:00:09. > :00:14.The obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it but we have to
:00:15. > :00:17.close down our government. We are building that wall.
:00:18. > :00:19.Trump's already threatened to shut down government
:00:20. > :00:23.Is he prepared to fall out with his own party -
:00:24. > :00:27.Tonight we're on the Arizona border looking at the divisions
:00:28. > :00:37.The battles being fought within the Republican Party, much like the
:00:38. > :00:44.tensions within the Trump White House, can be seen as a fight the
:00:45. > :00:47.globalists and the Nationalists. The wall has become a symbol of that.
:00:48. > :00:49.We have the most expensive childcare in the world.
:00:50. > :00:52.The Government's increasing the subsidy for working parents -
:00:53. > :00:53.even for those who are quite well off.
:00:54. > :00:56.But should it be targeting the very poorest families instead?
:00:57. > :00:59.We'll hear the case both for and against.
:01:00. > :01:06.The man who has most doggedly chronicled London is the writer
:01:07. > :01:09.He says hIs days of footslogging across
:01:10. > :01:12.the capital are at an end - Steve Smith takes him out
:01:13. > :01:23.Closed against the rest of England, London was now an island, open for
:01:24. > :01:30.business, only if your business is business.
:01:31. > :01:38.Texas needs levies - not walls - said one US
:01:39. > :01:45.In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, will the President have a change
:01:46. > :01:50.of heart over his plans for the border wall with Mexico,
:01:51. > :01:52.the ultimate soundbite of his election campaign?
:01:53. > :01:56.Trump released photo images today for the structure
:01:57. > :01:58.he wants to build and has vowed to shut down
:01:59. > :02:01.government - if need be - to get the funding for it
:02:02. > :02:04.But Trump's own legislators have other plans.
:02:05. > :02:09.Senior Republicans are resisting spending on the controversial
:02:10. > :02:11.wall when the money, they say, should be
:02:12. > :02:19.The wall was meant to separate America from Mexico.
:02:20. > :02:24.But the divide so far has been between the President
:02:25. > :02:28.Division that points to a gulf of differences on other issues
:02:29. > :02:31.between those who are - broadly - internationalist and those
:02:32. > :02:34.Gabriel Gatehouse has been to the site of the wall in Arizona
:02:35. > :02:53.Donald Trump is feuding with his own party.
:02:54. > :02:57.At odds over trade, health care, law and order, and over the
:02:58. > :03:09.We are building a wall on the southern border, which is
:03:10. > :03:13.We have to close down our government.
:03:14. > :03:22.That would be an awful decision that would backfire badly,
:03:23. > :03:24.not just on the President but all the Republicans
:03:25. > :03:42.Donald Trump said Mexico would pay for the wall but
:03:43. > :03:49.So, now the president needs tens of billions of dollars from Congress
:03:50. > :03:52.and he's likely to face opposition, not just from Democrats but from
:03:53. > :03:59.The battle is being fought within the Republican
:04:00. > :04:03.Party, much like the tensions inside the Trump White House
:04:04. > :04:05.can be seen as a fight between the globalists
:04:06. > :04:10.And the wall has become a symbol of that.
:04:11. > :04:16.It's become the totemic issue at the heart of this battle.
:04:17. > :04:21.Arizona, like America, is divided on the issue of the wall.
:04:22. > :04:23.But those who want it built see opposition to it
:04:24. > :04:26.as part of a wider pattern of obstruction of Donald Trump's
:04:27. > :04:31.The wall represents a symbol of trespass.
:04:32. > :04:34.It's a symbol of, don't come across here.
:04:35. > :04:37.We stand for who we are as Americans.
:04:38. > :04:44.By not having anything there, it's open transition.
:04:45. > :04:48.If I behaved like they're doing in Washington, DC,
:04:49. > :04:57.People have hope with this president.
:04:58. > :05:00.Donald Trump won Arizona in 2016 but by a far smaller
:05:01. > :05:04.margin than the Republican candidate in 2012.
:05:05. > :05:07.America has not made its peace with the fact of his
:05:08. > :05:20.presidency and that includes much of the Republican establishment.
:05:21. > :05:24.Arizona's two Republican senators, John McCain and Jeff
:05:25. > :05:27.Flake, have been some of the most outspoken critics of the president.
:05:28. > :05:31.Now, as we know, Donald Trump doesn't take criticism well and he's
:05:32. > :05:36.He's looking for candidates to challenge Jeff Flake,
:05:37. > :05:39.a senator from his own party, when his seat is up for re-election
:05:40. > :05:49.During a recent visit to Phoenix, the president met with Robert Graham
:05:50. > :05:57.to sound him out as a possible challenger.
:05:58. > :05:59.He's a former chair of the State Republican Party
:06:00. > :06:01.and ran the President's campaign in Arizona.
:06:02. > :06:03.Trump, he says, was elected to shake things up and
:06:04. > :06:08.So, disrupters generally get effective, positive
:06:09. > :06:19.change if they can ensure through the change.
:06:20. > :06:25.And so, right now, the politics as usual people, when he
:06:26. > :06:27.talks about draining The Swamp, he's disrupting the universe.
:06:28. > :06:29.He's not concerned with the optics in
:06:30. > :06:32.politics and what he says, he is concerned with the outcome.
:06:33. > :06:34.It's been a chaotic summer in the White House.
:06:35. > :06:37.Five senior staffers have resigned or been forced out in as many weeks.
:06:38. > :06:40.You can think it's chaos in there but I can tell you it's
:06:41. > :06:42.organised and intentional what they're doing.
:06:43. > :06:44.What he's doing is he's behaving like a CEO.
:06:45. > :06:46.When I see people like Reince Preibus go out,
:06:47. > :06:49.it doesn't make me think he's pushing an ally that was America
:06:50. > :06:52.first ally, I think that was somebody that really didn't
:06:53. > :06:54.have his best endgame in mind when he was in
:06:55. > :06:56.the White House and even before the White House,
:06:57. > :07:01.given discussions that I had with Prebus beforehand.
:07:02. > :07:03.In the Nationalists versus globalists
:07:04. > :07:06.narrative, one of the biggest rift is over trade.
:07:07. > :07:08.Donald Trump leans towards economic nationalism.
:07:09. > :07:12.He said he'll probably pull the US out of
:07:13. > :07:14.the North American Free Trade Agreement.
:07:15. > :07:19.Classical Republicans, including Arizona senator, Jeff
:07:20. > :07:27.I don't believe there's any more articulate champion
:07:28. > :07:30.of free trade and conservative values than Senator Flake.
:07:31. > :07:36.It's a very odd political strategy to me
:07:37. > :07:38.but it seems he's doing everything possible to settle scores within his
:07:39. > :07:42.own party, then expanding the playing field in terms of
:07:43. > :07:48.The president would most likely find it a lot easier to pass
:07:49. > :07:52.his agenda, whether it is health care or any other issue if he had
:07:53. > :07:58.some more votes to spare in the United States Senate.
:07:59. > :08:00.Donald Trump promised his voters he would make
:08:01. > :08:04.The implicit reference to a bygone era has
:08:05. > :08:08.sparked a battle for the soul of this country.
:08:09. > :08:11.It's a battle that is also being played out in the White
:08:12. > :08:13.House, among staffers in the Nationalists
:08:14. > :08:18.The Republican establishment is pinning its hopes on the latter to
:08:19. > :08:24.try to wrest back some control of the Administration.
:08:25. > :08:27.I think there is a battle going on in the White House
:08:28. > :08:31.in terms of control over how the president moves forward.
:08:32. > :08:33.I would like to see that the good people on
:08:34. > :08:38.I do believe the country is better served with
:08:39. > :08:41.them being in key positions and continuing to fight, to try to turn
:08:42. > :08:47.The drive from the Mexican border towards the state
:08:48. > :08:51.capital Phoenix takes you through the town of Tombstone.
:08:52. > :08:54.The gunfights of the old Wild West were a mixture
:08:55. > :09:00.Hard bitten local ranchers versus Northern newcomers, looking to
:09:01. > :09:09.We got talking to Mike, owner of the Doc Holliday saloon.
:09:10. > :09:12.Tombstone today is a theme park shadow of its once
:09:13. > :09:17.edgy self but still old habits die hard.
:09:18. > :09:26.A snarky remark from a neighbour sparks off some long simmering feud.
:09:27. > :09:32.Be a man and stand up to what you want to say.
:09:33. > :09:39.He was the one who walked by - take care
:09:40. > :09:43.He keeps running his mouth and I'm tired listening to it.
:09:44. > :09:47.No, it's about what's going on in the bar.
:09:48. > :09:49.And we are building a wall on the southern border
:09:50. > :09:54.It turns out Mike was at the rally in Phoenix last month,
:09:55. > :09:57.standing directly behind the president.
:09:58. > :10:02.Mike can tell us something very important about Donald Trump.
:10:03. > :10:06.Something his detractors often fail to understand.
:10:07. > :10:08.With his base, his popularity is pretty much
:10:09. > :10:15.It's like you're talking to your buddy.
:10:16. > :10:17.It's like you're talking to somebody you know.
:10:18. > :10:19.It's not like talking to a politician.
:10:20. > :10:27.He turned around a couple of times and he like puts his hands out
:10:28. > :10:37.And it just reminded me being at home with my uncles and stuff.
:10:38. > :10:40.And I agree with pretty much everything he said.
:10:41. > :10:47.In fact I agree with everything he said.
:10:48. > :10:52.And so the battle for the Republican Party continues.
:10:53. > :10:57.In the cities, the metropolitans are chipping away at
:10:58. > :11:13.Out here in the desert, they like their politics
:11:14. > :11:22.Joining me now is Priscilla Alvarez - Politics Editor of
:11:23. > :11:34.Nice of you to join us. Do you think that Donald Trump is having a change
:11:35. > :11:40.of heart about the wall? To some degree, yes. We are seeing reports
:11:41. > :11:43.that he is backtracking. White House officials are telling Republicans
:11:44. > :11:47.fear backtracking on the $1.6 billion they are asking for. He has
:11:48. > :11:52.threatened the Government shutdown if he does not get funding for the
:11:53. > :11:56.border wall. He has done that in the past. This is the second time the
:11:57. > :12:00.White House has seen difficulty in getting this through and would
:12:01. > :12:06.backtrack from the initial decision. This is presumably because Donald
:12:07. > :12:12.Trump's defining policies are nativist. He is looking quite
:12:13. > :12:17.isolated in the White House, isn't he? It goes further than that. The
:12:18. > :12:25.Republicans have a lot of items on their agenda. We are talking about
:12:26. > :12:31.raising the debt ceiling and relief for Harvey. They want to get the
:12:32. > :12:36.border wall funding through those that they do not see it as a
:12:37. > :12:40.possibility. Paul Ryan, when he was questioned about the threat posed by
:12:41. > :12:45.Trump, he also did not see it as something that should happen. The
:12:46. > :12:50.Government shutdown should not happen for border wall. Other agenda
:12:51. > :12:54.items are taking priority goes up to your point, Donald Trump has always
:12:55. > :12:59.surrounded herself with people who hold the nationalist agenda for the
:13:00. > :13:03.a lot of is used have to do with who he surrounds himself with. Whether
:13:04. > :13:09.we see a change in coming months as to be seen. It is fascinating. One
:13:10. > :13:13.point is, the people who are so strongly behind the wall are his
:13:14. > :13:23.supporters like the voices we heard in Arizona and beyond that. With
:13:24. > :13:26.they forgive him if you let that core policy go? It is interesting. I
:13:27. > :13:30.think his base is very gung ho about the wall. It is tangible and they
:13:31. > :13:36.want to see it go up. There are parts of the border that are already
:13:37. > :13:39.friends. They want to see happen. Some of the immigration restriction
:13:40. > :13:43.-ists see other things as more important. They want to see
:13:44. > :13:48.legislation to cut illegal immigration to the United States.
:13:49. > :13:52.They have other policies. Whether they reconcile some immigration
:13:53. > :13:56.restriction is to groups who want legislation passed and the base that
:13:57. > :14:02.once the border war built, that would be the interesting thing that
:14:03. > :14:05.will happen. -- wall. What is fascinating is the journey between
:14:06. > :14:10.Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Do you think he is more
:14:11. > :14:15.aligned with them now or do you think the splits that we are seeing,
:14:16. > :14:21.whether over immigration policies, the wall or spending are getting
:14:22. > :14:27.bigger? I think this month, September, will be a big month to
:14:28. > :14:33.answer that exact question. He has spent the summer months criticising
:14:34. > :14:36.leadership and Republican senators. He has blamed them for several
:14:37. > :14:43.things like health care. There have been reports that he has been in a
:14:44. > :14:48.feud, an ongoing feud. I think that now, as we look at tax reform and
:14:49. > :14:54.the budget, ill be the tell tale sign. Will he push for this funding?
:14:55. > :15:00.If he does so, will the Republicans follow him? Steve Bannon followed
:15:01. > :15:06.shortly after by the Hungarians advise as well last week. They have
:15:07. > :15:14.promised to make America great again from outside the White House. How
:15:15. > :15:17.does that work? How do you, in the lobby, explain that? Are they
:15:18. > :15:22.supporting Donald Trump or undermining the White House?
:15:23. > :15:31.David Simmonds -- Steve Bannon was editor at Breitbart and he is back
:15:32. > :15:35.there and it is likely he will push the same thing they are pushing
:15:36. > :15:42.which is pushing these agenda items and pushing for an Thai immigration
:15:43. > :15:49.laws and immigration is a big part of this. What that is going to do is
:15:50. > :15:53.continue. They will get louder. It is going to be Trump who has to face
:15:54. > :15:54.that and it will be his White House that decides how they react to it.
:15:55. > :15:59.Thank you very much. Thank you. Childcare in this country
:16:00. > :16:01.is just about the most A full-time nursery place costs -
:16:02. > :16:11.on average - more than ?150 So there should be plenty of parents
:16:12. > :16:15.of three and four year olds in England today celebrating
:16:16. > :16:18.the news that, from today, they're eligible for an extra 15
:16:19. > :16:20.hours of free childcare And that's on top of the 15
:16:21. > :16:24.hours they already get. But are we funding free
:16:25. > :16:26.childcare the right way? Is it time for a radical rethink
:16:27. > :16:38.on what free childcare is for? For years, all three and four year
:16:39. > :16:41.olds have been eligible for up to 15 That's regardless of
:16:42. > :16:46.whether their parents work, From now on, that will double to 30
:16:47. > :16:54.hours a week during term time. For the extra entitlement,
:16:55. > :17:00.both parents have to work and earn at least ?120 a week,
:17:01. > :17:03.although if either Mum or Dad earns more than ?100,000 a year,
:17:04. > :17:07.they no longer qualify. Some think the whole system
:17:08. > :17:09.pumps too much money They say it should be
:17:10. > :17:13.scrapped completely, with the money redirected
:17:14. > :17:19.to the poorest in society. This policy is unlikely to benefit
:17:20. > :17:21.the poorest children because either their parents don't
:17:22. > :17:24.work or they don't work long Instead, what we could find is that
:17:25. > :17:30.they're even more disadvantaged by the policy because nursery
:17:31. > :17:33.providers might have to prioritise those children who are eligible
:17:34. > :17:35.for the 30-hour entitlement and whose parents do earn more
:17:36. > :17:38.money, or they don't get enough funding from government
:17:39. > :17:40.and therefore don't have enough money to invest in high-quality,
:17:41. > :17:41.well-staffed provision There was a time when not only
:17:42. > :18:03.was childcare inaccessible to the poor, but a chimney sweep
:18:04. > :18:06.could take his three year old to work with him,
:18:07. > :18:11.as in this clip from 1933. Parents don't always know best,
:18:12. > :18:15.but it used to be taken for granted that they were the best people
:18:16. > :18:18.to bring up children. Why now, in an age of austerity,
:18:19. > :18:22.are we spending so much money having Well, schools often argue it's good
:18:23. > :18:26.for very young children to experience playing in groups,
:18:27. > :18:31.so perhaps a social benefit. It's also argued that people
:18:32. > :18:35.who want to go back to work, but couldn't afford
:18:36. > :18:39.to without the free places, Our research suggests
:18:40. > :18:51.that if anything at all, it will increase parental
:18:52. > :18:53.employment, but only slightly, and only
:18:54. > :18:55.for mothers who have no other One reason why this is the case
:18:56. > :18:59.is that when offered with free childcare,
:19:00. > :19:00.parents don't use Instead, they reduce the number
:19:01. > :19:04.of hours of childcare that they pay for, or the number of hours
:19:05. > :19:07.of informal childcare provided For many parents, it's
:19:08. > :19:14.a make-or-break issue. The cost of childcare -
:19:15. > :19:16.along with mortgages - the biggest outgoing
:19:17. > :19:18.in their family budget. But is this the right way to be
:19:19. > :19:21.going, is the money getting to the right people,
:19:22. > :19:26.is it benefiting the kids? Joining me now from Manchester
:19:27. > :19:29.is the Labour MP and former Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell,
:19:30. > :19:31.who is calling for just such And with me is David Simmonds,
:19:32. > :19:36.the Conservative Vice Chairman Lucy Powell, you would tear up
:19:37. > :19:53.the new system and start again, Well, not just the very poorest. I
:19:54. > :19:56.think what we have got to have with the early years is some really clear
:19:57. > :20:02.policy objectives and I think what your film showed as the myriad of
:20:03. > :20:07.schemes that we have are failing many objectives at the same time.
:20:08. > :20:11.There are two reasons why the state should invest in early years and
:20:12. > :20:17.childcare. One is to support working families to go back to work, to
:20:18. > :20:23.boost maternal employment rates. And the second is for social mobility
:20:24. > :20:25.reasons, to close and narrowed that developmental and educational gap
:20:26. > :20:33.that exists already by the age of five. So why would you not wanted to
:20:34. > :20:37.go as widely you could? Both reasons apply to nearly all families, right?
:20:38. > :20:44.Yes, they can do, but what we are seeing under this government is the
:20:45. > :20:47.skewing of that money now very much focused on working families. And
:20:48. > :20:52.better off working families, not even lower income working families.
:20:53. > :20:56.A report I published yesterday with the social market foundation, the
:20:57. > :21:00.analysis found that of the new money the Government is going to be
:21:01. > :21:06.spending over this Parliament on the early years, 75% of that, ?9
:21:07. > :21:09.billion, is going on the top half of earners and the most disadvantaged
:21:10. > :21:15.families will seem less than 3% of that money. You just cannot justify
:21:16. > :21:20.that. David, it is hard to argue against focusing on the poorest in
:21:21. > :21:23.society, is it? There would be many disappointed parents if the scheme
:21:24. > :21:27.being rolled out where to be scrapped, including me. When the
:21:28. > :21:30.childcare for low income families was first introduced in 2013, the
:21:31. > :21:34.Government gave a commitment that when it could afford to do it, it
:21:35. > :21:36.would expand that scheme so many more families including higher
:21:37. > :21:41.income families, could access it for the reasons outlined in your
:21:42. > :21:46.introduction, it is amongst the most expensive month dress childcare in
:21:47. > :21:49.the world. This is the fulfilment of a promise when childcare was
:21:50. > :21:55.introduced for lower income families that it would also be made available
:21:56. > :22:00.to others. So you are now, as an ethos, the party of working parents,
:22:01. > :22:04.of working mothers? Councils are involved at the front line of making
:22:05. > :22:09.sure that children get the best possible start in life. We know the
:22:10. > :22:13.money you spend... Go back to the question, that has been a difference
:22:14. > :22:15.between Labour and the Conservatives, the Conservatives
:22:16. > :22:19.were never scared to say, we think parents that stay at home might be
:22:20. > :22:23.raising their children best, and you have said that mums that stay at
:22:24. > :22:27.home are raising their children best, has that gone from your floss
:22:28. > :22:31.survey? I cannot speak for the Government on this but from the
:22:32. > :22:35.perspective of a Conservative council, we see the benefits to our
:22:36. > :22:38.local economy of making sure good quality childcare is available.
:22:39. > :22:43.There is lots of research over many years showing the impact that has.
:22:44. > :22:45.Whether we are looking at it philosophically or politically, it
:22:46. > :22:50.is right to make sure that is available to ask many people as
:22:51. > :22:54.possible. David says there will be a lot of middle-class families and
:22:55. > :22:58.this would disproportionately hit, I think, working women, who would say
:22:59. > :23:02.they cannot afford to go out any more to work. I think you have got
:23:03. > :23:06.to try and do both, but I think the Government is now almost entirely
:23:07. > :23:11.focusing on the better off working families. My eldest child is about
:23:12. > :23:15.to start school in September so I have had seven, eight years of
:23:16. > :23:20.spending a huge amount of money on nursery fees and I am well aware of
:23:21. > :23:25.those costs. So you would do something more? Should you not have
:23:26. > :23:31.been receiving any of that free childcare? Your own circumstances,
:23:32. > :23:34.you work hard as an MP and you would not have been able to do half of
:23:35. > :23:39.that, would you come if you had had children at home you could not
:23:40. > :23:42.afford to send out? I don't know your circumstances. I got relatively
:23:43. > :23:46.little help really from the state and yes, it is very difficult for
:23:47. > :23:50.families to manage those costs, but it did not affect whether I was at
:23:51. > :23:56.work or not and that is one of the policy objectives we have got to
:23:57. > :23:59.look at here. It is about whether rewards work fundamentally. Do you
:24:00. > :24:05.want to say, we are going to help you and help more families to have
:24:06. > :24:08.two parents going out to work, or is that not important? It is important,
:24:09. > :24:12.but it should not be the only policy objective and a fear over the coming
:24:13. > :24:17.years, that is now becoming principal policy objective. When we
:24:18. > :24:21.look at the developmental gaps at the age of five, they are dark. Over
:24:22. > :24:26.half of children from disadvantaged families are not at the expected
:24:27. > :24:31.level when they start school and the single biggest indicator of how well
:24:32. > :24:36.you do at GCSE is your attainment at the age of five. Children from more
:24:37. > :24:39.affluent families will have heard 30 million more words by the age of
:24:40. > :24:42.three compared to those from disadvantaged families. We cannot
:24:43. > :24:49.afford not to do something about it. David, would you agree that the
:24:50. > :24:54.earlier children have any kind of schooling, any kind of interactive
:24:55. > :24:58.nursery, the better off they will be? You could say, as Conservatives,
:24:59. > :25:04.we will give you the money, you can spend it on nursery care if you want
:25:05. > :25:08.or on children's shoes and clothes if you prefer. That was the
:25:09. > :25:13.old-style Tory policy. You now saying every child should get into
:25:14. > :25:17.education in whatever sense that is as early as possible? We deserve
:25:18. > :25:21.every child deserves the best start in life and the early years
:25:22. > :25:23.curriculum... That is a slightly different question, the best start
:25:24. > :25:28.in life could be whatever the parent thinks is the best start for them,
:25:29. > :25:32.you are pushing them down the line. The research is clear, it shows good
:25:33. > :25:36.early education is a fantastic indicator and if you get that right,
:25:37. > :25:39.children do better at primary school and secondary school and they go on
:25:40. > :25:43.to university and college. We know the money spent in this way is the
:25:44. > :25:46.most effective use of that money and that is why the Government is
:25:47. > :25:50.committed to this and why councils are supporting this. We have issues
:25:51. > :25:53.with the small print of the policy, it is clear it can be too complex
:25:54. > :25:58.and many nursery providers have valid concerns. But the Early Free
:25:59. > :26:03.curriculum and the access that offers and the balance it brings is
:26:04. > :26:07.undoubtedly the best way to spend the money. We are out of time, thank
:26:08. > :26:08.you very much. These are fractured times,
:26:09. > :26:10.when everything from Brexit to the Grenfell Tower tragedy seems
:26:11. > :26:13.to show up just how divided and complex our country,
:26:14. > :26:15.and capital city, can be. One man who has been doggedly
:26:16. > :26:18.chronicling London, and Londoners, at ground level is the writer
:26:19. > :26:22.Iain Sinclair, whose 2002 book 'London Orbital' had him walk
:26:23. > :26:27.the whole of the M25. After 40 years or so,
:26:28. > :26:32.he's announced that his days of slogging across the capital
:26:33. > :26:35.are at an end, with a final book called 'The Last London'
:26:36. > :26:37.and an accompanying exhibition at Gallery 46 in
:26:38. > :26:40.Whitechapel, East London. Before he hangs up his boots,
:26:41. > :26:43.Sinclair joined Stephen Smith for one final trip to discuss how
:26:44. > :26:48.the city has changed. Everything that I try and get
:26:49. > :26:55.is earned by long, grinding walks. After all that foot slogging,
:26:56. > :26:57.we thought we'd let # Come fly with me Let's
:26:58. > :27:11.fly, let's fly away #. The foot-sore
:27:12. > :27:13.chronicler of London, a day, so we thought we'd
:27:14. > :27:17.give him one last spin One thing he won't miss
:27:18. > :27:22.are Artisan coffee outlets. I hear these conversations
:27:23. > :27:26.in Hackney where people are discussing the making of coffee,
:27:27. > :27:30.as if it was now a chemical formula. And they can't actually sell it
:27:31. > :27:32.because they're too busy finessing their own genius
:27:33. > :27:35.in this field. And the moment when really it
:27:36. > :27:46.came for me is that, having walked around
:27:47. > :27:48.London all through one long night Bethnal Green, there's a sign
:27:49. > :27:52.pasted up in a window - 'No coffee kept on the
:27:53. > :27:53.premises overnight'. This is what builders used to put up
:27:54. > :27:58.on their vans about their tools, From his vantage point at street -
:27:59. > :28:02.or rather, bridge - level, Sinclair has perhaps picked
:28:03. > :28:05.up more of what's really That invisible cockpit of pollution
:28:06. > :28:17.rising from the loop of the M25, the orbital motorway,
:28:18. > :28:20.had closed against London was now an island,
:28:21. > :28:26.open for business, only if your London is a kind of
:28:27. > :28:37.gigantic cruise liner. It's doing its best to sail away
:28:38. > :28:40.from the rest of Britain, who is lost in another kind
:28:41. > :28:44.of world altogether. And much more related to a world
:28:45. > :28:49.of corporate cruise liners, with a third-world class slaving
:28:50. > :28:51.away to keep the thing running, One reason Sinclair is hanging
:28:52. > :28:57.up his boots, he says, is that the old cultural givens
:28:58. > :29:01.about London no longer obtain. There are cities within
:29:02. > :29:04.cities within cities, but they don't connect,
:29:05. > :29:08.unless there's some horror like Grenfell Tower,
:29:09. > :29:10.a sudden crematorium chimney erupts And we then fall into a thing
:29:11. > :29:19.of public mourning. It was horribly predictable,
:29:20. > :29:27.in lots of ways, in that the public There are sites that are almost
:29:28. > :29:30.like dumping grounds, that are hidden and pushed
:29:31. > :29:33.and starved of funds London is so severely
:29:34. > :29:36.fractured and atomised now, in a way that I've never seen
:29:37. > :29:39.before, that references As you move through London,
:29:40. > :29:45.you can't help noticing them. The numbers of people
:29:46. > :29:47.who are sleeping under bushes, Plenty of people do seem
:29:48. > :29:51.to manage not to notice. I mean, you document
:29:52. > :29:58.them in your books. You only kind of notice them
:29:59. > :30:01.if you're moving fairly For Sinclair, his fellow Londoners
:30:02. > :30:04.often miss what's around them, preoccupied with their bikes
:30:05. > :30:06.or smartphones, or both. Like the cyclist he
:30:07. > :30:08.rescued from a canal. "The bike weighs nothing
:30:09. > :30:13.when I pull it out. It must feel like riding
:30:14. > :30:18.on an idea, a line drawing. He seems like a decent chap,
:30:19. > :30:21.in shock to be grounded. He shakes his head
:30:22. > :30:23.to get the water out. The man is most concerned
:30:24. > :30:29.about his phone. He pats Lycra padding,
:30:30. > :30:32.with multiple pockets, The glinting wafer didn't
:30:33. > :30:39.appreciate the sudden baptism, Time for a souvenir of the writer's
:30:40. > :30:47.last circumnavigation I was mad enough to feel this
:30:48. > :31:00.personal connection with the city, as if the molecules were exchanged
:31:01. > :31:07.as you walked. It feels very odd to have come
:31:08. > :31:10.to the end of that system, which began in 1975,
:31:11. > :31:13.and I've been following one way Before we go, it's that time
:31:14. > :31:23.when we traditionally call upon you to feel nostalgic
:31:24. > :31:25.for the departure of something you haven't actually thought
:31:26. > :31:32.about for over a decade, This time, it's the Yellow Pages,
:31:33. > :31:36.which will cease publication - as a paper copy, at least -
:31:37. > :31:39.after more than 50 years. As much a metaphor for heft
:31:40. > :31:42.and anonymity as a phonebook, the Yellow Pages will perhaps be
:31:43. > :31:44.most fondly remembered for the hard journalistic
:31:45. > :31:46.sleuthing of one author - I don't suppose you have a copy
:31:47. > :31:53.of 'Fly Fishing', by JR Hartley? Never mind, there's
:31:54. > :32:17.still a few more to try. We don't just help with
:32:18. > :32:21.the nasty things in life, like a blocked drain,
:32:22. > :32:49.we're there for the nice things too. Good evening. As we step into the
:32:50. > :32:51.first weekend of September, the weather