Browse content similar to 08/04/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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One good morning. On this, the most holy day in the Christian calendar, | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
I bring you prove that the Church of England is not immune to change. | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
Father Phil Ritchie told his parishioners this week that they | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
will not have to celebrate Easter by going to church. He said they | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
could instead stay at home, have a lying, eat some chocolate and do | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
various other things. I'm sorry to say that he forgot to say, watching | :01:02. | :01:09. | |
this programme. Joining us today to review the papers chasm Kevin | :01:09. | :01:16. | |
Maguire of the Daily Mirror and Sarah Baxter of the Sunday Times. | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
Despite the Easter break, politics is not on hold. The past few weeks | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
have not been easy fault any of the main parties. For Labour, there was | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
that shock by-election defeat. So, with local elections only a few | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
weeks away, how do they all plan to get back on track? With me this | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
morning, the Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, and one of the rising | :01:39. | :01:45. | |
stars of the opposition team, Chuka Umunna, the Shadow Business | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
Secretary. And joining us from Cumbria, the President of the | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron. Also this morning, teachers are accusing | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
the Government of behaving like a school bully over changes to their | :01:56. | :02:02. | |
pay and pensions and the move towards more academies. The leader | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
of the biggest teachers' union joins me to explain why her members | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
are threatening to strike. And the actor Liam Neeson's career has | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
taken him from intense historical dramas to all-action blockbusters. | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
He explains how growing up in the home town of the Reverend Ian | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
Paisley set him on the path to stardom. Finally, some music for | :02:24. | :02:34. | |
:02:34. | :02:37. | ||
Easter morning. The choir of New College, Oxford, are here. All that | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
coming up, but first, the news, with Naga. Good morning. Police | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
have charged a 35-year-old man with a public order offence following | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
the disruption to the Boat Race yesterday. The race was suspended | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
for half an hour after a man appeared deliberately to swim up to | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
one of the boats. After the race, one of the Oxford team collapsed, | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
and he is in a stable condition in hospital. It was a nail-biting race, | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
both crews were side by side, more than 10 minutes in, when the race | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
was stopped. A swimmer had been spotted between the two boats. A | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
man has been charged - Trenton Oldfield is a campaigner who runs a | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
blog. He had previously described the Boat Race as a place where | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
elitists come together. His arrest came after one of the most dramatic | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
races in the history of the event. Shortly after it had been restarted, | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
a clash caused an oar to break in the Oxford boat, and Cambridge | :03:43. | :03:50. | |
easily won. One of the losing team collapsed at the finish line, and | :03:50. | :03:58. | |
was taken to hospital, but he is said to be doing well. The | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
President of the Oxford University Boat Club said his team had had the | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
culmination of their careers taken from them. Other critics are asking | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
how the swimmer managed to get so close to the crews, raising | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
concerns about security ahead of the Diamond Jubilee and the | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
Olympics. Hackers who claimed to have disrupted the Home Office | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
website are threatening to strike again. A Twitter Group says the | :04:26. | :04:35. | |
British Government can expect attacks every Saturday from now on. | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
Activists in Syria say as many as 160 civilians have been killed in | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
one of the worst days of violence there. A ceasefire negotiated by | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
then the United Nations is due to come into effect within a few days. | :04:49. | :04:59. | |
:04:59. | :04:59. | ||
But the city of Homs has once again come under heavy bombardment. Dr | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
Rowan Williams will deliver his last Easter message as Archbishop | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
of Canterbury this morning. In his sermon at Canterbury cathedral, he | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
is expected to touch on continuing violence in the Middle East. He | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
will talk about Israel's right to exist, but also about the | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
harassment being suffered by Palestinians at checkpoints. That's | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
the news for now. In a moment, we will have a review of the Sunday | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
papers, but first, Easter weekend is the time when teachers | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
traditionally gather for their conferences. Yesterday, members of | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
the biggest union, the NASUWT, voted to step up action against | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
changes to pay and pensions. They do not much like the Government's | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
education reforms, either. I am joined by the leader of the union, | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
Chris Keates. How serious are you about strike action? Well, we are | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
very serious about taking action in order to defend pay and conditions | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
of service, because we see those as being inextricably linked to | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
raising standards of education in schools. Strike action, I'm afraid, | :06:06. | :06:12. | |
has dominated the agenda, because the NASUWT, since the 1st December, | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
has been doing an action short of strike action, where we try to hit | :06:17. | :06:23. | |
things which do not actually disruption pupils in the classroom. | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
Strike action for us is a last resort. We would prefer to be in a | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
position where the Government is engaging with us seriously to talk | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
about the real concerns of our members about the impact of | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
government policies on children and young people. But that's the | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
question, are you serious about balloting members on striking, or | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
is this merely an opening gambit? We have already balloted our | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
members, and we have a mandate for strike action and for action short | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
of strike action. But we have been running a carefully planned | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
strategy to try to get the Government to come into proper | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
discussions, without having to resort to strike action. Clearly, | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
if the Government is not listening, as they are not at the moment, then | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
we have to be talking about what the next stage would be. What do | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
you say to parents and pupils who are worried about how the summer | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
exam season might be disrupted? can tell you categorically that the | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
NASUWT is not planning to take strike action during the exam | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
season, and would never do so. Our members are teachers first. They | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
care very much about their pupils. So what are we talking about, are | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
we talking about the autumn? would be looking towards the autumn | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
term, I think, but first we would be looking at escalating our action | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
short of strike action. We have been working with governors and | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
parent groups to talk to them about our concerns, and trying to engage | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
them in our campaign, of trying to get the Government to listen to the | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
serious concerns of the profession. Would you co-ordinate any strike | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
action with the NUT? We always want to work with our sister trade | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
unions. We will be in discussions with the NUT, but at the end of the | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
day, the action the NASUWT will take will be on the basis of | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
consultation with our members, and whether we think it is right and | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
appropriate. Is this not a bit after the event? It is clear the | :08:21. | :08:27. | |
Government is not going to change its position on pay and pensions... | :08:27. | :08:32. | |
Not at all. They have only started their assault on the national pay | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
framework just at this point in time, so there is a lot to play for. | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
On pensions, they may have put what they see as a final deal on the | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
table, but in fact, they have been subject from us to a legal | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
challenge about the impact, which has to be worked through. It is | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
quite clear that the it if they fail the equality impact test, then | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
they will have to make changes to the pension scheme. As far as we | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
are concerned, these are important matters which are still up for | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
discussion. Why should teachers not pay more into their pensions and | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
retire a bit later, just like everybody else in the public | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
sector? I think these are highly complex reasons, but first of all, | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
I think there has been a lot of misinformation about teachers' | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
pensions. They do pay a significant contribution, and teachers always | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
knew that if there was a problem with the pension scheme, they may | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
have to pay more. What is angering teachers is that the Government has | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
not been able to demonstrate that there is a problem with the pension | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
scheme, and so they see this as an additional tax on teachers. In | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
terms of their pay, already, the Government's policies are having a | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
massive impact on recruitment and retention. Over half of teachers | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
are seriously considering leaving teaching, and last year alone, | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
there was a 30% drop in applications for initial teacher | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
training. That is unheard-of, at a time of economic recession, when | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
actually, people from the private and public sector gravitate towards | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
teaching because they have always seen it as good job security. | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
you very much for joining us. Time for a look at the papers now. On | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
the front pages this morning, inevitably, it is the picture of | :10:17. | :10:27. | |
the Boat Race, this is the observer, together with a story about George | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
Osborne's possible changes to the Osborne's possible changes to the | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
tax arrangements for charitable donations. The Sunday Times, once | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
again, the same picture. They have also got a story about George | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
Osborne, telling everybody that he is going to keep the top rate of | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
tax at 45p. Scotland on Sunday, they have the same picture. | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
Interestingly, some of the papers have the man after he has gone past | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
the blades, some of them have it before. They have got a story about | :11:02. | :11:12. | |
Alex Salmond, and what independence might mean for Scotland's nuclear | :11:12. | :11:21. | |
status. The Mail on Sunday has a story about the King of Bahrain, | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
and plans for him to have lunch with the Queen during the Olympics. | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
The Independent on Sunday has a story about how research for | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
climate change is going to have its funding cut, apparently. Welcome to | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
both of you - first of all, Kevin both of you - first of all, Kevin | :11:41. | :11:47. | |
Maguire... We have now got philanthropists up | :11:47. | :11:56. | |
in arms over proposals to restrict tax relief, for people giving more | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
than �200,000. That will really test how keen they are to give, | :12:01. | :12:09. | |
test how keen they are to give, these well-heeled philanthropists! | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
This one does right to the heart of the Big Society, which is all about | :12:12. | :12:18. | |
voluntary giving, and good luck to the Chancellor, if he thinks he is | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
the Chancellor, if he thinks he is going to beat McMillan on this one. | :12:23. | :12:28. | |
I lived in America for about eight years, and everybody gives more | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
there, because you get straightforward tax relief on | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
everything you give. Even I gave more on that basis, you just feel | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
more generous, because, why not give to your favourite charity, | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
instead of giving to the taxman? It does seem like a crazy thing, and I | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
can see why charities are outraged. The argument is that actually, the | :12:50. | :12:56. | |
most selfless giving his to the tax collector. Often, if you give to | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
the arts, you want your name attached, you want to reflect in | :13:00. | :13:09. | |
the glory of it. At least they are not looking for tax loopholes. I | :13:09. | :13:16. | |
think they are shooting themselves in the foot. But the Budget is | :13:16. | :13:22. | |
still producing headlines, so long after the event. Yes, and they are | :13:22. | :13:28. | |
all negative. I think George Osborne has taken his eye off the | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
ball. He is always said to be a great political strategist, | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
although I have always had my doubts about that. He has gone on | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
the back foot by saying in the Sunday Times that he is not going | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
to reduce the rate further, because I think he definitely wanted to | :13:44. | :13:51. | |
reduce that top rate down to 40p. The Boat Race, what a story. | :13:51. | :13:58. | |
agree with you, this has to be the headline of the morning. Amazing | :13:58. | :14:05. | |
pictures. I gather it was some kind of protest about elitism. But in | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
the good old days, when it was a truly elitist institution, I think | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
they would have kept on going! What a fascinating story that was, | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
anybody might have thought the Boat Race was boring! And they are | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
always the same two universities, it is not an open competition, is | :14:21. | :14:30. | |
it? This is the Sunday Times, picking up on this anti-elitist | :14:30. | :14:36. | |
campaigner, privately educated, who is said to have drawn inspiration | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
from the person who threw themselves in front of the King's | :14:39. | :14:46. | |
horse at the Derby. It is a curious protest, isn't it? Elitism, it is a | :14:46. | :14:51. | |
curious approach. It does not compare to Emily Davidson, who was | :14:51. | :14:59. | |
campaigning for half the population to get the vote. It is a rather | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
general point, campaigning for world peace. But it does raids | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
questions about the Olympics, of course. The marathon, and cycling | :15:08. | :15:17. | |
and so on, going down the streets. I wanted to draw attention to this | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
shocking picture in the Independent on Sunday, a mass grave in Syria. | :15:21. | :15:27. | |
We are not seeing much from Syria these days, and one reason we are | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
not is because my beloved colleague got killed there. President Assad | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
and his henchmen deliberately targeted a media centre, so that | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
journalists would be afraid to report from there. I am not | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
suggesting that journalists should all pile in and risk their lives, | :15:44. | :15:53. | |
it is terrible enough that Marie and her photographer lost their | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
lives, but I think on this day, we should reflect that the killing is | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
still going on there. It is a terrible picture, but I am glad to | :16:01. | :16:11. | |
:16:11. | :16:12. | ||
You are right about the Marie kolvin point. If you get | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
journalists out, organisations pull them back, you have the shocking | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
killing and other people were injured, you can basically kill in | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
privacy, in silence. There is a real sense he's getting away with | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
it and I just want people to feel that outrage even if they don't see | :16:27. | :16:34. | |
it every day. Back to more domestic matters. Kevin, St Paul's for the | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
Conservatives? Absolutely. The anti-eliteest with the boat race. | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
There is a poll here which says six out of ten people think the | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
Government is a Government of chums which the Mail on Sunday say it was | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
a phrase they used last Sunday and then in their leader, Norman Tebbit | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
picked it up and accused the Government of it during the week. | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
It's a weakness because it blows apart the idea we are all in this | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
together and it's a growing problem for David Cameron. He's getting a | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
lot of this criticism within the Conservative Party, the likes of | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
David Davis and Mark Pritchard, Nadine Dorries, the true heirs to | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
Thatcher who fought their way to the top. You look at this, you know | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
it's a problem, but then you look at the details of the poll and they | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
ask who would you invite to dinner. Boris Johnson is the most popular | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
politician, 22% would invite him to dinner. He's performed an amazing | :17:29. | :17:35. | |
feat of being somebody who went to Eton, was in the Bullingdon Club | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
and yet he somehow pulls off this man of the people act. That poll is | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
not particularly good for Ed Miliband is it? He's down at 45%. | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
He doesn't seem like a very good dinner companion does he, Ed. One | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
thing about the Tories at the moment is that, you mentioned about | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
how the Budget is carrying on, they seem to have lost control of the | :17:55. | :17:57. | |
story, the narrative. That's dangerous for politicians when they | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
are no longer in control of how they present themselves. What | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
intrigues me is that the Conservative dip in the polls has | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
not been matched by a significant rise in the Labour opinion. At the | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
moment people are saying they are less likely to vote Conservative, | :18:12. | :18:20. | |
they are not saying they'll transfer their vote. ComRes had a | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
rating. David Cameron's personal ratings are down, but not as far as | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
Ed Miliband or Nick Clegg. It feels in politics at the moment as though | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
the Government's losing its way but Labour hasn't found its way. Labour | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
has a huge job to persuade anybody they are a credible opposition at | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
the moment. Ed Miliband will find that more people will prefer Boris | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
Johnson and Ken Livingstone than him for dinner. The Pope's brother? | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
I didn't know he had a brother. didn't either, but it seems that at | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
the ripe old age of 88, his brother's written a kiss-and-tell | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
memoir, which might be exaggerating a bit! He's apparently claiming | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
he's worried about his brother's health. He is looking pretty frail, | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
the Pope, so on Easter Day, we can wish the Pope good health but | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
really who needs that, he's made it to the top of his tree there, the | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
Pope. He thought he'd got away with it and yet here comes his brother | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
telling his story. Amazing. We know his wartime record's been "looked | :19:22. | :19:28. | |
at" in the past, what he was up to. The Observer again, there is a | :19:28. | :19:35. | |
survey by Demos on faithful citizens which finds, maybe it's | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
counterintuitive that religious people are more likely to be right- | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
wing than left-wing. It seems that no more people, positions on | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
immigration and so on, are more likely to be on the left than right. | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
I suppose Jesus was a carpenter, maybe even a Trade Union member. | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
Now you don't even have to go to church, you just have to be a | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
general do-gooder. That's a red rag to a bull on both sides of the | :20:02. | :20:08. | |
argument isn't it? Yes because often the left is painted as being | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
agnostic and atheists. Giro Juan Williams is always popping up in | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
the New Statesman. But it seems to be the role of the Archbishop of | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
Canterbury to attack whoever is in power. I seem to remember Tony | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
Blair had a few problems with Iraq. He did. The new face of feminism, | :20:26. | :20:32. | |
Sarah? I thought since we were mentioning... This is the new front | :20:32. | :20:39. | |
of feminism. With a vanity strap across the middle I see. This is a | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
feminist group that's been going to Davos, protesting against | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
Berlusconi, they've been protesting in France, they actually come from | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
the Ukraine and they've got a novel form. They all look like Brigitte | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
Bardot and they rip their tops off for attention. That is the hard | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
core face of feminism today. There we go. The hosepipe ban? Love this. | :21:01. | :21:09. | |
This is the water minister, Richard Benyon who in the Sunday People, | :21:09. | :21:16. | |
Water Gate II they called it. He accuses the newspapers of turning | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
the tap on, the journalists saying that's not the case but there we | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
are, it's great. I think he thinks it's a set up doesn't he? He tuz. | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
The paper denies that. In the Leveson period, I think it would be | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
rash for journalists to go around turning taps on. There we go. Thank | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
you both very much indeed for joining us this morning. It's been | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
a strange week for the weather, snow in Scotland in the north and | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
hosepipe bans in the south. What next I wonder? Rain perhaps. Now | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
the detail from Matt in the weather the detail from Matt in the weather | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
studio. Good morning. It has to be doesn't it really. Good news for | :21:52. | :21:57. | |
many a gardener and farmer out there. The wet weather, well it's | :21:57. | :22:00. | |
general dampness this morning with plenty of cloud around. While some | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
will lose the morning rain or drizzle, for the afternoon, the | :22:03. | :22:05. | |
rain turns heavy across parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
Further south, we start to introduce a bit of brightness. In | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
the south-west, the Midlands and the east of England particularly, | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
cloud breaks and some sunshine in eastern parts of Wales. One or two | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
well scattered showers. Temperatures 13-16. For most, | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
around 9-136789 turning wet across north-west England. For Northern | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
Ireland and western Scotland, the breeze picks up and the rain turns | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
that bit heavier and more persistent. That will clear into | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
the first part of the night. Temporary dip in temperatures. We | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
hold on to the damp weather in England and Wales but later on, | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
rain pushes back north and eastwards to most parts, preceded | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
by a bit of snow in the tops of the Scottish mountains. Easter Monday | :22:45. | :22:51. | |
is a day to raid the family games cupboard, or put on the waterproofs | :22:51. | :22:56. | |
and brave the elements. Patchy rain in the east. Turns a little drier | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
for some across Scotland and Northern Ireland. The morning rain | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
replaced by sunshine and showers. That sets us up for the rest of the | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
week. James, some sunshine around week. James, some sunshine around | :23:07. | :23:09. | |
but more rain too. Thank you very much. Last year's local elections | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
were a low point for the Liberal Democrats, so it's perhaps not | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
surprising that ahead of next month's polls, they are trying to | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
assert their authority and independence within the coalition. | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
The latest disagreement is over Government plans to extend Internet | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
surveillance and secret courts. Is this flexing of the party muscles | :23:25. | :23:31. | |
enough to win back support? The party President Tim far Ron joins | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
us now from his home in Cumbria. Good morning. Morning, James. | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
You said in your party's website this weekend that "we should be | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
prepared to put our foot down and pull the plug on the changes to the | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
surveillance laws and the plans for secret courts". Does that mean you | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
want to kill them outright and not just amend them? | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
It's important to be reasonable and look at the draft legislations it | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
will now be, not an outright Bill and see what it says and look at it | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
on its merits. I'm in no mood whatsoever to apologise for or to | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
amend or unpick authoritarian legislation. It strikess me that a | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
Liberal Democrat or Government includes Liberal Democrats should | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
ensure that Britain ends up a more liberal place, not less. Like many | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
of us who're liberals, were horrified by the original press | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
report about what the surveillance measures might lead to. There must | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
be absolutely no question of universal Internet surveillance | :24:29. | :24:34. | |
across this country. Are you going to oppose these | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
measures as currently outlined in the green paper and currently | :24:37. | :24:43. | |
reported, or will you try to amend them, or do you want to kill them | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
outright? I'll see what it says first of all. | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
You are prepared to compromise? Well, I'm prepared to recognise | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
that there are obviously, there is a need in a modern society with new | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
technology to have a look at what needs to be given to the Security | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
Services, but only if it's absolutely clear there is no | :25:05. | :25:07. | |
universal access. We are prepared to kill them, be absolutely clear | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
about that, if it comes down to it. If we think this is a threat to a | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
free and liberal society, then there'll be no question of | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
unpicking them or compromising, this just simply must not happen. | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
Is this a good way to make legislation? | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
Public debate, public division, messy compromise like the Health | :25:27. | :25:29. | |
Bill? I think actually what you are | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
seeing is the good side of coalition politics. What happened | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
in the last Government is, you would have an unofficial coalition | :25:36. | :25:42. | |
between Blair and Brown where there would be desperately unpleasant and | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
personal disagreements that were all buried beneath the surface but | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
we found out about them. In the coalition, you get honest debate | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
upfront which is not that personal, it's not aimed at individuals, it's | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
about issues and differences of opinion. It shouldn't come as a | :25:54. | :25:56. | |
surprise to you or anybody else that the Liberal Democrats and | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
Conservatives think very different things and whilst there are some | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
people like David Davis in the Tory party who have Liberal instincts, | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
they are in a minority and it will be up to Liberal Democrats to fight | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
the corner for freedom and for liberal values in this coalition. | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said in the Sunday Telegraph this | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
morning that there will be a Bill in the Queen's speech, it will be a | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
Bill, not a draft Bill, but a Bill that will be introduced and passed | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
in the next session of Parliament? It's interesting to hear her say | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
that. I would be surprised if we ended up in a situation where any | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
Bill that looked anything like the press reports that were talked | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
about earlier this week got anywhere near the House of Commons | :26:35. | :26:38. | |
and if it did, Liberal Democrats would not support it. I don't think | :26:38. | :26:41. | |
that is what is going to happen. My conversations with the Deputy Prime | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
Minister and others reveal there's been significant movement this week. | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
I suspect a lot of the reports are exaggerated, but if they warrant, | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
no such Bill should get anywhere near the House of Commons. We are | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
discussing this on the day that the Home Office website has been hacked | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
again. Do you think people wouldn't say, it's reasonable that the | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
Security Services should be able to monitor what terrorists do, how | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
they communicate across social media and Liberal Democrats like | :27:08. | :27:10. | |
yourselves shouldn't tie the hands of the Security Services if they | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
need the powers that they are asking for? | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
Yes, that's why if there are occasions when that is necessary, | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
then through an appropriate judicial process, then such powers | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
could potentially be granted. We are not saying that the Security | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
Services shouldn't have the right to protect us and keep us safe. We | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
are saying we should not have the authorities, the state, with the | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
power to snoop on any given individual who potentially is a | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
totally innocent person that,'s something that should be very | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
alarming to anybody that values their right as a free citizen in | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
this country. What do you say to people who say your party's facing | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
a wipe-out at the local election and you are using this to posture | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
that ahead of the elections? Liberal Democrats are campaigners, | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
we are campaigners in opposition and we are campaigners when we are | :27:57. | :28:03. | |
in Government. In the last Parliament, it's interesting, you | :28:03. | :28:05. | |
had awful authoritarian administration bringing through | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
legislation like ID cards, 28 days detention without trial. Liberal | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
Democrats campaigned very hard against those measures and we | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
couldn't do anything because we are in opposition. Now we can get | :28:18. | :28:19. | |
authoritarian legislation brought forward, the Liberal Democrats take | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
it out and remove it, so it's good to do it in that way. As for the | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
local elections, I've been knocking on doors in my patch in Cumbria | :28:27. | :28:30. | |
this last week and across the country in previous weeks and I get | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
the sense that we are aware this will be a difficult time for us. | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
This is the first liberal mid term for 65 years so this is new | :28:38. | :28:44. | |
territory and we know it's hard. We recognise that after last year's | :28:44. | :28:47. | |
poor results, we are determined to fight back and to stand up for what | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
we've achieved in Government, for what we are stopping the Tories | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
doing and what we are doing in terms of clearing up the mess that | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
Labour's left us with. You said divorce between the coalition | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
parties is inevitable. How and when is that going to happen? Take us | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
through the process? All I meant was that this was a | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
five-year Parliament with a five- year coalition agreement. My | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
politics haven't changed one inch since the coalition was formed. | :29:13. | :29:16. | |
That was just the arithmetic that the last election left us with and | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
we have to get on and create a workable majority and govern the | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
country. That will end when the fixed term Parliament ends in 2015, | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
that doesn't mean we can't campaign as a distinctive and individual | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
political party with ore our own very separate message which is | :29:33. | :29:36. | |
progressive, green, fair and liberal. That will continue up | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
until the general election. There's bound to be some angst because two | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
parties are co alesing in Government to try and run a | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
Government but at the same time fighting against each other in | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
elections but we are grown-ups and it's important to behave like that. | :29:50. | :29:53. | |
Scotland and Wales are very used to having coalition Governments and | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
why shouldn't we get used to it in the UK. Tim far Ron, thank you very | :29:57. | :29:59. | |
much. If you want to win elections, you | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
have to convince voters that they can trust you with the economy. | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
It's hard enough in good times when money's flowing but even harder in | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
times of austerity. With dogged constant opinions, it's suggested | :30:11. | :30:17. | |
Labour has a long way to go on this task. The party's Shadow Business | :30:17. | :30:22. | |
Secretary, Chuka Umunna joins me now. Good morning. Morning. Happy | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
Easter. And to yourself. David Miliband, not Ed, wrote recently | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
that Labour had a tough job to win back economic trust in 199 2 and | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
it's an even tougher challenge today. Do you accept that, that | :30:34. | :30:42. | |
people still don't trust Labour on I do not accept that analysis in | :30:42. | :30:47. | |
the way that you have interpret hated it. Those were David | :30:47. | :30:55. | |
Miliband's words, not mine. I think increasingly, what we have seen | :30:55. | :31:03. | |
happen, as the economic statistics have stacked up, with more than 2 | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
million people being out of work, having no growth over five quarters, | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
people are beginning to question whether they should be giving the | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
benefit of the doubt to the coalition from stop -- to the | :31:16. | :31:23. | |
coalition. From our point of view, everybody now accepts that the cost | :31:23. | :31:26. | |
of living crisis is perhaps the biggest issue facing the country. | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
When you look at the arguments we are making about growth being a | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
prerequisite to reducing the country's debts, and actually | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
people like the IMF saying that you need growth, all of those things, | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
all of those arguments, have been going on. But this is a long game. | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
We went down to our second biggest defeat in 2010, and the idea that | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
suddenly the British public are going to turn around and say, | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
actually, you're right now, it will not happen, it is going to take | :31:56. | :32:05. | |
time. Polls over this weekend have not been showing any increase in | :32:05. | :32:09. | |
trust for Labour, why is that? Is it a legacy of your time in | :32:09. | :32:15. | |
government, or is it a lack of policy now? I'm slightly nervous | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
about using the polls, because ultimately, the polls which matter | :32:19. | :32:23. | |
are the elections. We have got local elections coming up in May, | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
and the general election after that. But if you look at the polls that | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
we have had, Labour is enjoying quite a lead at the moment. It is | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
difficult to disentangle that from the message that we have been given. | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
But we are humbled, this is a long journey, we have got to rebuild | :32:39. | :32:42. | |
trust, and I believe we are doing that. If you look at the choices | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
that the Government are making, where they have chosen to give | :32:47. | :32:54. | |
14,000 people a huge tax break... But I want to talk about your | :32:54. | :32:59. | |
policy. You have a five-point plan for growth - how many people | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
actually know what that is? If you look at one of the parts of that | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
plan, to give a national insurance break to small businesses, the | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
small businesses have come out in support of that. If you look at the | :33:11. | :33:17. | |
part which says about bringing forward infrastructure investment... | :33:17. | :33:23. | |
What are the other three? We have got two VAT commitments, wanted to | :33:23. | :33:29. | |
a temporary cut on VAT, and you have got the 5% rate of VAT on home | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
improvements, and of course, you have got a repeat of the bank bonus | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
tax, to make sure that those who essentially triggered the recession | :33:37. | :33:43. | |
pay their fair share. Why is it not getting through? I do not accept | :33:43. | :33:48. | |
that. Why has right been coming forward with this youth contract, | :33:48. | :33:54. | |
it is because of what we have been arguing for, in relation to jobs. I | :33:54. | :33:57. | |
could go through a whole list of things that we have been proposing, | :33:57. | :34:02. | |
which have been resonating with businesses and individuals. I do | :34:02. | :34:05. | |
not buy this argument that it has not been getting through. | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
Budget went down pretty well with the business community, they liked | :34:10. | :34:12. | |
the cuts in corporation tax and other things, and yet many | :34:12. | :34:18. | |
businesses do not like Labour's anti-business rhetoric. You have | :34:18. | :34:25. | |
got a big challenge there. First of all, I think there was a mixed | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
response to the Budget. I think people welcomed the corporation tax | :34:29. | :34:35. | |
cut, but they actually said, in fact, why didn't you do something | :34:35. | :34:38. | |
about national insurance? If you look at some of the small | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
businesses, especially in manufacturing, they were not | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
terribly impressed with all aspects of the Budget. But also I do not | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
accept that somehow there has been an T mack business rhetoric coming | :34:49. | :34:54. | |
out of the Labour Party. We have been arguing for an industrial | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
strategy, active government, using all the levers at its disposal, to | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
support British business, not stepping aside and letting market | :35:03. | :35:08. | |
forces do everything. It is very much what like people from the | :35:08. | :35:13. | |
engineering sector have been arguing for. If you look at Vince | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
Cable's leaked letter, he was begging the Prime Minister and the | :35:17. | :35:24. | |
Deputy Prime Minister to adopt an active industrial strategy. But for | :35:24. | :35:31. | |
ideological reasons, it was opposed within government. The Unite union | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
is threatening a tanker strike, and that union is your party's biggest | :35:35. | :35:42. | |
donor, so have you put pressure on Len McCluskey? I don't think a | :35:42. | :35:47. | |
strike in any circumstances is a good thing. Have you spoken to Len | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
McCluskey about it? Not personally. Why not? I will be meeting Len | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
McCluskey shortly. But let me correct you on one thing, the | :35:56. | :36:01. | |
majority of our funding, in our party, comes from our membership. I | :36:01. | :36:05. | |
am not ashamed of our relationship with the trade unions. I cannot | :36:05. | :36:10. | |
stand this way that you get people seeking to divide off trade unions | :36:10. | :36:16. | |
and public sector workers on the one hand... What about the feeling | :36:16. | :36:26. | |
from the unions that Labour owes them on certain issues in return | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
for their support? We are talking about millions of hard-working | :36:30. | :36:37. | |
people... Do you endorse the comments from Tom Watson, it is | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
very straightforward, he says that the Labour Party should owe a | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
respectful treatment to the unions and should give them an early heads | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
upon policy change. Well, I think we should be respecting all | :36:50. | :37:00. | |
:37:00. | :37:04. | ||
stakeholders in society. I am not sure about giving them a heads-up. | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
There have been instances where we have informed the unions in advance, | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
but ultimately, we make the decision in the interests of the | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
entire country. Let's not forget, this country would not be able to | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
function, our businesses would not be able to function, were it not | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
for trade union members contributing to our overall wealth | :37:23. | :37:28. | |
and prosperity. I don't think that dividing up different parts of | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
society is hopeful. A couple of quick questions about things in the | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
news - tax transparency, do you think politicians should reveal | :37:36. | :37:39. | |
their tax returns? On a personal level, I would not have a problem | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
with that. We will match the Government on that. But let's not | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
get distracted, because the reason this came up was because of the | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
Government cutting the 50p rate of tax. That's obviously going to | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
affect a very small number of people, and I think the public | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
deserves to know whether ministers stand to benefit from this measure, | :38:00. | :38:05. | |
which will benefit a very small number of people across the country. | :38:06. | :38:11. | |
There has been more hacking action against the Home Office website - | :38:11. | :38:14. | |
do you support that kind of direct action? I certainly would not | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
support that, I don't think it is very helpful. If you have got | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
grievances with government policy, then you should raise it in the | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
usual way. We cannot have a situation where we have got people | :38:25. | :38:28. | |
hacking into different websites, because many people rely on those | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
websites, we're talking about the Home Office website and community | :38:32. | :38:40. | |
safety issues. So, I would not support that, no. Thank you very | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
much for joining us this morning. The actor Liam Neeson has been a | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
powerful, often brooding presence on TV and cinema screens for 30 | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
years. He was hugely acclaimed in the 1990s for his portrayals of two | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
real-life historical characters, Michael Collins and Oskar Schindler. | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
More recently he has enjoyed success in blockbusters such as | :39:04. | :39:14. | |
Star Wars, Batman, The Narnia Chronicles and Clash Of The Titans. | :39:14. | :39:24. | |
:39:24. | :39:39. | ||
I met him, and we started off by Warning red, weapons tight. | :39:39. | :39:46. | |
Battleship was a chance, firstly to go to Hawaii, and secondly, Pearl | :39:46. | :39:55. | |
Harbor, and to shoot on the USS Missouri, which was where the | :39:55. | :39:59. | |
Japanese officially surrendered at the end of the Second World War. We | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
did it with all of these naval cadets, and I was playing the | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
Admiral of the fleet, and I had all the regalia on, so all these guys | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
were just saluting me every time I went into a restaurant or something. | :40:12. | :40:20. | |
I had to say, guys, please, don't! One of the interesting things about | :40:20. | :40:24. | |
Battleship is that one of the actors is a limbless veterans, who | :40:24. | :40:32. | |
lost both his legs in Iraq, I think. I find that fascinating. I have one | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
little scene with him towards the end. I remember thinking, as he was | :40:36. | :40:43. | |
walking towards me, and I am presenting him with a metal for his | :40:43. | :40:50. | |
bravery, and he had a look in his eyes, no actor in the world could | :40:50. | :40:57. | |
act that, what that man has seen, what he has experienced. | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
Battleship the future of the action movie, lots of computer-generated | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
graphics, based on a computer game, a huge amount of technology | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
involved? It is something that Hollywood does fantastically. They | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
do these movies, with all the bells and whistles. They do it incredibly | :41:15. | :41:25. | |
well. I think the adult dramas are still very much independent. | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
thing which intrigues me about films like this is the level of | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
security around it, the scripts which a security codes and | :41:33. | :41:39. | |
encryptions. They are so scared about piracy. I had another picture | :41:39. | :41:46. | |
come out a few weeks ago, and two days after its release, I was in my | :41:46. | :41:53. | |
little local Asian restaurant, in New York, and the owner said, | :41:53. | :41:58. | |
wonderful film. I said, where did you see it, did you see it round | :41:58. | :42:07. | |
the corner? He said, no, I watch DVD, Chinese subtitles. That was | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
two days after the film came out. You were born in Ballymena, in | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
Antrim, and you have spoken in the past about being able to watch Ian | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
Paisley perform as a politician, as a preacher, and how that was one | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
thing which got you interested in acting? Well, he was like a | :42:24. | :42:31. | |
firebrand, a throwback to some 19th century preacher, you know? Very, | :42:31. | :42:38. | |
very intimidating. But extraordinary. I remember a couple | :42:38. | :42:48. | |
:42:48. | :42:50. | ||
of times creeping into his Gospel Hall to hear him. Big, big man. I'm | :42:50. | :42:55. | |
6ft 4, he was my height, twice as broad. Pretty electrifying. Do you | :42:55. | :43:01. | |
go back to Belfast occasionally? Yes, I go back, my mum and sisters | :43:01. | :43:09. | |
still live there. But it is no longer home. Famously, you're the | :43:09. | :43:19. | |
voice of Aslan in the Narnia films, but you also play bad guys as well | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
in other films. I do not really care what the genre is, as long as | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
it is good quality. Does that mean that even though you have done a | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
large spread of blockbusters, that actually, you're attracted to going | :43:31. | :43:37. | |
back to do a bit more theatre and a bit more art-house stuff? Yes, very | :43:37. | :43:43. | |
much so, I need to get back on stage again. Why? I feel I owe | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
something to the world of theatre, that is where I started. It is | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
great to do, especially if you have got a classic play. It is great to | :43:52. | :44:01. | |
be in front of an audience. It predates cinema by 4,000 years. You | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
feel you have to pay homage to it every now and again. For example, | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
when you played Oskar Schindler, you were playing something which | :44:10. | :44:16. | |
had meaning, which had a huge connection with the audience... | :44:16. | :44:22. | |
was very intense, obviously, we had a lot of Israeli actors and | :44:22. | :44:31. | |
actresses playing Holocaust victims, and there were many evenings when | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
they would come back to the hotel, and we would try to meet them in | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
the bar and buy them a drink, there were some very, very emotional | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
scenes, and the cast found it hard hat times to hang up those things | :44:45. | :44:54. | |
on the dressing room door. We all became very, very close. Ralph | :44:54. | :45:00. | |
Fiennes is one of my oldest friends now. We have formed a little club. | :45:00. | :45:06. | |
You had a very bad motorcycle accident. I did, in the year 2000. | :45:06. | :45:14. | |
Did that change things? It means I never get on a motorbike again. I | :45:14. | :45:24. | |
:45:24. | :45:26. | ||
broke my pelvis in two places, I nearly died, all that stuff. Did it | :45:26. | :45:31. | |
have any impact on the physicality? Strangely enough, no. I had | :45:32. | :45:38. | |
fantastic surgeons. I have got bits of titanium in my body and stuff. | :45:38. | :45:48. | |
:45:48. | :45:53. | ||
I'm going to play LBJ. The former President? It's a film called the | :45:53. | :45:56. | |
Butler. Are you playing him as a good or bad guy because he has a | :45:56. | :46:01. | |
mixed press? He has a mixed press, yes, and there are two or three | :46:01. | :46:06. | |
colourful scenes you know. Excellent. Thank you very much | :46:06. | :46:11. | |
indeed. Thank you. Thank you. actor, Liam Neeson promising to | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
hang up his light sabre and return to the theatre. Government | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
ministers will be glad to put the last few weeks behind them no doubt, | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
a Budget not welcomed, arguments within the coalition and petrol | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
chaos. How do they gain the momentum. Grant Shapps joins me now. | :46:26. | :46:31. | |
Good morning. Tim far Ron from the Liberal Democrats making it very | :46:31. | :46:33. | |
clear that unless there are substantial changes to the green | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
paper on security, he's going to block it. Aren't you going to have | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
to start trimming it again, just as you did on the Health Bill? | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
most important thing is that people here feel they are safe and being | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
protected from anything which might go wrong and terrorists might do. | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
You have already got the powers with things like telephones, | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
including mobile phones, things like your mail that comes through | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
the post, obviously as technology changes, you need to keep track | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
with those things. I'm a great civil libertarian and wouldn't want | :47:04. | :47:08. | |
to see anything which is overarching, which is why these | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
proposals are not to do what Labour say, set up a massive database, | :47:12. | :47:16. | |
just store information for a year in case, under specific | :47:16. | :47:18. | |
circumstances and properly authorised, something is required | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
in terms of when communication went backwards and forwards, not even | :47:22. | :47:25. | |
the contents of it. That's a reasonable approach so the public | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
would expect Government to protect in that kind of way. Tim far Ron | :47:28. | :47:31. | |
says that's not reasonable. He's got serious concerns about this, so | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
the Liberal Democrats are wrong and as the Government, will you hold | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
firm? In the green room, I saw his interview, and he actually said, we | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
need to make sure that we are a Government that appreciates and | :47:44. | :47:47. | |
protects people's civil liberties. By the way, part the way through | :47:47. | :47:49. | |
passing the freedom Bill in the House of Lords right now, that | :47:49. | :47:54. | |
strips away many of the things the last Government tried to do to be | :47:54. | :47:59. | |
overarching and overbearing on many of our freedoms. We won't introduce | :47:59. | :48:03. | |
anything that's overbearing. far Ron said he was prepared to | :48:03. | :48:09. | |
kill this? He actually is very, very keen to make sure, as am I and | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
everybody in this Government, to make sure preem are properly | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
protected and to have up-to-date modern laws, that won't be | :48:18. | :48:22. | |
overbearing and it will make sure that it's put on the same status as | :48:22. | :48:27. | |
using a mobile phone at the moment. -- make sure people are properly | :48:27. | :48:29. | |
protected. We are discussing this on a day when the Home Office | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
website has been hacked into. How concerned are you about that? | :48:34. | :48:38. | |
concerning in that it shows how reliant we are on modern technology | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
and Internet sites and so on. Chuka made a very good point which is | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
that people rely on a site like that for information like community | :48:48. | :48:51. | |
safety. It's important that people realise there's no advantage in | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
trying to block sites. The site is up and running right now, I checked. | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
This is the modern world we live in and people will try to do these | :48:59. | :49:05. | |
things. Let's talk about your Government. Pasty-gate, granny tax, | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
Tory dinners in Downing Street, incompetence allegations over the | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
petrol non-crisis. What's gone wrong? There are two ways you can | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
govern. You can either look for tomorrow's headline, in which case | :49:17. | :49:21. | |
you spend all your time trying to do the soft stories which don't | :49:21. | :49:26. | |
make much difference in the long- term but makior popular, or YouGov | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
earn with the horizon in view all the time and trying to make sure | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
you do things that are right for the country. If you look at the | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
tough times that we live in, the fact that we have brought a | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
coalition together of two parties willing to try to make the tough | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
decisions, halfway through, is it a surprise that things are difficult | :49:44. | :49:49. | |
- not at all. But Governments... It's important to carry on and make | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
sure we introduce the changes needed. Governments have to make | :49:53. | :49:55. | |
arguments and persuade people, take people with them. Isn't there a | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
risk that people are thinking either this is an incompetent | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
Government or a Government that's not all in it together? We can | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
spend an interview talking about pasties and so on or we can talk | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
about the big issues. If you ask what people really understand about | :50:13. | :50:17. | |
the Government, the number one thing people would say is, this is | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
a Government that appreciates we mustn't end up like Greece, we | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
can't afford to let the country go bust and that's where we were | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
headed under the previous administration. If you ask people | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
what has the Government got right, it's the deficit reduction, it's | :50:31. | :50:34. | |
ensuring that Britain stays on the straight and level. Keeps the | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
triple A rating. The opinion polls suggest you are a party of chums | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
and that this idea of eliteism and a clique at the top of the | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
Government is gathering pace. How damaging is that? The most | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
important thing is, you mentioned the Budget before, look what it did | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
to two million people, took them out of paying any tax at all. | :50:57. | :51:01. | |
Taxpayers... 24 million people whose tax bill each week will be | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
reduced by �6.30. This is the Government that understands that | :51:05. | :51:10. | |
what you need to do is govern for everyone. Like the pasties, if we | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
want an obsessive discussion about who knows when, for the record, I | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
didn't even know David Cameron before I was elected to this | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
Parliament. What's worse, to be accused of incompetence or being a | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
party of the rich? Not being prepared to take on the big changes | :51:26. | :51:29. | |
this country needs is the worst thing. Like the welfare reform. | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
It's interesting revealing that you sit down for an interview like this | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
and talk about the tittle-tattle rather than the welfare Bill we | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
passed into a law which means from now on, people will always be | :51:40. | :51:45. | |
better off in work, rather than on welfare and taking people out of | :51:45. | :51:50. | |
being trapped on benefits. Those are the real issues, the deficit | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
reduction and things that change this country like Michael Gove's | :51:54. | :51:58. | |
education reforms. We can talk about pasties and who knows who for | :51:58. | :52:04. | |
how long but it matters how YouGov earn the country. Tax returns, | :52:04. | :52:08. | |
should the rest of the Government publish these things? I have | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
nothing against that. Transparency is a good thing. My department, | :52:12. | :52:15. | |
Communities and Local Government, for example, we publish everything | :52:15. | :52:19. | |
over �500, publish the entire Government credit card and it's | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
really... Do you have faith in politicians, and more so if they | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
were more open? Perhaps that's a good idea and maybe we should have | :52:28. | :52:30. | |
public institutions and maybe the BBC journalists should release | :52:30. | :52:35. | |
theirs so everything is transparent. Very quickly. Some people say you | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
should be party chairman. Do you want to be? We have a party | :52:38. | :52:41. | |
chairman, I love what I'm doing with housing and it's important to | :52:41. | :52:46. | |
get enough homes built. That's why I'm focused entirely on that job. | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
Thank you very much. Over to Naga for the news headlines. The leader | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
of the biggest teaching union, the NASUWT, says her union is very | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
serious about further strike action in its dispute with the Government | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
over pay and conditions. Christine Keates told the programme | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
that strikes would be a last resort and she said that her union members | :53:05. | :53:09. | |
had no intention to walk out during the summer exam season. | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
We would be looking I think towards the autumn term, but we first would | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
be looking at escalating our action short of strike action and we have | :53:18. | :53:22. | |
been working with parent groups, PTA groups, Governors, to talk to | :53:22. | :53:26. | |
them about what our real concerns are and try to engage them in our | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
campaign of trying to get the Government to listen to the serious | :53:30. | :53:33. | |
concerns of the profession. President of the Liberal Democrats, | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
Tim far Ron, has said that his party is prepared to kill the | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
Government's proposals to monitor people's e-mail communications and | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
Internet activities. The Home Secretary said today that a Bill | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
will be included in the Queen's speech next month. | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
A man has been charged with a public order offence after a | :53:51. | :53:53. | |
swimmer interrupted yesterday's boat race between Oxford and | :53:54. | :53:57. | |
Cambridge universities. He's been named as Trenton Oldfield who is | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
aged 35 and lives in the Whitechapel area of London. The | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
race was restarted after a half hour delay and Cambridge won. One | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
of the Oxford rowers collapsed after the race and is said to be in | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
a stable condition in hospital. That is all from me this morning. | :54:12. | :54:16. | |
The next news is on BBC One at 1.35. Now back to James. | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
Thank you very much indeed. Now, several Oxbridge colleges are | :54:20. | :54:23. | |
famous for their world class choirs and the choir of New College Oxford | :54:23. | :54:27. | |
is one of the most renowned for its beautiful and distinctive sound. | :54:27. | :54:33. | |
During term time, the choir sings at the daily services in the | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
college's atmospheric 14th century chapel. They also tour | :54:37. | :54:40. | |
internationally and have made many recordings. They have a new album | :54:40. | :54:45. | |
of sacred music out now called Illumina, Music of Light. So who | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
better to perform for us this Sunday morning. We are delighted to | :54:50. | :54:54. | |
welcome the choir to the studio with his choir, Edward Higginbottom, | :54:54. | :54:59. | |
what kind of sound are you creating with the choir? The new sound is | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
good vocal tuition, we teach them to sing, but the really important | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
thing is that every one of them releases their personality with the | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
singing. I want each of them to be individually personalised in their | :55:11. | :55:14. | |
singing and bring to it their energy and commitment in that way. | :55:14. | :55:20. | |
I imagine this takes a huge amount of work. Felix, what is your day | :55:20. | :55:25. | |
like? Well, on a Monday we have two hours' practise, one at lunch time | :55:25. | :55:31. | |
and one in the evening. Then every single day of the week, we have a | :55:31. | :55:34. | |
service and a lunch time practise, apart from Wednesday, so it's hard | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
work, but if you are committed it's good fun. You have time for school | :55:38. | :55:42. | |
work and family and fun, do you? Yes, because before the services we | :55:42. | :55:47. | |
have something called choir prep so we can do that. Is it something | :55:47. | :55:52. | |
that is different to other choirs? You were saying you are less formal, | :55:52. | :56:01. | |
more relaxed? Look at us. No roughs. Not today at least. OK. Great. Look. | :56:01. | :56:03. | |
Thank you all very much. Looking forward to it. That's almost it for | :56:03. | :56:07. | |
today. Thanks to all my guests, Andrew is back next week and he'll | :56:07. | :56:11. | |
be joined here in the studio by the Labour Leader, Ed Miliband. That's | :56:11. | :56:16. | |
at the usual time of 9 o'clock, but note, on BBC Two, motor racing on | :56:16. | :56:21. | |
BBC One next week, the Andrew Marr show on BBC Two. For now, we leave | :56:21. | :56:29. | |
you with the choir of New College Oxford singing the Lord Bless You & | :56:29. | :56:39. | |
:56:39. | :56:39. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 44 seconds | :56:39. | :57:24. | |
Keep You. Enjoy the rest of your # And be gracious unto you | :57:24. | :57:29. | |
# The Lord bless you and keep you # The Lord make His face to shine | :57:29. | :57:36. | |
upon you # The Lord lift up the light of his | :57:36. | :57:42. | |
countenance upon you # The Lord lift up the light of his | :57:42. | :57:46. |