:00:40. > :00:46.Good morning. And welcome a little admission, that title film with the
:00:46. > :00:56.car, it is not live, you see, it was filmed! This morning we have
:00:56. > :00:56.
:00:56. > :01:01.made heroic efforts to get here, slays, huskies. David Cameron was
:01:01. > :01:05.was suppose to be and all lost in the blizzard of London. Shall we
:01:05. > :01:09.see their like again? We shall have to struggle on. Joining me to
:01:09. > :01:15.review the newspapers, Clemency Burton-Hill, Sarah Baxter, editor
:01:15. > :01:20.of the Sunday Sunday times magazine and the BBC's Middle East editor,
:01:20. > :01:26.Jeremy Bowen who is just back from Damascus. Repression from the
:01:26. > :01:30.regime there seems to be intensifying. The resignation of
:01:30. > :01:34.Chris Huhne as Energy and Climate Change Secretary matters to him,
:01:34. > :01:39.but does it matter to the Government and to the rest of us? A
:01:39. > :01:46.big Tory revolt over windfarms is building up and many Lib Dems
:01:46. > :01:51.thought that Hoon was an -- Huhne was an essential bruiser. President
:01:51. > :01:55.of the Liberal Democrats, and a man tipped as a future leader, Tim
:01:55. > :01:59.Farron joins us from snowy Cumbria. Problems in Britain's schools
:01:59. > :02:03.continue to make headlines too. There is the Sunday Times. 5,000
:02:03. > :02:11.heads are no good says the new chief inspector. So what has gone
:02:11. > :02:18.wrong? Labour's education spokesman is Steven Rawlings. He joins us to
:02:18. > :02:22.-- Stephen Twigg. He joins us. It is 60 years since Princess
:02:22. > :02:27.Elizabeth was told that her father died in his sleep and she was now
:02:27. > :02:30.Queen. What has her reign meant for British politics? Sir John Major,
:02:31. > :02:35.one of her dozen Prime Ministers opened his heart to her almost
:02:35. > :02:39.every week for five years and he joins us this morning to reflect on
:02:39. > :02:47.a diamond Queen. We will hear from the BBC's director General, about a
:02:47. > :02:51.shocking development in Iran where relatives of a BBC journalist
:02:51. > :02:54.working in London have been arrested.
:02:54. > :02:58.First to the news desk and Naga Munchetty.
:02:58. > :03:03.Herself owe know swept across much of the UK bringing disruption to to
:03:03. > :03:07.road, rail and air travel. Sections of the M25 and the M40 motorways
:03:07. > :03:14.were at a standstill last night with many vehicles abandoned and
:03:14. > :03:20.drivers trapped. Rail services were affected and airport runways closed.
:03:20. > :03:24.Heathrow's operators have chanceled 350 flights today.
:03:24. > :03:28.The M11, traffic is moving slowly, but it is moving. Some other
:03:28. > :03:31.motorways came to a standstill for a time as lorries jackknifed and
:03:31. > :03:37.cars got stuck. People pulled over on the side of
:03:38. > :03:45.the road. There is just snow and ice everywhere. Not good. Not good.
:03:45. > :03:50.On the M40, about 100 vehicles were stranded for over three hours
:03:50. > :03:55.before the police got the traffic moving again with the help of snow
:03:55. > :03:59.snow Ploughs. Some people saw the snow as an opportunity for thrill
:03:59. > :04:02.seeking. Others needed a hand to get home. In London, many Tube
:04:02. > :04:06.services were cancelled so passengers had to seek alternative
:04:06. > :04:10.means of transport. This footage was taken on the Tube on the
:04:10. > :04:14.Central line in Essex. Passengers had to get off the train and walk
:04:14. > :04:17.for 15 minutes to the nearest station. But most bus services did
:04:17. > :04:21.carry on working. Despite the weather forecast, there
:04:21. > :04:25.was those that hadn't heard there was deep snow on the way. The worst
:04:25. > :04:30.of the snow is set to move off towards the Continent today,
:04:30. > :04:34.leaving icy conditions behind. The gritters have been on the roads
:04:34. > :04:40.overnight and at the airports, snow clearance has been underway. The
:04:40. > :04:50.agencies are are doing their best to get the road, rail and air
:04:50. > :04:55.There has been international outrage after after China and
:04:55. > :05:01.Russia - William Hague said their move marked an hour of shame. It
:05:01. > :05:05.follows reports that 200 people were killed in Homs on Friday.
:05:05. > :05:12.How does the international community stop this? The Syrian
:05:12. > :05:15.city of Homs under attack. Activists called it a massacre and
:05:15. > :05:18.blamed the authorities. But the Syrian Government says it
:05:18. > :05:22.wasn't responsible. For days now, diplomats at the
:05:22. > :05:27.United Nations have been working on a resolution to end the violence.
:05:27. > :05:30.The proposal backed an Arab League peace plan and called for President
:05:30. > :05:37.Assad to stand down. But when the vote came on Saturday,
:05:37. > :05:41.so did the veto. Russia, and China both saying no. They feared the
:05:41. > :05:46.resolution could lead to military intervention. Britain, France and
:05:46. > :05:52.the US all condemned the move. The United States is disgusted that
:05:52. > :05:57.a couple members of this council continued to prevent us from
:05:57. > :06:01.fulfilling our soul purpose here, addressing and ever deepening
:06:01. > :06:08.crisis in Syria and a growing threat to regional peace and
:06:08. > :06:11.security. Protesters have been demonstrating
:06:11. > :06:16.outside Syrian embassies around the globe. They want the world to do
:06:16. > :06:20.more. But with the United Nations divided,
:06:21. > :06:30.an international resolution to the crisis in Syria seems further away
:06:31. > :06:31.
:06:31. > :06:38.Republicans in Nevada have voteted for Mitt Romney to take on
:06:38. > :06:41.President Obama. The front-runner easily saw off his rivals. Mitt
:06:41. > :06:44.Romney is favourite to win his party's presidential nomination.
:06:45. > :06:51.Here over 100 Conservative MPs have written to the Prime Minister
:06:51. > :06:57.calling on him to cut subsidies for onshore wind turbines. The MPs wand
:06:57. > :07:03.planning rules changed to make it easier for local people to object
:07:03. > :07:12.to that construction. Downing Street said that wind was an
:07:12. > :07:22.important energy mix. I have shown you the Sunday Times
:07:22. > :07:23.
:07:23. > :07:27.and the Sunday Telegraph already. Heathrow has been cancelling lots
:07:27. > :07:30.of flights. This is the Observer with another snow picture. Ed
:07:30. > :07:34.Miliband turning up the pressure on the Government over their NHS
:07:34. > :07:44.reforms. The people say just panic about
:07:44. > :07:46.
:07:47. > :07:55.snow. The Daily Star, my 200 lovers in one year. TV's star's shocking
:07:55. > :08:01.confession. What are you like? Our man from Damascus Jeremy Bowen.
:08:01. > :08:03.Thank you for coming. Jeremy, let's talk about the Syrian stories over
:08:03. > :08:08.the papers, of course. Yes.
:08:08. > :08:15.It is very, very hard to see where this goes. A lot of frustration, we
:08:15. > :08:19.heard, on the news there about China and Russia, but a sad, --
:08:19. > :08:23.Assad must be enjoying that? It is over the newspapers. Bombs fell
:08:23. > :08:27.like rain. You could only pray. What is interesting this morning is
:08:27. > :08:31.the view from the Presidential Palace in Damascus. I think he will
:08:31. > :08:35.be waking up, happy with life because you think about it. They
:08:35. > :08:40.have got the Russians and the Chinese watching their backs,
:08:40. > :08:44.internationally. There is a bit of a dispute among diplomats in
:08:44. > :08:48.Damascus about how overstretched or not his forces are, but he does
:08:48. > :08:53.have important units in reserve and he is under pressure from people on
:08:53. > :08:58.his own side and he does have genuine support within the country
:08:58. > :09:01.to take the gloves off and that doesn't just come from his own
:09:01. > :09:06.community, it comes from the likes of some Christians saying you have
:09:06. > :09:12.to deal with this. I think their point of view is, you may not like
:09:13. > :09:17.Assad, but what might come instead of him? This could be a much more
:09:17. > :09:22.extreme regime? The bring spector which he brings up and a lot of
:09:22. > :09:27.people buy the argument is that it could be some kind of Sunni regime
:09:27. > :09:33.and Christians looked at what happened to Christians since 2002,
:09:33. > :09:37.the invasion -- 2003, the invasion in Iraq. They say something like
:09:37. > :09:41.that could happen. For Assad, he will be feeling good this morning
:09:41. > :09:45.despite the fact that all around the world he has been condemned.
:09:45. > :09:49.That's a grim thought. Sarah. You have got another story here? Well,
:09:49. > :09:54.it is an interesting and surprising prospective to me. When you see
:09:54. > :09:59.pictures like this seeing hundreds of massacred in Syria's bloodiest
:09:59. > :10:02.day and you see the bodies laid out, Syria has gone to enormous lengths
:10:02. > :10:06.to stop people getting at the truth of what is happening there.
:10:06. > :10:10.Journalists are not allowed to wander freely and yet these
:10:10. > :10:14.pictures are coming out and it is hard to see what the end game is
:10:14. > :10:18.when you see a row of dead bodies and mourning crowds around him and
:10:18. > :10:25.things are going to get nastier, Jeremy is right, it could take a
:10:25. > :10:30.dark turn and the country could become very frackled.
:10:30. > :10:37.It they used to be able to do things like this in private. The
:10:37. > :10:44.difference about the modern modern world it comes out the same way.
:10:44. > :10:50.French, Britain and Americans outraged at has happened. Strong
:10:50. > :10:57.language. The Americans said "disgusted" these Syrian lives are
:10:58. > :11:03.expendable. We have seen hugely valuable arms deal for Russia.
:11:03. > :11:09.There is an election this year. They want, you know, cheap oil
:11:09. > :11:14.imports and it is a preposterous situation there. China voting
:11:14. > :11:19.behind Russia because China need Russian support on issues like
:11:19. > :11:24.North Korea. But a short-termist strategy because it looks like
:11:24. > :11:28.Assad's position is unsustainable. My view is the regime is going one
:11:28. > :11:33.way and that's down into the dustbin of history, but it won't be
:11:33. > :11:39.be easy. It will take sometime and it will be bloody. Unless something
:11:39. > :11:42.changes on the inside and there might be some truce, but some
:11:42. > :11:47.internal collapse, but there will be that tipping point that reached
:11:47. > :11:49.perhaps when big army units defect from his forces which hasn't
:11:49. > :11:53.happened yet. It has been individuals. But for the time being,
:11:53. > :11:59.from his point of view, he is feeling quite strong. He is He is
:11:59. > :12:03.feeling he is riding it out and the message, the wider message that
:12:04. > :12:10.people like Assad took from the beginning of the Arab Spring with
:12:10. > :12:14.Mubarek and Ben ally, -- Ali, they didn't use enough force. Force
:12:14. > :12:19.works. You have got to use enough of it.
:12:19. > :12:23.Sarah. On the front of the Sunday Times,
:12:23. > :12:27.school chief, 5,000 heads are no good. The chief inspector is a
:12:27. > :12:32.tough guy. He is an inspired leader and he is saying that leadership
:12:32. > :12:36.matters and it is no good heads making excuses for poor performance,
:12:37. > :12:42.they have got to inspire teachers and inspire the best teachers to
:12:42. > :12:50.stay in their jobs because too many good teachers leave and the bog-
:12:50. > :12:53.standard ones, the bog bog-standard, we need everybody to think a
:12:53. > :13:03.comprehensive has got to be above average.
:13:03. > :13:09.Your next story, clemency. -- well, it has been an
:13:09. > :13:15.extraordinary week for the internet. There is 845 million monthly users,
:13:15. > :13:19.half of hom sign in every day -- hom sign in every day. It has a
:13:19. > :13:26.rocketing growth rate. The growth rate is really interesting, because
:13:26. > :13:30.Facebook, it is seven years since since it was started. Astonishing
:13:30. > :13:34.rise now one in eight people on the planet are on Facebook, but where
:13:34. > :13:38.does it go from there? The shareholders will be expecting a
:13:38. > :13:44.lot from Facebook if they do buy into it. Where is that growth going
:13:44. > :13:48.to come from? Huge questions being raised about how Facebook makes its
:13:48. > :13:52.money and from whom it makes its money? Facebook is not a normal
:13:52. > :13:57.company and doesn't offer a regular product or service, the only thing
:13:57. > :14:00.it has to offer are its users. It will have to work hard to keep the
:14:00. > :14:04.faith. I love the story that the guy who
:14:04. > :14:09.decorated their original offices who got paid in shares instead, he
:14:09. > :14:17.was offered a couple of grand or shared, he took the shares and they
:14:17. > :14:22.will be worth worth $200 million. We are, the users, we are what
:14:22. > :14:27.makes Facebook so valuable. We are the essence of our profits,
:14:27. > :14:31.I am not, but other people are. Apple, you know, a lot of people
:14:31. > :14:35.look at Facebook on their Apple computers. There is a man in
:14:35. > :14:41.America who is saying he is run off his feet. He is a performer and he
:14:41. > :14:47.has done a play, not a play, an address, a lecture about the
:14:47. > :14:50.conditions faced by workers in China who make these wonderful
:14:50. > :14:55.sleek devices, I declare an interest, I have several of them.
:14:55. > :15:04.Apparently the conditions there are very bad. After the death of Steve
:15:04. > :15:10.Jobs there is a bit of a back lash You found a very strange political
:15:10. > :15:14.story. It did make me laugh at. I'm sure your viewers have seen
:15:14. > :15:19.cartoons by Peter Brookes, depicting Ed Miliband as Wallace
:15:19. > :15:25.from Wallace and Gromit. The company, Aardman Animations, is
:15:25. > :15:29.getting concerned about its image. Its brand is being damaged by its
:15:29. > :15:37.association with a ludicrous politician called Ed Miliband! It
:15:37. > :15:40.made me giggle. And your story comes from the Independent as well.
:15:40. > :15:45.Female lorry drivers, not what you'd normally expect to see behind
:15:45. > :15:49.the wheel of a big lorry. A 25- year-old single mum. The numbers of
:15:49. > :15:54.female lorry drivers have doubled over the past decade. For this
:15:54. > :15:59.woman, it's a way of targeting two major issues, employment and child
:15:59. > :16:04.care. She takes her son with her on these 140 mile round trips. What I
:16:04. > :16:08.love about this is she is saying when she first started she thought
:16:09. > :16:14.she couldn't even reverse park in Vauxhall Corsa. How on earth am I
:16:14. > :16:19.going to be able to reverse this truck? She's not the only one. Lots
:16:19. > :16:25.of women are getting involved. It is still a predominantly male
:16:25. > :16:29.profession, though. In Australia, they have these fast tractor things
:16:29. > :16:34.for the mining companies. They are bigger than a house. They are
:16:34. > :16:44.mostly driven by women because women drive them better.
:16:44. > :16:49.
:16:49. > :16:53.Confounding gender stereotypes. Panic. I can corroborate this
:16:53. > :16:58.because yesterday afternoon I was in my local supermarket. I was
:16:58. > :17:03.buying some ice-cream for the kids. It was not panic-buying but it was
:17:03. > :17:06.like Christmas Eve in there. People going berserk. The car park full of
:17:06. > :17:11.people desperately trying to get home before the blizzard hit. And
:17:11. > :17:16.it is there this morning in my part of London, may be about an inch.
:17:16. > :17:21.The main roads are clear. We will survive. The shops will be open, I
:17:21. > :17:25.imagine. What is it about the British and snow? Certainly the
:17:25. > :17:30.British in the south of England and the snow. Your reaction was to go
:17:30. > :17:34.out and buy ice-cream, not soup and potatoes. Sarah, you have spent
:17:34. > :17:38.quite a lot of time in the States. They would regard at a hysteria
:17:39. > :17:44.about snow with amusement. Absolutely. They still used to get
:17:44. > :17:51.out of the house, go to school, grit the roads. I heard a funny
:17:51. > :17:55.thing that a lot of the wives do it because too many of them end Kewley
:17:55. > :18:00.over and have heart attacks trying to clear the drives. A lot of the
:18:00. > :18:06.wives get out there. If you don't like your husband to say, go and
:18:06. > :18:10.clear the snow. Another story. got one from the Sunday Times.
:18:10. > :18:17.Jeremy Hunt is giving his Cabinet colleagues are very special edition
:18:17. > :18:21.of Dickens to mark the 200th anniversary of Dickens' birth. It
:18:21. > :18:24.is brilliant. His interpretation of which of his colleagues should get
:18:24. > :18:31.which book. Bleak House is quite a good representation of Westminster
:18:31. > :18:36.at the moment anyway. For example, Nick Clegg is getting Oliver Twist.
:18:36. > :18:40.The utter pathos of those words, please, sir, I want some more.
:18:40. > :18:47.Particularly in this difficult week for the Liberal Democrats. David
:18:48. > :18:52.Cameron is getting great expectations and Hard Times. Jeremy
:18:52. > :18:56.Hunt believes all children should read Dickens at school. He says the
:18:56. > :18:59.initiative is there to show that Dickens has stood the test of time
:18:59. > :19:04.and his beams are as relevant today as they ever were. Eric Pickles is
:19:04. > :19:08.getting a book called a house to let. If Eric Pickles gets his way
:19:08. > :19:16.there will be a lot of houses to let, some of them in the green belt.
:19:16. > :19:23.Clever stuff. The Sunday Times magazine, there it is. 50 years old.
:19:23. > :19:28.It is an amazing thought. There's a very nice anniversary edition with
:19:28. > :19:33.lots of the original covers. Sarah, some of them quite racy. I'm not
:19:33. > :19:38.sure you'd get away with all of them these days. No, particularly
:19:39. > :19:44.in the 70s there were bronzed, nude ladies and bottoms on show. That
:19:44. > :19:48.was the era of St Tropez and the topless beach. It's always been a
:19:48. > :19:53.mixture of fashion, glamour and gritty stuff it. I think the first
:19:53. > :19:57.cover was Jean Shrimpton. It was, February 1962. There you have the
:19:57. > :20:01.arrival of the Swinging 60s. What could be more glamorous than Jean
:20:02. > :20:07.Shrimpton, shot by David Bailey, a very cool, young photographer at
:20:07. > :20:14.the time, and she wasn't wearing a Mary Quant dress. There are some
:20:14. > :20:18.poignant images - international famine stories, the Anatomy of
:20:18. > :20:22.hunger. Photojournalism as we haven't seen it before. I can
:20:22. > :20:25.remember the magazine coming through the door when I was a kid,
:20:25. > :20:34.and the excitement of these fresh pictures. Lord Lucan was another
:20:34. > :20:40.story. A brilliant article by James Fox. He was the co-author of Keith
:20:40. > :20:45.Richards' autobiography as well. There were extraordinary pictures
:20:45. > :20:49.from Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh. Really moving stuff that brought
:20:49. > :20:57.the reality of war home to people for the first time. The great and
:20:57. > :21:01.the gloss. A wonderful picture of Kylie Minogue as well. Kylie out of
:21:01. > :21:06.the bath tub. That summed up what the art director of the Sunday
:21:06. > :21:11.Times for many years called grit and glamour. I hadn't realised, I'm
:21:11. > :21:16.not trying to find it of course, that when I was training as a
:21:16. > :21:21.journalist, everybody used to quote something that Nick Tomlin, a great
:21:21. > :21:27.foreign correspondent, wrote, when he said that a journalist needed
:21:27. > :21:31.three things. Rat-like cunning, it plausible manner and a little
:21:31. > :21:35.literary ability. That came from an article in the Sunday Times
:21:35. > :21:41.magazine which youths reproduced. yes, it's one of my favourite
:21:41. > :21:46.articles as well. All journalists should read it because it
:21:46. > :21:50.translates very nicely into the digital age. He says, actually, you
:21:50. > :21:55.need lots of other things, too. Including an knack with trains,
:21:55. > :22:00.telephones and petty officials. Good digestion, steady head, Total
:22:00. > :22:04.recall. Another idealism to inspire intelligent prose. Paranoid
:22:04. > :22:08.temperament and an ability to believe in second rate projects.
:22:08. > :22:12.Well-placed relatives, good luck, at the willingness to betray it not
:22:12. > :22:16.friends then acquaintances. I think they are all very good things, you
:22:16. > :22:20.need all of those as a journalist. It takes a lot to get at the truth
:22:20. > :22:26.sometimes. That witty take really sums up what the profession is
:22:26. > :22:33.about. We should also note his bravery because he actually died on
:22:33. > :22:38.the Golan Heights, a Syrian missile. We will be talking about other
:22:38. > :22:42.brave journalists. Thank you all very much, that was great fun. Now
:22:43. > :22:50.one to the weather. Seriously cold and a fair bit of snow, too. Tell
:22:50. > :22:54.us what we can expect over the next It will turn very cold but there's
:22:54. > :23:00.not that much snow in the forecast. This morning, I guess, a blanket
:23:00. > :23:03.for much of central and eastern England. Reports of up to 15
:23:03. > :23:07.centimetres in Church Fenton. Perhaps more due to drifting
:23:07. > :23:14.conditions. Our attention turns to ice. And amber warning from the Met
:23:14. > :23:18.Office. There will be freezing conditions in central and eastern
:23:18. > :23:23.areas. Cloud rolls in through Cornwall, West Devon and
:23:23. > :23:26.Pembrokeshire. East of here, plenty of brightness developing.
:23:26. > :23:30.Temperatures climbing to seven or eight degrees, some five or six
:23:30. > :23:33.degrees up on where we were yesterday. Cloudier skies and
:23:33. > :23:38.milder conditions push into Northern Ireland, patchy outbreaks
:23:38. > :23:41.of rain here. Clouding over through western Scotland. North-west
:23:41. > :23:46.Scotland continues to see scattered showers, potentially the risk of
:23:46. > :23:49.some ice. Eastern Scotland and northern England will see plenty of
:23:49. > :23:54.brightness. Freezing fog through eastern areas at the moment which
:23:54. > :23:59.will be reluctant to clear. The temperatures will rise far above
:23:59. > :24:03.freezing. The South East for many days days cloudy. It will turn cold
:24:03. > :24:07.by night again. Where we've had the snow falling, for tomorrow morning
:24:07. > :24:11.it's worth bearing in mind it could be very icy. On Monday it is
:24:11. > :24:17.looking fairly cloudy, misty and foggy in the east, milder in the
:24:17. > :24:26.West. In the next 24 hours it is set to turn cold. Make the most of
:24:26. > :24:31.Part of the BBC is under attack, but serious attack, not just the
:24:31. > :24:34.regular newspaper bashing. Our Persian service, bringing straight,
:24:34. > :24:38.uncensored news to Iran, is now the subject of smears and intimidation
:24:38. > :24:42.by the regime. In the latest development, relatives of people
:24:42. > :24:47.working for it in London have been detained in Iran and threatened.
:24:47. > :24:54.I'm joined from Oxford studio by the BBC's director general, Mark
:24:54. > :25:00.Thompson. Can you explain to us what has happened in the particular
:25:00. > :25:07.case of relatives being detained and threatened in Tehran? This is a
:25:07. > :25:12.growing pattern, the recent case of the sister of one of our colleagues
:25:12. > :25:16.working in the Persian Service in London, the sister was arrested in
:25:17. > :25:20.Tehran, unspecified charges, kept in solitary confinement, threatened
:25:20. > :25:24.and intimidated. For reasons I don't want to go into detail, we
:25:24. > :25:28.are quite clear, and she was quite clear, this was absolutely
:25:28. > :25:34.associated with the fact that her sister was working for the Persian
:25:34. > :25:36.Service in London. To put this into context, the Persian service,
:25:36. > :25:41.although there are attempts to jam it and stop it reaching people in
:25:41. > :25:45.Iran, is something that is used by a lot of people there as their main
:25:45. > :25:50.source of news. That is right. We have the Persian service for many
:25:50. > :25:53.decades, but some years ago we launched a TV version. There is TV,
:25:53. > :25:57.where and radio. They have been persistent attempts by the
:25:57. > :26:02.authorities in Tehran to jam it, particularly to jam the television
:26:02. > :26:06.service. To be honest, Iranian audiences are very ingenious at
:26:06. > :26:09.finding ways of reaching the service. We know from the
:26:09. > :26:14.extraordinary feedback we get that it is relied upon by many millions
:26:14. > :26:19.of people inside Iran. It is relied upon not because it is in any sense
:26:19. > :26:23.oppositional. Like any other BBC service, this is an impartial,
:26:23. > :26:26.fair-minded service. The authorities admitted it was
:26:26. > :26:29.impartial in a report a few years ago, but the report went on to say
:26:29. > :26:34.that was why it was so dangerous. This particular act of intimidation
:26:34. > :26:38.is part of a pattern. There has been its Mears and all sorts of
:26:38. > :26:45.strange things happening to the service. That's right. And I'm
:26:45. > :26:50.afraid it's getting worse. With two intentions minus one, to intimidate
:26:50. > :26:55.people, simply to refuse or work for the service or to resign from
:26:55. > :26:59.the service. Secondly, to become informants to the Iranian
:26:59. > :27:05.intelligence service inside the service. The very clear evidence
:27:05. > :27:12.that this is aimed at particular and very negative objectives for
:27:12. > :27:17.the Iranian service. And there is not much more can be done beyond
:27:17. > :27:23.protesting loudly and explaining what is happening. The BBC has no
:27:23. > :27:28.control over what happens in Tehran. No. We thought long and hard. There
:27:28. > :27:31.are many factors to think about, not least the safety of the family
:27:31. > :27:35.members of our colleagues inside Iran. We've decided to be more
:27:35. > :27:40.public than we have before in calling for the Iranian authorities
:27:40. > :27:43.to desist from this. To ask for other governments to put on as much
:27:43. > :27:48.pressure as they can. And to hope that the embarrassment of this will
:27:48. > :27:52.get those who are responsible for these actions to think again.
:27:52. > :27:56.there a more general problem here? Clearly it is very hard to report,
:27:56. > :28:00.Jeremy Bowen has just been back from Syria, it's very hard to
:28:00. > :28:05.report their. Is there a pattern in that part of the world of
:28:06. > :28:09.intimidation attempts? The story of censorship and control of media is
:28:09. > :28:14.complex around the world. But there are many countries around the world,
:28:14. > :28:20.including the Middle East, where the situation is deteriorating. We
:28:20. > :28:26.have many colleagues in Judah and many colleagues killed every year.
:28:26. > :28:30.-- many colleagues injured. The courage it requires in many parts
:28:30. > :28:34.of the world, Jeremy himself has often been in very dangerous
:28:34. > :28:38.situations, the courage it now requires to report from some of
:28:38. > :28:42.these countries is immense. I can't tell you how grateful I am and how
:28:42. > :28:46.will the BBC's audiences are by the immense courage shown by our
:28:46. > :28:50.colleagues. Do you think you're getting the backing you need from
:28:50. > :28:55.ministers? Yes, I believe the British government and other
:28:55. > :28:59.international governments, we are not alone, the Persian news network
:28:59. > :29:03.in America is suffering similar things. Western governments are
:29:03. > :29:13.definitely very clear in condemning this. On the other hand, there is a
:29:13. > :29:16.We've already talked about the big blast against school heads in
:29:16. > :29:19.today's papers. But the coalition is forging ahead with all sorts of
:29:19. > :29:24.educational reforms. Hundreds of schools becoming academies and the
:29:24. > :29:27.first wave of new free schools. Other changes as well as a Michael
:29:27. > :29:30.Gove announced that he wants vocational courses to be made more
:29:30. > :29:35.rigorous. More emphasis on traditional academic subjects -
:29:35. > :29:42.literacy, numeracy and all that. What is Labour's attitude to this?
:29:42. > :29:46.Stephen Twigg is with me now. Labour started a few Academy
:29:46. > :29:51.Schools and now that has been pushed much further forward. I
:29:51. > :29:55.think there has been a bit of confusion about free schools. It
:29:55. > :29:59.may very well be that if you won the next general election, quite a
:29:59. > :30:03.lot of the schools will be up and running and some of them pretty
:30:03. > :30:07.successfully. Good morning, and it. The purpose behind our policy is to
:30:07. > :30:10.have good schools in all neighbourhoods. The reason the
:30:10. > :30:14.Labour Party started academies was to make sure that some of our most
:30:14. > :30:17.deprived neighbourhoods would have such schools. We didn't support the
:30:17. > :30:20.free schools policy. Some of the free schools that are being
:30:20. > :30:24.established could have been established under our Academy
:30:24. > :30:28.programme. My worry is Michael Gove's approach is to focus on
:30:28. > :30:31.certain pet project at the expense of the majority of schools. But it
:30:31. > :30:37.there are free schools up and running, are you saying that Labour
:30:37. > :30:40.would come in and close them down Of course not. Of course not. I
:30:40. > :30:45.have been to visit one of the free schools and I have spoken to some
:30:45. > :30:48.of the others that are setting free schools up. Which schools are the
:30:48. > :30:52.only way new schools can be established under this Government.
:30:52. > :30:56.Some good people are setting schools up. We will want to see if
:30:56. > :31:01.the schools are successful. Are they serving the local demunet? Are
:31:01. > :31:06.-- community? Are they meeting local need? No Education Secretary
:31:06. > :31:09.will be in the business of closing schools.
:31:09. > :31:13.If there were free schools that were serving the local community,
:31:13. > :31:16.would you let them go ahead? We are having a review of our policy and
:31:16. > :31:21.we will have detailed approach to these issues come the next election.
:31:21. > :31:24.We will have a different schools landscape in 2015. There will be
:31:24. > :31:29.several thousand academies, several hundred free schools, what we will
:31:29. > :31:33.want to ensure is fair funding, fair admissions, and also schools
:31:33. > :31:36.collaborating with each other. I worry about schools becoming
:31:36. > :31:41.isolated from each other. Schools work best if they support one
:31:41. > :31:46.another and challenge one another. But the old full on hostility to
:31:46. > :31:50.free schools has gone? I don't think, I don't there was a full on
:31:51. > :31:56.hostility, the Government is spend less on building new schools and
:31:56. > :31:59.where there is new money it is for the free schools and it is they are
:31:59. > :32:02.meeting the local need. There are lots of problems about
:32:02. > :32:07.the quality of education in schools all over Britain, but in England
:32:07. > :32:15.and Wales, which is what we are talking about just now. A lot of
:32:15. > :32:19.surprise that, you know, vocational qualifications in hair care and
:32:19. > :32:23.looking after horses, where being treated as the equivalent of a
:32:23. > :32:27.couple of GCSEs? We have seen an announcement from the Government
:32:27. > :32:30.which makes sense. Some of the equivalents were not right. I
:32:30. > :32:35.support the Government in making the changes. However, I am worried
:32:35. > :32:41.they are throwing the babe baby out with the bath water. The
:32:41. > :32:48.engineering diploma which is a hugely respected qualification
:32:48. > :32:52.which was equivalent to five GCSEs is equivalent to one.
:32:52. > :32:56.Do you any looking back that Labour's emfa siz on -- emphasis on
:32:56. > :33:03.more people going for white collar degrees in universities around the
:33:03. > :33:06.country, up to 50%, you wanted and all these diplomas rather than old-
:33:06. > :33:09.fashioned vocational training so we can have an industrially effective
:33:09. > :33:16.economy again. Do you think that was a mistake? The mistake was that
:33:16. > :33:19.he didn't put enough emphasis on the 50% who weren't going to go to
:33:19. > :33:23.higher education. We didn't think enough about what the quality
:33:23. > :33:32.routes would be for the other 50%. That's why we developed the
:33:32. > :33:35.diplomas, I gave the example of the engineering diploma, my worry is
:33:35. > :33:38.the Government are going to close down path ways for young people who
:33:38. > :33:43.want to go into things like engineering.
:33:43. > :33:46.Do you accept the world has changed. The money won't be available for
:33:46. > :33:53.building lots of schools and in the past, some of that money was not
:33:53. > :33:56.well spent? We had an ambitious programme, Building Schools for the
:33:56. > :34:00.Future, but it didn't always deliver value for money. There will
:34:00. > :34:04.be less money if we are elected in 2010 so they will have to spend
:34:04. > :34:07.more carefully. There is a shortage of primary school places in many
:34:07. > :34:10.parts of the country and I'm concerned that the Government's
:34:10. > :34:13.focus on building lots of new free schools in some areas won't meet
:34:13. > :34:18.the local need for extra primary places.
:34:18. > :34:22.Can I ask more generally, clearly as I said, economically the world
:34:22. > :34:27.has changed. We maybe looking at a long period of austerity. Do you
:34:27. > :34:31.think that Labour has yet got a single, clear message, about what
:34:31. > :34:36.it is for in this new political dimat? I think what Ed Miliband has
:34:36. > :34:39.been doing is to set out a clear message which is about addressing
:34:39. > :34:44.the needs of the vast bulk of the population, seeking responsibility
:34:44. > :34:48.as he said both at the top and at the bottom of society. When Ed made
:34:48. > :34:55.his speech at the party conference last year, a lot of people
:34:55. > :35:02.criticised him for his critique of capital capitalism, now it is back
:35:02. > :35:06.something that is aped by David Cameron and Nick Clegg. We can be
:35:06. > :35:08.ready to create a fairer society without significant amounts of
:35:08. > :35:16.money. David Miliband said last week there
:35:16. > :35:21.was a danger of of reassurance Labour, Labour was in favour of the
:35:21. > :35:25.big State, delivering welfare and so on in the old way. Would you
:35:25. > :35:30.agree? I a I gree and David -- agree and David's input is an
:35:30. > :35:35.important one. Ed has been striking out a different approach. I don't
:35:35. > :35:39.think Ed's approach has been reassurance Labour. He has been
:35:39. > :35:44.prepared to challenge vested interests in the private and public
:35:44. > :35:47.sector. We need to encourage co- operatives, civic action. We We
:35:47. > :35:51.can't direct everything from the centre, that was one of our
:35:51. > :36:00.weaknesses in Government. When it comes to the overall
:36:00. > :36:04.message, the notion in the old days Labour was was able to enjoy a long
:36:04. > :36:08.boom and take the money from the City and spend it on services?
:36:08. > :36:12.is going to be a different world, we will have to deliver value for
:36:12. > :36:14.money, but we will have priorities based on our values which is about
:36:14. > :36:17.fairness and creating a more equal society.
:36:17. > :36:21.You think Ed Miliband is staying the course? Ed Miliband is
:36:21. > :36:24.certainly staying the course. It is challenging being Leader of the
:36:24. > :36:29.Opposition, but he was ahead of the curve on responsible capitalism. He
:36:29. > :36:33.is leading the campaign on the NHS where we have a real opportunity to
:36:33. > :36:38.say to the Government "think again and drop this Bill." Has to go into
:36:38. > :36:43.a new gear this year, do you think? I think he is in top gear now and
:36:43. > :36:49.all of us in his team have to pull behind him and show that we have
:36:49. > :36:50.not just a leader ready to take over as Prime Minister, but a Prime
:36:50. > :36:54.Minister. The Liberal Democrats have a direct
:36:54. > :36:57.role in Government for the first time since well, since the party
:36:57. > :37:01.was founded. However, their individual identity and their
:37:01. > :37:05.separate policies have been rather overshadowed by the Conservatives
:37:05. > :37:12.who form the larger part of the coalition. The most outspoken Lib
:37:12. > :37:17.Dem sitting at the Cabinet table a man prepared to lock horns with the
:37:17. > :37:20.Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister was Chris Huhne. What dus
:37:20. > :37:26.his court a-- does his court appearance mean for the Liberal
:37:26. > :37:33.Democrats? Tim Farron is in Cumbria. It looks cold there. Thank you for
:37:33. > :37:39.coming out? This is normal, Andrew. Let me start with some politics as
:37:39. > :37:43.normal. A lot of hostility hostility building up to windfarms,
:37:43. > :37:50.one of Chris Huhne's key policies. Do you think his departure from
:37:50. > :37:53.Government is going to blunt the climate change agenda that the
:37:53. > :37:58.Liberal Democrats have been so enthusiastic about? No, it isn't.
:37:58. > :38:03.Ed Davey is on outstanding environmentalist and someone with
:38:03. > :38:06.years, and a track record on green issues and the right person to take
:38:06. > :38:16.over in the job, that doesn't mean we will miss Chris Huhne, we will.
:38:16. > :38:17.
:38:17. > :38:22.The whole Government will miss miss Chris Huhne. I have seen many
:38:22. > :38:27.tributes to Chris's work. In Ed Davey, we have someone who is
:38:27. > :38:34.formidable. He has come from the business department where he saw
:38:34. > :38:38.through the Royal Mail reforms. Ed Davey is a very, very capable
:38:38. > :38:41.man and we will be finding out more about him in the coming days.
:38:41. > :38:44.You said the hole Government would miss Chris Huhne, I am not sure if
:38:44. > :38:49.that is right. There is lots and lots of Conservatives jumping up
:38:49. > :38:54.and down with glee about the fact that Chris Huhne has gone and one
:38:54. > :39:00.of the reasons for that this is one of the most outspoken and if you
:39:00. > :39:08.like rough house political fighters on your side of the coalition. Him
:39:08. > :39:16.not being there, weakens the Lib Dem voice surely?. No. Absolutely
:39:16. > :39:20.none of us, you or I is indensable. We will miss -- indispensable. We
:39:20. > :39:23.will miss miss Chris. But what matters is we work together as a a
:39:23. > :39:30.Government. It is important that the Liberal Democrats flex our
:39:30. > :39:34.muscles and we demonstrate our separate separate idea. What is
:39:34. > :39:39.important to most people watching this programme is we get out of the
:39:39. > :39:44.appalling mess we have been left by Labour. One thing we have in common
:39:44. > :39:48.is a desire to make sure we make a coalition Government work. This is
:39:48. > :39:54.the third in nearly three years, a third resignation from the Cabinet.
:39:54. > :39:59.This is the most stable Government in living memory. Many thought
:39:59. > :40:02.coalition Government would be some shambles, but it is anything, but.
:40:02. > :40:08.You just said that Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have
:40:08. > :40:13.very little in common and yet you are having this... Politically and
:40:13. > :40:17.logically, but we can work together. You have little in common, but you
:40:17. > :40:21.can work together successfully. How does that work? Because we behave
:40:21. > :40:27.like grown-ups. What does everybody else do in their normal every day
:40:27. > :40:31.lives. They get on with people and they compromise with people they
:40:31. > :40:37.don't necessarily agree eye to eye with. I am not a Tory, but I don't
:40:37. > :40:44.see why I shouldn't work with David Cameron, Eric Pickles to make
:40:44. > :40:48.things better. We have left a set of arithmetic which meant only one
:40:48. > :40:52.option was available a Conservative/Liberal Democrat
:40:52. > :40:56.majority. The result of this adult, grown-up
:40:56. > :41:00.behaviour for your party has been a really serious slump in the polls
:41:00. > :41:06.which must worry all of you. How do you start to make the the Liberal
:41:06. > :41:10.Democrat case more distincttively while being in the Cabinet? Well,
:41:10. > :41:16.you don't panic for one thing. If you look at our opinion polls
:41:16. > :41:23.ratings recently and we all do even though we pretend we don't care,
:41:23. > :41:27.but we do care. The last poll I saw was 16%. We are doing better than
:41:27. > :41:30.people assume we are. We are talking about a set of
:41:30. > :41:33.circumstances circumstances. The Liberal Democrats have taken a hit.
:41:33. > :41:37.If you look at local council by- elections and opinion polls and a
:41:37. > :41:41.range of other indicators, the Lib Dems are recoveringment our opinion
:41:41. > :41:45.poll rating is higher than it it would be normal in medium-term.
:41:45. > :41:49.That doesn't mean to say we haven't taken a hit, we have. But you don't
:41:49. > :41:55.panic. You demonstrate your identity by doing things like
:41:55. > :42:00.ensuring you get fair taxes and making sure the lowest paid don't
:42:00. > :42:03.pay any income tax and making sure that Trident isn't replaced by an
:42:03. > :42:07.expensive and aggressive nuclear system. So we are making a real
:42:07. > :42:09.difference in the Government. What's the fresh agenda to
:42:09. > :42:13.emphasise that difference? What would you like to see Liberal
:42:13. > :42:18.Democrats talking more about over the year or two ahead that will
:42:18. > :42:23.make people think about them differently? Well, you saw Nick
:42:23. > :42:27.Clegg just a couple of weeks ago pushing hard for an extension and a
:42:27. > :42:32.speeding up of our successful plan so far to take the lowest paid out
:42:32. > :42:36.of paying any income tax what so so ever. That was our top line promise
:42:36. > :42:42.and it is a promise we have delivered. We want to deliver it
:42:42. > :42:48.quicker and some of us would like to deliver it further. Not only is
:42:48. > :42:51.that fair, it is sensible. If you think about it, boosting demand in
:42:51. > :42:56.the economy is a good thing, but you can do that by cutting taxes
:42:56. > :43:00.for the least well paid. If you give tax cuts to the wealthy, they
:43:00. > :43:07.they spend it in Tuscany or save it. If you give it to the least well
:43:07. > :43:10.off, they spend it. Pushing forward on the green agenda, Ed Davey's
:43:10. > :43:16.arrival meansing it important we carry on to push out the Green
:43:16. > :43:19.Investment Bank, the green deal, to make sure that not only do we save
:43:20. > :43:23.the planet, but create new jobs. It is important that politics is open
:43:23. > :43:27.and accessible to people and we are for example pushing forward the
:43:27. > :43:33.reform in the House of Lords, we are making sure we have a democracy
:43:33. > :43:37.that is fit for the 20th century! Chris Huhne himself says that he is
:43:37. > :43:41.not guilty of any of the charges. You are crossing your fingers for
:43:41. > :43:46.him and you think he will be vindicated and he will be back in
:43:46. > :43:51.Government? I very much hope so. He is a real talent Chris. The
:43:51. > :43:55.Government is not destable identitiesed -- destabilised by
:43:55. > :43:59.this. We miss him. He is an outstanding performer. The fact
:43:59. > :44:03.that he will comb with this eight or nine months pressure, I am sure
:44:03. > :44:09.I would have cracked, but he has been outstanding member of Cabinet
:44:09. > :44:16.and has been given plaudits by the green green organisations and been
:44:16. > :44:21.the most successful climate change secretary we have had. We hope to
:44:21. > :44:24.see him back quickly. And you expect him back as well as
:44:24. > :44:34.wanting to see him back? I want and expect him back.
:44:34. > :44:35.
:44:36. > :44:38.Thank you very much indeed for It was 60 years ago tomorrow that
:44:38. > :44:44.the young Princess learned that her father had died and that she was
:44:44. > :44:47.now Queen. Unlike most democracies, Britain has no written constitution
:44:47. > :44:52.and the monarch's wide ranging powers are relying on the fact that
:44:52. > :44:56.you rarely exercises them. But how pivotal is her role? I study the
:44:56. > :45:00.Queen in action and talked to many members of the Royal Family about
:45:00. > :45:03.what she does. Here is a clip from our programme which Aires tomorrow
:45:03. > :45:08.night. If there was one place on earth
:45:08. > :45:15.which has defined its identity against the British Crown it is
:45:15. > :45:20.here. It is important that we remember our history. But sometimes
:45:20. > :45:26.we have to forget it again. And for all the no use we are about to hear,
:45:27. > :45:36.that is the Queen's job. She is here to put a little history to
:45:37. > :45:37.
:45:37. > :45:40.It is like a door that has been locked for a long time. She's been
:45:40. > :45:45.dying to see what is on the other side of it was too many people
:45:45. > :45:48.won't understand not being able to go somewhere or see something for
:45:48. > :45:54.your life and being almost like a child not allowed to go into a
:45:54. > :45:58.certain room. For her, very much a case of it off-limits. She's always
:45:58. > :46:03.wanted to go and be able to go in an official capacity. It was a huge
:46:03. > :46:06.turning point for her. They must have been a certain amount of
:46:06. > :46:13.nervousness beforehand because there is a lot of history to put to
:46:13. > :46:20.bed. I was nervous about it. I was hugely admiring of the fact that
:46:20. > :46:24.the Royal Family wanted to go ahead with this is it relatively quickly
:46:24. > :46:28.after the finalising of the last bits of devolution of power to
:46:28. > :46:33.Northern Ireland. They didn't want to wait and play it a bit longer.
:46:33. > :46:39.That was a fantastic judgment. John Major, like every Prime
:46:39. > :46:44.Minister, enjoyed private weekly sessions with the Queen. We were
:46:44. > :46:48.looking at that extraordinary Irish visit there. The process began when
:46:48. > :46:52.you were Prime Minister. Tony Blair picked it up and went further
:46:52. > :46:56.forward with it. How contras were you when you were doing that, that
:46:56. > :47:00.this might be difficult for the Royal Family? They'd lost Lord
:47:00. > :47:05.Mountbatten, they'd seen these terrible scenes of carnage not far
:47:05. > :47:09.from Buckingham Palace in the old days. When we began it in the early
:47:09. > :47:12.1990s with Reynolds, who was then the Irish Prime Minister, of course
:47:12. > :47:17.I discussed it with the Queen at our private meetings. She was aware
:47:17. > :47:21.of what we were doing. We had two objectives, both of which I think
:47:21. > :47:23.the Queen approved of. The first was to stop the slaughter we were
:47:23. > :47:28.seeing in Northern Ireland, the indiscriminate murder that had gone
:47:28. > :47:36.on for far too long. Secondly, to normalise relations between the
:47:36. > :47:40.United Kingdom and Ireland, and North and South within Ireland. The
:47:40. > :47:43.visit she made to Ireland, I think it set the final seal on a
:47:43. > :47:47.relationship that has wholly changed in the last 20 years.
:47:47. > :47:51.Ireland are our nearest neighbour, they should be a close and enduring
:47:51. > :47:55.friend. I think that is the circumstance we now have a. A one
:47:55. > :47:59.of the things I came across a lot was people talking about the
:47:59. > :48:05.Queen's religious side. And there for forgiveness being absolutely
:48:05. > :48:09.central to what she is for. Queen is a wise lady. She
:48:09. > :48:14.understands different views. She has never been perturbed by people
:48:14. > :48:19.who have different views to her. She would have understood that
:48:19. > :48:23.point very well. I think the fact she is head of the Church in the UK.
:48:23. > :48:29.She would fully understand other people's convictions in a different
:48:29. > :48:33.church. That wouldn't faze her. understood, encouraging those very
:48:33. > :48:39.difficult early talks with the IRA. Our I've no intention of telling
:48:39. > :48:44.what was said privately. Let me simply say that the Queen was fully
:48:44. > :48:49.informed, and you have seen how she feels about it now. A lot of people
:48:50. > :48:54.are very interested about not what is said during those meetings but
:48:54. > :48:59.are they really useful to Prime Ministers? David Cameron said it
:49:00. > :49:04.was a chance to really ask himself what he was up to, because he was
:49:04. > :49:09.just in front of one person. They are very useful. Where else can you
:49:09. > :49:14.talk to one person in total certainty that it is entirely
:49:14. > :49:18.secret, that nobody is going to talk to anybody else about what is
:49:18. > :49:22.said? They are very free and frank, they are very useful. The Queen has
:49:22. > :49:25.been there for 60 years. Her first Prime Minister was Winston
:49:26. > :49:29.Churchill. Most of the present Cabinet weren't born when the Queen
:49:29. > :49:33.became monarch. So there is very little she hasn't seen and very
:49:33. > :49:35.little she doesn't understand. Anyone who doesn't listen to her
:49:35. > :49:40.view and consoled to where necessary is missing a huge
:49:40. > :49:45.opportunity. We are allowed a little clip with you and the Queen.
:49:45. > :49:48.I think you've just come back from Russia. I laid a wreath near the
:49:48. > :49:52.Kremlin at the site where the three demonstrators were crushed and
:49:52. > :49:56.killed. There were huge crowds there. I have the opportunity of
:49:57. > :50:00.stopping to talk to some of them. Not too many of them spoke English.
:50:00. > :50:07.I found one man who spoke beautiful English and I ask him how he felt.
:50:07. > :50:14.He said he was extremely interested but he came from Woking. That's the
:50:14. > :50:20.sort of thing that happens to me when I talk in a crowd. These
:50:20. > :50:25.things are terribly important. She is obviously very interested in her
:50:25. > :50:29.constitutional role. That is the Irish side. What about Scotland? We
:50:29. > :50:34.are at the edge of some difficult decisions about Scotland. Whatever
:50:34. > :50:38.happens, she will be Queen of Scots. I wondered what you thought of Alex
:50:38. > :50:43.Salmond's comment that the UK would carry on because it is a union of
:50:43. > :50:46.crowns. I've no intention of mixing the Queen and politics. But I think
:50:46. > :50:50.I heard Alex Salmond sale last week that whatever may happen in
:50:50. > :50:54.Scotland, and I have my clear views about what should, but whatever may
:50:54. > :50:58.happen in Scotland, the Queen would remain Queen as far as the Scots
:50:58. > :51:03.are concerned. I think that is absolute and the view, I would
:51:03. > :51:07.imagine, of the vast majority of Scots. A mike any other country, we
:51:07. > :51:12.have someone at the apex of the system has been there for 60 years.
:51:12. > :51:18.Does she have a reasonable recall of the previous crises, all the ups
:51:18. > :51:22.and downs? She's been through the Cold War. You don't forget crisis.
:51:22. > :51:26.Neither does the Queen. She remembers them very well. In some
:51:26. > :51:30.cases within the Commonwealth, she has this special affinity for the
:51:30. > :51:34.Commonwealth. I think for two reasons. Firstly, because King
:51:35. > :51:37.George VI, her father, to whom she was very close indeed, was
:51:37. > :51:41.significant in setting up the Commonwealth in the first place.
:51:41. > :51:46.Secondly, because she has grown up with the Commonwealth. When it
:51:46. > :51:49.began it had eight members and it now has 54. Often when we discussed,
:51:49. > :51:53.she would not only know something about the country in the
:51:53. > :51:58.Commonwealth we were talking about all the head of state, but their
:51:58. > :52:03.father or mother. Often there were occasions where background
:52:03. > :52:08.information was extremely useful. We saw Prince William in that clip
:52:08. > :52:12.early on. Speaking very eloquently about the Queen and Ireland. He is
:52:12. > :52:15.now down in the Falklands in his helicopter. In some respects you
:52:15. > :52:21.have watched them grow up, because you were involved when he was
:52:21. > :52:26.younger. Give us your sense of how he is revolving in the role that he
:52:26. > :52:30.has got now. If you travel abroad, you can see a different perspective.
:52:30. > :52:34.You can see that the Duke of Cambridge and the Duchess of
:52:34. > :52:37.becoming iconic around the world. They are a tremendous bonus for the
:52:37. > :52:41.Royal Family at the present time. The way they have conducted
:52:41. > :52:47.themselves has been absolutely without fault. I think most people
:52:47. > :52:52.can see that. Clearly, his career is a very important to him, as it
:52:53. > :52:57.is to Prince Harry. That is what people admire and respect. But all
:52:57. > :53:03.those people who rather glibly open the papers and say, can we not have
:53:03. > :53:06.him as our next king? Constitutionally not. The Queen
:53:06. > :53:11.took an oath at the coronation that she would remain as Queen for the
:53:11. > :53:15.rest of her life. When, hopefully many years hence, the Queen is no
:53:15. > :53:21.longer with us, Prince Charles will become king. They can be no
:53:21. > :53:24.question of skipping a generation. It isn't going to happen. After the
:53:24. > :53:28.Queen will come Prince Charles. After Prince Charles will come
:53:28. > :53:33.Prince William. That is the matter which is settled and is beyond
:53:33. > :53:41.doubt. Tomorrow, you are going to be launching a huge charitable
:53:41. > :53:46.project, Diamond Jubilee Trust. Can you tell us a bit about that?
:53:46. > :53:50.are establishing tomorrow the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. It
:53:50. > :53:53.was agreed it would be set up by all the heads of government at the
:53:53. > :53:57.Commonwealth, at their recent meeting in Australia. I am greatly
:53:57. > :54:01.honoured to be asked to chair it. The purpose is to raise money
:54:01. > :54:05.across the whole of the Commonwealth, governance,
:54:05. > :54:08.individuals and companies, I hope they will all contribute. We will
:54:08. > :54:12.raise this money for a single year. We will spend it on appropriate
:54:12. > :54:16.projects across the whole of the Commonwealth, including the United
:54:16. > :54:20.Kingdom. We will enter, I hope, into partnerships with People, so
:54:20. > :54:24.that we can leverage and increase the amount of money we have had
:54:24. > :54:29.donated, to use it for the sort of projects that most people would
:54:29. > :54:34.approve of it. Projects involving children and disadvantaged groups?
:54:34. > :54:38.And no detailed decisions have been taken, but that sort of project. It
:54:38. > :54:42.will be there specifically as a legacy to the Queen and her long
:54:42. > :54:45.reign and her long service to the Commonwealth. I don't think people
:54:45. > :54:49.who haven't seen her with the Commonwealth heads of government
:54:49. > :54:53.can possibly understand what it is like. There is a very good
:54:53. > :54:58.relationship. She is iconic to them. She and the Duke of Edinburgh, and
:54:58. > :55:01.the Duke has been superb throughout her reign, she and the Duke of
:55:01. > :55:04.Edinburgh are enormously popular across the Commonwealth. It is
:55:04. > :55:07.unsurprising that when there was his suggestion from the heads of
:55:07. > :55:13.government for a tribute, that the Queen would like the sums raised to
:55:13. > :55:16.be dispersed across the Commonwealth, including the UK.
:55:16. > :55:21.Falklands are part of the Commonwealth. Prince William downer
:55:21. > :55:24.at the moment. But huge amount of jumping up and down and shouting in
:55:24. > :55:34.Buenos Aires. There's bound to be a certain amount of shouting, that is
:55:34. > :55:35.
:55:35. > :55:39.what it will amount to, shouting. The Met Office has issued an amber
:55:39. > :55:43.alert, warning of further icy conditions today across much of the
:55:43. > :55:47.UK. Heavy snow last night brought severe disruption to the transport
:55:47. > :55:51.system. The operators of Heathrow Airport have cancelled 350 flights
:55:51. > :55:56.today. About a third of the total. Other airports have warned
:55:56. > :56:00.passengers to expect delays. Britain, the US and France have
:56:00. > :56:03.condemned Russia and China for be to win a UN Security Council
:56:03. > :56:07.resolution designed to end the violence in Syria. The Foreign
:56:07. > :56:13.Secretary, William Hague, said they moved marked an hour of shame. It
:56:13. > :56:19.followed reports that more than 200 people were killed in a bombardment
:56:19. > :56:26.of a southern city on Friday. The next news on BBC One is at 11am.
:56:26. > :56:32.Let's take a look at what's coming Join us in Southampton, where we
:56:32. > :56:36.will be asking - is it right to cut benefits at 26,000? The Bishop of
:56:36. > :56:40.Southampton is here to defend vulnerable children. Peter Hitchens
:56:40. > :56:50.will no doubt parade the bishops. Should a future monarch seek to be
:56:50. > :56:52.
:56:52. > :56:56.We are going to talk a bit just at the end about Syria. We have used
:56:56. > :57:00.enormously strong language at the United Nations yesterday, as have
:57:00. > :57:04.the Americans, about the Russians and Chinese. I wanted your
:57:04. > :57:09.perspective on what can happen. It seems that the international
:57:09. > :57:12.community is now badly stuck. think there are two things are
:57:12. > :57:16.happening. We've seen the enormous changes across the whole of the
:57:16. > :57:19.Middle East. The democratic genie is out of the bottle. I don't think
:57:19. > :57:25.it's going to stop at the borders of Syria. This is an issue which
:57:25. > :57:31.will continue. First, we are moving perilously close to a full-scale
:57:31. > :57:37.civil war. Secondly, I think Syria is becoming a pariah state. If I
:57:37. > :57:40.can add a third thought, I don't think, in these circumstances, that
:57:40. > :57:44.the Assad regime will survive. How much damage it will do in the short
:57:44. > :57:47.term, I can't say. How long it will survive is unknown. But I don't
:57:47. > :57:53.think it will be a credible government for all that much longer.
:57:53. > :57:58.It has no support, except no doubt for Iran and China and Russia.
:57:58. > :58:03.Beyond that, no one can possibly sanction what they are doing.
:58:03. > :58:09.there anything more that a country like Britain can do too well for
:58:09. > :58:16.you to the break-up and fall of the regime being too bloody and to
:58:16. > :58:21.destructive? There are several thought related to that. Firstly, I
:58:21. > :58:25.think those in China and Russia might search their consciences
:58:25. > :58:29.about their veto. They are effectively giving the green light
:58:29. > :58:33.to a pretty bad regime to murder people. I think one needs to put it
:58:33. > :58:37.bluntly so they understand what they have done, and so the world
:58:37. > :58:41.understands what they have done. As far as what other nations can do,
:58:41. > :58:44.it is possible to apply sanctions through the European Union. It is
:58:44. > :58:48.possible to apply sanctions to nation states. It is possible to
:58:48. > :58:52.use diplomacy. I think all those measures should be used and used as
:58:52. > :58:57.a matter of urgency. I don't think the United Nations should leave
:58:57. > :59:01.this matter. If China and Russia have vetoed it once, let us see if
:59:01. > :59:07.they will at some stage Beatle It Again, as public pressure and
:59:07. > :59:11.international condemnation builds up. Thank you to all of my guests.
:59:11. > :59:18.Next Sunday, apart from the usual serious stuff, there will be a