:00:09. > :00:12.wealthier. It's not that we've done anything much. No brilliant idea, no
:00:12. > :00:21.productive overtime. It's just that some title deeds are worth more now
:00:21. > :00:25.than they were a year ago. Nice if you own your own home.
:00:25. > :00:27.So long boys. It's like that Disney cartoon with
:00:27. > :00:33.housing rising ever higher, supposedly taking our spirits with
:00:33. > :00:35.it. Of course you have to be old enough or lucky enough to own
:00:35. > :00:38.property. Is this any way to run an economy?
:00:38. > :00:41.This sight is something plenty of Israelis don't like - Palestinian
:00:41. > :00:46.prisoners being freed to help along negotiations. Is there any sensible
:00:46. > :00:51.prospect of settlement talks achieving anything?
:00:51. > :00:54.America insists the two sides can do it, but to some even the idea of a
:00:54. > :01:02.two state solution now seems far-fetched.
:01:02. > :01:12.Who writes letters nowadays? Der Mr President, first I would like to
:01:12. > :01:14.
:01:14. > :01:18.introduce myself, I'm Elvis press rid and -- Presley.
:01:18. > :01:21.Has the tyranny of the kilobyte killed letter writing. A poet and a
:01:21. > :01:25.tweeter cross pen and stylus. And publicans across the country are
:01:25. > :01:35.calling last orders and closing down their pubs. Is drinking beer now an
:01:35. > :01:42.
:01:42. > :01:46.Britain is becoming even more expensive than it already is. This
:01:46. > :01:50.is held to be a sign that the economy is shuffling out of the
:01:50. > :01:54.intensive care ward. House prices are rising at their fastest pace in
:01:54. > :01:56.seven years. The Government has proclaimed its commitment to
:01:56. > :02:02.boosting the cost of property, despite the advice that they're
:02:02. > :02:12.playing with fire, by stoking up a potential property bubble. Before we
:02:12. > :02:12.
:02:12. > :02:17.talk, Sancha Berg has been out in a spring in their step. House prices
:02:17. > :02:21.rose most in London, but next is the West Midlands. After years of a
:02:21. > :02:27.sluggish housing market, here in Coventry, agents are busy again.
:02:27. > :02:33.Well, I would say there is a increase and interest probably from
:02:33. > :02:39.the beginning of 2013. It started to move from then, but most especially
:02:39. > :02:45.in the last couple of months. And very much geared on first time
:02:45. > :02:51.buyer market to the release of the Government incentive scheme which
:02:51. > :02:58.was April 2013. So it has moved from there.
:02:58. > :03:02.This new house is on sale at �125,000. That's affordable for many
:03:02. > :03:07.Coventry couples. Max told me the average salary for first-time buyers
:03:07. > :03:13.is about �25,000. And he is found lenders can be more generous if
:03:13. > :03:19.people are helped by the Government to buy. With the Government scheme,
:03:19. > :03:26.the Government will give you a loan up to 20% and you only have to find
:03:26. > :03:33.5%. And with those parameters, the building societies are taking a it a
:03:33. > :03:39.little bit easier. They are less tough. So you will get an easier
:03:39. > :03:45.ride if you are on the Government scheme? Definitely.Around the
:03:45. > :03:51.corner, a bigger new estate with almost all the houses sold. I spoke
:03:51. > :03:57.to one couple in their 20s who just arrived. I moved in at the end of
:03:57. > :04:01.June. And it is your first house? Yes and
:04:01. > :04:08.we used the help to buy scheme. that make the difference for you?
:04:08. > :04:11.Yes, it is like a 5% deposit down and the Government covered 20% of
:04:11. > :04:15.the value of the property. Tell us about the house? It is a
:04:15. > :04:19.three bed. It has a kitchen and down stair toilet, lounge and all we
:04:19. > :04:25.could ask for. Dwo double bedrooms as well.
:04:25. > :04:29.A garden so it is perfect for us and especially if marriage comes along
:04:29. > :04:32.and children. Yeah, we are not going to need to
:04:32. > :04:37.move for a long time. He is a teacher, she works in a
:04:37. > :04:43.bank. In London, their peers couldn't afford a house like this.
:04:43. > :04:48.Even with Government help. House prices in London slumped in 2009
:04:48. > :04:54.ever since they have been rising. In the West Midlands and other regions
:04:54. > :04:59.they didn't increase so fast. So the affordability gap between the
:04:59. > :05:03.capital and other areas has widened. In 2005 you needed he nearly seven
:05:03. > :05:08.times the average salary to buy a house in London. Nearly six times
:05:08. > :05:13.the average salary for the UK as a whole. Over the years, that
:05:13. > :05:17.difference has grown. Now, you need eight times the average salary for a
:05:17. > :05:22.London home just over five times the average salary for the UK as a
:05:22. > :05:28.whole. The Government scheme has allowed families to buy new houses
:05:28. > :05:32.like these. But generally across the country, a number of new housing
:05:32. > :05:36.starts remains low. So according to the laws of supply and demand, as
:05:36. > :05:41.long as the number of new homes remains relatively small, the price
:05:41. > :05:45.of housing is likely to keep rising. Many believe the Government scheme
:05:46. > :05:50.is supporting an unsustainable housing bubble. It is really about
:05:50. > :05:54.looking at the underlying issues here and there isn't a single
:05:54. > :05:59.economist that I have spoken to who thinks that the Government's current
:05:59. > :06:03.scheme help to buy is a good idea. Basically, what they are doing is,
:06:03. > :06:08.it is printing money for banks so they can lend more to keep house
:06:08. > :06:11.prices high rather than actually creating more capital which ie
:06:11. > :06:16.building more homes. Next year, the help to buy scheme is
:06:16. > :06:20.to be extended. What that will mean, looks very different from London and
:06:20. > :06:25.from Coventry. As the rules are lifted, the
:06:25. > :06:30.restrictions are lifted and everyone gets in on this tax payer funded
:06:30. > :06:35.bonanza and then again, house prices will rise and a lot more people will
:06:35. > :06:38.be left behind. We will have house price increases,
:06:38. > :06:43.but we will have a steady growth which is good for everyone because
:06:43. > :06:49.house prices in this area are very, very affordable. As you will see
:06:49. > :06:56.from this house. So is the Government in danger of
:06:56. > :06:59.blowing bubbles? Ed Howker is a journalist and co-author of Jilted
:06:59. > :07:02.Generation. Gillian Tett is Assistant Editor at the Financial
:07:02. > :07:05.Times and from the Home Builders' Federation, John Stewart. Do you
:07:05. > :07:09.think this is something we should be celebrating? Absolutely not. I think
:07:09. > :07:14.help to buy is stupid because in the medium-term to long-term we will
:07:14. > :07:18.find ourselves in a situation where people will not be able to afford
:07:18. > :07:21.houses unless they get into incredible amounts of debt. Debt
:07:21. > :07:24.which previous generations could not imagine and didn't have to get into
:07:24. > :07:31.when they bought houses. You are pleased because the
:07:31. > :07:34.Chancellor is making your job easier for you Yes, we are. Help to buy and
:07:34. > :07:37.helpfully has two different parts. The first part which is operating
:07:37. > :07:41.now is helping boost new home production. There is no doubt about
:07:41. > :07:45.that. The second part, the mortgage guarantee scheme doesn't kick in
:07:45. > :07:50.until next year and that is the one that caused the angst.
:07:50. > :07:54.And when that kicks in next year, Gillian? There are two parts of the
:07:54. > :07:59.scheme. What the Government is trying to do with help to buy is
:07:59. > :08:03.like putting a fire lighter on a damp, summer barbecue and they are
:08:03. > :08:09.hoping you will get a blaze and that will get everyone feeling more
:08:09. > :08:14.positive and most importantly, get more home builders building more
:08:14. > :08:17.homes. It is helping sentiment. It is like having the Royal baby and
:08:17. > :08:20.Andy Murray winning Wimbledon. Suddenly everyone feels better and
:08:20. > :08:25.that's good for the economy, but the missing piece is whether we are
:08:25. > :08:29.going to get more homes coming through to help meet the supply
:08:29. > :08:34.issue as well. Is there any prospect realistically
:08:34. > :08:39.and does any of you think there is a realistic prospect of houses coming
:08:39. > :08:43.more into line with people's earnings? Well, the real issue is
:08:43. > :08:47.you need to get demand and supply in balance and you have had tremendous
:08:47. > :08:51.under investment now for the best part of two decades in the housing
:08:51. > :08:58.stock and that's what needs to be addressed. We need to get more home
:08:58. > :09:02.builders building homes. Gillian is right. With a problem that built up
:09:02. > :09:08.20 years, it will take 20 years to solve it. There is no way we can
:09:08. > :09:14.solve it in 18 months. You have had 25 years where you as
:09:14. > :09:17.private developsers had control over the UK housing stock. Year after
:09:17. > :09:20.year you have failed to build the required amount of houses. Now, at
:09:20. > :09:25.the moment, you say that's because you can't get the lending or there
:09:25. > :09:29.is insufficient demand, but what are your ex-excuses going back over 25
:09:29. > :09:35.years? You can't solve this problem on your own and you know this.
:09:35. > :09:40.It has been a mortgage issue. But going back 20 years, we are talking
:09:40. > :09:43.about the planning system. We have a system where the amount of land
:09:43. > :09:47.available for house building is rationed by the planning system. We
:09:47. > :09:51.have a plan-led system and that was introduced in 1991.
:09:51. > :09:56.This is the argument about building over the green belt, is it? No. We
:09:56. > :10:00.need a small increase in terms of the housing stock in numbers and
:10:00. > :10:02.that would entail brown field, eight out of ten homes are built on brown
:10:03. > :10:07.field land and a little bit of green field.
:10:07. > :10:11.When you look at that tape and you look at what's going on in Coventry
:10:12. > :10:18.and London, it doesn't make sense to have a national policy, does it?
:10:18. > :10:23.Things are so seriously out of kilter. You can't see how one, the
:10:23. > :10:28.same policy can have a desirable effect in both places? Well, the key
:10:28. > :10:32.question is whether boosting demand will be enough to get the industry
:10:32. > :10:35.producing more homes where they are needed and the problem has been a
:10:35. > :10:39.time lag effect that home builders say we want to see evidence of
:10:39. > :10:44.demand before we build, but it takes a long time to get homes coming
:10:44. > :10:48.through and so by the time you get demand, you get a bubble and the
:10:48. > :10:53.bubble starts to burst. It is the classic stop, start pattern within
:10:53. > :10:59.the UK economy. Is the Government going to respond with more sticking
:10:59. > :11:04.plaster sclutions -- solutions or will they address the questions
:11:04. > :11:06.about why we don't have enough homes? Are you can have the dent you
:11:06. > :11:09.are not participating in the inflation of a bubble?
:11:09. > :11:13.Government's figures come out on Thursday which is unhelpful tonight,
:11:13. > :11:16.but there are a lot of indicators which suggest that house builders
:11:16. > :11:21.are gearing up. The figures from the Government today, they sold 10,000
:11:21. > :11:24.new homes in the first four months of the scheme. They only build
:11:24. > :11:29.100,000 a year so you can see the scale is enormous.
:11:29. > :11:34.How many homes do you need a year to address a gap? It is 300,000.
:11:34. > :11:38.It is 100,000 this year. That's going to take 20 years.
:11:38. > :11:41.Which is more than twice what you are building. You you have had 25
:11:41. > :11:46.years and it hasn't happened. If the Government wants to have a long-term
:11:46. > :11:50.solution to the problem of housing, we need to push all the leavers that
:11:50. > :11:57.will create production of houses. That's the fundamental and vital
:11:57. > :12:02.point and that means social housing, it can mean private sector build to
:12:02. > :12:04.he let and another point which makes this more difficult for the next
:12:05. > :12:08.generation who are trying to get on the housing ladder and pay the
:12:08. > :12:13.mortgages and find a way of raising the capital. In the last 10 or 15
:12:13. > :12:16.years, there has been a massive introduction of speculation and
:12:16. > :12:19.buy-to-let has been driving the increase in homes and the value of
:12:19. > :12:22.homes. This is a massive problem because there is a new entrant which
:12:22. > :12:26.makes it more difficult for young people to get into the housing
:12:26. > :12:31.market. Let's put that question of justice
:12:31. > :12:35.to one side and ask a bigger question which is or another
:12:35. > :12:39.question which is this any sensible way to run an economy? Relying upon
:12:39. > :12:43.this sort of stimulus coming from housing? Well, an economy where the
:12:43. > :12:48.only thing that makes people feel good is rising house prices is not a
:12:48. > :12:52.good way to run an economy. I think Britain needs to get away from its
:12:52. > :12:56.obsession with owning houses and an obsession of house prices as the
:12:56. > :12:58.basis of wealth. You are seeing a rising split between the older
:12:58. > :13:04.generation and the younger generation that does not.
:13:04. > :13:08.The solution is to build more homes. More than double for a sustained
:13:08. > :13:12.period, 15, 20 years and only then will we see the problem solved. It
:13:12. > :13:15.took us 20 years to get where we are today and it will take us 20 years
:13:15. > :13:18.to get out of it. 20 years is longer than the election
:13:18. > :13:22.cycle. In the meantime, you have a
:13:22. > :13:27.situation where people are priced out of the areas where there are
:13:27. > :13:32.jobs. By 2020, 40% of those under 30 will be living with their parents.
:13:32. > :13:37.One of my favourite stats from the data today if you knock out London
:13:37. > :13:45.and the South East, the actual house price growth is nearer to 1%. London
:13:45. > :13:48.has seen 8% rises and that's a stark discrepancy between London which is
:13:48. > :13:52.about international money and the rest of the country. OK, there are a
:13:52. > :13:57.lot of rich people who find London an easy place to come. International
:13:57. > :14:04.rich people who find London an easy place to move to, to buy property
:14:04. > :14:10.in, to generally make life difficult for anyone who wants to get on
:14:10. > :14:15.locally. Let's take that as read. If the effect is only 1% only 1%
:14:15. > :14:18.increase in value across the country, it argues, does it not
:14:19. > :14:20.that, that policy is not being effective? In terms of not getting
:14:21. > :14:26.enough of the bubble, enough of the increase.
:14:26. > :14:30.The bubble is too small. The policy is whether the policy is to make us
:14:30. > :14:34.feel good or to get more people in housing. Yes, rising house prices
:14:34. > :14:37.and nice front newspaper stories boost sentiment, but it doesn't
:14:37. > :14:44.really address the fundamental question about how do you get more
:14:44. > :14:48.people in descent houses? You have got two look the at the two schemes.
:14:48. > :14:53.You wouldn't expect that to have a significant impact on new house
:14:53. > :14:57.prices, house prices across the piece. The scheme that comes in in
:14:57. > :15:01.January will be for all housing, new and second-hand and across the whole
:15:01. > :15:07.of the UK. You are judging today for a scheme which has not started yet.
:15:07. > :15:12.Is it worth going ahead with the second part of this scheme? It is
:15:12. > :15:22.like a nationalised version of sub-prime, isn't it? It is no the a
:15:22. > :15:26.brilliant long-term strategy. and Freddie and has been something
:15:26. > :15:31.of a disaster in terms of wasting money and distorting incentre tifrs,
:15:31. > :15:34.the idea the UK would be picking up that same scheme is bonkers. If you
:15:34. > :15:42.want to use Government policy, use it on the supply end of the
:15:42. > :15:45.equation, not the demand end. I don't think it is sub-prime. The
:15:45. > :15:52.lenders are under strict rules after the mortgage market review to not
:15:52. > :15:58.lend to what we would have classified sub-prime.
:15:58. > :16:02.People will be able to buy with a 5% deposit, but they will be assessed
:16:02. > :16:09.by the lenders for affordability. It is not sub-prime lending. We are not
:16:09. > :16:19.talking about a sub-prime boom. It is nothing like the US pre-2006.
:16:19. > :16:22.Thank you very much. Coming up:
:16:22. > :16:30.I'm right in the middle of the whole thing. I would love to meet you just
:16:30. > :16:33.to say hello if you are not too busy.
:16:33. > :16:35.The Israeli government announced today it is going to release 26
:16:35. > :16:39.Palestinian prisoners, most convicted for murder, to mark
:16:39. > :16:49.another set of talks to try to find some way of brining peace to that
:16:49. > :17:03.
:17:03. > :17:08.troubled part of the world. The meetings begin tomorrow. Mark is
:17:08. > :17:13.here. What do you think? Well, there has been a start of sorts. Those 26
:17:13. > :17:16.prisoners have left the Israeli prison, most going to Gaza, some to
:17:16. > :17:22.the West Bank. There were demonstrators outside, clearly some
:17:22. > :17:27.on the right of Israeli politics don't like it. There are supposed to
:17:27. > :17:32.be 130 released. The two sides will convene for proper negotiations
:17:32. > :17:40.tomorrow in Jerusalem. What else can you tell us about the
:17:40. > :17:44.House of Commons? Well, this process has been if you like through several
:17:44. > :17:48.different philosophical evolutions. You had the Madrid process in 1991
:17:48. > :17:54.which was to deal with the Middle East problem in one swoop. That
:17:54. > :17:57.failed and then Oslo 20 years ago. It said OK, let's leave the
:17:57. > :18:01.difficult issues to one side, the issues about Jerusalem, Palestinian
:18:01. > :18:07.refugees, five million now in the Middle East and deal with what we
:18:07. > :18:11.can deal with. That subsided into violence and you had President
:18:11. > :18:16.Clinton who brought the sides to within a whisker of success and
:18:16. > :18:19.since then they have been trying to deal with the sensitive issues such
:18:19. > :18:24.as refugees, Jerusalem and settlements.
:18:24. > :18:29.Any chance of it succeeding, do you think? You have only got to look at
:18:29. > :18:34.the Israeli Government authorising 3,000 new housing units in the past
:18:34. > :18:38.couple of days on East Jerusalem on land they conquered in 1967 and the
:18:38. > :18:42.world does not recognise as sovereign Israeli land. The
:18:42. > :18:45.Palestinians put that in a very, very pessimistic frame of mind, but
:18:45. > :18:50.when you talk to the diplomats who dealt with these issues, they will
:18:50. > :18:55.say, an Israeli Prime Minister at Camp David was prepared to discuss
:18:55. > :19:01.dividing Jerusalem in 2008. We know the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud
:19:02. > :19:06.Abbas, was prepared to make concessions on the refugee issues.
:19:06. > :19:11.This is what John Carey says he wants the two sides to achieve in
:19:11. > :19:14.nine months. The really serious blocks are I think on the Israeli
:19:14. > :19:20.side, is there really a will to make the hard national choices at this
:19:20. > :19:24.particular moment? Is their heart really in the peace process. On the
:19:24. > :19:28.Palestinian side how can Mahmoud Abbas with his Fatah based State in
:19:29. > :19:32.the West Bank deliver something or a state in the West Bank when Ham mass
:19:32. > :19:42.still runs Gaza and you have to have the whole of the Palestinian
:19:42. > :19:46.
:19:46. > :19:49.community signing up to to any deal. Two people who have taken part in
:19:49. > :19:52.previous talks are Dr Ron Pundak, a key negotiator at the start of the
:19:52. > :19:55.Oslo peace process in 1993. In Ramallah is Khaled Elginy, who
:19:55. > :20:03.advised in the most recent rounds of major negotiations in Annapolis
:20:03. > :20:09.2007. Are you holding out hopes for these talks?
:20:09. > :20:16.Well, the situation is clearly not very easy because the gap between
:20:16. > :20:20.what is the maximum that the Israeli Government can offer versus the
:20:20. > :20:25.minimum the Palestinians can accept is too big. It is too huge. I think
:20:25. > :20:31.that the differences are unbridgeable. Now, here comes the
:20:31. > :20:37.American role which must be very dominant and not allow the two sides
:20:37. > :20:42.after one session or two sessions just to blow up and go away. And to
:20:42. > :20:48.be very brief, I think, that the solution which we can speak about is
:20:48. > :20:52.a kind of a two approach solution in which the Americans will gradually
:20:52. > :20:59.build the process which will be a first stage towards final status,
:20:59. > :21:04.dealing with the interim condition with a parallel position, and
:21:04. > :21:11.activity of a dominant American intermediator in which they will
:21:11. > :21:17.bring to the scene the final vision because without the final status
:21:17. > :21:19.vision will won't be any progress. How do you see it going? Are you
:21:19. > :21:29.optimistic about whether the talks about produce a settlement of any
:21:29. > :21:33.
:21:33. > :21:38.kind? I am not sure that I would cal ify
:21:38. > :21:42.-- qualify myself as an optimist. We are seeing something we have seen
:21:42. > :21:48.quite a bit before. Even the spike in settlement activity on the eve of
:21:48. > :21:52.resuming negotiations is not new. It is precisely the same thing which
:21:52. > :21:58.happened after the talks were launched and just as the parties
:21:58. > :22:04.were about to sit down and resume negotiations we saw an increase in
:22:04. > :22:13.settlement activity. So this is something of a peace process ritual
:22:13. > :22:19.unfortunately. And it is really one of the flaws in this process, the
:22:20. > :22:27.allowing really kind of unbridled settlement activity in the very
:22:27. > :22:32.areas that Palestinians are supposed to have a State. Let me ask you
:22:32. > :22:37.this. Forgive me cutting across you, we have a cheap satellite tonight
:22:37. > :22:47.and there is a delay. Let me ask you, what are the areas in which you
:22:47. > :22:50.
:22:50. > :22:54.think there might be progress? I think that on all core issues
:22:54. > :23:01.which means final status border, refugees, Jerusalem, on the core
:23:01. > :23:06.issues, the chances of really moving forward are less than small. And
:23:06. > :23:12.because of this and because of the lack of interest of both sides, just
:23:12. > :23:21.not to move forward, and specifically when we have such a I
:23:21. > :23:25.would say poor active administration American add Mark -- administration,
:23:25. > :23:31.especially John Kerry, at an early stage one should concentrate not on
:23:31. > :23:37.the final status issues, but on the interim issue in order to bring a
:23:37. > :23:44.Palestinian State on interim borders which are familiar to us from the
:23:44. > :23:49.second phase of the road map of 2003. But this can only be with a
:23:49. > :23:53.vision of a final status, but to speak about borders, Jerusalem today
:23:53. > :23:59.is impossible. Let's talk about leaders. Do the two
:23:59. > :24:08.sides have leaders who are sufficiently self-confident to make
:24:08. > :24:16.progress? It is not just a matter of
:24:16. > :24:22.self-confidence, it is a matter of inclin nation. -- inclination.
:24:22. > :24:26.on. We have an Israeli Government that does not appear inclined
:24:26. > :24:36.frankly towards a genuine two State solution. You have settlers in the
:24:36. > :24:42.Government. You have people in the Government open to a solution and
:24:42. > :24:46.this it is difficult to see how this Israeli Government will be able to
:24:46. > :24:50.orientate itself towards a two State solution. You have a Palestinian
:24:50. > :24:56.leadership that's weak and dysfunctional and it is difficult to
:24:56. > :25:03.see how a leader leadership like that is going to have the mandate to
:25:03. > :25:06.negotiate the broad, sweeping concessions. Do you think then
:25:06. > :25:11.gentlemen... You have two leaderships.
:25:11. > :25:15.Gentlemen, do you think the two of you that this idea of a two State
:25:15. > :25:20.solution is now something that really ought just to be put to one
:25:20. > :25:27.side for a moment to see if there are any sort of practical issues
:25:27. > :25:31.that could be addressed in the meantime? Well, first of all, I
:25:31. > :25:37.think that the two State solution is the only solution which would bring
:25:37. > :25:42.peace and stability to the region. The ideas of one State, or any idea
:25:42. > :25:46.of managing the conflict is impossible. The conflict should be
:25:46. > :25:50.solved through a process of two States. Currently, unfortunately,
:25:50. > :25:55.and I am agreeing with my Palestinian partner here. I don't
:25:55. > :25:59.think that on the Israeli side we have a Government which will be able
:25:59. > :26:07.to go through the process towards a two State solution and I believe
:26:07. > :26:11.that we have a Palestinian partner. I am more optimistically regarding
:26:11. > :26:18.Mahmoud Abbas to move towards a two State solution if the opportunity
:26:18. > :26:21.will come. But having said this, we need two for a tango. The other
:26:21. > :26:28.option which I'm trying to foster now is something which will be less
:26:28. > :26:32.than two States, but again, within a vision that we are heading without a
:26:32. > :26:41.compass, without a direction towards the future, we will not be able to
:26:41. > :26:51.move one step towards any agreement between the two sides. Briefly.
:26:51. > :26:55.
:26:55. > :27:01.Well, I think with all due respect to the doctor, the days of interim
:27:01. > :27:07.arrangements are long gone. Of the irony is that if does not look good
:27:07. > :27:13.now, but it maybe worse down the road as far as prospects for a two
:27:13. > :27:15.State solution. I think -- I think more changes need to happen in the
:27:15. > :27:21.Israeli leadership and the Palestinian leadership.
:27:21. > :27:26.Thank you very much indeed. When did you last sit down and write
:27:26. > :27:30.a letter? I'm not talking to you with your nib quivering like a
:27:30. > :27:33.hummingbird over the green ink. Chances are it's been a fair while
:27:33. > :27:36.since you received a letter either. Perhaps then, the only thing left to
:27:36. > :27:39.do is to read other peoples' outpourings. The popular website
:27:39. > :27:43.Letters of Note is to publish its first book in October, filled with
:27:43. > :27:47.the personal scribblings of the rich and famous from yesteryear and the
:27:47. > :27:50.site has given Newsnight access to some of the letters. So with his
:27:50. > :27:53.tongue curled heartbreakingly over his upper lip, the unlettered
:27:53. > :28:03.Stephen Smith, has compiled this August filler - I mean, urgent
:28:03. > :28:07.
:28:07. > :28:11.rock'n'roll. You might not be so familiar of him as a sparking con
:28:11. > :28:18.verisationist on the page. Here he is offering to keep tabs on
:28:18. > :28:22.the youth of America on behalf of President Nixon whom he looks
:28:22. > :28:26.forwarding forwarding -- forward to meeting on a trip to Washington DC.
:28:26. > :28:31.Dear Mr President, I would like to introduce myself. I'm Elvis Presley
:28:31. > :28:39.and admire you as have great respect for your office. I'm registering
:28:39. > :28:43.under the name of John Borrows. I have done an in-depth study of drug
:28:43. > :28:50.abuse and communist brain washing techniques and I'm right in the
:28:51. > :28:57.middle of the whole thing. I would love to meet you say hell yes --
:28:57. > :29:02.hello if you are not too busy. was, I wouldn't say famously, but he
:29:02. > :29:08.was a collector of police badges and he tried to obtain police badges
:29:08. > :29:11.from every State. The one he didn't have was a badge of the bureau of
:29:11. > :29:20.narcotics and dangerous drug use. The only way he could think of
:29:20. > :29:30.getting one of these badges was to write to Nixon.
:29:30. > :29:40.This is a calligrapher. He has given Cupid a nudge from time to time,
:29:40. > :29:43.writing love letters on behalf of shy gents. The Queen herself with
:29:43. > :29:49.Princess Margaret await his arrival. You know how it is when you go
:29:49. > :29:54.abroad. You meet a nice couple, promise to keep in touch, president
:29:54. > :29:59.was treated to tea by the Queen and complimented her on her scones and
:29:59. > :30:04.then this happens. Dear Mr President, seeing a picture
:30:04. > :30:08.of you in today's newspaper standing in front of a barbecue grilling
:30:08. > :30:13.quail reminded me that I have never sent you the recipe of the drop
:30:13. > :30:17.scones which I promised you at Balmoral. We have followed
:30:18. > :30:22.worthwhile intense interest and much admiration your tremendous journey
:30:22. > :30:28.to so many countries. But feel we shall never again be able to claim
:30:28. > :30:35.that we are being made to do too much on our future tours.
:30:35. > :30:42.Yours sincerely, e Elizabeth R. This is an interesting letter
:30:42. > :30:49.because it is trying to impersonate an intimate private letter.
:30:49. > :30:55.Personally, I think it is a little bit fake. The idea that the Queen
:30:55. > :31:05.had this recipe for drop scones to hand, or she typed out the recipe
:31:05. > :31:09.herself is a little bit unconvincing.
:31:09. > :31:13.Research for this programme from the internet shows that the volume of
:31:13. > :31:20.mail including letters handled by the Post Office reached a peak of
:31:20. > :31:24.some 20 billion items a year by 2000 and has slipped back to 15 billion.
:31:24. > :31:30.Handwriting and the handwriting of letters still matters because it
:31:30. > :31:34.just shows so much investment in the subject, in the occasional
:31:35. > :31:41.communication. I think for most of us, there are still important
:31:41. > :31:48.occasions in our lives when we would specify that a letter needs to be
:31:48. > :31:52.handwritten on paper. We would probably write for instance to a
:31:52. > :31:56.bereaved friend with a pen on paper. I think most people would still do
:31:57. > :32:06.that. Of course, there are some letters
:32:07. > :32:09.
:32:10. > :32:15.you might prefer not to get like a Sangin notelet from Jack the Ripper.
:32:15. > :32:20.From hell. I send you half the kidney I took from one woman.
:32:20. > :32:25.Preserved it for you. The other piece I fried and ate. It was very
:32:25. > :32:32.nice. I may send you the bloody knife that took it out if you only
:32:32. > :32:37.wait a while longer. Signed catch me when you can will Lusk.
:32:37. > :32:40.It is the perfect time to look back at this thing and try and make it
:32:40. > :32:45.accessible to as many people as possible. A lot of the letters exist
:32:45. > :32:52.in archives and in museums and in old books and I just find it very
:32:52. > :32:55.satisfying to bring them into one kind of place.
:32:55. > :33:00.Einstein wrote to the White House in 1939 voicing his concern that
:33:00. > :33:05.scientists were on the brink of developing a terrible new weapon,
:33:05. > :33:09.the acomic bomb. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem
:33:09. > :33:13.to call for watchfulness and if necessary, quick action on the part
:33:13. > :33:18.of the administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to
:33:18. > :33:24.bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations.
:33:24. > :33:28.That it may become possible to set-up a nuclear chain reaction in a
:33:28. > :33:34.large massive Ukraine stadium, by which vast amounts of pou with are
:33:34. > :33:39.and large quantities of raid stadium would be generated. This would lead
:33:39. > :33:42.to the construction of bombs, a single bomb of this type carried by
:33:42. > :33:50.boat and exploded in a port might very well destroy the whole port
:33:50. > :33:54.together with the surrounding territory.
:33:54. > :33:58.If you have enjoyed our coverage of letters, you might like to forward a
:33:58. > :34:08.link to Newsnight to a friend or a loved one.
:34:08. > :34:10.
:34:10. > :34:12.The modern equivalent of the chain Well, joining me now is the
:34:12. > :34:16.Telegraph's social media editor, Kate Day and the poet, Roger
:34:16. > :34:20.McGough. Is this something we need to worry about, Roger? Well, I do. I
:34:20. > :34:25.think it might be a lost art. I think, it is very important when
:34:25. > :34:31.children are at school to learn how to write and we are losing that.
:34:31. > :34:34.That's a handwriting thing? Yes. They hand write and they write
:34:34. > :34:38.letters, if they are typing in and tweeting and using the internet,
:34:38. > :34:42.people will lose the ability to write, aren't they? It is a tactile,
:34:42. > :34:45.centre suous and good for the soul. Do you worry about it, Kate?
:34:45. > :34:51.particularly. I agree with Roger that it is important that children
:34:51. > :34:55.can write, but I think that also children need to rern learn to using
:34:55. > :35:00.language and learning to write a well constructed e-mail could teach
:35:00. > :35:08.them as well as writing a letter. are moving from the considered
:35:08. > :35:13.letter, a series of expressions of feelings and on a piece of paper
:35:13. > :35:22.which has been composed to instantous communication? The willer
:35:22. > :35:26.is a conversation. It is a whisper, isn't it? The e-mail is, you no
:35:26. > :35:31.know, it tends, you know, it tends fob informative.
:35:31. > :35:35.Does it not depend on the e-mail. You can throw an e-mail quickly and
:35:35. > :35:37.tell someone you will be five minutes late. Or you can write
:35:37. > :35:43.something considered. Do you do that? Yeah, from time to
:35:43. > :35:47.time. Not hugely... Do you post things too? Yeah, particularly
:35:47. > :35:50.private messages on Facebook and Twitter. I wouldn't want to make the
:35:50. > :35:55.messages public because they are more intimate and intended for one
:35:55. > :36:00.person, but I sit down and write considered e-mails and receive
:36:00. > :36:04.considered e-mails and you know when you get an e-mail whether somebody
:36:04. > :36:09.put time into it or whether it is a thrown away message.
:36:09. > :36:13.I was talking to my son of 22 about this before he came out. He said he
:36:13. > :36:19.would find it pretentious to write a letter. A lot of young people find
:36:19. > :36:28.this except if you are, you know, writing a bereavement or a farewell
:36:28. > :36:35.letter or something and e-mails are used, except he wouldn't like a
:36:35. > :36:44.value Valentine in an e-mail e-mail? Did you receive that? Would you not
:36:44. > :36:49.like a nice letter? I remember when I was at university and we used to
:36:49. > :36:54.get letters from mum and dad. My mum, she wrote a lot. She was very
:36:54. > :36:58.chatty and very gossipy. My dad, who wasn't good at writing, he wrote in
:36:58. > :37:02.capital letters, but when I got his letters, it was wonderful. They were
:37:02. > :37:09.few and far between, but you could almost smell the tobacco and the
:37:09. > :37:13.time he had taken to do. E-mail, they would have just done and...
:37:13. > :37:18.look at some of those examples of letters given there. There is a
:37:18. > :37:22.physical artefact. You get some sense of the person from that in a
:37:22. > :37:29.way you would never really get it, do you, from electronic
:37:29. > :37:32.communication? Well, you lose the physicalality, but you get an
:37:32. > :37:39.intimacy by sharing the moment in a way you can't with the lettermed
:37:39. > :37:41.Supposing you were a historian or a biographer and you are going through
:37:42. > :37:46.someone's correspondence and all you have got is e-mails sent and
:37:46. > :37:50.received. Is it anything good as letters? Well, you could argue it is
:37:50. > :37:55.better. Why?You are going to have more stored. You are going to get a
:37:55. > :37:59.wider picture of that person's life and wouldn't you want to he read the
:37:59. > :38:03.Pope's e-mails or the Queen's e-mails. Do you think it is more
:38:03. > :38:08.honest in a way? I think you get a broader picture so you will get some
:38:08. > :38:12.of the formal messages from very public figures that they are sending
:38:12. > :38:17.as head of State, but you might also get their private communications
:38:17. > :38:21.that are much more casual and so you get a much richer picture about who
:38:21. > :38:26.they are because we can store that now in a way it was much more ad hoc
:38:26. > :38:30.in the past with physical letters. Isn't it something about the letter?
:38:30. > :38:38.It is the letter and someone has been out doing the gartening, there
:38:38. > :38:44.might be ksh gardening, there might be soil on the letter. I remember
:38:45. > :38:49.judging children's poetry competitions, ten or 15 years ago,
:38:50. > :38:55.the children children sent their poetry with mistakes and bad
:38:55. > :39:00.spelling and now they compere effectually written and typed and
:39:00. > :39:04.with spell check and something has lost.
:39:04. > :39:07.In the same way that I think e-mail is cold.
:39:07. > :39:14.Isn't there something wonderful about sharing a moment with somebody
:39:14. > :39:17.that the instand tinnious nature that -- instantous nature, if you
:39:18. > :39:21.are sending something a tweet and you know they are thinking about it
:39:21. > :39:27.at the same moment. There is something lovely about it.
:39:27. > :39:37.That's a point. I am an occasional tweeter, but I like reading. I mean,
:39:37. > :39:38.
:39:38. > :39:42.reading the paper about the fam famous beard. There is a lot of
:39:42. > :39:50.rubbish on Twitter. I think we will stop this
:39:50. > :39:53.conversation! Sorry. We all need to drink more beer. This
:39:53. > :39:56.is the sort of political instruction Homer Simpson can understand. No
:39:56. > :40:00.less a figure than the hitherto unknown Brandon Lewis - apparently
:40:00. > :40:03.he is minister for pubs - has endorsed a scheme to list 100 pubs
:40:03. > :40:07.to save them from being bulldozed. If that's his idea of dramatic
:40:07. > :40:14.action, don't ask him to buy a round. The fate of pubs is normally
:40:14. > :40:17.a worry of men with beards. But according to the Campaign for Real
:40:17. > :40:21.Ale, great numbers of human beings without the Y sex chromosome are
:40:21. > :40:31.also worrying about the fate of beer. Robin Denselow is our man in
:40:31. > :40:35.
:40:35. > :40:42.British Beer Festival. An annual event it attracts 55,000 people most
:40:42. > :40:46.of them male, to the London Olympia where they can sample over 800 real
:40:46. > :40:50.ales and ciders and celebrate the now endangered great British
:40:50. > :40:54.institution, the pub. I like it. Pubs are closing so fast
:40:54. > :40:57.across the country that there is a Government backed campaign to
:40:57. > :41:01.protect them. I think they are unique community assets. There is
:41:01. > :41:05.nothing else in our society that provides the same sort of benefit I
:41:05. > :41:09.think for people in terms of meeting places and quite often particularly
:41:09. > :41:13.in rural communities they are the only place where people can get
:41:13. > :41:18.together and enjoy a drink responsibly and sociably with their
:41:18. > :41:22.family ands friends so nothing else can provide that amenity.
:41:22. > :41:27.But if people are not going there anymore, shouldn't they just close?
:41:27. > :41:31.It is not as simple as saying they are not economically viable. The
:41:31. > :41:35.land can be worth more in alternative use and so, you know, we
:41:35. > :41:39.had to have a. Proper planning procedure in place to protect pubs
:41:39. > :41:43.so people have a say on the future of the amenities before they are
:41:43. > :41:46.closed and turned into flats or shops or any other use.
:41:46. > :41:49.So there is serious business behind the booze-up. The industry employs
:41:49. > :41:55.around one million people in breweries and pubs across the
:41:55. > :42:00.country. Half of them under 25. Which is why 100 pubs are to be
:42:00. > :42:05.given a special status in a bid to stop them being sold off for
:42:05. > :42:11.redevelopment. Pubs are closing at a an astonishing rate. 26 a week
:42:11. > :42:14.across the UK, that's nearly 5,000 over four years. But now if a pub
:42:14. > :42:22.becomes an asset of community value, the local authority has to be told
:42:22. > :42:26.when it is on sale, and a local groups up to six months to put in a
:42:27. > :42:29.bid to buy it. What difference do you think the measures will make?
:42:29. > :42:33.just means the communities get a chance to say this is a pub that
:42:33. > :42:36.matters to our community. We want to list it. We want to protect it. If
:42:36. > :42:39.anybody looks at selling that pub or moving it on, community gets a
:42:39. > :42:43.period of time where it can come together and many have already
:42:43. > :42:46.around the country and buy it as a community and when they do that, it
:42:46. > :42:51.is a proper community pub, coming together and generally, they are
:42:51. > :42:54.successful. We have got 100,000 and we are looking to get 300 by the end
:42:54. > :42:59.of the year. The amount of beer and lager sold in
:42:59. > :43:03.pubs and hotels in the UK has dropped. In the first six months of
:43:03. > :43:08.1999, it was just under 50,000 barrels. The figure for the same
:43:08. > :43:12.period this. Year was just over 28,000 barrels.
:43:12. > :43:19.Keeping a pub going by making it an asset of community value may help,