26/02/2018 Newsnight

Labour would seek to negotiate a

newcomer competences EU customs

unit, to make sure there are no

tariffs with Europe...

tariffs with Europe... -- new,

comprehensive EU customs unit.

Twenty months since the referendum,

and it's a Brexit milestone.

For the first time, we now

have the two main parties committed

to completely different outcomes.

Most people had never thought

about a customs union two years ago,

now the choice over whether we stay

with the EU in one,

is stretching partly loyalties.

We now know enough detail

about the party's positions,

the parliamentary arithmetic

and the fracture points to say we're

entering new territory.

What is certain is we're heading

for a parliamentary bustup.

Are Labour expecting

this could eventually

bring about a general election?

And will Tory

rebels really line up

with Jeremy Corbyn,

against a central plank

of their own government's policy?

Also tonight, should we be worried -

should China be worried -

that President Xi Jinping seems keen

on ruling indefinitely?

No matter, keep on... Biscuit...

Biscuit... Going down!

And: Performer Jess Thom

takes on Samuel Beckett,

and her own Tourette's Syndrome.

I'm often surprised by my ticks and

they can be, biscuit, funny, and

surreal, in a way only the

subconscious part of me can dream

of... Biscuit, biscuit!

Also this - believe it or not -

it's unseasonably warm

in Greenland, not that you can tell

by looking - but it's

very cold in Britian.

A meteorologist there explains why.

Hello.

Things you never thought you'd hear:

business lauding Jeremy Corbyn.

Yes, suddenly the CBI can see merit

in the man now he's firmly committed

himself to backing a significantly

softer form of Brexit.

It's one measure of just how game

changing his move could be -

potentially turning

politics upside down.

If that sounds like an exaggeration,

let me be clear, it may turn out not

to have any effect at all.

It is all going to hinge

on the next few weeks,

and whether Mr Corbyn can muster

a majority in favour

of his pro-customs union stance.

If he can, the whole Brexit

negotiation will change.

Now here's the thing -

it is Tory rebels who now really

decide whether we go for the softer

Brexit or not.

They have to decide whether to vote

with Jeremy Corbyn - or Theresa May.

And they will be less likely to go

with Mr Corbyn if they think it'll

make him prime minister.

We're in for some interesting times.

Nick Watt was in Coventry to watch

the Labour leader set

out his new approach.

It is a British icon which has

always had a special, if not always

welcome, place in Europe. And today,

Jeremy Corbyn accused the example of

the modern mini to demonstrate the

need for the UK to establish what he

called a new, compressive customs

system with the EU.

system with the EU. The Many, or at

least parts of it, crosses the

Channel three times before it rolls

off the production line, this

highlights the need to maintain what

Jeremy Corbyn described as a

frictionless, interwoven supply

chain. -- the Mini.

We've long

argued that we need a custom steel.

Labour would seek a new,

comprehensive customs union. To make

sure there are no tariffs. And to

avoid any need whatsoever for any

hardboard in Northern Ireland.

A

customs union with the EU would

allow the UK to participate in core

element of the customs union. --

hard board in Northern Ireland. This

would guarantee tariff free trading

with the EU. Minimal customs checks

with the EU. And levying the common

external tariff on goods from

outside the EU.

outside the EU. The Labour leader

addressed the central reason why

Theresa May is rejecting both a

customs union and the customs union,

that is the need for the UK to be

able to negotiate its own trade

deals beyond the EU. He would set,

as a condition for his proposed new

customs union, a definitive UK say

in future EU trade deals.

A new

customs arrangement would depend on

Britain being able to negotiate

agreement for new trade deals in our

national interest. Labour would not

countenance a deal that left Britain

as a passive recipient of rules

decided elsewhere by others, that

would mean ending up as a mere rule

take.

It was no mistake that Jeremy

Corbyn chose Coventry, which voted

leave. He wanted to show that he

intends to abide by the letter and

the spirit of Brexit by negotiating

a bespoke relationship with the EU.

Today's speech was the culmination

of painstaking negotiations within

the Shadow Cabinet. Jeremy Corbyn

has historically been wary of the

EU, which he criticised today for

embedding free-market orthodoxy. But

there are more enthusiastic

supporters of the EU in the Shadow

Cabinet, and they were delighted

that the Labour leader also talked

about forging a close relationship

with the single market. I spoke to

one ally of Jeremy Corbyn, who said

it is right he has taken time to

adapt his position. This person said

to me, why let the Blairite

agitators claimed credit for this?

And also, why not let the Tories

suffer a little on Brexit? One

veteran Labour Eurosceptic welcomed

Jeremy Corbyn's intervention in

light of his pledge to shape future

trade deals to help poorer

countries.

Jeremy knows that this is

a game changer for Europe. Not for

him. And he will set out his

position. And he will then show here

is somebody more sceptical than me

about the European Union, who has

tried his level best to get an

agreement off them. And what have

they done? I would have thought they

would tell him to run and jump, but

he will show the country that he was

serious in trying to negotiate and

he will get credit for that.

The

icon of the left cited an icon of

Britain's motoring history to inject

new movement into the Brexit

process. Theresa May will respond on

Friday, but her fragile hold over

Parliament means the Leader of the

Opposition may well have a role in

shaping the outcome.

In a moment we'll hear from one

of Labour's front bench,

and a leading Tory, but first I'm

joined by Nick Watt and our business

editor Helen Thomas.

We will reflect on this. I'm

interested in looking at whether

Labour's support for the customs

union membership means will it

happen and what it means for the

Government. It is possible to

visualise some dramatic consequences

of all of this. Let's go through

this. How do MPs get to exert a vote

on the customs union from this

point?

Three ways in which a customs

union could be put into law. Jeremy

Corbyn will table an amendment to

the trade bill, calling for a

customs union. Highly unlikely to

see that going through because I

don't envision Tory rebels voting

for that. The second option is this

cross-party amendment that would be

tabled by Anna Soubry for the Tories

and Chuka Umunna for Labour. We had

a precedent where the Tories

defeated the Government. That could

go through. The other option is the

separate EU withdrawal bill which is

currently in the House of Lords. You

will find that peers will try to

amend that bill to put in a customs

union and the thing for the

Government is, they would then have

to get the numbers in the Commons to

overturn that.

Let's go through the

maths. Three key numbers. The

Government's working majority with

the DUP. The number of Labour rebels

who will support the Government on

Brexit, who add to that majority.

Then you can calculate how many Tory

rebels then need to be to make

customs union happen. Let's go

through those.

At the risk of trying

to outbid you of all people on

numbers. The Government's effective

working majority with the help of

the DUP and House of Commons is 13.

It's widely assumed there are seven

Labour Brexit rebels, in other words

they will vote down the line with

the Government on Brexit, which

effectively gives the Government a

majority of 27.

You must 007.

That

means you then need 14 Tory rebels

to overturn that. Although when the

Government was defeated in December

on that Dominic grieve amendment on

a future vote he managed to muster

12 Conservative MPs.

Very finely

balanced. One of the techniques

we've heard that the Government may

adopt is to say, you are not just

voting on customs union, you are

voting on the future of the

Government. A confidence motion.

Does that work?

It is no to John

Major in 1993. He was in trouble on

the Maastricht Treaty. Crucial vote.

He tapped a no-confidence,

confidence motion that vote and he

saw it through. You do that now. The

only no-confidence vote you can have

is strictly prescribed by the fixed

term Parliament and the wording in

that motion has to be that this

house has no confidence in that...

And you cannot bond of it

altogether.

Exactly. You could do

yesterday John Major in 1995 when he

challenged his party and said, back

me or sack me. He resigned as

leader. You could see Theresa May

saying to the Conservative rebels,

thinking of backing perhaps the Anna

Soubry amendment, watch out, you

would enable Jeremy Corbyn, if you

do that I will trigger a contest.

It's very interesting, the politics.

But it was interesting to watch

business coming out in support...

Quite positive, wasn't it? The CBI

have welcomed this, called it a

real-world solution. Aerospace in

defence. Big industry body, they

also welcomed this. But it wasn't

universal. British Chambers of

commerce dismissed this as all

politics. There was an

acknowledgement that there is

reliance on big business with the

Labour Party feeling old. The CBI

had this morning about businesses

having their eyes wide open on

Labour's overall rhetoric on

renationalisation. Some of the

things Labour is asking for, about

clarifications to state aid,

competition balls, privatisation,

and so on, reflect domestic

policies.

Cherry picking from the EU

the things they wouldn't be able to

do but would like to do. In terms of

the practical differences. Customs

union versus no customs union.

Everybody says they will trade to be

as frictionless as possible. It is

about how you want to achieve that

and how realistic that is. The

Government wants to be able to

strike its own trade deals. It wants

to rely on managed by virgins.

In order to

-- it wants to rely on managed

divergences. Labour Party want to

make changes to state aid rules, and

so on. They talked about having a

say in trade deals in the national

interest, but they seem to be

talking about having a say in future

EU deals in terms of some kind of

block, not striking out on their

own. When it comes to regulation,

the position is quite interesting. I

spoke to one person to knight who

said they thought this at least left

the door open to staying in the

single market for goods only. --

tonight he said.

Half of the single

market.

And that solves your problem

in Ireland. The hit is what happens

to services crucial to the UK

economy and the city, of course.

In

two sentences, is it possible there

are people in the Government who

want the MPs to vote us into a

customs union because they want to

be in one?

That's the case. Some

remain ministers are hoping

Parliament will do the heavy

lifting. I spoke to somebody not 1

million miles away from a Labour

Cabinet minister who said we hope

that Parliament will do our work for

us.

Thanks.

We did ask the Government

if they wanted to come on tonight,

but they weren't

particularly interested.

But the two really

important groups are Labour

and the Tory rebels

and we've got them both

represented in the studio.

We're joined by Barry Gardiner,

the Shadow International Trade

Secretary, and the Conservative

MP, Sarah Wollaston.

Barry, some think this is just

politicking by the Labour, playing

games in Parliament, is it that or a

principled decision.

I think Helen

was right in singling out the words

of the CBI. We think this is

resolving the uncertainty that has

been hanging over business. People

say we need to know what is

happening with your supply chains

and any tariffs that may arise

between us and the other 27

countries and what we are trying to

do is bring some innovative thinking

here and say, look, this, if we were

in government, and we are not, we

accept that, but if we were, this is

how we would want to conduct the

negotiations.

You know that may come

to prevail, there may be a vote in

Parliament.

It would provide two

solutions, up with to the issue

businesses face and a good step

towards solving the Irish problem.

I'm interested, if let's support you

get the votes as you want in

Parliament, to insist on Britain

staying in a customs union, is it

your position that Theresa May can

stay in government? Stay as Prime

Minister to deliver the Brexit she

said she doesn't want to deliver?

Of

course I would love to see the

Government...

Of course you would

because you're in opposition. Is it

your position you don't say she has

to resign as a result of a defeat

upon that vote?

That is not in our

gift. We cannot force the sitting

Prime Minister to resign. The only

people that can do that as I

understand it, are the 1922

Committee or she herself could take

that decision, or it would have to

go to the vote that says, you know,

it is no confidence.

I want to be

clear, if she loses that vote, I

think Tory rebels maybe interested

in this, are you going to say, we

need an election, a confidence vote,

get out of office. It is time for

Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime

Minister. Or will you say, there we

are, now Theresa May just carry on

as you carry on most days?

I think

the real debate here will be in the

Conservative Party.

You're not going

to call for it. The Tory rebels

won't join you if they think it is

about getting Jeremy Corbyn in No

10. They will if it is a customs

union.

That is why it is important

to understand whatever we say the

day after any vote does not change

the facts on the ground that this is

not in our gift, it is in theirs.

That does sound like you're wooing

Tory rebels by trying to say it is

not about getting Theresa May out.

The people that I am interested in

here are not the Tory rebels. It is

actually the people out there in

jobs, that are depending on these

industries and need to know they're

going to have jobs in two years

time, three years time and that what

is the move that Jeremy Corbyn's

made is going facilitate.

You said

interesting, it is the phrase you

have used all day, it is a step

towards solving the problem of Irish

border. It does not solve it.

Britain has committed to something

in the joint report that is being

written up and we have signed up to

alignment of all relative...

Relevant regulations that would you

know be necessary for a border to be

open. Are you signed up to that?

Look, I think there is a really

difficult problem with the Irish

border and I think it's going to

involve compromise on both sides

from us and...

It's all been agreed,

Britain has signed a joint report.

It is the Government's agreement.

Would you renounce what they have

signed?

Look, don't try and bind us

by what an incompetent Prime

Minister has done to try and make

sure that she can square the circle

within her own cabinet. What are the

Europeans going to think, are you

going to say you're not standing by

the agreement that was signed. I can

dispute the question, Jeremy Corbyn

set out Labour's position, that we

want to honour the Good Friday

Agreement, we think it is

fundamental that we have the border

without infrastructure.

Everybody

says this. We have reached an

agreement that said there will be

alignment between the UK and the EU

on product regulation if it is

necessary for no border. And you are

in agreement with that, you're not

renouncing the agreement that

Britain made in December, so in

effect we are half in the single

market as a result of that aren't

we?

Actually, we are not the

Government. We are not conducting

these negotiations.

But it would be

interesting to know what you would

do if you were.

I think what you

have got to do is see how the whole

political situation evolves and with

that we will try and always as we

have done today, keep one step ahead

of Government, but do it in line

with the principles we set out that

we recognise the benefits of both

the single market and the customs

union.

You very rest sent about

spelling -- reticent about spelling

it out but we get the point. You

support a customs union. Why is

that.

A customs union, even a

partial one. It is about avoiding a

no deal walkaway Brexit. Not trying

to force Theresa May to resign. Of

course I don't want to see that. But

I do think it may help her, she will

be able to turn around to the 62 who

are threatening to force her to,

into a leadership contest, it would

enable her to explain the reality

there isn't Parliamentary majority

for a hard Brexit and she can go

back...

I have done my best.

It is

absolutely clear that the unintended

consequences are difficult. Given a

free vote, what would be the

majority nor a customs union? Huge

because many ministers and PPSs and

other people who are not able to

sign amendments who would very much

like to see us come to a customs

arrangement of some sort. I think

this will help.

What happened when

Theresa May says I'm treating this a

as confidence issue. Are you going

to walk through the lobby with

Jeremy Corbyn.

That is not

practical, because of the fixed term

Parliament Act and the people who

are trying to force her into some

kind of leadership challenge are the

62 who are on the other end of this

who actually...

She may try to pull

it and say formally there is no

thing that forces a confidence vote.

But I will resign and there will be

chaos if my party does not back me.

Back me or sack me.

Why would she do

that? The consequence ps would be

terrible. S would be terrible.

You

wouldn't believe here.

I think the

right thing would be to call those

of us who have concerns about talk

to us about the concerns and see if

we can find a way forward.

Why do

you think she has given so much. She

said she became Prime Minister to

those 62 to what, the ones who want

the hard Brexit do you think?

Well,

I don't know. I think the

Parliamentary arithmetic is there.

There is no majority in Parliament

or the Lords for a hard walkaway no

deal Brexit. There is going to have

to be a compromise. That addresses

the concerns and the fudge around

the Irish border and that is going

to need to address things like

regulatory alignment: We have to

look at all of this.

Is it your

position that we are going to have

to align a lot of our product

regulations with the EU.

And we have

been told there will be no sector by

sector deal. The idea there will be

a special arrangement to give state

aid is for the birds.

The

Conservative Party has the most

enormous adjustments to make in

their expectations.

The alternative

is what we must do is explain what

it means. So as chair of the health

and social care Committee I have

been listening to evidence around

the consequences for pharmaceuticals

for example, if we have no

regulatory alignment. You know we

are looking at the supply chains are

very complex for pharmaceuticals and

things like medical devices like

dialysis tubing that aren't

manufactured here. We are looking at

serious hold ups unless we have

some...

Theresa May will give a

speech on Friday, we think we know a

lot of it h, if she offers some

Morsel on a customs agreement, women

-- will that do?

I don't niend mind

what we call it. But it must address

whether we will see serious hold ups

at the border and will it address

the Northern Ireland issue. We need

to address them or explain what the

consequences would be. We need to

discuss what it means if we have a

hard Brexit.

Thank you very much.

Maybe you will be voting together

very soon.

When you look at the countries

with the longest serving leaders,

you may not always feel

they have the most enviable

political systems.

Equatorial Guinea, Kazahkstan,

Cambodia are all up there,

with leaders who've been

in power for decades.

And depending how you count it,

Paul Biya of Camaroon holds

the current record -

he's been either Prime

Minister or President

there since Harold Wilson

was in power here.

But it is to avoid the traps

of long-serving leaders losing touch

that so many countries have limits

on the number of terms

leaders can stay in power.

Now, in China, the ruling

Communist Party has

proposed a rule change that

would remove presidential

term limits and allow

President Xi Jinping

to extend his rule

there indefinitely.

Not everyone is keen on the change.

It's provoked a backlash on social

media and some critics have

expressed concerns that the move

is reminiscent of the last

Chinese leader to rule

without term limits -

Chairman Mao.

Well, I am joined now by author

and commentator Diane Wei Liang

and by Professor Steve Tsang

from the School of Oriental

and African Studies.

Firstly, is this going to happen do

you think?

Absolutely it will happen

and this is actually one of the

steps that's been planned over the

years. If you recall, Xi Jinping was

elected core leader of China not

long ago and he was given the

supreme power and now there is a

constitutional change. So it has

been going on and it has been not

only going on on the surface of the

power struggle, but behind the

doors, where Xi had managed to

depose a lot of people who were

potentially be able to challenge him

in power.

Let's ask why this is

happening. What do you think is

going on here. Is this man just a

megalomaniac?

Two reasons. One he is

doing it now because he can. He has

consolidated his position. He is in

a sweet into t and the resistance

within the party won't be able to

stop him. He liked the idea that

after 2023 he can still going on

formal state visits. That is the

only...

You think he is interested

in the trappings of...

That is the

only difference for him to stay on

as state president or not.

Hang on,

he is running the country isn't he?

He gets to more than just the fancy

banquets and the nice car?

Well, he

doesn't run the country as president

of China. He runs the country as

General Secretary of the Communist

Party of China. There is no term

limits to how many time he can serve

as General Secretary. He indicated

last October that he would stay on

as general Secretary.

President

itself is irrelevant, but it is the

trappings of power. Is that correct?

I don't believe that is the case.

Let's remember how the term limit

came it was put by Deng who was not

president. But he had power behind

the scene. It was after Mao's death

that the term limits were put in in

the power of China to get away with

what had been in Chinese history,

there has never been term limits for

communist leaders or Emperors. That

was his way to reform the system.

It

was a big reform. Do you believe in

term limits, you have to look around

the world and people who have been

power more than 12 years generally

have lost it.

Yes I agree. I think

ten years is as long as you should

be holding a top office in any

country in any government. I'm not

saying that Xi Jinping is doing the

right thing, I'm saying that he is

doing it because he thinks this is

the right thing for him to do for

China to Xi Jinping he is China.

Do

you think it is more than a bit

ominous. Is this a step back for the

idea that Chinese democracy would,

China as its economy develops would

liberalise and become more liberal.

The west had never been embraced by

China. Xi Jinping is what we call

the red princeling. His father was

one of marshals who founded

communist China and he grew up

thinking it was his destiny to rule

China. Perhaps he feels duty to the

country. But it has been in his

psyche regardless what happened to

his father in the cultural

revolution, where he was deposed by

Mao himself. So he grew up in such a

way and when he took power, I don't

believe he would end up in the sweet

spot by accident. It has been

carefully planned.

There was a

social media backlash in China

yesterday and people saying he is

trying to make it like North Korea

which is quite a stretch. In a sense

that is a good sign that the people

are willing to say who is this guy?

And it shows all those voices have

been harmonised. They have been shut

up. And that is how you create a

harmonious society. You harmonise.

You remove the comments section from

below the article.

I or you if the

article is not pitching the story in

the right tone, that story doesn't

get pitched at all.

We had better

leave it there, thank you.

Samuel Beckett's monologue "Not I"

is a notoriously challenging text.

The playwright's own stage

directions require that the only

thing visible on stage

is the actor's mouth

and this must be eight

feet off the ground.

The latest performer to take

the part of 'Mouth' is Jess Thom,

an English artist in her 30s who has

Tourette's Syndrome.

She - and her audience -

have to reckon with the verbal

and physical tics which are

a feature of her neurological

condition and Jess performs

while strapped into a wheelchair

suspended off the ground

by a purpose-built gantry.

She's been speaking to Stephen Smith

before "Not I" opens

at the Battersea Arts Centre

in London later this week.

Lovely.

Biscuit.

I'm going to do a light check.

Hedgehog.

Biscuit.

Cat.

Hedgehog.

Biscuit.

Hedgehog, biscuit, cat.

Hedgehog.

Out into this world,

this world tiny little thing before

its time.

What?

Girl, yes, tiny little

girl into this.

Sat into this before her time.

I had never read any

Beckett before or seen any

of his work performed.

Biscuit.

In fact, I had no idea who he was.

But I was instantly

drawn to it and it confused and

challenged me

and bored me and intrigued me.

And I really recognised

the character of mouth.

Mouth before it's time.

Got to taken time.

No love.

Bareback.

Speechless, all headache.

It was only when I started to read

it and read the words...

Come completely,

sometimes, some urge.

One twice a year, always winter

for some strange reason.

The long evenings,

hours of darkness and

a sudden urge to tell.

Certain lines in the play.

Biscuit.

That when I read them I had

a deep connection to.

Biscuit.

Lines like, "Whole body like gone".

Biscuit.

And, "Mouth on fire".

"Stream of words."

Biscuit.

They're not things that

I need to imagine.

Biscuit.

They're part of my

living experience,

biscuit, every day.

There are some bits that

made me laugh out loud and

if it hadn't been written years

before I was born, I might have been

tempted to call a lawyer.

Cat.

Biscuit.

Long hours of darkness.

Now this - quicker and quicker

the words to blame.

Flicker away like mad.

And somewhere else...

Beckett's "Not I" is a woman's

oblique and rambling

account of her life and its

sometimes traumatic experiences.

Not know knowing what,

what she was trying.

No matter keep on.

Biscuit.

In the end.

Biscuit, biscuit, biscuit

biscuit, biscuit, biscuit.

I'm often surprised by my tics

and they can certainly -

biscuit - because it's funny

and surreal in the way that the

conscious way of me

can only dream of.

Biscuit.

Hedgehog.

Cat.

When you get home, is this

area all bruised here?

Is that you, a tic,

or that is you controlling

your tics, or what is

it?

No, that's a tic.

That's just a motor tic.

I have had that tic for many years.

Biscuit.

When it first started,

the first few months, my

chest bruised terribly.

But then my body adapted

and I've got a nice

smooth lump there, but it doesn't

bruise at all any more.

I do wear padded gloves.

Biscuit.

They're mainly to stop

my knuckles getting

cracked and bloody.

It's funny that my chest

is quite strong and my

knuckles are the weakest link.

Cat.

Jess Thom sometimes

appears in the persona

of the Tourette's Hero.

Her production of

"Not I" is nothing if

not inclusive and will be

interpreted in British Sign Language

for deaf spectators.

There's a strange line to be walked

between being very familiar with it,

so it is almost like a dance

and also being loose enough with it

and listening carefully enough that

if a "biscuit" gets thrown

in or a hedgehog, I can

put that in as well.

Back in warning, facing the grass.

Biscuit.

Biscuit.

Biscuit.

Biscuit, biscuit, biscuit.

When I am performing

I feel mostly most of the

images take place in this area and

then the "biscuit" takes me away.

But you know...

That's the tic.

So that's what it is.

So it is very much,

you know that people in the

theatre like to say,

"Oh it's a different show

every night," but it

really is, isn't it?

Yes.

It is.

I got drawn to

performing, because of

some very difficult experiences that

I had accessing live performance,

particularly a show where

I was asked to move to a sound

booth at the interval,

because of the noises I was making,

despite having done lots

of preparation beforehand

and the performer and the theatre

knowing and introducing

me to the audience.

Despite all that planning,

I was still asked to move

and it made me feel like theatre

wasn't a space that I could occupy.

I promised myself that I -

biscuit, hedgehog -

would never set foot

in another theatre again.

Biscuit.

But thankfully that is not

a promise I kept.

Going down.

Level 4.

Biscuit.

Underwear and videos.

Hedgehog.

Lovely.

Landing.

Biscuit.

Biscuit.

More wheels than the moon landing.

Hedgehog.

Biscuit.

I can get out now.

Britain has a remarkably mild

climate for a country so far north.

When you look at Pyeongchang -

where the winter olympics have just

closed, or at other host cities

of past years - from Sochi,

to Salt Lake City to Sarajevo -

it is interesting to observe that

many of them are well

south of the UK.

Take another one for

example, Sapporo in Japan.

It is much closer to the equator

than the Isle of Wight is,

and yet Sapporo is so freezing that

it's famous for its amazing

annual snow festival.

You can see some

of the images here.

We are spared all that,

here because unlike Sapporo,

we have winds from the west coming

off a warm sea.

We are usually spared, at least.

But occasionally, like this

week, the wind flips round,

and we go full Siberia.

And there's a paradox here -

we get the cold weather, but up

north it is unseasonably warm.

On and on and in north-east

Greenland's weather stations. --

earlier spoke to Erik Pedersen. He

told us about the unusually warm

weather they are experiencing.

Its

unusual because normally it should

be 17.1 minus. It is a bit warmer

than normal.

That is warm. Well, it

isn't warm, but it is a big

difference between normality of

where you are. Does it matter if it

is much warmer where you are?

It's

difficult to move around with our

snowmobiles. It's like driving

around in a cream. But it's OK. We

have tried it before.

Connect the

warm weather you are having to the

cold weather we are having. Our

temperature isn't very different.

Which is ridiculous. What happening

here?

-- what is happening here? We

have a low point in the middle

have a low point in the middle sea.

It is turning that around. It means

all of the weather from Siberia is

going over Europe.

We are getting

the Siberian cold air and you are

getting the warm air. The whole

thing is going round the wrong way.

So when we hear about global

warming, it's people like you who

are out there in these more remote

parts measuring it and monitoring

it.

Yes. If you look at what's been

happening in the middle of

Greenland, you will get a diary from

there from many years back. You will

see we are on our way into a warmer

period. Our ice is sin. This year it

had broken up. You can see that the

ice is broken up. If we get the

north wind we have a big space with

open water we can sail in and hunt

from boats. It's really unusual.

Maybe you could give us some advice

on how to cope with the cold, now we

have your weather. How do you keep

warm when you go outside, for

example?

example?

I have good clothes. I have

long johns under them. I have my

working trousers insulated, so I

don't have to take lots of clothes.

If we have to go on a very long trip

on a snowmobile, we have two jackets

on. I have a very, very big Parker

jacket.

Not much, you just have to

dress very warmly, I guess. Thank

you. Lovely to talk to you. Thank

you for joining us.

You are welcome.

That's it for tonight.

We leave you with news that

Remainers were gifted a fresh

rendition of an old anthem

at the weekend by

musician Paul Weller.

On stage in Leeds, the former Jam

singer dedicated one of his most

famous classics specifically

to Old Etonian Jacob Rees Mogg,

though why he picked out poor Jacob

over fellow pupils David Cameron

or Boris Johnson he didn't explain.

With thanks to Casper Eatwell

on Youtube for capturing

the performance, no prizes

for guessing the song.

Goodnight.