:00:07. > :00:10.7,000 gambling addicts tried to ban themselves from betting.
:00:11. > :00:12.So why did a major firm think they were still fair game?
:00:13. > :00:18.Tonight, we ask why the government is failing to protect
:00:19. > :00:27.Formally they tell us nothing's been agreed on the Brexit
:00:28. > :00:29.negations but Nick Watt's been hearing rumblings.
:00:30. > :00:31.I've learnt intriguing details about what that the UK
:00:32. > :00:34.might be prepared to pay on the Brexit divorce bill.
:00:35. > :00:37.A human catastrophe - that's the UN's verdict on how
:00:38. > :00:45.we treat disabled people - is it fair?
:00:46. > :00:47.The waters are receding in Houston, but the clear up
:00:48. > :00:50.We're with the rescue operation as more families
:00:51. > :01:01.Imagine the force required to move this thing from wherever it has come
:01:02. > :01:10.from. It's good food in it and everything. You know that water is
:01:11. > :01:19.strong but you never really know how strong it is until you've seen what
:01:20. > :01:23.it does. What did you do? You know there's only so much, I'm a man, I
:01:24. > :01:29.can't do no more than that. This is God's hand.
:01:30. > :01:39.And few in the political classes appear to be taking it seriously.
:01:40. > :01:42.More than 2 million people are at risk of addiction, and today
:01:43. > :01:44.it was revealed that 7,000 people, who'd voluntarily put
:01:45. > :01:47.themselves on a nationwide banned list were allowed by one firm -
:01:48. > :01:53.The firm, which says it is committed to being responsible,
:01:54. > :02:00.allowed one of those on the list to gamble over
:02:01. > :02:03.It encouraged another addict to lose his children's home
:02:04. > :02:07.In fact, the company continued to invite him to gamble online even
:02:08. > :02:09.when he was in prison - serving time for fraud
:02:10. > :02:14.Tonight, as the company faces a fine of ?8 million,
:02:15. > :02:17.we talk to him live about how the system got it so wrong.
:02:18. > :02:23.And we ask why the problem has gone ignored,
:02:24. > :02:25.when both Labour and the Conservatives are so eager
:02:26. > :02:34.capitalism and that need for corporate responsibility.
:02:35. > :02:44.# Can't read Mike, can't read my, can't read my poker face. #.
:02:45. > :02:46.Today's fine sounds like a record one.
:02:47. > :02:49.But it's a drop in the ocean for an industry that brings
:02:50. > :02:53.Its growth and its success can be traced back to 2005,
:02:54. > :02:55.and to one policy - Labour deregulated gambling,
:02:56. > :02:57.and that heralded the start of major change.
:02:58. > :02:59.Adverts on television for the first time, the rise of casinos,
:03:00. > :03:02.and a massive boom in fixed betting terminals - online access
:03:03. > :03:06.which made it possible to lose money anytime, anywhere.
:03:07. > :03:09.At the time, the Conservatives in opposition warned
:03:10. > :03:11.that the legislation didn't contain safeguards to protect
:03:12. > :03:22.So why has nothing changed? Last month there were reports that the
:03:23. > :03:28.Chancellor had rowed back on his review into fixed odds betting
:03:29. > :03:30.terminals, critics believed he had been swayed by the huge tax revenues
:03:31. > :03:37.they had brought in. Today 888 admitted that a technical
:03:38. > :03:39.glitch had allowed the 7,000 customers who'd put themselves
:03:40. > :03:41.on the banned list to keep on gambling -
:03:42. > :03:52.a total of ?50 million in total. The commission who fined the company
:03:53. > :03:55.said their failure to recognize the problem was so significant it
:03:56. > :03:57.resulted in criminal activity. Is that enough for the government
:03:58. > :04:00.to sit up and listen? In a moment we'll speak to Labour's
:04:01. > :04:06.deputy leader, Tom Watson. First, joining me from
:04:07. > :04:07.Sheffield is David Bradford, a gambling addict who stole money
:04:08. > :04:11.from his employer to feed his habit. He was one of those who put himself
:04:12. > :04:14.on the voluntary banned list. The betting firm 888
:04:15. > :04:28.continued to pursue him. David, it is very nice of you to
:04:29. > :04:33.join us. Talk us for your experience, how much were you
:04:34. > :04:38.gambling at her lowest point? I gambled everyday, every evening. I
:04:39. > :04:43.worked away a lot so in that sort of after-work period, not only did it
:04:44. > :04:51.cover the boredom, and sucked me into gambling online, I sought to
:04:52. > :04:57.get that one big win that probably all gamblers tried to get, to
:04:58. > :05:02.collate all my financial worries. Did you ever win big? Never.
:05:03. > :05:07.Obviously to win big is relative to come at you think is not very much.
:05:08. > :05:13.But from my point of view I never won big. I never lost big other but
:05:14. > :05:18.I lost and that is what the industry is all about, making us all losers
:05:19. > :05:22.and shareholders gritter. What do you think you spent on gambling
:05:23. > :05:25.through the course of your life. I could not give you a figure and I
:05:26. > :05:30.don't think it matters what the figure is it is what it does to you,
:05:31. > :05:35.your self esteem, your family, and your friends who all have a
:05:36. > :05:41.different view and you once they find out that you have been not only
:05:42. > :05:45.deluding yourself but hiding a secret sort of problem from all
:05:46. > :05:50.these people that you are closest to. You went to prison for fraud,
:05:51. > :05:56.and when you were there, you still kept receiving text messages
:05:57. > :06:00.inviting you to gamble online. Yes. I'd best correct the way you put
:06:01. > :06:04.that. Obviously I didn't have a mobile phone in prison. Accent my
:06:05. > :06:11.own mobile phone that was at home, my son had two attempts to stop
:06:12. > :06:16.these texts coming through, which was a significant task for him to
:06:17. > :06:21.have to do. And did the company respond to his requests to stop?
:06:22. > :06:28.From what I understand, not immediately. It took many attempts
:06:29. > :06:33.before they actually did stop. For me, this is a good example of how
:06:34. > :06:42.the industry sees its duty of care, which is something that they only
:06:43. > :06:47.pay lip service to. This measly fine today will do next to nothing in
:06:48. > :06:53.awakening some kind of customer care that goes a bit deeper than it does
:06:54. > :06:59.now. Indeed, many people like me will be, and will always continue to
:07:00. > :07:04.have the problem, even if it is dormant, you know, I strongly
:07:05. > :07:09.believe in what many doctors have said, which is that this is a mental
:07:10. > :07:14.problem. Which is obviously a mental health problem. And should be
:07:15. > :07:19.treated that way, not as just some people being reckless with money. So
:07:20. > :07:25.what was the impact it really hard on your life, can you put it into
:07:26. > :07:29.words. In a sense, in no particular order but for me, I've never been
:07:30. > :07:33.able, from the time in prison which was over three years ago now, I've
:07:34. > :07:37.never been able to get a job anything like the one I had and I am
:07:38. > :07:43.now working up to 70 hours a week just to stand still doing mundane
:07:44. > :07:47.job. I have no self-esteem. I have low self belief. Every time I make a
:07:48. > :07:53.decision I have to double check and making it in the right way, -- I'm
:07:54. > :08:00.making it in the right way. And to load that further, the emotional
:08:01. > :08:08.burden on my family, who feel cheated by me, well, quite rightly,
:08:09. > :08:16.that is what did happen. I seemed not to care one bit about them and I
:08:17. > :08:20.was making decisions which in a sense have now ruined our lives. If
:08:21. > :08:27.you could ask for one thing to change in the way that the industry
:08:28. > :08:31.operates now, what would that be. I think one is falling short of the
:08:32. > :08:40.many things I would like to ask them for but I believe a strategy of care
:08:41. > :08:46.that steps in and assists, in a sense, throws a parachute to a
:08:47. > :08:52.troubled gambler, there should be more than one NHS surgery dealing
:08:53. > :08:56.with this issue, unfortunately there is only one, I think it is in
:08:57. > :09:04.London. There should be access to a raft of precautionary interventions
:09:05. > :09:12.by the gambling industry, when they see a gambler operating erratically,
:09:13. > :09:16.I also believe that the software available, the industry and the
:09:17. > :09:20.banks could talk together so they can see someone is going beyond
:09:21. > :09:24.their means. But there doesn't seem to be any effort put into looking
:09:25. > :09:29.for these fairly simple solutions, in my mind. We will try to find some
:09:30. > :09:39.right now. David Bradford, thank you very much, we really appreciate
:09:40. > :09:41.sharing that. To Tom Watson, Shadow Culture Secretary, this falls in
:09:42. > :09:46.your brief, when you hear David's story, and hear what he is asking
:09:47. > :09:53.for, successive governments have failed him and many others. He talks
:09:54. > :09:59.about that very coherently as a mental illness, they have been taken
:10:00. > :10:03.advantage of. , first say, I thought David was very brave to tell his
:10:04. > :10:07.story live on TV like that. Yet David is one of many hundreds of
:10:08. > :10:10.thousands of people who currently have a gambling addiction. And
:10:11. > :10:17.gambling addiction has grown by up to one third in recent years. And
:10:18. > :10:22.that is what I think we... It has grown since 2005 and it was the
:10:23. > :10:27.Labour policy of deregulation that created that massive boom. Do you
:10:28. > :10:32.have remorse for that? Certainly we must acknowledge that there are
:10:33. > :10:35.negative consequences of that act, particularly where we attempted to
:10:36. > :10:41.regulate fixed odds betting terminals... You are acknowledging
:10:42. > :10:47.negative consequences, can you not just say this is a terrible mistake,
:10:48. > :10:51.as Tessa Jowell has done? I can and I sat on that bill although it did
:10:52. > :10:56.many good things to regulate the gambling industry. That way it went
:10:57. > :10:59.wrong was on fixed odds betting terminals. Let's also recognise that
:11:00. > :11:05.regulation that it created is no longer fit for purpose. Let me just
:11:06. > :11:11.explain. A piece of legislation was for gambling in the analogue age.
:11:12. > :11:14.And one decade later we have had an expression of new services... That
:11:15. > :11:18.was short-sighted then because there were warnings that the time, it came
:11:19. > :11:21.from the Conservatives in opposition, why did Gordon Brown and
:11:22. > :11:28.Tony Blair press ahead and ignore those warnings? The focus of that
:11:29. > :11:32.legislation, and the public discourse and probably on Newsnight
:11:33. > :11:36.as well was how you regulate large casinos, which paradoxically the
:11:37. > :11:41.most regulated parts of the gambling industry. They were talking about
:11:42. > :11:45.super casinos. What we failed to understand was the impact of these
:11:46. > :11:51.fixed odds betting terminals which are not regulated then. It wasn't
:11:52. > :11:54.just that, it was adverts on TV, sponsorship, you can't take your
:11:55. > :11:58.kids to a game without seeing gambling advertised to the very
:11:59. > :12:02.young. What is all that about. And not running away, we need to
:12:03. > :12:05.acknowledge cross-party that the current regulations we have
:12:06. > :12:23.regulating gambling are not fit for purpose. It
:12:24. > :12:26.is Britain's hidden crisis. There are an estimated 400,000 problem
:12:27. > :12:28.gamblers in Britain, that's 400,000 families destroyed, communities
:12:29. > :12:31.under pressure and I think we must act urgently to address these
:12:32. > :12:33.concerns because I don't want to be on Newsnight in years to come...
:12:34. > :12:36.Tom, we have just had an election, there was one line in the manifesto
:12:37. > :12:37.and you know gambling disproportionately affects the poor.
:12:38. > :12:39.You know that this is predatory capitalism written large. What
:12:40. > :12:45.happened to the Jeremy Corbyn idea of the many, not a few, they left
:12:46. > :12:50.behinds, this was predicted to be a problem and was ignored two months
:12:51. > :12:53.ago. It wasn't ignored, we have raised concerns familiars, be
:12:54. > :13:01.raising it in the chamber for five years. -- for many years. Would you
:13:02. > :13:05.roll back everything that happened in 2005? First you have to look at
:13:06. > :13:08.the stakes, how currently the government can only refute the
:13:09. > :13:13.sticks of machines in retail outlets. I think there was a case
:13:14. > :13:19.for looking at online sticks in the online space. Would adverts go?
:13:20. > :13:23.You've got to look at the gambling industry... You had ten years to
:13:24. > :13:28.look at this. You've been very concerned, you say, is now clear in
:13:29. > :13:33.your mind what must change? There needs to be massive reform, we have
:13:34. > :13:36.an industry that spends millions lobbying generalists uncivil
:13:37. > :13:40.servants on the message that they believe and responsible gambling and
:13:41. > :13:43.what we have seen today is irresponsible gambling. The industry
:13:44. > :13:48.must take responsibility yet the devil is in the detail. I won't make
:13:49. > :13:51.up policy on the hoof as an opposition Shadow minister on your
:13:52. > :13:55.show but I will say we won't run away from this and we will demand
:13:56. > :14:00.that the government take this hidden crisis seriously. We will work with
:14:01. > :14:04.them. We've got a very good minister in Tracy Crouch whose spoken out
:14:05. > :14:07.about regulating fixed odds betting terminals but has been muzzled by
:14:08. > :14:11.the Treasury. They've got a review going on at the moment, in October
:14:12. > :14:16.will support the government if they want to make radical changes. You
:14:17. > :14:20.are putting it on their plate. It's been a long summer, the first time
:14:21. > :14:25.we've heard from you, give us some clarification on some things, Kezia
:14:26. > :14:28.Dugdale has gone, Scottish Labour leader, I know there's a mix of
:14:29. > :14:33.reasons but broadly the party has become a harder place for her and
:14:34. > :14:37.for people like you. She has now shifted the balance on the NEC by
:14:38. > :14:42.leaving. Do you think they are trying to get rid of you?
:14:43. > :14:46.LAUGHTER There's always someone trying to get
:14:47. > :14:51.rid of you in politics! I don't actually see any move trying to
:14:52. > :14:54.remove me. But I see after the election as the party coming
:14:55. > :14:58.together, a recognition that under the leadership of Jeremy we did far
:14:59. > :15:04.better than anyone anticipated, probably more than Jeremy himself.
:15:05. > :15:08.How does that explain what Kezia did. I read a letter, she said it
:15:09. > :15:13.was about quality of life, the right time for her and the Scottish Labour
:15:14. > :15:18.Party to go. You have to respect that decision. I don't think there's
:15:19. > :15:21.a subtext, that is why she didn't do a press conference. Exit strategies
:15:22. > :15:25.are the hardest things in politics. You believe what he was. Last Ford,
:15:26. > :15:29.the Labour position on Brexit seems to have changed or soft and,
:15:30. > :15:35.whatever you want to call it. If tomorrow is a group cross-party MPs
:15:36. > :15:41.were to call for Britain to remain permanently in the customs union,
:15:42. > :15:46.post a transition period, would they have your support? That might be one
:15:47. > :15:51.outcome of the negotiations we would support but as the opposition... If
:15:52. > :15:55.MPs stood up tomorrow and say, we want the Labour Party, or we want
:15:56. > :15:59.Britain to commit to remaining permanently in the customs union,
:16:00. > :16:03.would that be something you would say, absolutely, I will stand
:16:04. > :16:08.behind, you have my support. It seems sensible but the sensible way
:16:09. > :16:12.to do this is to negotiate, if that is negotiated outcome, fine. It
:16:13. > :16:16.might be where we push on this but I think to tie the hands of
:16:17. > :16:21.negotiators now would be... Could you put a hand up and say we are the
:16:22. > :16:33.party of soft Brexit now? Could you say we understand the
:16:34. > :16:36.importance union, we will do this our we? Grid yes. He seen the
:16:37. > :16:38.statement from Keir Starmer. We think the importance of being in the
:16:39. > :16:41.customs union is important because this is the way you protect jobs and
:16:42. > :16:43.the economy and it might be a permanent outcome of the
:16:44. > :16:45.negotiations but we must see how they go. Tom Watson, thank you.
:16:46. > :16:48.Thank you for coming in. There are only so many ways you can
:16:49. > :16:51.say nothing has been agreed. The EU's Brexit negotiator has
:16:52. > :16:53.now tried most of them. In today's press conference
:16:54. > :16:56.Michel Barnier warned no decisive While David Davis called up the need
:16:57. > :17:00.for "flexibility and imagination". We were all left to imagine
:17:01. > :17:02.what that might mean. Testy exchanges and the lack of real
:17:03. > :17:05.momentum in talks so far raises the very real prospect of deadlock
:17:06. > :17:08.in the two rounds of talks That's when the EU 27 leaders meet
:17:09. > :17:14.to decide whether they can say To our political editor
:17:15. > :17:22.in a second, but first, Just listening to today's press
:17:23. > :17:35.conference, you'd be forgiven for thinking the UK and the EU 27's
:17:36. > :17:38.representatives hadn't This week we've had long
:17:39. > :17:46.and detailed discussions across multiple areas and I think
:17:47. > :17:49.it's fair to say we've seen We did not get any decisive progress
:17:50. > :17:58.on any of the principal subjects, even though, I want to say,
:17:59. > :18:02.even though, on the discussion we've had about Ireland,
:18:03. > :18:05.that discussion was fruitful. Well, there were a few
:18:06. > :18:12.things to note. First on the argument
:18:13. > :18:15.about what we owe, the EU 27 claims In July, the UK recognised
:18:16. > :18:22.that it has obligations But this week, the UK explained
:18:23. > :18:33.that those obligations will be limited to their last payment
:18:34. > :18:37.to the EU budget before departure. This matters because the agreed
:18:38. > :18:40.EU budget runs for 21 And it has day to day running costs
:18:41. > :18:50.predicated on our contributing. The Bruegel think tank estimates
:18:51. > :18:54.those costs could be 10-15 billion euros, and that is the hole the EU
:18:55. > :18:58.needs to fill. The commission has set
:18:59. > :19:01.out its position and we have a duty to our taxpayers to interrogate it
:19:02. > :19:10.rigorously. At this round we presented our legal
:19:11. > :19:16.analysis on on-budget issues, off-budget issues and on the EIB,
:19:17. > :19:21.the European Investment Bank. It's fair to say that
:19:22. > :19:24.across the piece we have Second, Michel Barnier also
:19:25. > :19:27.talked about red tape. It wants to adopt its own standards
:19:28. > :19:32.and regulations, but it also wants to have these standards recognised
:19:33. > :19:36.automatically in the EU. So, for example, we won't be allowed
:19:37. > :19:52.to sign a deal with the EU that lets us get rid of EU rules
:19:53. > :19:55.and has our exports treated Also, note how the EU
:19:56. > :20:09.is using its bureaucracy against us. They've set out a negotiating
:20:10. > :20:11.mandate for the EU 27 which has been agreed,
:20:12. > :20:14.and that makes it time consuming and difficult
:20:15. > :20:21.to offer us concessions. This mandate was fixed by us
:20:22. > :20:25.from the outset on day one by the 27 heads of state and government,
:20:26. > :20:27.meeting as they were in the European Council under
:20:28. > :20:32.the presidency of Donald Tusk. Naturally, we also work very closely
:20:33. > :20:36.with the European Parliament. Mr Davis, meanwhile,
:20:37. > :20:38.kept talking about our flexibility. The UK's approach is substantially
:20:39. > :20:40.more flexible and pragmatic It's about pragmatically
:20:41. > :20:47.driving the process. Taken together, the impression
:20:48. > :20:50.you get from today is, we are willing to bend
:20:51. > :20:52.and the EU isn't. The state of play right now is that
:20:53. > :21:00.both sides are taking different And the EU is holding
:21:01. > :21:04.a hard line on regulation. But the whole point of a negotiation
:21:05. > :21:15.is that positions can change. Nick Watt, our political editor,
:21:16. > :21:26.is with me now and has some That has a pretty scratchy day in
:21:27. > :21:30.Brussels. The UK hearing figures of 100 billion euros to pay to leave
:21:31. > :21:36.the EU and David Davis says you must be joking. I was told by quite a
:21:37. > :21:40.senior EU official number of months ago that they would settle for a
:21:41. > :21:43.figure of around 34 billion euros. What I have learnt is that in
:21:44. > :21:50.Whitehall they would be willing to look at a figure of around 30
:21:51. > :21:56.billion euros. One senior source said to me, if we talk seriously
:21:57. > :22:02.about that, then we aren't going to the races. How do you achieve that?
:22:03. > :22:07.-- then we are going to the races. You would use the transition period
:22:08. > :22:10.of two or three years after we leave the EU, use that transition period
:22:11. > :22:15.to settle the accounts. Essentially what would happen is the UK would
:22:16. > :22:20.continue to pay roughly the amount it is paying, around 10 billion per
:22:21. > :22:23.year, 30 billion over three years, allowing you to do the transition
:22:24. > :22:27.and it would settle the accounts. What that would do is solve the
:22:28. > :22:32.problem for the UK and also ensure the EU would not have a black hole
:22:33. > :22:36.in its accounts because the UK is responsible for 13% of the EU
:22:37. > :22:43.budget. Two big caveats on this idea. They were put in the public
:22:44. > :22:46.domain last week by Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for
:22:47. > :22:49.European reform. The first caveat is this is not policy in Whitehall but
:22:50. > :22:54.is being looked at very seriously. The second caveat, the UK will not
:22:55. > :22:57.accept any figure on the back of a cigarette packet, it has to be
:22:58. > :23:03.legally credible and binding. And that would end after the transition
:23:04. > :23:10.period, would it? Yes, and then you are saying, what will you do after
:23:11. > :23:13.transition period Ghosh Theresa May in at Lancaster house speech said
:23:14. > :23:19.there would be an entity fast payments but the UK would continue
:23:20. > :23:24.to contribute to programmes including Horizon 2020, an 80
:23:25. > :23:30.billion euros research fund to take science products to the market. The
:23:31. > :23:33.Galileo project, and EU global satellite navigation system. Iraq
:23:34. > :23:39.was, the student exchange programme. And how about this, the civil
:23:40. > :23:42.nuclear watchdog, and that's a bit of a problem because it's overseen
:23:43. > :23:45.by the ECJ, but they would use the mechanism of an arms length
:23:46. > :23:56.relationship with the ECJ to decree that up. -- to divvy that up.
:23:57. > :23:58.A UN committee has described the situation for disabled people
:23:59. > :24:01.in the UK as a "human catastrophe" and said it has more
:24:02. > :24:03.concerns about this country, due to funding cuts,
:24:04. > :24:05.than any other country in its ten year history.
:24:06. > :24:07.Theresia Degener has warned that the austerity measures
:24:08. > :24:10.are affecting half a million disabled people, each one losing
:24:11. > :24:13.The most acute concern she said was on limitations
:24:14. > :24:15.on independent living, but she also said Britain
:24:16. > :24:17.was failing to fulfil its commitment to allow inclusive education,
:24:18. > :24:21.and a growing number of disabled people were living in poverty.
:24:22. > :24:25.Joining me now, Tracy Lazard CEO, Inclusion London.
:24:26. > :24:34.You gave evidence to this report. Is it a fair assessment of what life is
:24:35. > :24:37.like for people in Britain? It's absolutely a fair assessment. The
:24:38. > :24:41.deaf and disabled people's organisations that contributed are
:24:42. > :24:45.very happy with the concluding observations because it does reflect
:24:46. > :24:51.disabled People's' experience. This is a damning verdict by the UN on
:24:52. > :24:58.the UK Government's failure to protect and uphold disabled People's
:24:59. > :25:02.rights. Is no other word for it. The UN disability committee has produced
:25:03. > :25:06.a 17 page document full of concluding observations and
:25:07. > :25:10.recommendations. The committee could only find two examples of positive
:25:11. > :25:18.government action. The rest of it is page after page of serious concerns.
:25:19. > :25:22.And those concerns are wholeheartedly shared by disabled
:25:23. > :25:26.people. The situation where we have the chair of the committee saying
:25:27. > :25:31.that the welfare reform and social care cuts are a human catastrophe
:25:32. > :25:35.for disabled people is shocking. But although it's shocking, it will not
:25:36. > :25:41.come as a surprise to disabled people, because it is our little
:25:42. > :25:44.experience. And yet the government, who we obviously invited on site,
:25:45. > :25:51.and they declined, says it does not reflect the evidence it gave to the
:25:52. > :25:54.UN and it fails to recognise, in the government's words, progress that
:25:55. > :25:59.has been made to empower disabled people in aspects of their lives. Do
:26:00. > :26:04.you see any of that progress or attempts? Not at all. I was there in
:26:05. > :26:07.Geneva and it was frankly embarrassing watching the government
:26:08. > :26:12.try and maintain a position of denial where they are saying that
:26:13. > :26:18.frankly, everything is fine, when there is a mountain of evidence now,
:26:19. > :26:22.and our own little experience that is saying, actually, something
:26:23. > :26:26.terribly wrong is happening. The government needs to use these
:26:27. > :26:31.concluding observations as a wake-up call and show a bit of humility. Is
:26:32. > :26:36.it about this government in a particular patch of austerity, or is
:26:37. > :26:43.it successive governments? What do you see as being at the root of it?
:26:44. > :26:47.Disabled peoples' situation is a combination of historic exclusion
:26:48. > :26:53.and discrimination. But the situation since austerity kicked in
:26:54. > :26:56.means that all the achievements of the disabled People's rights
:26:57. > :27:01.movement over the last 40 years are being systematically dismantled.
:27:02. > :27:06.That's the conclusion of the UN committee. And you can say that here
:27:07. > :27:10.tonight, and the UN can write it, but this is of course non-binding.
:27:11. > :27:14.The government has dismissed it because it thinks it's doing the
:27:15. > :27:18.things that are creating progress. Where will we be in 12 months, if
:27:19. > :27:23.the government thinks it doesn't have a problem and the UN can't
:27:24. > :27:29.force it to change, what happens? You remember social care back in the
:27:30. > :27:32.November budget. Social care wasn't even mentioned in that budget.
:27:33. > :27:38.Because the government was trying to pretend that everything is OK. And
:27:39. > :27:43.yet in May it's nearly toppled the government. And we believe this is
:27:44. > :27:48.the situation with disabled people. The government have consistently
:27:49. > :27:53.dismissed us. Showing disdain for disabled people and the evidence
:27:54. > :27:57.that points to something badly going wrong, and they can't carry on like
:27:58. > :27:59.that. They cannot carry on denying the problem that we have. Thank you
:28:00. > :28:02.for coming in. A slither of good news for those
:28:03. > :28:05.caught up in the Houston flood... The US Environment Protection Agency
:28:06. > :28:08.says it's found no major toxic materials emanating from a flooded
:28:09. > :28:11.chemical plant in Texas. A power failure had led
:28:12. > :28:13.to explosions and the release The concern over toxins is just one
:28:14. > :28:22.knock-on from the floods which have now killed more than 35
:28:23. > :28:24.in the State. Waters are now rising
:28:25. > :28:26.in neighbouring Louisiana and Mississippi where more residents
:28:27. > :28:28.are in peril. Gabriel Gatehouse has
:28:29. > :28:43.been in downtown Houston The floodwaters vanished as fast as
:28:44. > :28:48.they had come. In the heart of America's fourth-largest city, they
:28:49. > :28:53.are just beginning to contemplates the aftermath of an unprecedented
:28:54. > :28:58.storm. This sand here tells you the water was flowing right over this
:28:59. > :29:05.busy intersection here in downtown Houston. If you look over the edge
:29:06. > :29:13.of this bridge, you can see just how fast the water has fallen, but also
:29:14. > :29:18.how high it still is. I was here. I watched the water come all the way
:29:19. > :29:25.up there. What does it feel like to be back? Devastating. I'm just...
:29:26. > :29:28.You know the water is strong but you never really, really know how strong
:29:29. > :29:34.it is until you see what it does, the damage it can do. I'm seeing ice
:29:35. > :29:39.machines, refrigerators that take three or four people to move, and it
:29:40. > :29:43.looks like somebody stuck out their foot and flipped it like they were a
:29:44. > :29:49.human being. What did you do? We all left. There was nothing I could do.
:29:50. > :29:56.The power was already off in this area. Most of the power was off. I
:29:57. > :30:00.took the advice of my boss. There is only so much... I'm a man, I can't
:30:01. > :30:04.do more than that. This is in God's hands. Imagine the force required to
:30:05. > :30:07.move this thing from where ever it has come from. It's got food in it
:30:08. > :30:21.and everything. It's not often you get a chance to
:30:22. > :30:31.walk down the middle of the motorway. This is one of the main
:30:32. > :30:36.arteries into the city. Now dried riverbed that reveals debris,
:30:37. > :30:42.expected fishing ground and strange creatures of the deep. The alligator
:30:43. > :30:52.has been around for 100 million years or so. Parts of Huston are
:30:53. > :30:57.still under water but downtown, posses of volunteers have began
:30:58. > :31:03.cleaning up. This is like a once in 500 years flood. The water you can
:31:04. > :31:08.see behind us was way past our head, six feet or more than will we are
:31:09. > :31:13.now and we were not prepared for something like this. Being so close
:31:14. > :31:18.to home, you are used to seeing this on the TV, now it's half a mile down
:31:19. > :31:22.the street. Maybe it is the alligator that I wondered about
:31:23. > :31:27.climate change, it politically charged topic especially in Trump's
:31:28. > :31:30.America. I don't think you can attribute one weather event to
:31:31. > :31:34.climate change but I like to think of it in two ways, either it is
:31:35. > :31:38.happening or it is not and either we can do something about it and we
:31:39. > :31:42.can't. And I think if there's a chance it's happening we as the
:31:43. > :31:46.human race should do something to at least mitigate whatever it is we are
:31:47. > :32:02.contributing. That is my take on it. We can make a difference, for us to
:32:03. > :32:06.sit back and ignore it is dangerous. Most people are not really thinking
:32:07. > :32:08.about climate change now. They are worrying about their homes or
:32:09. > :32:11.businesses. Lacey this is a jazz club, Huston's greatest downtown
:32:12. > :32:13.jazz club, we have live music every Saturday nights that blows people
:32:14. > :32:16.away. So, you can see, we're trying to clean up and make it better, it's
:32:17. > :32:25.going to be better when we come back. Come on in, it's dark, but
:32:26. > :32:32.come on in. You can see how high the water got. All the way a particular.
:32:33. > :32:36.They say, get the stuff of the floor, I figured it would not come
:32:37. > :32:43.as high as the stage but it blew me away. It went way over the stage.
:32:44. > :32:47.Oh, man. Is your piano still working? I'm going to let it dry
:32:48. > :33:08.out. What was your reaction when you first came in here. Well, you know,
:33:09. > :33:15.I swe, but I am a grown ass man. So I had to go with the flow. An
:33:16. > :33:18.unfortunate choice of words. Texan grit and stoicism have been the
:33:19. > :33:23.hallmarks of the response to the storm. Tens of thousands of people
:33:24. > :33:27.have been made homeless but more are being evacuated every day, many have
:33:28. > :33:33.ended up in this conference centre having lost everything they owned.
:33:34. > :33:39.But for one young couple hurricane army has evoke memories of the storm
:33:40. > :33:44.12 years ago. I lost my whole immediate family in Katrina. I was
:33:45. > :33:51.the one who knew how to swim. You how old. I was nine, I was just
:33:52. > :33:56.making ten years old, when the water came, there wasn't too much I could
:33:57. > :34:02.do. I had to watch them drunk you know. And going through this it
:34:03. > :34:06.really was more drama to me -- had to watch them drown. So I'm just
:34:07. > :34:12.trying to get somewhere to stay, get my mind back because I still have
:34:13. > :34:17.nightmares and stuff. When the storm came, we were having these
:34:18. > :34:21.flashbacks of Katrina, we weren't thinking about grabbing this
:34:22. > :34:26.grubbing about. All we were thinking is putting our instincts to work and
:34:27. > :34:30.getting somewhere safe. They say that this storm was worse than
:34:31. > :34:43.Katrina. That's not true. Although a lot of people have lost their homes,
:34:44. > :34:48.and a few people passed... How they were treated and how we were treated
:34:49. > :34:53.now, how we got treated them, you understand what I mean, there's a
:34:54. > :34:57.big difference. In this storm they responded the perfect way that each
:34:58. > :35:02.person in the United States of anyone else should act towards their
:35:03. > :35:06.fellow person. Coming together like this, no problems, everybody getting
:35:07. > :35:13.treated like family and loved by everybody, that's why everything is
:35:14. > :35:19.so calm, so collected. 12 years ago it was the handling of the aftermath
:35:20. > :35:23.that turned a terrible natural disaster into one of the darker
:35:24. > :35:28.chapters in recent American history. So far it looks like the lessons of
:35:29. > :35:32.hurricane Katrina have been learned but Harvey has been a devastating
:35:33. > :35:42.storm and it is not over yet. Gabriel Gatehouse there in Houston
:35:43. > :35:44.for us. One of the big hits of the summer
:35:45. > :35:47.has been Nicole Krauss's long Two narratives run in parallel,
:35:48. > :35:50.both located around At the centre of one, a missing
:35:51. > :35:55.father, at the centre of another, Well, the novelist Nicole
:35:56. > :36:01.Krauss joins me now. I guess that every author is asked
:36:02. > :36:05.almost as a cliche how much of themselves is in their book. Another
:36:06. > :36:10.Margaret Attwood hates that question, she says, I read fiction,
:36:11. > :36:15.I am a novelist. But you almost seem to be inviting it. I think I am. I
:36:16. > :36:18.think part of that comes from the experience of everyday being a
:36:19. > :36:23.writer and understanding that when you are writing you are constantly
:36:24. > :36:30.expanding your experience of the world. So if I write a story about
:36:31. > :36:35.an old man, or if I set to the 19th century, I am amplifying and adding
:36:36. > :36:40.to my own narrative of my life. And then you have that experience and
:36:41. > :36:44.you go back to life again. It isn't that narrative doesn't exist, you
:36:45. > :36:49.see it all around you but you see the narrative is that people tell
:36:50. > :36:55.themselves are actually so fixed. We absolutely need coherence as the
:36:56. > :36:59.human mind needs it, so we construct these narratives of who we are and
:37:00. > :37:03.what has happened to us without taking into account that that is a
:37:04. > :37:08.construction. That memory in a way as a fictional tour. And yet we
:37:09. > :37:12.stick by them even when the become too narrow for us all if they are
:37:13. > :37:16.unhealthy. So the question for me was how do you begin with that
:37:17. > :37:20.narrative and open it or break it so that one has the opportunity for
:37:21. > :37:24.transformation? But when you are writing about a novelist called
:37:25. > :37:28.Nicole are you deciding if you will like are all if she will do things
:37:29. > :37:33.that will annoy you, when you are writing about personal
:37:34. > :37:37.transformation, does it change you? You are seizing an opportunity to be
:37:38. > :37:42.free in a way that maybe you can't do in your life. So if I were to,
:37:43. > :37:47.just like if I were to make up a character, I would be free to become
:37:48. > :37:51.him or her. If I say, here is Nicole, she looks a bit like me,
:37:52. > :37:56.doesn't cheat, and she is a writer like me and cheese from New York,
:37:57. > :38:07.like me, -- doesn't she, and cheers from New York, then the reader says,
:38:08. > :38:10.yes, I know you, and I, this Nicole and free to make all things happened
:38:11. > :38:12.to her. And the things in the book become quite surreal. They test the
:38:13. > :38:15.reader and the reader's believe so although the reader will begin by
:38:16. > :38:18.saying, this must be autobiographical, the things that
:38:19. > :38:21.happen to that Nicole are so extraordinary that in the end the
:38:22. > :38:26.reader has to question that and incorporate into her sense of me
:38:27. > :38:30.something much larger. I think I understand that! One of the
:38:31. > :38:34.questions you raise which intrigued me was this question of who art
:38:35. > :38:39.belongs to. Does art remain the possession of the artist, is it
:38:40. > :38:44.subject to the artist's wishes. It is a very living question for now
:38:45. > :38:49.because Terry Pratchett, who I am sure you are familiar with, demanded
:38:50. > :38:54.just yesterday that a hard drive containing I think ten of his
:38:55. > :38:57.incomplete novels be flattened by a steam roller to prevent anyone
:38:58. > :39:03.trying to finish them or publish them sort of, you know, produce them
:39:04. > :39:10.after his death. Do you have a sympathy with that? The art dying
:39:11. > :39:16.with the artist? I don't. That is a sense that since foreign to me. It
:39:17. > :39:19.doesn't so much that I care what happens to my art or to anyone
:39:20. > :39:29.thought after they die, it is just that I think, it's a kind of act of
:39:30. > :39:33.generosity, first to yourself, you open a space where you ask questions
:39:34. > :39:36.and you are able to be changed, when I think of that beautiful line of
:39:37. > :39:40.poetry that is, you must change your life and I think that is the
:39:41. > :39:46.imperative of art. You open that, as a writer, and it is a gift,
:39:47. > :39:49.innocence, to the reader. So never destroy, I do know, if Picasso
:39:50. > :39:55.thought stuffy thought was terrible is the duty to preserve it because
:39:56. > :40:00.of who he is? I don't know, just to think it belongs to the artist any
:40:01. > :40:04.more. When it is no longer in your studio, if you are a painter, or
:40:05. > :40:07.once you publish a book you let go of it. You've given it over to
:40:08. > :40:14.readers and they will make what they want a vet. That was yours and the
:40:15. > :40:18.writing will become hopefully theirs. Nicole Krauss, thank you.
:40:19. > :40:21.As you might have noticed, it's 20 years ago today
:40:22. > :40:33.31st August 1997 was a Sunday, but in the following week,
:40:34. > :40:37.As the nation remembers those events of two decades ago,
:40:38. > :40:40.we thought we'd leave you with how we covered the shocking
:40:41. > :40:44.Good evening, in this special programme we will be
:40:45. > :40:46.paying tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales.
:40:47. > :40:50.Remembering some of the events of an often troubled life,
:40:51. > :40:53.talking about the contribution she made through her public work,
:40:54. > :40:58.and about the extraordinary excitement her very presence
:40:59. > :41:00.aroused, not just here, but right around the world.
:41:01. > :41:03.I'm amazed that she's been brave enough to take me on!
:41:04. > :41:19.When I started my public life 12 years ago, I understood the media
:41:20. > :41:30.I realised then, their attention would inevitably focus on both our
:41:31. > :41:36.But I was not aware of how overwhelming that
:41:37. > :41:45.Let's go first to Kirsty Wark, at the Cafe Diana in Kensington.
:41:46. > :41:48.All the people here are ones who have laid flowers
:41:49. > :41:51.at Kensington Palace and have chosen to stay on because they feel
:41:52. > :41:56.Ten-page supplements being printed, going to press tonight
:41:57. > :42:00.I would urge everyone in the country who believe the press
:42:01. > :42:02.had some involvement, directly or indirectly
:42:03. > :42:13.I will always be glad that I knew the Princess,
:42:14. > :42:19.and will always think of her in very strong and positive terms.
:42:20. > :42:22.Everyone who can will support her two fine sons and help them
:42:23. > :42:32.to have the life and future she would want.
:42:33. > :42:35.She was undoubtedly one of the best ambassadors of Great Britain.
:42:36. > :42:37.The crowds that have flocked to Buckingham Palace
:42:38. > :42:45.In many ways the nation has mourned for the Princess's death
:42:46. > :42:47.in the way that individuals grieve for a family member.
:42:48. > :42:54.And she was very loved by everyone too.
:42:55. > :43:16.We leave you with these pictures of the scenes tonight
:43:17. > :43:17.Good evening. As we step into September one,