Browse content similar to 28/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The British economy is growing faster than any other major economy | :00:09. | :00:15. | |
in Europe. Are we back to happier times? Or is this all something of a | :00:16. | :00:24. | |
mirage. There are mutterings from the Liberal Democrats that this is | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
the wrong sort of recovery. Not enough focus on this sort of thing. | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
We forget, made in Yorkshire, made in Britain, that damage sells across | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
the world, we seem to have forgotten about that. Does the Chief Secretary | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
to the Treasury get it? Police are practising for the next round of | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
riot in Ukraine. The opposition have run big concessions already, what is | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
it the protestors want. They are criminals, the Government, our | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
President, all of them, they are criminals. The Government, they | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
offered to resign? ? Is that good enough for you? It is not good | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
enough for me. # Where have all the flowers gone | :01:11. | :01:17. | |
# Long time passing Do you remember, Pete Seeger, one of the great | :01:18. | :01:25. | |
protest singers? We remember him tonight. | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
Just in nice time for the election next year we learn that the British | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
economy grew by nearly 2% last year. Things certainly seem better than | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
they were. But how impressed should we be? If you look at the four | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
quarters of last year, the overall size of the economy grew by one. 9%, | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
making it much larger than it was in 2010 in the midst of the credit | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
crunch. But if you take a longer view, the year before the crash, | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
2007, the economy was consider below bigger. Some parts of the economy | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
are now bigger than they were at the economic peak in early 2008. Here | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
you can see that the service sector, which represents three-quarters of | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
the economy is one. 3% larger. But the production sector, which | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
includes manufacturing and construction is nearly 12% lower | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
than it was in 2008. And the figures also show that the amount we're each | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
producing, GDP per person, hasn't grown at all. Because while more | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
people are employed than for a long while, the people in work aren't | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
producing any more than before. So what to make of it all? Earlier I | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
spoke to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander. Who | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
should take credit for this recovery? I think there are a lot of | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
people who deserve credit, primarily it is the workers and businesses of | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
Britain who have worked very hard to create this growth, to help get the | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
economy through the recovery, I think the coalition Government has | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
played a significant role in providing the conditions through our | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
economic plan, dealing with the deficit, and I think we as Liberal | :03:08. | :03:10. | |
Democrats deserve our fair share of the credit for that coalition | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
Government agreements. You would say that, wouldn't you, of course, when | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
times have been bad you have always blamed it on economic head winds or | :03:17. | :03:20. | |
the euro crisis or something or other? Look, the point is, we came | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
into Government with hugely serious economic problems as a country, we | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
put in place when we started a plan, plan that was involving taking a lot | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
of difficult decisions, you are right there have been head winds | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
along the way, head winds from problems within the eurozone, | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
domestic problems in terms of the banking system and financial crisis. | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
I think what we are seeing now is the plan we set out when we started | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
was the right plan for this country for creating the conditions for | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
economic growth. You planned that this growth should be fuelled, | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
essentially, by consumer spending, is that it? You didn't tell the | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
public that? I don't think that is a fair reading of the figures that | :04:03. | :04:05. | |
came out today. When you look at the figures what you see is the service | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
sector has grown by zero. 8% and manufacturing by zero. 9%. We have | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
seen agriculture and so on growing, the construction quarter shrinking | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
but growing strongly across the year. And the whole thing lower than | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
it was in 2008? The economy is still smaller than 2008, that is true. | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
That is a measure of the depth that our economy fell to during the | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
financial crisis. I always said, and you and I have spoken about this a | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
number of times over the years, that it would be a long process of hard | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
work, that hard work is by no means over if we're going to secure and | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
stablise our economy. When do you think we will be at a point above | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
the level in early 2008? I'm not an economic forecaster. We contracted | :04:49. | :04:56. | |
that out. Your forecasts are rubbish? We contracted that out to | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
an independent Office of Budget Responsibility, precisely so | :05:01. | :05:02. | |
politicians conned diddle the forecast. On the OBR forecast they | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
reckon that will be met some time during the calendar year or early | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
into the next one. What matters is making sure we have the conditions | :05:13. | :05:14. | |
in this country now for businesses to invest. One of the weaknesses | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
still in our numbers is business investment. Why aren't they | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
investing, businesses? Business investment has always tended to lag | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
behind a recovery. Businesses have been building up large cash balance, | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
especially large businesses over the last few years, because of | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
uncertainties about the UK economy. Uncertainties about the wider UK | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
economy. Now people can have a degree of confidence in the | :05:40. | :05:41. | |
direction of the UK economy, backed by a Government that has a strong | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
and firm economic plan, I think this is the year to be investing if you | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
are a business that h built up those cash balances over the last few | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
years. Of course your friend, Vincent Cable, has been saying this | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
for ages and ages that businesses have to get around to investing | :05:59. | :06:00. | |
their cash. They didn't take any notice of him or indeed you. What a | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
should they now? What we have been doing as a Government is | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
systematically tackle the problems holding back business investment. | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
Whether that is problems in the public finances, which we are | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
fixing. Whether it is the investment in infrastructure, the skills in the | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
work force, a Compative tax system, bringing the corporation tax down to | :06:24. | :06:25. | |
the most competitive level in the G20. We are creating the conditions | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
in this country for businesses to invest, we will start to see that | :06:31. | :06:33. | |
during the course of the year. Why is our productivity so bad? That is | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
an economic problem known as the productivity puzzle. There are lots | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
of different explanations. Have you solved the puzzle? I don't think we | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
have. It is partly about the fact that during this financial crisis | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
and subsequently, businesses have decided to keep on their staff to | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
maintain their skills in their work force. They have chosen not to | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
invest, and so what you have seen is a period of time where we have seen | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
significant job growth in our economy, but much lower investment | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
in plant and machinery. That causes productivity to be lower. That is | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
why I think this year business investment is so important. That is | :07:12. | :07:13. | |
the way we can increase productivity. It is only bin ceasing | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
productivity that we can raise the living standards of our population. | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
Do you worry about the level of house prices in south-east of | :07:23. | :07:34. | |
England? I think that house In central London, very rapid and large | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
rises in house prices. I think fuelled a lot by investment from | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
overseas. But I think what we have got to look at is what is the | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
condition in the housing market, what are we seeing in terms of | :07:49. | :07:51. | |
construction, because in the end we have to get more houses built in | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
this country. On that measure there are some encouraging signs in terms | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
of our planning reform, in terms of the Government's investment in | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
affordable housing. You have now worked for George Osborne for over | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
three years. You know what his priorities are. You have a clear | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
choice now, Ed Balls has said he wants to raise the top level of | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
income tax to 50%, George Osborne would like to reduce it from what it | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
is now, 40% or something. Now, which of those do you prefer? Well I think | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
we have the position about right at the moment. I think the 45p rate is | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
the right place to stay. But let me say this. Would you consider raising | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
the top rate of income tax to 50%? We debated this as a political party | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
at o conference last September, we decided to stick with the 45p rate. | :08:41. | :08:43. | |
There are a number of reasons for that. Firstly there is no evidence | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
at all that raising it to 50p would raise any money. We think we have | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
better ideas of how to get the wealth to pay more. Isn't it more | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
consumate with your principles, fair next you are always going on about | :08:58. | :09:00. | |
that -- fairness, you are always going on about that? I don't think | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
it is fair to levy tax that doesn't raise money. I think what we have | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
done in Government and what we prodoes to do going -- propose to do | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
going forward in Government. Restricting tax relief wealthier | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
people get on pension contributions. That is a better and more effective | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
way to ensure the better-off are making more contribution. Looking | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
ahead to the election, could you work as Chief Secretary to Ed Balls? | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
Look, the question about the future Government of this country is a | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
matter for the British people. We as exactly as we have said in 2010, | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
whichever party, assuming we have a balanced parliament, I don't see | :09:41. | :09:43. | |
much evidence that either Labour or Conservatives have got the political | :09:44. | :09:46. | |
momentum to win a majority by themselves. We would seek to have | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
discussions with whoever had the strongest mandate. The point I would | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
make though is that when, if you are worried about the economy, and you | :09:56. | :09:58. | |
see the threat that Labour poses with their ideas about the economy, | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
you see the threat that Conservatives pose with the game of | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
chicken they want to play with our largest market in Europe, I think if | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
you are worried about economic stability and strength in this | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
country, you need to make sure the Liberal Democrats are part of the | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
next Government. Whatever the overall way the cards fall in the | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
general election. You don't care who you get into bed with? What I care | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
about is making sure that we have a strong and stable economy, a strong | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
economy and a fair society. I think we're the only party that is | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
committed to both of those things. These are parties that have | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
diametrically opposed views of the world? I have just explained to you | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
some areas where I disagree with both parties. I think that what | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
Labour are saying about taking a lot longer to deal with the country's | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
financial problems would be bad for the economic health of this country. | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
What the Conservatives are saying about increasingly some of their | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
backbenchers taking Britain out of the European Union would be a | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
catastrophic thing for our economy. We have a role to anchor the | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
economics in the next election. And anchor society. If you care about | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
the stability of the British economy, and you want to have the | :11:09. | :11:10. | |
Liberal Democrats in there as part of the mix. So were the largest | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
party to be the Labour Party you would say we will open talks with | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
you but let as you be quite clear, there will be no 50p rate of tax? | :11:18. | :11:25. | |
I'm not going to get into prenegotiation for coalition talks. | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
I can tell you what I think as a Liberal Democrat. And what I think, | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
I don't think there is any strong case for going back to the 50p rate | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
because you would be raising a tax that doesn't raise any money for the | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
country, but sends bad signals about us around the world. Therefore you | :11:40. | :11:42. | |
couldn't be part of the Government that did it could you? I'm not going | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
to get into trying to renegotiate coalitions at this point. What I'm | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
saying to you is my tax priority. Surely wouldn't join a Government | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
going to do something as foolish as that? My tax priority for the next | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
parliament is to make sure that we continue to deliver further tax cuts | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
for people on low and middle incomes. This coming April we will | :12:05. | :12:11. | |
get to that 10,000 tax-free amount that we promised in 2010. I want to | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
go much further. That is what we want to raise money for. I want to | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
make sure the next Government in tackling the deficit, on the path we | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
have set out, also asks the wealthy to make a contribution. I think | :12:24. | :12:26. | |
there are much better ways do that than a 50p rate. Which as I say is | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
ineffective and there are better ways to raise money. While we are in | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
this terrain, do you think walls walls Ed Balls -- Ed Balls could run | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
the economy as well as George Osborne? I don't think that the | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
Labour Party and Ed Balls would have done anything other than a | :12:47. | :12:49. | |
catastrophic job on the economy. I think together the Conservatives and | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
the Liberal Democrats in this parliament have had a good plan for | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
the economy, we have taken tough decisions and came together as a | :12:56. | :12:57. | |
coalition Government. This recovery wouldn't be happening if we didn't | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
have a strong and stable coalition Government. As a Liberal Democrat | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
I'm incredibly proud of the role we have played in making sure we get to | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
this point of strong economic recovery in the UK. Now, if we | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
accept the economy is finally pick up after more than half a decade in | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
the doldrum, where is that growth coming from? Can it continue to | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
create new well-paid jobs? Jim Reid has gone in search of signs of the | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
recovery in Yorkshire and the north-east. This is. Here come the | :13:27. | :13:41. | |
steel workers, nearly seven thousand men and women, these are the men and | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
here is the metal. Just 40 years ago, the UK made twice | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
as much steel as the whole of China. Yorkshire firms, Vickers, Browns, | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
fox's, were all major industrial names. These are the men who are | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
producing the new steels needed to build the engineering and scientific | :14:04. | :14:14. | |
achievements of our age. The days of rolling hills and mass production | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
here might have gone, but 900 workers are left and they specialise | :14:21. | :14:27. | |
in something more cutting edge. Here ?2 million electric forges turn out | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
electric high-quality steel. Metal is melted and remelted until it is | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
strong enough to make parts for the energy and Aerospace sectors. It is | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
a business now taking on staff, after losing a third of its work | :14:42. | :14:44. | |
force in the recession. Last month there were four new orders, three of | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
those from China. You don't want the plane you a flying on to fall out of | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
the sky. The consequence is unthinkable, what you have to do is | :14:55. | :14:57. | |
produce material that does exactly what it says, always, every time the | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
same, and is reliable for the next 25 years. Those applications almost, | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
almost, the price is not the most relevant factor. It is actually the | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
quality, the knowledge, the high-tech. When you look around a | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
site like this you don't see hundreds of steel workers, you are | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
not creating the jobs that maybe the steel industry was 20, 30 years ago? | :15:18. | :15:23. | |
I guess in absolute terms that is absolutely correct, not what it was | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
20 years ago, but the jobs we are creating are actually real high-tech | :15:28. | :15:30. | |
jobs, they are real jobs, they are not zero hour contracts. There are | :15:31. | :15:36. | |
signs the manufacturing sector, in parts of the north, is starting to | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
recover. New figures show 57% of factories in Yorkshire show a rise | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
in orders over the last three months. That is well over the UK | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
average, and ahead of London and the south-east. Specialist engineering | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
has been enjoying a quiet resurgence in this region. Sheffield university | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
has been working with companies like Tata, but also Boeing and | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
Rolls-Royce to develop new products and manufacturing techniques. The | :16:06. | :16:08. | |
people behind the project say it is about more than trading off | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
Yorkshire's industrial heritage. The issue we have is we cannot committee | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
with the eastern European block, or China, particularly on price. We | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
have had to go for quality. What we have here we forget, made in | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
Sheffield, made in Britain, made in Yorkshire, that badge sells across | :16:30. | :16:32. | |
the world, and we seem to have forgotten about that. All of a | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
sudden we have remembered that and that sells. The charm of Newcastle | :16:37. | :16:45. | |
lies in its virility, the four great bridges overriding the city, yes, | :16:46. | :16:53. | |
virility with a capital "V", that's Newcastle. Another city with a proud | :16:54. | :17:05. | |
industrial past, from mining to shipbuilding to rail. This tunnel | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
deep beneath Tyneside was built to take coal from Newcastle and ship it | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
to every corner of the world. In 150 years since it has closed the local | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
economy has really had its highs and lows. In the last recession this | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
region lost more public sector jobs than any other part of the UK. But | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
again, the economic picture is starting to look a bit different. | :17:28. | :17:38. | |
This is a project we have been developing ourselves as a team. And | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
we have been using the environment around us. So this is you know the | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
famous bridge in the centre of Newcastle at the bottom of Dean | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
Street. This fantasy version of Gateshead was created by a local | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
digital arts company, Ron lost his job in 2009, so he gambled and | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
started up his own firm in the middle of a recession. It now makes | :18:00. | :18:06. | |
images for big budget films and games. Can you see here how it was | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
reduced into the painting. This firm has just opened an office in South | :18:13. | :18:15. | |
Africa and is planning to grow its work force by a third this year. If | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
you are a big sort of lumbering London company and agency who has a | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
lost of staff and overheads it is very hard to then suddenly cut | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
prices or produce something that is competitive. I think there is an | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
unfair sort of view of the north from the south, that it isn't all | :18:34. | :18:43. | |
like you know delap dated factories and kids ddelapidated factories and | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
kids running around with no shoes! It is high-tech business here and we | :18:49. | :18:51. | |
are able to stand our own against any company in the world these days. | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
The latest figures showed the last time companies in the north-east was | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
this optimistic was back in 2003. But growing confidence doesn't yet | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
mean widespread job growth. Unemployment here is still twice | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
what it was before the recession. I think a lot of the growth is taking | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
place in the main core cities, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, | :19:14. | :19:16. | |
Newcastle and Liverpool. But those are some of the places where we're | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
seeing high growth, innovative businesses. But we have concerns | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
that some of those sectors, if you like, are very much at the high end. | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
And we need jobs across the board in the north of England. We need to see | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
lots of jobs and not just a few jobs in the high-tech companies. There | :19:39. | :19:44. | |
might then be some signs of optimisim in cities like Newcastle. | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
But with so much lost ground to make up, it may take a while until this | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
recovery starts to feel it is built to last. Here now in the studio are | :19:54. | :20:03. | |
Stephaine Flanders, formally the BBC editor, and also with us Ruth Glee, | :20:04. | :20:12. | |
director and adviser at the Arbuthnot Banking group. Are you | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
impressed by the growth figures? It is good news, we always make the | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
mistake in economics when things are going well we expect the good times | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
to carry on forever. When things are going badly, as they have for so | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
long in recent years, a year ago, when I was still in my old year, | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
people were wallowing in the gloom and dispond dennedcy, and they came | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
-- dispondancy, and they came around to the idea that the economy | :20:38. | :20:40. | |
wouldn't grow again. It is growing again. We are taking time to catch | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
up with the optimisim. I wasn't asking whether it is good or bad | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
news, are you impressed? I think it is very good news. I'm not | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
particularly impressed. We're quite to grow by well over 3%, but I don't | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
think that will be a moment when we should say we have gone to heaven. I | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
think we forget this is a normal rate of growth. We have not gone to | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
heaven, but I am impressed by it. I must say when peop talk about this | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
is the wrong sort of growth because it is consumer led, I think hang on | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
a minute most recoveries are consumer-led to start with. They | :21:15. | :21:17. | |
talk about investment, investment only responds when you have growth. | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
Growth doesn't lead recovery it lags recovery. I think too I'm encouraged | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
that this particular recovery is reasonably sustainable. Afterall the | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
labour market is behaving extremely buoyantly. Employment was up 280,000 | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
in the three months from November, compared with three months earlier, | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
it was 450,000, higher than a year earlier. These are encouraging | :21:41. | :21:43. | |
numbers. But people aren't better off? That is to come, and obviously | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
at the moment you have still got inflation running ahead of earnings | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
growth. Inflation is 2% and earnings growth less than one. With any luck, | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
as commodity prices are weakening, inflation should weaken, and as the | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
economy continues to recover, assuming it does, the Lea labour | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
market will tie in a wage settlements and earnings will tie | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
in. Do you see it in the same way? I think it is important to remember | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
how far we have come in terms of living standards. Even just a few | :22:17. | :22:19. | |
weeks ago when inflation finally went back to target. There is all | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
this conversation about Labour is wrong to be focussing on living | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
standards because we have had one month where inflation is lower than | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
wages. There is a danger, I think, that we get a year zero problem. We | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
don't remember the fact that we have actually had many years of very, | :22:37. | :22:44. | |
very low growth. It has taken us an extraordinary long time to get to | :22:45. | :22:47. | |
where we are, and people have been hit with living standards. And | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
people talk a lot about productivity, that puzzle and people | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
worrying about why workers are not making more and why we are not able | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
to make more per head is actually the flip side of the living | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
standards issue. You can pay workers more when they are making more. I | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
asked Danny Alexander about this, he didn't seem to know what the answer | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
was? Officially we don't know. I think it is growth, as the economy | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
continues to grow one should get catch up on productivity. There is | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
another side to the coin on the productivity, that is the labour | :23:20. | :23:21. | |
market has done better than most people expected. I expected | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
unemployment to rise far more than it did during the great recession. | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
When GDP at one point was over 7% down on the peak. We mustn't regret | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
that. It is still below the peak? It is, but by the second half of the | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
year it will be back to the 008 level. You can't have it both ways, | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
you can't have a buoyant economy and jobs. If you take your pick I would | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
prefer lower productivity and more people in jobs, and as the economy | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
recovers you hope to get that other growth in. Why? Because I prefer | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
people to stay in jobs? You want them to stay connected to the labour | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
market. But there is a genuine puzzle. I hope growth will be the | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
answer to the productivity problem. But you know, it was perfectly | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
reasonable. The Bank of England has done a terrible forecasting job, and | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
you rightly pointed that out to Mark Carney the other day. But when the | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
Bank of England was making that forecast about how slowly | :24:23. | :24:25. | |
unemployment would fall, they weren't the only ones. They were | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
assuming it would take a long time and would be an historically low | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
recovery of productivity. We haven't had that, we have had employment go | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
faster than output. It is a genuine puzzle. We have to hope the Bank of | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
England gets the room to test out how to let the economy find that | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
capacity. It is a lot slower here than some places elsewhere? Put it | :24:48. | :24:53. | |
this way, we are now growing faster than the eurozone. That is good | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
news. Come on, let's cheer up for goodness sake! Come on. But I think | :24:58. | :25:05. | |
there were dreadful head winds, and merit veining king -- Mervyn King | :25:06. | :25:13. | |
used to talk about it. It was about the terrible crash in the banking | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
sector which is slowly only recovering. And the European market | :25:17. | :25:20. | |
doesn't seem to be doing terribly well. We had the period of fiscal | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
consolidation. You had these three dreadful head wants the economy had | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
to push against. It was the Bank of England's superloose monetary policy | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
that has managed to push the whole thing. This is a test year, this is | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
a year for not just the UK but across the world, it is a year where | :25:41. | :25:43. | |
the excuses have run out. The he can ten waiting circumstances for this | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
-- extenuating circumstances for this slow recovery is starting to | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
run out. I hope we will seeks port and growth come back, but if in a | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
year or two's time we don't see those things and seeing relatively | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
slow growth elsewhere, we have to talk about structural change. I | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
think the eurozone is condemned to a period of slow growth. The IMF | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
thinks so too. If we stopped the conversation 30 seconds ago I could | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
have said two cheerful economist, I can't do that now. I'm still | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
cheerful, relatively. You have to be cheerful but also trying to get that | :26:22. | :26:24. | |
lost capacity, that lost growth back, let's not forget about it. | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
Absolutely. The man David Cameron chose as his head of communications | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
sat and listened to a recording of a private phone conversation between | :26:35. | :26:37. | |
two actors who were having an affair. Andy Coulson exclaimed it | :26:38. | :26:41. | |
was brilliant and then organised to try to hide the fact that he had | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
heard it at all. At least he did, if the court believes the account given | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
today at the phone hacking trial at London's Old Bailey. The Prime | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
Minister has promised a profound apology if it turns out that Andy | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
Coulson was party to phone hacking, which Mr Coulson of course denies. | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
Our man on the press benches is Steve homosexual lit. -- Hewlett. | :27:03. | :27:12. | |
SMEI That was the sub tense of a message allegedly left by Siena | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
Miller, on the voice mail of her secret lover, actor Daniel Craig. | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
The Old Bailey was told it had been hacked and recorded by a News of the | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
World report e and it was the proof that the paper's editor, Andy | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
Coulson, had been waiting for. "Brilliant" is what Coulson is | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
alleged to have said when he was played the phone hacked message by | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
the man who had recorded it and who has gone on to become the star | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
prosecution witness. He's also the first self-confessed phone hacker to | :27:44. | :27:46. | |
come to court and give an account of what he did. Which is why he's so | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
central to the crown's case against Andy Coulson, which is that he | :27:52. | :27:54. | |
didn't just know about phone hacking at his newspaper, but was thoroughly | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
complicit in it. Dan Evans claimed to have learned the dark arts of | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
phone hacking, not at the News of the World, but at the Sunday Mirror | :28:04. | :28:06. | |
were it served him very well, story-wise. It didn't take long for | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
the News of the World to come knocking. But an initial attempt to | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
poach him failed. However a subsequent approach, from a senior | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
journalist, who we can't name for legal reasons, led to a breakfast | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
meeting, over scrambled egg and smoked salmon, here at the central | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
London hotel, between Dan Evans and Andy Coulson. Dan Evans told the | :28:31. | :28:33. | |
court: That, Evans told the court was a | :28:34. | :28:54. | |
"kerching" moment, within ten minutes of the meeting ended he had | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
got the job. And the News of the World had hired another expert phone | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
hacker. The pressure to deliver scoops was, Evans said, intense. He | :29:04. | :29:08. | |
found life there tough. He told the court how after an enormous | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
rollicking of a senior colleague, he went home and spent the entire | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
weekend hacking celebrities' phones. Which is where Siena Miller's | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
personal message to Daniel Craig, which so thrilled Andy Coulson, came | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
from. He went further, accusing Coulson of masterminding a programme | :29:32. | :29:33. | |
to cover the phones. Andy Coulson of seen making notes | :29:34. | :29:52. | |
and shaking his head during today's proceedings. Evans, who has already | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
admitted phone hacking, also has previous convictions for possession | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
of drugs and whilst at the News of the World used cannabis, cocaine and | :30:02. | :30:06. | |
ecstacy. His cross-examination by Coulson's legal team is due to start | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
tomorrow. All the defendants deny the charges against them. God knows | :30:11. | :30:18. | |
what it seems like if you are one of the unfortunate people trapped by | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
the Civil War in Syria. But the piece -- Pacific talks broke off | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
early today with both sides unable to get past the sticking point of | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
what a transitional Government looks like. Nothing is done to evacuate | :30:36. | :30:42. | |
the trapped and wounded from some of the more intense fighting. One of | :30:43. | :30:49. | |
those behind closed doors is a Syrian minister. Good evening to | :30:50. | :30:57. | |
you, Faisal Mekdad. Good evening. Why were these talks ended early | :30:58. | :31:06. | |
today? In fact today's talks did not end early, but there were no | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
traditional consultations in the afternoon. In today's session the | :31:12. | :31:18. | |
delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic tried to discuss deeply and | :31:19. | :31:25. | |
to go into the heart of the matter, but when we protested the fact that | :31:26. | :31:34. | |
the United States has resumed arming the armed groups and this was a | :31:35. | :31:37. | |
decision announced today or yesterday. The other party refused | :31:38. | :31:43. | |
to discuss this issue. We believe this is a bad message by the | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
Government of the United States and we believe that the US | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
administration should be more serious, and it should not be arming | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
armed groups or terrorist groups. So when will the talks resume? They | :31:58. | :32:06. | |
will resume tomorrow morning. The United States position won't have | :32:07. | :32:09. | |
changed by tomorrow morning will it? No, it will not change. But at least | :32:10. | :32:19. | |
we have put before the mediation, before the meeting and before the | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
public international opinion what the United States is doing to harm | :32:25. | :32:34. | |
and influence those talks. In a way that may harm the interests of the | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
Syrian people. We don't need arms what we need is peace talks. The | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
opposition group have put forward their proposition which demand | :32:47. | :32:52. | |
Syria, a democracy with a rule of law, reconciliation between the | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
opposing sides, guarantee of human rights. What could you possibly | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
object to in all of that? We didn't object to any of these things. In | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
fact yesterday we presented a paper that includes, among others, these | :33:07. | :33:13. | |
very points. But it was totally rejected by the opposition. In fact, | :33:14. | :33:19. | |
we want to go directly for discussions about concrete issues | :33:20. | :33:25. | |
but step by step to build a consensus and to tell the Syrian | :33:26. | :33:28. | |
people that we are advancing before we go to the very heart and core | :33:29. | :33:34. | |
issues. What is the feeling there, do you think that there is a belief | :33:35. | :33:40. | |
in these talks, that there will be a peace settlement at the end of them? | :33:41. | :33:49. | |
In fact we are coming determined to achieve peace. Because for the last | :33:50. | :33:53. | |
three years we have been working to achieve this objective, but frankly | :33:54. | :33:59. | |
speaking some misinformation has been taking place all the time. That | :34:00. | :34:06. | |
has led to some big fragments of the international public opinion that we | :34:07. | :34:09. | |
are not for peace. But we are here, now, in Geneva, for this conference, | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
to achieve peace, and we shall try do it as soon as possible. In the | :34:15. | :34:18. | |
meantime, of course, you have all these unfortunate people trapped by | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
the fighting, now I believe you said that women and children can leave | :34:23. | :34:28. | |
the city of Homs, is that correct? Absolutely. In fact they should have | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
left, yes, yes of course. I have been directly involved in this file | :34:35. | :34:40. | |
for the last two years. This is not a new issue, I don't know why the US | :34:41. | :34:43. | |
administration is emphasising this issue since the beginning of these | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
talks. It is partly I think because... Let me just ask you a | :34:49. | :34:53. | |
specific point if I may. The point is, you are saying that the men | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
there must register their names with you y do you want their names? -- | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
why do you want their names? We don't mean the men, we mean the | :35:05. | :35:10. | |
fighters. Amnesties have been declared in all parts of Syria, and | :35:11. | :35:13. | |
lists of names have been given in all parts of Syria, we shall allow | :35:14. | :35:21. | |
women and children to leave without any conditions. As far as fighters | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
are concerned, we have to know who these people are so they don't go | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
outside and shoot other people in other places in Syria. It is only | :35:30. | :35:36. | |
for the departure of this these men. Who will determine whether they are | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
civilians or fighters? Frankly speaking in the recent amnesties, | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
declared by President Assad, the only precondition we wanted was that | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
they give up their arms and live and be free Syrians. So you don't want | :35:55. | :36:04. | |
their names. We need their names to distinguish between those who are | :36:05. | :36:07. | |
killing innocent people and those who are innocent. But once they give | :36:08. | :36:14. | |
their games, we are will be clear who are these people who have been | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
trying to leave because they have been taking citizens in Homs hostage | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
for at least one-and-a-half years. The protest in the Ukraine brought | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
down the Government there today. With the Prime Minister and all of | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
his cabinet quitting. Though President Yanukovych is still in | :36:32. | :36:37. | |
post. It will still be a bold person who chooses to predict how this | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
confrontation between those who want a European future and those leaning | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
towards Russia turn out. Things seem to be moving, the capital Kiev has | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
been the arena for many of the protests, but it is not of course | :36:52. | :36:55. | |
the country. We sent Gabriel Gatehouse to eastern Ukraine where | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
you night expect to find more pro-Russian feeling. Here they are | :37:01. | :37:07. | |
building barricades out of snow. But these are not protestors. These are | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
the riot police. Fortifying local Government offices against the | :37:13. | :37:18. | |
threat of attack. This city was once a centre of Soviet rocket | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
manufacturing. It's Ukraine's pro-Russian industrial heartland, | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
where the people and the oligarchs have been traditionally been solidly | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
behind the Government. While the demonstrations were contained in the | :37:33. | :37:35. | |
capital, Kiev, the Government felt like it could handle the situation. | :37:36. | :37:40. | |
But then last week, following that violence, the demonstrations moved | :37:41. | :37:44. | |
west, into opposition heartland and some of the protestors even seized | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
local Government buildings. Now they have come east, and this week a mob | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
tried to storm the local Government headquarters. Hundreds of young men, | :37:54. | :38:00. | |
most of them armed with clubs and rocks, attacked the police. Both | :38:01. | :38:06. | |
sides took casualties, several policemen were seriously injured, | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
one is still in a coma. The rioters were eventually dispersed and dozens | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
were arrested. But the authorities were rattled. We spoke to somebody | :38:16. | :38:21. | |
who knows just how rattled they are, this woman is an insider, part of a | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
team of close advisers to the President. TRANSLATION: It was only | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
when violent protests broke out in the province, when people started | :38:33. | :38:37. | |
taking over Government buildings that those in power started taking | :38:38. | :38:40. | |
the demonstrations seriously. Then they realised they had a big problem | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
on their hands. That they were losing the electorate, in one region | :38:45. | :38:53. | |
after another. And so, this afternoon, at a trap -- tram spot, | :38:54. | :39:02. | |
they digested the latest concessions, the Prime Minister and | :39:03. | :39:09. | |
the entire cabinet quit. The repressive laws that caused the | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
protest were repealed, an argument breaks out. This lady says get rid | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
the demonstrator, under no circumstances says the gentleman, | :39:21. | :39:23. | |
let the people come out and demand their people. Another woman | :39:24. | :39:26. | |
dismisses him and says the President has been far too soft on the | :39:27. | :39:33. | |
protesters, she said. But in Ukraine real political pressure comes not | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
from the bottom but the top. It was a public intervention late last week | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
by an oligarch, Ukraine's richest man, that prompted the President to | :39:43. | :39:52. | |
compromise. TRANSLATION: He can't ignore the oligarchs, that is | :39:53. | :39:55. | |
impossible, they are too powerful. Yanukovych won the last elections, | :39:56. | :39:58. | |
not because he was hugely popular with the electorate. We He won | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
because he had the strong support of the oligarchs. Today we saw | :40:04. | :40:10. | |
policemen in training, preparing to protect Government buildings from | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
attack. But the more pressing threat to President Yanukovych is that he | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
could lose his financial backers. We have spoken to people close to two | :40:20. | :40:23. | |
of Ukraine's most prominent oligarchs, both said they were | :40:24. | :40:26. | |
unhappy with the President's handling of the crisis. And on that | :40:27. | :40:34. | |
point, for once, the oligarchs seem to be in tune with the protesters on | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
the street. Here their numbers may be small compared to Kiev, but they | :40:41. | :40:43. | |
are no less vocal and they are clear. Today's concessions are not | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
enough. They want the President to go. They are criminals, you know, | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
the Government, our President, all of them they are criminals. The | :40:54. | :40:57. | |
Government today offered to resign? Yes. Is that God enough for you? It | :40:58. | :41:05. | |
is not good enough for me. This is unfamiliar territory for Ukraine, | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
the old assumptions of the divide between east and west and Russia and | :41:12. | :41:14. | |
Europe are being thrown into question, the allegance of the | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
oligarch seems to be in flux, one things seems clear is the centre is | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
struggling to hold. As the politicians in Kiev try to pull this | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
country back from the brink, here the police prepare for another long, | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
cold night outside the local Government headquarters, their riot | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
shields propped up like tomb stones in the snow. | :41:39. | :41:41. | |
Radio stations across the land have been filled with protest songs | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
today, marking the death of one of the great political tub -- truers. | :41:46. | :41:55. | |
Pete Seeger was nine # and difficult to the end. Only a cop -- 90 and | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
difficult to the end. Only a few years ago he was processing through | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
Manhattan on an occupy Wall Street march. | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
# Me and my wife # Went all over the town | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
# Everywhere the people turned us down | :42:21. | :42:22. | |
Pete Seeger performing a song from the civil rightseria about | :42:23. | :42:33. | |
segregation in hotels. He fell foul of senator McCarthy in the 50s, but | :42:34. | :42:38. | |
he later saw himself and the old Red Square man as ying and yang. Every | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
establishment in the world needs a good opposition to be healthy. Just | :42:45. | :42:57. | |
like the moose population need the animals to harass them. We discussed | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
Seeger with whispering with Bob Harris and what do you know. I'm | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
part of the 60s generation that grew up with Bob Dylan and the protest | :43:10. | :43:17. | |
singers of the mid-1960. Of course Pete Seeger was the God fathering of | :43:18. | :43:23. | |
that entire movement. He's also massively important figure in terms | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
of the shaping of American music as we know today. After te Seeger's | :43:30. | :43:43. | |
salad days, it became a little less folksy. | :43:44. | :43:50. | |
# Get up stand up # Don't give up the fight It | :43:51. | :43:56. | |
continued to address issues, including racism, equality. The | :43:57. | :44:03. | |
Vietnam War. # Brother, brother, brother | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
# There is far too many of you dying I believe very strongly this general | :44:09. | :44:11. | |
election is a very, very important general election, not only for the | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
Labour Party but for democracy as a whole. | :44:16. | :44:19. | |
# Stand down mam # Stand down please | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
Some veterans of the struggle and other struggles are available, say | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
the kids of today aren't up for a good protest song. This generation | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
has other medium available to it. Social media and I think that the | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
idea of music taking that vanguard role again we may not see that. But | :44:40. | :44:46. | |
others claim to hear a protest message from even the most | :44:47. | :44:53. | |
comfortably off of today's stars. You believe racism is a problem it | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
doesn't matter if you are a multi-millionaire black man you will | :44:59. | :45:00. | |
still make the point that feminism is still necessary. You may be as | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
rich and powerful as Beyonce, that is still a point you want to make. | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
# It's raining men Finally pop pickers this track is | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
set to climb the charts again. Coopted by gay rights campaigners | :45:17. | :45:21. | |
after UKIP meteorologists blamed the bad weather on same-sex marriage! | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
That is it for tonight. We will leave you with the musician Frank | :45:26. | :45:32. | |
Turner playing tribute to Pete Seeger, with playing We Shall | :45:33. | :45:37. | |
Overcome, one of the songs he was most closely associated with. | :45:38. | :45:48. | |
# We shall over # We shall overcome | :45:49. | :45:58. | |
# Some day # Oh deep in my heart | :45:59. | :46:06. | |
# I do believe # We shall overcome | :46:07. | :46:16. | |
# Some day # And we'll walk hand in hand | :46:17. | :46:29. | |
# We'll walk hand in hand # Some day | :46:30. | :46:37. | |
# Oh deep in my heart # I do believe | :46:38. | :46:47. | |
# We'll walk hand in hand # Some day | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
# And we are not afraid Lord # We are not afraid today | :46:53. | :47:09. | |
# Deep in my heart # I do believe | :47:10. | :47:20. | |
# We shall overcome # Some day | :47:21. | :47:26. | |
# And we shall overcome Lord # We shall overcome | :47:27. | :47:28. | |
# We shall Hello again, showers continuing | :47:29. | :47:40. | |
through the get, we will have a lot of cloud tomorrow with showers and | :47:41. | :47:47. | |
long spells of rain, we will pick up the easierly, and showers | :47:48. | :47:50. | |
particularly over the hills. Showers moving away | :47:51. | :47:51. |