:00:00. > :00:00.Missing the excitement of the US election?
:00:07. > :00:10.The Clinton-Trump fight between populism and liberalism.
:00:11. > :00:31.It's France that's the battleground now.
:00:32. > :00:35.It's been a wacky race - likely candidates falling by the wayside -
:00:36. > :00:41.but looking at the current front runners, this is set to see populism
:00:42. > :00:43.fight liberalism in THE political showdown of 2017.
:00:44. > :00:59.Our opposition to racism and sexism and our support for equality before
:01:00. > :01:08.the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations
:01:09. > :01:16.in the House of Commons. Those words from John Bercow aren't exactly
:01:17. > :01:24.aimed at Washington, but they are in the headlines. We'll be asking a
:01:25. > :01:27.leading Republican Congressman how Donald Trump's doing so far.
:01:28. > :01:30.Here in the UK, we have exclusive access to a report on addiction
:01:31. > :01:36.We speak to those with first-hand experience of a hidden epidemic.
:01:37. > :01:42.My doctor then just upped and dose and upped the dose. That's when it
:01:43. > :01:47.all went slightly wrong. Well, actually that's the understatement
:01:48. > :01:53.of the year. It didn't go slightly wrong, it went horribly wrong.
:01:54. > :02:05.The build-up to the May presidential election is in full swing.
:02:06. > :02:07.Two presidential campaigns were launched this weekend
:02:08. > :02:11.in the city of Lyon - the Macron and Le Pen
:02:12. > :02:16.A third campaign - that of Francois Fillon -
:02:17. > :02:19.struggled to keep itself alive today.
:02:20. > :02:22.He was the favourite at one point - but is ensnared in an
:02:23. > :02:27.The revelations about his family being on his payroll
:02:28. > :02:29.and the implosion of his campaign is quite something to behold.
:02:30. > :02:37.and the man himself came out to make a grand statement today -
:02:38. > :02:41.not a withdrawal from the race, but an apology and
:02:42. > :02:56.TRANSLATION: Things that were acceptable in the past are no longer
:02:57. > :03:02.acceptable today. I put a premium on trust and decided to work with my
:03:03. > :03:07.wife and children. That has earned me disapproval. It was a mistake. I
:03:08. > :03:13.regret it profoundly and I apologise to the French people. Like many
:03:14. > :03:23.other Parliamentarians I behaved in a manner that was legal but which is
:03:24. > :03:26.clearly no longer supported by our compatriots.
:03:27. > :03:29.Now, that statement was important, because he remains in the campaign,
:03:30. > :03:31.but badly wounded, which is good for the other two
:03:32. > :03:35.The battle to watch is between Marine Le Pen
:03:36. > :03:39.It is so fascinating, because it represents the schism
:03:40. > :03:45.Not the old hat 20th century struggle between left and right -
:03:46. > :03:48.but liberalism versus what's usually called populism.
:03:49. > :03:51.It was the battle that Donald Trump won in the US.
:03:52. > :03:55.But in Europe, there has not yet been a similar,
:03:56. > :03:57.clean-cut clear fight between those two sides.
:03:58. > :04:00.In Britain, Brexit might have been a proxy war.
:04:01. > :04:04.But our two-party system is still trying to hang
:04:05. > :04:07.on to the geography of left and right.
:04:08. > :04:11.France, though, has a more fluid party system, and its election may
:04:12. > :04:15.well end up as a kind of Trump-Clinton grudge match -
:04:16. > :04:21.And as I say, it really got going this weekend,
:04:22. > :04:32.not here in Paris, but in France's second city, Lyon.
:04:33. > :04:35.Politics descended upon Lyon this weekend.
:04:36. > :04:39.It's away from the Paris elite, a sizeable city,
:04:40. > :04:45.towards the geographic centre of the country, and it's
:04:46. > :04:51.What better place to launch a presidential election campaign?
:04:52. > :04:54.The striking geographical feature of Lyon is that it's
:04:55. > :04:57.where two huge rivers, the Rhone and the Saone, meet
:04:58. > :05:00.to become one, just over there - rather like the French electoral
:05:01. > :05:03.system, which through its stages, ends up as a giant showdown
:05:04. > :05:09.Now, if nothing changes - IF nothing changes -
:05:10. > :05:11.the two candidates launching their campaigns here will be
:05:12. > :05:18.And what is so striking is that neither of them can be said to be
:05:19. > :05:22.part of the traditional right or left.
:05:23. > :05:25.Yes, what's missing in Lyon are the old parties.
:05:26. > :05:30.The low reputation of Francois Hollande has met
:05:31. > :05:36.Hollande did not bother to stand, and his mate Manuel Valls didn't
:05:37. > :05:40.The party has a left-wing candidate, Benoit Hamon, running
:05:41. > :05:46.The old right, now called the Republicans, picked
:05:47. > :05:48.Francois Fillon, but this was a bad election to be drowning
:05:49. > :05:52.in allegations of family profiteering, given that voters
:05:53. > :05:55.everywhere are expressing anger at self-serving elites.
:05:56. > :05:59.Which is why the polls say these two are the ones that'll make it
:06:00. > :06:02.to the second round, outside the big left-right party
:06:03. > :06:08.structure, both coming to the same city on the same weekend.
:06:09. > :06:11.Emmanuel Macron came from the left, but is defining
:06:12. > :06:15.himself as the new centre, which is I suppose a bit
:06:16. > :06:20.like the old Blairite centre - pro-EU, social and economic
:06:21. > :06:48.Supporting him here, the socialist mayors
:06:49. > :07:21.In his favour, in contrast to Hillary Clinton, Macron
:07:22. > :07:25.is a relative newcomer, and is pitching himself not
:07:26. > :07:34.His wife is 20 years older than him, and was his
:07:35. > :07:58.The next day, across town, the Front National rally.
:07:59. > :08:09.Marine Le Pen is leading in the polls, but with the baggage
:08:10. > :08:11.of her party's past, she'll struggle to win
:08:12. > :08:17.Without that baggage, her message would probably be doing very well.
:08:18. > :08:21.A lot of people hate the word populism, but we surely need a word
:08:22. > :08:24.to describe the mix of policies being outlined here.
:08:25. > :08:28.Tough on law and order, anti-immigration, and yet
:08:29. > :08:32.a detestation of globalisation and liberal economics.
:08:33. > :08:37.People like the idea of a strong state, an etat-fort.
:08:38. > :08:40.Now, it's interesting that one of the appeals of Marine Le Pen
:08:41. > :08:45.is that she's strong, uncompromising, no namby-pambyism.
:08:46. > :08:49.But of course, she HAS made compromises to soften
:08:50. > :09:20.her image and appeal to more mainstream voters.
:09:21. > :09:24.Her message has now been honed to fit a global populist mantra -
:09:25. > :09:30.Her overall vision is for a protective state,
:09:31. > :09:33.but with a very clear idea of who is in that
:09:34. > :09:39.The party is easy to caricature, but in reality,
:09:40. > :09:43.its supporters are a mix - most I encounter, closer to Trump
:09:44. > :10:27.Sebastien Chenu, a gay activist, used to be an apparatchik
:10:28. > :10:30.of the UMP, the old name for the main party of the old right,
:10:31. > :11:08.Here in Lyon, in early February, THE contest began, the ground set -
:11:09. > :11:12.a battle that is probably nothing other than the one to define
:11:13. > :11:17.Europe's direction for the next few decades.
:11:18. > :11:20.I'm bigging up this contest - because it is big,
:11:21. > :11:27.If she wins, she would try to reshape the EU completely.
:11:28. > :11:29.A victory for her would also be significant, one assumes,
:11:30. > :11:35.If he wins, it would give that much-persecuted minority,
:11:36. > :11:39.the liberal elite, a proper leader - a global beacon of success.
:11:40. > :11:42.I was taking to a former British centrist Cabinet minister recently,
:11:43. > :11:46.who said that what Britain needs is a Macron.
:11:47. > :11:49.So yes, the stakes are high - but do remember that this French
:11:50. > :11:52.election has hitherto been as unpredictable as a Tory
:11:53. > :11:55.leadership contest, and it is perfectly possible that
:11:56. > :11:58.Le Pen or Macron will be eliminated early on,
:11:59. > :12:02.a result that would tell us that European politics is even more
:12:03. > :12:08.But as we speak, Macron is the favourite to be
:12:09. > :12:11.the next president. Let us digest this start
:12:12. > :12:14.to an important election with two veteran commentators.
:12:15. > :12:18.Christine Okrent is a political analyst, broadcaster and writer.
:12:19. > :12:21.And Pierre Haski is a co-founder of an opinion and debate
:12:22. > :12:25.platform on the web, called Rue 89.
:12:26. > :12:33.Good evening to you both. Thank you for joining us. I'm pitching it as
:12:34. > :12:39.populism versus liberalism. Is that how we should look at this election?
:12:40. > :12:44.Sure, of course. Populism, you know, it's all over our Western world.
:12:45. > :12:49.Populism can be on the left or on the right. The issue is whether the
:12:50. > :12:55.left and the right divide still matters and that's the main argument
:12:56. > :13:03.of Macron. It was also somehow the argument of Le Pen yesterday. Do you
:13:04. > :13:10.think, am I writing off Fillon a bit early? He's the one who is basically
:13:11. > :13:16.on the right. He stays - he doesn't stand by this right-left is dead
:13:17. > :13:22.notion yet. Fillon is a Conservative. On one side he has a
:13:23. > :13:26.programme, maybe exaggerate a little bit, but tough, liberal programme.
:13:27. > :13:33.On the other side he's got conservative values. He was almost
:13:34. > :13:36.out of the race because of a scandal affecting a money issue, as you
:13:37. > :13:43.know. He's back in the race because he's managed to impose to his own
:13:44. > :13:48.party to stay on. First of all because they have no-one else to
:13:49. > :13:53.replace him. Secondly, because we're in a post-truth era and not sure
:13:54. > :14:02.that a good lie repeated many times cannot win the day. No-one's going
:14:03. > :14:06.to vote for him, are they? The voters are totally disenchanted.
:14:07. > :14:15.You're wrong. When you look at the polls. Of course, the general public
:14:16. > :14:19.says OK, let's get rid of him. But his co-constituency, two thirds of
:14:20. > :14:28.them still want him as their candidate. The traditional, typical
:14:29. > :14:34.French Catholic conservatives, older people, they stick to Fillon. Fillon
:14:35. > :14:41.is very much back in the race, if only because all the others in his
:14:42. > :14:48.own political tribe hate one another so much, that somehow Fillon is the
:14:49. > :14:52.least worst solution. It's an amazing scenario. But there it is.
:14:53. > :14:56.There's something about our political situation which is unique.
:14:57. > :15:02.It's a two-round election. All you need at this stage is get to 25%.
:15:03. > :15:08.You don't need to reach 50% immediately. If Fillon or Macron
:15:09. > :15:14.gets those 25% they are sure to be on the second round and have a great
:15:15. > :15:19.chance to beat Marine Le Pen. That's the key issue today, not to reach an
:15:20. > :15:24.overall majority. It's to reach 25%, which is - Doable for either of
:15:25. > :15:28.them. Yes. Let me ask you this: If Marine Le Pen didn't come with all
:15:29. > :15:32.the baggage of her father dabbling in Holocaust denial and all that
:15:33. > :15:38.stuff, do you think her message, which is one of a strong state,
:15:39. > :15:40.protective of its own people, that message would go down very well with
:15:41. > :15:52.the French, wouldn't it? It does go down well, she has had
:15:53. > :15:57.25% in the sand ex. But she could be way out there, if it wasn't for...?
:15:58. > :16:03.Come on, in no democracy, nobody ever gets 70%. No, but she's very
:16:04. > :16:09.high tree should the Front National has been in our politics for 34
:16:10. > :16:15.years. They have never managed to win a major election. So they are
:16:16. > :16:20.there, Marine Le Pen has been very, very clever that enhancing the
:16:21. > :16:28.platform and the arguments. But there again, I don't think you
:16:29. > :16:35.should transform her into the one player who is going to actually
:16:36. > :16:47.change our political scene. She has been around, you know, she's been
:16:48. > :16:51.there. And also, I think she's been smart to have a political language
:16:52. > :16:56.that allowed her to steal part of the popular vote which traditionally
:16:57. > :17:00.used to be on the left. So that has given her an edge over her father,
:17:01. > :17:06.who was strictly on the nationalist, quite racist, platform. And so she
:17:07. > :17:10.has opened up, and is making a bid for power. But I don't think she
:17:11. > :17:13.will make it this time. The system is still resisting. Basically there
:17:14. > :17:19.are just too many people who will never vote Front National. Yes,
:17:20. > :17:24.definitely recall we have to talk about the Socialists. Why? Because
:17:25. > :17:27.no-one's talking about the Socialists! Where has it gone in
:17:28. > :17:34.France, we thought France was a socialist country?! Come on, we have
:17:35. > :17:41.our Jeremy Corbyn! He did an extraordinary thing yesterday, he
:17:42. > :17:46.had his sort of official speech as the new Socialist candidate, and he
:17:47. > :17:53.said, I am not a providential man at all. And the impression was, he
:17:54. > :17:58.doesn't want to be president, he doesn't believe he can become
:17:59. > :18:02.president. But he is there to pick up what is left of the socialist
:18:03. > :18:11.party. Because the Social Democrats will probably opt for Macron, all of
:18:12. > :18:18.those who were previously backing the former Prime Minister Manuel
:18:19. > :18:21.Valls. So he is playing really the next act after the presidential
:18:22. > :18:26.election, Benoit Hamon. He's keeping the flag flying! The Socialists have
:18:27. > :18:30.to recover from five years of Francois Hollande, which has left a
:18:31. > :18:33.disastrous impression with the French, to the point where the
:18:34. > :18:38.president himself decided not to go for a second mandate. So they know
:18:39. > :18:42.that they have got nothing to do this time, and their best chance,
:18:43. > :18:47.someone who has been one of the government but has left, is Macron,
:18:48. > :18:51.although that does not please many of the Socialists. So they need a
:18:52. > :18:53.few years to rethink. Thank you both very, very much indeed. Thank you to
:18:54. > :18:56.my guests. Lots of twists and turns to go
:18:57. > :19:03.between here and the spring - but if this is the contest of 2017,
:19:04. > :19:06.the consequences of the battle of 2016 are still being
:19:07. > :19:19.felt over in the US. Well, never a dull moment here,
:19:20. > :19:22.either. President Trump has been continuing his spat with the
:19:23. > :19:27.American judiciary over their actions on the immigration ban. They
:19:28. > :19:33.have overturned it, of course, at the weekend. And he carried on today
:19:34. > :19:40.Billy Haas -- with a harsh message in a speech he delivered at a
:19:41. > :19:45.military base in Florida. And all across Europe, we've seen what
:19:46. > :19:51.happened in Paris and Nice, all over Europe, it's happening. It's gotten
:19:52. > :19:56.to a point where it's not even being reported, and in many cases, very,
:19:57. > :20:03.very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. They have their reasons
:20:04. > :20:07.just you understand that. So many issues being thrown up by President
:20:08. > :20:11.Trump and his statements. And earlier, I was joined by Republican
:20:12. > :20:14.Congressman Joe Wilson, senior Republican on a couple of key
:20:15. > :20:19.committees here, and I started by asking him, on another one of those
:20:20. > :20:24.issues, the statement by President Trump at the weekend which compared
:20:25. > :20:29.Putin and America, saying America was not so innocent. I looked at it
:20:30. > :20:36.as prior history, working with Stalin. And we know that his demonic
:20:37. > :20:40.background, and so it was not a reflection on America as much as it
:20:41. > :20:44.was that we worked with people who we can look back and say, it would
:20:45. > :20:50.have been better to have worked with someone else. But that's who was
:20:51. > :20:53.there. In general, do you think he has sold himself as the president
:20:54. > :20:57.who can make a better bargain for the country, do you think he is too
:20:58. > :21:02.soft on Putin, he's like the one person he won't criticise? He really
:21:03. > :21:07.is trying to reach out to the Russian Federation. Many of us had
:21:08. > :21:11.hoped, in the UK and the US, for a positive and bright future after the
:21:12. > :21:15.Cold War, with the Russian Federation, but it's not turned out
:21:16. > :21:18.that way, which is so disappointing. And so he's still reaching out a
:21:19. > :21:23.hand of friendship, hopeful for change, in the relationship between
:21:24. > :21:31.the Russian Federation and the rest of the world. Now, an important step
:21:32. > :21:35.at the end of last week come the National Security Advisor saying
:21:36. > :21:39.Iran was on notice as a result of its missile test - how dangerous is
:21:40. > :21:43.that in terms of tensions in the region, that they might misinterpret
:21:44. > :21:47.what being said, maybe attack US forces, something like that? Well,
:21:48. > :21:51.sadly, they already have attacked US forces and captured US forces. And
:21:52. > :21:57.then it was believed that the most recent attack on a ship was intended
:21:58. > :22:02.to be an attack on an American position, which would be a danger to
:22:03. > :22:08.the west. This was off Yemen? Off of Yemen. But the danger to the Western
:22:09. > :22:12.world is that we had the Iranian nuclear deal, and that the same
:22:13. > :22:15.time, they are developing intercontinental ballistic missiles.
:22:16. > :22:20.There is only one purpose for those, and that is to deliver nuclear
:22:21. > :22:25.weapons. They already have warheads capable of wiping Israel off the
:22:26. > :22:29.face of the earth. But this could be a danger to the people of Europe and
:22:30. > :22:33.the United States, as they develop this capability. With the language
:22:34. > :22:37.changing in the way that it is on him and, and President Trump has
:22:38. > :22:45.been critical of the deal, do you think it can survive? No. And it was
:22:46. > :22:48.really a poorly agreed to any situation, that really, there is no
:22:49. > :22:54.safeguards in hit. It is really appalling to me. I am really
:22:55. > :23:02.grateful that Congress itself did not favour the dangerous Iranian
:23:03. > :23:05.nuclear deal. Probably the most controversial executive order so far
:23:06. > :23:09.was the one banning people from seven countries from coming in. We
:23:10. > :23:13.know there has been a big legal fight over that. When you look back
:23:14. > :23:15.on that, it was part of his platform, but don't you think he
:23:16. > :23:22.could have gone about it in a more...? However he did it, we are
:23:23. > :23:26.really in a political war here. Personally, eight years ago, when Mr
:23:27. > :23:32.Obama came into office, the tradition, you give a honeymoon.
:23:33. > :23:36.There is no honeymoon. President Trump truly is at war with the
:23:37. > :23:40.Democratic Party, and they are at war with him, more with him than he
:23:41. > :23:44.is with them. And then sadly, we have a media here which is very
:23:45. > :23:50.supportive of the Democratic Party. This is not new. In fact, we have
:23:51. > :23:55.overcome this over the years. But what about the judiciary? He has
:23:56. > :24:01.tweeted about so-called judges, and people even on the right of politics
:24:02. > :24:05.here say that is dangerous language in a constitutional setup? The good
:24:06. > :24:10.news even on that, by his most recent appointment to the Supreme
:24:11. > :24:12.Court, we have a person who will really respect the role of the three
:24:13. > :24:19.branches of government in our country, and that is the
:24:20. > :24:22.legislative, executive and judicial. And he indicated that he would not
:24:23. > :24:24.be making law, he would be interpreted what the elected
:24:25. > :24:29.officials of the people have established. And so his actions are
:24:30. > :24:36.really very, very positive, some of his words can be taken out of
:24:37. > :24:40.context local lastly, the Speaker of the British Parliament, John Bercow,
:24:41. > :24:43.has said that President Trump should not come to talk to members of
:24:44. > :24:48.Parliament when he visits the UK later this year - what's your
:24:49. > :24:54.response to that? That's very disappointing, because if ever in
:24:55. > :24:57.recent years, there has been a more pro-British president of the United
:24:58. > :25:03.States, its Donald Trump. And it's been by his words, his assurances,
:25:04. > :25:08.with Prime Minister made, 100% standing with Nato and working to
:25:09. > :25:13.create trade relationships. But it has also been symbolic. He was the
:25:14. > :25:18.one who return to the bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval
:25:19. > :25:23.Office. And I consider it a slap, sadly, at the Republican party. It
:25:24. > :25:28.was the Republican party, leaders of our party, that actually placed the
:25:29. > :25:31.bust of Winston Churchill in the US Capitol building. And we urge all
:25:32. > :25:35.buildings to come and visit the building, and they will be welcomed,
:25:36. > :25:40.especially welcome to know that there is a bust of Winston Churchill
:25:41. > :25:43.in the US capital building, showing our great affection for the people
:25:44. > :25:51.of the United Kingdom. Thank you so much, Congressman. Thank you, my
:25:52. > :25:54.honour. Congressman Joe Wilson. Extraordinary phrase there,
:25:55. > :25:57.political war, when referring to the Democrats, but that's how many
:25:58. > :26:01.Republicans here in Congress feel, which is wife at the moment, they
:26:02. > :26:07.are standing firmly behind Donald Trump. Back to London.
:26:08. > :26:09.It's time to face the realities of a new America -
:26:10. > :26:11.so says the former Prime Minister of Finland.
:26:12. > :26:18.That means that there is a power vacuum in 2017 and Alexander Stoob
:26:19. > :26:22.Do we look east to China, as it champions globalisation,
:26:23. > :26:25.or over to Russia, as Putin becomes ever more emboldened
:26:26. > :26:28.Does a post-Brexit, fragmented Europe even get a look-in, as it
:26:29. > :26:49.Recently you wrote a piece, Trump's putting America first, looking
:26:50. > :26:52.inwards, he's not doing anything wrong, is he wanted from a global
:26:53. > :26:59.perspective, and for someone who believes that three things have
:27:00. > :27:01.defined successful societies, liberal democracy, market economy
:27:02. > :27:06.and globalisation, one would say that he's doing something wrong. If
:27:07. > :27:09.you believe that the leader of the free world can close shop, build
:27:10. > :27:13.walls and throw the key away, and I'd say that he's doing something
:27:14. > :27:16.wrong. I guess the big question right now is, who's going to fill
:27:17. > :27:22.the power vacuum which the Americans will be leaving? Can Europe? I think
:27:23. > :27:26.Europe should try. I think what might be happening is that China
:27:27. > :27:29.will take a lead in economics, globalisation and free trade. And
:27:30. > :27:34.then Russia will want to take a lead in the military. And they are a
:27:35. > :27:38.superpower in that. And then Europe, we should now fill that void a
:27:39. > :27:43.little bit. And I think we should do three things. I am an optimist, I
:27:44. > :27:46.would say that we need to be champions of free trade, secondly,
:27:47. > :27:50.we need to promote Western values, and this is very important, someone
:27:51. > :27:55.needs to do it. And the third thing we need to do is to focus more on
:27:56. > :28:00.foreign policy, but there, we need the UK's help as well. How do
:28:01. > :28:05.countries in the EU do that when they seem to be fragmented, as we
:28:06. > :28:14.are seeing on this programme, in France, for example, liberal ideas
:28:15. > :28:19.falling apart in the EU, it is a fragmented EU, how can it fill the
:28:20. > :28:23.void left by the US? I think of free trade, we can do that by
:28:24. > :28:28.establishing bilateral relations. The big question is the value issue.
:28:29. > :28:32.We will have three key elections here to see the direction of Europe.
:28:33. > :28:37.The first one is in the Netherlands coming up in March. The second one
:28:38. > :28:43.is in May in France, and the third, in Germany, in September. Obviously,
:28:44. > :28:46.if these go wrong, from a liberal international perspective, then it's
:28:47. > :28:52.very difficult to lead on values, you're correct on that. But I
:28:53. > :28:55.believe that the values of liberal democracy, openness, transparency,
:28:56. > :28:58.human rights, fundamental rights, they are the basic foundation of our
:28:59. > :29:03.success. So if our political leaders cannot promote those values, then I
:29:04. > :29:08.think we are in trouble. How big a crack as Brexit made in the EU?
:29:09. > :29:14.Definitely a big crack. I think we are all pragmatic about it, however.
:29:15. > :29:18.I for one will be the person who is trying to make the best out of a
:29:19. > :29:22.very difficult situation. You once predicted there would be economic
:29:23. > :29:26.mayhem? Yes, and I think in the long run it will. I think short-term it
:29:27. > :29:30.didn't, it wasn't the Lehman brothers moment. But in long-term
:29:31. > :29:35.economic cycles, we will have to seek. I think we are trying to avoid
:29:36. > :29:39.that. There are people on the continent proper who want to punish
:29:40. > :29:43.Britain for this. I don't want to do that, I want to find a good deal for
:29:44. > :29:46.Britain, and one for Europe as well. We have to live with this new
:29:47. > :29:50.reality but we have to understand that it weakens everyone. Theresa
:29:51. > :29:55.May has a shopping list, she's looking for good deal for the UK.
:29:56. > :29:58.She has put the white paper out there. She's not going to get
:29:59. > :30:03.everything on that list, and how much pain, how much compromise, are
:30:04. > :30:08.we going to have to offer in order to get some of those things? You
:30:09. > :30:12.never get everything that you want. I think usually a list is a starting
:30:13. > :30:17.position for the negotiations. What don't you think we will get? It's
:30:18. > :30:21.impossible to save. The negotiations themselves will take about two
:30:22. > :30:26.years. And at the end of the day they will decide on two things, the
:30:27. > :30:30.exit date, which will be the 1st of April 2019, and secondly, probably
:30:31. > :30:34.linked to money. Then there are a lot of key issues in between. She
:30:35. > :30:41.wants to take control of our own laws, Freehand frictionless trade, a
:30:42. > :30:44.new strategic partnership and a smooth and orderly exit, will she
:30:45. > :30:49.get all of those? It would be wonderful if she did. I think we
:30:50. > :30:53.need to work in that direction. Nobody wants to isolate the UK in
:30:54. > :30:57.terms of trade, there is no question about that. In terms of taking
:30:58. > :31:01.control of your own laws, yes, that will happen, but first, you will
:31:02. > :31:08.probably have to take lock, stock and barrel of thousands of pages of
:31:09. > :31:12.European law. You have been speaking to team members involved in the
:31:13. > :31:16.forthcoming negotiations, and considering you thought there would
:31:17. > :31:20.be economic mayhem from Brexit, rather pessimistic approach, how do
:31:21. > :31:27.feel now about the UK's prospects of a successful Brexit?
:31:28. > :31:34.The whole Civil Service is no nonsense pragmatic people. This is
:31:35. > :31:37.good to see. There was the shock in the summer, what happened wasn't
:31:38. > :31:42.supposed to happen. Then there was a period of remorse. Now people are
:31:43. > :31:45.pug up their -- pulling up their sleeves and starting to work. I
:31:46. > :31:49.leave London quite optimistic. I used to say that everyone says
:31:50. > :31:53.Brexit means Brexit but no-one knows what Brexit means. Everyone is
:31:54. > :31:57.starting to understand what Brexit means now. There's no nonsense,
:31:58. > :31:58.business-like sense about it. Thank you very much for your time on
:31:59. > :32:01.Newsnight. Time now for Viewsnight,
:32:02. > :32:03.Newsnight's new platform And, as it's NHS week
:32:04. > :32:08.across the BBC, tonight, the neurosurgeon
:32:09. > :32:11.Henry Marsh speaks up. Benjamin Franklin once observed
:32:12. > :32:23.that the only certainties in life None of us want to die and none
:32:24. > :32:28.of us want to pay taxation. But our politicians
:32:29. > :32:31.need to make a choice. Hospitals finished the last
:32:32. > :32:35.financial year ?2.45 billion in the red -
:32:36. > :32:38.that's the biggest overspend The simple fact is that NHS spending
:32:39. > :32:43.is not keeping up with medical technological progress
:32:44. > :32:48.and the ageing of the population. This country spends less on health
:32:49. > :32:51.care per capita than any other But the Government says everything's
:32:52. > :32:57.OK, and it's just that the GPs So how can we find more money
:32:58. > :33:03.for health care without putting The private sector
:33:04. > :33:09.is entirely parasitic For instance, all the training
:33:10. > :33:14.is done in the state sector, It's also well-known that
:33:15. > :33:18.profit-seeking in medicine inevitably leads to unnecessary
:33:19. > :33:22.treatments and unnecessary What about a stripped-down NHS
:33:23. > :33:27.which only treats serious conditions But then what about conditions that
:33:28. > :33:32.might lead to cancer, what about high blood pressure,
:33:33. > :33:34.what about diabetes - The answer surely must be
:33:35. > :33:39.a dedicated health care tax, what's called in the trade,
:33:40. > :33:43.an hypothecated tax. Now, the Treasury make strong
:33:44. > :33:45.arguments against this, they don't like the public picking
:33:46. > :33:47.and choosing what they But surely an exception should be
:33:48. > :33:53.made for the NHS we all love? If we knew what we were paying for,
:33:54. > :33:57.this would empower us as patients, and this would be an enormous force
:33:58. > :34:01.for improvement in the NHS. The Government has made
:34:02. > :34:05.honesty a statutory duty for doctors such as myself,
:34:06. > :34:08.but its own dishonesty over the financial crisis facing
:34:09. > :34:12.the National Health Service is instead condemning it
:34:13. > :34:22.to death by a thousand cuts. And we'll have a Viewsnight
:34:23. > :34:25.with a different perspective Lastly tonight - how much do we need
:34:26. > :34:29.to worry that the prescription-drugs epidemic sweeping the United States
:34:30. > :34:33.could be replicated here? Our special correspondent,
:34:34. > :34:36.Katie Razzall, has been given exclusive early sight of a report
:34:37. > :34:48.into drug use in the UK What is this report? What is the
:34:49. > :34:55.point of this report overall? This report is a snapshot of UK drug use
:34:56. > :34:57.in 2016, from the charity Drug-wise. They've conducted interviews, mainly
:34:58. > :35:01.with police officers and drug workers. Most of their findings
:35:02. > :35:05.don't relate to prescription drugs, but they are interesting. They say
:35:06. > :35:09.there are unprecedented purity levels of the likes of heroin,
:35:10. > :35:12.crack, cocaine and ecstasy on the streets of Britain. They say drug
:35:13. > :35:15.gangs have extended their distribution networks. They point to
:35:16. > :35:20.the success of the Government's attempts last year to crack down on
:35:21. > :35:23.legal highs, the likes of synthetic cannabis, spice, those kind of
:35:24. > :35:27.drugs. For me, the most interesting thing in it is what they say about
:35:28. > :35:32.the kind of drugs we can all get over the counter or from our GPs.
:35:33. > :35:38.Prescription drugs. It's like this story has come as a by-product of
:35:39. > :35:42.this report. Yeah, in America there's a serious heroin ep dopic
:35:43. > :35:47.killing people, but it's related to a serious prescription drug abuse
:35:48. > :35:50.epidemic. The biggest single cause of accidental death in the States.
:35:51. > :35:54.The question is, could that happen here? This report makes very clear,
:35:55. > :35:59.we don't have the pill mills that they have the States. We're a very
:36:00. > :36:06.different proposition. We don't have GPs involved in illicit supply. It
:36:07. > :36:09.says the lines are blurred between medical overuse, recreational use
:36:10. > :36:13.and addiction. One of the examples are the codeine housewives of
:36:14. > :36:17.Hartlepool. These are women who started taking codeine to take the
:36:18. > :36:20.edge off their day and now find themselves addicted. But this is
:36:21. > :36:24.about much more than codeine. What they say is that we could face
:36:25. > :36:29.significant problems in the future and we must watch what's happening.
:36:30. > :36:34.Newsnight's spoke ton three people who understand this issue well. They
:36:35. > :36:45.were all filmed at recovery service for tranquiliser dependency. The
:36:46. > :36:50.first is a woman who was prescribed benzodiazipine when her brother died
:36:51. > :36:54.and her mother had a stroke. The doctor upped the dose and upped the
:36:55. > :36:56.dose. Then it all went slightly wrong, well, actually that's the
:36:57. > :37:01.understatement of the year. It didn't go slightly wrong, it went
:37:02. > :37:04.horribly wrong because then that made what I was going through
:37:05. > :37:09.actually worse. I don't know about you, if you've ever been given
:37:10. > :37:14.antibiotics you don't go, what could this do to the rest of my body. I
:37:15. > :37:21.now read everything. Although my GP did say, you know, these can
:37:22. > :37:24.actually become - you can get used to them, so we don't recommend you
:37:25. > :37:29.take them for too long, that wasn't the case right from day one. By the
:37:30. > :37:34.time that was made clear, it was too late. You do tend to keep it a
:37:35. > :37:37.secret. It's like an awful secret because you just feel that you
:37:38. > :37:45.shouldn't be in that position. You feel weak. You feel that you should
:37:46. > :37:49.be more in control of your life. You feel upset that you've actually got
:37:50. > :37:53.to this point. You feel ashamed. It's so great when you feel so
:37:54. > :37:57.stressed to have something that's going to actually take that edge
:37:58. > :38:01.off, so you can actually calm down, relax and then think logically
:38:02. > :38:07.again. Or that's how you think you're thinking. It took me a period
:38:08. > :38:11.of just under two years to come off them in a staged way, in a sensible
:38:12. > :38:16.way, so that it didn't affect my health and didn't make me have any
:38:17. > :38:22.awful side effects either. Are you taking anything now? Very
:38:23. > :38:24.occasionally I might have a couple of milligrams if I'm having a
:38:25. > :38:44.particularly stressful time. The main tablets are
:38:45. > :38:48.diazepam/Valium. We have people on the Z drugs, zopiclone, drugs that
:38:49. > :38:52.are prescribed for anxiety or sleep problems. The vast majority of
:38:53. > :38:56.people we see here aren't using them illicitly. They take them as
:38:57. > :38:59.prescribed and doing exactly what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately,
:39:00. > :39:03.they still start to develop a problem. The withdrawals that I've
:39:04. > :39:08.witnessed that people have explained to me do sound very intense and
:39:09. > :39:14.quite honestly, nightmarish for a lot of people. They describe things
:39:15. > :39:20.like overwhelming fear, absolutely scared of everything, not able to go
:39:21. > :39:27.out, stomach problems, per Septemberual problems. -- perceptual
:39:28. > :39:31.problems. We hear all the time from people that they weren't fully
:39:32. > :39:35.warmed about the dependency potential of the compound they are
:39:36. > :39:40.taking. In fact, they really had no idea just how severe the withdrawals
:39:41. > :39:44.could be. In the last five years, when the drugs have been readily
:39:45. > :39:52.available on the internet to buy, we have seen a large increase in a
:39:53. > :40:03.younger group of people who are using them in an illicit way.
:40:04. > :40:14.It really is quite startling when you think that if you take together
:40:15. > :40:17.the opiate pain killers, tranquilisers, antidepressants,
:40:18. > :40:21.you're looking at 100 million prescriptions being written in the
:40:22. > :40:27.UK every year. The percentage increases in prescribing in recent
:40:28. > :40:32.years is in the hundreds, 400%, 500% increases in prescribing. Have we
:40:33. > :40:37.got more pain? Are we more depressed than we were? Because these drugs
:40:38. > :40:43.are so readily available online and over the counter, people become
:40:44. > :40:48.dependent on these drugs and take a different - they don't regard
:40:49. > :40:52.themselves as drug addicts. These are medicines and tablets and pill
:40:53. > :40:57.that's they've bought. It becomes almost the acceptable face of
:40:58. > :41:00.addiction. The other dimension to this, particularly in some parts of
:41:01. > :41:07.the country, like Scotland, is where you actually have what you might
:41:08. > :41:11.call breaking bad type drug labs making them. However you want to
:41:12. > :41:16.define it, there is a substantial public health problem here which we
:41:17. > :41:20.feel, which the charities and various organisations feel just
:41:21. > :41:23.isn't being addressed. Some shocking statistics there. Thank you.
:41:24. > :41:27.We leave you with the Speaker of the House of Commons,
:41:28. > :41:30.John Bercow, who was asked today about President Trump
:41:31. > :41:32.addressing Parliament during his upcoming State Visit.
:41:33. > :41:49.I would not wish to issue an invitation to President Trump to
:41:50. > :41:56.speak in the royal gallery. And I conclude by saying to the honourable
:41:57. > :42:01.gentleman this: We value our relationship with the United States.
:42:02. > :42:07.If a state visit takes place, that is way beyond and above the pay
:42:08. > :42:16.grade of the Speaker. However, as far as this place is concerned, I
:42:17. > :42:22.feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism
:42:23. > :42:28.and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary
:42:29. > :42:29.are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons.
:42:30. > :42:46.CHEERING Very good evening. The weather's
:42:47. > :42:49.been pretty horrendous in some parts of the country during today.
:42:50. > :42:53.Northern Ireland severe gales here and some rain. Tomorrow's looking a
:42:54. > :42:54.bit better. Let's start