Browse content similar to 07/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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mass kidnapping of hundreds of girls in nigh gearia, they are still in | :00:09. | :00:14. | |
the hands of their crazed abductors, they been rescued and | :00:15. | :00:21. | |
what hope so long after the crime If we remain silent this will spread | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
and happen more and more and more, if you want to stop it, then we have | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
to speak. I will be talking to the Nigerian Interior Minister. We take | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
rare look at life in a vertical slum in down town Caracas. Irving Welsh, | :00:36. | :00:45. | |
author of Trainspotting, tackles body image and the sex lives of | :00:46. | :00:55. | |
Siamese twins and other things. Before all that and first tonight we | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
don't seem to be much closer to a resolution of the promised or | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
threatened takeover that British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
by the massive American firm, Pfizer. Having previously said that | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
the fact that Pfizer wants to spend $100 billion or so in the biggest | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
takeover of our history was a vote of confidence in Britain, today the | :01:19. | :01:20. | |
Prime Minister said he wanted more assurances on jobs and investment to | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
decide if it was in the national interest. | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
Meanwhile Ed Miliband accused Mr Cameron of cheerleading for the bid. | :01:29. | :01:31. | |
We have been looking at what options the parties have. So what have you | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
found out? It is pretty complicated. The reason it is capturing so much | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
attention is it is about big sums of money and big politics. The size of | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
the potential deal is really staggering. They have offered ?63 | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
billion, that is about a tenth of everything that the British | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
Government spent last year. Now the American Viagra | :01:54. | :01:55. | |
Government spent last year. Now the its hand on the British company, | :01:56. | :01:56. | |
which we its hand on the British company, | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
more than 40% of AstraZeneca's shareholders are American. Because | :02:02. | :02:03. | |
they want their British knowledge, shareholders are American. Because | :02:04. | :02:13. | |
couple of days ago David Cameron seemed | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
couple of days ago David Cameron company and had robust assurances | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
couple of days ago David Cameron development and jobs in this | :02:23. | :02:22. | |
country. development and jobs in this | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
Questions a bit earlier today, he seemed to have at least tweaked his | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
tune. Let me be absolutely clear, I'm not satisfied, I want more, but | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
the way to get more is to engage, not to stand up and play party | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
politics. Well he set lots of hears running with that. What did he mean | :02:41. | :02:49. | |
by "More", that has led to lots of conversations in white happen. One | :02:50. | :02:52. | |
official put it to me that they are trying to work out what they have in | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
the cupboard that would make Pfizer's promises be binding. That | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
is a difficult question to answer. Getting some sort of guarantee that | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
meant something, unlike previous guarantees in takeovers? Indeed. And | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
the haunting memory here is the deal when Kraft took over Cadburys, and | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
made a whole load of promises to the Labour Government, and within days | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
they tore up. What is being considered by officials is there a | :03:20. | :03:22. | |
way where they can make these promises binding. Can they crank out | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
a promise where five-year assurances on a piece of paper about jobs and | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
research and development expand to ten-years, one suggestion has been | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
put forward by our Conservative MP of a kind of contract between the | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
company and the UK Government, where Pfizer would have to pay a fine if | :03:40. | :03:42. | |
they broke those assurances. But there is no doubt it is extremely | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
tricky for the Government, and one source at the company suggested to | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
me, before an actual deal is on the table, they are very reluctant to | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
make any more promises. It is interesting, what sanction would a | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
Government have if Pfizer gave these undertakings and then simply ignored | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
them? That is exactly the solution the Government is having so much | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
difficulty in coming up with. Are they going to nationalise it? Unless | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
they change the law it is difficult to see how they could come up with | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
anything at all. This is where it gets so interesting a year out from | :04:16. | :04:17. | |
a general election campaign. Labour is doing everything in its power to | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
put pressure on the Government to spell out how they could do | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
something that would have some kind of force? That's why Ed Miliband | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
raised it again at Prime Minister's Questions today. That's why there is | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
a possibility further down the track, and no more than that, but a | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
possibility further down the track that Labour might try to force a | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
vote on this issue to try to sink the deal. But the Government is | :04:41. | :04:43. | |
really in quite a bind. They don't want to be seen to be pushing | :04:44. | :04:46. | |
against foreign investment, that sounds healthy, that sounds like a | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
good idea. Not protecting jobs, but at the same time they do not want to | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
be accused of letting one of our industries go. There is a deadline | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
on all this too. May 26th, the company has to make its mind up by | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
then. If you are looking for a working | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
example of a country in chaos you can't do much better than Venezuela. | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
The country's unusual President, maker of interminable speeches and | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
scourge of imperialists worldwide, Hugo Chavez has been dead for a | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
year. In that time the country has been engulfed by runaway inflation, | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
gun crime, food and housing shortages. This crisis was | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
exsemplified by one building from down town Caracus, familiar to those | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
fans of Homeland, it is a skyscraper that was a no-go zone two months | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
ago, now home to thousands of squatters who have taken matters | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
into their own hands. They police it, renovate its rooms and plum it | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
into the country's electricity and water, and all for peppercorn rent. | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
We have been to the tour and met three of the residents. The elected | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
President of the Tower co-operative, and Miriam, a shopkeeper on the 22nd | :06:01. | :06:07. | |
floor, and a young mum with five children. | :06:08. | :20:47. | |
Now a year today, May seventh 2015 we shall be choosing a new | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
Government. A huge amount can happen in that time. So the outcome is | :20:54. | :21:03. | |
unpredictable, so too is much of the campaign. So much to come, European | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
elections a Scottish referendum and in all likelihood the end of the | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
coalition to mention a few. As we report, all parties have to adjust | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
to some uncomfortable facts. Four years ago at the derelict and | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
half abandoned site of the Battersea Power Station, David Cameron invited | :21:25. | :21:26. | |
us to join the Government of Great Britain. Now the wasteland of 30 | :21:27. | :21:35. | |
years being transformed into prime, Riverside real estate. What is | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
happening here is a microcosm of the different ways the electoral map is | :21:40. | :21:46. | |
shifting. The cabbies say a few years ago we wouldn't have dropped | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
you this south of the river. The heart has gone out of Battersea now. | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
The property is so expensive now. Battersea, where David Cameron | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
launched his last election campaign. The MPs that were new in 2010 have | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
bedded in a bit now, but it is also to do with the development, the | :22:10. | :22:16. | |
gentrification and the money coming in here. It has changed the resident | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
vote. In 2010 a Tory won a majority vote. In 2010 a Tory won a majority | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
here, as vote. In 2010 a Tory won a majority | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
booming constituency she stands to gain. Does it feel because the | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
regeneration and the money coming into bat sea now that there is a | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
more natural story voter? into bat sea now that there is a | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
to represent everyone and I focus on that. But there | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
to represent everyone and I focus on there now? I want everyone to vote | :22:47. | :22:47. | |
Conservative because I want them to see what we are doing for the | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
country. One of my big jobs as a member of parliament is to make sure | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
that the investment, things like the tube coming to Battersea, to make | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
sure that all local communities can benefit from that. Newish MPs also | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
feel the benefit of what they call in America the "sophmor surge", more | :23:01. | :23:11. | |
solid majorities. The Conservatives have more of these MPs in marginal | :23:12. | :23:14. | |
seats. It means places like Battersea, Harlow and Ealing are | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
looking more solidly Tory. That is only part of the story, it is a | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
complex picture 12 months away. This is the story of Nick Clegg... . The | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
general election is a year today, a milestone marked by Labour with the | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
launch of a party broadcast. First on the agenda tuition fees... . | :23:34. | :23:41. | |
Class war and Clegg bashing. Labour are just ahead in the polls, but | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
their leader so far seems to have failed to capture the public | :23:46. | :23:48. | |
imagination. His personal ratings are less than half those held by | :23:49. | :23:51. | |
David Cameron at the same time in the last electoral cycle. But duck | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
beneath the surface and you appreciate how little the generic | :23:56. | :23:58. | |
national picture has to do with the way elections are won in this | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
country. The fact of the matter is that there isn't any simple or easy | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
or even fair translation of votes, how many people vote in the country | :24:08. | :24:09. | |
for a particular party and who gets to form a majority in the House of | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
Commons. So particularly for the Conservatives, there are many, many | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
scenarios where they get as many votes as Labour, or just slightly | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
fewer and massively fewer seats. In 2005, Tony Blair won 36% of the | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
vote, 355 seats in the Commons, a majority of 64. In 2010 David | :24:30. | :24:37. | |
Cameron won 37% of the vote, but got 306 seats or 20 seats short of a | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
majority. This time round, if both Labour and the Conservatives get 33% | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
share of the vote, Labour would get 304 seats, the Conservatives would | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
get just 259. There is a massive electoral bias in favour of the | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
Labour Party. I'm not making predictions in terms of vote share, | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
I'm working for victory. I'm just asking you about the electoral bias, | :25:03. | :25:05. | |
do you recognise that? Listen, we're going to have to work in seats | :25:06. | :25:08. | |
across the country if we want to secure a majority. We had the worst | :25:09. | :25:15. | |
result bar one for 60 years in 2010, we came in with only 29% of the | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
vote. There is not a shred of complacency within Labour's ranks, | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
we have to work and to earn the majority Labour Government that I | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
believe we can achieve. Then, of course, the four-letter | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
word you will rarely hear David Cameron utter, UKIP is the unknown | :25:31. | :25:32. | |
factor riding high now, new Cameron utter, UKIP is the unknown | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
candidates given the paparazzi treatment. Will they be is a force | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
12 months down the line, and don't forget the Scottish either, tweaks | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
to the electoral map one thing, but there is another option. All bets | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
are off if Scotland is independent. 2015 will be an odd sort sort of | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
election, and here is why, only twice has a Government increased | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
their share of the vote after two years in office, it doesn't bode | :26:02. | :26:04. | |
well for the Tories. Only three-times has an opposition party | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
come back after just one parliament out of office. That doesn't bode | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
well for Labour. Add to that we have never had two successive hung | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
parliaments and you are really left scratching your head. Nothing will | :26:19. | :26:23. | |
be decided until next May, of course, but a mere 365 days is | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
nothing to the Newsnight political panel who are willing to predict the | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
outcome of the 100 years war as early as 1337. Here they are, Tory | :26:32. | :26:42. | |
Lord fringele Finkelstein, and the man yet to feel the touch of Ermine | :26:43. | :26:50. | |
John McTernan. Just a question of time and loyalty! Is it common | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
ground that whatever happens, whichever party wins the next | :26:57. | :26:59. | |
election it is the end of the road for two other party leaders in the | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
main parties? It is difficult to be sure of that but it is likely. The | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
one about who is most difficult to be sure is Nick Clegg. Partly | :27:09. | :27:11. | |
because the party is very much behind his strategy. If David | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
Cameron lost I think there would be quite a lot of people in the | :27:16. | :27:18. | |
Conservative Party who thought it was the end of the road for | :27:19. | :27:21. | |
modernising, that would certainly be the case for Ed Miliband. Oddly | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
enough, given how far behind the Liberal Democrats are in the polls | :27:27. | :27:29. | |
it might not be the case for Nick Clegg, but he might feel it was the | :27:30. | :27:32. | |
end of the road for him. What do you think for the personal prospects of | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
each leader? Personal prospects of each leader, obviously if there is a | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
general election and kind of the critical win doesn't come, that is a | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
big one for either Ed Miliband or for dam I don't know. But I -- David | :27:47. | :27:49. | |
Cameron. But I think it is right about Nick Clegg, which is that if | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
there is only 1% in it, if there is a lack of clarity about the outcome | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
and the result, the critical success factor is, do you get your party | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
into Government? Now for all the stuff that's chucked at Nick Clegg | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
he has been success envelope that respect. You might also lose so many | :28:07. | :28:12. | |
seats. It is not satirical, but you don't have anybody else. That is a | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
possibility. That is possible. John, your party is in a very interesting | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
position isn't it, where the greatest disadvantages it has are | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
the state of the economy and the Tories appeal, doubtless, not to | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
risk it, but it is improving, and secondly the fact is it has an | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
unattractive leader? I think in the end the thing that Labour has got in | :28:39. | :28:44. | |
the bag at the moment is nearly three years of a consistent poll | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
lead and in parliament pushing through issues which do have a | :28:50. | :28:55. | |
resonance. The issue on new proposals on rents, or issues on | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
energy prices, or a whole range of issues. Ed Miliband is making | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
connection issues with people and actually there is a sellable thing | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
for the doorstep. The party isn't as far ahead as other parties have been | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
at this point in the electoral cycle. That point was made on the | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
package. This is unchartered territory for us, a peacetime | :29:18. | :29:20. | |
coalition, everything is different. I don't think Labour has got much to | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
fear at the moment for the next period. Labour's big hope is we are | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
seeing a big realignment in which the left reunites and the right | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
splits. I think that is right. It was very interesting watching the | :29:35. | :29:37. | |
party political broadcast, I thought it was a complete insult to the | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
intelligence, it wasn't aimed at me, but at base voters and persuading | :29:42. | :29:45. | |
Liberal Democrats to vote Labour. It was saying we are not going to win | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
swing Tory voters, we can afford to be pretty insulting about everyone | :29:51. | :29:53. | |
who voted Conservative and everyone who is a Conservative because we | :29:54. | :29:57. | |
don't need them. That is a bold strategy, let's put it that way. It | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
was Margaret Thatcher persuading centre ground voters and it was Tony | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
Blair persuading centre ground voters that secured their victory. | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
This seems to be possibly insulting quite a lot of people that are | :30:13. | :30:19. | |
beyond the core Labour vote. Margaret Thatcher would not be doing | :30:20. | :30:27. | |
with UKIP what David Cameron is doing with UKIP. Margaret Thatcher | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
looked at, people tended to vote for the National Front in the 1970s, she | :30:33. | :30:35. | |
said I understand your issues but you have to vote Tory. She brought | :30:36. | :30:40. | |
them into her party. David Cameron faces a split on the right with | :30:41. | :30:44. | |
UKIP, every time he is under pressure from UKIP he moves further | :30:45. | :30:48. | |
to the right. There is a strange position where the centre ground is | :30:49. | :30:54. | |
being vacated and all the elections are winning the centre. And the | :30:55. | :30:57. | |
Liberal Democrats have become a centre right party, three parties | :30:58. | :31:00. | |
are righting for the right-wing vote, UKIP, the Tories and the | :31:01. | :31:04. | |
Liberal Democrats, and only party is fighting for the centre left vote. | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
It is a very different kind of politics. I don't think that the | :31:10. | :31:13. | |
election will be fought on an ideolgical spectrum, it will be | :31:14. | :31:16. | |
fought on the economy. By the way if I was advising Ed Miliband I would | :31:17. | :31:19. | |
advise him to change the subject. Almost all the evidence from the | :31:20. | :31:25. | |
United States is, if you are behind terms of the realities on the ground | :31:26. | :31:27. | |
in economics don't fight on economics. So I think he's making | :31:28. | :31:32. | |
two bold decisions, one is don't go after the Tories, just bring the | :31:33. | :31:35. | |
Liberal Democrats over we don't need the swing voters, secondly, he will | :31:36. | :31:39. | |
fight on the economy because he believes people will not feel better | :31:40. | :31:42. | |
off. Actually they are not stupid, those are not stupid risks, I | :31:43. | :31:46. | |
understand why he's following them. They wouldn't be my strategy, I | :31:47. | :31:49. | |
suspect they wouldn't be the Blairite strategy, but Ed Miliband | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
got elected as leader not to pursue that. Now we will see whether it | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
works. It wouldn't be what I do, but I can see his argument. John has | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
mentioned the prospect of UKIP doing well in the European elections and | :32:02. | :32:04. | |
the ramifications that may have. But what are the other things between | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
now and this time next year? That are likely to have a big impact on | :32:09. | :32:15. | |
the election? Again the economy will continue to be, if cost of living | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
shifts, if wages rise, if people start beginning to feel that, if | :32:22. | :32:24. | |
there is a greater sense of optimisim. I think the challenge is | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
then there. But politicians never get rewarded for a good result. What | :32:30. | :32:33. | |
they get a vote for is a vision of what's next. I think what is the | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
real challenge for Labour and evidenced by this party election | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
broadcast today is you know what's the vision? What's the offer? I | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
think as a kind of absence of that, I also think there is a real danger, | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
I hear what you say about the poll lead and 1% is a poll lead, and we | :32:55. | :33:00. | |
count our 1%. I hear you. However, I think there is a real danger for | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
Labour over the next year, of being a little cock-a-hoop about the | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
Labour over the next year, of being outcome. I saw Douglas Alexander | :33:11. | :33:12. | |
trying to play that outcome. I saw Douglas Alexander | :33:13. | :33:18. | |
circles, there is quite a lot of outcome. I saw Douglas Alexander | :33:19. | :33:23. | |
bag. I think that is offer the vision of what is next. | :33:24. | :33:27. | |
One thing the coalition must offer the vision of what is next. | :33:28. | :33:36. | |
are location a lot of people are stretched. | :33:37. | :33:48. | |
are location a lot of people are services with another wave, and that | :33:49. | :33:51. | |
will be important. The services with another wave, and that | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
Labour is with the it is it cuts both ways. It emphasises the | :33:57. | :34:07. | |
Conservative anti-service method, you don't want to be fighting an | :34:08. | :34:10. | |
election being the Conservatives cutting services, that is difficult | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
for the Tories. It is genuinely difficult. Labour would have to cut | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
services too? Jo That is why it is a dilemma for both parties. If they | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
renationalise the railway it will cost a lot of money. You asked the | :34:24. | :34:27. | |
events. I think it is the next round of spending cuts. The referendum on | :34:28. | :34:30. | |
Scotland, supposing Scotland votes of spending cuts. The referendum on | :34:31. | :34:40. | |
rather complacently, of spending cuts. The referendum on | :34:41. | :34:49. | |
it did Cameron would of spending cuts. The referendum on | :34:50. | :34:52. | |
as Prime Minister. You can't of spending cuts. The referendum on | :34:53. | :34:58. | |
a crisis inside the Tories and of spending cuts. The referendum on | :34:59. | :35:00. | |
Government. And Labour would never be in power again. Is it not if the | :35:01. | :35:06. | |
moon was made of green cheese would you eat it. How much Scottish | :35:07. | :35:09. | |
moon was made of green cheese would are there? 40 Labour MPs. They | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
wouldn't be there any more? The problem, Labour could win in the | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
rest of the UK, Labour wins, London wins Wales, Labour wins the north | :35:20. | :35:20. | |
and the cities, the problem wins Wales, Labour wins the north | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
Tories and the current electoral system is not that it is biased to | :35:26. | :35:28. | |
Labour as suggested on the package, it is that the Tory Party | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
Labour as suggested on the package, regional party, the party of | :35:33. | :35:34. | |
regional counties in England. They are no longer a National Party. That | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
is the big crisis for the Tory Party. That is why they couldn't get | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
a majority last time that is why they will struggle to keep the 306 | :35:43. | :35:45. | |
seats in the coming election. What is your understanding of how long | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
the coalition can last. It lasted right up to the election does it? I | :35:50. | :35:52. | |
have always believed it would do that. I can't see why it is in the | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
interests of either party, at any point to stop. If you are | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
interests of either party, at any Liberal Democrats you are running | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
really with the idea that coalitions work. If you are the Conservative | :36:06. | :36:08. | |
Party the last thing you want to show is a Government in chaos before | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
an election. There are management issues, the big thing is how to | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
manage Government documents and prevent what happened the other day | :36:17. | :36:18. | |
with the Justice Department and whether or not people are leaking | :36:19. | :36:22. | |
against each other. That is a big issue, I have always argued they | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
need a divorce agreement as comprehensive as the marriage one. | :36:27. | :36:29. | |
There does need to be an arrangement as we get closer. It is a complete | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
fallacy, this fantasy world where suddenly the coalition separates and | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
the Liberal Democrats say, oh we weren't in Government afterall. It | :36:39. | :36:41. | |
is a joke. What the Liberal Democrats need to do is justify why | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
they were there and what they? Did in Government. Things like the tax | :36:46. | :36:49. | |
threshold and the pupil premium, but to suddenly disgoes that we were | :36:50. | :36:53. | |
there in the -- disguise that we were there in the first place, it is | :36:54. | :36:57. | |
ridiculous and the electorate are not that daft. That is the Lib Dem | :36:58. | :37:02. | |
strategy, good money after bad, they will double down on being in | :37:03. | :37:04. | |
Government. The problem is they told one thing in the last election, and | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
there was sincerity, and breaking the promise on tuition fees they | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
break themselves. Tony Blair didn't break promises? He didn't do that. | :37:14. | :37:19. | |
He did on tuition fees. They have to fight seats, and it is a PR | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
strategy, you have to align your 10% with 10% of MPs, brilliant! An | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
investigation by medical researchers was reported today to show that more | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
people are dying as a consequence of being overweight in Britain than | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
anywhere else in Europe. There is no question that owe besity is bad for | :37:36. | :37:43. | |
-- obesity is bad for you. But is thinness next to Godless, Irving | :37:44. | :37:51. | |
Welsh's next novel deals with that. A fitness trainer so fit she's | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
acting like a Nazi. It is full of four-letter words as you would | :37:57. | :37:59. | |
expect from the author of trains spotting, and features many versions | :38:00. | :38:08. | |
of sex since the character is also a receiptry bisexual. What attracted | :38:09. | :38:15. | |
you of the subject? I was interested in sport and art and looking at the | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
false dichotomy between the two that we get spoon fed into. It was | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
happening in Miami and it is a very visual culture, it is all about body | :38:26. | :38:31. | |
image and how people look. You know the thing about the obesity thing | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
and the kind of faddy diets, they are a big American thing. Is it | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
harder or getting harder do you think to write shocking novels? | :38:43. | :38:45. | |
There are scenes in this that are quite shocking? Yeah, I don't think | :38:46. | :38:50. | |
you kind of see it in that way. I don't really set out to shock when I | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
write a novel. I set out to, it all has to be consistent with character | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
and story. If it doesn't, it kind of jumps out. The protaganist in this | :39:01. | :39:08. | |
is a lesbian. You are not! I was working on it. Is that difficult to | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
write? Well, I mean I think it is not really, I think you kind of, one | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
of things about writing about sexuality, it is like anything else | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
you are writing about, so much of it is subconscious, you are not really | :39:24. | :39:26. | |
thinking overtly about, you are not really thinking about gender or | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
sexuality overtly, you are aware of kind of these characters and you | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
just try to make them psychologically consistent. Is it | :39:36. | :39:39. | |
difficult to write about lesbian sex? It wasn't really, it was quite | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
easy to write about lesbian sex. Did I have both hands on the keyboards | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
at all times. But what I did notice is when I came to adapt it for the | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
screenplay that it was much more difficult, because you are actually | :39:56. | :39:59. | |
kind of telling a story in pictures and when I look back the eight pages | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
of lesbian sex to put it into the screenplay I just found that I got | :40:06. | :40:14. | |
all were youedish and felt -- were you prudish and electuring and | :40:15. | :40:18. | |
writing about young women having sex with each other. I didn't feel that | :40:19. | :40:25. | |
when I was writing the book. I condensed it down to uninstruction, | :40:26. | :40:32. | |
"they make love", the director can handle that stuff. Another theme in | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
the book is sex lives of Siamese twins, it is a recurring story in | :40:38. | :40:42. | |
the news about a pair of Siamese twins who have a problem with one of | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
their boyfriends. What are you saying there about the news? It is | :40:49. | :40:54. | |
about that breaking news culture and that kind of thing, it becomes this | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
voyeuristic thing and it becomes about creating celebrity with an on | :41:00. | :41:02. | |
going narrative, rather than reporting news. That's very | :41:03. | :41:09. | |
prevalent in America now. I think it is also about the sort of, you kn, | :41:10. | :41:17. | |
this kind of idea that it is not so much a news story it is almost like | :41:18. | :41:24. | |
a celebritisation of these twins. Is this a consequence of the fact that | :41:25. | :41:30. | |
news is now a 24-hours business that intrudes into people's homes on | :41:31. | :41:33. | |
their televisions all day long. The televisions aren't switched off. Is | :41:34. | :41:36. | |
that what it is or something else? It has also got to the point that I | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
mean, I read somewhere recently that more people know the number now of | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
the local breaking news station than they do of the emergency services. | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
So the news cameras are always, something happens in a community, | :41:50. | :41:52. | |
they tip-off the breaking news people first, the local news channel | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
first. So they are ahead of the emergency services, you know. They | :41:58. | :42:03. | |
know the local news number before 901. Most of this stuff is drivel, | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
what is filling the channels is drivel? Absolute ho nonsense. It is | :42:09. | :42:16. | |
not really news at all. It is cheesy features disguised as news. While | :42:17. | :42:19. | |
you are here because you live in the states most of the time. You must | :42:20. | :42:23. | |
talk to us about the Scottish independence referendum. Which you | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
have taken a very public stance in? Yeah, I basically believe that the | :42:29. | :42:35. | |
long-term prognosis for the union isn't good. I think it is over, | :42:36. | :42:38. | |
basically. I think what actually happens in the referendum isn't | :42:39. | :42:42. | |
really too concerning to me. I think the process has actually | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
begun. I don't think it is going to stop now. Do you think it really is | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
the business of a man who doesn't even live here any longer to take a | :42:51. | :42:54. | |
position in this? Yeah, I mean I think it is not my business to vote | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
and all that. And I do feel a bit kind of sort of presumtious about it | :43:00. | :43:07. | |
sometimes, I think you have to taken a interest in where you have come | :43:08. | :43:10. | |
from and an interest in these islands. When you say the union is | :43:11. | :43:14. | |
just dying, that is because it doesn't mean anything any more? I | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
think the things that were actual fuelling it, industry, empire, the | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
two world wars the welfare state. These things don't exist any more. | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
The welfare state certainly does? Almost. It is hanging on in there. | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
But there is not that much of it left. There won't be much of it left | :43:34. | :43:39. | |
in five years' time if we continue the policies we have for the next 35 | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
years that we had for the last 35 years. I think really that in some | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
ways the political centre of gravity is because people in Scotland are | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
feeling more empowered. I think they do feel they have strategies now to | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
progress into get the kind of representation and Government and | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
the country they want. And I also feel the real fear for the British | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
establishment is not to do with Scottish independent, if you get rid | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
of all the people from the Scottish sin Nair urics the House of Lords, | :44:15. | :44:22. | |
the bankers, the public school guys, if all those people have to get a | :44:23. | :44:25. | |
cut before anybody else can have anything, people in England will say | :44:26. | :44:30. | |
we will have some of that. They won't stand by and watch Scotland do | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
this, they will want something as well. It will change the whole | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
political system of the islands. We were going to bring awe report | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
from Nigeria, followed by an interview with a Nigerian Interior | :44:45. | :44:50. | |
Minister but he seems to have got lost on his way to the studio. | :44:51. | :44:57. | |
Much to the annoyance of Michael Gove's Department for Education, it | :44:58. | :45:00. | |
has emerged that a top explanation board is planning to broaden its | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
English A-level to give pupils chance to study among other things | :45:06. | :45:14. | |
dizzy Dizzy Rascal's appearance on this show. Ever since somebody has | :45:15. | :45:21. | |
edited it as a performance, here is part of it and students will be able | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
to study it. Mr Rascal do you feel yourself to be | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
British? Of course I'm British, man, you know me, I'm here man, it is | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
good. I don't think it matter what colour you are, it matters what | :45:34. | :45:36. | |
colour your heart is and your intentions, a black man, a purple | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
man, partial man can run the country, whatever man, as long as he | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
does right for the people. Why don't you run for office? That is a very | :45:46. | :45:49. | |
good idea, I might have to do that one way, dizzy Rascal for Prime | :45:50. | :45:56. | |
Minister. Barack Obama embraced hip hop that is the way he got through | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
to the kids and there was a younger vote than ever and through hip top. | :46:02. | :46:05. |