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