:00:13. > :00:23.An epidemic, that is how Ed Miliband describes the spread of gambling
:00:24. > :00:27.machines known as fixed odds bett terminals. After they were introduce
:00:28. > :00:31.under the last Labour Government, Mr Miliband says they are now another
:00:32. > :00:36.sign of the cost of living crisis and he wants to get rid of them.
:00:37. > :00:40.This man tells us gambling ruined his lif
:00:41. > :00:46.Plus take two sisters, a popular TV cook, her ex-husband and some credit
:00:47. > :00:51.cards, add a trial, stir in lots of press interest, stir for three weeks
:00:52. > :00:55.and turn out a not guilty verdict. What does the way we consumed these
:00:56. > :01:01.cases tell us about ourselves and the justice system. We talk to our
:01:02. > :01:06.guests. An early Christmas present for you, Newsnight graphs. What can
:01:07. > :01:11.economic graphs tell us about the last year. Quite a lot as it turns
:01:12. > :01:18.out. We ask a squad of economists to tell us the one that tells us most.
:01:19. > :01:23.The excitement is at fever pitch! It as been an eventful year in the
:01:24. > :01:28.Catholic Church. Its one. Two billion members were taken aback by
:01:29. > :01:33.the resignation of Pope Benedict, his place was taken by a man who
:01:34. > :01:39.seems to care about people and their issues and the modern world.
:01:40. > :01:42.We will reflect on the events of the last year by hearing again some of
:01:43. > :01:50.the most powerful contributors to Newsnight over the past 12 months.
:01:51. > :01:55.From Russell Brand to Bill Clinton. I will miss the light he caused to
:01:56. > :02:02.come on in the lives of everybody he touched.
:02:03. > :02:13.Good evening. After a popular, some might say, or populist campaign
:02:14. > :02:21.against pay day loans. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, turned his
:02:22. > :02:26.attention to another part of life he thinks is pernicious, gambling, and
:02:27. > :02:30.the fixed odds betting terminals found in betting shops on high
:02:31. > :02:34.streets up and down the line. Since their introduction in 1999 they have
:02:35. > :02:37.become big money spinners. Mr Miliband says if he wins the next
:02:38. > :02:42.election he will legislate so councils can ban them from bookies
:02:43. > :02:48.if they choose to. They have brought the casino to the
:02:49. > :02:52.high street. Fixed odds betting terminals provide half of all
:02:53. > :02:57.betting shops' profits. Critics say it is the speed of play that makes
:02:58. > :03:09.them deadly. Maximum bet ?100, the time between bets, 20 seconds. What
:03:10. > :03:12.is amazing is how many they are, there are there and there. Ed
:03:13. > :03:17.Miliband chose North London to point out what he calls a gambling
:03:18. > :03:21.epidemic. He wants councils to be able to limit the number of betting
:03:22. > :03:24.shops in their area, and to be able to ban fixed odds betting terminals.
:03:25. > :03:30.These machines can be addictive for people, they can cause real misery
:03:31. > :03:34.for families. There is further and further growth of these machines and
:03:35. > :03:37.indeed betting on them. They are concentrated in parts of the
:03:38. > :03:41.country, particularly more deprived parts of the country. And somebody
:03:42. > :03:49.has to step in and stand up to the betting industry.
:03:50. > :03:53.There are 33,284 fixed odds betting terminals in the UK. For bookmakers
:03:54. > :04:01.the yield from the terminals is ?1. Five billion a year. The machines
:04:02. > :04:05.average gambler spends ?1,200 a year, compared to ?430 a year, for
:04:06. > :04:12.those who stick to over the counter gambling. Hi there, my name is
:04:13. > :04:17.James. This is the first of my video diaries regarding my compulsive
:04:18. > :04:21.gambling addiction... During the summer Newsnight met James, who has
:04:22. > :04:28.been keeping a video diary about his gambling addiction. These machines
:04:29. > :04:34.have changed the gambling habits of the normal punter. Instead of doing
:04:35. > :04:36.a ?2 bet, they are sticking ?20, ?40, ?60 in a matter of minutes,
:04:37. > :04:40.thousands into the machines. I have done the same. I have lost hundreds
:04:41. > :04:43.of thousands of pounds in these machines. Whilst betting shops are
:04:44. > :04:48.only allowed to have four terminals each, the problem is many towns now
:04:49. > :04:51.have several bookies on their high street. Under the last Labour
:04:52. > :04:55.Government the gambling laws were relaxed, making it easier for them
:04:56. > :05:01.to open. The industry rejects the idea they are targeting poor areas.
:05:02. > :05:06.Do you not accept though that these machines do prey on the poor and the
:05:07. > :05:11.vulnerable? They are not popping up on Park Lane. They are growing in
:05:12. > :05:17.poor communities? No, I don't accept that. These machines are in high
:05:18. > :05:21.streets up and down the country. There are more shops on high streets
:05:22. > :05:25.in urban areas, but there is more population in those areas as well.
:05:26. > :05:28.We are not targeting any particular community. It will be a pretty
:05:29. > :05:33.strange business model to specifically target people who don't
:05:34. > :05:37.have any money. The figures that showed gambling levels were falling
:05:38. > :05:42.and it also showed that the more deprived people are the less they
:05:43. > :05:46.are likely to gamble. Ed Miliband is using the issue of gambling to widen
:05:47. > :05:52.his cost of living agenda, it includes a crackdown on payday
:05:53. > :05:58.lending and measures to lower the cost of housing and attacking the
:05:59. > :06:02.energy suppliers. Ed Miliband says so many voters are not benefitting
:06:03. > :06:05.from the economic recovery. Many within his party are nervous,
:06:06. > :06:10.polling shows that Labour still isn't trusted to run the economy.
:06:11. > :06:16.That, they fear, will be the bigger issue on polling day. David Cameron
:06:17. > :06:21.has been coming under pressure for months to clamp down on betting
:06:22. > :06:25.terminals. This is an issue I have been repeatedly lobbied on by people
:06:26. > :06:30.across this house and more broadly. It is worth having a proper look at
:06:31. > :06:34.this issue. There will be those within David Cameron's party urging
:06:35. > :06:54.him to ignore this issue, to avoid being dragged on to Labour's
:06:55. > :06:58.preferred territory. We have James, a recovering gambling addict as our
:06:59. > :07:03.guest. How much have you spent on the machines over the years? Over
:07:04. > :07:08.the years over ?200,000. Just on these? Just on the fixed odds
:07:09. > :07:13.betting terminals. Predominantly roulette and black Jack. What impact
:07:14. > :07:17.does that have on your family and your life? I don't have a family,
:07:18. > :07:21.I'm not married, I'm single at the moment, I don't have any children,
:07:22. > :07:24.all because of my addiction to these fixed odds betting terminals. I had
:07:25. > :07:34.large income, but that was why I was able to put that amount of money in.
:07:35. > :07:40.It is not about the zeros on the end. Your earnings are relative to
:07:41. > :07:45.what you can get your hands on. At the moment my income is not as high,
:07:46. > :07:51.if I was to those ?1,000 now I wouldn't know where to turn. Are
:07:52. > :07:55.these machines any more addictive than other gambling, the
:07:56. > :08:00.scratch-cards, the instant, the on-line betting? They are more
:08:01. > :08:03.addictive. People don't get addicted to scratch-cards, they have problems
:08:04. > :08:09.with them, but these machines, the speed of play, the ease of access to
:08:10. > :08:13.it. The fact that you can do ?100 per spin, and that is a spin that is
:08:14. > :08:19.a gamble that is not in line with any other gaming product on the
:08:20. > :08:24.market. What do you say to people who say why don't you just choose
:08:25. > :08:28.not to spend the money on this kind of stuff? If it was just that
:08:29. > :08:33.simple, to stop gambling. I have been an addict for far longer than
:08:34. > :08:35.the time than these fixed odds betting terminals have been out. But
:08:36. > :08:39.these machines have destroyed my life. If somebody could have picked
:08:40. > :08:45.me up and said you had a gambling problem, stopped. But it is not as
:08:46. > :08:49.easy as that. Over the years I have been at so many low points,
:08:50. > :08:56.homeless, sleeping in my car, at one point back in 2008 I had lost over
:08:57. > :09:01.?2,500 in one day in one bookmaker, I had my passport on me, I stayed in
:09:02. > :09:04.a Bed Breakfast that night and got on a ferry the next day. I was
:09:05. > :09:07.reported missing for six months. I was out of the country for nine
:09:08. > :09:12.months. It was only a member of my family that got me back in the
:09:13. > :09:16.country. But the whole time that I was out of England and away from
:09:17. > :09:22.gambling my life got better. As soon as you got back straight into the
:09:23. > :09:26.bookies? Straight back into the bookmaker, gamble as heavy as I was
:09:27. > :09:31.before I left. What would you like to see happen? I would like the
:09:32. > :09:34.stakes to be reduced from ?100. I want the time between spins
:09:35. > :09:39.increased and Ed Miliband has said he wants to double it to 40 seconds.
:09:40. > :09:43.That is great step. Will that really make much difference? I think it
:09:44. > :09:47.will. If you go to a casino, you have a minute, up to two-and-a-half
:09:48. > :09:51.minutes between each spin of the wheel. Ed Miliband is talking about
:09:52. > :09:56.going from 20 seconds to 40 seconds between each spin? When you go to a
:09:57. > :09:58.real casino and a real wheel, you have time to think about your bet.
:09:59. > :10:03.You have time to decide whether you want to increase, you want to leave,
:10:04. > :10:07.take the winnings on the table and leave. That 20 seconds doesn't give
:10:08. > :10:13.your brain time to decide what to do, you just press the repeat button
:10:14. > :10:17.and away you go again. He wants to legislation to give councils powers
:10:18. > :10:20.to reduce the numbers of bookies on the high street, and reduce the
:10:21. > :10:26.number of terminals in the bookies, they will still be available. They
:10:27. > :10:31.will still be attractive? Yeah, but having the councils stop the bookies
:10:32. > :10:36.having more shops is a brilliant step. There is too many at the
:10:37. > :10:40.moment do we need any more? No we don't. If a council says you have 16
:10:41. > :10:45.on one road, why do you need any more, and they say no. That is a
:10:46. > :10:50.great step. It will protect so many people. Thank you very much for
:10:51. > :10:55.coming in James. You are calling for revolution?
:10:56. > :10:59.Absolutely, I'm calling for change, for genuine alternative, I say when
:11:00. > :11:06.there is a genuine alternative and option, then vote for. That but
:11:07. > :11:12.until then, don't bother! The year started with talk of a triple-dip
:11:13. > :11:16.recession, and ends with the latest GDP figures out today, suggesting
:11:17. > :11:20.that the UK economy could grow as much as 2% in 2013. As the year
:11:21. > :11:24.draws to a close we have a dream team of economists and economic
:11:25. > :11:29.commentators. To pick their favourite graph of 2013. The one
:11:30. > :11:33.that they think tells the most compelling story of the underlying
:11:34. > :11:43.health of the UK and world economy. Here is their verdict.
:11:44. > :11:48.I'm cheating actually because I have two graphs, the interesting thing is
:11:49. > :11:57.to compare the two. On the left-hand side you see that the -- risk-rated
:11:58. > :12:00.assets of banks are trailing downwards, but they remain very
:12:01. > :12:04.different from each other. On the right hand side when you look at the
:12:05. > :12:08.capital ratios they are all the same. Why is that? Because the banks
:12:09. > :12:12.are very successful in gaming the system. That shows how difficult it
:12:13. > :12:18.is for the regulators to get control over the banks on both sides of the
:12:19. > :12:23.Atlantic and indeed in the Pacific. The US share revolution and support
:12:24. > :12:29.for energy resource development has helped keep US energy prices well
:12:30. > :12:37.below European levels, it is bringing a resurgence in US managing
:12:38. > :12:43.competitiveness. US manufacturing will capture $70-$150 million of
:12:44. > :12:47.exports to other countries by 2020. It should give Europe pause for
:12:48. > :12:56.thought on its energy policy and how it chooses to develop its energy
:12:57. > :13:00.resources. This chart shows Germany and China's surplus, the difference
:13:01. > :13:04.between what they save and invest, they are the same in US dollar
:13:05. > :13:11.terms. Although China is usually seen as the arch capitalist,
:13:12. > :13:21.Germany's is three-times China's in GDP. Germany's behaviour is seen as
:13:22. > :13:25.widely incompat with a stable -- incompatible with the stable
:13:26. > :13:32.eurozone, both of these countries will have a significant impact on us
:13:33. > :13:37.in 2014. This chart is a chart showing what has happened to output
:13:38. > :13:39.per head since the start of the recession and also against this
:13:40. > :13:44.Government came into office. And what it shows is that output per
:13:45. > :13:50.head today is lower than it was in May 2010 when the coalition took
:13:51. > :13:54.office. So far from the Government being vindicated, this actually
:13:55. > :13:59.shows the worst recovery in 100 years, and in fact what it shows is
:14:00. > :14:08.no recovery at all. People are poorer today than they were when the
:14:09. > :14:12.Government took office. This chart shows economic forecasts for GDP for
:14:13. > :14:18.each year in the coloured lines, and the actual outcome GDP in the pink
:14:19. > :14:23.blocks. The turning point for the UK economy was sort of the beginning of
:14:24. > :14:28.2013, just when the doom sayers were really down on the UK. The other
:14:29. > :14:37.thing it shows you is the financial forecasting profession always
:14:38. > :14:40.underestimate amplutude, the good years are much stronger than
:14:41. > :14:44.predictions and the bad years are worse. This tells me the UK economy
:14:45. > :14:53.has finally turned a corner and growing a lot stronger than most
:14:54. > :15:00.predict. Earlier in the year the fear was we were in triple Dip
:15:01. > :15:06.investigation, the UK lost its triple-A rating and there was talk
:15:07. > :15:11.of quanative easing, and that never happened and the dip came to an end.
:15:12. > :15:14.Guilt yields rose dam matly through the year. The Bank of England
:15:15. > :15:19.thought the rise was unjustified and tried to stop it with forward
:15:20. > :15:25.guidance, that failed. And as GDP growth resumed in the UK, with the
:15:26. > :15:32.good news continuing, the rise in gilt yields resumed. Through the
:15:33. > :15:36.20th century economic growth fed into successive generations having
:15:37. > :15:40.on average higher incomes. This graph shows median incomes by age
:15:41. > :15:45.among those born in different decades, for example if you are born
:15:46. > :15:49.in the 1960s or 70s then you were likely to enjoy more income at age
:15:50. > :15:53.30 than people born in the past. But the really, really striking thing
:15:54. > :15:59.from the graph is that this is no longer the case. Those born in the
:16:00. > :16:03.1960s and 1970s are no longer experiencing higher average incomes
:16:04. > :16:12.than previous generations did when they were the same age.
:16:13. > :16:17.Not guilty of fraud. Two former personal assistants of Nigella
:16:18. > :16:20.Lawson and her ex-husband, Charles Saatchi, after a three-week trial.
:16:21. > :16:26.What most people will remember from this case are details of private
:16:27. > :16:31.lives, a high society couple, lavish spending habits and as of Class A
:16:32. > :16:34.drug use involving powerful people experienced in image and PR, until
:16:35. > :16:46.now. Let's discuss the lessons of the trial now with our guests. Why
:16:47. > :16:52.do you believe that Nigella Lawson has been vilified? She has certainly
:16:53. > :16:57.been accused of being a drug habit, a habitual criminal, a user of Class
:16:58. > :17:00.A drugs over ten years. They were the accusations. She wasn't on
:17:01. > :17:08.trial. She was a witness. And I think that the trial does show a
:17:09. > :17:13.concern that British law doesn't protect witnesses enough. We do rely
:17:14. > :17:18.on witnesses to come to court, to give their evidence without fear
:17:19. > :17:22.that they are going to be accused of serious crimes. I think that when
:17:23. > :17:28.witnesses who have only one right, which is to say I won't answer that
:17:29. > :17:31.question on the grounds it will incriminate me. Whenever they say
:17:32. > :17:36.that everyone thinks they are guilty. When the witness is accused
:17:37. > :17:42.of very serious crime I think they should have certain rights. A right
:17:43. > :17:47.to refute the accusation by calling evidence. If they are accused of
:17:48. > :17:50.being a habitual drug addict, calling their GP, maybe
:17:51. > :17:54.cross-examining their accusers. This is what goes on in Europe, this is
:17:55. > :17:59.what happens at our coroners' inquest, when somebody is accused.
:18:00. > :18:04.It would make trials more a test of truth, and it wouldn't, of course,
:18:05. > :18:08.affect the defendant's rights, we bend over backwards, quite rightly,
:18:09. > :18:12.to uphold the rights of the defendant. But it would allow
:18:13. > :18:17.witnesses who are accused of serious crime some opportunity to answer
:18:18. > :18:21.back. Because the judge is concerned with having a fair trial. The
:18:22. > :18:25.prosecution is not concerned with the witness. They are not allowed to
:18:26. > :18:29.take instructions from their own witnesses. I think it would be
:18:30. > :18:34.fairer and it would give more comfort to potential witnesses that
:18:35. > :18:56.they could do their civil duty without being accused of murdering
:18:57. > :19:04.their mother. Let me bring in Nancy. What do you think? You have
:19:05. > :19:08.an incredible country, Nigella is considered a national treasure sure,
:19:09. > :19:12.and then you have this ability to have these celebrities, this star
:19:13. > :19:19.system, to put everything up and then you are ready to destroy them,
:19:20. > :19:25.to bring everybody down. This is absolutely belonging to your
:19:26. > :19:31.culture. It is something that of course I feel very sympathetic with
:19:32. > :19:36.Nigella. I would say to Jeffrey, this was a very specific particular
:19:37. > :19:43.case. And I do absolutely agree with... Celebrities take no
:19:44. > :19:46.responsibility themselves for their downfall? Of course they have take
:19:47. > :19:53.responsibility. Actually I think we are doubly responsible because when
:19:54. > :20:00.you say "celebrities" I hate this word, it is the fact that you have
:20:01. > :20:03.to be aware that you are constantly, you have to play very well the game.
:20:04. > :20:12.The game is the fact that you are constantly in the public eye. You
:20:13. > :20:18.have become a public person. You are 100% scrutinised. This is with a
:20:19. > :20:24.particular case and being in public again so many details of the private
:20:25. > :20:28.lives should not be. But of course because I'm quite shocked of the
:20:29. > :20:32.decision of the court. Because I'm now reading we don't know about the
:20:33. > :20:38.motivation. I think it is are a bit early to talk about the downfall of
:20:39. > :20:43.Nigella Lawson, here she was, she was a witness, she came and gave
:20:44. > :20:46.evidence, she didn't take the 5th, she didn't rely on the right not to
:20:47. > :20:52.incriminate herself. She spoke about using a drug at a time when her
:20:53. > :21:00.husband was dying. I don't think that this was, we have got to be
:21:01. > :21:06.very careful. This was not the trial of Nigella Lawson. The media treated
:21:07. > :21:12.it as such, and she should have had more opportunity to chro
:21:13. > :21:15.cross-examine her accusers and call evidence about her innocence of the
:21:16. > :21:21.allegation which was that she was a drug addict. I think she came out of
:21:22. > :21:26.it rather well. I would like to think that if we can provide a
:21:27. > :21:31.little more rights to witnesses, other people who witness crimes and
:21:32. > :21:36.suffer great embarrassment by going into the witness box, sometimes to
:21:37. > :21:40.physical threats. I'm talking about defence witnesses as well as
:21:41. > :21:45.prosecution witnesses. We have got to assure them that they are going
:21:46. > :21:50.to have their rights not to have their family life shredded, their
:21:51. > :21:54.privacy invaded. So that's, I think, the lesson that I hope will come
:21:55. > :22:00.through, that Nigella Lawson was in fact courageous to give evidence. It
:22:01. > :22:04.is not, she is not on trial. She hasn't been found guilty. The
:22:05. > :22:09.prosecution simply failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
:22:10. > :22:14.Thank you very much both of you. It has been an extraordinary year
:22:15. > :22:19.for the Catholic Church. Under the leadership of Pope Francis. In just
:22:20. > :22:23.nine months since taking over from Pope Benedict, he has vigorously set
:22:24. > :22:27.about modernising the church with comments on everything from gay
:22:28. > :22:34.people, to economic and inequality to mothers breast-feeding in public.
:22:35. > :22:46.We have been looking at the Francis-phenomenon. The crib, it is
:22:47. > :22:50.hard to think of anything more traditional at Christmas time, yet
:22:51. > :22:55.800 years ago when it was invented by a man called Francis of Assisi,
:22:56. > :23:00.it was seen as something radical. Francis was a religious
:23:01. > :23:04.revolutionary, he took the gospel out of churches with gold, marble
:23:05. > :23:08.and silk, and took it into the real world. The first crib was in a cave,
:23:09. > :23:19.the figures were real people, he had real hey and real smelly animals The
:23:20. > :23:25.Catholic Church has a new Francis and a radical turning things up side
:23:26. > :23:29.down, telling leaders they are servants not masters. A real
:23:30. > :23:40.shepherd must smell of his sheep, he says. It has reignited the
:23:41. > :23:44.imagination of the world's 1. 2 billion Catholics. He respects human
:23:45. > :23:49.life, and he's close to human people and knows about the Joyce and
:23:50. > :23:55.suffering of people. He has language that connects directly to people.
:23:56. > :24:00.And a Pope who gives hope. On the edge of St Peter's Square there is a
:24:01. > :24:08.modern crib, the homeless of Rome. Wednesday was the Pope's birthday,
:24:09. > :24:12.Francis invited Marchine, his Bob called Bob Marley and three of his
:24:13. > :24:24.friends to join him for breakfast in the Vatican. What kind of man is the
:24:25. > :24:29.Pope? It is this embrace of the lowly and ostracised, throughout
:24:30. > :24:34.Pope Francis's first nine months in office which has touched the hearts
:24:35. > :24:40.of the ordinary faithful. The street sweepers of Rome devised their own
:24:41. > :24:44.crib, hoping the Pope will make an unannounced visit there this
:24:45. > :24:47.Christmas. Such is the impact of the Francis-effect, that people are
:24:48. > :24:52.returning to church who had previously left disillusioned over
:24:53. > :24:57.scandals like sex abuse by priests. I think that before this Pope nobody
:24:58. > :25:02.wanted to speak about these kinds of problems, now they are speaking a
:25:03. > :25:05.lot. This Pope has brought out this problem that it was a big deal in
:25:06. > :25:10.the church. I have a Catholic background because I went to a
:25:11. > :25:13.Catholic school until I was 12 years old. Then when I saw all the bad
:25:14. > :25:20.things that the priests were doing at school I didn't want to go there
:25:21. > :25:24.any more. But is there substance behind this dramatic change of
:25:25. > :25:29.style. There is a lot which needs practical action, the Pope's in-tray
:25:30. > :25:35.is piled high. There has been a commission to set up with the whole
:25:36. > :25:43.issue of sex abuse. A commission to handle those issues, to investigate.
:25:44. > :25:48.There has also been a series of issues relating to the reform of the
:25:49. > :25:54.Vatican bank and more stringent, more transparent measures that are
:25:55. > :25:58.being put into place. The reform of the bureaucracy. That is a big one?
:25:59. > :26:03.That is the big one, and that began by the establishing of this
:26:04. > :26:07.particular I suppose by the establishing of the Council of Eight
:26:08. > :26:12.Cardinals who have been meeting regularly, they met in October, they
:26:13. > :26:19.met in December, they are meeting again in February. There is a sense
:26:20. > :26:23.here in the city of that reform really gathering momentum. The
:26:24. > :26:26.commission to tackle sex abuse has only just been set up. But Francis
:26:27. > :26:33.has acted swiftly to tackle financial scandal. Through the gates
:26:34. > :26:36.behind me is the Vatican bank, or the Institute for Religious Works as
:26:37. > :26:40.it is known around here. The new Pope has moved swiftly to bring
:26:41. > :26:45.change. He has closed 600 suspect bank accounts and put in a new
:26:46. > :26:50.regulator and appointed an outside panel of experts, including a female
:26:51. > :26:54.law professor from Harvard to recommend long-term structural
:26:55. > :26:58.reform. But are some of the Pope's big gestures little more than PR.
:26:59. > :27:02.The homeless man who breakfasted with Francis is still sleeping rough
:27:03. > :27:08.in the Vatican porch the following night. Will the Pope find you
:27:09. > :27:12.somewhere to live, or a bed? TRANSLATION: But that is the way we
:27:13. > :27:18.live, we like to move around. The Pope has millions of other people to
:27:19. > :27:23.look around with bigger problems. But if he does not expect more,
:27:24. > :27:27.there will be many others who want substantial change rather than
:27:28. > :27:31.symbols. To turn the Vatican from the master of the church to its
:27:32. > :27:37.servant will require a scale of reform which is massive. Working out
:27:38. > :27:44.how to change the papacy from an absolute monarchy to something more
:27:45. > :27:47.collegial is the task of new cardial advisers. It is the biggest change
:27:48. > :27:51.in the Government of the church for over 1,000 years. He wants to know
:27:52. > :27:55.what ordinary Catholics think, on all sorts of issues, like
:27:56. > :28:04.contraception, and homosexuality, and so on. I think think his
:28:05. > :28:08.fundamental concern is together as a church we must be responsible. He
:28:09. > :28:13.wants to devolve a lot of responsibility from his own personal
:28:14. > :28:18.position to the college of bishops, and he hopes that bishops in their
:28:19. > :28:21.own diocese will give real responsibility to the people. And I
:28:22. > :28:25.think he also wants each of us to take responsibility for our own
:28:26. > :28:31.lives. In the end we have to be adults, we have to be grown-up. And
:28:32. > :28:36.so we could say that what I think Pope Francis wants is a church for
:28:37. > :28:39.grown-ups. Francis wouldn't call it democracy, but it feels something
:28:40. > :28:43.rather like that. The big question about the consultation, and the
:28:44. > :28:49.wider work of the Cardinal advisers is how radical will be the reforms
:28:50. > :28:53.which emerge. Big change is clearly under way in the Vatican, but rather
:28:54. > :29:02.like this crib, which behind the cloth is entitled "St Francis 122
:29:03. > :29:06."to Pope Francis 2013, we won't know until it is unveiled just before
:29:07. > :29:10.Christmas how significant the work in progress will be. We may have to
:29:11. > :29:14.wait longer than that to find out about the extent of the reform in
:29:15. > :29:18.the Vatican itself. That's nearly all from us. But
:29:19. > :29:23.before we formally sign off for the year. Let's take a look back at some
:29:24. > :29:24.of the memorable words that have resounded in the studio over the
:29:25. > :31:57.past year. That really is all from us for this
:31:58. > :32:02.year. There is no cookie monster to play us out. Nor am I about to
:32:03. > :32:09.dance. Sorry. Instead we will leave you with an extract from Carols at
:32:10. > :32:12.Kings, can you see it on BBC Two at Christmas Eve, if you celebrate
:32:13. > :32:20.Christmas, happy Christmas, otherwise have a very good holiday.
:32:21. > :32:35.# Remember Christ our saviour # Was born on Christmas Day
:32:36. > :32:45.# Oh tidings of comfort and joy # Oh tidings of comfort and joy
:32:46. > :32:49.# Comfort and joy # Oh tidings of DPORMENT