Browse content similar to 06/11/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning. Nice to be with you. Andrew is abroad putting a film | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
together, and the Prime Minister's been abroad, trying to put the | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
Eurozone together, so we'll definitely be discussing that over | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
the next hour. Joining me today to review the Sunday newspapers - the | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
Labour peer, broadcaster, and, more recently, novelist, Joan Bakewell, | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
and the Conservative MP, Margot James. And in those newspapers, | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
there's lots of Greece. At the G20 summit in France, Mr Cameron and | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
company tried to work out how to stop the Greek crisis spreading, | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
but in the end the question here comes down to whether British | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
taxpayers should pay to bail out a currency we didn't join. The Chief | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, will be here to tell us. | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
He's been able to trumpet slightly improved growth figures, but if | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
Europe is on the cliff edge could it pull the British economy over | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
the edge? What's the plan, Dan? And we have a full deck of Alexanders | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
today. The turmoil in the Eurozone is something I'll also be asking | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander about. Labour's | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
been highly critical of that summit in Cannes, calling it the 'do | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
nothing' summit. I'll also be talking to him about the Middle | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
East. With tensions ratcheting up between Israel and Iran, what does | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
he think Britain should be saying to the government of Benjamin | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
Netanyahu? Mr Netanyahu's Deputy, Ehud Barak, has been in London | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
arguing for greater sanctions against Iran. Mr Barak is also the | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
country's Defence Minister and I've been asking him how Israel would go, | :01:59. | :02:05. | |
militarily, in its bid to restrain its Iranian neighbour. And we have | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
also got a man who is the biggest film star in the world by anyone's | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
reckoning right now: Johnny Depp. He will be talking to me about rum, | :02:13. | :02:21. | |
pirates, lowlifes, oh, and journalism too. I think the | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
journalist can be the hero, it just depends on the road they take. | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
often do you hear that these days? All that coming up after the news | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
with Sally Nugent. Good morning. Avon and Somerset | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
police say no more bodies have been found overnight at the scene of the | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
M5 crash near Taunton. Seven people were confirmed dead yesterday and | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
more than 50 are injured. Investigations are underway to find | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
out what caused the multiple pile- up, one of Britain's worst motorway | :02:45. | :02:53. | |
accidents. The police put up floodlight to allow them to | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
continue their investigation into the night. They work to recover | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
bodies trapped in the burnt-out vehicles bound to piece together | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
what caused this horrific crash. Eyewitnesses described flames of up | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
to 30 feet as fire swept through the many vehicles involved. Members | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
of the public and the emergency services desperately tried to help | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
as cars were engulfed by the intense heat. We clambered out the | :03:21. | :03:29. | |
car, and the Lady was screaming "take my baby" So I carried the | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
baby over the central reservation, where a bit of debris zoomed over | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
my head. From the air, the full scale of the crash emerged. | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
Vehicles had melted into the ground, wreckage was strewn across the | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
carriageway. As the debris is now being removed, questions are being | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
asked how this could have happened. The weather was very bad. The | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
people who have driven down that road will know that it is often a | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
difficult stretch of road but we have to let the police get on with | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
their investigation. This morning, the M5 remains closed. The shock | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
waves of what could be the worst accident of a generation are still | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
reverberating. Avon and Somerset Police have set | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
up a helpline for people concerned about relatives. The number is 0800 | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
092 0410. Anti-capitalist protesters, camped | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
outside St Paul's cathedral, have received a boost from the Labour | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
leader Ed Miliband. Writing in the Observer newspaper, he warned that | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
"only the most reckless" would ignore their message. He described | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
the protest as a "wake up call" for politicians, and said it reflects | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
frustration in mainstream British society about the way the country | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
is being run. The Greek President will meet the | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
country's main opposition leader today - to discuss efforts to form | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
a national unity government. Yesterday the President held talks | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
with the Prime Minister George Papandreou. Opposition parties are | :04:59. | :05:01. | |
calling for early elections, but Mr Papandreou says that would de-rail | :05:02. | :05:04. | |
efforts to solve Greece's financial crisis and stop it spreading across | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
the Eurozone. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
are to make Kensington Palace their permanent London home. In two | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
years' time they'll move from temporary accommodation at the | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
palace to a family-sized apartment which was used by the late Princess | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
Margaret. Prince William grew up at Kensington Palace and his mother, | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
Diana, Princess of Wales also lived there. That's all from me, I'll be | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
back just before ten with the headlines. Jeremy. | :05:32. | :05:40. | |
Thank you. On the front pages today, let's have a look at what we have | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
got. The Sunday Times is continuing with the story about the border | :05:44. | :05:51. | |
unit, being hit by a new bribes scandal, they say. A lot on the | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
crash here on the M5, and questions about whether a nearby fireworks | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
display at a rugby club put smoke across the road and caused it. Just | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
another angle on the Eurozone crisis, this is the Silvio | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
Berlusconi angle. And with me to review the papers are Joan Bakewell, | :06:10. | :06:20. | |
:06:20. | :06:21. | ||
and Margot James. Welcome to you both. What have you got? Margot, | :06:21. | :06:28. | |
you are going to go on the Eurozone crisis. David Smith, Economics | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
editor on the Sunday Times, has a good take on it. He is quite | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
pessimistic, saying the crisis will run and run, and he covers it from | :06:38. | :06:47. | |
China actually. He has been in China whilst the summit has been on, | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
and he angles it about the Chinese writer growth and how we can't | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
really expect them, when their workers are paid more or less the | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
same on benefits, to come to the Eurozone's rescue, but he does say | :07:00. | :07:09. | |
their economy is growing and old trade with China grew 15%, our | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
exports to China, and we should be doing more of that. It would be | :07:13. | :07:19. | |
good if the government had enough time to focus on exports and | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
recovery opportunities. There is a limit to what we can do. Will the | :07:24. | :07:32. | |
idea be that China comes in and bales us all out? This reporter | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
doesn't think so. That was Nicolas Sarkozy's Dream, but they have not | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
been very forthcoming. Also in the Sunday Times, leading on the | :07:42. | :07:49. | |
business page, RBS splashes out 500 million on bonuses for bankers. Are | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
they not listening? What does it take? They are now proposing a | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
total package worth more than �1 million each in a new bonus screen | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
for bankers. I think we get more calls to my Radio 2 show about | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
bankers than any other subject. also read here that project Merlin, | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
a feeble agreement with the bankers to limit extravagance, will not be | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
operating next year. On the subject of that, you went down to a tent | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
city, a full page of you down at St Paul's, could you tell us who was | :08:26. | :08:33. | |
in the right or the wrong? We are not anywhere near that, we are | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
facing a groundswell of feeling that the system is not working. How | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
could we quarrel with that? It clearly isn't. Peter Hitchens in | :08:42. | :08:51. | |
the Mail, my old sparring partner, has a go at the protesters - "What | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
a festival of drivel" and he goes into rejoiced in his usual language | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
that they don't have any idea. I spoke to a barrister, to graduates, | :09:01. | :09:10. | |
to a group of Muslims who are talking about how Islam funds money. | :09:10. | :09:15. | |
They have unfocused demands, they would like the system reconfigured, | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
but who wouldn't? The shutting of the doors was the big moment, was | :09:19. | :09:25. | |
that the same for you, that went St Paul's so the doors are shut - was | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
that the big problem? We have a right to protest, which we should | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
jealously guard, but I don't feel that right is necessarily the same | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
as the right of occupying public land outside one of our greatest | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
national treasures indefinitely. I personally don't think it does. | :09:45. | :09:51. | |
That's not to say the people there don't have a point, a agree they do | :09:51. | :09:59. | |
have a point, a point which is felt by many millions of people, but | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
should they be permitted to stay there indefinitely? I personally | :10:02. | :10:09. | |
don't think so. The Church Mr point here because they got their PR | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
wrong and started slamming them and abusing them, and then realised | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
that to shut the doors up of a Christian church in the face of the | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
poor and people like this was a really bad move. We could talk | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
about it for a long time. Let's have another story. This tragic car | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
crash on the M5, absolutely shocking. We all use the motorways | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
all the time, and one is a split- second away from disaster and | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
tragedy. There are so many potential causes but we should | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
probably wait until the investigation is complete. One | :10:47. | :10:53. | |
thing that seems to jump out when one of these major tragedies occur | :10:53. | :10:58. | |
is Fire and oil spills from these articulated lorries. Perhaps they | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
should be better protection of their fuel tanks. Are you concerned | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
it has taken the whole idea of 80 mph as the speed limit completely | :11:08. | :11:14. | |
off the table? There was no doubt that if it had been 80 it would | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
have been the worst accident. know that? We don't know how fast | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
people were driving. I don't think people were driving that fast | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
anyway, from the reports I have heard from the people interviewed | :11:27. | :11:33. | |
who survived. There is a government plan to bring it up to 80. I'm not | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
sure it was the speed causing the problem, I think it was the fog, | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
but we don't know yet. Rather than jump to conclusions that people | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
were driving too fast, we should wait until the inspection is | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
delivered. I just wondered whether the government planned to put it up | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
to 80 will fall by the wayside now. It has already been questioned. The | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
road safety campaigners have questioned it, but if people were | :12:01. | :12:10. | |
not driving fast, surely the speed limit is not really relevant. | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
Labour peers are fighting in the House of Lords to try to inhibit | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
the damage their health and social care bill will do to the NHS. He | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
was a story in the Observer about plans already in place and taking | :12:23. | :12:30. | |
operation to move the services for the NHS to private operators, a | :12:30. | :12:36. | |
conglomerate including McKinsey, KPMG, and Price Waterhouse Coopers | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
sealed a contract with 31 groups of GPs looking for advice on how to | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
manage budgets on a system being introduced by the Andrew Lansley | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
reforms. This is the slow intrusion of privatisation into the NHS. | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
just thinking, we have the perfect foil to you here, because that is | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
your background - private health. don't think this is anything new. | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
Under the last government, there were private contractors coming in, | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
Independent treatment centres, and they made a lot of improvement. | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
am not saying that, but the idea that German companies, foreign | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
international firms, they are lining up to take contracts to run | :13:19. | :13:27. | |
the NHS and to compete. I have read the piece, I think it is not quite | :13:27. | :13:35. | |
as extreme as you point out. I am talking to the GPs about having | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
help with the commissioning process. There is a strict budget and it is | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
less than what the primary care trusts spend and surely we should | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
be advocating better value from the taxpayer. I can see this one could | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
take-off as well! Let's go to the next story. This is something we | :13:54. | :14:02. | |
will agree on. Peter Hitchens writing in the Mail, this is about | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
the dreadful desecration of the war memorials by the ghastly metal | :14:06. | :14:14. | |
thieves, going around destroying war memorials. It seems to be a big | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
thing this year particularly, the price of metal has gone through the | :14:17. | :14:25. | |
roof. That's right, and people are stealing from railway lines, nylons, | :14:25. | :14:31. | |
it is endemic. But this is a new level, isn't it? It is, and the | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
British Legion have a campaign starting this week to protect war | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
memorials, which obviously we will be throwing our weight behind. We | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
have got to stop the ease with which illegal metal is sold at | :14:44. | :14:50. | |
scrapyards for cash. That is the key thing the government can do. | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
totally agree with that. Just anecdotally, I have never worn a | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
puppy before. Just over the years, tradition and resistance to doing | :14:59. | :15:05. | |
the same as everyone else, but this year, because of this story, I have | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
resolved to wear one because I am so outraged that those memorials, | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
you know, lest we forget many of them say, and we appear to have | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
forgotten. And the scrap price is virtually nothing. People can just | :15:20. | :15:28. | |
get cash. They can come away with 40 quid, 100 quid, and no record of | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
the transaction so you can't trace it. Anything else before we let you | :15:32. | :15:42. | |
:15:42. | :15:47. | ||
go? Do you want a bit of silliness? I have lost it now. It was a German | :15:47. | :15:53. | |
diplomat who had had an affair with a Russian spy and he is not allowed | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
to show his face but they do have him dressed as a banana. The idea | :15:58. | :16:08. | |
:16:08. | :16:08. | ||
that you can identify this man from his knees! I know this story, it is | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
in the Mail. He has a cover over his eyes. Here it is, I have got it. | :16:13. | :16:20. | |
We have got to show this picture. We can't name the Banana man who | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
had an affair with the Russian spy. The idea that you put it there and | :16:26. | :16:36. | |
:16:36. | :16:47. | ||
nobody knows who it is. Your novel coming out, "she is leaving home". | :16:47. | :16:57. | |
:16:57. | :16:57. | ||
It stayed quite dry for Bonfire There was certainly some frost | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
around this morning with temperatures in the countryside | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
down as low as minus 5. Most have got some sunshine to look forward | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
to for the rest of the day, thanks to this area of high pressure | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
building across the country. We have seen low cloud filling in | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
across the North Sea and that is coming in on a northerly breeze. It | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
is not entirely clear cut which side of London will get the cloud | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
or the sunshine, but we should see some sunshine spreading in through | :17:29. | :17:36. | |
the day. Most will have some sunshine. As we go through this | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
evening and overnight, thicker cloud will spread in, and it will | :17:40. | :17:47. | |
seep in across southern and central England as well. A large swathe of | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
the country will have Clear and starry skies with a widespread | :17:51. | :17:56. | |
frost to come. It will be colder this coming night. The week ahead, | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
that cloud I was talking about in the North Sea will become more | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
extensive and that will have an impact on the temperatures. That | :18:05. | :18:13. | |
cloud becomes more extensive across central and eastern England. Not | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should have the best of the | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
sunshine. A much more great day to come, but by Tuesday the cloud will | :18:22. | :18:32. | |
have spread to Scotland and By any standards, Ehud Barak's had | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
an astonishing career serving his country. Israel's Prime Minister | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
during the Camp David negotiations with Yasser Arafat now serves as | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
both Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister in the current. | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
Before entering politics, he was one of the most decorated soldiers | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
carrying out the military ops that are now the stuff of legend amongst | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
many. A man of peace or war? When I met him, I asked why his | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
Government's authorised the building of more settlements, | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
despite international criticism? are building in Jerusalem. It's our | :19:07. | :19:14. | |
capital. We are building in the Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem. | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
You have to build. We will not accept anyone having the right to | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
intervene as this. That is seen as speaking up isn't it, as | :19:23. | :19:30. | |
acceleration? No, it's about numbers and pace. Number per unit. | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
When Olmert was Prime Minister, we were building at twice the rate we | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
are building now. When I was Prime Minister ten years ago, we were | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
building four times at the rate we are building now. But again, it's | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
about the symbolism. Why not just stop for a while? The other side | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
see this as getting in the way? Don't they? No, no, the other side | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
plays with it as a kind of manipulation to put certain | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
conditions into the dialogue. The reason that the Olmert and my | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
government could do it was because somehow we managed to convince the | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
rest of the world that we are genuine and now we are facing more | :20:12. | :20:20. | |
sophisticated Palestinian groups which fills the Zeitgeist behind | :20:20. | :20:29. | |
them. They try to play with these issues of settlements. It's really | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
shouldn't matter. You said something very interesting there, | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
you said you are dealing with a sophisticated Palestinian | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
leadership now and they're very Zeitgeisty and I couldn't have put | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
it better myself in these questions that they're getting world opinion | :20:42. | :20:52. | |
behind them, aren't they? Yes, yes. We have to work to probably allow | :20:52. | :20:57. | |
our spokesman to talk more open to others, but it wants all of the | :20:57. | :21:03. | |
issues... Are you frustrated? little bit. Effectively we cannot | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
convince our friend. To be clear, you accept that it strengthens | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
Hamas if you go on building the settlements or not? I don't think | :21:12. | :21:19. | |
it relates to Hamas. Hamas is basically challenging maz. They're | :21:19. | :21:25. | |
turning to terror -- Abu Mazen. They're shooting at us rockets, you | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
know, we get dozens in our southern part of the country. One man, a | :21:29. | :21:34. | |
father of four, was killed. That's something that cannot go together | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
with peace-making. Let me change the subject. We challenge for Abu | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
has tonne take over the role of his own political system. I want to | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
move on because we don't have much time. I want to talk to you about | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
Iran as well. If we had the Israeli newspapers here and opened them up, | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
we'd see that everyone in Israel is now thinking that you are getting | :21:53. | :22:01. | |
ready to attack Iran. Is that what people are saying? Believe me, I | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
don't try to underestimate the Iranian threat, it's a major threat | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
probably of the region or the whole world. A nuclear Iran. They're | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
determined to reach nuclear capability kablt. It can open a | :22:14. | :22:20. | |
major arms swathe in the Middle East. It can change the | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
effectiveness of their supporting and sponsoring of terror all around | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
the region. Which is why the Israeli papers are saying, you are | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
ready to strike? I have been saying it for years now and they'll | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
intimidate neighbours in an effect f way, especially when the | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
Americans and others move out of the region. I hope that the IAEA | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
report next week will tell the whole world a little bit more | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
explicitly what they are doing. This is the narrative that's coming | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
together. It's the missile test, the long range bombing plan, the | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
IAEA report which you mentioned, so they may say that Iran is getting | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
close to a bomb. We strongly believe that sanctions are | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
effective or could be effective if they are little and powerful enough. | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
The diplomacy could work if enough unity could be synchronised between | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
the major players, but that no option should be removed from the | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
table. You have an amazing military record and for those who don't know | :23:17. | :23:24. | |
it. Correct me if I am wrong, 1972 led the mission to free hostages on | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
a Sabina flight, 1973, you dressed as a woman to assassinate members | :23:29. | :23:35. | |
of the PLO. You are nodding there. It was a hobby, yes. A seen in the | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
film Munich reflected that. An operation in 1976, you helped with | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
Black September. I'm thinking you are not indo diplomacy here, I | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
would like to attack Iran? No, I was also Foreign Affairs Minister | :23:49. | :23:55. | |
of Israel and the Prime Minister in the last 15 years. I didn't shoot a | :23:55. | :24:03. | |
single shot at anyone and I played the diplomatic saloons and TV | :24:03. | :24:12. | |
interviews as well, you know. It's too serious. Israel is dead. A | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
person cannot choose its parents and a person cannot choose its | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
neighbours. We are living in a tough neighbourhood, no Mercy for | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
the weak, no second opportunity for those who cannot defend themselves. | :24:24. | :24:29. | |
We'd love to have the Canadians as our neighbours, but unfortunately | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
the Americans. It's a tough neighbourhood. We have to be strong. | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
If you suddenly attack Iran next week, I want to make sure we ask | :24:38. | :24:40. | |
every question, do you have British support for flying over them and | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
dropping a bomb on their nuclear reactors? I'm not going to even | :24:45. | :24:54. | |
respond to this. May I say, don't worry about your next week | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
programme but it's the Iranian challenge which is serious. This is | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
something that should be prevented from happening. We have to stay | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
there. We are strong. We are the strongest country for thousands of | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
miles around Jerusalem. We intend to remain the strongest country | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
around. But we are at the same time peaceful and ready to Makepeace at | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
any moment with any one of our neighbours. Pretty cautious, Ehud | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
Barak there, no options ruled out on Iran and listening to what Mr | :25:26. | :25:35. | |
Barrack had to say was DAX, the former Foreign Secretary -- Danny | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
Alexander. I hope that that does not come to pass because we all | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
have a collective interest in Iran recognising its responsibilities | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
under international law and desisting from developing a nuclear | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
capability. But the threat is real and it's a very serious situation | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
which is why I want to see renewed effort on the twin track approach | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
that's being taken by the international community on one hand | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
strengthening the sanctions regime. I would pay tribute to the work | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
Cathy Ashton's done in the European Union on that issue. Engaging with | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
Tehran to help them understand, on the other hand, that there's no | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
future for Iran being an international pariah. Isn't it fair | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
to say that that hasn't worked and in that time, the sanctions and the | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
diplomacy, they've been getting closer to having a bomb and once | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
they get one, you don't have that option any more? I recognise that | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
represents a very serious threat to the region and indeed to the world. | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
Let's have a broader context on this. There's been a big loser and | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
a big winner the Arab world out of the Arab Spring that we have seen | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
and I would argue that the two countries competing for leadership, | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
ironically none are Arab, you have Turkey on one hand and Iran on the | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
other. In that sense, Turkey has been prevailing and Iran has been | :26:50. | :26:54. | |
losing the 1979 revolution is increasingly seen on the Arab | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
street not has being the way forward but as a diversion and a | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
side step from the huge changes that we are seeing now. So the | :27:02. | :27:04. | |
Iranian regime is under pressure, that's why it's important that the | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
world speaks with one voice and sends a clear signal. Why in that | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
context would you like Israel to rule out bombing Iran. I think we | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
are a long way from military action at this stage because I think it's | :27:17. | :27:23. | |
important that we choose our words carefully and send a very clear | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
unequivocal signal, not just to the Iranian government, but Ahmadinejad, | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
the man who denied the existence of the Holocaust. A few days ago in | :27:31. | :27:36. | |
New York he was peddling conspiracy theories about 9/11. We need to | :27:36. | :27:42. | |
send a clear signal that we do not accept the legitimacy of Iran doing | :27:42. | :27:52. | |
:27:52. | :27:52. | ||
that. You criticised Mr Barak. final answer said you needn't worry | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
in terms of the days to come. I want to make sure there is a clear | :27:56. | :28:01. | |
diplomatic focus in the days, weeks and months ahead. OK, why are you | :28:01. | :28:06. | |
calling the Cannes summit, the G0 summit the do-nothing summit when | :28:06. | :28:10. | |
there's been so much going on? Because we gretibly it's the second | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
international summit in as many weeks that's broken up without the | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
action that the global economy needs -- regrettably. We are | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
minutes from midnight in terms of the condition of the European, | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
indeed the global economy and that's why there was a heavy | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
responsibility on the leaders in Cannes, not simply to talk, but to | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
act. Alas, we didn't see the action that I think would have helped | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
protect British jobs, British exports and prosperity in the | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
future. Looking at the news bulletins, seems like there was a | :28:39. | :28:46. | |
lot going on, Cameron, Merkel, Sarkozy and Obama, the referendum | :28:46. | :28:52. | |
was called off. Activity is not the same as action. Greece represents | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
2% of European output. We have a huge vested interest as the UK, not | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
simply in what happens in Greece and the eurozone, but what is going | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
to happen in Italy and Spain potentially unless that action's | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
taken. I don't think the staunchest defenders of the G0, and I support | :29:07. | :29:10. | |
that process, would regard the Cannes summit as a success. It's is | :29:10. | :29:15. | |
second failure in as many weeks. It's not cheap to be attacking the | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
Prime Minister from this country when there's an international | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
summit? I think the responsibility on the Prime Minister is to | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
exercise influence for the United Kingdom. I think it's | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
understandable when European leaders are perplexed when the | :29:29. | :29:31. | |
Prime Minister as recently as March was telling Chancellor Merkel that | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
he didn't want to be in the meetings about the eurozone because | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
he didn't want Britain to contribute. Then two weeks ago, he | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
was knocking on the door and insisting that Britain be present. | :29:42. | :29:44. | |
It was George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer who in | :29:44. | :29:50. | |
July said there was an inexorable logic towards a single fiscal area, | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
as well as a Single Currency. The Government's been asleep at the | :29:54. | :29:57. | |
switch since then when they should have recognised that if that was to | :29:57. | :30:03. | |
be the outcome, that should represent a real threat. Tell us | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
what you would have done, if Ed Miliband had been there? Difference | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
both in approach and what we'd be advocating. Firstly, the approach. | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
I travelled with Gordon Brown ahead of the G20 in 2008 to South America. | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
He literally toured the world trying to build consensus for what | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
then became the agreement that got us through that phase of the crisis | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
and I think there are genuine differences in terms of the level | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
of engagement in what we have seen from David Cameron and George | :30:30. | :30:32. | |
Osborne in recent months. What should they have been saying? We | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
need a balanced approach that recognises the importance of | :30:35. | :30:37. | |
dealing with the deficit but also with growth. One of the reasons | :30:38. | :30:41. | |
Greece is in the crisis afflicting it at the moment is the absence of | :30:41. | :30:44. | |
growth. In that sense, I didn't hear the British Prime Minister | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
talking about the centrality of growth to deficit reduction, as he | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
hasn't done here in Britain, also internationally. That's very long- | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
term thinking, isn't it? This is a crisis that's happening now, the | :30:55. | :30:59. | |
fire is now. You may have a situation where Greece falls out of | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
the eurozone? Well, for the first time, that was speculated upon at | :31:03. | :31:06. | |
the summit. We've got a huge interest in making sure that the | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
eurozone manages to find a way forward. I worry about the approach | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
that's been taken on the Conservative benches. There is no | :31:16. | :31:19. | |
strategy. We have a huge interest in the European Central Bank | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
recognising its responsibility. think they've been asleep at the | :31:22. | :31:26. | |
wheel? It's been disappointing. There hasn't been the political | :31:26. | :31:32. | |
support for the ECB. Do you want to IMF to take over that? I don't see | :31:32. | :31:38. | |
there being a contribution between the ECB and the IMF recognising its | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
responsibilities. The way the Bank of England is for sterling and the | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
way the Federal Reserve is for the US Dollar, so the ECB needs to | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
deliver more fire power. David Cameron himself talked about a big | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
bazooka from Europe but we haven't seen that action in recent weeks. | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
That shouldn't be at the cost of the IMF being willing to act if | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
necessary in the future. You don't mind in principle British money | :32:00. | :32:04. | |
going into the IMF, then them putting that money the way of | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
Greece or shoring up the pigs, as they are called? We've always | :32:09. | :32:15. | |
supported the IMF as the UK. What is that money used for, we, as the | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
Labour Party don't want the IMF's recapitalisation to become a | :32:19. | :32:23. | |
pretext or excuse for the ECB not recognising its responsibilities. | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
Both institutions have responsibilities, the IMF and ECB, | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
and both may be required. strikes on the 30th November now, | :32:30. | :32:35. | |
public sector pensions, the key theme. Teach efrs and Local | :32:35. | :32:38. | |
Government and everything else. You think that the people drawing the | :32:39. | :32:41. | |
public sector pension who is're angry about the changes deserve | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
more than they are getting. Is that right? There needs to be further | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
negotiations. None of us want to see a strike. There has been | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
thrand's been Government compromise? Maybe something you can | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
ask the Chief Secretary -- there's been Government compromise. We have | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
seen, as a welcome step forward, there needs to be compromise by | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
both sides. The public sector Trade Unions need to recognise that we | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
need to work longer and contribute more in the future. There are | :33:09. | :33:12. | |
specific details, on the other hand, to continue to be needed to be | :33:12. | :33:18. | |
looked at. Look at the position of a part-time nurse earning �15,000 | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
or �16,000, the increase of contributions means she would lose | :33:22. | :33:26. | |
�900 a year. The changes they've proposed, as we understand it, will | :33:26. | :33:30. | |
impact on the poorest people in the public sector, many of them women, | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
much more impactfully than on others. But you don't think the | :33:35. | :33:38. | |
strike should go ahead? We want the negotiations to be taken forward. | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
There needs to be further compromise on both sides and let's | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
hope that if there is serious negotiations, we can avoid a strike. | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
Your colleague John Hutton says it's hard to imagine a better deal? | :33:48. | :33:52. | |
Let's see what the negotiations yield. One more for you, slightly | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
personal. The whole business at St Paul's which we were talking about | :33:55. | :34:00. | |
in the papers review with Joan and Margot. They shut the doors and | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
your father was a pastor? Yes. Grandfather as well? Yes. Did you | :34:04. | :34:14. | |
:34:14. | :34:20. | ||
I think their job is to be a prophetic voice on issues of public | :34:20. | :34:25. | |
morality. I think as Ed Miliband said in the paper today, what the | :34:25. | :34:35. | |
press -- protesters are doing is talking about the rules by which | :34:35. | :34:42. | |
society is run. Righteousness, and the relationship between the top of | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
society and the rest of us is pretty broken at the moment and | :34:46. | :34:51. | |
needs to be healed. So those protesters at the moment are in | :34:51. | :34:59. | |
some way and iteration of your party at the moment? They have a | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
range of demands but they are speaking of the general anger which | :35:03. | :35:09. | |
I sensed in my own constituency and across the country, and it is a | :35:09. | :35:14. | |
distraction to speak about the protesters. The issues they speak | :35:14. | :35:22. | |
of our much profound and much more widely held. Thank you. | :35:22. | :35:28. | |
When it comes to movie blockbusters, there are few actors with the box- | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
office firepower of Johnny Depp. Who is the biggest movie star in | :35:32. | :35:37. | |
the world right now? To that question there is an answer, Johnny | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
Depp is the hottest property in Hollywood even if he does live in | :35:42. | :35:52. | |
:35:52. | :35:55. | ||
France. His new movie, the The Rum Diary, was found in a boxed in | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
Hunter S Thompson's basement and he decided to make a movie of it. I | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
asked him if his character in the movie is an attempt to portray the | :36:04. | :36:10. | |
journalist as a hero. I think that journalists can be a hero, it just | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
depends on the road they take. Hunter's Road was a long one and he | :36:15. | :36:25. | |
:36:25. | :36:26. | ||
became a voice for the people. He was a very moral guy. In this | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
country, there is a crisis over journalism at the moment and | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
journalists have never had a poor reputation. I guess you have heard | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
about the phone hacking scandal, what are your thoughts on that? | :36:39. | :36:45. | |
is as low as you could possibly get. To get into something as devious as | :36:45. | :36:54. | |
that, as horrific as tapping into someone's phone, hacking into | :36:54. | :37:02. | |
someone's personal life, private life and then selling it, it is as | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
low as it gets. Watching you in the new film, I was thinking are you | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
betraying the journalist as a hero because you think journalists are, | :37:14. | :37:19. | |
or are you showing us what we should be? A journalist as observer | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
and documenting the moment, and that is what Hunter S Thompson did, | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
especially back then when he was very young and trying to find his | :37:28. | :37:34. | |
voice, trying to find that out lead for the rage, where it was going to | :37:34. | :37:40. | |
go. It came to about 1966 when the Hell's Angels came around, it | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
started to take another shape, and therefore gonzo journalism, putting | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
himself into the middle of the situation. It is interesting to | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
hear stories about you staying with him. The book for this film you | :37:54. | :38:00. | |
found in a box, didn't you? Yes, we were looking for the manuscript of | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and I found another one. Opened a taut, | :38:04. | :38:10. | |
and wrapped in a rubber band was The Rum Diary. | :38:10. | :38:20. | |
:38:20. | :38:20. | ||
I love this car. Did he give it to you? I wish. You want a little bet? | :38:20. | :38:27. | |
A bet about what? That you scream before I do. In relation to what? | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
How fast does it go? And so we began to read it. I don't think he | :38:34. | :38:39. | |
had taken a look at it since he had dumped it in there in 1960. We | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
started reading it, it was very good. It had a nice bite to it, and | :38:44. | :38:51. | |
a good narrative. It was his only novel, so he decided we should make | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
it into a film. I said maybe publish its first, and that is what | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
he did, he published it for the following year. All these years | :39:00. | :39:10. | |
:39:10. | :39:21. | ||
Your career has got two tracks, in a way, because you have Pirates of | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
the Caribbean and that franchise, and you are by all accounts the | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
biggest star in the world. I don't mean to embarrass you, but 75 | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
million in the last year it is a lot. You use big box-office movies | :39:37. | :39:43. | |
to fund films like this, more independent. Definitely, it is part | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
of the balance you have to keep. The fact that Pirates of the | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
Caribbean happened for me, and Alice in Wonderland, and things | :39:51. | :39:59. | |
like that, it was much of a fluke or as surprising to me as anyone. I | :39:59. | :40:06. | |
never expected any of that, so I always try to maintain some sort of | :40:06. | :40:12. | |
balance within characters. You go outside a bit here, then you take a | :40:12. | :40:19. | |
right turn over here. In terms of the audience, to keep them, well, | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
to never bore them. Is that have the film industry works now, that | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
instead of the big companies making a variety of films, they basically | :40:28. | :40:33. | |
make the big box-office films and then it is down to people like you | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
to give us the more interesting films? Studios are looking to spend | :40:38. | :40:46. | |
money to make money. That is the crux of it, and it is a gamble | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
every time out of the gate. You roll the dice, but when studios | :40:52. | :41:02. | |
:41:02. | :41:03. | ||
have had successful franchises such as Harry Potter or Pirates, they | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
will be much more interested in doing that all over again, how to | :41:08. | :41:14. | |
recreate that. But, I think for an actor, you want to be able to stay | :41:14. | :41:20. | |
with the people. Just to ask you about Ricky Gervais, who I know you | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
know, and he made a joke about you at the Golden globes. What was it, | :41:24. | :41:31. | |
two dimensional? He was probably right by the way. The film was The | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
Tourist, but you have now appeared in his new TV show, Life's Too | :41:35. | :41:44. | |
Short, where you are basically given a dressing-down. | :41:44. | :41:50. | |
Have you met before? This is Stephen. Nice to meet you. | :41:50. | :41:58. | |
Ricky. I actually remember him from the Golden Globes. Did you think | :41:58. | :42:04. | |
long about that? No, I knew it had to be done, immediately. Obviously | :42:04. | :42:10. | |
he is very funny, and can be very self-deprecating. It was a great | :42:10. | :42:15. | |
opportunity to sort of get in there and have a go at him, and just have | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
a ball. And we laughed, you know, there was probably more footage | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
they couldn't use than they probably did. | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
Do you know who my new leading lady is in the new film? The Tim Burton | :42:29. | :42:35. | |
film? Yes. Helena Bonham Carter? How did you know? Star Up In the | :42:35. | :42:42. | |
dark. She thinks you are an idiot. In Vanity Fair, he was making the | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
point that you have made a colossal amount of money, and why do you | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
work so hard? You said it was the kids. Have you got to the point | :42:52. | :42:58. | |
where they have enough? What is the reason? A enjoy the process. I | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
don't necessarily enjoy the things that go along with it. There is a | :43:03. | :43:10. | |
certain necessary evil with regard to the work, I mean terms that I | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
don't quite understand or can't quite come relate to my name, terms | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
like celebrity or fame I find very uncomfortable, but when I say it is | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
for the kids, yes, you want to do something for them. Not necessarily | :43:25. | :43:32. | |
the money for them, the work is for the kids. I want to, when I become | :43:32. | :43:37. | |
smoke one day, I want to have done something that lake can be | :43:37. | :43:44. | |
potentially proud of, or at least a body of work. Thank you for | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
speaking to us this morning. Thank you, I appreciated. | :43:49. | :43:52. | |
David Cameron has been warning in stark terms that the British | :43:52. | :43:59. | |
economy is getting worse every day the eurozone crisis drags on, but | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
what impact is the international chaos having at home? There are | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
concerns that growth has stalled, and I am joined by Danny Alexander, | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
chief secretary to the Treasury. You must be a worried man? | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
course the situation in the eurozone is very serious. 3 million | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
jobs in the UK depend on our trade with the European Union, and those | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
people and businesses are affected by the uncertainty. Equally, having | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
a resolution to the crisis is in a sense the most important thing that | :44:32. | :44:38. | |
can happen for the UK economy this autumn. Positive steps were made at | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
the G20 summit. So it was not the do-nothing summit? That is totally | :44:43. | :44:51. | |
wrong. There are a lot of positive things. Activity or action? | :44:51. | :44:57. | |
found a commitment to increasing the IMF's Resources in order to | :44:57. | :45:02. | |
ensure there is a global firepower, if you like, to deal with the | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
crisis at a global level. The week before you saw a commitment to a | :45:07. | :45:12. | |
much greater euro-zone fund of one trillion euros. The details have to | :45:12. | :45:18. | |
be fleshed out a. You spend your whole day with numbers because we | :45:18. | :45:24. | |
run out of money, as someone famously said, so the IMF gets 10 | :45:24. | :45:30. | |
billion a year from us, it went up to 20 billion as a result of the | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
vote in June, and now it is going up further by how much? We have two | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
sort of money we give to the IMF, the 20 billion ceiling for each. | :45:40. | :45:47. | |
There is a maximum of 40 billion we can make available. Currently only | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
about 5 billion of that is in use so we have the capacity to go up to | :45:51. | :45:58. | |
that ceiling. Without a vote in Parliament? Yes, Parliament has | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
already voted for the additional 20 billion of new arrangements to | :46:02. | :46:10. | |
borrow. For so we are currently putting 5 billion or 20 billion? | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
The 5 billion is a combination of those two things. We can go up to a | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
ceiling of 20 billion and it works as a contingent liability, in other | :46:19. | :46:25. | |
words we are not handing over cash, it is a promise to pay to back up | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
the IMF's lending if things go wrong. No government has ever lost | :46:29. | :46:37. | |
money in terms of the resources made available to the IMF. We | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
should be supporting it, that is why it was wrong to vote against | :46:40. | :46:48. | |
making additional resources We didn't go into the euro and this | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
is a problem for countries in the euro. Once you extend credit to the | :46:52. | :46:57. | |
IMF, it goes to Greece? No country in the global economy can be an | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
island. We are in a hugely interdependent world. We have to | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
play a role as a global leader as one of the largest economies in the | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
world. We set up the IMF precisely to ensure that there was a | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
mechanism for supporting... But to be clear, you are happy with this | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
money we give to the IMF going to Greece? You are happy with that? | :47:18. | :47:23. | |
am. There's already been agreed. The plan for Greece involves | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
commitments from the IMF, separate commitments from the eurozone, the | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
two organisations are working together. There are uncertainties | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
about Greece which have to be resolved. Let me ask you, on that | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
score, are you in the Treasury planning for Greece's exit from the | :47:39. | :47:43. | |
euro? We have contingency plans for all sorts of eventualities. Are you | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
planning for that? That seems like the less likely outcome of the | :47:48. | :47:51. | |
Greece situation. We have seen huge political uncertainty, the | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
referendum plan has been dropped, the Prime Minister's had his vote | :47:54. | :47:58. | |
of confidence and we need to see the Greek government exercise its | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
responsibilities to deliver the plan that they've set out and upon | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
which we, through the IMF and eurozone has promised to make | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
resources available. You say it's the least likely option, a lot of | :48:10. | :48:15. | |
people think it will have to go back to the drachma. I'm not going | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
to get into eventualities and hypotheticals that we have plans | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
for. The most important thing we can do as a responsible global lead | :48:21. | :48:27. | |
ser to work alongside the Americans, Chinese and others to put maximum | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
pressure on the eurozone to make Greece take responsibility for | :48:31. | :48:37. | |
their problems and ensure we take our responsibilities to sit | :48:37. | :48:43. | |
alongside the bazooka. It's a very expensive BA zoo and and it was | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
said, why join the euro when it's breaking up -- bazooka. It was a | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
misunderstanding of what he was saying, he was using a phrase used | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
for him by a backbencher. That's the least likely option. We in the | :48:55. | :49:00. | |
UK need to look at the eurozone and see the very, very strong political | :49:00. | :49:02. | |
commitment there is from those countries to keep the European | :49:02. | :49:04. | |
Single Currency together. The developments that they are making | :49:04. | :49:08. | |
in terms of having closer integration on the fiscal side. One | :49:08. | :49:12. | |
thing that we have to do is make sure that the role that we have, | :49:12. | :49:17. | |
the role that the other countries outside the euro have is protected | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
within that European decision- making so we continue to shape the | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
growth agenda, which is in our demand in terms of deregulating at | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
European level. That's a British agenda for leading Europe. People | :49:29. | :49:32. | |
watching will be thinking, why would anyone in this country have | :49:32. | :49:36. | |
ever suggested we go into the euro. So maybe you can tell us why you | :49:36. | :49:41. | |
did? I argued, along with others on a cross party basis in the Britain | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
and Europe campaign that we should join the euro in the economic | :49:44. | :49:49. | |
conditions were right. What I would say is that the extra flexibilities | :49:49. | :49:52. | |
we have being outside the Single Currency are something that's been | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
a strength to us. You weren't wanting us to be in it, you were | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
speak fog the organisation called Britain Ahead in Europe. You argued | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
for it? I very much believe that Britain's vocation is, as a | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
European country, that our trade, that our business needs depend on | :50:08. | :50:12. | |
the links to Europe. In relation to the euro though, I argued that | :50:12. | :50:14. | |
Britain should join only if the economic conditions were right, | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
they were found not to be, at least in part because of the way the euro | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
developed in its early days. As a result, we have greater flexibility, | :50:23. | :50:28. | |
not least the devaluation the found has seen, to help us through the | :50:28. | :50:35. | |
crisis. The effects on us, some say it could set us back six years, | :50:35. | :50:41. | |
could half the value of shares, a real horror show? I don't endorse | :50:41. | :50:51. | |
:50:51. | :51:02. | ||
those figures. Many British businesses are seeking to trade and | :51:02. | :51:06. | |
export to the eurozone. Positively, resolving the crisis would be the | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
biggest boost we could see to the British economy at a time we we | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
face ourselves a long, slow road to recover rifplt I think if anything | :51:13. | :51:16. | |
this crisis in the eurozone could remind people of the fact that what | :51:16. | :51:22. | |
Britain did when the coalition Government came into power, the | :51:22. | :51:25. | |
Liberal Democrats helped negotiate that agreement. We set out a plan | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
from the beginning to take control of our own circumstances, we need | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
other countries to do the same. are making an announcement about | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
house building and infrastructure. Tell us what that is? I'll announce | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
the half billion pound growing places fund, setting out the | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
details of how much each area will get. It's to help people who are | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
perhaps wanting to build houses in a local area but need a link road | :51:47. | :51:50. | |
built or the land needs to be decontaminated or flood defences | :51:50. | :51:56. | |
need be put in place. We are making available half a billion to pay for | :51:56. | :51:59. | |
that upfront so the developer can invest billions more in building | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
houses, in employing people and getting Britain building again and | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
then when the development is built out and sold, they can repay the | :52:06. | :52:11. | |
money and it can be used again. Isn't that rather small beer when | :52:11. | :52:16. | |
you consider what's needed in this country right now and your critics | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
will say too little too late? are many other things we are doing. | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
The regional growth found is supporting businesses up and down | :52:23. | :52:27. | |
the country. The steps on taxation on deregulation are supporting | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
businesses too. We have a specific problem in communities which is | :52:31. | :52:38. | |
there are plans for building houses, they have the things in place, but | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
we can unlock development and unlock tens of thousands of jobs by | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
helping them. I mentioned to Danny Alexander about the strikes and the | :52:46. | :52:52. | |
unions are hopping mad -- Douglas Alexander. The Independent carries | :52:52. | :52:54. | |
a story saying you would like to go ahead, the Prime Minister would | :52:54. | :52:57. | |
like them to go ahead because it will destroy their case. Where are | :52:57. | :53:00. | |
you in that argument? I don't want the strikes to go ahd. The | :53:00. | :53:04. | |
Government's been negotiating hard for the last eight months with the | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
Trade Unions. -- ahead. We made a significant offer to public sector | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
workers earlier this week. I set it out to the House of Commons in | :53:12. | :53:15. | |
terms of the more generous payments we were willing to offer. | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
backed down some people said? this is the discussion and I set | :53:19. | :53:22. | |
aside what funds I think are appropriate to make sure we both | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
protect the taxpayer and also get the quality of public sector | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
pensions that people want to see. Look, I think in a sense the most | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
important people here are not the Trade Union leaders, they're the | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
individual nurses, teachers, civil servants. This week and over the | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
next few weeks, we'll communicate directly to 2.5 million public | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
servants to explain to them directly what it is the | :53:43. | :53:47. | |
Government's offering. I think in a sense, in those people's hands is | :53:47. | :53:50. | |
the decision whether or not to strike, in those people's hands is | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
tin influence on the unions and I think when people go to the | :53:54. | :53:57. | |
Treasury website, see what is set out, they'll see this is a generous, | :53:57. | :53:59. | |
positive offer that will protect the value of public service | :53:59. | :54:04. | |
pensions for 25 years to come. It's a prize worth having. Sour going | :54:04. | :54:09. | |
over the heeds with the unions? Most moderate unions want agreement | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
but some seem desperate and hell bent, if you like, on strike action. | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
What we need to make sure is the interests of public servants aren't | :54:17. | :54:24. | |
set aside in the interests of Trade Union leaders who want to go on | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
strike. Danny Alexander, thank you for now. No more bodies have been | :54:28. | :54:33. | |
found overnight at the scene of the M5 crash near Taunton. Seven people | :54:33. | :54:37. | |
were confirmed dead yesterday and more than 50 injured. | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
Investigations are under way to find out what caused the multiple | :54:41. | :54:44. | |
pipup, one of Britain's worst. The Greek president will meet the | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
country's main opposition leader today to discuss efforts to form a | :54:47. | :54:51. | |
new coalition government. Yesterday, he held talks with the Prime | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
Minister, George Papandreou, opposition parties are calling for | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
early elections, something Mr Papandreou says would derail | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
efforts to solve Greece's financial crisis and stop it spreading across | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
the eurozone. That is it from me. The next news | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
is at midday on BBC One. Back to Jeremy in a moment, but first a | :55:09. | :55:12. | |
look at what is coming up after the programme: | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
Today on Sunday morning live. Is Britain full up or do we still have | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
room for more immigrants? As the Church of England forgotten its | :55:22. | :55:28. | |
Christian roots in favour of power and snun Islamic extremists want to | :55:28. | :55:31. | |
disrupt Armistice Day when we remember our dead. Is that what | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
these soldiers fought for? See you at Ten. | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
Danny Alexander is still here and Joan Bakewell rejoins us. Let's | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
talk about St Paul's and the morality issue around that? | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
very interested in what seems to be a revival of morality in public | :55:48. | :55:53. | |
life and the feeling that many people have, inclouding the church, | :55:53. | :55:58. | |
the Archbishop of Canterbury, that public life isn't governed by the | :55:58. | :56:02. | |
moral issues in the way that it perhaps once was and that things | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
like the discrepancy between the highly paid and the lowliest is out | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
of hand. What do you think about that? Well, there's clearly a very | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
strong sense of that. Politicians who talk about morality sometimes | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
get into trouble but I think it's very important that there is a | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
strong sense that we are going the right things here and that we do | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
get away from our economic culture that's been based on excess, which | :56:25. | :56:28. | |
it Abu Hamza has been for the last 20 or 30iers. I think the peeve | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
Government had an opportunity to sort that out, it didn't take it, | :56:31. | :56:37. | |
we are taking steps such as new taxes on the bankers, such as the | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
regular... In effect, it's been proved in the headlines? No, that's | :56:42. | :56:47. | |
not the case, we are raising an extra �10 billion over the next | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
four years... But the overall impact of your policys is to damage | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
the lowliest in society, lowliest being a religious word, you know, | :56:55. | :57:01. | |
but the widows, orphans, the single mothers, the people who have their | :57:01. | :57:04. | |
care cut? I don't accept that characterisation of what we are | :57:04. | :57:09. | |
doing. What I would say is that in a sense if what you want to see is | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
the country doing to t right thing and sorting out our finances too... | :57:13. | :57:19. | |
I want to get back to St Paul's, we could do the whole of economic | :57:19. | :57:23. | |
policy but we need to talk about St Paul's. You see the tents and you | :57:23. | :57:30. | |
are a Lib Dem. Doesn't mean I live in a tent. Well I wondered if you | :57:30. | :57:33. | |
might say in your wisdom in spirit that you feel the same unease about | :57:33. | :57:37. | |
what they are protesting about? think there are some issues they're | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
drawing attention to which are important, as Douglas Alexander | :57:40. | :57:50. | |
:57:50. | :57:50. | ||
said, there are a whole range of demands. Do you feel it's about | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
capitalism? Capitalism's built up our economies around the world over | :57:54. | :57:58. | |
many decades so I don't feel unease about capitalism. What I do feel | :57:58. | :58:01. | |
unease about and things as a Government we have been acting on | :58:01. | :58:04. | |
is the lack of regulation and control over the City of London, | :58:04. | :58:07. | |
the lack of inability to ensure that we, as taxpayers, don't have | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
to bail out the bankers every time they get things wrong. Those are | :58:11. | :58:15. | |
the things we are trying to change. Let's have more control and restore | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
legislation. This's exactly what this Government is doing. Thank you | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
very much. That is it for today. Andrew is back next Sunday at 9 | :58:22. | :58:25. | |
with a special edition of the programme for Remembrance Day. And, | :58:25. | :58:30. | |
by the way, this coming week leading up to Remembrance Day on my | :58:30. | :58:33. | |
Radio Two programme, we are featuring the stories of mother | :58:33. | :58:38. | |
hos've lost their sons in armed combat and who remember them | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
through the music they loved. Guests will include the Chief of | :58:42. | :58:47. |