33:34. | :33:41. | |
from Europe, America, the US, UN, Turkey, Lebanon. I'm not a | :33:41. | :33:48. | |
politician, or a journalist, I'm a guy from Syria living there since | :33:49. | :33:53. | |
the revolution. You meet Joe Liberman? They said they wouldn't | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
give us arms but there will be an intervention soon. This is all talk, | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
we have been hearing that for eight months, we have seen no action | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
whatsoever. At some point, you have got to say this has been going on a | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
year. Whatever arguments you were mooting about not arming the | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
opposition, has got to reach a turning point, hasn't it? Actually | :34:15. | :34:21. | |
not. To the contrary, because since arming the opposition started, the | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
death toll increased dramatically, it is particularly the area where | :34:25. | :34:28. | |
the Free Syrian Army was based crushed by the regime is where we | :34:28. | :34:34. | |
have seen significant death tolls. It is where the area where the Free | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
Syrian Army claims to be protecting civilians, where it failed to | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
protect them. It withdrew from the areas and left the civilians to be | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
massacred by the regime. I understand why Danny and people | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
like him carry arms to protect themselves. I didn't carry arms. I | :34:48. | :34:52. | |
would like to answer this quickly. If anyone is going to say we don't | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
want arms in Syria, let them live in Syria for two months, let them | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
see families die and women rape and let them say that. If we can't | :35:01. | :35:08. | |
protect ourselves from the army, how will we stop the army stabbing, | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
kidnapping women, and kidnapping and raping children, without an | :35:11. | :35:16. | |
army to protect them. We have two areas in Homs not protected by the | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
Free Syrian Army, they went in there and raped women, ten-year-old | :35:20. | :35:25. | |
girls, cutting them to pieces. have family there. My parents live | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
in Homs not protected by the Free Syrian Army, they are still safe, | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
relatively, nobody is safe. The military is strong, we are | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
concerned about people like you, we want you to live to build the | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
country. We don't want the young people to die in front of such a | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
brutal regime. We need them. This is a battle for democracy, the road | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
to democracy doesn't go through arming. Don't you worry about that, | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
the point is you are on the cusp, or you have already entered civil | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
war in some place, don't you worry you will lose even more members of | :35:59. | :36:02. | |
your family through that? You do not understand something, we are | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
already losing members of our families. We are being picked up, | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
we are being tortured by the army. The women are being raped and | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
kidnapped from the street. How are we going to protect ourselves. This | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
area I was sitting in was protected by the free Syrian arm year, they | :36:16. | :36:20. | |
were bombarding the whole area. Isn't -- army, they were bombarding | :36:20. | :36:25. | |
the whole area. Isn't that better than them coming in and torturing | :36:25. | :36:31. | |
us, I would rather be shot by a gun than tortured. Most of the members | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
of my group are all inside Syria, they are against the army. The | :36:35. | :36:40. | |
majority of Syrians are against the army, they know. I'm sorry about | :36:40. | :36:46. | |
that, no. They know the regime and how brutal it is, they know how it | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
is to confront them with arms. They are concerned about their safety. | :36:50. | :36:53. | |
Syria has all that it takes to enter full scale civil war. | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
extraordinary thing is s you can debate the question of arms, but | :36:58. | :37:02. | |
the regime does not look unstable, it does not look divided, the | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
opposition, does? The regime is divided. The divisions in the | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
opposition are not weakening, or making the regime stronger, we | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
shouldn't overestimate the opposition, there is no opposition | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
in Syria, we don't have institutions like here, they are | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
only famous writers and university professors, people openly citsiegs | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
the regimes. We shouldn't -- criticising the regimes. If the | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
international community come to international consensus for one | :37:33. | :37:37. | |
political solution for Syria, the Syrian opposition will unite around | :37:37. | :37:42. | |
it. Russia is starting to change its rhetoric do you think? Russia | :37:42. | :37:45. | |
won't change their opinion. There is one more thing to put on the | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
stable. Anyone who says we do not want intervention or arms in Syria, | :37:48. | :37:51. | |
go and live there for one whole month, see the massacres in front | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
of your eyes, pick up pieces of bodies from the street, then say | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
that. See women being raped by 12 men a day and then say we don't | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
want arms. We are being killed and massacred there, nobody is doing | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
anything about it, where is the humanity in the world. It is the | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
regime killing in Damascus and areas not controlled by the Free | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
Syrian Army. The regime is still brutal this is not the way to | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
confront it. I have the sound out from inside, everyone wants arms, | :38:19. | :38:26. | |
that is what they want inside. A basketball game, with photo | :38:26. | :38:32. | |
opportunities galore, a rose garden in full bloom, and a much heralds | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
trip on Air Force One, a privilege for a foreign leader. The anglo- | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
American relationship has never looked so "special" but cosy. Not a | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
single meeting has been organised between David Cameron and the | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
Republican candidates, one of whom may end up leading the free world | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
in eight months time. Was this a clever official, or a refusal to | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
get mixed up in a sometimes ugly race at the moment, or an oversight | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
that could have serious reprecussions down the line. We in | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
Britain think you are a wonderful President. Gone are the days of | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
Thatcher and Regan, and the inacceptable ties between | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
Conservatives and rup Republicans. The sight of a story -- Republicans, | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
the sight of a Tory Prime Minister standing side-by-side with a | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
Democratic president is hard low a new one. | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
What of taking in a basketball game with his Democratic counterpart in | :39:27. | :39:32. | |
a swing state in a presidential election year. Last night's vit -- | :39:32. | :39:37. | |
visit to Ohio hardly amounted to David Cameron riding Democratic | :39:37. | :39:42. | |
donkey right out. He feels most at home with a party America considers | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
to be its left, this was fuel for their fire what if the Republican | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
elephant? That is not in the room. Couldn't even get five minutes in | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
his diary. The message from last night's big winner, Rick Santorum, | :39:56. | :40:03. | |
was pretty clear. The best chance of winning the election is to | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
nominate a conservative to go up against Barack Obama and take him | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
on, on any issues. Why have the British and American right fallen | :40:12. | :40:18. | |
owl of love, if the Republicans -- fallen out of love. If the | :40:18. | :40:21. | |
Republicans return to the White House, what for the Prime Minister | :40:21. | :40:28. | |
who may need to be reminded that an elephant never forgets. My guests | :40:28. | :40:33. | |
join me now. Why would he ruin the party, the relationship never | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
looked closer, they are pretty statesman-like. David Cameron has | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
had a good visit and good time in Washington. He has been very well | :40:41. | :40:48. | |
received. The special relationship remains strong. I do think this was | :40:48. | :40:51. | |
a lost opportunity for the Prime Minister, he could have met with | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
senior Conservative officials, the Republicans run the House of | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
Representatives on Capitol Hill, he could have met leading Republican | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
figures to talk about exchanges ideas on cutting debts, reducing | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
Government spending, advancing a pro-growth agenda. The rather chumy | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
relationship developed with Barack Obama will be viewed with disdain | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
by many Conservatives here on Washington. Let's not forget Barack | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
Obama is in deep trouble in the polls. Some polls suggested the | :41:20. | :41:23. | |
Republicans will win the presidential election in November. | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
This is a presidency in very deep trouble on the economic front, and | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
it is rather short-sighted, I think, of the Prime Minister's advisers, | :41:32. | :41:40. | |
not to set up any meetings with Conservatives in Washington. Don't | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
you think it is a bit short-sighted for David Cameron, we have | :41:44. | :41:51. | |
basketball in a swing date, he's in danger of looking like a prop? | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
have no doubt on election day he will be rooting for Barack Obama, | :41:55. | :41:58. | |
this is a man he wants to do business with for the next five | :41:58. | :42:05. | |
years, he wanted him to win last time and this time. There has never | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
been more distance between the British Conservatives and American | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
Conservatives. I don't think David Cameron think he has anything to | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
learn from what most Tories view as a political freak show in America. | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
This is very different from the Cameroon-style politics. They have | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
policies on cutting tax, but they are not policies the British | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
Government is very interested in. When you look at somebody like Rick | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
Santorum, it is hard to know where David Cameron would start, isn't | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
it? I think there is a lot of common ground, actually, between | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
the broader Conservative movement in Britain and America. | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
marriage? It is not a gay marriage issue. There is a lot of social | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
divide on matters. If you look at economic questions, cutting | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
spending and economic debt. They don't want Government? There is a | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
great deal of common ground there. I think it is rather foolish, | :42:55. | :43:03. | |
actually, of the Cameron advisory set to actually decline meetings | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
with American Conservatives. This is a very short-sighted approach, | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
they will regret that in the long run if there is a change of power | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
in Washington. Even now the dirty secret is there are a lot of | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
Conservative policies they probably share? Yes, of course, if there is | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
a change of Government David Cameron will swallow hard and do | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
his best to get along with his new friend Mitt Romney. But Presidents | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
and prime ministers have always managed to bridge these problems | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
when they emerge. When the Republicans have their convention I | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
would be surprised if there is any senior Conservative there. | :43:39. | :43:45. | |
would we put ourselves in a position of losing the special | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
relationship if it happens? Regan and Thatcher weren't close before | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
he became Prime Minister, it is just the way these politics work. | :43:54. | :44:00. | |
David Cameron wants to see people in America, he wants entrepeneurs, | :44:00. | :44:02. | |
west coast Silicon Valley figures, not the Conservatives, certainly. | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
This is the middle of a Conservative battle right now. If | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
you see one candidate you have to see them all, you risk getting | :44:09. | :44:13. | |
drawn into that. Why do that, when you could get your picture taken | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
with the guy. Nothing really matters in opposition, it only | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
matters when you are talking to the leader himself? I think it does | :44:22. | :44:27. | |
matter. Because President Obama's viewed here domestically by | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
Conservatives as a huge big Government disaster. This is a | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
political warzone here, there is no middle ground, and I think for | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
British Conservatives to be fawning over the most left-wing left in | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
modern American history, is a huge mistake. That's going to generate, | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
I think, a significant rift and divide between Conservatives on | :44:47. | :44:50. | |
both sides of the Atlantic. It is not going to help Cameron in the | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
long run at all. Does it worry you that there are elements of the | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
Conservative Party that in love with the Obama, that can't be great | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
for the right, can it? I think it is actually extremely short-sighted | :45:03. | :45:09. | |
afterall. I don't know there has always been a rather strange | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
Democrat tradition in the Conservative Party. The Cameroons | :45:16. | :45:22. | |
have always been for Obama, I would doubt if a Conservative candidate | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
in America has lost an moment's sleep over not meeting David | :45:25. | :45:30. | |
Cameron. We will not do the papers tonight. Paul, there was one story | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
in today's New York Times, we should say, caught your eye? | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
bosses of Goldman Sachs in Manhatten must have woken up with a | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
fit of the blues. In the New York Times they have one of those | :45:42. | :45:48. | |
letters we all dream of writing to our boss, basically telling them to | :45:48. | :45:53. | |
get lost. Greg Smith in London has accused the company of being toxic, | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
ripping off its clients, calling the clients Muppets, of not | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
reacting when the newspapers call them the vampire squib of Wall | :46:01. | :46:09. | |
Street. In the markets people have been sanguine about this, people | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
have said they know what Goldman sack are like, they trade with them. | :46:14. | :46:20. | |
Others -- Goldman Sachs are like, they trade with emthis. Nobody | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
surprise -- them. Nobody wants to sit around the table with them. So | :46:25. | :46:31. | |
we have a blues song dedicated to everyone who works for Goldman here | :46:31. | :46:37. | |
and across the world, dedicated for them. This is the Vampire Squib | :46:37. | :46:44. | |
Blues. # Well I woke up this morning | :46:44. | :46:52. | |
# I was told I was leaving today # And I woke this morning | :46:52. | :46:57. | |
# And I was told I was leaving today | :46:57. | :47:07. | |
# Well I told myself # Gonna finally have my say | :47:07. | :47:15. | |
# That's the toxic culture # Toxic to the core down inside | :47:15. | :47:22. | |
# It's the toxic culture # Toxic to the core inside | :47:22. | :47:30. | |
# When I go out recruiting # It seems I have lost all my pride | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
# Well you show your junk to the clients | :47:34. | :47:40. | |
# And big big trades # You deal in bad products | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
# That is how you make your money # I'm leaving that street | :47:45. | :47:50. | |
# And coming home no more # Leave the vampire squibs | :47:50. | :47:55. |