Browse content similar to 18/12/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning. This is the time when all newspapers include a review of | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
the year. This is mainly to make sure journalists can leave the | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
office early for the Christmas party. Here is mine. Arab Spring, | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
Japanese wave, British riot, Greek meltdown, French spat, royal | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
wedding, planet frozen, phones hacked, coalition cross, Sarkozy | :00:51. | :00:59. | |
sarky, Cam calm. Well, mostly. As to the year ahead, apart from the | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
wedding, that lot was not predicted, so my advice is save your time and | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
wallow deep in the week to come. And joining me today for our review | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
of the Sunday newspapers, the actor, director and general good egg Fiona | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
Shaw and the former Director General of the BBC, Greg Dyke, who | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
has driven himself in a car whose number plate appears to read MI6 | :01:18. | :01:28. | |
WMD. No idea what that is about. If we have one ambition on Sunday | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
mornings it is to confound all those who say politics is boring | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
and nobody says anything interesting. This being our last | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
show of the year, we have brought you three generally non-boring | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
politicians, each of whom has promised to make a sensational on- | :01:40. | :01:49. | |
camera gaffe or jaw-dropping announcement in the next hour. One | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
is the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who warned David Cameron | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
off using a big financial bazooka in the euro crisis, but now lauds | :01:55. | :02:02. | |
the prime minister for his victory over the French. Another is a man | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
who may say this was nothing like a victory, Peter Mandelson, who has | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
retired from his position as dark lord but who keeps a beady eye on | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
British and European politics. And the third is someone who would have | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
made the final of Strictly last night but was too busy tap dancing | :02:15. | :02:17. | |
through the overcrowded corridors of power, the trade secretary Vince | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
Cable. We are also going to be talking | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
about the new Stephen Spielberg film, a movie that has grown out of | :02:23. | :02:33. | |
:02:33. | :02:37. | ||
the phenomenally successful stage play War Horse. We will be asking | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
its star, David Thewlis, about the movie adaptation and his role in an | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
interesting new film about the Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
Music, too in this our last show of 2011. The rather fab Annie Lennox | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
joins us live. First, the news from Susanna Reid. | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
Good morning. The last US military convoy has left Iraq, nearly nine | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
years after the invasion which led to the toppling of Saddam Hussein. | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
In the last few hours, vehicles carrying thousands of troops | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
crossed the border into Kuwait. They leave behind just over 150 | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
soldiers who will carry out training at the US embassy, and a | :03:03. | :03:10. | |
small number of marines for diplomatic security. | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
They arrived in Kuwait by the truckload, thousands of US troops | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
leaving Iraq for the very last time. The convoy crossed the border in | :03:19. | :03:25. | |
the early hours of the morning, ending America's operation in Iraq. | :03:25. | :03:31. | |
The trucks tooted their horns and US military personnel wave as they | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
welcomed the last American combat troops into Kuwait. There is no | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
doubt that Iraq is still fragile but these troops will not be back | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
of the country's future. They are heading for Kuwait, where more of | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
their colleagues are station, waiting home for the flight -- a | :03:50. | :03:57. | |
waiting for the flight home to the US. This signify is the end of the | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
operation and the beginning of the next step into the future for the | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
country of Iraq. They leave behind a country that still faces | :04:05. | :04:11. | |
challenges, but the army chief of staff is confident that his troops | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
can take it from here. I am not afraid at all because we have | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
strategic relations with the United States and an agreement with NATO. | :04:20. | :04:27. | |
They worked hard to build up Iraq's army over the last eight years. | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
troops who have already arrived in Kuwait are enjoying the benefits of | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
camp for Jane Eyre, and no doubt looking forward to being home for | :04:37. | :04:47. | |
:04:47. | :04:50. | ||
the holidays. -- Camp Virginia. A major search and rescue operation | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
is underway in an area of the Philippines where flash floods and | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
landslides have killed more than 500 and left hundreds more missing. | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
The navy is scouring coasts on the southern island of Mindanao, while | :04:59. | :05:01. | |
soldiers search along swollen rivers. Thousands of people in | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
flooded areas have been moved to evacuation centres. | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
Rescuers in Indonesia are searching for hundreds of people missing | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
after a fishing boat sank off the main island of Java. The wooden | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
boat was believed to be heading for Australia, carrying migrants from | :05:12. | :05:20. | |
Afghanistan, Turkey and Iran. A local police chief said 380 people | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
were on board, 76 of whom have been rescued. | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
The public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, is to | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
investigate the sale of the state- owned bank Northern Rock to Virgin | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
Money. Labour has called for the sale to be delayed, saying the | :05:31. | :05:33. | |
current deal will leave taxpayers more than �400 million worse off. | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
The government says it represents the best value for the public purse. | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
This year's Strictly Come Dancing has been won by the musician Harry | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
Judd and his professional dance partner Aliona Vilani. They beat | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
actors Chelsee Healey and Jason Donovan in the final at the Tower | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
Ballroom in Blackpool, where Bruce Forsyth presented the trophy. Harry | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
Judd, who is the drummer with the band McFly, said the three month | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
long competition had been unforgettable. | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
That's all from me for now. Back to Andrew. | :06:00. | :06:08. | |
Thank you Susanna. Now, on the front pages today. | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
I have noticed a brand new linguistic quirk. They used to say | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
scoop, but now they say revealed. Cash for cocktails at Commons on | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
the Sunday Times. A dramatic sounding plan from Whitehall to | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
evacuate British people from Spain and Portugal if the bank's collapse. | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
And the Observer, revealed, how City fees are eating into our | :06:34. | :06:40. | |
pensions. The Sunday Telegraph avoids a issues. It says Nick Clegg, | :06:40. | :06:47. | |
no tax breaks for couples who marry. And you have got to get you Harrys | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
in the right order this morning. Harry when Strictly, whereas the | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
Daily Mail has Prince Harry in BlackBerry mugging drama. He | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
reported the crime committed on one of his friends to the police. And | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
the Scotland On Sunday edition features the brand new leader of | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
the Scottish Labour Party, they have gone for a woman to lead them. | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
And with me to review the papers are Fiona Shaw and Greg Dyke. | :07:18. | :07:24. | |
Fiona? This is a story that might turn into a story in the future, | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
one million people from England are living in Spain and what would | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
happen if suddenly they put their cards in the cash machine and the | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
Eurozone collapsed. White-collar planning to evacuate them by | :07:37. | :07:43. | |
working out how to get them I on planes, how to pay their mortgages. | :07:43. | :07:50. | |
There are also 50,000 people living in Portugal. And how to cover the | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
entire south coast of England in little white-painted villa is for | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
them when they get here! Yes, it is worrying that they must go to the | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
bank every day and hear things like, it looks quite shaky. It is always | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
emotional language that is not quite Fiscal. I am a banker and I | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
feel quite shaky, you do not hear that. On the front page of the | :08:17. | :08:26. | |
Telegraph there is this European Beatle. 40 % compared to 14 for | :08:26. | :08:33. | |
Labour -- 34 for Labour and 14 for the Liberal Democrats. If you look | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
at the opinion poll inside, you discover that despite having a 6% | :08:37. | :08:44. | |
lead, it does not give the Tories a majority, which tells you that | :08:44. | :08:50. | |
maybe we will have a coalition for quite a long time. The electoral | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
numbers are so disadvantage to the Tories at the moment. We will speak | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
about the French side of the story in a minute, but it strikes me that | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
maybe this crisis between Britain and France is good for both leaders. | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
It is clearly good for David Cameron in the opinion polls, | :09:07. | :09:13. | |
because people are clearly pleased by the use of the veto. Whether it | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
is long-term and short-term for Cameron, you do not know. This week | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
he looks like a strong leader because he told the Germans and the | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
French were to get off. Nick Clegg looks good as well because it has | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
given him something to stand against. I did my 32nd review of | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
the year but you have chosen a story from the Sunday Express. | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
Another way of looking back at the year is looking at all the people | :09:40. | :09:50. | |
:09:50. | :09:50. | ||
who we lost, who died. I think, a bit like musical tunes, there is | :09:50. | :09:56. | |
something very moving about looking at the dead. Peter Falk, who was a | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
great man in our youth on television, as he died. It is so | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
sad. David Croft and Christopher Hitchens in the last few days, this | :10:07. | :10:13. | |
massive, angry tiger of a man. If people look at these people who | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
died, some of Bin Laden, that seemed ages ago and it was not so | :10:18. | :10:26. | |
long ago. John Sullivan, Elizabeth Taylor. Pete Postlethwaite. From | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
our profession, there was quite a few. It is a way of marinating your | :10:31. | :10:38. | |
memory about those people to just have them named. It conjures up | :10:38. | :10:45. | |
bits of your past. I do not know who else died? Lucian Freud. | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
thought that was a very sad death. They marked the century. Something | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
which has not died is the coalition and your next stories about | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
continuing ructions in the coalition. It is basically about | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
Nick Clegg lampooning Cameron's idea about supporting marriage. | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
When he says that we should not take a particular version of the | :11:11. | :11:17. | |
family institution as a 1950s model and tried to preserve it. This is | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
interesting because first of all we saw Cameroon yesterday on | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
Christianity. We all remember back to basics and John Major and the | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
rest of it and in the end, Conservative leader has all appear | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
to look back on the 1950s as if it was a wonderful period, but for | :11:35. | :11:41. | |
those of us who were there, it was pretty dull. I only experience six | :11:41. | :11:48. | |
months off it. It was pretty dull. I think the Liberal Democrats have | :11:48. | :11:55. | |
reached this stage that they understand that if they do not | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
start here prove themselves, they will be ejected. The coalition will | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
come under pressure that it has not so far. The counter-argument would | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
be that Cameron has to keep turning around to the Conservative family | :12:09. | :12:16. | |
in the country and saying, I am a Conservative. Nick Clegg has to be | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
the same for the Liberal Democrats. Assuming there is a deal between | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
them, that would be fine, but at some stage there must be an issue. | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
The divide is too great between them. Yes. Fiona, your next story | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
is Shakespeare's story. There has been a lot about did Shakespeare | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
write Shakespeare or was it just a bloke called Shakespeare? Stratford | :12:42. | :12:50. | |
has gone missing. Sorry, Stratford. They are going to do a massive | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
festival to celebrate Shakespeare. Possibly the biggest theatre | :12:54. | :13:01. | |
festival ever. They are saying no to No 1, so if anyone has a tinpot | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
production of Macbeth that they want to do in their kitchen, they | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
can take it to Stratford and it will be welcomed. I am in favour of | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
this because it will stop it be known by theatre companies and | :13:14. | :13:20. | |
governments. Shakespeare is a national hero. The dog is the most | :13:20. | :13:28. | |
visited site in the country. -- the gold. It is important that people | :13:28. | :13:36. | |
take hold of Shakespeare and own it themselves. | :13:36. | :13:41. | |
We want some Fiona Shaw on Shakespeare. No one has asked me to | :13:41. | :13:46. | |
do any. My next story is the one that you mentioned earlier about | :13:46. | :13:52. | |
cash for cocktails in the Commons. I love this. The House of Commons | :13:52. | :13:58. | |
has drawn up plans to hire itself out is a private members' club, and | :13:58. | :14:04. | |
venue for the IP Giggs, and corporate clients, and that is a | :14:04. | :14:11. | |
story! That is what it has been for the last 40 years to my knowledge! | :14:11. | :14:17. | |
Also, they want to open up Big Ben. They believe that walking up and | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
down to Big Ben is the equivalent of walking across the Sydney | :14:20. | :14:27. | |
Harbour Bridge. Good for you, as long as you're fit. A couple of | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
Christmas stories. People have been working hard in the offices of the | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
Sunday Telegraph. Yes, and they have been looking at Christmas | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
crackers. It is a very important thing, what are you willing to pay | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
for your Christmas crackers, many people get expensive ones. My | :14:46. | :14:51. | |
mother was saying, can we fly to France with Christmas crackers? You | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
can get house of Fraser once, Marks & Spencer, but the best value seems | :14:56. | :15:02. | |
to be Morrison's. Am I allowed to say that? You can judge a Christmas | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
cracker by a stroke. There are some pretty dreadful jokes. The best one | :15:08. | :15:13. | |
is, how did good King Wenceslas a slight his peak set, deep and crisp | :15:13. | :15:23. | |
:15:23. | :15:26. | ||
and even. -- like his pizza. Scientists now say the traditional | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
Christmas tree, left in a warm house, releases mould spores that | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
can trigger watery eyes, coughing and lethargy. It is nothing to do | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
with the whisky are the Christmas food. When you're sitting there | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
because you have eaten too much, you can blame it on the Chris | :15:44. | :15:54. | |
:15:54. | :15:55. | ||
Thank you very much. Great fun. So to the weather, deep, crisp and | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
even or unseasonally warm? Let's find out in the weather studio | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
where I'm joined by Laura Tobin. It's cold and frosty at the moment | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
but things are set to turn much milder later this week. More on | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
that in a moment. Temperatures fell to minus six last night in North | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
Yorkshire, but many of us today will enjoy some sunshine, | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
accompanied by a chilly breeze. The breeze is pushing showers through | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
the north-west of England. We have had a covering of snow in | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
Stratford-upon-Avon and heading now through Northamptonshire and the | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
wintry shower mix heading towards the Home Counties, giving a light | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
covering in places. Scotland, scattered wintry showers. For | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
sheltered eastern Scotland and northern England, beautiful crisp | :16:37. | :16:40. | |
sunshine through the afternoon. We see the scattered showers | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
pushing this through Norfolk and Suffolk, rain on the coast, sleet | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
and snow inland. Toward the south- east, the last of the wintry | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
showers dying out. The south-west of England, for Cornwall, the risk | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
of a few rain showers, winds lighter than they were yesterday. | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
Sheltered parts of the south-west staying dry. In Wales, breezy and | :17:01. | :17:06. | |
chilly with the wind. For Northern Ireland, sunny spells and a few | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
scattered showers. All change for Monday. Cloudy and wet. A lot | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
milder. That milder trend continues as we head through the week. Back | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
to you, Andrew. Peter Mandelson's been in politics | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
so long, he remembers when New so long, he remembers when New | :17:24. | :17:31. | |
Labour was new. The Blair jor years were snakes and ladders and he was | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
Bizley ensconced in being Trade Commissioner when the new Prime | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
Minister Gordon Brown sent out an Secretary of State. Lord Mandelson | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
helped shore up the Brown Government during the credit crunch | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
but couldn't help win victory at the general election. According to | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
today's polls, Peter Mandelson, David Cameron's use of the veto is | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
pretty popular in this country at least? Yes, and I'm quite sure that | :17:51. | :17:56. | |
President Sarkozy's actions in France are pretty popular with his | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
public and Mrs Merkel and so it goes on. But the key questions are, | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
first of all, the treaty that attracted this veto from Britain in | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
the first place. We are now seeing it. It appears to present | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
absolutely no threat to Britain whatsoever, it has no effect on us. | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
It's setting out rules and requirements for the eurozone, of | :18:18. | :18:24. | |
which we are famously not members, so that doesn't affect us. Secondly, | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
it contains nothing that affects banking regulation or financial | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
services, so poses no threat to the City of London either. You have to | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
ask yourself what this piece of theatre was about and actually, I | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
think we all now realise it was whipping up a bit of a storm, a bit | :18:41. | :18:48. | |
of red meat to throw to Mr Cameron's anti-European | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
backbenchers. There could be a counterargument made quite quickly | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
however is that it may not affect us directly but this demonstrates | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
that the Euro-Sceptic who is said a Single Currency would have to lead | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
to a single economy and in effect for all the financial and fiscal | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
side of life ah single Government, are proved right, that under strain, | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
this is now what is happening. That terrible choice for Britain and | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
other countries to choose BP between your national democracy and | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
your ability to define your own future and part of this bigger | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
block is now quite close in front of our noses? Yes, in a sense. I | :19:23. | :19:29. | |
wouldn't use your term a single economy. I would use a single very, | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
very large single market in Europe which gives us the sort of | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
continental power and reach and clout in the world that enables us | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
to match the United States and North America to our west, the | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
rising powers to the east and the south of us. But you would concede | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
there is a democratic question mark here? Well, yes I would. But not | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
because I think there is a single Government in the offing, but | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
because to enable the eurozone to work successfully, we need more, | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
not less political fiscal integration in Europe at a time | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
when frankly there is sort of integration fatigue pretty common | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
amongst the public right across Europe. In reality what it means | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
for the Greeks or the Italians or the Spanish or others, is that they | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
would be told what their Government could or could not do when it came | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
to tax or spending by the centre, by the Brussels centre, and they | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
would see it as by the Germans. That is a big democratic problem | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
and for a lot of people explains why we could never be part of it in | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
this country? It does raise a democratic problem and essentially | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
it raises two immediate issues for me. One is that I think that | :20:47. | :20:55. | |
Europe's political leaders are frankly failing to explain why to | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
justify the greater meshing together and integration that is | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
needed in Europe, it's as if they've forgotten what the | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
arguments are in favour of European integration or fallen out of the | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
habit at least of explaining, not just what's required and how, which | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
they're quite good at, although they could be a lot better, but why | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
and why do we need more integration at a time when, as I say, most | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
people are sort of tiring and becoming a little fatigued with it. | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
But this is going to become more, not less serious, in the coming | :21:27. | :21:33. | |
years for this reason. That is that we are entering a period, as we all | :21:33. | :21:38. | |
recognise, of austerity, of tighter public spending. There's going to | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
be a great deal of public pain during this period and it's going | :21:42. | :21:51. | |
to be blamed on Europe in many continental countries. Therefore if | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
the politicians don't get their act together and don't start leading | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
and providing a real sense of accountability to their public, so | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
that they have to get out there, explain why what they're dog is | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
necessary, if they don't do that, you are going to see an increasing | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
public alienation. You famously said that what this country did was | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
more real engineering and less financial engineering. Would you | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
concede one of the things that you wish you'd done differently as a | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
Labour Government was spend less time and attention on the City and | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
more on trying to get this country manufacturing again. After all, | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
that's part of the reason why the Germans are doing so well? The City | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
and financial markets and services provide a hugely important part of | :22:33. | :22:40. | |
our economy. Our revenue and employment too. I'm not against the | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
City and I'm not against financial services. But what I do believe is, | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
that our exposure as an economy to financial services was too great, | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
our economy's dependence on financial services was far too | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
great and we should have recognised that early on. Disappointed by | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
Labour's showing in the poll at the moment? What is going wrong? | :22:59. | :23:05. | |
think what is happening, to be fair to Ed Miliband, because his polls | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
bounce around all over the place, is that we have to recognise that | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
the deterioration pre-dated his leadership. That disconnect between | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
the Labour Party, deeply and broadly with the British public, | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
started to take place in the years before the 2010 election and since | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
then, again, to his and the Labour Party's credit, we have seen voting | :23:26. | :23:32. | |
support coming back. Chiefly from Liberal Democrats who voted for | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
Nick Clegg and his party in 2010, not so much from the Conservatives | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
who I think are still giving their Government the benefit of the doubt. | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
What more needs to be done? An entire generation, including | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
yourself, have relatively young still, have walked away from | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
frontline politics, not engaged in it any more? Yes. I think that what | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
Ed Miliband needs to do - look, he's a chap with views, he has a | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
position in politics and he has a project - that needs to take shape | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
and become better defined during the course of the coming year. It's | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
not New Labour, he's perfectly clear about that. But he'll say the | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
circumstances and the conditions of Britain are not the same as they | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
were when we were creating New Labour in the 1990s. Those were the | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
days when markets were very much in fashion, the British economy and | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
capitalists' model of how we do things in this country seem to be | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
delivering, everyone's incomes were generally rising, they are not now | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
and he believes we need a different social contract. Now, there are | :24:35. | :24:40. | |
dangers in developing that, but he has to navigate his way through and | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
I think 201 is the way to do that. Missed your jaw dropping gaffe, but | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
apart from that... So sorry. Thank you very much. Listening to that is | :24:48. | :24:53. | |
a man who started his rise in journalism as a euro sceptical | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
reporter in Brussels before becoming a Tory MP, then winning | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
election as Mayor of London. It all makes Boris Johnson a significant | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
voice in the argument which is ageing over the future of the City | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
and the euro drama. He warned against David Cameron's big bazooka | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
rhetoric but said that the Prime Minister's use of the veto showed, | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
in his words, that they played a blinder. After all the chatter | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
about rivalry, Mr David Cameron bathes in the warm glow of Boris | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
Johnson's slack jawed admiration. I've got that right, haven't I? | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
More or less. I certainly think that the Prime Minister did the | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
right thing and, as far as I understand what happened the other | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
week, there was a series of modest British proposals on the table to | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
protect financial services, which, as you have just been discussing | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
with Peter Mandelson, of great importance to the UK, they weren't | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
anything the Germans and French hadn't heard any more. But for | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
reasons best known to themselves, they threw it out. Do you think the | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
City's position is safer than before this summit? I think it's | :25:52. | :26:00. | |
unchanged. I don't think there will be any more threat from Brussels to | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
financial services in London as a result of the breakdown of the | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
summit, far from it. Obviously, there is a continuing appetite in | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
Brussels, in France and Germany, to produce regulations directives that | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
could damage our ability to compete. You've got to watch that. Some of | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
this stuff can be decided at qualified majority, most of the | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
important stuff is still at unanimity. What was the greet veto | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
hoo-hah about then? It was essentially about whether or not | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
they would accept the terms, as I understand it, that the Prime | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
Minister put out. I think more fundamentally, it was about whether | :26:38. | :26:44. | |
we in Britain wanted to give our blessing, within the EU treaties, | :26:44. | :26:51. | |
to the creation of what I think would be frankly anti-democratic | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
structures of a fiscal union. sing of Government in effect? | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
Pretty much. That's a short hand for it, but that's effectlyive what | :26:58. | :27:04. | |
it would be. You would be telling people in Brussels, or France, they | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
would be telling the periphery economies how much they could tax | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
and spend. What is the point of democracy if the people you elect | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
to Parliament, your Government, can't decide what your taxing and | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
spending policies are? Do you think the euro is doomed in its current | :27:19. | :27:25. | |
form? I would be amazed if we were all sitting here next year and the | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
euro had not undergone some sort or change. I think it highly likely | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
that there'll be a re-alignment in the sense that I think that... | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
countries will fall out? Possibly, yes. We all know who the likely | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
candidates are. But the key thing is, I think there's such phobia | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
about this. There's such a lot of political ego that's been invested | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
in the success of the euro project that people are failing to see that | :27:52. | :27:58. | |
actually that might be the best way forward. We continually go on with | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
this hysterical attempt to bubble gum the whole thing together. We | :28:01. | :28:06. | |
are just going to consign those periphery economies particularly to | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
low growth and we are never going to get confidence back in the | :28:09. | :28:15. | |
eurozone. Would you like to see in the coming year a referendum or at | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
least agreement on what a referendum is going to be about and | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
the promise that it's going to happen? A referendum in this | :28:22. | :28:25. | |
country? So people can decide whether they want to remain part of | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
the EU or not? Well I think what you certainly need to have is a | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
referendum, if there's a treaty change that substantially affects | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
the UK. There's no question about that. Which looks like it's not | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
going to happen? Right, but I mean there's no immediate reason, as far | :28:41. | :28:46. | |
as I can see, to get embroiled in that referendum. You mentioned the | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
words "political ego" a moment ago. Talking about the euro. Nonetheless, | :28:51. | :28:57. | |
you mentioned the phrase? I did. You did. The Olympics, now an even | :28:57. | :29:02. | |
larger vast amount of money for the opening ceremony, never mind all | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
the ground to air missiles and thousands of troops and all the | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
rest of it. Now, actually, given the Olympic tradition, do we need a | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
vastly expensive bloated ceremony to show off to the rest of the | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
world? Let me put the argument for it. This is something that people | :29:19. | :29:23. | |
in London - you and I in our generation, - we are never going to | :29:23. | :29:28. | |
see it again, we'll never have an occasion when London is at the | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
centre of the world in that particular way. The multiplier | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
effect of investing in something that celebrates London and the UK | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
around the world, is, I'm told by all the PR people, the advertising | :29:39. | :29:46. | |
people, the economic houses... There's your problem... This will | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
deliver unfold benefit force the UK. There are markets around the | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
world... You are convinced by this? Whether the you can does need to | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
improve its image and brand. This is a small sum of money by | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
comparison. I think the Chinese blew half our defence budget on | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
fireworks, you know, we are not going to be spending anything like | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
what they did in Beijing. But, given that this thing is only going | :30:11. | :30:17. | |
to happen once in 50 or 60 years, I think we should do it well. | :30:17. | :30:19. | |
wonder whether Boris Johnson the columnist would have been against | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
the IOC officials and the limousines being swept through | :30:24. | :30:31. | |
London? Let me tell you - Boris Johnson the mayor is going to make | :30:31. | :30:39. | |
sure that the so-called fat cat Olympo-crats are not going to | :30:39. | :30:43. | |
spread into the trudging faces of London, we are going to get as much | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
as we can out of their cars, as many people as we can out of their | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
cars. 70% of people will go by rail. The IOC has made it very clear to | :30:53. | :30:57. | |
all their members that they're expected to two by Tube if they | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
possibly can or by the javelin seven minutes from Kings Cross to | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
Stratford. That is going to be the best way of getting to the Park. | :31:05. | :31:10. | |
the context of all that, the politicians in charge,, including | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
yourself will want to do everything to ensure nothing goes wrong during | :31:14. | :31:18. | |
those weeks. Yes. It's been alleged that part of that is that you have | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
in effect said to the transport unions in London, you can have what | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
you want, we'll give you huge bonuses, huge extra amounts of | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
money not to strike, please during that period? On the contrary, there | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
is a deal, four-year deal that's been done with the Tube unions and | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
the Tube drivers which I think is a very good deal for London. We've | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
never had a four-year deal before, it's something that will deliver | :31:42. | :31:48. | |
long-term stability and... A lot of money? And that deal does reflect | :31:48. | :31:54. | |
the reality that they will do extra. On the Boxing Day business and | :31:54. | :31:58. | |
ASLEF, there is no justification whatever for their action, because | :31:58. | :32:03. | |
they are rostered to do 260 days a year and Boxing Day is part of that | :32:03. | :32:08. | |
and, you know, they are beautifully making the case for moving towards | :32:08. | :32:14. | |
automation and driving the trains. The current position of the | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
Conservative Party. I tease at the beginning about David Cameron, but | :32:17. | :32:23. | |
he's done very well. The parties are chipper about what's happened | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
over Europe. Do you think there's a... Are you not sure? There's a | :32:27. | :32:33. | |
frown? I was thinking that what you are really seeing is a kind of void | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
in people's understanding of what the opposition is really trying to | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
say. I'm not clear what would have happened the other week if Ed | :32:41. | :32:47. | |
Miliband had been in that chair. It's very far from obvious. There | :32:47. | :32:52. | |
is a certain exdon't twi Government is credited with dealing with tough | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
times and having to get Britain out of the mire but also where Tess o | :32:57. | :33:07. | |
:33:07. | :33:13. | ||
What is essential to ensure the City of London keeps making money? | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
I heard people Mandelson saying just now that we have become | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
excessively dependent on financial services. -- Peter Mandelson. I | :33:22. | :33:28. | |
would love to see the growth of manufacturing industry, but to | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
those great temples I can see behind due, Kenny a wharf, the City, | :33:33. | :33:38. | |
they produce �3 billion worth of tax. That is of massive value to | :33:38. | :33:43. | |
the UK. So what do you need to see tomorrow on the banking | :33:44. | :33:50. | |
regulations? Do not kill the goose. There is no doubt that there is | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
something creepy about the massive bonuses that bankers are still | :33:54. | :33:59. | |
continuing to receive, in spite of the fact they were bailed out by | :33:59. | :34:06. | |
the taxpayer. We all want to see them doing more for society. | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
you're an actor, the two words you want in front of your name are in | :34:10. | :34:16. | |
demand. David Thewlis is one of the most in-demand actors around. No | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
sooner had he completed his magical run as Lupin in the Harry Potter | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
series of films than Steven Spielberg came calling to ask him | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
to start in the much-anticipated film adaptation of War Horse, which | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
is out next month. He has also been starring opposite Michelle Yeoh in | :34:34. | :34:39. | |
a film about the Burmese opposition democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. | :34:39. | :34:46. | |
He plays her devoted husband, the Oxford academic Michael Aris. Let's | :34:46. | :34:52. | |
have a look at that film, The Lady. I have never spoken in public | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
before. There is no time like the present. I will be watching from | :34:57. | :35:07. | |
:35:07. | :35:25. | ||
Good morning. This is a very unusual project, because there is a | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
sort of Hollywood style biographical picture, made about | :35:28. | :35:34. | |
someone who is still there, someone who has not yet won, and a lot of | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
people in the crowd would have been killed or imprisoned in the | :35:37. | :35:44. | |
meantime. The making of this film is a profoundly political act. | :35:44. | :35:51. | |
was. It was shot secretly. As much as an epic feature film can be shot | :35:51. | :35:56. | |
secretly! It was shot in Bangkok last year while Aung San Suu Kyi | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
was still under house arrest. She was released while we were making | :36:00. | :36:05. | |
it but if you had Dugald Aung San Suu Kyi or Michelle Yeoh at the | :36:05. | :36:13. | |
time of making it, you would not have had one hit for the entire | :36:13. | :36:19. | |
four months of making the film. That is because everyone had been | :36:19. | :36:26. | |
asked to keep quiet? Yes. People dig it out of respect. We had 200 | :36:26. | :36:33. | |
Burmese exiles in the audience there. Your character, Michael Aris, | :36:33. | :36:41. | |
Aung San Suu Kyi's husband, we should explain, who died of cancer, | :36:41. | :36:47. | |
an interesting SEAL. I thought slightly of David Kelly, a slightly | :36:47. | :36:55. | |
dishevelled, not particularly glamorous looting academic. It is | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
also a film about love. It is about his relationship between Hermann | :37:00. | :37:09. | |
this leader who has to lay down so much. It is a love story more than | :37:09. | :37:16. | |
a drier -- more than a biographical movie. It does not taking the whole | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
story. It throws the spotlight on this incredible commitment they | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
both had. They agreed when they got married that if her country ever | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
called, she would answer the call and it would mean their separation. | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
I do not think they imagined it to be as dramatic as it happened. | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
There is a lovely club which shows the moment of separation when | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
Michael Aris is sent out of the country. I could not have got | :37:45. | :37:51. | |
through this without you. I will continue to play mayhem behind the | :37:51. | :37:59. | |
scenes. Let's hope this limbo is short lived. I will be fine. Please | :38:00. | :38:09. | |
:38:10. | :38:15. | ||
do not worry. The boys must be the The lady, who presumably will see | :38:15. | :38:22. | |
this film herself if she has not, quite thought. War Horse, it was | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
quite a successful children's book but it was the stage play that made | :38:25. | :38:33. | |
it such a success. It is now a film. Working with Steven Spielberg, an | :38:33. | :38:39. | |
interesting experience, I would imagine? What is he like? I have | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
worked with some incredible directors and actors in my time, | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
but I think only seeing Steven Spielberg behind a camera and | :38:47. | :38:52. | |
hearing him shout action, it was more surreal than anyone I have | :38:52. | :38:58. | |
worked with. I have seen everything he has ever done. He has been | :38:58. | :39:04. | |
called an actor's's director. often operating the camera and he | :39:04. | :39:12. | |
is speaking to you while the takes are happening. It is good. One of | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
these things that made it so successful were the beautiful | :39:15. | :39:20. | |
puppets on stage. But you had to use real horses so it will feel | :39:20. | :39:26. | |
different. It is entirely different. This is a very different experience | :39:26. | :39:33. | |
to the play. And you play a villain. I do. I am the moustache twirling | :39:33. | :39:43. | |
:39:43. | :39:46. | ||
Crete. -- a baddie. You were aware will thin Harry Potter. It is the | :39:46. | :39:56. | |
:39:56. | :40:00. | ||
end of what has been an enormously long project. -- a werewolf. Was | :40:00. | :40:06. | |
that a happy period in your life? It was incredibly happy. As you | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
were shooting the film, and you knew it would break box-office | :40:09. | :40:15. | |
records. Even Steven Spielberg can bomb, but Harry Potter does not. | :40:15. | :40:20. | |
has been very good for British character actors. So many people | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
have been given a platform by this. Yes, and a lot of people have gone | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
on the intranet and checked out our previous works. I am sure many | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
people will be watching The Lady but also the Harry Potter DVDs over | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
Christmas. Last week the leader of the Liberal | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
Democrats made it clear that he did not see eye-to-eye with the leader | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
of the Conservative Party on Europe. This week the papers make much of | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
the fact that the coalition partners do not agree on tax breaks | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
for married couples. Once upon a time different views within a | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
government got headlines about splits, but now the two side to | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
boast about them. Vince Cable is Business Secretary and a key player | :41:05. | :41:12. | |
in the current crisis. Good morning. At any point in this crisis over | :41:12. | :41:19. | |
the veto, did you contemplate resignation? No. I frequently think | :41:19. | :41:22. | |
about my position in government because we are all making different | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
-- a difficult decisions, but when I reflect on it, we are committed | :41:27. | :41:32. | |
to making this government work. We have got to deal with the serious | :41:32. | :41:39. | |
problems in the economy. I am somewhat left a centre, a social | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
democrat, but that is secondary to fact that we all have to work | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
together to solve this economic crisis. That is why I am staying in | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
government. Was it clear in your mind that the Beatle might have to | :41:53. | :41:58. | |
be exercised? Did you know what was going to happen? The issues which | :41:58. | :42:05. | |
were opposed, about the reform of the financial services sector, were | :42:05. | :42:11. | |
not crucial to the future of the European Union. We should focus on | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
rebalancing our own economy. We need to shift the British economy | :42:16. | :42:22. | |
to manufacturing and creative services. Our own financial | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
services sector needs reform. Our banks were that the centre of the | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
financial crisis. That is why tomorrow the Government is going to | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
launch this initiative on the banks, accepting infill the because | :42:38. | :42:46. | |
commission. We are going to proceed with the separation of the banks. - | :42:46. | :42:53. | |
- we will accept the findings of the Vickers report in full. | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
banks are saying, you cannot split us up, you will damage us, that has | :42:58. | :43:05. | |
failed? It has, and I am working with the Chancellor on this. We're | :43:05. | :43:10. | |
going to proceed with it. Moreover, we are going to get on with it. The | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
secondary legislation will be completed within this Parliament. | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
It has got to be done because we cannot have a position where the | :43:18. | :43:24. | |
big banks are too big to fail. are going to see the splitting up | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
of the banks. The Chancellor was worried about this, as I recall, | :43:28. | :43:34. | |
but he has changed his position? have treated this as a joint | :43:34. | :43:41. | |
exercise. The Chancellor and I set up this Commission together. We | :43:41. | :43:43. | |
have accepted the recommendations of the commission to make the | :43:43. | :43:49. | |
British economy save. We cannot risk having a reputation -- a | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
repetition of the financial catastrophe three years ago. This | :43:54. | :44:01. | |
is a good result. I do reflect on the fact that within this | :44:01. | :44:03. | |
government I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues have achieved a | :44:03. | :44:10. | |
series of positive things. This is one of them? It is. Protecting the | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
state pension, and the premium. Reform of the banks is something we | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
argued for and now it will happen. Even Boris Johnson conceded that | :44:20. | :44:25. | |
the use of the British veto which she was in favour of has not put | :44:25. | :44:31. | |
the city in a stronger position. It has not put British financial | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
services in a more protected position. Do you think that as | :44:35. | :44:43. | |
well? Yes, and Boris Johnson was right. So what was it all died? | :44:43. | :44:53. | |
:44:53. | :44:56. | ||
was slightly political. -- what was it about. It did not deal with the | :44:56. | :45:04. | |
financial problems in Europe. you have had to swallow some of | :45:04. | :45:10. | |
your political views? Yes, we need to focus on the long-term issues. | :45:10. | :45:16. | |
We cannot tell the union what to do, but we have got to make fundamental | :45:16. | :45:22. | |
reforms to get stability and growth. That is the top priority. We need | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
to work within the European Union. If I and my colleagues are going to | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
continue to attract inward investment from overseas, | :45:31. | :45:36. | |
particularly from the big Asian countries, they see Britain as a | :45:36. | :45:42. | |
gateway to Europe. We are in a very dangerous economic position, much | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
worse than threat their whole half- century of the European Union. The | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
European Union has put in place a series of rules to prevent | :45:51. | :45:56. | |
nationalism, protectionism, it is so tempting to use the crisis to | :45:56. | :46:06. | |
:46:06. | :46:07. | ||
break those, which is why the union Nonetheless, some countries will | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
fall out of the euro, won't they, in the year ahead? I don't think | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
that's necessary. It's something we should try to avoid. There is a | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
two-stage problem within Europe, one is preventing large scale | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
default in southern Europe and from the Germans in particular, they've | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
got to get behind the financial support. The longer term issue is | :46:28. | :46:35. | |
how you solve the problem with an imbalance. Some countries have | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
large deficits. The deficit countries have to accept financial | :46:39. | :46:45. | |
discipline, but the Germans have to expand and that balance is not | :46:45. | :46:49. | |
accepted yet. Can I ask you about the tax break story today, no tax | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
break for couples who get married. Why is this something to raise now? | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
It was a big issue before the Government was formed but it didn't | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
find its way into the coalition agreement because the two parties | :47:01. | :47:06. | |
differ. I'm a great believer in traditional | :47:06. | :47:10. | |
marriages, I've had two very successful happy marriages, so I | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
won't criticise it. But there's a difference between giving | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
artificial tax incentives which amongst others would penalise | :47:18. | :47:24. | |
widows. It feels a slightly gratuitous piece of Liberal | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
Democrat gunnery at this delicate moment? I don't think so. I don't | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
think that was the intention. I know Nick Clegg is trying to focus | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
our attention on the big economic agenda which is what this | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
Government is really about. I'm sure tomorrow, he'll be celebrating | :47:37. | :47:44. | |
with me the fact that we are making this big reform of the banking | :47:44. | :47:47. | |
system, something we have fought for and has been achieved. Thank | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
you very much for now. We are getting towards the end of the show. | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
Time for the look back at some of the highlights from the last year. | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
It's been quite a year at home and abroad. In January, all the main | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
party leaders knew that 2011 would be tough, but no-one could have | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
predicted what the biggest challenges would turn out to be. My | :48:04. | :48:14. | |
:48:14. | :48:16. | ||
first challenge as it happens was the irrepressible Lenny Henry. | :48:16. | :48:24. | |
You are like Dangerman, aren't you? Do I get to ask a question? | :48:24. | :48:32. | |
course! You'd better get on it. faster! I am still confident and | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
optimistic about our future but I fully accept a difficult year and a | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
year in which I'm sure people will want, from time to time, to give | :48:38. | :48:44. | |
their politicians a good hard kick. You don't join a Government western | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
you are dealing with these big issues and somehow think you are | :48:47. | :48:50. | |
going to be exempt fromvilleification, far from it. | :48:50. | :48:55. | |
I've got broad shoulders, thick skin. It would be very difficult to | :48:55. | :49:01. | |
work with Nick Clegg but let's see if he were to be a sinner repentus, | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
maybe things would change. He was a force for stability in the region, | :49:06. | :49:10. | |
in the peace process, but, having said that, there were a whole lot | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
of forces for democracy, for change, economic and social reform in Egypt | :49:14. | :49:24. | |
:49:24. | :49:25. | ||
that were held back. And those are now unleashed. | :49:25. | :49:30. | |
You met Saif Gaddafi. What did you think when you saw him giving that | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
extraordinary first speech? To be honest, I would rather have had a | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
couple of minutes with him beforehand to say that, you know, | :49:37. | :49:44. | |
this sort of performance is not going to get you anywhere. I've | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
been saying for many months, George Osborne's plan is bad economics, it | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
won't work and it's looking like I was right and George was wrong. | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
sitting here a minute ago said it was George Osborne's fault. One of | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
the big changes since Ed Balls was trying to run the economy which is | :50:00. | :50:05. | |
these things are done independently, like Harry Hill. Fight, fiect, but | :50:05. | :50:10. | |
you don't fight. -- fight. And so, to the review of | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
the Sunday papers which are dominated by the aftermath of the | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
Royal Wedding. Is Elton a Knight of the garter, or does he just wear | :50:19. | :50:24. | |
them? The Bishop of London's sermon was a cracker. Singing Jerusalem | :50:24. | :50:27. | |
with the London Symphony Orchestra behind you felt like the roof would | :50:27. | :50:32. | |
lift off and there was no better place to be in. You are going to be | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
the guest of the Queen at Buckingham Palace? Yes. Some people | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
noticed last time around that you and Michelle seem to have a bit of | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
kemstry with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh -- chemistry. | :50:43. | :50:46. | |
could not have been more charming to the girls, they had a tkhoons | :50:46. | :50:49. | |
ride in the carriage on the grounds. David Cameron has the opportunity | :50:49. | :50:55. | |
every week to sit down with the Queen -- chance to ride in the | :50:55. | :51:01. | |
carriage. Would you like to privately do that, shoot the breeze | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
with the Queen? Not sure if anybody shoots the breeze with the when | :51:05. | :51:09. | |
but... Perhaps not. Here it is, the last edition of the News of the | :51:09. | :51:15. | |
World. No, no, no. Are you able to say that the relationship between | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and News International and other | :51:21. | :51:24. | |
newspaper bosses was unhealthily close? It was too close. How are | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
things going with your brother? You're brothers for life and | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
politicians for a Parliament at a time. Life never goes according to | :51:32. | :51:35. | |
plan. Actually there isn't a plan, you've got a series of | :51:35. | :51:38. | |
circumstances and try and make the best of it. Sometimes it hurts, | :51:38. | :51:44. | |
it's worth saying that. I was born under a Labour Government and I am | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
determined to die under a Labour Government. I'll have to get a move | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
on obviously, but I suppose my message is, have faith. | :51:53. | :52:02. | |
And try and change the world. reflections on Britain over the | :52:02. | :52:07. | |
summer? Grimsville, the Americans are now calling us Grimsville. The | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
British are savages, it's what makes us good at wars. I need a | :52:12. | :52:16. | |
dollar, dollar, a dollar that's what I need, yeah... Is there any | :52:16. | :52:21. | |
chance do you think of the two of you standing pretty much shoulder- | :52:21. | :52:25. | |
to-shoulder at this moment of crisis? I would say actually... I | :52:25. | :52:29. | |
believe that Ed has good motives and I hope he would think I have | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
good motives, we are trying to get the British economy going. We are | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
both completely clear together that Britain didn't join the Single | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
Currency, that was one of the most important decisions of the last 20 | :52:42. | :52:45. | |
years. Because you are Foreign Secretary and worried? I will never | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
go soft on in. I believe in being in Europe but not being run by | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
Europe in my slogan of ten years or so ago. At any point did the Prime | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
Minister call you and speak to you about it directly? He was knocked | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
in a nocturnal negotiation, I was locked in my flat in Sheffield. | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
What was your reaction? I said it was bad for Britain and made it | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
clear to the Prime Minister that it was untenable for me to welcome it. | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
It's not a marriage, it doesn't end in divorce. I'm happily married, to | :53:15. | :53:22. | |
my wife and not Nick Clegg, put it that way. If I share with you my | :53:22. | :53:30. | |
story, would you share your dollar with me... | :53:30. | :53:35. | |
A few moments from the last year. Our three politicians have return | :53:35. | :53:41. | |
and we have Annie Lennox too. You are wearing your HIV shirt, you are | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
not quite sitting on Boris Johnson's shoulder or knee. | :53:45. | :53:50. | |
didn't intend to. She's the AIDS ambassador. I was going to make | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
that point. You are doing work in Africa with AIDS, particularly | :53:54. | :53:58. | |
looking at the transmission of AIDS from mothers to children. That's | :53:58. | :54:01. | |
right. You have fame and celebrity. What can you bring to the party | :54:01. | :54:06. | |
when it comes to big campaigns like this? The thing is that I have a | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
tremendous passion for women and children's rights and I figured out | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
that HIV and AIDS was something I felt so strongly about, the fact | :54:14. | :54:18. | |
that, at this point in time, you know, over 33 million people have | :54:18. | :54:22. | |
died from HIV and AIDS, it's a huge figure. A lot of people would say | :54:22. | :54:28. | |
HIV is an old story? Certainly not. It's not in Africa for sure, it's a | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
daily story where a thousand children die on a daily basis | :54:33. | :54:37. | |
actually. Here to too, we really need to get our act together and | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
start to remessage to young people especially in the capital... It's | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
on the increase again, yes. Yes. It's been a busy year because you | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
have an exhibition at the V&A, the old Eurythmics gear? Well, some of | :54:51. | :55:00. | |
it, yes. You are going to be singing in a meement - moment a | :55:00. | :55:03. | |
wonderful Christmas Carol, wonderful cold weather out there, | :55:03. | :55:12. | |
and this is In The Bleak Midwinter? Yes. The album is in the charts? | :55:12. | :55:19. | |
believe so, yes. You came to Carols early on? Yes, it was such a joy to | :55:20. | :55:24. | |
revisit traditional car rolls, it's a pleasure for me. I started | :55:24. | :55:28. | |
singing them when I was seven and now I'm 57, so 50 years of singing | :55:28. | :55:34. | |
them. Go and warm up the piano. Great stuff, thank you. Well, lots | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
we could talk about in the last programme of the year. What about | :55:38. | :55:40. | |
predictions about the number of countries that will still be in the | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
euro this time next year if we are all sitting on the sofa. Peter? | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
we have fewer members of the eurozone, we have to pra that it's | :55:48. | :55:52. | |
their choice and it's because they want that alternative, not because | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
the eurozone's collapsed -- pray. If it collapses, we are all, | :55:56. | :56:01. | |
including Britain, well in the mire. So you hope that it's the same size | :56:01. | :56:07. | |
as it is now. Boris? I think, as I said now, it's highly unlikely | :56:07. | :56:10. | |
we'll be here without there having been some kind of big reform. I | :56:11. | :56:16. | |
would say certainly at least one will go. What's that, 16, Ouzo will | :56:16. | :56:20. | |
be substantially cheaper is my prediction. Vince? I think it will | :56:20. | :56:24. | |
stay together. They are leaving their rescue until late in the day, | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
but I think they know it has to be done. We shouldn't underestimate | :56:27. | :56:31. | |
the sheer upheaval, if it does go wrong. What is the most important | :56:31. | :56:35. | |
thing for next year? What do you want in your Christmas stocking | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
politically? A triumphant Olympic and Paralympic Games. The sense | :56:39. | :56:42. | |
that the economy is turning round, people are doing the right thing, | :56:42. | :56:45. | |
but they are worried about jobs and living standards and it should be | :56:45. | :56:49. | |
the clear evidence... So lack of a further crisis in a way? | :56:49. | :56:54. | |
sticking to what we are doing and making a success of it Labour want | :56:54. | :56:58. | |
more definition of what the new project is all about, perhaps more | :56:58. | :57:04. | |
Sol si, fewer jokes at Prime Minister's Questions -- policy. | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
They've not been great in Prime Minister's Questions, have they? | :57:07. | :57:12. | |
want to see how the Prime Minister deals with this extremism on his | :57:12. | :57:16. | |
backbenchs, we have seen a hint of this and if their policy hold | :57:16. | :57:20. | |
spreads across the agenda, we'll see fast developing David Cameron's | :57:20. | :57:23. | |
worst nightmare. Thank you all. Boris Johnson still | :57:23. | :57:28. | |
clutching your book. Yes, I failed to publicise it earlier on. That's | :57:28. | :57:35. | |
right. Boris Johnson is still in rum bustious spirit. Thanks to all | :57:35. | :57:40. | |
my guests. Over the next 12 months mrbgs more shows I'm sure, but | :57:40. | :57:50. | |
:57:50. | :57:52. | ||
taking a break now and we are back on 8th January. In the New Year, we | :57:52. | :58:02. | |
will have Ranulph Fiennes. We end with Annie Lennox performing In The | :58:02. | :58:12. | |
:58:12. | :58:17. | ||
Bleak Midwinter. Happy Christmas # In The Bleak Midwinter, frosty | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
wind may moan # Earth stood hard as iron, water | :58:23. | :58:31. | |
like a stone ; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow | :58:32. | :58:41. | |
:58:42. | :58:49. | ||
on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago | :58:49. | :58:59. | |
:58:59. | :59:02. | ||
# Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain; | :59:02. | :59:09. | |
# What can I give him, poor as I # If I were a shepherd, I would | :59:09. | :59:19. | |
:59:19. | :59:23. |