17/12/2013 Newsnight

Your lessons are interrupted if you are out playing in the playground.

She wasn't at all bothered by the news. David Grossman is not deaf. He

sometimes acts like that. He didn't seem to notice a plane going over?

You will always get a mix of opinion. I have surveyed my

residents they have said they are against it. It's noise, safety and

congestion. I don't know if you have recently gone out on the M4 to

Heathrow. It gets congested, that is without further expansion. The

expansion we are talking about is huge expansion from 480 flights to

740,000 flights. It's a huge expansion. There is support for

Heathrow locally, there is opposition. Actually back in

November we carried out 7,000, a poll of 7,000. Of those, 48% were in

favour of expansion, 12% against. When we asked specifically the

question, would you be more likely to vet for an MP if he support it.

It's not politically easy. It's a question of political principle. Zac

Goldsmith say it's an off the scale betrayal. He will resign and create

at by-election? Absolutely. You principles? I think you have to stay

and fight. It I will do it differently to Zac. I will try and

put forward the case for other solutions in London because I think

what people want generally across the country is for us to do

something sooner rather than later. We do need to solve this issue about

capacity. Let us find something where we can get a consensus Not in

your backyard. I don't think Heathrow is the place to do it. I

like Heathrow where it is. They do lots in the local area. Do you think

you would hold your seat it went ahead? I would potentially struggle

to hold my seat. I think it's ridiculous to build more runway

capacity in west of London where you are affecting a million people when

you could be building an extra runway at Gatwick, Stansted or doing

something about building a new airport. Spread the pain a bit. And

still as long as we are getting the capacity we need, does it really

matter whether it is at Heathrow, Gatwick or elsewhere? It's

noticeable there is nothing imminent about this being acted upon, is it?

Do you think it will happen within the next 10 years? I think the case

for it to happen is really strong. That wasn't my question? I'm not

just talking about the airport. For the country as a whole. That surely

is why we have the commission set up to take an independent, rigorous

look at. It of course you would expect me to argue Heathrow's case.

That is what we are doing. It is not us making the recommendations today.

We should let the commission get to the end. We would like a quicker

decision if possible, practically speaking that's not going to happen.

I think this is the best shot we've got at taking a decision which is

important for the country, coolie, calmly, rigorously and not leaving

it in the position of being a political football which is... Has

us turning left and then right. A decision which doesn't stick is

worthless. Both very much. Now, This is the star waiter in this

restaurant just outside Tokyo. A monkey just served me, only in

Japan. Now, two British citizens are dead in Syria, one of them a doctor

was, according to the Syrian regime, found hanged inside a Syrian state

prison, the British government says he was effectively murdered by the

regime there. The second man had travelled to Syria to fight with an

organisation linked to Al-Qaeda, he told us a few weeks ago he didn't

expect to return to Britain. Now his family say he never will. Richard

Watson is here. Let us talk first about the doctor. We are talking

about Dr Abbas Khan who was held for more than a year by the Syrian

authorities having travelled to Turkey and Syria with medical

equipment late last year. He was held in custody, allegedly tortured,

lost a lot of his body weight. I spoke to his family today they had

high hopes that he was due to be released this Friday. Of course, his

brother came on Newsnight last month to press the British government to

do more to intervene in this awful situation. His mother, who is in

Damascus was told he was due to be released this Friday. The family

lost contact with him, he was moved from his civilian prison last

Friday, yesterday his mother was told that rather being released he

died in custody. The regime of Assad said he hung himself. The family

reject that saying it's a complete yovsh cover-up. Another one of his

brothers spoke to the BBC today. I believe the British government have

failed my brother, they have abandoned him, forsaken him. Other

governments, such as the Germans in particular, were very quick to get

their citizens out. The British Government didn't do anything. I'm,

to this day, unaware of any single act that the British Government or

the Foreign Office enacted that led to any change on the ground.

Everything that happened was thanks to my mother. You know, the brave

efforts of a housewife. That's what the entire intelligence with the

Foreign Office, all those dons from Oxford and Cambridge did nothing for

my brother, nothing at all. The other case is very different. The

young jihadi you interviewed recently. Tell me about that? That

was two weeks ago. I interviewed a young British jihadi via a Skype

line. He was in Syria. One of the interesting things about it was he

was quite open in admitting that he was fighting with a group linked to

Al-Qaeda. I spoke to his brother who is still in the country in

Portsmouth at the same time. The family today confirmed that he was

killed fighting in Syria with the organisation. They said he was

killed in battle against the Assad forces. This is what they told me a

couple of weeks ago. Something has gone wrong there. He confirmed he

was fighting with the group, he said he was prepared to die for his

cause. He was not a threat to national security and had no plans

to come back at all. Quite remarkable testimony two weeks ago.

Now we know from the family he has actually died. Else did they say?

His brother in Portsmouth was saying that, look, he had done this

research on the internet and in his words consulted proper sources and

looked at fatwas from Saudi Arabia and had come to the conclusion that

Shia Muslims were not Muslims. I suggested it was a radical point of

view. He was pretty unhappy about my interpretation of it being a radical

view, I stand by that. If you consult proper sources saying that

Shia Muslims are not Muslims is pretty radical by most people's

books. Thank you. There can't be many jobs in Britain that will pay

you ?300 to do nothing, if you get yourself a seat at the House of

Lords, that is precriesly what is on offer -- precieslely on offer. Mitt

it We have been hanging around

parliament to see if he was right. Hello, sir. Will you have done a

full days work in the Lords today. Will you claim for a full days work

in the Lords today? No. Will be doing a full days work in the Lords

today? I was here at 11.00 am. Yes. I went out for another meeting. Will

you claim for a full day today? I will see. It's outrageous that a

peer, a convicted peer can stroll out of a prison gates in the morning

and into this place after lunch. The Lord Ashdown will you do a full days

work today? I do a full days work every day. I have amendments on the

Children and Families Bill I will leave at 8. 45pm, I will do a 12

hour day. What do you make of what lord Hanningfield has been doing? He

makes me very cross. I won't repeat what I think. Will you claim for a

full days work today in the Lords? I suspect so. Will you have worked a

whole day? (Inaudible. Do you think there is a problem in the House?

There Isn't a problem. There is no salary. The remuneration is very

modest. What other professional person are you going to get to work

for ?300 a day? Can I ask how many hours will you have worked in the

Lords today? I'm arriving now. I never claim at all. Hard luck, you

have no story. How about some good news for

Parliament? Admittedly, it's not often you hear that, but even the

most jaundiced onlooker wuf to admit in the last few years, it or parts

of it seem to have had a dose of CPR. The Times this morning, Rachel

Sylvester says it's more challenged from both within and outside their

parties. How the poor things must yearn for the days when people said

the average backbencher was either a lap dog or a mangy toothless smelly

old has been waiting for an invitation to sit up and beg. Let's

have a look at some of the highs and lows that Parliament's provided in

recent history. You come to us with absolutely no information. What is

your job? Director of Policy for Amazon across Europe. Be

We are going to have to order somebody to come to give us answers

to the questions. We'll order somebody to appear before us because

it's not just acceptable. I strongly believe in the need for a tough

response to the use of chemical weapons, but I also believe in

respecting the will of this House. It's very clear tonight that while

the House has not passed a motion, it's clear to me that the British

Parliament reflecting the views of the British people does not want to

see British military action. I get that and the Government will act

accordingly. Mr Speaker, hard working businessmen

facing tough decisions, desensed Trade Unionists and newspapers,

including the Daily Mirror, will have been appalled by the so-called

leverage tactics of uniting the Grangemouth dispute. Will my right

honourable friend take steps to ensure that families and children

are protected from a minority of militants?

Mr Murdoch, you must be the first Mafia boss in history who didn't

know he was running a criminal enterprise? Mr Watson, please. I

think that's inappropriate. Margaret Hodge, the fearsome lady

who chairs the Commons Public Accounts Committee who we saw there

and the Conservative backbencher Douglas Carswell are here. Is there

any environmental things first, is it partly this change in

relationship to do with this Government having a much smaller

majority than previous Governments have been used to? I put it down to

a number of things. We are elected now as chairs of the Select

Committee. We'll come to all this in a minute or two. I wanted the

broader point. Is it to do with the size of the Government majority? I

think I was going to come on to that, but I think it's the do with

the fact that we have a coalition Government. What's happened with the

coalition Government is that party loyalties have become less intense,

people, you know, are much more willing therefore to express their

own views and defend their own values. The coalition certainly

helped create the space for Parliament to disagree with the

Government. But I think some credit has to go to Speaker Bercow who's

been doing the job of the speaker for the first time in a generation.

A loft of changes are irreversible. The Internet is making individual

MPs personally accountable so they have to answer, not to whips but to

the voters. There is transformative. That's an interesting argument. Are

MPs also slightly different? More independent minded? I think the

technology requires this emto be more independent minded. If you are

trying to Tweet and stick to the party line, you look like a complete

clot. You have to say what it is that you think. The Internet

permanentising political communication. The lines of take

have to be your lines and beliefs. Do you think MPs are slightly

different? I certainly think that if we want to reconnect with our voters

and try and re reestablish credibility in politics, you have to

do your politics in a different way. I think that the days of taking the

line are gone. If you look at those MPs that are popular or those

politicians that get some resonance with the public, it's those that

stand outside the box and who're showing their individuality and

authenticity. I think authenticity's really important and I think this -

I mean I get endless texts - I'm sure Douglas does every day too,

telling me what to think and what to do. I knock them off my phone

immediately. I really do try to think for most and represent the

taxpayers and constituents. What about the point that you were

mentioning Earl dwroer do with the increasing strength of things to do

with the Select Committees -- mentioning earlier to do with the

increasing Select Committees? I'm now elected, and Douglas had a vote

to decide whether or not I should chair my committee and I think that

creates an independence and authority which we didn't have in

the past. Select Committees like the speaker owe their position now to a

vote freely given of the whole house. Their fell fairious that

level innocence has been talked out. They are full of people like

Margaret, John whiting dale, who do the job of the Select Committee,

which is to hold the ministers to the fire. You have been on both

sides of the fence. You were a minister. I bet you were pulled

before the committee? I was. Were you scared? I don't think I was.

Apprehensive? No. I don't think so. Would you be more worried now? I

think we are quite tough, but I think we have to... In an odd way,

if you are not tough and you don't actually try to get to the truth,

you are not really representing the taxpayers or the constituents

properly. I think where we have managed to connect in my committee,

whether it's on the issues of tax avoidance or the big issues like

that, or whether it's on the smaller issues of should 0845 numbers be

used, it's because we really toughly strive. Let me say something, if we

didn't do that, if we didn't really pursue our arguments strongly, I bet

people like you wouldn't be watching it. So in a way, we have to have

this slight exaggeration. A point of view one feels - I don't know what

you feel Douglas - what happens when you get people in front of the

committees is that the politicians start making speeches at them

instead of cross-examining? This is why we need to look seriously at one

particular change. At the moment, if you are trying to cross-examine a

witness, it's difficult to develop an intelligent, rational line of

questioning because the moment you are in the process of doing so,

someone else will come in with a question. We need to look seriously

at allowing them to employ legal counsel. Not more work for lawyers?

It would allow the committee to get to the heart. The one area I

probably disagree with you on. The one reason Select Committees can

work well is that we are not surrounded by lawyers. It would work

well. We work as a team, we are a cross party committee and the

Conservatives and Lib Dems work as well. But you don't want to

introduce that courtroom environment into the Select Committee process. I

think people would be inhibited, we'd get far less towards the truth

than we do now. If you work as a team, I always say we work best in

my committee when we do it as a team. We prepare before to ensure on

the hearings on the BBC or on tax. I agree, but I wonder if you sometimes

worry, looking at it from the other side, that Governments have to be

able to govern? Yes. Where do we get the Yahoo!ed that we should arrange

the furniture for the political class. A backbench MP like me could

take amendments, until the 70s, the Government decided responsibilities.

If a minister was asked to join the Government until 1918, they would

have to resign their seat. The idea we arrange Westminster for the

convenience of them is not right. We are governing better. It's not that

we are opposing Government. We want to oppose our authority to get

better governance for the people. Thank you both very much. It's a

year this week since Japan chose Shinzo Abe as its Conservative Prime

Minister. He took over the world's third largest economy after it spent

years as dynamic as a congealing rice pudding. He came in with plans

and promises, inevitably dubbed Abenomics. Has it worked? Is there

anything we could learn from it? The BBC's chief correspondent, Linda

Yueh, reports now from Tokyo. Echoes of strength from a dominant

past. 20 years ago, Japan's economy

rivalled America 's until it was felled by a debt bubble. Since then,

it has been stagnant with prices folding as deflation set in and

losing out to China as the world's second largest economy.

I'm at a sumo wrestling practice. Two removal objects trying to shift

each other using force. It's like Japan is trying to reverse the way

its economy has worked for decades. Undaunted, Japan's Prime Minister,

Shinzo Abe, has pushed forward with ambitious reforms since being

elected one year ago. Dubbed Abenomics, his plan is bold.

Bolder than anything that Thatcher or Reagan ever did.

How do you think the reforms of automobile able are working so far?

So far so good I think. The Prime Minister has been showing

very strong leadership. Since the strong leadership by the Prime

Minister's office, it continues and we are optimistic. At the same time,

I expect some more effort from the bureaucrats.

Patience, precision and perseverance. Traits that are needed

in archery and also to achieve economic transformation.

But time is a luxury the Japanese government doesn't have. My master

taught me the art of using a bow in my own crash course and shared his

thoughts on Abe's efforts at rapid change. Do you think that Prime

Minister Abe and his arrows will help the country?

I hope so. Do you think that with Abe's new plan, he'll be able to

help Japan grow again? It's very difficult questions.

Shinzo Abe has three parts, or, as they're particularly called here,

arrows, the first targeting deflation was fired immediately with

aggressive cash injections. The second arrow, government spending to

support growth, came soon after. But, a sales tax hike means that it

hasn't quite hit its mark. The third, and perhaps the most

important, the deep structural reforms to change how Japan works.

Well, those haven't been fired yet. Of the three arrows, the Nikkei is

up, the Yen is down but there are many more targets to hit.

Clearly, it's not so easy. His plan so far has had some initial

success. Now, inflation. Still one year on, growth remains slow.

So, the critics remain to be convinced.

On a beautiful autumn day, this Professor was happy to take a walk

with me. He's not so happy though with the Abe government.

Well, the Japanese government is saying everything is going to be all

right. Yes. But don't be deceived by that message. The real economy is

not working very well. So please be careful and observe what is

happening in the Japanese economy. To observe the famous fish auction,

you have to get up early. Selling to the highest bidder is the purest

form of competition. This is more of what Japan needs to

shape up the existing system. Forcing firms to compete for

customers and to invest to improve their wares are prime exam examples

of Abenomics's proposals. But maybe the problem is more fundamental.

Japan is the oldest country in the world with a quarter of its

population aged over 65. This man is 64 years old and has

been making sushi for 40 of them. He says it takes longer to warm his

hands up in the morning than when he was young.

But, he won't retire. When do you think you will retire?

Long time. Never? Never. In my final moments, he tells me, I'll be

preparing in the kitchen, like in judo, I'll collapse on the mat. You

have to be determined like that. This is the heart of the challenge.

Can a country with an ageing population grow well without

debt-fuelled consumption? After taking two decades to repay debt,

the Japanese are reluctant to boar re. In that case, how strongly can

an economy grow? Despite all that you see around me,

consumer demand is low. That's what happens when there's a shrinking

population. Besides, how many more things can

people in a rich country buy after decades of prosperity?

This is what the West worries about - lower demand and permanently

slower growth. If Japan can reverse its stagnation, there's hope for the

UK and US who're facing tepid recoveries five years after their

banking crises. If Japan can't, then it's a glimpse of the future for

other rich countries who have the same ageing population but are just

a few years behind Japan. Now this probably isn't the answer.

This is the star waiter at this restaurant, just outside Tokyo. O.-

brings towels, beers and even food. A monkey just served me some food.

None Japan! If there aren't more human workers being added, existing

workers have to produce more and be paid more to get the economy going

again. So it's a problem that wages in

general aren't going up. This man's brought his staff here, but Shinzo

Abe wants bosses like him to reward staff with pay rises, not just

dinners. TRANSLATION: Our industry deals with

raw materials. We have We haven't felt the positive impacts from

Shinzo Abe yet so we can't raise wages at this stage. At the end of a

long day, there's still the clearing up to do.

It seems a monkey's work is never done.

To earn a pay rise, more needs to be squeezed out of each worker.

More a rich country, it becomes harder and harder to do. If Abe does

tackle Japan's long list of economic problem problems and succeeds, this

country could be the first to grow well with an ageing population.

And, we might all rest a little easier.

Now, tomorrow morning's front-pages. The Independent goes with the story

of the Doctor Who was apparently found dead, according to the Syrian

regime, inside his cell - the question why would he kill himself.

Lord fraud faces police probe, the former Essex Cowan councillor done

over by the Mirror for checking in and claiming ?3010 from the House of

Lords and checking himself out within half an hour. -- ?300.

Fracking could be planned for half of Britain. The Guardian says David

Cameron is cracking down on access to benefits from Romania and

Bulgaria. The Sun has a demand that Cameron draw a red line on

immigration or else it says. The Daily Mail has news that older

ladies are drinking a great deal more than younger ones. And that's

about it for now. Right, the Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford

has had an eventful 2013 plagued by drug and sex scandals throughout the

year. One might think he'd keep a low profile throughout the Christmas

party season. Far from it. In keeping with his recent behaviour,

he didn't do things by halves. Good night.

# Come on, everybody. Merry Christmas

# Merry Christmas to you # Merry Christmas

# Merry, merry Christmas to you # It's the time of the year

# Let's all celebrate # Well, merry Christmas

# Merry Christmas to you # Merry Christmas

# Merry, merry Christmas to you # Whoa, it's the time of year

# Let's all celebrate... # After a quiet day today, it will be

wet and windy