12/04/2013 Newsnight


12/04/2013

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$:/STARTFEED. A weekend in the German countryside for David

:00:13.:00:19.

Cameron and Angela Merkel. It look like happy families for the cameras.

:00:19.:00:24.

But behind closed doors, can he sweet talk her into supporting a

:00:24.:00:26.

new European relationship for Britain. We have gathered a troop

:00:26.:00:31.

of economists to try to guess who is saying what to whom?

:00:31.:00:36.

Is your house just over 120ms from the proposed high-speed rail route,

:00:36.:00:40.

you might have a very big problem. At the moment they won't even

:00:40.:00:44.

compensate us full stop, or give us the value of the property, let

:00:44.:00:51.

alone all the extra needs that I would need to enable me to move.

:00:51.:00:56.

It's a good job Top Of The Pops was scrapped, as the chart rise of this

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song, offensive to the memory of Margaret Thatcher, a headache for

:01:01.:01:10.
:01:11.:01:14.

the BBC, or just plain daft. Good evening, Angela Merkel is

:01:14.:01:18.

playing mine hostess to the Camerons tonight. The German

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Chancellor has already said that she personally wants Britain to be

:01:21.:01:27.

an important part and active member of the EU. The talks will be over

:01:27.:01:31.

EU reforms and how close or far apart they are over change. At the

:01:31.:01:36.

same time as if to highlight the economic difficulty at the heart of

:01:36.:01:40.

the European product, in Dublin finance ministers have extended

:01:40.:01:45.

Ireland and Portugal's loan over ten years, and a bail out has been

:01:45.:01:54.

agreed for Cyprus, ready to be agreed by member states.

:01:54.:01:58.

Wish you were here? For the Prime Minister and his wife it is a long

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weekend in an 18th century cast. Think Chequers German style. A

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country retreat in outside Berlin, with not just other halves invited,

:02:10.:02:16.

but the Cameron children on their way too. The gist of it is this,

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"we like you Dave and there are at least some things we can agree on".

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Swap a German castle for Dublin Castle and another EU meeting about

:02:25.:02:29.

the latest country, Cyprus, to provoke a blast of the jitters

:02:29.:02:35.

about the future of the single currency. Finance ministers agreed

:02:35.:02:40.

a 10 billion euro rescue package to stop Cyprus sliding into bankruptcy.

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But the island and the savers will have to stump up a lot more than

:02:45.:02:50.

originally thought. 13 billion euros. The Cypriot problem is not

:02:50.:02:57.

even near to be solved. There are huge questions around the bail out,

:02:57.:03:00.

no-one actually knows by how much the Cypriot economy will contract

:03:00.:03:04.

by, will shrink by, therefore it is very difficult to work out a bail

:03:04.:03:09.

out package, a support package, when everything is so uncertain.

:03:09.:03:15.

This Cyprus story will run for a very long time. It is not just

:03:15.:03:18.

Cyprus causing grief either. Next stop Slovenia, where a new

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Government is dealing with an old problem, the banks. Everyone is now

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looking for the next Cyprus, who is next in line for a eurozone bail

:03:28.:03:33.

out. The strongest contender is probably Slovenia. That is stuck

:03:33.:03:38.

with a braanking sector that -- banking sector that hold as lot of

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toxic debt that it can't get off its books. The Government there is

:03:42.:03:46.

not rich enough to bail out its own banking system. We are looking at

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another bail out at some point for Slovenia. Probably a limited one.

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Beyond the eurozones stumbles from one crisis to the another remains

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the UK's question about the EU. For so long it is seen by the EU as the

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embarrassing uncle at the Christmas party, plonked on the sofa,

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grumbling away and irritating others in the European family. On

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top of a generation's worth of scepticism amongst its European

:04:16.:04:19.

opposite numbers, we can Adam I don't know's veto wielded in

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Brussels a then that speech in January spelling out his plans to

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renegotiate the UK's terms of membership of the EU, and put it to

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a referendum by 2017. What is on the table for discussion this

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weekend? David Cameron wants to persuade his partners that Europe

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needs to be reformed and treaty change is the way to do this. For

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Angela Merkel, she wants to keep Britain engaged and to try ensure

:04:46.:04:50.

Britain doesn't leave. But the German Government isn't at all keen

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on having treaty change in the short-term. It is unpalpable to the

:04:55.:04:58.

German Government because they think we will have problems

:04:58.:05:01.

ratfying it, and several member states might lose that. And they

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realise if they open up the treaty the Brits will try it blackmail

:05:05.:05:09.

everyone to get the concessions they want. But, some point out, the

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gap between the German and British perspective on all things European

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Union isn't that wide and is bridgeable. Once that is all those

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hellos and guttentags are out of the way. When the British and

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German politicians sit down and talk, they spend 30, 40 minutes to

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look at the language to use and how to communicate with each other past

:05:34.:05:37.

the ideology. When it comes to the policy discussion they tend to

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agree. For example, on the need to strengthen national parliaments,

:05:41.:05:46.

make the EU more democratic, on the need to cut down and reform the

:05:46.:05:50.

European Union budget. So, the music's jolly, the scenery is

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pretty, but do you still wish you were here? This Englishman's home

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this weekend is a German castle, but Europe's direction is no walk

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in the park. Just how significant is the

:06:03.:06:13.
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weekend's visit, to help me unpick I'm joined by my guests.

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First of all, is this going to be really more of a public consumption,

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or will there be any move on whether or not Angela Merkel is

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even considering acceding to David Cameron's notion that he should

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have a referendum on treaty change? It is a horse that has bolted. The

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referendum has been promised. if he doesn't get what he wants on

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treaty change? The Germans are not going to push for treaty change,

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they won't push for it because they have realised that other than them

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and David Cameron nobody wants treaty change. They won't push 25

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other European countries in a direction that they don't want to

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go. It is a risky strategy. Even if they started going down that road,

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it would take years and years to reach an agreement. Do you agree

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with the analysis in the film that if Britain went for that referendum

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other countries may well follow. That is a problem for Angela

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Merkel? I think that's absolutely the case. It is the domino effect,

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and whether or not we can sustain that sort of cohesive view in

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Europe, I don't think so. Megan, is this really just for public

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consumption this weekend, to show that on a personal level at least

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they can do business, they like each other? Yeah, I think so, I

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don't expect anything to come out of this weekend's talks, especially

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given a German election in September. There won't be any

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movement on this whatsoever. David Cameron wants repatriation of power

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towards the nations, Merkel doesn't want that at all. She want a much

:07:51.:07:53.

bigger role for the European Commission in helping to bail out

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all the weaker countries. On the whole question about the general

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elections, is that the big issue in town this year, do you think?

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certainly a much bigger issue than what David Cameron wants at the

:08:04.:08:07.

moment. At the moment all eyes are on German, what's going to happen

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there, to some extent there is unrealistic expectations, how much

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does the German election matter for Europe. Whoever is in charge after

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September will follow the line that Merkel is on now. Where is Merkel's

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biggest problems, is it the right in the CD? She herself doesn't have

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the problem, her approval ratings are stellar. Her party is slightly

:08:35.:08:40.

less popular. Her opponent from the social democrats is nowhere to be

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seen. She has no coalition party and she won't have a majority, she

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needs another partner to form a pact. We are in situation where the

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finance ministers in Dublin have approved the lengthening of the

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loan to Ireland and Portugal, and the bail out for Cyprus. With

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Slovenia coming up the back. This is exacerbating the whole problem,

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the politic between north and south in the euro isn't it? Absolutely,

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to some degree this whole trip this weekend is a bit a distraction of

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what is going on. Merkel wants to focus, at the end of the day, on

:09:16.:09:21.

the crisis in Europe. I don't really think David Cameron coming

:09:21.:09:27.

along is her priority at the moment. I think. What about, I mean the

:09:27.:09:32.

Cyprus bail out is not popular in Germany, we can talk about Slovenia

:09:32.:09:36.

in a minute. It is not, but Merkel's approval ratings have shot

:09:36.:09:43.

up off the back of it. The CDP and the Greens were demanding Germany

:09:43.:09:48.

didn't bail out Russian oligarchs, that wasn't the case but that was a

:09:48.:09:54.

bail out. She demanded a depositer pay out. And her approval has

:09:54.:09:59.

improved. Because she was able to that. What about the Slovenia

:09:59.:10:03.

situation, there is a different approach to this than Cyprus?

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is a different approach to all other European countries than to

:10:07.:10:12.

Cyprus. Cyprus is not a very popular case, not only in Germany

:10:12.:10:15.

but many other European countries. Even before the banking trouble,

:10:15.:10:19.

they weren't particularly good at making friends in Europe. Now they

:10:19.:10:22.

manage to have a business model that is obviously unsustainable.

:10:22.:10:27.

They are a very special case. Slovenia is a stable, nice-looking

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country, for the banking sector it failed to privatise it fully, they

:10:32.:10:38.

have a lot of work to do. But there is very different political

:10:38.:10:41.

attitudes towards Slovenia than Cyprus. Do you think Cyprus should

:10:41.:10:45.

have gone? That is one ogs, I think it is still an option for Cyprus to

:10:45.:10:49.

try to negotiate its way out of the eurozone. It would be painful,

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certainly, but it might be less painful than the bail out they

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signed up to. Your view on that? Absolutely, at the moment the best

:10:57.:11:02.

option for Cyprus is to basically exit the eurozone, issue its own

:11:02.:11:07.

currency and hopefully find a little bit of stability. If you

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look at the extension of Portugal, obviously and Ireland, you have

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Slovenia, problems in it low and Spain, ultimately, this is the --

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Italy and Spain, but ultimately in 10-15 years, will there be a

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separate north-south, with the south dropping out of the euro, and

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it being a northern currency? could have a, it is totally viable

:11:30.:11:37.

that you end up issuing a sort of second tier euro for the periphery

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states. But I don't think it is the ideal option. I think we are now

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committed to this project, and the ideal solution is one where we

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stick together. However, Cyprus is a special case. If any eurozone

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country has the possibility to leave it is Cyprus. I would also

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point out that eurozone membership is a political decision, and the

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europroject is, to a large degree, a political project. If the weaker

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countries do decide to abandon the euro, I'm not sure if the political

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will will be there for them to band together in a separate state but

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they will go back to their currencies. These currencies would

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have zero credibility. Reintroduced central banks would find it hard to

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maintain price stability, to keep the currencies from plunging, they

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would have to massively default on their debt. It would be mayhem and

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painful. It would be mayhem for Germany? It would be, because they

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are for political reasons committed to this thing, it needs a stable

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neighbourhood to export to, and they need these countries to stop a

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reintroduced damp mark from becoming strong. There are those

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saying it is Germany that has to leave the euro? Cyprus has a chance

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and it is not the case that you would have complete chaos, because

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Cyprus, of all the countries, it does actually have a viable economy

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on its own. Yes, you would have. has a lot of gas. It has a lot of

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gas and tourism. Even if it issued its own currency and we saw it fall

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in value, that would be very attractive to tourists. It would be

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volatile, don't get me wrong. We would recover much more quickly.

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what we are talking about, for the next three or four years yet utter

:13:27.:13:30.

volatility throughout the European states, no settling down of any

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country? We will jump from crisis to crisis as we have for the past

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couple of years. As far as the idea of eurozone exits is concerned,

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choreography is key. A unilateral default and exit worst option

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possible for any of these weaker countries. But a negotiated exit,

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with bridge financing and balance of payments support from the IMF

:13:49.:13:53.

and other troika members, that is a better option. Thank you very much.

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I have to stop you there. On Wednesday's Newsnight we

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reported from Minova in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where

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on one night of November last year Government soldiers committed mass

:14:05.:14:15.
:14:15.:14:34.

rape and other terrible violent Well today 12 senior officers in

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the military were suspended. The film maker Fiona Lloyd-Davies who

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secured confessions from that soldier and others is here. What is

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the significance of the suspensions? It is very significant

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that it was senior officers this time. It sends a very strong

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message to all the army that it is not just the foot soldiers who may

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be punished. In your film the foot soldiers all said that the command

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to rape came from the senior officers that makes it very

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important? That's right. The BBC film, the film you made went out on

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Newsnight on Wednesday, it then went out on BBC World on Thursday,

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that is not the only pressure that is been put on, but it is part of

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the pressure? There is a sense that the Congalese authorities don't

:15:15.:15:19.

want to be criticised publicly, and there is also a gathering momentum

:15:19.:15:27.

at the moment about what is going on in Congo, about sexual violence,

:15:27.:15:33.

politically diplomatically, even in celebrity services, the UN Special

:15:33.:15:35.

Representative on Sexual Violence has returned from Congo and met

:15:35.:15:40.

with the President. The G8 meeting this week have been talking about

:15:40.:15:45.

stopping sexual violence. William Hague has presented his unit

:15:45.:15:50.

preventing sexual violence as well. You have also been following the

:15:50.:15:54.

rapes for the last ten years. And do you think the women have any

:15:54.:15:58.

expectation that it is really going to change? It has been very low in

:15:58.:16:01.

the past. They have risked their lives to testify in the few trials

:16:01.:16:05.

that have taken place, only to see perpetrators walk free. This time

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there is such a real commitment for this trial to go forward, I know

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women on the ground have already agreed to be witnesses.

:16:13.:16:19.

Thank you very much. The Government says that when the high-speed two

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rail line is built, those living next to the 250 mile an hour train

:16:24.:16:28.

will actually welcome their fast new neighbour and worry what they

:16:28.:16:32.

were so worried about. In the meantime residents complain their

:16:32.:16:36.

houses are only sellable at a huge discount. The Government already in

:16:36.:16:38.

trouble over the Compensation Scheme, after a judge ruled last

:16:38.:16:48.
:16:48.:16:49.

month its consultation was so unfair as to be illegal. There are

:16:49.:16:54.

thousands of stories on the HS2 line, we could look anywhere for

:16:54.:16:57.

people with something to say. The building of the first stage of the

:16:57.:17:01.

line, between London and Birmingham, won't start until 2017, and isn't

:17:01.:17:06.

due to finish until 2026, its impact is already keenly felt. Take

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the village of Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire, this pub has

:17:13.:17:17.

closed, it is exactly where the line will run through. If you have

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to live in an area where HS2 is coming, this could be the best

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situation to be in. The compensation in these circumstances

:17:24.:17:30.

is most generous. I have come to meet the organisers of the HS2

:17:30.:17:33.

Action Alliance, they took the Government to judicial review and

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won. The judge agreed the consultation on compensation had

:17:36.:17:42.

been so unfair as to be unlawful. The property market is completely

:17:42.:17:46.

stymied, it has just frozen, what you will see is lots of houses for

:17:46.:17:51.

sale and nobody wants to buy them. You have extreme problems in that

:17:51.:17:56.

people want to get on, they want to move on with their lives, and yet

:17:56.:18:00.

for two decades they are going to be frozen out. How much

:18:00.:18:03.

compensation you get depends on how far you live from the centre of the

:18:03.:18:07.

line, within 60ms, you are compulsory purchased, you get the

:18:07.:18:13.

value of what the property would have been before HS2 plus a 10%

:18:13.:18:17.

bonus that can't exceed �47,000, you get your moving costs as well.

:18:17.:18:22.

If you live between 60-100ms from the line in a rural area you

:18:22.:18:25.

qualify for the voluntary purchase scheme. You ask the Government to

:18:25.:18:29.

pay the unblighted market value of your home. But you are not eligible

:18:29.:18:33.

for any of the other extra payments. However, if you live more than

:18:33.:18:36.

120ms from the centre of the track, you will have to prove extreme

:18:37.:18:40.

hardship, like divorce or loss of your job, that means you have to

:18:40.:18:44.

move but you can't sell because of HS2, prove that and you will get

:18:44.:18:53.

the unblighted market value. Hello. Hello. If, like Derek and

:18:53.:18:57.

Margo, you want to downsize or upsize, or just relocate, there is

:18:57.:19:02.

nothing on offer. They are just two yards outside the voluntary

:19:02.:19:06.

compensation zone. What is the consequence of those two yards for

:19:06.:19:10.

you and your lives? There is a thing called "blight" if you come

:19:10.:19:14.

to sell the house. At the moment I would say that whatever the price

:19:14.:19:19.

the house would have been, had they not put the line up, you will lose

:19:19.:19:24.

between 20-30% of the price of the house, if you can sell it. If you

:19:24.:19:29.

can sell it. Who will be interested in a thundering great train coming

:19:29.:19:34.

along. Every so many minutes. People might buy it if the price

:19:34.:19:38.

was right? We want to move to a place where the price is right for

:19:38.:19:43.

us, we are not going to be able to. Estate agents have told the couple

:19:43.:19:47.

they would want �1,500 even to market the home, which they have

:19:47.:19:52.

also been told is unsellable. Their only other option wait until the

:19:52.:19:57.

line has been operating for a year, and then put in a claim for the

:19:57.:20:04.

impact caused, by then Derek will be nearly 90.

:20:04.:20:10.

We have come to the Cock and Rabbit club, very close to where the line

:20:10.:20:17.

will go. This is where they film Mid-Summer Murders. One of the

:20:17.:20:22.

interesting features of high-speed rail means the cost to communities

:20:22.:20:26.

like this is far greater than what other infrastructure projects. That

:20:26.:20:30.

has an impact on compensation. Let me show you what I mean. If we

:20:30.:20:35.

imagine a normal infrastructure project, like a road or railway. It

:20:35.:20:41.

goes like that. There is your end point and there is your start point.

:20:41.:20:46.

But what will happen is you have junctions or stations along the way.

:20:46.:20:51.

So, the people who live in this sort of area, like that, will have

:20:51.:20:56.

the cost of being near the line or the road, but they will also have

:20:56.:20:59.

the benefit of having access to this fantastic new infrastructure.

:20:59.:21:04.

So the cost on them, or the impact on their house prices, for example,

:21:04.:21:09.

will be some what mitigated. But, with high-speed rail, don't forget,

:21:09.:21:14.

none of these exist. It goes from London to Birmingham, bypassing

:21:14.:21:19.

this place about here, and it has absolutely no benefit to the people

:21:19.:21:27.

who live here. Meanwhile, a short stroll from the derelict pub I met

:21:27.:21:31.

Adam. Hello Adam. He spent years adapting this barn to provide the

:21:31.:21:37.

perfect home for him and his family. This kind of adaptation doesn't

:21:37.:21:41.

come cheap. You are close, because the pub is going. How much closer

:21:42.:21:45.

does the line come to the pub? line goes right through the middle

:21:45.:21:51.

of that pub, and comes closer to us at an angle across into this wood

:21:51.:21:58.

over here. Add dumb only has one fully functioning lung and says his

:21:58.:22:01.

sometimes fragile health wouldn't allow him to live close to the

:22:01.:22:04.

building work. As soon as the diggers arrive, he says he has to

:22:04.:22:09.

leave. If my neighbours have to leave, they might not want to, if

:22:09.:22:11.

they got the value of their property they might not want to

:22:11.:22:16.

move. In my case there is extra issues, I couldn't just buy another

:22:16.:22:19.

property tomorrow and move into it. I would have to find a place, I

:22:19.:22:25.

would have to find builders and get doors widened, new bathrooms put in,

:22:25.:22:29.

accessible bathrooms and kitchens. Probably ramps and raising ground

:22:29.:22:33.

level, all this costs a phenomenal amount of money. We have put our

:22:33.:22:38.

life savings into this property to make it the only place in the world

:22:38.:22:41.

where I'm 100% independent. There is nowhere else on this earth where

:22:41.:22:46.

I can be like that. You wouldn't get the money back if you did

:22:46.:22:53.

qualify for compensation here? The final stop on my journey is

:22:53.:22:58.

back at London, in the Department of Transport, where I have an

:22:58.:23:05.

appointment to see the minister in charge of HS2. Hello. We have seen

:23:05.:23:09.

from the evidence of high-speed 1, that has gone through the heart of

:23:09.:23:14.

Kent up to London that despite all the rhetoric and the campaigning

:23:14.:23:19.

and the complaining back in the late 1980s, when the project was

:23:19.:23:24.

beginning to be developed, that actually when the project is and

:23:24.:23:28.

running, those problems have not materialised. But the first phase

:23:28.:23:35.

of the railway won't even be built until 2026, that is 13 years away,

:23:35.:23:39.

that is a long time to wait and not sell your house for what you think

:23:39.:23:44.

is the market value. Even if the problems that you fear don't

:23:44.:23:47.

materialise? There will be some people who may feel nervous, I

:23:48.:23:53.

think unjustifiably, about the impact. But if there is a need for

:23:53.:23:58.

them to have to sell their house, under the conditions of the

:23:58.:24:04.

hardship scheme, then they will be provided with that help, at an

:24:04.:24:08.

unblighted property price. And what about Adam Thomas and his family,

:24:08.:24:12.

even if they do qualify for the hardship scheme, they fear they

:24:12.:24:15.

won't get the money they would need it adapt another property. The

:24:15.:24:20.

minister says he can't comment on individual cases, but. That

:24:20.:24:24.

situation would also afly to any other individual who lived miles

:24:24.:24:30.

and miles away from a major project like high-speed 2. Given that a lot

:24:30.:24:36.

of people invest a lot of money in their properties in different ways

:24:36.:24:41.

and they don't necessarily then Israelise the money they have

:24:41.:24:45.

invested in the im-- realise the money they have invested in the

:24:45.:24:47.

improvements of the property whether for health or aesthetic

:24:47.:24:57.
:24:57.:25:02.

reasons, that is part of the market and buying and selling a house.

:25:02.:25:06.

Back in the Chiltons, the cheers ring a little hollow, there is a

:25:06.:25:09.

creeping fear there is nothing they can do to stop the line. The best

:25:09.:25:12.

they can hope for is improved compensation. We have to tell them

:25:12.:25:22.
:25:22.:25:23.

what we want and we want full and fair compensation. Since we

:25:23.:25:25.

recorded our interview with the Transport Minister we have received

:25:25.:25:29.

a statement from his department. "we know that people's personal

:25:29.:25:32.

situations sometimes bring unique challenges that we can't fully

:25:32.:25:36.

anticipate through the design of a property Compensation Scheme. We

:25:36.:25:41.

aim to be flexible in responding to that small minority of cases.

:25:41.:25:45.

HS2Ltd is ready and willing to talk to anyone in such a situation to

:25:45.:25:50.

discuss how it might help." Historians may come to refer to it

:25:50.:25:59.

all as a right ding dong about a song, the BBC won't play Ding Dong

:25:59.:26:04.

The Witch Is Dead in full on the radio 1 Chart Show, they will show

:26:04.:26:07.

a clip of a news reporter explaining a sudden popularity,

:26:07.:26:12.

that a campaign had been launched to send it to number one after

:26:12.:26:16.

Margaret Thatcher's death. It is thought to be number three. It has

:26:16.:26:22.

provoked comment and controversy, and a rival song I'm In Love with

:26:22.:26:30.

Margaret Thatcher. And changes in the way music is bought and

:26:30.:26:32.

consumed mean does it matter any more.

:26:32.:26:37.

As a long from The Wizard of Oz climbs the charities, friends of

:26:37.:26:42.

Dorothy are hard to find at the BBC T will play the song in the chart

:26:42.:26:46.

rundown, the controller of Radio One said, but only for five seconds

:26:46.:26:54.

or so. The track will be put into context by a reporter. I believe

:26:54.:26:59.

that you have got a situation where a group of people in society have

:26:59.:27:03.

decided that they will campaign by using this track and trying to get

:27:03.:27:12.

this track into the chart. I find it disrespectful. But I also I'm

:27:12.:27:16.

very conscious if I ban it I will get myself into issues of freedom

:27:16.:27:25.

of speech and censorship. Once upon time this was the record

:27:25.:27:33.

the BBC didn't want to play. God Save The Queen by The Sex Pistols.

:27:33.:27:37.

Some say it reached number one in the summer of 1977, unofficially.

:27:37.:27:45.

If you believe the rumour around at the time, God Save The Queen was

:27:45.:27:50.

said to have sold enough record to be number one in the week of the

:27:50.:27:55.

Jubilee. But when the official charts came out Rod Stewart was

:27:55.:28:00.

still number one. More recently unlikely Christmas dittties have

:28:00.:28:04.

been propelled to the top of the charts in a bid to keep out

:28:04.:28:09.

offerings from X Factor contestants. We have been here several times

:28:09.:28:15.

before. From Simon koul's anger at the affrontry of -- Cowell's anger

:28:15.:28:20.

from the affrontry of people who might not want to grant him his God

:28:20.:28:26.

given right to have the Christmas number one, to Relax from Frankie

:28:26.:28:32.

Goes To Hollywood, the outrage is at the very reliant agent for

:28:32.:28:36.

getting something to number one. The decline of vinyl threatened to

:28:36.:28:41.

leave the singles' market in a spin. I know, it's late. But apparently

:28:41.:28:48.

all is well. The rise of iTunes and other download sites in the early

:28:48.:28:52.

noughties has created a real boom for the singles' market. It rescued

:28:52.:28:58.

the market and it is in a healthy state that last year was the most

:28:58.:29:04.

singles sold in a single year on record. Because it is so easy?

:29:04.:29:09.

the digital download era has created an ecosystem where you can

:29:09.:29:13.

buy a symbol on impulse, but the rise of digital download has walked

:29:13.:29:17.

hand in hand with the rise of social media. Not only can you buy

:29:17.:29:23.

it on impulse but as a community as a statement en masse. That is what

:29:23.:29:31.

we are seeing this week. It turns out that the top 40 isn't as old

:29:31.:29:36.

hat as the Music Hall, but remains every bit as urgent as it was in

:29:36.:29:45.

the dear departed days of Gary Davies. So says one gold-fingered

:29:45.:29:49.

pop Svengali. This is all part of the excitement of the charts, when

:29:49.:29:54.

people can just do their thing, and make a record that nobody wants to

:29:54.:29:57.

get to number one. That is the excitement what technology has

:29:57.:30:01.

allowed us to do is see people's choice better and quicker and

:30:01.:30:04.

probably a little more accurate than it has been in the past. You

:30:04.:30:08.

know for the last 30 years the record companies have been hyping

:30:08.:30:12.

the charts, or accused of hyping the charts, you can't do that now

:30:12.:30:22.
:30:22.:30:22.

when you are down to millions of downloads. Not possible. These are

:30:22.:30:26.

historical cultural documents, almost. Aren't you pushing it a bit

:30:27.:30:34.

there. It's three-minute disposable pop, most of of it? It is three-

:30:34.:30:42.

minute disposable pop. But these are cultural mile stones from the

:30:42.:30:48.

1970s to last week. These are important cultural moments.

:30:48.:30:57.

# Let's get Ready to Rumble. In other news Ant and Dec

:30:57.:31:01.

unexpectedly went to number one with this cultural moment. As far

:31:01.:31:05.

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