:00:12. > :00:16.Was this the biggest Greek myth of all, that they would ever make the
:00:16. > :00:21.euro work? Ats politicians continue to talk in
:00:21. > :00:24.Athens, across the channels of Europe, there is talk of exit. How
:00:24. > :00:28.will they depart, and will they receive chaos this their wake for
:00:28. > :00:33.the rest of us. We speak to a Greek cabinet minister, still waiting to
:00:33. > :00:38.see if his services are required. And debate what the consequences
:00:38. > :00:41.and calculation might be. As they look in Whitehall if the best
:00:41. > :00:44.defence against contagion is growth, where will it come from.
:00:45. > :00:47.The Government talks about rebalancing the economy, I have
:00:47. > :00:50.learned even their own experts doubt more money in manufacturing
:00:50. > :00:57.means more jobs. We will ask a Government minister
:00:57. > :01:02.what the plan is. Another bloody day in Syria, we
:01:02. > :01:06.report on how moderates on both sides are increasingly squeezed out.
:01:06. > :01:10.And Olympic VIPs, it gets better all the time, we know about the
:01:10. > :01:14.free tickets, the fancy hotels and the chauffeur drives, Newsnight
:01:14. > :01:24.goes in search of the truth about healthcare on offer for tens of
:01:24. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:29.thousands in the Olympic family. The markets plunged today, and
:01:29. > :01:32.tomorrow morning the Greek President will make a last-ditch
:01:32. > :01:35.attempt to form a Government of National Unity, but fresh elections
:01:35. > :01:39.seem likely. Across Europe Central Bankers and politicians have
:01:39. > :01:42.started to talk openly of a Greek exit from the euro. What are the
:01:42. > :01:45.options on the table, and the calculation the players are making.
:01:45. > :01:49.Will it be chaos, more muddle through, or could it actually work
:01:49. > :01:57.for both Greece and Europe. There is nothing we journalists like for
:01:57. > :02:02.more stirring the creative juice, than a whacky metaphor. You are not
:02:02. > :02:07.alone if you think the woes of the single currency are a bit like a
:02:07. > :02:13.maze, from which there appears to be no exit. Three months ago after
:02:13. > :02:15.Greece got its second bail-out, many people, like the deposed
:02:15. > :02:21.President Sarkozy believed the crisis was solved. Now we're back
:02:21. > :02:29.in it, now the only way out seems like a Greek exit. There were
:02:29. > :02:34.further talks in Athens, as the country separates into pro- and
:02:34. > :02:38.anti-bail-out factions. The Greeks are leaving their home land into
:02:38. > :02:44.the safe lands of Surrey or Knightsbridge. Many will still have
:02:44. > :02:51.assets based in Greece. It points to confidence ebbing away, if it
:02:51. > :02:55.does, Grex will come sooner than we think. -- grex it will come sooner
:02:55. > :02:59.than we think. There is an acceptance that the Greeks will run
:02:59. > :03:02.out of money, that the Government won't have enough to pay pensioners
:03:02. > :03:10.and public sector workers. When it happens, there will be a run on the
:03:10. > :03:15.system, and very quickly Greece will have to leave the euro.
:03:15. > :03:18.policy maker is talking openly of that yet, you can bet it will be on
:03:18. > :03:22.the menu privately, as eurozone finance ministers meet this evening
:03:22. > :03:28.in Brussels. Some of their Central Bankers, notably those from Belgium
:03:28. > :03:32.and Ireland, are already whispering aloud, what a eurozone minus Greece
:03:32. > :03:36.might look like. One option is to create two parallel currencies, a
:03:36. > :03:41.softer one used domestically for day-to-day things, and a harder one,
:03:41. > :03:44.which would repay Greece's debts, denominated in euros. This is a
:03:44. > :03:48.solution that would certainly have problems. It would allow the
:03:48. > :03:53.economy to start to grow again. More to the point, allow it to be
:03:53. > :03:57.able to operate still within the EU and the eurozone itself. Its
:03:57. > :04:00.obligations aren't torn up immediately. If you tear up you
:04:00. > :04:04.will the overseas obligations, the opportunity for Greece to go back
:04:04. > :04:07.to the markets to raise money again or obtain debt support
:04:07. > :04:11.internationally, is close to zero. This is a mechanism which provides
:04:11. > :04:20.the best of both worlds, but still with very difficult mechanisms to
:04:20. > :04:25.manage. Of course, there is a recent
:04:25. > :04:29.example of a small country which decided not to repay its enormous
:04:29. > :04:37.bank debts, despite heavy pressure to do so from the EU. Iceland's
:04:37. > :04:42.banks collapsed under their own weight in 2008, Rick Vic said it
:04:42. > :04:48.would allow them to go -- Reykjavik said they would allow them to go to
:04:48. > :04:52.the wall. The Government decided to prioritise the domestic economy. It
:04:52. > :04:56.refused to bail-out foreign bankers and creditors, and used the money
:04:56. > :05:02.to support the domestic banking system and economy. It let banks go
:05:02. > :05:08.to the wall? It let banks go to the wall, and let foreign creditors
:05:08. > :05:10.take all the losses. Up until now the eurozone thinking has been
:05:10. > :05:15.monochromatic, take your medicine or get thrown to the money market
:05:15. > :05:19.dogs. Voters in France, Greece and recently Germany, have said that an
:05:19. > :05:25.alternative third, or fourth way is required. Whether politicians have
:05:25. > :05:29.the creativity or nouse to find those routes out of the latest
:05:29. > :05:36.crisis is unclear. While talks continue in Greece, the
:05:36. > :05:40.markets are very much in ris- -- risk-off morbgsd which means
:05:40. > :05:43.Britain and Europe wait for a smaller eurozone.
:05:43. > :05:48.The elections may have been over a week ago, but Giorgios
:05:48. > :05:53.Papaconstantinou is still a Greek cabinet minister, for PASOK. We can
:05:53. > :05:59.talk to him now about the efforts to cobble together a Government in
:05:59. > :06:08.Athens. We have a Greek specialist from the your racialia group, and a
:06:08. > :06:14.specialist in the debt -- your racialia group, and a specialist in
:06:14. > :06:17.the -- The Greeks have to deliver millions of euros tomorrow, no
:06:17. > :06:20.authorisation from the Greek Government to come, will it happen?
:06:21. > :06:25.We will have to wait until tomorrow to see whether it will happen. It
:06:25. > :06:28.is one of the hold-out bonds that did not participate in the exchange
:06:28. > :06:33.offer. A decision needs to be made, and it will be announced tomorrow
:06:33. > :06:37.whether that obligation is honoured or not. That is one of, only in a
:06:37. > :06:41.sense, a side bar to the main event, as to whether or not you can
:06:41. > :06:43.actually form a Government. All the talk today I gather, there has been
:06:43. > :06:47.talk of a technocrat Government. What is what are the chances of
:06:48. > :06:52.being able to pull that off? Well, as you know, these elections
:06:53. > :06:56.produced a very fragmented result. Traditionally Greece, the first
:06:56. > :07:01.party would get around 45% of the vote, the second one would get
:07:01. > :07:05.around 40%. In this case none of the parties got over 20%. The
:07:05. > :07:09.largest party got 19%. So, this is a very different result from what
:07:09. > :07:14.we are used to. Discussions are on going at the moment, between the
:07:14. > :07:17.leaders of the party, and the President of the Republic, to see
:07:17. > :07:22.whether we can form a coalition. Because it is clear that it is time
:07:22. > :07:26.for coalition politics in Greece. It is obviously in your interest to
:07:26. > :07:32.make sure you don't have another election. Because the anti-bail-out
:07:32. > :07:35.parties are growing their own votes. A latest opinion poll puts them at
:07:35. > :07:41.20%. That makes them a considerable force, they won't do a deal with
:07:41. > :07:47.you, will they? I think the interests of not holding another
:07:47. > :07:50.election is perhaps not so much whether the anti-bail out parties
:07:50. > :07:57.would go. It is because Greece is running out of time. We are running
:07:57. > :08:00.out of money, and We need a Government as soon as possible. The
:08:00. > :08:05.discussions today didn't produce a result. Hopefully they will be
:08:05. > :08:08.resuming tomorrow, and hopefully we will manage to get a coalition. The
:08:08. > :08:13.latest proposal on the table is that of a technocratic Government,
:08:13. > :08:17.that would have the support of at least three parties, possibly four.
:08:17. > :08:21.The conundrum here, look anything on Greece, is Greek people say over
:08:21. > :08:26.and over that they want to stay in the euro, but they actual low want
:08:26. > :08:31.to renegotiate the terms of the bail out again and again. These two
:08:31. > :08:35.things are incompatible, it is a dream, it is a nightmare? Well,
:08:35. > :08:39.indeed, in eight out of ten Greek people want to stay in the euro,
:08:39. > :08:42.consistently, all the polls show that. But they are not prepared to
:08:42. > :08:47.take a hit. They are not prepared to take the austerity measures they
:08:47. > :08:51.need to talk. It doesn't make any sense? That is right. This is right.
:08:51. > :08:55.This is the fifth year of a recession, people are hurting,
:08:55. > :08:58.people are seeing their salaries cut by up to 40%, taxes have gone
:08:58. > :09:02.up. One in two young people is unemployed, unemployment rates
:09:02. > :09:07.overall is over 20%. So this is a vote of anger, it is a vote of
:09:07. > :09:14.disillusionment, it is a vote of protest. It is not necessarily a
:09:14. > :09:18.vote of rejection. It certainly isn't a vote that believes that the
:09:18. > :09:23.programmes of these praerts will ever be implemented -- parties will
:09:24. > :09:28.ever be implemented. The programmes of some of the leftist parties are
:09:28. > :09:34.right out of the eurozone. Is the Iceland model of default hold any
:09:34. > :09:40.attractions for Greece? No. We have had the biggest debt restructuring
:09:40. > :09:44.in world history. We behaved 50 percentage points off our national
:09:44. > :09:49.debt. But this was a debt restructuring, together with our
:09:49. > :09:53.European partners and the IMF. It was a voluntary debt restructuring.
:09:53. > :09:58.Which could happen only because our European partners agreed to
:09:58. > :10:03.recapitalise the Greek banks, and help us in this sequence. We cannot
:10:03. > :10:06.compare a country of 350,000 people, which is what Iceland is, with a
:10:06. > :10:12.eurozone member of 11 million people. That has the same currency
:10:12. > :10:18.as other countries. Megan, do you think that an exit, however chaotic,
:10:18. > :10:22.muddled, whatever, is inevitable? do think an exit is inevitable, and
:10:22. > :10:26.Greece could finally return to sustainable growth if it were to
:10:26. > :10:31.exit the eurozone. Choreography is key. It is no in nobody's best
:10:31. > :10:35.interests to have a disorderly exit. From your point of view, you keep
:10:35. > :10:38.kicking the idea of austerity into the long grass, longer and longer,
:10:38. > :10:43.and that in itself becomes a strategy? It has been a strategy
:10:43. > :10:48.for the last two years. The reality is that Greece, with the second
:10:48. > :10:51.bail out has managed to get more funding than the first bail out.
:10:51. > :10:54.The axe page needs to be renegotiated, and I think that from
:10:54. > :10:58.a troika side, there is a willingness to renegotiate the
:10:58. > :11:04.package on the margin. For that we need a workable Government. And now
:11:04. > :11:08.in Greece we don't have one. What chance of finding one? PASOK, they
:11:08. > :11:11.are not going to make it without the marginal parties, and the
:11:11. > :11:16.marginal parties are gaining ground and they are anti-bail out? You are
:11:16. > :11:20.right. The chances of creating a Government during these rounds of
:11:20. > :11:25.talks is fairly slim, most likely we are heading for a second
:11:25. > :11:29.election. There is a risk it could be equally inconclusive. If it is,
:11:29. > :11:33.then you head towards the end of June, where you are to be prepared
:11:33. > :11:38.to put the austerity measures in place to get the bail out that the
:11:38. > :11:41.country needs to pay pensions and workers? That is right. The take-
:11:41. > :11:45.home message is it almost doesn't matter if Greece puts a Government
:11:45. > :11:48.together in the next two days, or the next election, whatever happens
:11:48. > :11:54.the coalition won't be sustainable. And Greece will head to elections
:11:54. > :11:59.again by the end of the year. the talk is of contagion, where do
:11:59. > :12:04.you think the worst hit will be? have already seen t the worst hit
:12:04. > :12:08.will go straight to Spain. That is why the troika will be willing to
:12:08. > :12:11.play ball with whatever Government arises in Greece. The troika has no
:12:11. > :12:17.interest in Greece defaulting and leaving the eurozone now, when
:12:17. > :12:21.Spain is right in the centre of this crisis is. We have seen as
:12:21. > :12:24.drama has arisen out of Greece, bond yields in Spain has gone up.
:12:24. > :12:29.We have seen direct contagion from Greece to Spain. Greece is one
:12:29. > :12:33.question, but Spain is much bigger and more systemically important for
:12:33. > :12:35.the eurozone. What is your analysis on Spain? I totally agree, the
:12:36. > :12:41.circumstances and time play in favour of Greece, for the time
:12:41. > :12:45.being. The moment in which you go for a euro exit, you break one of
:12:45. > :12:48.the biggest taboos, that the euro is unbreakable. Once you create
:12:48. > :12:51.that kind of precedent, you don't know what will be next.
:12:51. > :12:57.difference is now that we have this kind of permanent financial
:12:57. > :13:00.firewall, that will stop the spread, no? We don't have it yet. The EU
:13:00. > :13:03.bail out funds have to raise the money. The IMF countries have
:13:03. > :13:10.pledged the money but it isn't there yet. Spain is heading
:13:10. > :13:13.straight for a bail out, it isn't quite there yet F Greece defaulted
:13:13. > :13:17.and exited now, Spain would need a bail out now, and they don't have
:13:17. > :13:20.the money in place. For all these reasons there is no question that
:13:20. > :13:25.Greece will be allowed to go, there will be a negotiation between
:13:25. > :13:28.Brussels and Berlin? As long as we see them still committed to the
:13:28. > :13:32.core of the programme, and there is a willingness to negotiate on the
:13:32. > :13:37.side, that is a key condition coming are from Brussels, and
:13:37. > :13:41.specifically from Berlin. What do you think the view looks like from
:13:41. > :13:47.Athens of the new French President Hollande, will that change the
:13:47. > :13:52.atmosphere, do you think, in Europe? Giorgios Papaconstantinou,
:13:52. > :13:55.do you think the election of President Hollande, who will meet
:13:55. > :14:00.Angela Merkel tomorrow night, will change the atmosphere in Europe?
:14:00. > :14:04.Yes, I think it will. Although I'm not expecting any miracles here. I
:14:04. > :14:08.think it will shift the debate in Europe, and it will be much more
:14:08. > :14:11.pro-growth, and realising the limits of austerity. But I don't
:14:11. > :14:15.expect this to happen overnight. At the end of the day we still need to
:14:15. > :14:20.implement the programme. We have gone a very long way. Remember at
:14:20. > :14:26.the beginning of this drama, we were at a deficit of 16%, it is now
:14:26. > :14:30.down to 9%. Our competitiveness had eroded over 12 years, we have
:14:30. > :14:34.clawed back half of what we lost entering the eurozone. A lot of
:14:34. > :14:38.structural reforms have been put in place. It is not as if Greece has
:14:38. > :14:41.been doing the work, it is clearly we need more time and a Government
:14:41. > :14:43.committed to doing this. I hope this is what will emerge. Either in
:14:43. > :14:48.the talks tomorrow or right after the next election, through some
:14:48. > :14:50.kind of coalition. Just before we go, difference in atmosphere, with
:14:50. > :14:54.President Hollande? I think the eurozone leaders will talk more
:14:54. > :14:58.about a growth strategy, that will help on the margins, it takes time
:14:58. > :15:02.for a growth strategy to be implemented and feed into the real
:15:02. > :15:09.economy, we don't have that time. Wednesday's unemployment figures
:15:09. > :15:12.expected to hit a 13-year high at a whopping 2.75 million, are hardly
:15:12. > :15:15.likely to do anything to alleviate the gloom generated by the
:15:15. > :15:18.eurocrisis, and the failure to generate growth in the British
:15:18. > :15:22.economy. Is there anything more to be done to help get the British
:15:22. > :15:26.economy moving, and are we looking for growth in all the wrong places.
:15:26. > :15:36.Allegra Stratton has more on the debate inside and outside the
:15:36. > :15:36.
:15:36. > :15:42.Government. A factory, some where, anywhere in
:15:42. > :15:47.the United Kingdom. Honest work for honest folk, not
:15:47. > :15:51.for horny-handed sons of toil, but financial engineering that toppled
:15:51. > :15:55.economies, real engineering, to engineer real growth. They call it
:15:55. > :15:59."rebalancing the economy". It is really tough, hard, Spain taking
:15:59. > :16:02.work, getting our economy to grow - - painstaking work to get our
:16:02. > :16:07.economy to grow, but it must be the right thing to try to deliver
:16:07. > :16:10.growth based on real hard work and effort, proper jobs, proper
:16:10. > :16:14.manufacturing, proper industry, based on the fact that Government
:16:14. > :16:22.can't go on spending and borrowing beyond its means. This is our plan
:16:22. > :16:27.for growth, we want the words "made in Britain", "created in Britain",
:16:27. > :16:31."designed in brain", to drive our nation forward. A Britain carried
:16:31. > :16:34.aloft by the mark of the makers, that is how we will support jobs
:16:34. > :16:37.and families. The rebalancing of the economy may not be that
:16:37. > :16:40.balanced afterall. Two academics have written this paper for the
:16:40. > :16:43.Cabinet Office, leak today Newsnight. In it they say
:16:43. > :16:48.manufacturing is a very poor source of employment, it yields very few
:16:48. > :16:51.jobs, they warn them off that as an emphasis for the rebalanced economy.
:16:51. > :16:57.This is for the Foresight Office, looking at trends in the British
:16:57. > :17:07.economy for the next 20-80 years, the March of the makers may have
:17:07. > :17:22.
:17:22. > :17:26.few -- march of the makers may have The march of the makers won't
:17:26. > :17:30.happen in employment terms. It is important for some manufacturing,
:17:30. > :17:35.exports, manufacturing is still useful for that. We won't see large
:17:35. > :17:38.numbers of people turning up at the factory gates at 9.00am, any time
:17:39. > :17:42.soon. Clearly what is the right way to
:17:42. > :17:46.rebalance the economy is a debate people are just turning up to, but
:17:46. > :17:49.that debate is much further along the production line in the state of
:17:49. > :17:53.the UK's economy right now. On the backbenches, Tory MPs hope that
:17:53. > :17:58.George Osbourne uses any meltdown in the euro as cover for radical
:17:58. > :18:01.change, tax cuts and a concerted push for deregulation, getting the
:18:01. > :18:04.pissen tos working in the factory of the British economy. Until that
:18:04. > :18:07.point the debate within the machinery of Government is a bit
:18:07. > :18:10.more nuanced. There are those in Government that think not much can
:18:10. > :18:15.be done apart from sit back and watch events on the continent
:18:15. > :18:20.unfold, then there are others who vehemently disagree with, that they
:18:20. > :18:22.think there are things senior Lib Dems and Tories can do and they can
:18:22. > :18:27.get together for a grand push on growth.
:18:27. > :18:31.There will be quad meetings on the economy, where most of the big
:18:31. > :18:35.decisions on the economy are taken, the first push is in construction.
:18:35. > :18:39.As Newsnight reported last week, there is expected to be a new push
:18:39. > :18:44.to use the historically low rates of borrowing the Government
:18:44. > :18:49.currently enjoys, to guarantee spending h this time on
:18:49. > :18:57.construction. Whenever �1 pound spent on housing creates �1.9 in
:18:57. > :19:01.income and economies. People spend the money and wages go up. The most
:19:01. > :19:06.important thing is money stays in the economy. Construction, unlike
:19:06. > :19:11.other things, is actually done on the spot, if you like. There are
:19:11. > :19:14.longer term imfact pacts to it. It allows -- impacts to it, it allows
:19:14. > :19:18.people to have access to skills. And it doesn't create any inflation
:19:18. > :19:21.either, because there is a lot of spare capacity around to build
:19:21. > :19:25.those houses. There are people unemployed with all those skills,
:19:25. > :19:29.that could be made available very easely all this is actually very
:19:29. > :19:33.good for the economy. William Hague once said the euro
:19:33. > :19:43.was like a burning building with no doors. This Government will hope
:19:43. > :19:43.
:19:44. > :19:47.any new generation of hours -- hours will fire proof the economy.
:19:47. > :19:51.I spoke to Mark Prisk earlier, the Business Minister.
:19:51. > :19:57.The Office of Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England are quite
:19:57. > :20:00.clear that the biggest threat here is the crisis in the eurozone to
:20:00. > :20:04.the economy. Is this Government doing enough? I think we are
:20:04. > :20:08.convinced that, first of all, the eurozone countries themselves need
:20:08. > :20:13.to make sure they resolve some of that urn certainty. Here in the UK
:20:13. > :20:16.we are -- uncertainty, here in the UK we are making sure we are a more
:20:16. > :20:20.competitive place to grow business. Are we doing enough? I think we are
:20:20. > :20:24.taking the right steps, do I think we could do more, absolutely, I
:20:24. > :20:28.used to be in business, that is my ethos. The Government has pursued a
:20:28. > :20:32.vision that manufacturing would be the engine of recovery and growth,
:20:33. > :20:37.it hasn't happened? That is a negative view. We have seen over �4
:20:37. > :20:41.billion of investment coming into the automotive sector alone. Very
:20:41. > :20:46.important investments, good for jobs and productivity, exports up.
:20:46. > :20:51.That's all good signs. It is the same with Aerospace, we represent a
:20:51. > :20:55.fifth of all aircraft that leave Toulouse, as Digby Jones likes to
:20:55. > :20:58.point out, a fifth of all that value comes from the UK. We have a
:20:58. > :21:04.good manufacturing base, and we need to grow it further. Are you
:21:04. > :21:09.happy with it so far, a document written for the Cabinet Office says
:21:09. > :21:16.manufacturing doesn't deliver jobs. Look at the autoation in the
:21:16. > :21:18.factories, is not jobs it delivers, it is not jobs? First of all, you
:21:19. > :21:27.are seeing some businesses that went to China to manufacture coming
:21:27. > :21:31.back to the UK. You showed the textile businesses come back to the
:21:31. > :21:36.UK. Just as importantly, of those large business, that is the area we
:21:36. > :21:38.have worked hard. One of the big problems is a skills shortage in
:21:38. > :21:42.manufacturing. Whilst natural leer we are all concerned for the
:21:42. > :21:46.unemployed. We have been working hard to increase training and the
:21:46. > :21:50.support for apprenticeships. very thing that you are saying,
:21:50. > :21:58.there is a skills shortage. This very same paper said actually
:21:58. > :22:01.manufacturers is a very harsh industry for low-skilled work --
:22:02. > :22:07.workers, and it is hard to maintain employment? Manufacturing is the
:22:07. > :22:10.wrong target and you have bet on the wrong horse?
:22:10. > :22:14.I don't believe manufacturing has changed and it is about wider
:22:14. > :22:17.skills and talents. The fact that manufacturers are saying they need
:22:17. > :22:21.more skilled people coming into the work force. Is isn't that why we
:22:21. > :22:24.were right to build up the apprenticeship numbers. The last
:22:24. > :22:28.Government have ignored that, we have been making sure we have
:22:28. > :22:31.record numbers of apprenticeships. You talked at the beginning about
:22:31. > :22:38.the eurozone crises, the eurozone is the main export market, they
:22:38. > :22:41.won't anybody a position to buy anything? They are struggling in
:22:41. > :22:44.main -- They won't be in a position to buy anything? They are
:22:44. > :22:48.struggling and the Governments are struggling. But we shouldn't be
:22:48. > :22:52.wholly negative that nobody will export to Europe. We need to look
:22:52. > :22:57.at the position outside Europe, the position is encouraging. We have
:22:57. > :23:00.seen an increase of 23% in exports to countries outside the eurozone
:23:00. > :23:03.against 2010, it shows we are reaching new markets. Now the
:23:03. > :23:06.Government is training its sights on construction, are you doing
:23:06. > :23:11.enough in construction? We are doing a lot. Is it enough? I think
:23:11. > :23:15.the last three or four years, I'm a chartered surveyor, I know this
:23:15. > :23:18.industry well. This has been a tough three or four years in
:23:18. > :23:22.construction. Is it recession? have to recognise that many parts
:23:22. > :23:26.of that sector have been receding, not all. You look at the latest
:23:26. > :23:29.figures on the new part of private sector housing, that did improve in
:23:29. > :23:33.the last set of statistics. The question you asked is are we doing
:23:34. > :23:37.enough, can we do more. What I would say to you is the National
:23:37. > :23:43.Infrastructure Plan, a �200 billion plan, very important for
:23:43. > :23:45.infrastructure, put anything half a billion for the Building Britain
:23:45. > :23:48.Campaign, very important, just starting at the beginning of the
:23:48. > :23:51.year, showing its colours later in the year. The work I was doing
:23:51. > :23:55.today, at the Building Research Establishment, a really good centre
:23:55. > :23:59.of excellence, remember leading wait. Are we going to see more,
:23:59. > :24:04.minister, for construction in the next few weeks, or not. Will we see
:24:04. > :24:08.more initiatives or not? Let me tell you what I have done today.
:24:08. > :24:13.Are we seeing more things? We have announced today a million pounds
:24:13. > :24:17.extra to keep the UK's competitive advantage in green construction.
:24:17. > :24:22.million? That is to develop the programme so the market can be
:24:22. > :24:27.created. It is �100, �1 billion programme in terms of the market.
:24:27. > :24:34.We are making sure we are putting in the seed corn to make it happen.
:24:34. > :24:44.Today the violence continued in Syria.
:24:44. > :24:46.
:24:46. > :24:50.All lack Akbar, Allah hu Akbar. Unver vied fighting showed --
:24:50. > :24:54.verified fighting in Al-Rastan. There are reports of 30 lives lost.
:24:54. > :24:58.A human rights group says 23 Government soldiers were also
:24:58. > :25:02.killed in what appears to be an attempt to retake the town. It is
:25:02. > :25:06.easy to forget this uprising began as a peaceful protest. As we have
:25:06. > :25:13.found on the most recent trip to Syria, voices of moderation are
:25:13. > :25:17.being drowned out by the escalation in violence.
:25:17. > :25:25.The old city of Damascus. Syria has always been famed for the kindness
:25:25. > :25:34.of its people. It is what I have seen in the many
:25:34. > :25:42.years since I have been coming here. The Syrians are so beautiful, the
:25:42. > :25:45.juice seller things, like the rose in Jasmine. Stkpwhrs it is what
:25:45. > :25:53.makes the current violence so shocking.
:25:53. > :25:59.It is easy to forget it began as a peaceful protest.
:25:59. > :26:04.Welcome to Damascus. Those voices are still there. Last
:26:04. > :26:10.month this woman stood alone outside parliament, holding a
:26:10. > :26:15.banner "Stop the killing". Passers by stopped to applaud her message.
:26:15. > :26:23.The authorities detained her. Her act of bravery became something
:26:23. > :26:27.much bigger. They now call her the Woman in the Red Dress.
:26:27. > :26:31.TRANSLATION: The main thing is it sent a message to everyone that
:26:31. > :26:34.they can make a change, no matter how small. It start off as a scream
:26:34. > :26:42.of anger, it spread widely. Even gathering people who support the
:26:42. > :26:48.regime. We all want to stop the killing, and build a Syria for call
:26:48. > :26:51.Syrians. How much hope do you have this will be resolved peacefully?
:26:51. > :26:55.TRANSLATION: Hope is not something abstract for us. When we help each
:26:55. > :26:58.other there is hope. When we try to open dialogue, to build bridges
:26:58. > :27:04.with people who have different views, we have hope. We look for
:27:04. > :27:08.hope, day in, day out. Shortly after we met her, she was detained
:27:08. > :27:14.again. Everywhere I go, regime supporters
:27:14. > :27:18.talk to me about the need to save Syria. But the Government has now
:27:18. > :27:25.unleashed a new campaign of arresting intellectuals and
:27:25. > :27:29.activists, as if everyone is a threat.
:27:29. > :27:36.Footage sent by citizen activists are an effort to show what they say
:27:36. > :27:41.is still a one-sided war. Leyla is one of them. She was
:27:41. > :27:45.recently released from detention, and still believes only peaceful
:27:45. > :27:54.solutions will work. There are some people now who say Syria is in the
:27:54. > :28:04.midst of a civil war? No, no it is not. It is still regime-versus -
:28:04. > :28:07.people. If it is regime-versus-the people, what percentage are
:28:07. > :28:11.peaceful protestors? A very large percentage. The estimates of the
:28:11. > :28:15.Free Syrian Army is thousands, maybe tens of thousands, there are
:28:15. > :28:19.hundreds of thousands of activists and people on the ground. Far, far
:28:19. > :28:24.more. I know weapons seem louder, and they are more attractive for
:28:24. > :28:34.news, and so on. But it is definitely, definitely still much
:28:34. > :28:40.more peaceful than not. There are moderates on the other
:28:40. > :28:44.side too. They speak of gradual, peaceful change. But with every
:28:44. > :28:53.explosion, their fear grows, that Syria stands to lose more than it
:28:53. > :28:57.gains, as the country is remade. have three news correspondents in
:28:57. > :29:03.the bureau. This man has Government approval to set up a bureau for a
:29:03. > :29:06.new TV channel. He says they will try to tell a different story.
:29:06. > :29:13.are definitely against foreign intervention in Syrian affairs, we
:29:13. > :29:18.are against a military solution in both ways. Coming from either side.
:29:18. > :29:22.We want a political solution that is based on the right of every
:29:22. > :29:25.civilian to be able to express his views. But his own worry now is
:29:25. > :29:29.security. It is making people feel Syria is not the same any more.
:29:29. > :29:34.Tasting coffee in the morning is not the same any more. I think this
:29:34. > :29:41.is, to us, the main concern. Our own security, the security of the
:29:41. > :29:44.country, the future of the state. But to preserve itself, the state
:29:44. > :29:49.doesn't want to disturb the present order, it want to keep things the
:29:49. > :29:58.way they are. Changing as little as possible. For all the talk of
:29:58. > :30:01.reform, the political space just isn't opening.
:30:01. > :30:07.This man tried to play by the rules. Last year President Al-Assad
:30:07. > :30:12.invited him to take part in a political dialogue.
:30:12. > :30:16.Today he showed me pictures of his two sons, arrested last week. He
:30:16. > :30:24.said no news, except others detained with them told him they
:30:24. > :30:27.had been tortured. TRANSLATION: It's not easy to lose
:30:27. > :30:33.two members of your family. And it's not just my children. The
:30:33. > :30:40.whole country is in agony, my personal pain is the country's pain.
:30:40. > :30:45.Do you worry, it has been 14 months, and every month that passes, there
:30:46. > :30:50.is more guns, more explosions and the voices like your's, calling for
:30:50. > :30:55.peaceful protest, are getting drowned out, getting smaller?
:30:55. > :31:00.TRANSLATION: Violence only leads to violence. Blood only leads to blood.
:31:00. > :31:03.But when you see the amount of violence by the regime so far, we
:31:04. > :31:08.haven't seen a proportionate reaction by protestors. When your
:31:08. > :31:13.sons and brothers and interests sisters are killed, you can't blame
:31:13. > :31:17.people who take up arms, only angels would refrain.
:31:18. > :31:22.No-one wants to lose what is good about this country, so many still
:31:22. > :31:29.hope it can be done. But after so much violence, views
:31:29. > :31:37.are hardening. The maximum of one side still isn't
:31:37. > :31:47.even the minimum of the other. If they don't reach a middle ground,
:31:47. > :31:50.everyone stands to lose. The latest batch of Olympic tickets
:31:51. > :31:54.goes on sale this week, but there is one group who won't be sweating
:31:54. > :31:57.it out on the telephone booking line, there will be a record number
:31:58. > :32:01.of Olympic VIPs in London this summer. We already know about the
:32:01. > :32:05.free tickets, the transport, the accommodation perks they will get,
:32:05. > :32:10.but priority access to healthcare, that is a new one. Newsnight has
:32:10. > :32:14.been investigating claims from senior doctors that members of the
:32:14. > :32:21.called "Olympic Family", will receive special access to the most
:32:21. > :32:31.experienced NHS staff, if they fall seriously ill during the games.
:32:31. > :32:35.The greatest show on earth is on the way. 10,000 athletes will soon
:32:35. > :32:42.be landing in London. On board with them, sporting
:32:42. > :32:47.officials, team members, and sponsors. Anden extra 25,000 VIPs,
:32:47. > :32:53.-- an extra 25,000 VIPs, a record number. While the public can expect
:32:53. > :33:00.queues and crowds this summer, that elite group, the called "Olympic
:33:00. > :33:04.Family", will get to see a very different side to the games.
:33:04. > :33:09.The full red carpet treatment, from booking out the best London hotel,
:33:09. > :33:13.to skipping the queue at Heathrow Airport. None of this for the
:33:13. > :33:20.Olympic Family, they will get special dedicated lanes through
:33:20. > :33:24.passport control. And, if an accident happens, or they fall ill,
:33:24. > :33:27.well the VIP treatment doesn't stop there, thousands of dignitaries and
:33:27. > :33:31.sponsors will get free healthcare this summer. But it is the deal
:33:31. > :33:37.they will get at hospitals like this one in central London, that
:33:37. > :33:41.has some doctors ringing their alarm bells. Most of those Olympic
:33:41. > :33:45.VIPs will get free private treatment, at their hotels and the
:33:45. > :33:52.stadium site. But, if they need extra emergency care, they will be
:33:52. > :33:57.sent on to one of three NHS hospitals. Newsnight has seen e-
:33:57. > :34:01.mails between doctors at the largest of those hospitals, UCLH in
:34:01. > :34:05.central London. It is clear, as far as they are concerned, all of those
:34:05. > :34:15.Olympic VIPs are to be given the kind of attention, the kind of 24-
:34:15. > :34:26.
:34:26. > :34:31.carat service, that most of us can There are worries about the impact
:34:31. > :34:41.of rushing consultants to Olympic Family patients within 30 minutes
:34:41. > :34:48.
:34:48. > :34:53.All this at a hospital where the typical wait for treatment is
:34:53. > :34:58.almost an hour-and-a-half. I think it is completely
:34:58. > :35:03.unacceptable, and it is morally wrong. The idea of they will being
:35:03. > :35:08.able to see a senior consultant, rather than whoever happens to be
:35:08. > :35:15.on duty in the A&E department is completely unjustifiable. It is so
:35:15. > :35:21.wrong, I cannot even imagine it is happening. In fact, neither could
:35:21. > :35:25.LOCOG, the organisers of London 2012, when we put the doctors' e-
:35:25. > :35:29.mails to them this morning. They dismissed them and the 30-minute
:35:29. > :35:39.arrangement, as an urban myth. That is despite another Olympic hospital,
:35:39. > :35:43.
:35:43. > :35:48.designated to handle Olympic NHS London, given extra money to
:35:48. > :35:54.meet healthcare during the games, told us the same thing, that was at
:35:54. > :35:58.2.00pm this afternoon. By 5.00pm, three hours later, that message had
:35:58. > :36:01.mysteriously changed. NHS London called to say the 30-minute promise
:36:01. > :36:05.was actually just part of an early draft. They are now, tonight, in
:36:05. > :36:11.the process of issuing new final guidance, which will not include
:36:11. > :36:16.that guarantee. UCLH, the hospital where those
:36:16. > :36:21.concerns were raised, said they are putting aside four beds, especially
:36:21. > :36:26.for Olympic Family members, they claim no VIP will get preferential
:36:26. > :36:29.treatment. This evening they stressed there is no 30-minute
:36:29. > :36:33.fast-track deal. But healthcare is only one area where there are
:36:33. > :36:37.worries that Olympic VIPs could be getting special treatment this
:36:37. > :36:42.summer. Just minutes after the capital was awarded the games, Seb
:36:42. > :36:48.Coe was handed the copy of the host city contract to sign. This, though,
:36:48. > :36:53.is the short version. The full thing runs to more than
:36:53. > :36:58.3,000-pages. A list of terms and conditions, drawn up by the
:36:58. > :37:06.International Olympic Committee. But all this was only made public
:37:06. > :37:11.after a two-year fight by Freedom of information campaigners. We know
:37:11. > :37:16.that Olympic VIPs and top sponsors will get free, chaufer driven
:37:16. > :37:20.transport this summer. More than 3,000 BMWs are being provided to do
:37:20. > :37:25.just that. They will travel in special traffic
:37:25. > :37:31.lanes to and from the Olympic site in the East End of London. So s
:37:31. > :37:35.after speeding through immigration at eet throw, VIP -- Heathrow,
:37:35. > :37:39.those VIPs will be able to shuttle from the hotels to the games and
:37:39. > :37:44.back, all to a standard set out in 2005, as part of that massive
:37:44. > :37:48.contract. In any sport you have to say that
:37:48. > :37:58.anybody coming over, at that level, has to be treated like honoured
:37:58. > :37:59.
:37:59. > :38:03.guests, but they don't have to be treated like gods. It might all
:38:03. > :38:08.feel some way from the Olympic ideal, to play sport at the service
:38:08. > :38:13.of human kind. The International Olympic Committee...But One of the
:38:13. > :38:17.key figures behind London's winning bid, says that, taken as a whole,
:38:17. > :38:22.cities have to agree to the IOC's terms and conditions, if they want
:38:22. > :38:28.to be taken seriously. The City of London! There will be some people,
:38:28. > :38:33.I have no doubt, who will look at this and say that the people in
:38:33. > :38:37.positions of authority in the Olympic movement, and across world
:38:37. > :38:41.sport are getting treated quite royally. That is the level of he
:38:41. > :38:46.can specktation in world sport. If we hadn't committed to delivering
:38:46. > :38:51.that, as part of the bid process, which is a requirement of the IOC,
:38:51. > :38:56.then, frankly, the bid would have failed.
:38:56. > :39:00.�9 billion of tax-payers' money has been spent, building the venues for
:39:00. > :39:05.this summer's games, so the argument goes, it make sense to
:39:05. > :39:09.treat those 20,000 VIPs well this summer. Afterall, they will decide
:39:09. > :39:14.where future world and European Championshipss are held. But did
:39:14. > :39:19.London promise too much, did we go too far, and spend too much.
:39:20. > :39:24.It is a kind of moral obligation of a host city to reveal the excesses
:39:24. > :39:30.of these demands from the likes of the IOC. To make a bit of a fuss
:39:30. > :39:34.about it, to push back and to try to improve the game for the next
:39:34. > :39:37.round of bidding cities. Is London and the bid organisers, are they
:39:37. > :39:41.pushing back hard enough at the moment? I don't think so. I think
:39:41. > :39:46.there has been too much timidity, to be honest, amongst the
:39:46. > :39:51.organisers of the London Olympics. This summer might leave a sporting
:39:51. > :39:56.legacy, it should leave some impressive infrastructure, it could
:39:56. > :40:00.be even on budget, but it won't shine much light on the special
:40:00. > :40:04.treatment reserved for 25,000 members of the Olympic scam family,
:40:04. > :40:07.or the hoops cities have to jump through to host the world's most
:40:07. > :40:12.prestigious party. We haven't received a response from
:40:12. > :40:15.the Department of Health, but NHS London have stressed to us tonight,
:40:15. > :40:21.that treatment in A&E is always a clinical priority first, this
:40:21. > :40:26.applies to everyone. And LOCOG, the London organising commity of the
:40:26. > :40:32.games, says this -- committee of the games, says this is in place
:40:32. > :40:36.for the entire Olympic Family, including operational groups like
:40:36. > :40:43.the BBC, to provide emergency meddle ka, not preferential
:40:43. > :40:47.treatment for our clients. Frank Dobson is with us, and Jim White a
:40:47. > :40:51.sports writer is joining us. Frank Dobson, this seems to be a
:40:51. > :40:55.complete mess, of course athletes who are in trouble and need urgent
:40:55. > :40:59.medical attention should have it, of course they should. 25,000
:40:59. > :41:05.members of the Olympic Family, we are not sure what has happened, we
:41:05. > :41:10.are told the homen to hospital is talking about having this --
:41:10. > :41:15.hommerton hospital is talking about having this 30-minute tart. I have
:41:15. > :41:20.heard of an extended family, but 25,000 people is rather a lot. We
:41:20. > :41:24.need to look after the athletes and make sure the athletes can get to
:41:24. > :41:29.every venue on time, not like the mess in Atlanta. I think most
:41:29. > :41:35.people would agree we need to provide for the at lots if any of
:41:35. > :41:44.them do get -- athletes, if any of them do get injured. The idea of
:41:44. > :41:48.providing privileges access to healthcare, for 25,000, most of
:41:49. > :41:52.whom ought to be staying in their own country any way. We saw these
:41:52. > :41:55.e-mails from clinicians, who were saying there is a conflict of
:41:55. > :42:01.interest, if they are designated senior consultant in A&E, and they
:42:01. > :42:07.have to hit somebody at 30 minutes. What happens to an NHS spate they
:42:07. > :42:11.may be waiting to see with a big problem, afterall it is A&E? I know
:42:11. > :42:16.some of the A&E consultants at University College Hospital, one of
:42:16. > :42:19.the finest hospitals in the world. I don't think they will say, I'm
:42:19. > :42:25.sorry, Sepp Blatter, we will look after your broken finger, when
:42:25. > :42:29.somebody has a serious injury from Camden Town. It is a bit of a mess?
:42:29. > :42:33.Let's put it into perspective. There is not 25,000 people, all
:42:33. > :42:39.coming over at the same time requiring emergency treatment on
:42:39. > :42:43.their hernias. Not even if you con sume the sponsor's product are you
:42:43. > :42:47.likely to get that. They are denying preferential treatment, but
:42:48. > :42:50.the point is the principle? It may be a principle, but it is not
:42:50. > :42:54.likely to happen. Let's actually get this straight. They will
:42:54. > :42:58.probably have to deal with maybe two or three people who have
:42:58. > :43:06.overdosed on Coca-Cola, that is about it. Just imagine something
:43:06. > :43:11.else, UCHL are putting four beds aside, the NHS provide a �1.8
:43:11. > :43:17.million. Why not BUPA and one of the other companies sponsor
:43:17. > :43:21.healthcare. Why should the NHS have to do anything? Indeed. They have
:43:21. > :43:28.said it will be at hotels and chances there, this is the final
:43:28. > :43:33.back up, if they supped too much champagne, or their spine has gone
:43:33. > :43:38.from sitting sue pine in their fantastically leisurely seats in
:43:38. > :43:41.the stadiums, they will have to be put back upright. Let's put it into
:43:41. > :43:50.perspective. What is more interesting about the contract
:43:50. > :43:54.signed on behalf of the British people, is the amount of stuff
:43:54. > :43:58.coming on to the statutes. If you try to get some coverage for the
:43:58. > :44:03.wrong kind of people. The people who aren't sponsoring you,
:44:03. > :44:07.commercial, it is not a commercial thing, it becomes part against the
:44:07. > :44:14.state's law. That is much more worrying than having Sepp Blatter's
:44:14. > :44:19.broken toe being fixed. Are we bending over backwards by producing
:44:19. > :44:25.all this free stuff, not for the athletes but the family? But it is
:44:25. > :44:28.all, like the special lanes, so that Sepp Blatter can get
:44:28. > :44:34.from...Poor Sepp Blatter he's getting it? There is nothing poor
:44:34. > :44:36.about plait Blatter, most football fans think he should be offered
:44:36. > :44:46.euthanasia at University College Hospital! The idea, all these ideas,
:44:46. > :44:48.
:44:48. > :44:52.just show what a set of pufd up, self-important people they are. It
:44:52. > :44:57.is the same as people running football as the Olympic Games, they
:44:57. > :45:01.take the sport, which is wonderful, it brings it into some disrepute,
:45:01. > :45:07.really. According to the Times, the Civil Service getting in on the act.
:45:07. > :45:12.This is denied by the Government, Whitehall hall tell staff, stay at
:45:12. > :45:16.home for the summer. Civil servants have been told they can work from
:45:16. > :45:20.home for seven weeks during the Olympics? That is presumably
:45:20. > :45:24.because of the traffic chaos in London. In my constituency, round
:45:24. > :45:28.Russell Square, there will be coaching, it will be the pick-up
:45:28. > :45:32.point for the journalists to get in the coaches, to go on the special
:45:32. > :45:35.lanes out to Stratford and everywhere else. We are the
:45:35. > :45:39.important people, we have got to be there. I would agree with Jim on
:45:39. > :45:43.that. I would remember they got to the thing they are commentating on,
:45:43. > :45:49.rather than just speculating from a distance. Thank you both very much
:45:49. > :45:59.indeed. Tomorrow morning's front pages now. The Financial Times,
:45:59. > :46:29.
:46:29. > :46:34.faith fading it eurofirewall is the That's all from Newsnight tonight,