Browse content similar to 16/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Security, what security? As athletes from all over the world | :00:12. | :00:17. | |
arrive in the UK, police and troops have to cover for missing security | :00:17. | :00:23. | |
guards, as G4S fails to deliver its multimillion pound security | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
contract. I will be asking the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, if | :00:27. | :00:34. | |
this is in danger of sending this into an Olympic shambles and who is | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
to blame. Now is not the time for a witch-hunt, we want G4S to deliver | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
on what they say they can deliver on. A former Security Minister and | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
the chair of the Public Accounts Committee will be telling us who | :00:45. | :00:52. | |
should be for the high jump. A summer of religionship | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
counselling lies ahead for the coalition, but will the angry Lib | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
Dem Lords tear them away. Newsnight investigates research | :01:00. | :01:07. | |
that simply seems to say that a yes about cancer. | :01:07. | :01:17. | |
:01:17. | :01:20. | ||
We will speak to our guests. Good evening, it is going to be a | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
great winter Olympics, one athlete was reported to have said upon | :01:24. | :01:26. | |
arriving at Heathrow this morning. But the great British summer | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
problems. Despite another appearance in the Commons by the | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
Home Secretary, we still don't know how many security staff the private | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
contractor, G4S will be able to provide. And today, there were more | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
Tories that sounded like plot lines from the supposedly fictional | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
sitcom 2012. Buses containing athletes getting lost, and police | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
being called in to cover for security guards that just didn't | :01:49. | :01:58. | |
show up. The writers of 2012 the parody of | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
the Olympics, couldn't have written the script for this very real | :02:01. | :02:09. | |
security nightmare any better. Last week's episode saw them discussing | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
catastropheisation. I know you are taking us through that feedback | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
later. Ironically Lord Coe, who is Mr | :02:16. | :02:23. | |
Olympics, plays himself in the BBC comedy. His quotes on this actual | :02:23. | :02:33. | |
:02:33. | :02:33. | ||
crisis were not unlike the show. London's mayor, who many feel is | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
beyond parody, was dismissing some of the negativity surrounding the | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
build-up to the games. When people in this city see the torch relay, | :02:42. | :02:51. | |
any remaining Olympo-sceptisp. We will want the souffle to collapse | :02:51. | :02:59. | |
when this goes home in September. Filling the shortfall left by G4S, | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
which the Defence Secretary described it as a deb backle. | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
Nobody will remain longer on operations in Afghanistan because | :03:07. | :03:16. | |
of the deb backle on the G4S issue. G4S had been advising Theresa May | :03:16. | :03:22. | |
up to last week that they would have more than enough staff. | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
repeatedly assured us they would overshoot their targets. Shift of | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
blame towards G4S seemed to clash with the Culture Secretary, Jeremy | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
Hunt, whose department runs the Olympics, he was playing it down | :03:36. | :03:43. | |
yesterday. This isn't a moment to get into the blame game, G4S have | :03:43. | :03:51. | |
put their hands up. Contractors on a project of this size will | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
This was another shambles in the makes. How on earth could a | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
minister delivering Olympic security be the only person who | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
didn't know. On top of the army being drafted in, today it was | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
revealed that the police had to step in, and Olympic locations all | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
over Britain, where G4S security staff had failed to turn up. So, | :04:11. | :04:21. | |
for example, in Northumbria, an expected 58 staff, only 10 put on | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
their jackets, the picture the same across the country. | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
Even the athletes themselves didn't have a great start to their | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
Olympiad. The American sprinter, Kerron Clement, tweeted after a | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
four-hour odyssey from Heathrow to Stratford, that athletes were tired, | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
hungry and needed a pee, could they get to the Olympic village. Tonight | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
the spotlight turned on the Olympic organisers themselves, LOCOG. We | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
have spoken to a senior insider at LOCOG, working for years at the top | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
level, he described the management as amateurish and unable to deal | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
with contractor, and they couldn't spot where contractors were cutting | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
corners. Crucially, the source said it was the wrong strategy to use | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
only one provider for all Olympic security needs. Other parts of the | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
Olympics use multiple providers, they haven't had as many problems. | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
Having had seven years to prepare for the event, the last thing | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
either this or the previous Government would want now would be | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
galvanised troublemakers, yet that might be the prospect. It could | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
involve anybody who wanted to cause a bit of a problem if they thought | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
the system wasn't working properly you are talking about 20,000 people | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
all across the country, mainly in London, providing a visible sign of | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
security. If somebody believes that security operation is being | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
compromised, of course they might try something. It looks like a | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
shamble and sounds like a shambles and feels like a shambles, it is | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
definitely shambles. The big problem here is about monitoring, | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
it is attention, there is always the tension between the private | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
sector who want to make their contracts as economically tight as | :06:01. | :06:11. | |
possible. This is the official 2012 version, | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
Corinthian Mark III. Even though all events have scares before the | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
starting pistol is fired, few have the capacity to embarrass the | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
government in such a global way. If the games are a success, we will | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
have forgotten G4S's role in September, if there is a security | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
lapse, the Government will have politically shot itself in the | :06:29. | :06:39. | |
:06:39. | :06:43. | ||
proverbial foot. A little earlier I went to the | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to interview Jeremy Hunt. | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
G4S said they would come up with 10,000 security personnel, | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
originally, now they are saying 6,500. Is there any guarantee they | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
will turn up? We have been following it very closely, and we | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
have had contingency plans in place, we have been in constant touch with | :07:04. | :07:11. | |
G4S management. We hope they will play a very important role, but we | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
have had some problems. guarantees? We can guarantee the | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
Olympics will be safe and secure, and we will have plans in place to | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
make sure whatever happens, if this company isn't able to deliver | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
everything they promised, we will make sure we have plans in place to | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
make sure the public are safe, that is our job. | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
They have made very big promises and haven't delivered right now, | :07:31. | :07:38. | |
today, Manchester, 17 out of 56 workers, Tyneside 10 out of 58. You | :07:38. | :07:40. | |
can understand for security for athlete, how concerned people are. | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
Nine police forces have had to pitch up. If they can't do this in | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
other areas, presumably then the police will have to step? | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
compleed ly -- I completely understand and I am concerned, and | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
that is why we took the measures we did to bring in 3,500 troops, and | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
the police are helping out. That was a step in at the last minute | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
today, it wasn't planned that the police would turn up, the police | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
had to step in, there was not enough security for athletes? | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
is absolutely not the case. What we had was very clear contingency | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
plans, we had a contract with the biggest private security provider | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
in the world. We had constant assurances from them that they | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
would deliver. But we also thought, what happens if they don't? And | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
even several months ago, we were always thinking, what happens if by | :08:29. | :08:35. | |
any reason, even at the last minute, there is a hitch. So you were | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
considering it, even though Theresa May said it would be constantly | :08:39. | :08:45. | |
reassured by G4S that they would easily, and be able to overprovide, | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
so they were deceiving you? I think what was happening is the | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
management didn't know how difficult it was on the ground. The | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
management I don't think were deceiving us, they thought they | :08:54. | :08:59. | |
were going to meet the targets. they are incompetent, it is one or | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
the other? We will obviously have a very thorough postmortem. With 11 | :09:05. | :09:10. | |
days to go to the opening ceremony, we want to make sure we pull | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
together. That is quite scary isn't it, when you have this level of | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
problems for a company of this size, with a multimillion pound contract, | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
it is very bad? It would only be scary if we hadn't been doing our | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
job as ministers and made sure we had good contingency plans. | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
course, you had already planned for some military personnel, and now | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
another 3,500. Presumably you will put in as many troops as necessary, | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
if you find that G4S lifts the phone tomorrow and says we can't | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
provide the 6,500 we have said we can provide? Of course if they | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
can't deliver, we have contingency plans. When you have someone like | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
Boris Johnson, and his deputy, talking before the beginning of | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
this year, that there were problems, and issues ahead, were these just | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
being ignored? They weren't being ignored, what we had was a very | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
solid plan, so we weren't actually going to be dependant on this | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
company, and we hope not to have to activate those plans, but in the | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
eventuality that something went wrong, as it did, we moved very | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
quickly. We have talked to senior security sources inside LOCOG, one | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
side the job was too big to be given to one company, that was a | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
mistake, wasn't it? We will look at those issues, and I don't want to | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
prejudge what conclusions we may. The only thing I would say is G4S | :10:32. | :10:39. | |
is the biggest security company in the world, it is ten-times bigger | :10:39. | :10:46. | |
than the competitor down. Big isn't always better? Self-evidently as | :10:46. | :10:53. | |
they haven't delivered on this very important krlt. This same LOCOG | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
insider said that the management couldn't spot contractors cutting | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
corners? I will look very closely at what happened, I don't think | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
this is about cutting corners, I don't want to prejudge, we will | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
look into it very thoroughly. It is more about what seemed to happen is | :11:08. | :11:14. | |
G4S trained a lot of people, then a lot of people were accredited, but, | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
it seems like those people weren't kept in touch with. So then when | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
they needed to report for duty and commit to coming at particular | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
times, they then said that they weren't available to do that. | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
is incompetence? Clearly it wasn't run as successfully as it could | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
have been, that is why we are in this position. That is why we have | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
very robust contingency plans in place. Your defence minister said | :11:38. | :11:45. | |
today this was a complete debacle, is it, is it a normal debacle, what | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
is it? Clearly an important contract has not been delivered on, | :11:48. | :11:55. | |
that is why we have put in place the contingency plans we worked out. | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
We can have this debate, can I make this point. Do you apologise to any | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
athlete who feels their security has been compromised? We would be | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
failing in our job as ministers if a contract had gone wrong and we | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
didn't have a back-up plan that worked. Woe do have a back-up plan, | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
that is what we have put in place. -- we do have a back-up plan and we | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
have put that in place, we will monitor it, and if anything else | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
goes wrong we will bring in further back-up plans. In the future do you | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
think that G4S will not be allowed, for a while, to bid for public | :12:30. | :12:36. | |
contracts? I think now, with 11 days to go to the opening ceremony, | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
with G4S as an organisation that is already providing 3,500 security | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
guards, I don't think anything has been said so far that questions the | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
professionalism of the people they are currently providing. But the | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
shed loads of public money, huge amounts of public money? If can I | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
finish. I don't think now is the time for going on a big witch-hunt. | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
What we actually want is for G4S to deliver on what they say they can | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
deliver. Then we will look at it. They have put their hands up, they | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
have said they got it wrong, they said they will finance all the | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
additional costs of bringing in additional troops, it won't cost | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
the taxpayer any extra money. Now I think what we want to do is pull | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
together, on both the private sector providers, the volunteers, | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
the armed services and the police. And do what I know we will, which | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
is to provide a safe and secure olympics, which is the number one | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
priority. We need to remind people that this is one contract thatover | :13:33. | :13:40. | |
all this is a contract that is extremely successful. That overall | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
this has been a contract that is extremely successful. Will this be | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
a safe and secure Olympics? believe it will be, we are doing | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
everything we can to make sure it will be. Is this all a storm in a | :13:52. | :13:58. | |
high-performance sports drink, or are there bigger issues here. We | :13:58. | :14:00. | |
have Baroness Neville-Jones, the Security Minister last year, and | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
Margaret Hodge, who chairs the Public Accounts Select Committee. | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
First of all, Baroness Neville- Jones, you looked at all security | :14:09. | :14:15. | |
arrangements, how on earth did G4S slip into pole position? | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
contract that they got was let by LOCOG. | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
They are a very extensive contractor, with Government, they | :14:23. | :14:30. | |
do a vast range of security jobs. They are a very experienced | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
security company. Do you think LOCOG as contractors weren't as | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
experienced, and thought they should go for G4S because they have | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
all the contracts? They would have taken advice, and it was very | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
important for them to have specified the contract and the duty | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
that is in that contract. I haven't seen that contract, so I don't know | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
the detail of that. But, do you feel that they should have used | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
more than one contractor, that is one of the big criticisms, that by | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
having a single contractor, LOCOG laid themselves wide open to this | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
stuff? You can also argue it the other way round, if you have | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
multiple contracts you wouldn't have the problem of co-ordination | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
between them. Having said, LOCOG have done exactly that, their | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
events and other parts of it did have problems? There were clearly | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
choices, this was the choice that was made. Where I would point the | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
finger, is not so much on the original arrangement It is the | :15:28. | :15:36. | |
implementation, and the ability and seriousness which LOCOG has, sorry | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
G4S has fulfilled that contract. Margaret Hodge, the Public Accounts | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
Committee has appointed you, have you concerns about the way the | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
contract was handed out in the first place? Yes, my first concern | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
is that the whole issue of security was left too late. We knew in 2005 | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
it was going to be a key challenge, yet it was only in 2007 we let the | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
first contract. When the contract was let in 2010, a few months later | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
they renegotiated it, and decided to add a further 10,000 security | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
staffing. That is dreadful planning. The second thing is, I think this | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
"who was to blame" I think everybody is to blame. Jeremy Hunt | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
said it would not be a witch-hunt, but it will have to be a huge | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
postmortem because of public money. Theresa May was very clear until | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
last Wednesday she had no idea, it had not been flagged up to her. Not | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
necessarily flagged up to her, but Boris Johnson made it clear he knew | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
there were problems at the beginning of the year? We looked at | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
the contract last December, just before Christmas, just before they | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
had taken the position to increase by 10,000, which we thought was | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
unachievable. At that time the permanent secretary, in the Home | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
Office, said, he would just like to say, that of course, that is | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
something that ministers have looked at extremely carefully. And | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
it is completely clear, from all the monitoring that we have done, | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
that this whole implementation, that ministers, the senior civil | :17:07. | :17:14. | |
servants at LOCOG and G4S, were all involved. If you say, as you have, | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
it was too late to have let that contract, your Government ought to | :17:16. | :17:25. | |
have let it. So this Government. So this Government has let that | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
contract. Let me just say. Let me just say, I think, it is all very | :17:30. | :17:37. | |
well to say it is too late. One of the problems of an event of this | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
kind, it isn't a fully fledged event straight away, you have to | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
decide on the sides and the security needs, and all the | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
cultural stuff, then you get a view of the overall Securitask. Isn't | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
the problem that we are holding an Olympic Games at a time when there | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
is so much insecurity in the world, that security is a very emotive and | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
emotional issue. People want to feel they are coming to take part, | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
and also to view in total security. This does not give the impression | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
that is under control? Can I just say, it is silly to make a | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
political partisan point on it. This should have been planned much | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
earlier. Let me say something about the Olympics. The Olympic delivery | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
authority is a public body, totally transparent and delivered | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
brilliantly, so all the facilities on the site are there. LOCOG is a | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
private body, G4S is a private contractor, there is no | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
transparency at all, and the thing goes wrong. There is something | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
about transparency and our ability to see what happens that is hugely | :18:39. | :18:48. | |
important. What Jeremy Hunt said there cleeerm, there is a huge | :18:48. | :18:54. | |
troop -- clearly, there is a huge troop presence, there will be | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
something 7,000 military personnel, not all visible. He did say that | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
G4S can't deliver, more troops will be brought in. So people should | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
have confidence, because the soldiers will deliver? That is the | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
point that is really important. I have no doubt at all that the, our | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
Armed Forces will fill the gap. If, indeed, there is still a gap, even | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
after the 3,500, I'm sure that gap will be filled too. We don't | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
actually know at the moment how many people. We don't know ten days | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
from the games, and we actually don't know? This is not a brilliant | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
story. No it is not. But I don't think the general public, or our | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
visitors, or the competitors, do need to be worried. On the wider | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
point, if police officers are being deployed, who could be doing other | :19:41. | :19:48. | |
things, on the beats on the streets? One of the reasons why a | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
company like G4S was brought in, is because we have a limited number of | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
policemen, and they have other things to do, as you rightly say. | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
There is public order policing, there is crime prevention, a whole | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
lot of other things, they will have to be done alongside this. This is | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
all part of both safety and security. Thank you very much. | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
There was a train platform, there were two people bucking social | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
conventions, but this morning David Cameron and Nick Clegg were | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
determined to show that the coalition wouldn't just be a brief | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
encounter. With an announcement on rail infrastructure, and a joint | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
press conference, they tried to show the Government still has | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
purpose and unity after the rebellions of last week and | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
mutterings off-age. With more gloomy predictions for the economy | :20:30. | :20:36. | |
from the IMF, is it a love affair that can endure. We assess whether | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
two hearts are beating still as one. This is a story of different | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
backdrops, it was all gently perfumed back in the garden back in | :20:44. | :20:50. | |
2010. There was still plenty of idealism, at the Olympic Park one | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
year later. By May this year, there was more of an industrial feel to | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
the coalition. The tractor factory backdrop said, it may not be pretty | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
or glamorous, it is necessary. Then today it was trains that said, why | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
don't I let the Prime Minister explain. We are not here to help | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
the headline writers, sharing platforms and minding gaps, trains | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
on track, and I'm sure you will think of some others. It is the | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
rose garden part II, whether it will work or not is a big question, | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
it remains to be seen. It is OK for the two principals involved that | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
want to keep things going, I'm sure they will for their own sakes as | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
well as others, and the country's. They only speak for themselves, it | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
is the members of each party, the Liberal Democrats and the Tories, | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
who will finally decide the fate of the coalition. The point of today | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
was to announce funding for a huge amount of rail improvements, over | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
�9 billion. But the subtext was all about the state of the coalition, | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
following last week's row about House of Lords reform. Of course | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
the coalition has come into question, some asking whether it | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
has real momentum for the rest of this parliament. Others even asking | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
whether it should end. I just want to say I'm even more committed to | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
coalition Government, to making this coalition today, than I was in | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
May 2010, when Nick Clegg and I formed this Government. Sure, we're | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
two different parties, he doesn't agree with all my opinions, and I | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
don't agree with all his opinions. That is coalition Government. It is | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
tough, also, of course, to be in Government in difficult times, it | :22:29. | :22:35. | |
is not always a walk in the park, or in the rose garden. And of | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
course you also get some bumps on the road in the Westminster village, | :22:38. | :22:44. | |
as we did last week on House of Lords reform. This backdrop, and | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
announcement today, is designed to send a message that the coalition | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
is doing what is needed to get the economy moving. But, as critics | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
have pointed out all day, much of the money is not strictly new, and | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
in any case, won't start being spent until 2014, as Labour puts it, | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
this recovery is on pause. The Prime Minister and his deputy | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
know that this coalition was sold to the public as being all about | :23:10. | :23:15. | |
just one thing, sorting out the economy. That hasn't happened yet. | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
It may be there are all sorts of reasons why it hasn't happened, it | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
may be all the fault of the eurozone, perhaps no set of | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
policies would have made the slightest bit of difference, | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
politically they know that doesn't seem to matter. Most of their | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
problems stem from this weaker than expected economy. | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
The shine come off the coalition is almost exactly tracked by the IMF's | :23:37. | :23:44. | |
growth forecast for the UK in 2012. Way back in May 2010, it was a | :23:44. | :23:52. | |
blooming 12.9%. One year later, the IM -- 1.2%, one year later the IMF | :23:52. | :24:01. | |
was predicting 1.3%, but in 2012 it was now saying that growth in 2012 | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
would be just 0.8%, not great, unless you compare it to today's | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
predictions from the IMF, just 20.2%. There are domestic policies | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
we could be pursuing that would help our economy grow and create | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
jobs. So a VAT reduction and national insurance holiday for | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
small businesss and we would be taxing bank bonuses for 50%, and | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
using that money to fund a job creation scheme for those million | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
young people who are out of work right now. There are things the | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
Government could do. But this Government is sitting back, and not | :24:33. | :24:43. | |
:24:43. | :24:44. | ||
taking the action that is required. And of today's big announcement, is | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
building big ticket railways the answer. All over Europe there are | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
these kinds of railways, like this one in Greece, if this was the | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
answer to growth, you would expect Greece to be bailing out others | :24:58. | :25:04. | |
rather than Germany. Government's investment in | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
infrastructure will not create growth in the UK. If you look at | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
the �9 billion announced today, it is tax-payers picking up the bill | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
for that. Growth won't come from that. If the Government wants to | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
create growth from infrastructure, the best thing to do is allow | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
things like the third runway. It looks -- it needs to look at | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
letting the private sector take the lead on building infrastructure. | :25:29. | :25:36. | |
Where are they for the next act of unity, what they could really do | :25:36. | :25:42. | |
with is a better economic backdrop. Can the Liberal Democrats and | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
Conservatives agree on new policies, Tim Montgomerie, the editor of | :25:47. | :25:49. | |
ConservativeHome website, and Evan Harris, a member of the party as | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
policy committee. The important thing for it | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
Government, as far as the population is concerned, is a | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
strong, decisive Government, it is a Government that can't even get | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
business through? It can't get its business through in some key | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
respect that is we have focused on a lot recently. On deficit | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
reduction, in the spirit of coalition relationship would pay | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
tribute to the Lib Dems on this, the central mission of deficit | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
reduction, the two parties have been completely united on that | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
issue. It was central to the coalition agreement, and there is | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
no wavering from it. This is the mid-term of a parliament. David | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
Cameron says it is important for the population a strong, decisive | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
Government, the Lords last week was yet another debacle? It was, and | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
neither of us will deny T the central mission of this coalition | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
isn't Lords reform or boundary changing, or other headlines | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
grabbing the headlines, it is education reform, and most | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
importantly, getting the deficit under control. There the parties | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
are as united. Welfare reform, you need to get away from a situation | :26:56. | :27:00. | |
where people are better off not working. In that respect there is | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
agreement on that. Of course difficult decisions need to be | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
taken to get the deficit right. That is and always of the reason | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
why two parties, neither of whom won the election themselves, are | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
working together, at some cost, especially for the lads. The IMF is | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
saying it is going the other way at the moment? Just as we are together | :27:20. | :27:26. | |
to deal with the deficit it has to be done. You can only do it with a | :27:26. | :27:28. | |
stable Government not a minority Government. We will fall together | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
if the economy does not turn by the next general election. That is | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
clear as well. Everyone knows that. What I'm pleased about, is that | :27:36. | :27:38. | |
finally today, they are saying what I think they should have been | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
saying at least a year ago, if not from the very beginning. That these | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
are two different parties, who don't actually rejoice in a huge | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
amount of things. Don't you think the population knows that? They | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
know it now. There is this idea, you can understand where it came | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
from. Nick Clegg was clear, you couldn't see when you are forming | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
the coalition it was important not to be seen as cats fight anything | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
sack. What was more important, everyone will see the parties | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
working together, it was to demonstrate the independence of | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
both those parties, and the fact they didn't agree as much as where | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
they aed greed. It is all very well, David Cameron and Nick Clegg | :28:15. | :28:21. | |
standing in front of us, all with this big rail infrastructure and | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
looking incredibly happy with each other, that doesn't mean the | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
backbench Liberal Democrats or Tories are happy about this at all? | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
That is the problem with the coalition. If you look at the | :28:31. | :28:33. | |
people at the heart of the arrangement, Nick Clegg and David | :28:33. | :28:37. | |
Cameron, they are not that dissimilar, but Evan and I are | :28:37. | :28:43. | |
quite far apart. It is the in-laws in the relationship who have always | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
been the trouble. The Tory backbenchers were happy with the | :28:47. | :28:52. | |
Government programme, then I would be appalled. I guess that Tim and | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
right-wing Conservatives would be appalled if we were happy with the | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
Government's programme. That is the nature of coalition. In every other | :28:58. | :29:04. | |
country in Europe where it takes place, it is just the media here, | :29:04. | :29:10. | |
as your demonstrating, cannot get their mind around two parties | :29:10. | :29:14. | |
getting together, who disagree with much. It is not so much getting our | :29:14. | :29:19. | |
heads around it, but where is the radical agenda that you two will | :29:19. | :29:25. | |
agree on for the next two years, is it Europe? On the Lib Dem Voice | :29:25. | :29:32. | |
website, a partner website, yet there were quotes on there about | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
reforming capitalism, and breaking up the banks and a much more | :29:36. | :29:43. | |
competitive economic system. I think that is perfect consistent of | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
the classical Lib Dem traditions, and these are the capitalistic | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
traditions of Conservatism. separation of retail and investment | :29:51. | :29:56. | |
banks isn't that radical. Rebalancing the economy away from | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
financial services has to begin. It has to begin. And I suspect there | :30:01. | :30:08. | |
is unity on that project. We cannot be so reliant on one aspect of the | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
economy, as we have been in the past, that is a shared programme. | :30:12. | :30:17. | |
You say we want to make sure that people out of work are not better | :30:17. | :30:22. | |
off than people in work. Not better off by being out of work. That is | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
different from signing up to a cuts agenda that we have here? | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
recognise, all Liberal Democrats recognise that if you have to take | :30:30. | :30:36. | |
20%, 30%, on average, out of public spending, there is no way the | :30:36. | :30:42. | |
welfare budget can remain intact. That is just simply unIsrael yiesic. | :30:42. | :30:47. | |
-- realistic, as it would be under Labour, they have plans for-to- | :30:47. | :30:49. | |
reduce welfare spending. I'm concerned that the rich, in terms | :30:49. | :30:55. | |
of tax rises, pay their fair shai share, that is why I was very | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
disappointed, and many Liberal Democrats were, with the crazy | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
politically and dubious economic decision to cut the 50p tax rate. | :31:02. | :31:06. | |
Bad idea? It wasn't the most popular idea, but there were also | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
many other things the Chancellor introduced, not least the taking | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
the low paid out of the income system, which were much more | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
powerful and benefited many more people than have been affected by | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
the 50p tax rate. Glad to have brought you two together. It costs | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
pennies and everybody can get hold of it, now in the face of an of a | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
large of cumulative research, it can be described as "preventing | :31:30. | :31:37. | |
cancer", it is the humble aspirin. A cheap generic drug, used as a | :31:37. | :31:40. | |
shield against heart attacks and strokes, and now described as a | :31:40. | :31:50. | |
:31:50. | :31:54. | ||
wonder drug. Should we all be taking it? The struggle toe stay | :31:54. | :32:00. | |
fit and well gets tougher for everyone as we get older. These | :32:00. | :32:04. | |
subscribers to fitness sessions run by the ex-military, each have their | :32:04. | :32:10. | |
own recipe for good health. I take vitamins and protein shakes. | :32:10. | :32:15. | |
liver oil. Vitamin C. Fresh fruit and vegtables. Nothing. I look | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
after my body as much as I can. But as they strive to stay well, is | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
their one -- is there one more potentially powerful weapon they | :32:24. | :32:30. | |
should be adding to that list, aspirin, to ward off cancer. | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
Aspirin has been an essential part of modern medicine in synthetic | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
form for at least 100 years. Not only as a painkiller, but more | :32:39. | :32:47. | |
recently, at low dose, to ward off heart attacks and stroke. | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
But it was a close chemical relative, found in the leaves and | :32:51. | :32:59. | |
bark of the willow tree, that first drew people to its potential power. | :32:59. | :33:09. | |
:33:09. | :33:09. | ||
Centuries ago, around 400 BC, Hypocraties, is said to have said | :33:09. | :33:15. | |
that people should chew the bark of the willow tree to ward off | :33:15. | :33:19. | |
inflamation. Its modern day cousin has so many uses, it is said by | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
some to be something of a wonder drug. | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
Cancer studies by Peter Rothwell have sparked global interest in the | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
protective powers of aspirin. Results in colon cancer, published | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
back in 2010, got everyone talking. They showed that after five years | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
on low-dose aspirin, people had had halved their risk of developing or | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
dying from kollan cancer. Then last year, the team showed that for two | :33:46. | :33:53. | |
more cancers, daily, low-dose aspirin cut the risk of dying by | :33:53. | :34:00. | |
66% for lung and ossof gall cancer. When they looked at the two | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
together, the risk fell by 25%. This year the team looked at | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
aspirin's effect on the spread of cancer, and found it reduced the | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
risk of secondary spread to the lungs, liver and brain, by about | :34:13. | :34:23. | |
:34:23. | :34:25. | ||
half. How important is the secondary effect? Very important as | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
an additional treatment for those with cancer, if it hasn't spread | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
already. We found those who developed cancer on aspirin, were | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
about 40% less likely to have that cancer spread to different parts of | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
the body. It is the spread of the cancer that often kills patients, | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
rather than the primary cancer itself. So trials are now on going | :34:44. | :34:52. | |
to see whether that should be used more widely. | :34:53. | :35:02. | |
Angus dag illusion is a clinical study, his work on HIV showed it | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
causes -- he believes it could be aspirin's powerful anti- | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
inflammatory action that might help to explain its anti-cancer effect. | :35:11. | :35:17. | |
Many of the cancers occur only after decades of inflame racial, | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
for instance liver cancer, which we know is associated with two viruses | :35:22. | :35:27. | |
hepatitis B and C, it only occurs if the viruses produce chronic | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
inflamation of the liver for two or three decades, it doesn't occur | :35:32. | :35:38. | |
without the background inflamation. It is the same for lung cancer, it | :35:38. | :35:44. | |
comes out of chronic bronchitis, same with bowel cancer, these are | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
inflammatory leisons. Having something to turn off the | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
inflamation makes perfect sense, that is why aspirin is so important, | :35:52. | :35:58. | |
it is such an effective anti- inflamery agent. Everyone over 40 | :35:58. | :36:04. | |
should consider taking 75 Milly grams a day, and everyone over 50, | :36:04. | :36:12. | |
300 mg a day, the dose for a headache. If an aspirin a day can | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
have a real impact on cancer, and some medicating, some say it is | :36:16. | :36:20. | |
time for the Government to step in with clear guidelines on who should | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
be taking aspirin and how much. Many people have heard about the | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
possible benefits of aspirin and are taking it any way. There are | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
risks. Some people are allergic to aspirin, and it can cause stomach | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
bleeds, sometimes serious. There is no doubt aspirin does reduce | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
cancers, but it will cause death in a small number of patients, very | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
small. But a preventive has to be given to a large number of people. | :36:46. | :36:52. | |
You will have a significant number of deaths that is stalling proper | :36:52. | :36:57. | |
guidance from politicians all over the world. But the scientists most | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
closely linked to aspirin research, say the downsides shouldn't be | :37:03. | :37:09. | |
overplayed. The risk of a bleed sufficiently serious to take you to | :37:09. | :37:16. | |
hospital is less than one per 1,000 people per year taking aspirin. The | :37:16. | :37:19. | |
benefits of preventing heart attack and strokes already outweighs that | :37:19. | :37:26. | |
risk. If you add in the cancer risk it does further outweigh the risk. | :37:26. | :37:32. | |
What's more, an influential study, run by the International Society of | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
cancer prevention, believes that downside could be dealt with by a | :37:36. | :37:39. | |
simple test. That expert group believes the Government should | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
consider a mass screening programme. To test and identify people at | :37:43. | :37:48. | |
higher risk of stomach bleeds. And in a few weeks time, they will | :37:48. | :37:55. | |
issue advice saying just that. We all make decisions every day | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
that will affect our risk of developing cancer. Choices about | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
the food we eat, or alcohol, or exercise. But on aspirin, we're all | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
in the dark about whether we should be taking aspirin, and how much. | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
With the evidence we now have, the need for clear advice is | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
overwhelming. Here to discuss the imI politician | :38:16. | :38:23. | |
kas of the latest findings is Dr -- implication of the latest findings | :38:23. | :38:32. | |
is I our guests. Julian Peto, on your assessment, | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
how good is the evidence on taking aspirin? The evidence is good, I | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
think Peter Rothwell presents a care case, and the evidence is very | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
strong. The question isn't whether the evidence is good, it is whether | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
it is good enough to justify the Government recommending that | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
everyone should take it. What is your view of that? My personal view | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
is it would need to be stronger. To recommend that everybody take | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
something for the rest of their lives is very different from | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
limited numbers of people taking it for five years, or ten or 15 years. | :39:06. | :39:14. | |
What do you see as the problems of a universal aspirin intake? | :39:14. | :39:19. | |
would be one thing having a few thousand people taking it, but when | :39:19. | :39:26. | |
you are talking about 20 million people taking it with with clear | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
risks in it. Not that much risk. There are 20 common medicines that | :39:31. | :39:38. | |
interact with medicines. What is that? Warfarin, a blood-thinner, | :39:38. | :39:44. | |
but also medicines used for glaucoma, that interferes with | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
aspirin. What about lifestyle with aspirin? I'm struck by your film, | :39:49. | :39:53. | |
you had two clear patients, one smoking and the other one drinking. | :39:53. | :39:57. | |
Taking aspirin are not protect you against the harps of drinking or | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
smoking. Also, the idea that you can take something that is going to | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
offset those risks, I think, needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. | :40:06. | :40:12. | |
Never the less, the body of evidence seems to go going in a | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
positive direction, there is clearly an effect. Do you want | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
clear guidelines from the Government w what will help? | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
What will help? My sense is we don't get clear guidelines. The | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
idea of doing another full scale, randomised controlled trial, | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
probably isn't going to happen. I think, like many things in medicine, | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
we have to weigh up, at an individual level, theks and | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
benefits. If a patient came -- risks and benefits. If a patient | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
came to you and said I'm 40, what dose should I take, or I'm 55? | :40:49. | :40:54. | |
a patient not a doctor. I think if somebody said should I take it, it | :40:54. | :40:59. | |
looks to me as if it does more good than harm, I would agree with them. | :40:59. | :41:07. | |
I think that is true. The evidence has to be very strong, there is a | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
70-80% it will do more good than harm, it is a good enough reason to | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
take it yourself or advise your friends or patients to take it, if | :41:15. | :41:20. | |
they want. To you would need very strong evidence before something | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
becomes a Government-recommended medication. What about the idea of | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
isolating people to test them to make sure they would not fall into | :41:29. | :41:31. | |
that category? What they are talking about is a simple test, it | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
is a simple test we use on symptomatic people, not mass | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
screening. If we do mass screening we will pick up an awful lot of | :41:41. | :41:46. | |
false positives, and treat those people with high-dose antibiotics, | :41:46. | :41:51. | |
and that will create antibiotic resistance. It isn't as simple as | :41:51. | :41:56. | |
it seems to be testing people for this bug in the stomach. On the | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
other hand, if something like this will make a radical difference, | :42:01. | :42:06. | |
especially when the NHS is strapped, particularly when it is saying it | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
is reducing spread by 50%, that has moved things on? It won't make it | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
radical, we have to die from something. The studies show that | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
though it might reduce your death rate from cancers, particular ones, | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
we are all going to face mortality. You are probably going to die at | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
the same age of something else. We have to be really careful about | :42:30. | :42:34. | |
this, yet it appears to reduce your risk of bowel and other cancers, | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
but it won't stop you dying. There is more evidence, a lot of large | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
studies, some large studies weren't included in the review, and whether | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
it was appropriate to exclude people is arguable. There is a | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
cheap generic drug? There is no question, it is effectively free. | :42:52. | :43:00. | |
The question is the benefits clearly outweigh the issues. Would | :43:00. | :43:09. | |
you take it? I'm not a health freak. So you don't take it? No. Would you | :43:09. | :43:12. | |
take it? I think I would need to see a little more evidence about it. | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
Again, I'm not a particular health freak, he gave up smoking a number | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
of years ago. I try -- I gave up smoking a number of years ago. I | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
drink in moderation. The fact that you are a doctor and not a health | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
freak is disconcerting? I think there are much more boring things | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
to do to improve our lives, such as giving up smoking and reducing | :43:33. | :43:37. | |
alcohol intake and keeping your weight under control and exercising. | :43:37. | :43:42. | |
All those will do far for more your risk of cancer and getting heart | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
disease than taking a low dose of aspirin for five or ten years. | :43:46. | :43:51. | |
Thank you very much, may you both live a long and happy life. | :43:51. | :43:54. | |
Tomorrow morning's front pages beginning with the Guardian. Ten | :43:54. | :44:04. | |
:44:04. | :44:05. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 57 seconds | :44:05. | :45:02. | |
days to the games, what could go That's just about all from | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
Newsnight tonight. We leave you with a very unrock 'n' roll moment, | :45:07. | :45:13. | |
10.30 on Saturday night, that is when the concert organisers pulled | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
the plug on bruise Springsteen and Paul McCartney together, on their | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
first performance ever together, on the grounds of health and safety. | :45:20. | :45:28. | |
It is not exactly the Promised Land. # Won't you work it on out | :45:28. | :45:38. | |
:45:38. | :45:53. | ||
(no sound coming out of the microphone. | :45:53. | :46:03. | |
:46:03. | :46:04. | ||
Good evening, after wet weather today, a dryer spell into the night | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
and the first part of Tuesday morning. Morning brightness through | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
eastern areas as well. To the west grey skies, patchy light rain or | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
drizzle. Across Wales and Northern Ireland, central and southern | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
Scotland and northern England, turning heavier in places in the | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
afternoon. Increasing humidity, increasingly muddy in the afternoon. | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
With dry conditions in the south- east. A little bit of sunshine here | :46:28. | :46:34. | |
and there. It will boost the temperatures, 23, 24 possible. | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
Drizzle easing a little in the south west. Around the coast, the | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
low cloud will still be there and there abouts, rain on and off | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
through much of the day across the mountains. A bit dry to the east. | :46:46. | :46:49. | |
In Northern Ireland the rain coming and going through the day, the | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
heavy burst in the morning and into the afternoon. Turning increasingly | :46:53. | :46:59. | |
wet. To the north and east of Scotland, dry, fairly bright, same | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
too on Wednesday. Noticing the difference from Tuesday into | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
Wednesday, the rain gets that bit heavier and more expensive. More in | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
the way of showers developing further south. Even the areas | :47:11. | :47:16. |