Browse content similar to 14/05/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Was this the biggest Greek myth of all, that they would ever make the | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
euro work? Ats politicians continue to talk in | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
Athens, across the channels of Europe, there is talk of exit. How | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
will they depart, and will they receive chaos this their wake for | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
the rest of us. We speak to a Greek cabinet minister, still waiting to | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
see if his services are required. And debate what the consequences | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
and calculation might be. As they look in Whitehall if the best | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
defence against contagion is growth, where will it come from. | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
The Government talks about rebalancing the economy, I have | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
learned even their own experts doubt more money in manufacturing | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
means more jobs. We will ask a Government minister | :00:50. | :00:57. | |
what the plan is. Another bloody day in Syria, we | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
report on how moderates on both sides are increasingly squeezed out. | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
And Olympic VIPs, it gets better all the time, we know about the | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
free tickets, the fancy hotels and the chauffeur drives, Newsnight | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
goes in search of the truth about healthcare on offer for tens of | :01:14. | :01:24. | |
:01:24. | :01:25. | ||
thousands in the Olympic family. The markets plunged today, and | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
tomorrow morning the Greek President will make a last-ditch | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
attempt to form a Government of National Unity, but fresh elections | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
seem likely. Across Europe Central Bankers and politicians have | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
started to talk openly of a Greek exit from the euro. What are the | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
options on the table, and the calculation the players are making. | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
Will it be chaos, more muddle through, or could it actually work | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
for both Greece and Europe. There is nothing we journalists like for | :01:49. | :01:57. | |
more stirring the creative juice, than a whacky metaphor. You are not | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
alone if you think the woes of the single currency are a bit like a | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
maze, from which there appears to be no exit. Three months ago after | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
Greece got its second bail-out, many people, like the deposed | :02:13. | :02:15. | |
President Sarkozy believed the crisis was solved. Now we're back | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
in it, now the only way out seems like a Greek exit. There were | :02:21. | :02:29. | |
further talks in Athens, as the country separates into pro- and | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
anti-bail-out factions. The Greeks are leaving their home land into | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
the safe lands of Surrey or Knightsbridge. Many will still have | :02:38. | :02:44. | |
assets based in Greece. It points to confidence ebbing away, if it | :02:44. | :02:51. | |
does, Grex will come sooner than we think. -- grex it will come sooner | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
than we think. There is an acceptance that the Greeks will run | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
out of money, that the Government won't have enough to pay pensioners | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
and public sector workers. When it happens, there will be a run on the | :03:02. | :03:10. | |
system, and very quickly Greece will have to leave the euro. | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
policy maker is talking openly of that yet, you can bet it will be on | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
the menu privately, as eurozone finance ministers meet this evening | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
in Brussels. Some of their Central Bankers, notably those from Belgium | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
and Ireland, are already whispering aloud, what a eurozone minus Greece | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
might look like. One option is to create two parallel currencies, a | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
softer one used domestically for day-to-day things, and a harder one, | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
which would repay Greece's debts, denominated in euros. This is a | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
solution that would certainly have problems. It would allow the | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
economy to start to grow again. More to the point, allow it to be | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
able to operate still within the EU and the eurozone itself. Its | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
obligations aren't torn up immediately. If you tear up you | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
will the overseas obligations, the opportunity for Greece to go back | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
to the markets to raise money again or obtain debt support | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
internationally, is close to zero. This is a mechanism which provides | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
the best of both worlds, but still with very difficult mechanisms to | :04:11. | :04:20. | |
manage. Of course, there is a recent | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
example of a small country which decided not to repay its enormous | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
bank debts, despite heavy pressure to do so from the EU. Iceland's | :04:29. | :04:37. | |
banks collapsed under their own weight in 2008, Rick Vic said it | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
would allow them to go -- Reykjavik said they would allow them to go to | :04:42. | :04:48. | |
the wall. The Government decided to prioritise the domestic economy. It | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
refused to bail-out foreign bankers and creditors, and used the money | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
to support the domestic banking system and economy. It let banks go | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
to the wall? It let banks go to the wall, and let foreign creditors | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
take all the losses. Up until now the eurozone thinking has been | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
monochromatic, take your medicine or get thrown to the money market | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
dogs. Voters in France, Greece and recently Germany, have said that an | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
alternative third, or fourth way is required. Whether politicians have | :05:19. | :05:25. | |
the creativity or nouse to find those routes out of the latest | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
crisis is unclear. While talks continue in Greece, the | :05:29. | :05:36. | |
markets are very much in ris- -- risk-off morbgsd which means | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
Britain and Europe wait for a smaller eurozone. | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
The elections may have been over a week ago, but Giorgios | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
Papaconstantinou is still a Greek cabinet minister, for PASOK. We can | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
talk to him now about the efforts to cobble together a Government in | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
Athens. We have a Greek specialist from the your racialia group, and a | :05:59. | :06:08. | |
specialist in the debt -- your racialia group, and a specialist in | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
the -- The Greeks have to deliver millions of euros tomorrow, no | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
authorisation from the Greek Government to come, will it happen? | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
We will have to wait until tomorrow to see whether it will happen. It | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
is one of the hold-out bonds that did not participate in the exchange | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
offer. A decision needs to be made, and it will be announced tomorrow | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
whether that obligation is honoured or not. That is one of, only in a | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
sense, a side bar to the main event, as to whether or not you can | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
actually form a Government. All the talk today I gather, there has been | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
talk of a technocrat Government. What is what are the chances of | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
being able to pull that off? Well, as you know, these elections | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
produced a very fragmented result. Traditionally Greece, the first | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
party would get around 45% of the vote, the second one would get | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
around 40%. In this case none of the parties got over 20%. The | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
largest party got 19%. So, this is a very different result from what | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
we are used to. Discussions are on going at the moment, between the | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
leaders of the party, and the President of the Republic, to see | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
whether we can form a coalition. Because it is clear that it is time | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
for coalition politics in Greece. It is obviously in your interest to | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
make sure you don't have another election. Because the anti-bail-out | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
parties are growing their own votes. A latest opinion poll puts them at | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
20%. That makes them a considerable force, they won't do a deal with | :07:35. | :07:41. | |
you, will they? I think the interests of not holding another | :07:41. | :07:47. | |
election is perhaps not so much whether the anti-bail out parties | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
would go. It is because Greece is running out of time. We are running | :07:50. | :07:57. | |
out of money, and We need a Government as soon as possible. The | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
discussions today didn't produce a result. Hopefully they will be | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
resuming tomorrow, and hopefully we will manage to get a coalition. The | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
latest proposal on the table is that of a technocratic Government, | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
that would have the support of at least three parties, possibly four. | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
The conundrum here, look anything on Greece, is Greek people say over | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
and over that they want to stay in the euro, but they actual low want | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
to renegotiate the terms of the bail out again and again. These two | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
things are incompatible, it is a dream, it is a nightmare? Well, | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
indeed, in eight out of ten Greek people want to stay in the euro, | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
consistently, all the polls show that. But they are not prepared to | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
take a hit. They are not prepared to take the austerity measures they | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
need to talk. It doesn't make any sense? That is right. This is right. | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
This is the fifth year of a recession, people are hurting, | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
people are seeing their salaries cut by up to 40%, taxes have gone | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
up. One in two young people is unemployed, unemployment rates | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
overall is over 20%. So this is a vote of anger, it is a vote of | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
disillusionment, it is a vote of protest. It is not necessarily a | :09:07. | :09:14. | |
vote of rejection. It certainly isn't a vote that believes that the | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
programmes of these praerts will ever be implemented -- parties will | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
ever be implemented. The programmes of some of the leftist parties are | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
right out of the eurozone. Is the Iceland model of default hold any | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
attractions for Greece? No. We have had the biggest debt restructuring | :09:34. | :09:40. | |
in world history. We behaved 50 percentage points off our national | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
debt. But this was a debt restructuring, together with our | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
European partners and the IMF. It was a voluntary debt restructuring. | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
Which could happen only because our European partners agreed to | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
recapitalise the Greek banks, and help us in this sequence. We cannot | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
compare a country of 350,000 people, which is what Iceland is, with a | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
eurozone member of 11 million people. That has the same currency | :10:06. | :10:12. | |
as other countries. Megan, do you think that an exit, however chaotic, | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
muddled, whatever, is inevitable? do think an exit is inevitable, and | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
Greece could finally return to sustainable growth if it were to | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
exit the eurozone. Choreography is key. It is no in nobody's best | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
interests to have a disorderly exit. From your point of view, you keep | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
kicking the idea of austerity into the long grass, longer and longer, | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
and that in itself becomes a strategy? It has been a strategy | :10:38. | :10:43. | |
for the last two years. The reality is that Greece, with the second | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
bail out has managed to get more funding than the first bail out. | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
The axe page needs to be renegotiated, and I think that from | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
a troika side, there is a willingness to renegotiate the | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
package on the margin. For that we need a workable Government. And now | :10:58. | :11:04. | |
in Greece we don't have one. What chance of finding one? PASOK, they | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
are not going to make it without the marginal parties, and the | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
marginal parties are gaining ground and they are anti-bail out? You are | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
right. The chances of creating a Government during these rounds of | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
talks is fairly slim, most likely we are heading for a second | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
election. There is a risk it could be equally inconclusive. If it is, | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
then you head towards the end of June, where you are to be prepared | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
to put the austerity measures in place to get the bail out that the | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
country needs to pay pensions and workers? That is right. The take- | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
home message is it almost doesn't matter if Greece puts a Government | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
together in the next two days, or the next election, whatever happens | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
the coalition won't be sustainable. And Greece will head to elections | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
again by the end of the year. the talk is of contagion, where do | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
you think the worst hit will be? have already seen t the worst hit | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
will go straight to Spain. That is why the troika will be willing to | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
play ball with whatever Government arises in Greece. The troika has no | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
interest in Greece defaulting and leaving the eurozone now, when | :12:11. | :12:17. | |
Spain is right in the centre of this crisis is. We have seen as | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
drama has arisen out of Greece, bond yields in Spain has gone up. | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
We have seen direct contagion from Greece to Spain. Greece is one | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
question, but Spain is much bigger and more systemically important for | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
the eurozone. What is your analysis on Spain? I totally agree, the | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
circumstances and time play in favour of Greece, for the time | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
being. The moment in which you go for a euro exit, you break one of | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
the biggest taboos, that the euro is unbreakable. Once you create | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
that kind of precedent, you don't know what will be next. | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
difference is now that we have this kind of permanent financial | :12:51. | :12:57. | |
firewall, that will stop the spread, no? We don't have it yet. The EU | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
bail out funds have to raise the money. The IMF countries have | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
pledged the money but it isn't there yet. Spain is heading | :13:03. | :13:10. | |
straight for a bail out, it isn't quite there yet F Greece defaulted | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
and exited now, Spain would need a bail out now, and they don't have | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
the money in place. For all these reasons there is no question that | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
Greece will be allowed to go, there will be a negotiation between | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
Brussels and Berlin? As long as we see them still committed to the | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
core of the programme, and there is a willingness to negotiate on the | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
side, that is a key condition coming are from Brussels, and | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
specifically from Berlin. What do you think the view looks like from | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
Athens of the new French President Hollande, will that change the | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
atmosphere, do you think, in Europe? Giorgios Papaconstantinou, | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
do you think the election of President Hollande, who will meet | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
Angela Merkel tomorrow night, will change the atmosphere in Europe? | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
Yes, I think it will. Although I'm not expecting any miracles here. I | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
think it will shift the debate in Europe, and it will be much more | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
pro-growth, and realising the limits of austerity. But I don't | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
expect this to happen overnight. At the end of the day we still need to | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
implement the programme. We have gone a very long way. Remember at | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
the beginning of this drama, we were at a deficit of 16%, it is now | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
down to 9%. Our competitiveness had eroded over 12 years, we have | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
clawed back half of what we lost entering the eurozone. A lot of | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
structural reforms have been put in place. It is not as if Greece has | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
been doing the work, it is clearly we need more time and a Government | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
committed to doing this. I hope this is what will emerge. Either in | :14:41. | :14:43. | |
the talks tomorrow or right after the next election, through some | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
kind of coalition. Just before we go, difference in atmosphere, with | :14:48. | :14:50. | |
President Hollande? I think the eurozone leaders will talk more | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
about a growth strategy, that will help on the margins, it takes time | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
for a growth strategy to be implemented and feed into the real | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
economy, we don't have that time. Wednesday's unemployment figures | :15:02. | :15:09. | |
expected to hit a 13-year high at a whopping 2.75 million, are hardly | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
likely to do anything to alleviate the gloom generated by the | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
eurocrisis, and the failure to generate growth in the British | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
economy. Is there anything more to be done to help get the British | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
economy moving, and are we looking for growth in all the wrong places. | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
Allegra Stratton has more on the debate inside and outside the | :15:26. | :15:36. | |
:15:36. | :15:36. | ||
Government. A factory, some where, anywhere in | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
the United Kingdom. Honest work for honest folk, not | :15:42. | :15:47. | |
for horny-handed sons of toil, but financial engineering that toppled | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
economies, real engineering, to engineer real growth. They call it | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
"rebalancing the economy". It is really tough, hard, Spain taking | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
work, getting our economy to grow - - painstaking work to get our | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
economy to grow, but it must be the right thing to try to deliver | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
growth based on real hard work and effort, proper jobs, proper | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
manufacturing, proper industry, based on the fact that Government | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
can't go on spending and borrowing beyond its means. This is our plan | :16:14. | :16:22. | |
for growth, we want the words "made in Britain", "created in Britain", | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
"designed in brain", to drive our nation forward. A Britain carried | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
aloft by the mark of the makers, that is how we will support jobs | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
and families. The rebalancing of the economy may not be that | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
balanced afterall. Two academics have written this paper for the | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
Cabinet Office, leak today Newsnight. In it they say | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
manufacturing is a very poor source of employment, it yields very few | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
jobs, they warn them off that as an emphasis for the rebalanced economy. | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
This is for the Foresight Office, looking at trends in the British | :16:51. | :16:57. | |
economy for the next 20-80 years, the March of the makers may have | :16:57. | :17:07. | |
:17:07. | :17:22. | ||
few -- march of the makers may have The march of the makers won't | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
happen in employment terms. It is important for some manufacturing, | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
exports, manufacturing is still useful for that. We won't see large | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
numbers of people turning up at the factory gates at 9.00am, any time | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
soon. Clearly what is the right way to | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
rebalance the economy is a debate people are just turning up to, but | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
that debate is much further along the production line in the state of | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
the UK's economy right now. On the backbenches, Tory MPs hope that | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
George Osbourne uses any meltdown in the euro as cover for radical | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
change, tax cuts and a concerted push for deregulation, getting the | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
pissen tos working in the factory of the British economy. Until that | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
point the debate within the machinery of Government is a bit | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
more nuanced. There are those in Government that think not much can | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
be done apart from sit back and watch events on the continent | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
unfold, then there are others who vehemently disagree with, that they | :18:15. | :18:20. | |
think there are things senior Lib Dems and Tories can do and they can | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
get together for a grand push on growth. | :18:22. | :18:27. | |
There will be quad meetings on the economy, where most of the big | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
decisions on the economy are taken, the first push is in construction. | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
As Newsnight reported last week, there is expected to be a new push | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
to use the historically low rates of borrowing the Government | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
currently enjoys, to guarantee spending h this time on | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
construction. Whenever �1 pound spent on housing creates �1.9 in | :18:49. | :18:57. | |
income and economies. People spend the money and wages go up. The most | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
important thing is money stays in the economy. Construction, unlike | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
other things, is actually done on the spot, if you like. There are | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
longer term imfact pacts to it. It allows -- impacts to it, it allows | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
people to have access to skills. And it doesn't create any inflation | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
either, because there is a lot of spare capacity around to build | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
those houses. There are people unemployed with all those skills, | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
that could be made available very easely all this is actually very | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
good for the economy. William Hague once said the euro | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
was like a burning building with no doors. This Government will hope | :19:33. | :19:43. | |
:19:43. | :19:43. | ||
any new generation of hours -- hours will fire proof the economy. | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
I spoke to Mark Prisk earlier, the Business Minister. | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
The Office of Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England are quite | :19:51. | :19:57. | |
clear that the biggest threat here is the crisis in the eurozone to | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
the economy. Is this Government doing enough? I think we are | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
convinced that, first of all, the eurozone countries themselves need | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
to make sure they resolve some of that urn certainty. Here in the UK | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
we are -- uncertainty, here in the UK we are making sure we are a more | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
competitive place to grow business. Are we doing enough? I think we are | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
taking the right steps, do I think we could do more, absolutely, I | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
used to be in business, that is my ethos. The Government has pursued a | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
vision that manufacturing would be the engine of recovery and growth, | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
it hasn't happened? That is a negative view. We have seen over �4 | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
billion of investment coming into the automotive sector alone. Very | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
important investments, good for jobs and productivity, exports up. | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
That's all good signs. It is the same with Aerospace, we represent a | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
fifth of all aircraft that leave Toulouse, as Digby Jones likes to | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
point out, a fifth of all that value comes from the UK. We have a | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
good manufacturing base, and we need to grow it further. Are you | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
happy with it so far, a document written for the Cabinet Office says | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
manufacturing doesn't deliver jobs. Look at the autoation in the | :21:09. | :21:16. | |
factories, is not jobs it delivers, it is not jobs? First of all, you | :21:16. | :21:18. | |
are seeing some businesses that went to China to manufacture coming | :21:19. | :21:27. | |
back to the UK. You showed the textile businesses come back to the | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
UK. Just as importantly, of those large business, that is the area we | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
have worked hard. One of the big problems is a skills shortage in | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
manufacturing. Whilst natural leer we are all concerned for the | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
unemployed. We have been working hard to increase training and the | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
support for apprenticeships. very thing that you are saying, | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
there is a skills shortage. This very same paper said actually | :21:50. | :21:58. | |
manufacturers is a very harsh industry for low-skilled work -- | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
workers, and it is hard to maintain employment? Manufacturing is the | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
wrong target and you have bet on the wrong horse? | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
I don't believe manufacturing has changed and it is about wider | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
skills and talents. The fact that manufacturers are saying they need | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
more skilled people coming into the work force. Is isn't that why we | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
were right to build up the apprenticeship numbers. The last | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
Government have ignored that, we have been making sure we have | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
record numbers of apprenticeships. You talked at the beginning about | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
the eurozone crises, the eurozone is the main export market, they | :22:31. | :22:38. | |
won't anybody a position to buy anything? They are struggling in | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
main -- They won't be in a position to buy anything? They are | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
struggling and the Governments are struggling. But we shouldn't be | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
wholly negative that nobody will export to Europe. We need to look | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
at the position outside Europe, the position is encouraging. We have | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
seen an increase of 23% in exports to countries outside the eurozone | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
against 2010, it shows we are reaching new markets. Now the | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
Government is training its sights on construction, are you doing | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
enough in construction? We are doing a lot. Is it enough? I think | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
the last three or four years, I'm a chartered surveyor, I know this | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
industry well. This has been a tough three or four years in | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
construction. Is it recession? have to recognise that many parts | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
of that sector have been receding, not all. You look at the latest | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
figures on the new part of private sector housing, that did improve in | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
the last set of statistics. The question you asked is are we doing | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
enough, can we do more. What I would say to you is the National | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
Infrastructure Plan, a �200 billion plan, very important for | :23:37. | :23:43. | |
infrastructure, put anything half a billion for the Building Britain | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
Campaign, very important, just starting at the beginning of the | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
year, showing its colours later in the year. The work I was doing | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
today, at the Building Research Establishment, a really good centre | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
of excellence, remember leading wait. Are we going to see more, | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
minister, for construction in the next few weeks, or not. Will we see | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
more initiatives or not? Let me tell you what I have done today. | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
Are we seeing more things? We have announced today a million pounds | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
extra to keep the UK's competitive advantage in green construction. | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
million? That is to develop the programme so the market can be | :24:17. | :24:22. | |
created. It is �100, �1 billion programme in terms of the market. | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
We are making sure we are putting in the seed corn to make it happen. | :24:27. | :24:34. | |
Today the violence continued in Syria. | :24:34. | :24:44. | |
:24:44. | :24:46. | ||
All lack Akbar, Allah hu Akbar. Unver vied fighting showed -- | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
verified fighting in Al-Rastan. There are reports of 30 lives lost. | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
A human rights group says 23 Government soldiers were also | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
killed in what appears to be an attempt to retake the town. It is | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
easy to forget this uprising began as a peaceful protest. As we have | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
found on the most recent trip to Syria, voices of moderation are | :25:06. | :25:13. | |
being drowned out by the escalation in violence. | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
The old city of Damascus. Syria has always been famed for the kindness | :25:17. | :25:25. | |
of its people. It is what I have seen in the many | :25:25. | :25:34. | |
years since I have been coming here. The Syrians are so beautiful, the | :25:34. | :25:42. | |
juice seller things, like the rose in Jasmine. Stkpwhrs it is what | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
makes the current violence so shocking. | :25:45. | :25:53. | |
It is easy to forget it began as a peaceful protest. | :25:53. | :25:59. | |
Welcome to Damascus. Those voices are still there. Last | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
month this woman stood alone outside parliament, holding a | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
banner "Stop the killing". Passers by stopped to applaud her message. | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
The authorities detained her. Her act of bravery became something | :26:15. | :26:23. | |
much bigger. They now call her the Woman in the Red Dress. | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
TRANSLATION: The main thing is it sent a message to everyone that | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
they can make a change, no matter how small. It start off as a scream | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
of anger, it spread widely. Even gathering people who support the | :26:34. | :26:42. | |
regime. We all want to stop the killing, and build a Syria for call | :26:42. | :26:48. | |
Syrians. How much hope do you have this will be resolved peacefully? | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
TRANSLATION: Hope is not something abstract for us. When we help each | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
other there is hope. When we try to open dialogue, to build bridges | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
with people who have different views, we have hope. We look for | :26:58. | :27:04. | |
hope, day in, day out. Shortly after we met her, she was detained | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
again. Everywhere I go, regime supporters | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
talk to me about the need to save Syria. But the Government has now | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
unleashed a new campaign of arresting intellectuals and | :27:18. | :27:25. | |
activists, as if everyone is a threat. | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
Footage sent by citizen activists are an effort to show what they say | :27:29. | :27:36. | |
is still a one-sided war. Leyla is one of them. She was | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
recently released from detention, and still believes only peaceful | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
solutions will work. There are some people now who say Syria is in the | :27:45. | :27:54. | |
midst of a civil war? No, no it is not. It is still regime-versus - | :27:54. | :28:04. | |
people. If it is regime-versus-the people, what percentage are | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
peaceful protestors? A very large percentage. The estimates of the | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
Free Syrian Army is thousands, maybe tens of thousands, there are | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
hundreds of thousands of activists and people on the ground. Far, far | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
more. I know weapons seem louder, and they are more attractive for | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
news, and so on. But it is definitely, definitely still much | :28:24. | :28:34. | |
more peaceful than not. There are moderates on the other | :28:34. | :28:40. | |
side too. They speak of gradual, peaceful change. But with every | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
explosion, their fear grows, that Syria stands to lose more than it | :28:44. | :28:53. | |
gains, as the country is remade. have three news correspondents in | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
the bureau. This man has Government approval to set up a bureau for a | :28:57. | :29:03. | |
new TV channel. He says they will try to tell a different story. | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
are definitely against foreign intervention in Syrian affairs, we | :29:06. | :29:13. | |
are against a military solution in both ways. Coming from either side. | :29:13. | :29:18. | |
We want a political solution that is based on the right of every | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
civilian to be able to express his views. But his own worry now is | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
security. It is making people feel Syria is not the same any more. | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
Tasting coffee in the morning is not the same any more. I think this | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
is, to us, the main concern. Our own security, the security of the | :29:34. | :29:41. | |
country, the future of the state. But to preserve itself, the state | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
doesn't want to disturb the present order, it want to keep things the | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
way they are. Changing as little as possible. For all the talk of | :29:49. | :29:58. | |
reform, the political space just isn't opening. | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
This man tried to play by the rules. Last year President Al-Assad | :30:01. | :30:07. | |
invited him to take part in a political dialogue. | :30:07. | :30:12. | |
Today he showed me pictures of his two sons, arrested last week. He | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
said no news, except others detained with them told him they | :30:16. | :30:24. | |
had been tortured. TRANSLATION: It's not easy to lose | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
two members of your family. And it's not just my children. The | :30:27. | :30:33. | |
whole country is in agony, my personal pain is the country's pain. | :30:33. | :30:40. | |
Do you worry, it has been 14 months, and every month that passes, there | :30:40. | :30:45. | |
is more guns, more explosions and the voices like your's, calling for | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
peaceful protest, are getting drowned out, getting smaller? | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
TRANSLATION: Violence only leads to violence. Blood only leads to blood. | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
But when you see the amount of violence by the regime so far, we | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
haven't seen a proportionate reaction by protestors. When your | :31:04. | :31:08. | |
sons and brothers and interests sisters are killed, you can't blame | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
people who take up arms, only angels would refrain. | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
No-one wants to lose what is good about this country, so many still | :31:18. | :31:22. | |
hope it can be done. But after so much violence, views | :31:22. | :31:29. | |
are hardening. The maximum of one side still isn't | :31:29. | :31:37. | |
even the minimum of the other. If they don't reach a middle ground, | :31:37. | :31:47. | |
everyone stands to lose. The latest batch of Olympic tickets | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
goes on sale this week, but there is one group who won't be sweating | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
it out on the telephone booking line, there will be a record number | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
of Olympic VIPs in London this summer. We already know about the | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
free tickets, the transport, the accommodation perks they will get, | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
but priority access to healthcare, that is a new one. Newsnight has | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
been investigating claims from senior doctors that members of the | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
called "Olympic Family", will receive special access to the most | :32:14. | :32:21. | |
experienced NHS staff, if they fall seriously ill during the games. | :32:21. | :32:31. | |
The greatest show on earth is on the way. 10,000 athletes will soon | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
be landing in London. On board with them, sporting | :32:35. | :32:42. | |
officials, team members, and sponsors. Anden extra 25,000 VIPs, | :32:42. | :32:47. | |
-- an extra 25,000 VIPs, a record number. While the public can expect | :32:47. | :32:53. | |
queues and crowds this summer, that elite group, the called "Olympic | :32:53. | :33:00. | |
Family", will get to see a very different side to the games. | :33:00. | :33:04. | |
The full red carpet treatment, from booking out the best London hotel, | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
to skipping the queue at Heathrow Airport. None of this for the | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
Olympic Family, they will get special dedicated lanes through | :33:13. | :33:20. | |
passport control. And, if an accident happens, or they fall ill, | :33:20. | :33:24. | |
well the VIP treatment doesn't stop there, thousands of dignitaries and | :33:24. | :33:27. | |
sponsors will get free healthcare this summer. But it is the deal | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
they will get at hospitals like this one in central London, that | :33:31. | :33:37. | |
has some doctors ringing their alarm bells. Most of those Olympic | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
VIPs will get free private treatment, at their hotels and the | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
stadium site. But, if they need extra emergency care, they will be | :33:45. | :33:52. | |
sent on to one of three NHS hospitals. Newsnight has seen e- | :33:52. | :33:57. | |
mails between doctors at the largest of those hospitals, UCLH in | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
central London. It is clear, as far as they are concerned, all of those | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
Olympic VIPs are to be given the kind of attention, the kind of 24- | :34:05. | :34:15. | |
:34:15. | :34:26. | ||
carat service, that most of us can There are worries about the impact | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
of rushing consultants to Olympic Family patients within 30 minutes | :34:31. | :34:41. | |
:34:41. | :34:48. | ||
All this at a hospital where the typical wait for treatment is | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
almost an hour-and-a-half. I think it is completely | :34:53. | :34:58. | |
unacceptable, and it is morally wrong. The idea of they will being | :34:58. | :35:03. | |
able to see a senior consultant, rather than whoever happens to be | :35:03. | :35:08. | |
on duty in the A&E department is completely unjustifiable. It is so | :35:08. | :35:15. | |
wrong, I cannot even imagine it is happening. In fact, neither could | :35:15. | :35:21. | |
LOCOG, the organisers of London 2012, when we put the doctors' e- | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
mails to them this morning. They dismissed them and the 30-minute | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
arrangement, as an urban myth. That is despite another Olympic hospital, | :35:29. | :35:39. | |
:35:39. | :35:43. | ||
designated to handle Olympic NHS London, given extra money to | :35:43. | :35:48. | |
meet healthcare during the games, told us the same thing, that was at | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
2.00pm this afternoon. By 5.00pm, three hours later, that message had | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
mysteriously changed. NHS London called to say the 30-minute promise | :35:58. | :36:01. | |
was actually just part of an early draft. They are now, tonight, in | :36:01. | :36:05. | |
the process of issuing new final guidance, which will not include | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
that guarantee. UCLH, the hospital where those | :36:11. | :36:16. | |
concerns were raised, said they are putting aside four beds, especially | :36:16. | :36:21. | |
for Olympic Family members, they claim no VIP will get preferential | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
treatment. This evening they stressed there is no 30-minute | :36:26. | :36:29. | |
fast-track deal. But healthcare is only one area where there are | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
worries that Olympic VIPs could be getting special treatment this | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
summer. Just minutes after the capital was awarded the games, Seb | :36:37. | :36:42. | |
Coe was handed the copy of the host city contract to sign. This, though, | :36:42. | :36:48. | |
is the short version. The full thing runs to more than | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
3,000-pages. A list of terms and conditions, drawn up by the | :36:53. | :36:58. | |
International Olympic Committee. But all this was only made public | :36:58. | :37:06. | |
after a two-year fight by Freedom of information campaigners. We know | :37:06. | :37:11. | |
that Olympic VIPs and top sponsors will get free, chaufer driven | :37:11. | :37:16. | |
transport this summer. More than 3,000 BMWs are being provided to do | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
just that. They will travel in special traffic | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
lanes to and from the Olympic site in the East End of London. So s | :37:25. | :37:31. | |
after speeding through immigration at eet throw, VIP -- Heathrow, | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
those VIPs will be able to shuttle from the hotels to the games and | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
back, all to a standard set out in 2005, as part of that massive | :37:39. | :37:44. | |
contract. In any sport you have to say that | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
anybody coming over, at that level, has to be treated like honoured | :37:48. | :37:58. | |
:37:58. | :37:59. | ||
guests, but they don't have to be treated like gods. It might all | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
feel some way from the Olympic ideal, to play sport at the service | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
of human kind. The International Olympic Committee...But One of the | :38:08. | :38:13. | |
key figures behind London's winning bid, says that, taken as a whole, | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
cities have to agree to the IOC's terms and conditions, if they want | :38:17. | :38:22. | |
to be taken seriously. The City of London! There will be some people, | :38:22. | :38:28. | |
I have no doubt, who will look at this and say that the people in | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
positions of authority in the Olympic movement, and across world | :38:33. | :38:37. | |
sport are getting treated quite royally. That is the level of he | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
can specktation in world sport. If we hadn't committed to delivering | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
that, as part of the bid process, which is a requirement of the IOC, | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
then, frankly, the bid would have failed. | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
�9 billion of tax-payers' money has been spent, building the venues for | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
this summer's games, so the argument goes, it make sense to | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
treat those 20,000 VIPs well this summer. Afterall, they will decide | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
where future world and European Championshipss are held. But did | :39:09. | :39:14. | |
London promise too much, did we go too far, and spend too much. | :39:14. | :39:19. | |
It is a kind of moral obligation of a host city to reveal the excesses | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
of these demands from the likes of the IOC. To make a bit of a fuss | :39:24. | :39:30. | |
about it, to push back and to try to improve the game for the next | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
round of bidding cities. Is London and the bid organisers, are they | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
pushing back hard enough at the moment? I don't think so. I think | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
there has been too much timidity, to be honest, amongst the | :39:41. | :39:46. | |
organisers of the London Olympics. This summer might leave a sporting | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
legacy, it should leave some impressive infrastructure, it could | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
be even on budget, but it won't shine much light on the special | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
treatment reserved for 25,000 members of the Olympic scam family, | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
or the hoops cities have to jump through to host the world's most | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
prestigious party. We haven't received a response from | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
the Department of Health, but NHS London have stressed to us tonight, | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
that treatment in A&E is always a clinical priority first, this | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
applies to everyone. And LOCOG, the London organising commity of the | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
games, says this -- committee of the games, says this is in place | :40:26. | :40:32. | |
for the entire Olympic Family, including operational groups like | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
the BBC, to provide emergency meddle ka, not preferential | :40:36. | :40:43. | |
treatment for our clients. Frank Dobson is with us, and Jim White a | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
sports writer is joining us. Frank Dobson, this seems to be a | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
complete mess, of course athletes who are in trouble and need urgent | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
medical attention should have it, of course they should. 25,000 | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
members of the Olympic Family, we are not sure what has happened, we | :40:59. | :41:05. | |
are told the homen to hospital is talking about having this -- | :41:05. | :41:10. | |
hommerton hospital is talking about having this 30-minute tart. I have | :41:10. | :41:15. | |
heard of an extended family, but 25,000 people is rather a lot. We | :41:15. | :41:20. | |
need to look after the athletes and make sure the athletes can get to | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
every venue on time, not like the mess in Atlanta. I think most | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
people would agree we need to provide for the at lots if any of | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
them do get -- athletes, if any of them do get injured. The idea of | :41:35. | :41:44. | |
providing privileges access to healthcare, for 25,000, most of | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
whom ought to be staying in their own country any way. We saw these | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
e-mails from clinicians, who were saying there is a conflict of | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
interest, if they are designated senior consultant in A&E, and they | :41:55. | :42:01. | |
have to hit somebody at 30 minutes. What happens to an NHS spate they | :42:01. | :42:07. | |
may be waiting to see with a big problem, afterall it is A&E? I know | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
some of the A&E consultants at University College Hospital, one of | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
the finest hospitals in the world. I don't think they will say, I'm | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
sorry, Sepp Blatter, we will look after your broken finger, when | :42:19. | :42:25. | |
somebody has a serious injury from Camden Town. It is a bit of a mess? | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
Let's put it into perspective. There is not 25,000 people, all | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
coming over at the same time requiring emergency treatment on | :42:33. | :42:39. | |
their hernias. Not even if you con sume the sponsor's product are you | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
likely to get that. They are denying preferential treatment, but | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
the point is the principle? It may be a principle, but it is not | :42:48. | :42:50. | |
likely to happen. Let's actually get this straight. They will | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
probably have to deal with maybe two or three people who have | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
overdosed on Coca-Cola, that is about it. Just imagine something | :42:58. | :43:06. | |
else, UCHL are putting four beds aside, the NHS provide a �1.8 | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
million. Why not BUPA and one of the other companies sponsor | :43:11. | :43:17. | |
healthcare. Why should the NHS have to do anything? Indeed. They have | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
said it will be at hotels and chances there, this is the final | :43:21. | :43:28. | |
back up, if they supped too much champagne, or their spine has gone | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
from sitting sue pine in their fantastically leisurely seats in | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
the stadiums, they will have to be put back upright. Let's put it into | :43:38. | :43:41. | |
perspective. What is more interesting about the contract | :43:41. | :43:50. | |
signed on behalf of the British people, is the amount of stuff | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
coming on to the statutes. If you try to get some coverage for the | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
wrong kind of people. The people who aren't sponsoring you, | :43:58. | :44:03. | |
commercial, it is not a commercial thing, it becomes part against the | :44:03. | :44:07. | |
state's law. That is much more worrying than having Sepp Blatter's | :44:07. | :44:14. | |
broken toe being fixed. Are we bending over backwards by producing | :44:14. | :44:19. | |
all this free stuff, not for the athletes but the family? But it is | :44:19. | :44:25. | |
all, like the special lanes, so that Sepp Blatter can get | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
from...Poor Sepp Blatter he's getting it? There is nothing poor | :44:28. | :44:34. | |
about plait Blatter, most football fans think he should be offered | :44:34. | :44:36. | |
euthanasia at University College Hospital! The idea, all these ideas, | :44:36. | :44:46. | |
:44:46. | :44:48. | ||
just show what a set of pufd up, self-important people they are. It | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
is the same as people running football as the Olympic Games, they | :44:52. | :44:57. | |
take the sport, which is wonderful, it brings it into some disrepute, | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
really. According to the Times, the Civil Service getting in on the act. | :45:01. | :45:07. | |
This is denied by the Government, Whitehall hall tell staff, stay at | :45:07. | :45:12. | |
home for the summer. Civil servants have been told they can work from | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
home for seven weeks during the Olympics? That is presumably | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
because of the traffic chaos in London. In my constituency, round | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
Russell Square, there will be coaching, it will be the pick-up | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
point for the journalists to get in the coaches, to go on the special | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
lanes out to Stratford and everywhere else. We are the | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
important people, we have got to be there. I would agree with Jim on | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
that. I would remember they got to the thing they are commentating on, | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
rather than just speculating from a distance. Thank you both very much | :45:43. | :45:49. | |
indeed. Tomorrow morning's front pages now. The Financial Times, | :45:49. | :45:59. | |
:45:59. | :46:29. | ||
faith fading it eurofirewall is the That's all from Newsnight tonight, | :46:29. | :46:34. |