Browse content similar to 08/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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the Culture Secretary has been living has been getting thicker. | :00:07. | :00:11. | |
She's not resigned yet, or been sacked, yet, but the angry voices | :00:12. | :00:18. | |
are getting louder. Those in favour of fuller accountability say there | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
is a blindingly obvious independent body staring them in the fashion it | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
is called "the public". How is it playing out in Maria Miller's | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
constituency, her cabinet colleague has come here to defend her. | :00:32. | :00:38. | |
Military bands, Household Cavalry and a fly-past of planes in tight | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
formation over Windsor Castle. As a former commander of the IRA explains | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
why he so admired the Queen of England. I was tremenduously | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
impressed, tremenduously impressed that Queen Elizabeth was prepared to | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
stand in solemn commemoration for those people who fought against | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
British rule in Ireland. And that she was prepared to honour the Irish | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
language in the way she did. We report from Japan on how the micing | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
power of minia is letting the Prime Minister drive the -- the rising | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
power of China is letting the Prime Minister drive away business. He | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
feels by accepting the convention history Japan will be emasculated | :01:25. | :01:35. | |
and vulnerable to Chinese attacks. Basic stoke Tourist Board is | :01:36. | :01:42. | |
doubtless bracing itself after the town's MP, Maria Miller, also the | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
Culture Secretary, called for the focus to be on the town and not her. | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
It wasn't necessarily her fault that her fellow MPs let her off with the | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
fraction of the penalty it had been recommended she pay for abuse of the | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
expenses system, but it was definitely her doing that she took | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
only 32 seconds to make an apology for what she had done. Increasing | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
numbers of fellow MPs now say she should resign her post. The key | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
decision may not be her's at all, but the Prime Minister's. At what | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
point is it more damaging to keep her than to ditch her? What's all | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
this doing to public trust in politics and politicians? What do | :02:20. | :02:27. | |
they think in Basingstoke? Ever get the sense that people wished you | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
would go away, the Basingstoke Conservative club posts it is open | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
seven days a week. Today, understandably enough they had | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
enough of people like me. The other side of town, a hive of activity, or | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
as much of one you can have with a bunch of chairs, the Labour Club was | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
getting ready to welcome John Mann, the man who helped kick-start the | :02:50. | :02:57. | |
whole McMillan Miller investigation. She told the Basingstoke Gazette she | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
was devastated. The questions over the last 48 hours have raged around | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
how MPs police themselves? Who scrutinises them? Are the bodies | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
independent enough? What of the Standards Committee, who should have | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
the vote there? Today we heard from the lay, nonvoting members of that | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
committee, their own report suggests undisguised dismay at the hypocrisy | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
they found. Ed Miliband joined the clamour of voices calling for a new | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
system. We need to look at reform in this area, we have reformed | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
ex-tenses and that was the right thing to do, with an independent | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
body overseeing it. This is part of the system that hasn't been properly | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
looked at or reformed, we need to look again. Those in favour of full | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
accountability say there is a blindingly obvious independent body | :03:46. | :03:48. | |
just staring them in the face, it is called "the public "requests, -- | :03:49. | :03:56. | |
"the public", the electorate, they should be allowed to hold MPs to | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
account at any part in the parliamentary cycle. It probably | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
sounds like a no-brainer. We should have the power to do something about | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
it, if it was one of us we would be banged up. Do you think the public, | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
the voters have enough power to get rid of an MP if you want to? The | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
only way to get that is in the constituency. I think she is doing | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
fair job in Basingstoke, but not for the country. Paul Harvey wants to be | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
Labour's next MP here, he will take on Maria Miller's 13,000-strong | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
majority in 2015. All the parties need to get round the table and have | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
a conversation about how do we repair the trust between Members of | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
Parliament and the communities they represent. And that starts by giving | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
power to the people to recall their MPs if they have behaved as badly | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
and as disgracefully as Maria has done in the eyes of her | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
constituents. Do you worry you would get the kangaroo court syndrome. We | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
were speaking to people earlier who said she should go to prison. If | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
that's what people think, even though they are wrong about the | :05:02. | :05:04. | |
legality of what she has done, then anything could happen? But democracy | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
needs to be trusted. You need to have trust in the electorate, if the | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
electorate are given the power of recall, then you are trusting them | :05:12. | :05:13. | |
to make a judgment on their local member of parliament. After the | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
expenses of 2009, crucially before the last election, the three main | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
parties all promised to clean up politics, offering the biggest | :05:25. | :05:27. | |
shake-up to democracy for 178 years. The idea was to offer constituents | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
the chance to recall their MPs, that is remove them through a | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
by-election, if there was enough support. That was nearly five years | :05:36. | :05:43. | |
ago, it never happened. The Conservative MP, Zach Goldsmith, a | :05:44. | :05:52. | |
strong supporter of the recall bill thinks it was fear. It is a fear of | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
democracy, when I have argued privately and publicly with Nick | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
Clegg, it is his job to draft this bill. He talks about kangaroo | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
courts. In recall the only court is the constituency, anyone can take | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
part, it is just like an election. If nigh view it is an offensive | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
thing to say about one's constituents, it is reveal ago | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
terror of the mob or the voter. Under his proposal if around 20% of | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
constituents signed a petition over an eight-week period it would | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
trigger a referendum into whether the MP would step down, 50% in | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
favour would trigger a by-election. It is a long way from the | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
Government's own draft bill, which needs the agreement, of you guessed | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
a Select Committee. Why not take it to the electorate, that is an | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
independent body? There are huge difficulties with the called pure | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
recall approach and that is would for instance members of the public | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
be able to decide simply that they did not like their member of | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
parliament? Would they be able just to decide for instance that on an | :06:59. | :07:01. | |
issue of conscience, whether it was an issue abortion or euthanasia, | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
whether they had a fundamental objection. But voters are already | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
speaking, a petition calling for Maria Miller to pay back ?45,000 or | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
step down has more than 170,000 signatures. Tonight it is reported | :07:18. | :07:19. | |
the Government has tried to shut others like it down. As another MP | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
came forward to repent her financial errors, this time with a fulsome | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
apology, the air is starting to feel thick with the sense there may be | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
more to come. With us now is the Conservative MP | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
and leader of the House of Commons. In 2009 David Cameron said that in | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
the matter of MPs' expenses the key thing was does it pass the smell | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
test, do you think Maria Miller does pass the smell test? I think what we | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
have clearly seen is one of those cases which relates to prior to | :07:57. | :08:03. | |
2009. Frankly, of course, she was accused of obtaining a financial | :08:04. | :08:06. | |
benefit by having her parents in her home, paid for by expenses. That | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
complaint wasn't upheld, the principal complaints weren't upheld. | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
You think she does pass the smell test? The important thing about 2009 | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
is we legislated for a new and independent system for the scrutiny | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
of MPs' expenses. It is very important. I asked you a very simple | :08:25. | :08:30. | |
question, does it pass the smell test? There was no dishonesty so it | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
does pass it. The complaint against her was not upheld. What was | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
identified were overpayments that she has repaid and the issue of | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
course, very much a House of Commons issue, that she hadn't co-operated | :08:46. | :08:48. | |
as fully and freely as the committee and the commissioner wanted. She | :08:49. | :08:55. | |
afollow poll guised to the -- apologised to the House for that. | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
Was a 32-second apology adequate? She made the adequate asked for. Was | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
it adequate? She made the apology asked for. If you look back there | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
have been previous apologies that have also been literally what was | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
asked for, she made the apology asked for. The apology you make in a | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
personal statement is one agreed with the Madam Speaker. He stopped | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
her making a longer one did he? It wouldn't be appropriate for her to | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
elaborate. It was right for her to make the apology that was asked for. | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
When she says in this article for the voters of Basingstoke today that | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
she's devastated by what's happened, what is she devastated about? I | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
think she was very unhappy that it turned out she had claimed more than | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
she was entitled to. Because she didn't think she had and it came out | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
in the course of inquiries into this that she had claimed more than she | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
really ought to have done. And she was, I think. She was devastated to | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
discover she had done something wrong? I know her and she believed | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
all the way through this, remember the Legg Inquiry, back in 2009, she | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
and others were looked into by Sir Thomas Legg, she believed she had | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
complied fully. If you look at the report the Standards Committee took | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
the view that what she had claimed in relation to which was her main | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
home and so on was actually reasonable in the light of the rules | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
at the time. As leader of the House of Commons, you obviously think the | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
Standards Committee is important? Certainly. Do you think therefore it | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
acceptable that MPs don't bother to turn up for its meetings? No and I | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
think they should be there. Does that pass the smell test? They need | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
to do their job. And they completely understand that. They have not been | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
doing it? In one case. Three lay members said today that very often | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
they were too busy to be concerned about standards? They have delivered | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
on their responsibility in a number of cases in recent months. There are | :10:59. | :11:05. | |
11 MPs on that committee, one meeting only one MP turned up? That | :11:06. | :11:12. | |
is acceptable is it? No, I'm not saying it is. That doesn't pass the | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
smell test either? It has lay members on it now. Good thing too | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
because the MPs don't turn up? They should be there and that is clear, I | :11:23. | :11:25. | |
make no bones about that. They haven't been doing it? But that is | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
their responsibility in the committee to do this thing. It is | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
slightly your responsibility too? Actually, no, not directly. You are | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
the Leader of the House? Absolutely, MPs don't give enough of a monkeys | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
to turn up to the committee that regulates their behaviour? We have | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
put lay members on that committee and the members are responsible for | :11:50. | :11:51. | |
delivering on their responsibility. They have delivered a whole series | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
of reports on their responsibility. Can the lay members vote? No. And | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
nor do they need to vote. What are they doing on the committee? They | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
participate directly in all the decisions of the committee. If they | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
dissented they could publish a dissenting opinion and that would be | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
a veto. They have more power than simply having a vote. Now MPs are | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
too busy to be concerned about standards? That is not true. They do | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
say that? I have read it. So have I. They recognise that MPs are busy. | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
MPs are too busy to spend much time on standards? They and I know and we | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
have discussed with the lay members the responsibility is on the | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
Standards Committee and other members to meet those standards, | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
that is our job and we will do that. But if they are not even turning up? | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
Let me be clear about a number of things. Firstly, the expenses | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
system, it wasn't covered in the package, since May 2010 is | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
administered by an independent authority, IPSA, that is completely | :12:52. | :12:59. | |
separate, now and for the future the expenses of Members of Parliament is | :13:00. | :13:01. | |
governed independently, regulated, enforced, overpayments can be | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
reclaimed, fines can be levied. That is all completely independent, we | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
are dealing now with issues relating to t past. Before 2009 before the | :13:11. | :13:18. | |
legislation came in. I hope there are few cases. The responsibility of | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
the Standards Committee has changed, we have got independent members. We | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
have an independent commissioner for standards. We have a process by | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
which those independent members can make sure that where standards of | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
conduct may not have been met it is independently investigated and there | :13:35. | :13:37. | |
is an independent voice in the final report. You have read this report | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
from the lay members of the Standards Committee? Yes I have. And | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
you will recall in it that they also say there should be a re-think of | :13:46. | :13:48. | |
the standards expected of MPs? Well, they say. Will there be such a | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
thing? I hope we will do this and the Standards Committee will work | :13:55. | :13:57. | |
across the House and beyond in order, with the public I hope, and | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
they will look at rewriting the Code of Conduct. That is what they want | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
to. Do they want to bring what they regard it into a more modern format | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
and in line with the principles of public life asset out. Why should it | :14:12. | :14:19. | |
be changed? The code of Conduct should be simpler and related more | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
to the conduct in public life set butt out by the standards in public | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
life committee. If you look at this particular case you are looking at a | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
report. Maria Miller couldn't understand it apparently? The rules | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
are very complicated and it doesn't help. This woman is a cabinet member | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
and she can't understand the rules? Well the commissioner of standards | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
and the Standards Committee themselves differed about the | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
interpretation of the rules. What do you think this is doing to public | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
trust in politicians? I don't think it helps. It is all right to laugh, | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
but give credit where credit is due. Of course it doesn't help! In this | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
parliament we have since May 2010 an independent system for the | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
regulation of MPs' expenses, including enforcement and compliance | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
with that. We have lay members on the Standards Committee and frankly | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
no report from the Standards Committee would really pass muster | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
if it didn't have the agreement of the lay members. They have | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
effectively a veto on that. We have an independent commissioner for | :15:28. | :15:29. | |
standards. So actually from the public's point of view they should | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
have more confidence, and the issues I think will become much more | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
straight forward as time goes on. You have just said this isn't | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
helping at all, is it? Of course it isn't helping. Betty Boothroyd says | :15:42. | :15:48. | |
the honourable thing for Maria Miller to do is resign. We knew it | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
was a discredited system, it was complex, difficult, didn't meet any | :15:54. | :15:56. | |
of the standards we currently expect. But this is an investigation | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
that went back into 2006/07 and those years before the new system. | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
Is she going to resign? I don't think so, I hope not. She enjoys the | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
full confidence of the Government does she? From my point of view, I | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
think she's a good Culture Secretary, just think in the last | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
few weeks we have actually had for example just the other day the first | :16:19. | :16:21. | |
same-sex marriages, she was the minister in the Government | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
responsible for seeing through an important piece of social | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
legislation. So she enjoys the full confidence of the Government? The | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
Prime Minister is responsible always responsible for determining who is | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
there are a Government at any one time. It is the Prime Minister's | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
prerogative to decide whether a minister has his confidence at any | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
time. And as far as you are aware, does she enjoy that confidence? | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
Absolutely. The Prime Minister like all of us will have had an | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
opportunity to look. Until she gets to be too much of a liability I | :16:54. | :16:56. | |
suppose? He would have had an opportunity to look at that report | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
and say, as I looked at it, and said it doesn't disclose dishonesty, she | :17:01. | :17:06. | |
may not have co-operated with the committee as she should have, and | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
she has apologised, but no more dishonesty on the expenses. How long | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
will she be Culture Secretary? I think that is an reasonable question | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
to ask. Fair enough. The Irish President had a jolly nice-sounding | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
dinner tonight, beef with wild mushrooms and watercress puree, | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
baked onions stuffed with Parmesan and bulgar wheat. What wasn't most | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
remarkable was the food but the setting. You he was dining with the | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
Queen, the first Irish President to do so. In the tortured relationship | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
between these two countries it marks a new and more hopeful chapter in a | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
story that has at times been distinguished by its lack of hope. | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
It has never been an easy relationship, British rule in | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
Ireland ended with blood, fire and a treaty in 1921 that made the | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
separation final. But the fate of the north as well as the memories of | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
Britain's long rear guard action against Irish Nationalism meant that | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
it has taken until today for an Irish President to come to | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
Westminster. With a message of friendship. The pain and sacrifice | :18:19. | :18:27. | |
associated with the advent of Irish independence inevitably past casts | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
its long shadow across our relation, causing us in the words of the Irish | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
MP Stephen Gwen "to look at each other with doubtful eyes". We | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
acknowledge that path, but as you have said, even more we whole | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
heartedly welcome the considerable achievement of today's reality. The | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
mutual respect, friendship and co-operation, which exists between | :18:52. | :18:59. | |
our two countries, our two peoples. Among President Michael Higgins's | :19:00. | :19:02. | |
cermonial calls today, the tomb of the unknown soldier in Westminster | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
Abbey, where he laid a wreath before paying his respects nearby at Lord | :19:07. | :19:13. | |
Mountbatten's grave. He was killed by Irish republicans in 1979. For | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
decades many Irish despised the British arm year, and those Irishmen | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
who served in it were subject to official discrimination within the | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
Republican lick until very recently. But now this wreath has been -- | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
Republic, until very recently. But now this wreath has been laid, a | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
sign of how attitudes have changed and the fruit of diplomatic effort. | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
You can look at the attempts of looking for a thaw in Anglo-Irish | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
relations going back to the Silver Jubilee in 1977 when the Irish | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
Government authorised the attendance of the minister for Foreign affairs, | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
Gareth Fitzgerald, the future Taoiseach. His attendance to mark | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
the Silver Jubilee of the Queen. That was one piece of a jigsaw that | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
was being painstakingly put together and was painstakingly butt together | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
over subsequent decades. Today's visit reciprocated one made by the | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
Queen in 2011, that had its own delicate wreath-laying moment, at | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
the memorial for fallen Irish republicans. And the following year | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
in Belfast, another moment of great symbolism between one of the modern | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
heirs to the tradition and a British Monarch. The Northern Ireland peace | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
process has been vital on the final steps to reconciliation. What we saw | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
with the peace process and the negotiation of the Good Friday | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
Agreement was a readiness of various different movements and parties and | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
players to compromise and to accept the need for compromise. So I don't | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
think that narrative of compromise and that narrative of impediment | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
belongs to one particular part. Party. Tonight a further step of | :21:03. | :21:09. | |
reconciliation, Martin McGuinness was invited to dine at the official | :21:10. | :21:16. | |
banquet at Windsor Castle, not the easist of steps for either of them. | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
But it has brought the once IRA commander and the head of state he | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
fought to the same table. Earlier today I spoke to the Deputy First | :21:25. | :21:31. | |
Minister of Northern Ireland. What on earth are you doing breaking | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
bread with the head of state of an occupying power? I have many reasons | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
why I shouldn't meet with Queen Elizabeth and she too with me, but | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
we both thought it was an important thing to do. I first met you in the | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
1970, if I had said to you then in 40 years' time you will be sitting | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
down to dinner with the Queen of England, what would you have | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
thought? Well simply I never would have imagined that I would be | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
minister of education in a power-sharing Government in the | :22:05. | :22:07. | |
north and then after that joint First Minister with Ian Paisley in a | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
very important institution that has remained intact and steady for the | :22:13. | :22:15. | |
last seven years. But it is still part of the United Kingdom? And I'm | :22:16. | :22:22. | |
an Irish republican and absolutely dedicated to end partition and bring | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
beg the people of the north and the north with the south. And we have | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
agreed in the context of the Good Friday Agreement that can only | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
change through a constitutional vote and I'm working to achieve that. | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
When there is a loyal toast tonight at the dinner, will you stand up and | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
toast the Queen? Well if there is a toast to the Queen I will observe | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
all of the protocols and civilities. Isn't it the case that last year | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
when you were here and there was a toast to the Queen at a dinner in | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
the City of London, you were unavoidably absent from the room at | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
that point? That was an absolute coincidence believe it or not. I was | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
going to say how your bladder was? Appropriately ready to go! That was | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
just coincidence? It really was a coincidence, absolutely. Do you | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
regret not going to the dinner in Dublin Castle two years ago? Three | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
years ago? My party obviously wasn't ready for that event at that time. | :23:23. | :23:30. | |
Since we have conducted enormous conversations and discussions with | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
our own people. Particularly in advance of the Queen Elizabeth's | :23:36. | :23:37. | |
visit to Belfast and whether or not I should be involved in meeting with | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
her at that time. And effectively people realised in the context of a | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
conflict resolution process that it was very important to be involved. | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
Not in mealy-mouthed words about reconciliation but actually acts of | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
reconciliation. Isn't it the case that you saw how popular that visit | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
of the Queen to Ireland was and you realised that by not being part of | :24:04. | :24:06. | |
it you were losing political capital? No, that's not the reason | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
for this at all. I mean I watched the conduct of that visit very, very | :24:14. | :24:19. | |
carefully and I have to say I was tremenduously impressed. | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
Tremenduously impressed that Queen Elizabeth was prepared to stand and | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
in solemn commemoration for those people who fought against British | :24:29. | :24:31. | |
rule in Ireland. That she was prepared to honour the Irish | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
language in the way she did. It sounds as if you ought to toast her? | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
As I say in the course of tonight's events I won't disappoint anybody. | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
We will see! Do you think that these events, this visit, that last visit | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
is making a united Ireland closer? I do believe we are inexorably moving | :24:51. | :24:56. | |
towards the reunification of Ireland, but it can only happen | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
through purely peaceful and reconciliatory means. If I remember | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
you when you were younger and you wouldn't have dreamed of settling | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
for anything other than a 32-county socialist Republic, if I said to you | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
you have sold out what would you say? It is important the people who | :25:17. | :25:19. | |
elected me don't believe that. I stand in a constituency that is one | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
of the most republican and nationalist constituencies in | :25:24. | :25:26. | |
Ireland. When I fought in that constituency and my mandate has | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
increased because people want peace. The vast majority of people are | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
miles ahead even of some of the most negative politicians out there. In | :25:37. | :25:39. | |
this changed environment in which you find yourself living, we all | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
find ourselves living, I wonder if you don't think it is time for a | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
general amnesty, it is time as all the on the runs have got an amnesty, | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
shouldn't British soldiers who were caught up in it too be given an | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
amnesty? I think we have made enormous progress, we have made | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
enormous progress in the context of hopefully if we can conclude the | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
discussions over the next number of months, provide a menu of options | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
for a very important constituency, those are the victims, and I think | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
Take That is the best way to deal with it because we have different | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
opinions within victims groups, there are people who do want people | :26:20. | :26:22. | |
arrested and want convictions. We have other people who want people | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
arrested but they don't want convictions, and we have other | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
people part of victims' groups who don't want anybody arrested at all. | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
What does that mean in terms of an amnesty for British soldiers as | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
applied to some IRA members? Effectively the British Army and | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
soldiers involved in th killings of hundreds of nationalists and | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
republicans in the north have had an amnesty. The number of British | :26:48. | :26:50. | |
people who were actually charged and went to prison you could count on | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
the fingers of one hand. I'm asking you what you think should happen? I | :26:56. | :26:58. | |
have told you, I think the negotiations. You don't have a view? | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
I do have a view. What is it? That our approach is the better than the | :27:04. | :27:06. | |
one you suggest. For the simple reason for me to say. You don't | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
believe in an amnesty for British soldiers, but you do believe in it | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
for republicans? They haven't had an amnesty. 180 letters went out? To | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
people who had no case to answer. You don't think in the interests of | :27:21. | :27:27. | |
fairness that there ought to be seen to be an equity between what happens | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
to, let's call them soldiers, on both sides, you don't think that? I | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
have made it very, very clear that I think you cannot compare the issue | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
of what happened over the on the runs whilst the situation in regard | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
to the British Army. It is an entirely different world now as you | :27:45. | :27:52. | |
have already acknowledged What the parties to the talks will agree over | :27:53. | :27:55. | |
the next few months is we will provide a menu of options for people | :27:56. | :27:59. | |
who suffered as a result of the conflict. Nobody is arguing, | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
including Sinn Fein, for an amnesty. Thank you. Now the police do not | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
bully the public, that is, we are told repeatedly, not how they should | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
behave in democratic society. It seems they do bully other police | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
officers, the chairman of the Police Federation, what is to all | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
appearances a trade union in all but name resigned yesterday. Today an | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
e-mail emerged that suggested he was subjected to personal attacks by | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
other police officers. The Met is suffering what is politely called an | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
image problem since people discovered its arms length | :28:39. | :28:41. | |
relationship to the truth in the plebgate story. | :28:42. | :28:43. | |
What is the real story? The chairman on his way out, Steve Williams, | :28:44. | :28:49. | |
wasn't just having a hard time to persuade colleagues it is time to | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
change things. In a plea to them confess today his colleagues felt he | :28:54. | :29:00. | |
was being gratuitously bullied and humiliated. That was the boss. He | :29:01. | :29:03. | |
also warned in a message to colleagues that he was worried about | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
what he said it was "we all saw what happened to our friend a colleague | :29:08. | :29:15. | |
Paul McKeever his predecessor who passed away of an embolism after a | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
turbulent and stressful period in that post". It was suggested that | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
the officials meting out the abuse to him in public or private could | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
have been arrested for public order offences. Today we heard other | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
things about the federation, secret bank accounts for some parts of the | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
organisation. The Treasury's nickname is "Fingers" he's running | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
the federati of the Treasury even though he doesn't have accounting | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
qualifications. And stories of them jetting off for bathroom fittings. A | :29:50. | :29:56. | |
parody? It does matter because the Government is not just trying to | :29:57. | :29:59. | |
change how the police force is and paid, but also how they Bake Off. | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
The federation represents more than 100,000 officers in England and | :30:05. | :30:08. | |
Wales, the rank and file. This torrid battle inside the federation | :30:09. | :30:11. | |
shows how tall an order it will be for the Government to change it. The | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
top civil servant at the Home Office told manufactures today he thinks | :30:17. | :30:19. | |
this is a very dangerous moment from the federation. And separate sources | :30:20. | :30:25. | |
told me they are behaving like a 1970s trade union and there is a | :30:26. | :30:28. | |
strong possibility that militants might be able to take control. What | :30:29. | :30:32. | |
I have been told essentially is there is hardcore among the 30 | :30:33. | :30:41. | |
bosses and mini-boss who is sit on the council. They are worried about | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
losing not only control, but their expense accounts and their | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
additional salary for being officers in the federation themselves. And | :30:50. | :30:53. | |
crucially they are the only ones with the power to choose the next | :30:54. | :30:56. | |
chairman of the federation who will have to take forward the kinds of | :30:57. | :30:59. | |
reforms that the Home Secretary wants. There is a sense with | :31:00. | :31:02. | |
everything that has happened through plebgate, through the controversy | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
around undercover policemen, even through Hillsborough, that all the | :31:08. | :31:10. | |
problems that British policing has been struggling with for quite some | :31:11. | :31:15. | |
time are coming to a head. And the Police Federation is a crucial part | :31:16. | :31:18. | |
of trying to solve those problems. But with a crisis like this inside | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
their four walls it is looking pretty difficult to sort out. I | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
should mention we did invite the Police Federation if theyn't whatted | :31:28. | :31:33. | |
to take part tonight. But -- if they wanted to take part tonight but | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
nobody did. Regardless of the intense interest the trial of the | :31:39. | :31:41. | |
athlete Pistorius was adjourned early. He had broken down sobbing | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
when he gave his version of what happened on the night he shot his | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
girlfriend dead. It was the most dramatic day of testimony in the | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
trial so far. And Jim Reid watched it all. | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
It is 418 days since Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed at the home of | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
one of the best known athletes in the world. In his second day of | :32:03. | :32:05. | |
testimony the man who pulled the trigger has, for the first time, | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
been setting out his own version of what happened that night. You are | :32:11. | :32:16. | |
still under oath. The media are not allowed to show images of Oscar | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
Pistorius giving evidence on the stand. He told the court how he woke | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year and heard a noise. He | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
said he grabbed the gun under his bed and shouted at his girlfriend to | :32:29. | :32:35. | |
take cover. That's the moment that everything changed. | :32:36. | :33:11. | |
As he gave evidence his sister Amy broke down in tears, Reeva | :33:12. | :33:18. | |
Steenkamp's mother buried her head in her hands. Pistorius went on to | :33:19. | :33:23. | |
describe the moment he beat down his toilet door with a cricket bat to | :33:24. | :33:26. | |
find his girlfriend's body slumped on the floor. I think I hit the door | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
three times and there was a big plank I grabbed it with my hands and | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
threw it out into the bathroom. I flung the door open and I threw it | :33:36. | :33:46. | |
open. I sat over Riva and and -- Reeva and I cried. I don't know how | :33:47. | :33:50. | |
long. I don't know how long I was there for. | :33:51. | :34:00. | |
She wasn't breathing. Prosecutors called this story an intricate lie | :34:01. | :34:07. | |
and claimed Pistorius shot his girlfriend after a heated row. The | :34:08. | :34:10. | |
defence's strategy has been to try to show it was a couple in love. It | :34:11. | :34:22. | |
follows from the Watsapp on July, she sent three kiss, read what's | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
following... Today Pistorius was asked to read out text messages he | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
swapped with Steenkamp in the weeks before she died. It was a message to | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
thank me for lunch and says you are so special to me, and I respond | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
saying thank you for being the most beautiful person to me and I'm crazy | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
about you, and when I look at you I smile inside. The prosecution say | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
other text messages paint a picture of a strained, fractured messages | :34:53. | :34:55. | |
with Reeva Steenkamp left scared at times. Oscar Pistorius is likely to | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
face much tougher questions when the other side starts its | :35:01. | :35:03. | |
cross-examination, and one of the most closely watched trials in | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
history moves slowly towards a verdict. We're joined now from | :35:08. | :35:17. | |
outside court in Pretoria. This looked extraordinary, even on the | :35:18. | :35:19. | |
other side of the world, what was it like to sit through? It was quite | :35:20. | :35:25. | |
extraordinary as you say, some moving and poignant moments inside | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
that courtroom as we saw Oscar Pistorius breaking down repeatedly | :35:31. | :35:33. | |
as he spoke about the moments leading up to the shooting through | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
the toilet door in which he found Reeva Steenkamp. That he had shot | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
Reeva Steenkamp. What was more moving was the gasps inside the | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
courtroom when his lawyer asked him to remove his prosthetic legs and | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
walk towards that bullet riddled door. What the defence was trying to | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
do here was show Oscar Pistorius as a very vulnerable and pitiful man, | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
because they are trying to use his disability as his defence. And we | :36:03. | :36:07. | |
saw moments when Reeva Steenkamp's mother, June Steenkamp looked | :36:08. | :36:13. | |
stoney-faced at Oscar Pistorius listening intently to every word | :36:14. | :36:16. | |
that Oscar Pistorius was saying. And the last five minutes of today's | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
proceedings, that is when we saw Oscar Pistorius inconsolable and | :36:21. | :36:24. | |
crying loudly as he described those moments when he discovered that he | :36:25. | :36:31. | |
had shot Reeva Steenkamp. This case to those of us who are familiar or | :36:32. | :36:34. | |
unfamiliar with your country has revealed a number of astonishing | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
things. First of all the level of violence against women, and the | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
level of gun ownership and the behaviour of some people with guns. | :36:43. | :36:47. | |
Is it being seen there as illuminating bigger issues in South | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
Africa? Well people will argue, particularly gun owner, because they | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
will say less than 10% of the population actually own guns in | :36:59. | :37:01. | |
South Africa. But when you look at intimate partner violence in South | :37:02. | :37:05. | |
Africa, women, every eight hours a woman is killed by her intimate | :37:06. | :37:09. | |
partner here in South Africa. And the judge presiding on the Oscar | :37:10. | :37:15. | |
Pistorius trial a few months ago sentenced the policeman to two life | :37:16. | :37:19. | |
sentences in jail because he had shot dead his wife. And the judge | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
had spoken quite strictly and tough about the violence against women and | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
children here in South Africa. So they are hoping that you know with | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
activists and NGOs, they are hoping that this trial will actually bring | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
these issues to the spotlight and that they are sorted out as quickly | :37:37. | :37:41. | |
as possible. Because of the nature of this high-profile trial. Thank | :37:42. | :37:44. | |
you very much for joining us, thank you. Now there was a testy | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
atmosphere in Beijing today as the American Defence Secretary tried to | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
warn off China from military adventures in eastern Asia and told | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
them the USA would stand by its all allies in the area. Japan the | :38:00. | :38:07. | |
country especially alarmed by these movements by China. In a new | :38:08. | :38:13. | |
constitution the country renounced war forever. But last year, under | :38:14. | :38:19. | |
its increasingly assertive leader, the Japanese scrambled fighters 267 | :38:20. | :38:27. | |
times to intercept in coming Chinese aircraft. We report from Tokyo. This | :38:28. | :38:42. | |
is a Japan many thought had disappeared 70 years ago. But as the | :38:43. | :38:49. | |
balance of power in Asia swings, inexorably towards China, Japan is | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
responding. Embracing long dormant nationalism, rearming and training | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
for war. For years Japan has been steadily building one of the most | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
modern and powerful naval forces anywhere in the world. And now the | :39:05. | :39:07. | |
Japanese Government wants to go further to make it bigger, more | :39:08. | :39:14. | |
powerful and to try it from the shackles of a pacifist constitution. | :39:15. | :39:24. | |
It is 6. 30 in the morning at Japan's naval academy. These young | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
recruits will be the Navy commanders of tomorrow. Japan's constitution | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
bans them from going to war. But these cadets are not training for | :39:38. | :39:47. | |
peacekeeping. TRANSLATION: We train every day for war, we are taught to | :39:48. | :39:55. | |
think in a war-like way. While Britain's Royal Navy has six modern | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
destroyers, Japan has 26. Its military commanders are preparing to | :40:01. | :40:11. | |
fight a war at sea and this is why. This Chinese boat is deep inside | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
Japanese controlled waters and refusing to stop. Last year Japan | :40:16. | :40:26. | |
scrambled fighter jets, 267 times to intercept in coming Chinese | :40:27. | :40:34. | |
aircraft. China is aggressively pursuing its territorial claims on | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
islands around Japan. This increasingly tense atmosphere is | :40:40. | :40:42. | |
providing the space for Japan's Prime Minister to move the country | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
sharply to the right. On the one hand you can point to a definite | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
expansionist tendencies of the Chinese Government. But you could | :40:54. | :40:57. | |
say the Japanese Prime Minister, has added fuel to the fire by bringing | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
back the history issues. He basically takes the view that Japan | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
did nothing particularly wrong during the Second World War. The | :41:08. | :41:14. | |
Prime Minister's political career is driven by restoring pride in Japan's | :41:15. | :41:20. | |
identity. To do so he believes Japan must overturn its sense of shame | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
about World War II. That is why he went to the shrine, a place that | :41:26. | :41:31. | |
enshrines the spirit of Japan's top war criminals. He doesn't believe | :41:32. | :41:37. | |
they were criminals. Modernising the Japanese military on the one hand, | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
and basically providing a revisionist history view are | :41:43. | :41:45. | |
basically inseparable. He thinks that by selling out and by accepting | :41:46. | :41:52. | |
the conventional view of history Japan would be perpetually | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
emasculated and vulnerable to Chinese attacks. The shrine is the | :41:58. | :42:04. | |
spiritual home of Japanese nationalism. It celebrates the | :42:05. | :42:10. | |
strong Japan the Prime Minister yearnings to bring back. It drives | :42:11. | :42:20. | |
his plan to put the Emperor back at the throne. He's pushing textbooks | :42:21. | :42:26. | |
that leave out Japan's war time atrocities. And it is why he and his | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
Government are determined to scrap the peacetime constitution. This man | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
is very close to the Prime Minister, he's his brother. TRANSLATION: Japan | :42:37. | :42:45. | |
wants to act like a normal country under international law, we will not | :42:46. | :42:48. | |
start a war, we are a peaceful country. But all countries have a | :42:49. | :42:53. | |
right to self-defence. That's why we want to reinterpret the | :42:54. | :43:01. | |
constitution. Changing the constitution requires a two thirds | :43:02. | :43:05. | |
majority in parliament, and that's very difficult. That's why the | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
Government now talks of reinterpreting it. But whether it is | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
revised or reinterpreted the aim is to deal with China. TRANSLATION: | :43:16. | :43:23. | |
China is trying to change the status quo by force and coercion, we will | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
never escalate tension, but in our response to this situation we will | :43:29. | :43:40. | |
be resolute in our actions. The islands here are Japan's closest | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
point to China and the hub of American air power in the Pacific. | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
Japanese schoolchildren gather to snap its most modern fighter jets as | :43:51. | :43:55. | |
they head out over the sea. For 70 years Japan has embraced US military | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
protection and US imposed pacifism. These schoolchildren are now at the | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
centre of a fight over what sort of relationship Japan will have with | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
its military and what future Japan will embrace. This man teaches | :44:10. | :44:21. | |
children on the island, like many Japanese he remains deeply | :44:22. | :44:28. | |
suspicious to any move back to military. TRANSLATION: Ever since | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
World War II Japan has embraced individualism and human rights from | :44:35. | :44:38. | |
the west. Now he wants to take us back to an older version of Japan | :44:39. | :44:43. | |
like before the war and imperial Japan. It is in Japan's schools that | :44:44. | :44:52. | |
the Prime Minister and the right are seeking to reclaim Japan's history. | :44:53. | :44:56. | |
Schools like this one have been ordered to use a new | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
Government-approved history text. That portrays Japan of liberating | :45:02. | :45:09. | |
Asia from European impeerism. It whitewashes Japan's World War II | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
atrocities. This school and these children are not using it, the | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
teachers are resisting. TRANSLATION: They are stirring up nationalism and | :45:18. | :45:21. | |
stirring up feelings against China saying that is why we need a strong | :45:22. | :45:24. | |
military. They want to use the textbooks to condition our children | :45:25. | :45:31. | |
to the idea of a strong military. The rumblings of nationalism can | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
already be heard. In recent weeks we have seen public figures in Japan | :45:37. | :45:44. | |
openly displaying opinion that is were once the territory of the far | :45:45. | :45:51. | |
right. Denying Chinese sex slaves World War II, denying Japan was the | :45:52. | :45:55. | |
agressor. By having a leader with very clear revisionist views of | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
history, you are also encouraging more people like him to get on, to | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
get the spotlight and have a great influence in the Japanese society. | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
And so it can possibly unleash a series of events or developments | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
that can eventually lead to a dangerous situation. It is not just | :46:15. | :46:18. | |
Abe is determined to as you a war with China, but the kind of thing | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
that he's doing can provoke China into a combat situation. The | :46:24. | :46:30. | |
language of all the players is becoming more bell lig rent. China | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
continues to aggressively push its claim to islands around Japan. Mr | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
Abe has warned the situation in east China sea is like Britain and German | :46:41. | :46:47. | |
in 1914 and US intelligence chiefs have accused China of preparing for | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
a short war to grab those islands from Japan. The Japanese Government | :46:53. | :46:58. | |
has decided it is now time to stand up to China. Japan will no longer | :46:59. | :47:03. | |
sit by and watch China dominate this region. That means abandoning # 0 | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
years of pass -- 70 years of pacifism, and it means that Japan | :47:10. | :47:13. | |
are acquiring the military capability to take China on. Many | :47:14. | :47:23. | |
believe it is time for Japan to become a normal country with a | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
normal military. But by turning to nationalism the Government risks | :47:29. | :47:32. | |
inflaming tensions with both allies and rivals. The biggest danger of | :47:33. | :47:38. | |
all comes from that most incendiary of weapons, history. Well no time | :47:39. | :47:48. | |
for the newspapers and that's all we have time for at all tonight. More | :47:49. | :47:50. | |
tomorrow, until then, good night. So far this week heavy rain on | :47:51. | :48:08. | |
Monday, bright spells and showers on Tuesday, as far as Wednesday is | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
concerned it is going to be quite cloudy, some rain to the north, | :48:13. | :48:13. |