:00:39. > :00:45.A good morning. It is that twinkly time, we blockbuster films and
:00:45. > :00:50.crammed TV schedules almost upon us. Hobbit-mania this year, dragons,
:00:50. > :00:53.elves and no doubt that cartoon film, the Snowman on the telly. But
:00:53. > :00:59.over the next few days, we have been told to expect the Beast from
:00:59. > :01:04.the East. And yes, it is in 3-D, but on the other hand, it is real,
:01:04. > :01:09.a blast of icy wind and ferocious snow from Siberia which will push
:01:09. > :01:13.night temperatures as low as -15, so get ready. Blown in from nearer
:01:13. > :01:17.than Siberia, this morning's paper reviewers are the former Labour
:01:17. > :01:20.minister Charlie Falconer, with strong views on reforming the press,
:01:20. > :01:26.and Sarah Sands, editor of the Evening Standard.
:01:26. > :01:29.Now, if only the weather was all we had to worry about. But the Autumn
:01:29. > :01:33.Statement has jolted everybody into concentrating on the horribly weak
:01:33. > :01:37.condition of our economy. This morning, the Business Secretary is
:01:37. > :01:41.contemplating a double-dip recession. There were awful figures
:01:41. > :01:46.from industry and a huge political row is brewing over benefits cuts.
:01:46. > :01:50.Business as usual, then, as we stare ahead for another few years
:01:50. > :01:54.of austerity, and a man who will be wielding the hatchet, the Chief
:01:54. > :01:58.Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander. Can public services like
:01:58. > :02:02.the NHS still be protected? Speaking of the health service, MPs
:02:02. > :02:06.were stunned this week when the Labour MP Ann Clwyd described in
:02:06. > :02:11.harrowing terms the poor hospital care her husband received before he
:02:11. > :02:14.died. She is in our Cardiff studio to talk to us about her experience.
:02:14. > :02:19.We will hear from the chief executive of the Royal College of
:02:19. > :02:27.Nursing about the pressures facing NHS staff. On a lighter note,
:02:27. > :02:32.remember this? 15 years since they hit the charts, a new musical with
:02:32. > :02:36.the songs of the Spice Girls is set to open in London's West End. I
:02:36. > :02:40.talked to Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, about what inspired it
:02:40. > :02:44.and how it is going for girl power these days. And playing us out at
:02:45. > :02:50.this morning, a bit of manpower, combining the talents of America
:02:50. > :02:56.and Britain, we have State Of The Union.
:02:56. > :03:00.# Look at the two of us, in sympathy, sometimes ecstasy.
:03:00. > :03:03.First, over to Naga Munchetty for the headlines.
:03:03. > :03:08.Australian police say they have been contacted by British officers
:03:08. > :03:12.with a view to speaking to the two DJs who made a hoax call to the
:03:12. > :03:16.hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge. Mel Greig and Michael
:03:16. > :03:20.Christian pretended to be members of the Royal Family. The nurse who
:03:20. > :03:23.answered the call, Jacintha Saldanha, was later found dead.
:03:23. > :03:28.Prince William was at a charity event last night without his wife
:03:28. > :03:32.at his side. He joked that her morning sickness was so bad that it
:03:32. > :03:34.should be called all day and all night sickness. It was his first
:03:35. > :03:40.appearance in public since the couple issued a statement saying
:03:40. > :03:43.they were saddened by the death of Jacintha Saldanha. The two DJs who
:03:43. > :03:46.made the hoax call have kept out of the spotlight since shortly after
:03:46. > :03:51.the broadcast, when they called it one of their greatest spanks ever.
:03:51. > :03:54.The radio station said it was concerned for their welfare. They
:03:54. > :03:57.are being counselled by a psychologist paid for by the
:03:58. > :04:02.station. Police in London will have to prepare a report for the crime
:04:02. > :04:07.on the death of the nurse. New South Wales Police confirmed that
:04:07. > :04:12.they had been contacted by their police in the UK about the
:04:12. > :04:19.possibility of interviewing the two DJs. The King Edward VII hospital
:04:19. > :04:21.has sent a letter to the radio station that broadcasts the call.
:04:22. > :04:26.For their chairman's said it was foolish of the presenters to
:04:26. > :04:28.consider trying to live their way through to the patience. Then to
:04:28. > :04:33.discover that the call had been pre-recorded and the decision to
:04:33. > :04:37.transmit approved by a management was appalling. He said the
:04:37. > :04:41.consequences of their call had been tragic beyond words. In Australia,
:04:41. > :04:45.some lump the newspaper's reporting on the core by Today FM have been
:04:45. > :04:50.talking about the British media whipping up a predictable frenzy.
:04:50. > :04:53.One editorial said the two Australian presenters had not
:04:53. > :04:58.killed the Britishness. Another columnist said there had been no
:04:58. > :05:01.malice in the core. A campaign group backing same-sex marriage has
:05:01. > :05:05.been launched by senior Conservative politicians.
:05:05. > :05:08.The group, which includes education Secretary Michael Gove, said
:05:08. > :05:12.religious bodies should be able to conduct gay marriages, but should
:05:12. > :05:16.not be compelled to do so. Plans to legalise same-sex marriage
:05:16. > :05:20.announced by David Cameron have divided the Conservative Party.
:05:20. > :05:25.A Egypt's new President appears to have backed down on controversial
:05:25. > :05:28.plans that would have expanded his powers. Mohammed Morsi announced
:05:28. > :05:32.the climbdown following days of street protests. His critics have
:05:32. > :05:40.accused him of acting like a dictator, but Mr Morsi says he is
:05:40. > :05:43.safeguarding the revolution that swept Hosni Mubarak from power.
:05:43. > :05:48.The decree that has divided Egypt and caused one of its worst waves
:05:48. > :05:51.of violence since the start of the revolution has been revoked.
:05:51. > :05:55.President Mohammed Morsi annulled the constitutional edict that gave
:05:55. > :05:59.him sweeping powers and which gained him the titles of a dictator
:05:59. > :06:03.and Faro among thousands of protesters. The announcement came
:06:03. > :06:08.after several hours of talks between the president, vice-
:06:08. > :06:13.president and a number off political figures in Egypt. This is
:06:13. > :06:17.a major compromise on Mohammed Morsi's Park and an expected move -
:06:17. > :06:21.- an unexpected move. Last Thursday, the president showed no willingness
:06:21. > :06:27.to give up the absolute powers he gathered himself. But tonight in a
:06:27. > :06:31.dramatic U-turn, he has decided to give those powers up. It seems the
:06:31. > :06:35.opposition have only won half the battle. The president did not budge
:06:35. > :06:39.on the other sticky issue, the referendum on the controversial
:06:39. > :06:43.draft constitution. In the press conference, it was announced that a
:06:43. > :06:47.vote on the charter will go ahead as planned on December 15th. The
:06:47. > :06:52.main opposition figures heading the National Salvation Front had
:06:52. > :06:55.boycotted the meeting. Their reaction is key to how events will
:06:55. > :06:59.shape up politically and on the streets. Since the announcement of
:06:59. > :07:03.the decree, Egypt has been polarised and has plunged into a
:07:03. > :07:10.new wave of violence. It is yet to be seen whether this annulment will
:07:10. > :07:13.defuse tensions on a judge's volatile streets.
:07:13. > :07:18.The former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has confirmed
:07:18. > :07:23.that he will run for office again next year. The country's current
:07:23. > :07:26.Prime Minister Mario Monti says he plans to resign after Mr
:07:26. > :07:30.Berlusconi's party which are its support from the Government, saying
:07:30. > :07:34.Mr Monti's austerity policies have harmed Italy. Mr Berlusconi is a
:07:34. > :07:38.controversial figure who was convicted of tax fraud in October.
:07:38. > :07:42.England's cricketers have beaten India by seven wickets this morning
:07:42. > :07:46.to take a 2-1 lead in the four match series. India managed to add
:07:46. > :07:50.just eight runs to their overnight total before James Anderson bold
:07:50. > :07:54.Pragyan Ojha. That meant England were left with a small target of 41
:07:54. > :08:02.to win the match. They only have to avoid defeat in the final Test to
:08:02. > :08:12.become the first visiting team to win a series in India since 2004.
:08:12. > :08:16.
:08:16. > :08:23.More headlines before 10 o'clock. Now to the front pages. That story
:08:23. > :08:26.about the nurse who killed herself is on a lot of the front pages.
:08:26. > :08:30.There is a different line in the Sunday People tobacco and the
:08:30. > :08:37.Sunday Telegraph, saying the hoax DJs in Australia Arnaud on suicide
:08:37. > :08:43.watch. The Mail on Sunday has a story about a committee in the
:08:43. > :08:49.House of Commons suggesting that the legalisation of cannabis might
:08:49. > :08:54.have to come. The And the Independent on Sunday says the real
:08:54. > :08:58.cost of a degree these days for students are starting now is
:08:58. > :09:08.climbing to �100,000, which must make people think twice. Finally,
:09:08. > :09:14.
:09:14. > :09:20.quite a lot of political war on the front pages. We will be talking
:09:20. > :09:24.about a lot of these stories on the programme. Sarah Sands and Charlie
:09:24. > :09:31.Falconer, welcome. Sarah, we start with the biggest story, the hoax
:09:31. > :09:39.call and a suicide. This is the front of the Sunday Express, which
:09:39. > :09:43.has details about the nurse's last calls to her family. She did not
:09:43. > :09:52.mention any of this, which suggests there was absolute isolation and
:09:52. > :09:58.humiliation. But the stories raise the issue about what you do about
:09:58. > :10:02.human collateral damage. We will talk about that and Leveson later,
:10:02. > :10:07.but this is something that arises. This woman was a night nurse,
:10:07. > :10:12.minding her own business, and got caught up in this storm. And of
:10:12. > :10:17.course, the Australian presenters did not intend any of this,
:10:17. > :10:22.although it does seem foolish to have gone through a hospital of all
:10:22. > :10:30.places. It is one thing to bring down and a powerful and pompous,
:10:30. > :10:36.but not hospitals. Humiliation was the big headline on the Sunday
:10:36. > :10:41.Telegraph. These two nurses, without warning, found themselves,
:10:41. > :10:47.right across the world, being made a total fool of. It is not hard to
:10:47. > :10:51.imagine that that would be an awful thing to happen. Sarah is right.
:10:51. > :10:57.The disc jockeys in Australia would never have intended or envisaged
:10:57. > :11:02.that this would happen. But thinking about the consequences on
:11:02. > :11:07.human beings if this were to happen is really important. The Sun on
:11:07. > :11:11.Sunday has a very good editorial which quotes the general manager of
:11:11. > :11:21.the radio station saying "these disc jockeys are not machines, they
:11:21. > :11:21.
:11:21. > :11:26.are human beings". But so are the nurses. Putting the story above
:11:26. > :11:33.everything means you do not focus on what Sarah chillingly described
:11:33. > :11:38.as human collateral damage. Do we have any sympathy for the two DJs?
:11:38. > :11:47.Only in that it was not intended. They are thoughtless and young and
:11:47. > :11:53.it seemed funny at the time. There are other stories we would like to
:11:53. > :11:56.get through. Britain's invisible army of homeless. This is an
:11:56. > :12:00.article in the Independent on Sunday based on a Panorama
:12:00. > :12:05.programme that goes out on Thursday. That programme will say there are
:12:05. > :12:12.now 50% more families living in bed and breakfasts than previously. We
:12:12. > :12:15.focus on homeless people at Christmas time, but, I know because
:12:15. > :12:20.I am involved in a housing association, the number of people
:12:20. > :12:23.with nowhere to live with families, and the numbers of places to house
:12:23. > :12:28.them, the numbers of people are going up and the numbers of places
:12:28. > :12:34.are going down. We know from our own society what the consequences
:12:34. > :12:41.of putting families in bed and breakfasts are. It goes closely
:12:41. > :12:45.with a story like this. Pay-day loan firm earns �615 million in
:12:45. > :12:49.five years and pays no tax. The pay-day loan firm is making money
:12:49. > :12:53.by making small loans on rates of interest to families who can't
:12:53. > :12:57.afford to keep going until their next pay day, and they are paying
:12:57. > :13:05.no tax. Is it surprising that there is not enough money to pay for the
:13:05. > :13:09.homeless? My next story is from the Sunday Times. Senior Tories fight
:13:09. > :13:17.for gay marriage in church. It is about the schism in the Tory party
:13:17. > :13:23.between the Social Liberals, led by Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, for
:13:23. > :13:28.the right to gay marriage in church. Then you have the other side, who
:13:28. > :13:38.say this is modernisation for its own sake. It is a slightly odd
:13:38. > :13:39.
:13:39. > :13:44.argument that it is a distraction. It is a way of dismissing anything.
:13:44. > :13:48.I think the Prime Minister is really picking up on the Lyndon
:13:48. > :13:58.Johnson dictum that you are in office for something that means
:13:58. > :13:58.
:13:58. > :14:03.something. But I think it will be a tough fight. It throws a
:14:03. > :14:06.searchlight on the Tory Party's attitudes to the world generally.
:14:06. > :14:09.The political parties, it is important that you do try to
:14:09. > :14:12.reflect the mood of the time. If you are fighting about something
:14:12. > :14:17.that appears to be looking backwards rather than forwards,
:14:17. > :14:25.that is defining of the political party. None of them wanted to talk
:14:25. > :14:31.about this. Another story, sex equality plan for Lords. We know
:14:31. > :14:36.that when Kate Middleton has her baby, whether it is a girl or boy,
:14:36. > :14:40.it will be the heir to the heir to the throne. We know there is no
:14:40. > :14:46.sexual bias in relation to that. But in the Lords, we still have
:14:46. > :14:52.hereditary peers, and if one of them dies, the hereditaries have
:14:52. > :14:56.elect a replacement. And only boys can succeed to hereditary peerage.
:14:56. > :15:01.If we are making the change for the monarch, it is time we made the
:15:01. > :15:05.change for hereditary peers. The political world decided not to go
:15:05. > :15:14.ahead with Lords reform and making it more democratic, but we could at
:15:14. > :15:17.least make it more woman-friendly. I have chosen the Michael Gove wore
:15:17. > :15:22.over pay for teachers, partly because the language is interesting.
:15:22. > :15:26.In all other parts of government, everything has to be so compromised
:15:26. > :15:30.and reconciling what the coalition want. But in this, there is no
:15:30. > :15:35.doubt that Michael Gove is talking about his department being on a war
:15:35. > :15:45.footing, and this is a battle that has to be won. He is really going
:15:45. > :15:48.
:15:48. > :15:54.for it. He is being radical. And he is allowed today. At the end of it,
:15:54. > :15:59.if there is one reform that you see that has really changed a basic
:15:59. > :16:03.part of Britain, it will be education. But do you make it
:16:03. > :16:08.easier or less easy to introduce that reform by saying to those who
:16:08. > :16:13.have to deliver it on the ground, I am at war with you? That would make
:16:13. > :16:23.one feel... Be it is a statement. But if he is at war with me, maybe
:16:23. > :16:25.
:16:25. > :16:35.I would not agree with what he is Could you have someone who sound
:16:35. > :16:42.like a Scot as who is in Surrey... Gove's Scottish accent. The fact he
:16:42. > :16:48.comes from Aberdeen seems to be plotting with him coming to leader
:16:48. > :16:58.of the party. Any more stories? Just one more. It is two stories.
:16:58. > :17:04.One fear of the unknown in Damascus and Egyptian President annuals
:17:04. > :17:09.decree. We saw it on the news. The President, who wants to rule by
:17:09. > :17:15.decree. What people want is law. Law is what makes you feel safe
:17:15. > :17:20.against the power of whether it be a dictator President or an army.
:17:20. > :17:26.You have another story. I have a quick one, which I will refer
:17:26. > :17:34.straight to, which is are lawyers paid too much? We have in the Sun
:17:34. > :17:38.six fat cat lawyers get �500,000 a year.
:17:38. > :17:43.Lawyers are incredibly important to make sure people don't get
:17:43. > :17:50.oppressed. People whose babies are taken away from them by the local
:17:50. > :17:54.authority spend months trying to find lawyers. It is hardly
:17:54. > :18:00.imaginable to imagine something more important.
:18:00. > :18:07.There is a Select Committee who will produce a hard Hytheing report
:18:07. > :18:14.on drugs - is this something which is starting to pop up in general?
:18:14. > :18:18.No-one wants people to take illegal drugs or get out of their minds on
:18:18. > :18:21.drink or drugs hafplt is the answer? I don't know. They -- what
:18:21. > :18:26.is the answer? I don't know. What they suggest is a royal
:18:26. > :18:31.committee - that is not a bad idea. Last week the papers were full of
:18:31. > :18:36.the Leveson Inquiry. A lot is going on behind the scenes. Sarah, as a
:18:36. > :18:40.newspaper editor, not wearing any shackles so far, what has been
:18:40. > :18:46.going on? This is the week when the newspaper industry is supposed to
:18:46. > :18:51.come up with its own answer to Leveson? We've had two meetings
:18:51. > :19:01.along the editors. It's now going through a document to see really
:19:01. > :19:02.
:19:02. > :19:06.how far we can go in agreeing with everything that Leveson said. We
:19:06. > :19:09.agree with the principals, know we have to put our house in order. It
:19:09. > :19:13.is a question of going through some technical process in the language
:19:14. > :19:19.to make sure there are not any unintended consequences. What seems
:19:19. > :19:22.to me to be a difficult thing is how you set up a genuinely
:19:22. > :19:31.independent body, not connected to the newspaper industry, not
:19:31. > :19:37.connected to the House of Commons or the politics and choose them.
:19:37. > :19:41.Have you cracked that? We are waiting for Oliver Letwin's
:19:41. > :19:46.qualifier. Who would not have the bias - who would everyone want to
:19:46. > :19:51.work with? You sort of end one the Queen.
:19:51. > :19:59.That is where we have the royal charter. I think everybody trusts
:19:59. > :20:02.the Queen. I would agree with that. We have talked across the political
:20:02. > :20:06.spectrum. It is encouraging to hear what Sarah is saying.
:20:06. > :20:13.What Sarah said is leave it to the press to produce a body which
:20:13. > :20:18.complys with the Leveson principals, but have an independent verifyer,
:20:18. > :20:21.which he envisages Parliament would create whose job is to say what the
:20:21. > :20:25.press comes up with meets the principals he has laid down. What
:20:25. > :20:34.we have been doing is crafting a bill, which we hope will reflect
:20:34. > :20:42.what Leveson remepbldzed, leaving it -- recommended, leaving it to
:20:42. > :20:45.the press. With a stottory back- stop? -- statutory back-stop?
:20:45. > :20:50.are not trying to produce any regulation direct either as a back-
:20:50. > :20:53.stop or not. What we will do, as soon as we can, I cannot tell you
:20:53. > :20:58.when, is publish the bill, so people can see what we think
:20:58. > :21:02.Leveson wanted the parliamentarians to do. Because what Sarah is
:21:02. > :21:07.describing is what Leveson wanted the press to do. If we can get the
:21:07. > :21:12.two together, so the press produce the body that makes sure the
:21:12. > :21:17.McCanns are never torn to pieces again and Parliament produces a
:21:17. > :21:21.body which says, have they done it, yes or no - if it is no, then
:21:21. > :21:24.another stage. Which is sometimes newspaper editors are fearful about.
:21:24. > :21:27.Do you have the votes in the House of Commons and the House of Lords
:21:27. > :21:31.for that measure? I don't know whether we have the votes if you
:21:31. > :21:36.produce the bill, then that provides a catalyst around which
:21:36. > :21:40.people can see the rather measured proposals that Leveson was making.
:21:40. > :21:46.Can I ask you about one thing floated yesterday, the notion there
:21:46. > :21:53.could be a Royal Charter. The BBC has one. It would be for a press
:21:53. > :21:58.regulator? I don't know - if we have a Royal Charter, then the
:21:58. > :22:03.terms have to be agreed by the Privy Council, by ministers. I
:22:03. > :22:07.don't know for the press body... I am keen to find out what has been
:22:07. > :22:11.said, so one can really consider it. All right, thank you to both of you
:22:11. > :22:14.very much indeed for that. Four inches of snow over much of Britain
:22:15. > :22:24.is coming up this week. We are told - that is the beast from the East,
:22:25. > :22:33.
:22:33. > :22:37.I mentioned earlier on. With a full We have a cold snap on the way, for
:22:37. > :22:42.sure. High pressure builds from the UK, it will bring in cold weather.
:22:42. > :22:46.Dry, but chilly days and nights to come. The question comes though
:22:46. > :22:55.from Wednesday onwards, into Thursday, as the high weakens. That
:22:55. > :23:00.is when you heard the reference to the Beast from the East moving in.
:23:00. > :23:04.It's all to play for really in the next few days. That forecast will
:23:04. > :23:08.keep evolving. It is worth staying tuned. For the next few days fine
:23:09. > :23:12.weather, but increasingly cold. Today, after a milder start, the
:23:12. > :23:16.northerly wind will bring clearer conditions into the northern half
:23:16. > :23:22.of the UK as the day pans out, but make it feel increasingly chilly.
:23:22. > :23:27.To the south, we keep cloud and drizzly outbreaks of rain. Top
:23:27. > :23:33.temperatures, ranging from a chilly five Celsius in Scotland to a mild
:23:33. > :23:39.nine Celsius in Plymouth. A wide- spread frost overnight. Bright, but
:23:39. > :23:48.chilly days in prospect for Monday and Tuesday, where we may see
:23:48. > :23:52.temperatures not getting above D No alarmism in the next story.
:23:52. > :23:56.These are stories which keep occurring, accounts of poor care
:23:56. > :23:59.and a lack of compassion. Worst was the scandal at Mid Staffordshire
:23:59. > :24:03.hospital where hundreds are thought to have died over the past few
:24:03. > :24:06.years. There are many others. This week, one MP told the Prime
:24:06. > :24:13.Minister of her concerns based on the experiences of her husband,
:24:13. > :24:18.when he was dying in hospital. Mr Speaker, a universal health care
:24:18. > :24:21.system, free at the point of delivery is what the overwhelming
:24:21. > :24:27.majority of the British people want. Something which I remain firmly
:24:27. > :24:33.committed to. However, there are increasing
:24:33. > :24:38.complaints about nurses who fail to show care and compassion to those.
:24:38. > :24:43.What will the Prime Minister do about that? Ann Clwyd, who you saw
:24:43. > :24:49.there, joins me now from our Cardiff story. Ann Clwyd, you said
:24:49. > :24:53.your husband was left to die like a battery when in a cage and it was
:24:53. > :24:57.clearly an utterly harrowing experience. You are a very long-
:24:57. > :25:02.term, experienced MP. What are you going to do about this? Will you
:25:02. > :25:05.start a new campaign for more compassion in British hospitals?
:25:05. > :25:10.Yes, is the short answer. I've had hundreds and hundreds of e-mails
:25:10. > :25:15.from people from all over the country. And the theme is the same
:25:15. > :25:19.- there are some good nurses, but there are also some very bad nurses.
:25:19. > :25:24.People talked about their own experiences. One line from one of
:25:24. > :25:28.the e-mails "I must agree with you. The nursing profession is no longer
:25:28. > :25:34.the caring profession. When I sat at my husband's bedside, I did
:25:34. > :25:40.wonder why some of the so-called nurses bothered to put on their
:25:40. > :25:43.uniforms, the arrogance of some left me bewildered." "since they
:25:43. > :25:48.make nursing a degree course, the wrong kind are entering the
:25:48. > :25:55.profession. They think they are above the meanal tasks which the
:25:55. > :25:57.old-fartioned nurses undertook. We don't need a lot of pen pushers. We
:25:57. > :26:04.need compassionate nurses who are entering the profession because
:26:04. > :26:09.they care for people." They are powerful points. A lot of people
:26:09. > :26:13.will think what happened to you is utterly awful. Because you are an
:26:13. > :26:16.MP and you were able to raise it in the House of Commons we are now
:26:16. > :26:19.talking about it. What can be done to change the atmosphere in
:26:20. > :26:24.hospitals and in the profession? This is not a new thing, Andrew. I
:26:24. > :26:31.was for three years on the Royal Commission on the NHS. The only
:26:31. > :26:34.Royal Commission we've had. It reported in 1979. It landed on the
:26:34. > :26:39.desk of Margaret Thatcher. And very few of the recommendations
:26:39. > :26:46.were ever put in place. Some of the evidence that we had at that time
:26:46. > :26:50.on standards of care, we said, I suggest up just a few quotes from
:26:50. > :26:55.the Royal Commission report. Received much evidence, expressing
:26:55. > :27:00.concern about declining standards of nursing care. The RCN claim the
:27:00. > :27:04.standards have been put at risks because of financial constraints
:27:04. > :27:08.and man-hour shortages T main areas of risks were in hospital and one
:27:08. > :27:14.of these, of course I saw for myself. Neglect of basic nursing
:27:14. > :27:18.routines. So, there are already some patient
:27:18. > :27:23.bodies who campaign on these sort bodies who campaign on these sort
:27:23. > :27:26.of issues. But for whatever reason they have not achieved national
:27:27. > :27:31.prominence. Are you going to try and bring them together and create
:27:31. > :27:35.a new organisation? What is your thinking? Obviously there are
:27:35. > :27:38.people who have done work on this over a long period of time. I hope
:27:38. > :27:43.to get together next week, well this week, some of the
:27:43. > :27:48.organisations that have been campaigning to see how I can take
:27:48. > :27:54.it forward from there. The kind of response I've had from people all
:27:54. > :28:04.over the country, and from other countries as well, is amazing.
:28:04. > :28:04.
:28:04. > :28:08.They are not just 1 Para graph letters, they are substantial --
:28:08. > :28:13.one -paragraph letters. They are substantial. I met a freelance
:28:13. > :28:16.operator and he is being used by some hospitals to talk to the
:28:16. > :28:21.hospital staff about compassion and care.
:28:21. > :28:25.You know, where did those principals go?
:28:25. > :28:28.All right, Ann Clwyd, thank you very much for joining us this
:28:28. > :28:33.morning. What happened to Ann Clwyd's husband is a single case.
:28:33. > :28:37.Nursing is an extremely demanding job. People come from all the world.
:28:37. > :28:41.Of course the nurse who killed herself after the hoax call was one
:28:41. > :28:46.of them. There is something wrong, is there not in the culture of some
:28:46. > :28:52.hospitals. I am joined by Dr Carter, chief executive of the Royal
:28:52. > :28:59.College of Nursing. Thank you for coming in Dr Carter. The Health
:28:59. > :29:05.Secretary himself has talked - and going on one-off cases something
:29:05. > :29:09.seems to be going wrong in the culture. First of all, I have every
:29:09. > :29:14.sympathy with the situation Ann Clwyd found herself in. One thing I
:29:14. > :29:18.say when people give these accounts, because people write to me - it is
:29:18. > :29:23.essential that individual case is investigated. Too often we get
:29:23. > :29:27.these accounts weeks, months, years after they have occurred. I know
:29:27. > :29:31.the hospital in Cardiff will want to do this - it has to be
:29:31. > :29:34.investigated. If an individual nurse or other health care worker
:29:34. > :29:38.is culpable and there are no mitigating circumstances, then
:29:38. > :29:43.individuals have to be held to account. I believe that most nurses,
:29:44. > :29:49.the vast majority of nurses still uphold the long and well-respected
:29:49. > :29:54.traditions that we associate with the nursing profession. The Royal
:29:54. > :29:58.College of Nursing have been clear, there are strains in the system. I
:29:58. > :30:02.genuinely believe, and 92% of patients, that complete surveys
:30:02. > :30:06.express high degrees of satisfaction with their care. 8% do
:30:06. > :30:11.not. If I can pursue that point briefly. The NHS is a massive
:30:11. > :30:16.organisation. It treats one million people every 36 hours.
:30:16. > :30:21.Statistically, 920,000 people are feeling good about it. 80,000 are
:30:21. > :30:25.feeling very bad about it. If your mother or one of your relatives is
:30:25. > :30:28.in the 80,000, you want to say what is going on. What about Ann Clwyd's
:30:28. > :30:34.point, she said a lot of the wrong people are going into nursing.
:30:34. > :30:40.People who expect, as it were, a sort of semi white-collar career,
:30:40. > :30:43.rather than the old-fartioned do the tough, gritty jobs and be there
:30:43. > :30:53.alongside patients as much as possible? A lot of people would say
:30:53. > :30:55.
:30:55. > :31:00.We had an independent commission chaired by Lord Willis. He boasts
:31:00. > :31:04.the myth that if you have a degree, you can't be caring. The last thing
:31:04. > :31:07.I wanted it is take issue with Ann Clwyd, but how can you make a
:31:07. > :31:12.correlation between the fact that someone is well educated and not
:31:12. > :31:16.being able to care? The other factor is that the nursing degree
:31:16. > :31:20.profession issue does not kick in until next year. Most nurses
:31:20. > :31:27.currently do not have a degree, so to suggest that because they are
:31:27. > :31:31.degree dedicated... That falls at the first hurdle. I think her
:31:31. > :31:35.argument was more not that they cannot care or feel compassion
:31:35. > :31:41.because they are educated, but because they have come into the
:31:41. > :31:45.profession in that way, they feel, if you like, not expected to do
:31:46. > :31:53.some of the unpleasant, gritty, back-breaking, messy work that
:31:53. > :31:57.nurses have to do. We get that a lot in some areas. When I visit
:31:57. > :32:04.hospitals, which I do every week, nurses are doing does back-breaking
:32:04. > :32:07.tasks. I do not accept that nurses are not interested in the
:32:07. > :32:12.fundamentals of patient care. you happy to work with Ann Clwyd if
:32:13. > :32:18.she runs this campaign? I don't think she needs a campaign. We need
:32:18. > :32:21.to understand what is going on. We know we have a healthcare system
:32:21. > :32:25.but is under strain, particularly with the care of older people. If
:32:25. > :32:29.you look at some of these accounts, it is usually to do with the care
:32:29. > :32:33.of older people. The majority of the workforce there tend to be
:32:33. > :32:37.healthcare assistants, often under the supervision of a registered
:32:37. > :32:41.nurse. There is nothing wrong with that, but there is something wrong
:32:41. > :32:44.when healthcare assistants are not given rudimentary training.
:32:44. > :32:49.should ask you about the terrible case in the London Hospital with
:32:49. > :32:54.the nurse who killed herself after that hoax call. Does that say
:32:55. > :33:00.something about the psychological pressures on a lot of nurses?
:33:00. > :33:05.Absolutely. But we do not know the full circumstances and I don't wish
:33:05. > :33:09.to speculate. But this is the fall- out from these hoaxes. We have seen
:33:09. > :33:14.them in the past. It rarely has such a dramatic effect as on this
:33:14. > :33:21.occasion. Our thoughts are with Jacintha Saldanha's husband and
:33:21. > :33:26.children. It is a tragedy that was avoidable.
:33:26. > :33:30.Now, if you grew up in the 1990s, particularly if you were a girl,
:33:30. > :33:35.there is one pop group that surely made a bigger impact than any other.
:33:35. > :33:38.Sporty, Scary, Posh, Baby and Ginger, otherwise known as the
:33:38. > :33:45.Spice Girls. If you had forgotten why, that performance at the
:33:45. > :33:52.Olympics closing ceremony will have brought those memories back.
:33:52. > :33:56.# People of the world, Spice Up Your Life!
:33:56. > :34:01.A Now Girl Power is coming to the West End stage in a new musical
:34:01. > :34:04.inspired by the group. Viva Forever! Tells the rags-to-riches
:34:04. > :34:08.story of a group of girls fire songs like Wannabe, Mama and Say
:34:08. > :34:12.You'll Be There. Joining me is Geri Halliwell, who back in the day was
:34:12. > :34:19.known as Ginger Spice, and the author David Sinclair, who has
:34:19. > :34:25.written a book on the Spice Girls phenomenon. Geri Halliwell, this is
:34:25. > :34:31.a musical using the music of the Spice Girls, but it is not the
:34:31. > :34:38.Spice Girls' story? No, it is done by the producer of Mamma Mia, and
:34:38. > :34:45.like that, it is a different story using the Spice Girls' music.
:34:45. > :34:52.are called jukebox musicals. Don't like that term. Our music helps
:34:52. > :34:56.tell the story. It is not just the music. The story stands on its own.
:34:56. > :35:03.David, put this into historical context. There are lots of boy
:35:03. > :35:09.bands and girl bands which were put together. But the Spice Girls were
:35:09. > :35:14.the real pioneers? I think so. In those days, there were no girl
:35:14. > :35:19.groups. They were not considered a viable proposition. Fender Spice
:35:19. > :35:24.Girls exploded on the scene and changed everything. By the time
:35:24. > :35:31.they finished, there were lots of girl groups. They had a huge effect
:35:31. > :35:41.on the music business. This musical is the legacy of what the Spice
:35:41. > :35:42.
:35:42. > :35:46.Girls did. Let's look at the rehearsals of the musical. There
:35:46. > :35:51.are some great characters in it. There is a middle-aged couple who
:35:51. > :35:55.are getting it on, and it is awkward and funny. It is about
:35:55. > :36:01.relationships between mother and daughter... And it does have
:36:01. > :36:07.stopped text. I know your viewers are intelligent. Some of them are.
:36:07. > :36:16.And it is joyful and funny, and it has an undercurrent about whether
:36:16. > :36:22.it is about family, power, judgment. And what is the condition of girl
:36:22. > :36:28.power these days? A lot of you have got girls of your own. That is true.
:36:28. > :36:35.I think the term girl power has existed since time began, whether
:36:35. > :36:40.it was Elizabeth I or the suffragettes. It changes in
:36:40. > :36:45.different forms. Today, there are lots of women with girl power.
:36:45. > :36:51.There is people power as well. David, we now live in the era of
:36:51. > :36:58.the X Factor and all those TV shows. But the legacy of the Spice Girls,
:36:58. > :37:07.musically? Musically, they left a bunch of great songs. In some ways,
:37:07. > :37:13.you could say that they introduced a new era of celebrity culture, and
:37:13. > :37:20.some of that has not been great. But that is hardly their fault.
:37:20. > :37:24.They definitely changed the landscape of pop in a big way.
:37:24. > :37:27.Halliwell, reflecting back, it must have been an extraordinary thing,
:37:27. > :37:31.because you were all plucked out and you did not know each other
:37:31. > :37:38.before the group was put together. And suddenly, you were a global
:37:38. > :37:44.phenomenon. The pressures of that must have been amazing. I refer to
:37:44. > :37:51.it like the Making Of Frankenstein. Dr Frankenstein was trying to
:37:51. > :37:58.manipulate and make something. We became our own entity and took on
:37:58. > :38:04.our own life-force and became authentic as a group. There was
:38:04. > :38:12.real friendship and support. when you left at one point, they
:38:12. > :38:16.started to write songs about you. That was flattering and
:38:16. > :38:24.heartbreaking at the same time. Fingers crossed for this. Everyone
:38:24. > :38:30.is saying it may be the next huge West End smash. Do you have
:38:30. > :38:35.children? They are a bit old for this. But I would so this is a show
:38:35. > :38:41.for everybody. I will get your tickets. You are not allowed to say
:38:41. > :38:45.that! It is the BBC. I will have to pay.
:38:45. > :38:48.Now, there are some pretty rotten jobs in this world. You could be
:38:48. > :38:52.the United Nations peace envoy to Syria, for example. Overseeing
:38:52. > :38:56.government spending cuts as we trudged through the long age of
:38:56. > :38:59.austerity is not great either. On the other hand, at least the
:38:59. > :39:06.Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has
:39:06. > :39:10.a job. It will mean him taking huge decisions about where the pain
:39:10. > :39:14.falls on hospitals, police, welfare and the army for years ahead. He
:39:14. > :39:20.joins me now. Let me start by asking about the overall state of
:39:20. > :39:24.the economy as you perceive it. Four or five years more of pain to
:39:24. > :39:29.come. Vince Cable was speculating about a double-dip recession. This
:39:29. > :39:34.could go on for a very long time and be almost unbearable for a lot
:39:34. > :39:40.of people. The Autumn Statement was about the world as it is, not how
:39:40. > :39:45.we hoped it would be two and a half years ago, nor the fantasy world
:39:45. > :39:50.the Labour Party seem to exist in. The OBR told us in their report
:39:50. > :39:54.this week that we are seeing much slower growth in the Eurozone. The
:39:54. > :40:00.broken banking system is weighing down on our economy, and that means
:40:00. > :40:06.it will take longer to clear up the mess. So it is a harder road, but
:40:06. > :40:10.we are making progress. Will we see a double-dip recession? De OBR
:40:10. > :40:14.forecast that the final quarter of this year would be negative, but we
:40:14. > :40:18.did slowly see positive growth returning next year. That suggests
:40:18. > :40:22.that we will not have that happening, but it is an uncertain
:40:22. > :40:27.world. We are seeing continuing problems in the Eurozone, but I am
:40:27. > :40:33.happy to rest with the OBR's forecast, which is a bounce-back
:40:33. > :40:38.from the Olympic boost in the third quarter of this year, with steady
:40:38. > :40:43.growth starting to return next year and a year after. Are you all so
:40:44. > :40:47.happy to rest on the fact that people at the bottom of the heap
:40:47. > :40:51.are paying more than everybody else to get us out of this? There is a
:40:51. > :40:58.small group at the top who are being taxed heavily, but if you
:40:58. > :41:03.look at the bottom 10%, they are really hurting now. And you are
:41:03. > :41:09.imposing another three years of cuts on many, including disabled
:41:09. > :41:13.people, who feel it is unfair. First and foremost, as you say, we
:41:13. > :41:19.are asking those who have the most to contradict the most. We have had
:41:19. > :41:23.additional tax rises on the wealthy at every fiscal event. They have to
:41:23. > :41:28.pay an extra �7 billion. But people at the bottom have to pay an extra
:41:28. > :41:35.�14 billion. Actually, if you take all the measures over time we are
:41:35. > :41:40.putting in place, the wealthiest will pay more. In dealing with the
:41:40. > :41:44.fact that we have a budget deficit, we have to live within our means.
:41:44. > :41:48.That means we have to make reductions in a range of areas. The
:41:48. > :41:56.decisions we made on welfare in the autumn statement, given that some
:41:57. > :42:02.said we should make �10 billion of welfare cuts, we made �3.5 billion.
:42:02. > :42:07.When you say some people, you mean the Conservatives? Some
:42:07. > :42:12.Conservatives advocated this. We have said to people on out-of-work
:42:12. > :42:16.benefits and some people in work as well, you expected your benefits to
:42:16. > :42:20.rise, and they will rise by less than you expected. But we will also
:42:20. > :42:27.give you the biggest single tax cut for working people that we have
:42:27. > :42:30.seen for generations. That is the tax threshold. A which you are
:42:30. > :42:35.paying for by hitting people including the disabled. A lot of
:42:35. > :42:39.people look at these figures and say, how can you, as a Liberal
:42:39. > :42:47.Democrat, on the progressive side, blue this to disabled people?
:42:47. > :42:52.fact, we have protected disability benefits and tax allowances. We are
:42:52. > :42:58.increasing benefits by 1% for three years. Which is an effective cut,
:42:58. > :43:01.given inflation. You are right, it is a reduction in real terms. But
:43:01. > :43:06.it is sharing the burden. should we be sharing the burden
:43:06. > :43:10.with the disabled at the bottom of the pile? The key benefits for
:43:10. > :43:16.disabled people, the disability living allowance and the disability
:43:16. > :43:21.components of tax credits, are rising with inflation. So people
:43:22. > :43:28.like Tanni Grey-Thompson and all the disabled charities who are
:43:28. > :43:33.furious, they have all got the wrong picture? I am not accusing
:43:33. > :43:39.them of that. They have an important argument to make, and we
:43:39. > :43:42.have listened to that. We could have said we would apply this 1% to
:43:42. > :43:46.disability living allowance, the principal benefit which goes to
:43:47. > :43:51.meet the extra costs of disability. We could have applied that to the
:43:51. > :43:56.tax credits which go to disabled children. We are not. Those will go
:43:56. > :44:01.up in line with inflation. But they will be poorer as a result of the
:44:01. > :44:11.Autumn Statement. A likewise with pensioners. Many disabled people
:44:11. > :44:16.are pensioners. We are increasing the pension. Some would say there
:44:16. > :44:21.is a cynical politics involved in this. You know that pensioners are
:44:21. > :44:25.more likely to vote and people on middle incomes are likely to vote.
:44:25. > :44:30.And people on welfare are less likely to vote. So whatever the
:44:30. > :44:34.howls of outrage from the various lobby groups, in a cynical way,
:44:34. > :44:38.this makes good politics? I don't look at it in that way at all. As
:44:38. > :44:44.you said, my job is to find a way to make the savings this country
:44:44. > :44:49.has to make with -- to deal with the catastrophic mess our
:44:49. > :44:53.predecessors left this country in. That means difficult decisions. How
:44:53. > :44:59.do we make sure the balance over all is fair, but recognise that we
:44:59. > :45:03.have to reduce the rate of increase of the costs of the welfare system?
:45:03. > :45:08.I don't want to talk about benefit recipients in a negative way.
:45:08. > :45:12.60% of them are in work. Her and those 60% will be met better off as
:45:12. > :45:16.a result of the Autumn Statement, because the biggest tax cut coming
:45:17. > :45:21.from the Liberal Democrats will mean there that in net terms,
:45:21. > :45:26.working people on lower incomes are better off. As a Liberal Democrat,
:45:26. > :45:31.having written the �10,000 income tax threshold into our manifestoes,
:45:31. > :45:36.we are delivering that. You are paying for it with benefit cuts.
:45:36. > :45:46.are paying for it by getting more money from tax dodgers, and asking
:45:46. > :45:47.
:45:47. > :45:52.Let's talk about the tax-dodgers. Starbucks have come up and said, oh,
:45:52. > :45:57.here's �20 million. What do you make of this? Is taxation for big
:45:57. > :46:04.companys a voluntary - a bit of money on the plate arrangement? It
:46:04. > :46:09.is very strange skham Taxation for anyone in --!. Taxation for anyone
:46:09. > :46:12.is not a voluntary arrangement. What I would say is this - that
:46:12. > :46:16.thinking of the tax system like the Church plate going around on a
:46:16. > :46:19.Sunday morning is the wrong way to think about it. Our job as a
:46:20. > :46:24.Government and the responsibility to taxpayers is to pay the proper
:46:24. > :46:28.amount they owe. Many want to come forward to the Government and say
:46:28. > :46:31.we think we have paid too little and I want to rectify my
:46:31. > :46:35.arrangements, of course I welcome that. There are tens of millions in
:46:35. > :46:40.this country who pay the proper amount of tax, day in, day out.
:46:40. > :46:46.Ensuring people cannot avoid our tax system is a key objective.
:46:46. > :46:51.Offering up a bit of money for a headline - how would you regard
:46:51. > :46:55.that, unacceptable? They have to have, any company who does that,
:46:55. > :46:59.any multinational, has to have a word with HMRC. I gath their is go
:46:59. > :47:05.oning. I will not -- I gather that is on-going.
:47:05. > :47:09.The principal is the tax system is not voluntary choice. It is not
:47:09. > :47:13.something you can choose to do because you think it might please
:47:13. > :47:17.your customers. It is an obligation. What we have to do, which we did in
:47:17. > :47:20.the Autumn Statement, is put more resources into the hand of the
:47:20. > :47:24.taxman to go after companies to make sure they are playing the
:47:24. > :47:29.proper tax and change the global rules, to make sure they are there
:47:29. > :47:34.to catch these companies and brought up-to-date with the
:47:34. > :47:40.internet age. Barely a day goes by without another example of another
:47:40. > :47:46.big company who it turns out are not paying tax or very much tax.
:47:46. > :47:50.You are starting to close the holes in gernsy and the Isle of Man -- in
:47:50. > :47:55.Guernsey and the Isle of Man, et cetera. What about some new
:47:55. > :47:59.international agreement to enforce very large multinational companies,
:47:59. > :48:04.paying their fair whack of tax? is a very important point. George
:48:04. > :48:08.Osborne has taken the lead in terms of the OECD. We are putting more
:48:08. > :48:12.money in alongside the French and German Governments to change the
:48:12. > :48:18.rules globally, so we can make sure that the rules catch these big
:48:18. > :48:23.companies, that you cannot use the arrangements to shift properties to
:48:23. > :48:29.lower tax jurisdictions. That is work going on now. -- private
:48:29. > :48:35.profits to lower tax jurisdictions. That is work going on now. We will
:48:35. > :48:38.get an extra �9 billion a year as a result of the efforts that I and my
:48:38. > :48:43.colleagues in the Treasury have pushed for. This is the right way
:48:43. > :48:47.to do this. Your observation is, which in a sense the tax system we
:48:47. > :48:52.inherited was full of holes, that we have a lot of work to do. This
:48:52. > :48:57.is the moment to do it? It is about fairness. It is about saying, at a
:48:57. > :49:02.time of austerity, everyone has an obligation to play by the same tax
:49:02. > :49:06.rules. Why did you lose the argument on the mansion tax? We put
:49:06. > :49:09.forward an idea of a mansion tax. I think it is the right idea that
:49:09. > :49:12.people in very large, expensive properties should pay additional
:49:12. > :49:16.tax. The Conservatives made clear their long-standing opposition to
:49:16. > :49:22.this. Is this because you think that the Conservative donors said
:49:22. > :49:26.no more black tie dinners, no more help in our mansions if you put a
:49:26. > :49:30.mansion tax on - as has been reported today? I know there was a
:49:30. > :49:34.letter saying that. There was an argument in the discussions we had,
:49:34. > :49:38.which was more about the re- valuelations of properties. It is
:49:38. > :49:43.the right thing to do. We have not succeeded this time. We have
:49:43. > :49:47.increased taxes on the wealthiest on their pensions. We are getting
:49:47. > :49:51.more money from Switzerland, where wealthy people thought they could
:49:51. > :49:54.hide their money from the taxman. That is part of the overall
:49:54. > :49:58.fairness. That means that we, as the Liberal Democrats, will
:49:58. > :50:03.continue to argue for this in Government. If we do not succeed
:50:03. > :50:11.over the next two-and-a-half years, we will put it to the British
:50:11. > :50:16.people as part of our manifesto in two-and-a-half years. If you carry
:50:16. > :50:22.on protecting the NHS, overseas aid and so on, then the non-protected
:50:22. > :50:27.departments are going to have to face a real-terms cut of about one-
:50:27. > :50:32.third or 30% in their departmental budget, which they describe as
:50:32. > :50:35.intolerable, impossible, and so on. They are right. You will have to
:50:35. > :50:41.look again at what you ring-fence and what you don't, aren't you?
:50:41. > :50:44.job I have to do over the next six months is find �10 billion of
:50:44. > :50:48.savings from Government departments. That is in the short-term? There'll
:50:48. > :50:53.be difficult choices there. We have said we need to protect the NHS
:50:53. > :50:55.budget. Cost pressures in the NHS run ahead of inflation. As you
:50:55. > :50:59.heard from Ann Clwyd's moving interview, there is a lot of work
:50:59. > :51:03.to be done to improve standards in the NHS. It is right to continue to
:51:03. > :51:08.protect that part of the public sector. Which means you have to be
:51:08. > :51:17.much more brutal than you have been so far in other departmental
:51:17. > :51:22.spending. In some respects, people say you - it is ghastly, but you
:51:22. > :51:25.are pussy-footing around, you have to take out functions that were
:51:26. > :51:29.done, but we cannot afford any more. We have people on one side saying
:51:29. > :51:35.we are cutting too much. And other people saying we are cutting too
:51:35. > :51:45.little. We are right to continue to do this in a steady way. The
:51:45. > :51:48.reductions in 015-2016, are the -- in 2015-2016r the same pace. There
:51:48. > :51:52.is an opportunity to do some positive things here. For example,
:51:52. > :51:55.I would like to see additional resources found, through the
:51:55. > :51:59.spending round, support improvements in childcare,
:52:00. > :52:03.particularly for working mums seeking to go back to work. We have
:52:03. > :52:07.to make those difficult choices to fund the difficult things as well
:52:07. > :52:12.as make the reductions. You look at the numbers and look at the economy,
:52:12. > :52:17.it is obvious there'll have to be another substantial round of cuts,
:52:18. > :52:22.or of tax rises. I put it to you that actually next year or the year
:52:22. > :52:26.after, or when ever you will have to say to British people, we need
:52:26. > :52:33.more tax rises. It may well be your mansion tax, I don't know. We are
:52:33. > :52:39.making the decisions for 2015-2016. We will set it out in our manifesto.
:52:39. > :52:43.This is one reason the position is so incredible. They live in a
:52:43. > :52:50.fantasy world. They come in. OK. Before we finish.
:52:50. > :52:54.I want to come back to the question of the short to medium-term future.
:52:54. > :52:58.Another budget in March. Are we going to have to see yet more
:52:58. > :53:02.changes to the base spending on departments? More cuts in
:53:02. > :53:05.departmental budgets and probably more taxes too? I don't think so.
:53:05. > :53:11.We are, in this Spending Review period, over the next couple of
:53:11. > :53:21.years, we are sticking to the plans. We have shifted money by squeezing
:53:21. > :53:21.
:53:21. > :53:24.bobg rock casy to put more into squeezed very much. 6% so far.
:53:24. > :53:27.have made significant squeezes. There are more to come, not just in
:53:27. > :53:35.this Parliament, but into the next two. Thank you very much for
:53:35. > :53:39.The Chief Secretary to the Treasury said that official data say that
:53:39. > :53:43.we're not heading for a triple-dip recession. He admitted that the
:53:43. > :53:47.slowdown in Europe and the fallout of the banking crisis meant it was
:53:47. > :53:52.going to be a longer and harder road. On tax avoidance, he said
:53:52. > :53:57.that collecting tax from companies like Starbucks was not a voluntary
:53:57. > :54:02.process, like passing the Church plate around. Mohamed Morsi has
:54:02. > :54:06.annulled a decree he issued last month, which expanded his powers.
:54:06. > :54:13.The decree sparked angry protests and led to accusations that Mr
:54:13. > :54:17.Morsi was acting like a dictator. A controversial referendum on a draft
:54:17. > :54:20.constitution will go ahead, as planned, next week. Australian
:54:20. > :54:24.police authorities have confirmed that they have been contacted by
:54:24. > :54:29.British officers with a view to speaking to the DJs who made a hoax
:54:29. > :54:31.call to the hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge. The two, Mel
:54:31. > :54:35.Greig and Michael Christian pretended to be members of the
:54:35. > :54:39.Royal Family. The nurse, who answered the call, Jacintha
:54:40. > :54:43.Saldanha, was later found dead. That's all from me for now. The
:54:43. > :54:49.next news on BBC One is at midday. See you soon. For now, back to
:54:49. > :54:58.Andrew. Many thanks. Now we had girl power and it is time for
:54:58. > :55:04.something different. Live music from two veterans. Brook Williams
:55:05. > :55:11.is a folk and country musician with golden guitar fingers. Together,
:55:11. > :55:18.they are State of the Union. How did you meet? I do a concert every
:55:18. > :55:24.two years in Ely, where I live. I met Brook Williams before. He
:55:24. > :55:30.interviewed me me for a magazine article. He came through the snow
:55:30. > :55:34.and the rest is history. And the album you made, you recorded it in
:55:34. > :55:39.a day-and-a-half. We booked five days. We finished after a day-and-
:55:39. > :55:46.a-half. We took the rest of the week off. Tell us about the song.
:55:46. > :55:51.We will do Pet Shop Boys - the song Rent. Are you a fan? They are great.
:55:51. > :55:56.It is good fun taking pop songs and turning them into blues songs.
:55:56. > :56:02.are looking forward to that. That's all we have time for. Back next
:56:02. > :56:07.Sunday for our last show of 2012. We have Boris Johnson, Rory Bremner
:56:07. > :56:17.and Gandalf, that is one of Britain's finest Shakespearean
:56:17. > :56:23.
:56:23. > :56:24.actors, Ian McKellen. Now, State of # And look at the two of us in
:56:24. > :56:29.sympathy. # With everything we see.
:56:29. > :56:33.# I never want anything, it's easy. # You buy whatever I need.
:56:33. > :56:43.# But look at my hopes, look at my dreams.
:56:43. > :56:44.
:56:44. > :56:54.# The currency we've spent. # I love you, you pay my rent.
:56:54. > :57:01.
:57:01. > :57:05.# You phone me in the evening on hearsay.
:57:05. > :57:12.# And bought me caviar. # You took me to a restaurant off
:57:12. > :57:16.Broadway. # To tell me who you are.
:57:16. > :57:26.# We never ever argue, we never calculate.
:57:26. > :57:27.
:57:27. > :57:37.# The currency we've spent. # I love you, oh, you pay my rent.
:57:37. > :57:50.
:57:50. > :57:51.# I love you, pay my rent. # And look at the two of us in
:57:51. > :57:53.sympathy. # And sometimes ecstasy.
:57:53. > :57:57.# Words mean so little, and money less.