:00:15. > :00:20.Good morning and welcome. Last week, Weise and the programme toeing
:00:21. > :00:26.through the nitty-gritty of domestic policies. Today, by contrast, we are
:00:27. > :00:28.looking beyond Westminster, to the very future of Britain, to the
:00:29. > :00:35.greatest threat to the world economy, and even challenges from
:00:36. > :00:38.our entered a galactic enemies. Yes, this week is not a show for the
:00:39. > :00:43.faint-hearted. Joining me to look at the papers, which are frankly all
:00:44. > :00:55.over the place this morning, two fearless political and cultural
:00:56. > :00:59.commentators. This week, the world held its breath, as the most
:01:00. > :01:04.powerful men in Washington engaged in a dangerous stand-off over
:01:05. > :01:08.America's budget. The entire world economy would have been rocked that
:01:09. > :01:13.they failed to reach a deal. They did, but only at the last minute,
:01:14. > :01:17.and only until January. Resident over Balmer's new ambassador to
:01:18. > :01:23.London is here for his first big interview, so has the world's
:01:24. > :01:28.greatest nation become politically dysfunctional? And yesterday
:01:29. > :01:32.afternoon, in a rousing speech to his party conference in Perth,
:01:33. > :01:36.Scotland's First Minister promised that Scots would wake up in
:01:37. > :01:42.September next year as citizens of a new country. With the polls still
:01:43. > :01:46.against him, can Alex Salmond deliver? Later, we will be speaking
:01:47. > :01:52.to Sir Ben Kingsley about alien threats and his latest Hollywood
:01:53. > :02:00.Rock buster. Are there hidden political messages in his new film?
:02:01. > :02:05.And the Policing Minister tells us whether he fears police mole per
:02:06. > :02:14.this at the highest level. Thus, we have a great band with us this
:02:15. > :02:19.morning. They give us a taste of desert lose from the Sahara. But
:02:20. > :02:25.first, a look at the news. Good morning. The Deputy Prime Minister,
:02:26. > :02:30.Nick Clegg, is to distance himself from one of the Government's key
:02:31. > :02:35.education policies right criticising the way the preschool system works.
:02:36. > :02:38.In a speech, he will say that England's free schools have had too
:02:39. > :02:44.many powers and should be made to follow the national curriculum. The
:02:45. > :02:49.Deputy Prime Minister and the Education Secretary are becoming
:02:50. > :02:53.unruly. They have got strong differences of opinion over schools
:02:54. > :02:57.policy in England. The coalition set up free schools, state funded but
:02:58. > :03:05.free from local authority control, in 2010. Some have not had such a
:03:06. > :03:12.good report card. Inspectors found some of them to be inadequate. In
:03:13. > :03:14.some cases, headteachers have resigned. In a speech this week,
:03:15. > :03:37.Nick Clegg will say... This would mean that free schools
:03:38. > :03:40.would have to to... The Conservatives say that would take
:03:41. > :03:46.away their flexibility and freedom, and they will refuse to agree. So,
:03:47. > :03:50.the Lib Dem leader will say that he will include them in his election
:03:51. > :03:53.manifesto, emphasising the differences with his coalition
:03:54. > :03:58.partners. He is likely to take the same approach to some other policies
:03:59. > :04:05.before 2015 in an attempt to rally his own voters. The American
:04:06. > :04:11.investment bank JP Morgan is set to pay a record ?8 billion fine to the
:04:12. > :04:14.US Justice Department, to settle investigations into mortgage
:04:15. > :04:21.products which were sold before the financial crisis. Australian
:04:22. > :04:25.firefighters battling bushfires in New south Wales are preparing for
:04:26. > :04:31.worsening conditions. The return of hot weather and strong winds is
:04:32. > :04:35.expected to fan the flames. Around 200 homes have already been
:04:36. > :04:48.destroyed. Some fires are still raging out of control. New South
:04:49. > :04:55.Wales's worst fires in a decade showed no sign of relenting. The
:04:56. > :04:58.fronts are stretching hundreds of kilometres. The authorities had been
:04:59. > :05:02.trying to capitalise on the cooler weather, but that is now over, and
:05:03. > :05:05.forecasters are now predicting temperatures back in the 30s,
:05:06. > :05:10.dangerously high winds and little prospect of rain. I have been
:05:11. > :05:15.briefed about forecasts in relation to the weather for the coming days,
:05:16. > :05:20.and whilst it is true that the weather is never good at times like
:05:21. > :05:24.this, it is also clear that the weather forecasts are suggesting
:05:25. > :05:29.that the weather is not going to be as good as it had been anticipated.
:05:30. > :05:33.In the Blue Mountains, to the west of Sydney, hundreds of people have
:05:34. > :05:41.already lost their homes. Many more have been told to leave, leaving
:05:42. > :05:46.everything behind. I am hoping it firefighters have done such a great
:05:47. > :05:49.job. As the firefighting continues, investigators are looking at whether
:05:50. > :05:54.any of the blazes were started deliberately. Two teenage girls have
:05:55. > :06:00.already been charged with starting one small fire. Police say they are
:06:01. > :06:05.monitoring dozens of people with a history of committing arson. The
:06:06. > :06:08.fires have, and usually early in the season, following Australia's
:06:09. > :06:13.hottest year on record. As the country faces a long and dangerous
:06:14. > :06:19.summer, it has raised inevitable questions about the impact of
:06:20. > :06:22.climate change. The Archbishop of Canterbury has
:06:23. > :06:27.entered the debate about rising energy prices, urging companies to
:06:28. > :06:30.behave with generosity, rather than just maximising profit. Justin
:06:31. > :06:35.Welby, who took office earlier this year, said he could see why
:06:36. > :06:39.consumers were angry about the latest wave of price hikes. He told
:06:40. > :06:44.the Mail on Sunday that companies had to justify what they were doing.
:06:45. > :06:47.The brother of a British man who was killed during a family holiday in
:06:48. > :06:54.the Alps last year has denied arranging the murders. He has
:06:55. > :06:59.accused French police of covering up the real target of the killings. He
:07:00. > :07:03.remains on bail after being arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to
:07:04. > :07:07.murder. Police trying to identify a young girl found at a Roma
:07:08. > :07:11.settlement in Greece say they have received hundreds of calls. An
:07:12. > :07:17.international search is under way to find the girl's parents. DNA tests
:07:18. > :07:25.have shown that she is not related to the couple that she was living
:07:26. > :07:31.with. That is all from me for now. And now to the papers. The front
:07:32. > :07:37.pages, as usual. The Sunday Times has a sensational and quite scary
:07:38. > :07:42.story for a lot of people. Up to about 20 retired British troops are
:07:43. > :07:47.going to be arrested and charged with murder after the bloody Sunday
:07:48. > :07:51.inquiry, they say. The Sunday Telegraph has devoted its entire
:07:52. > :07:56.paper, almost, to the story about immigration, Europe, and the
:07:57. > :07:59.question of spin. This is about the net effect of so-called benefit
:08:00. > :08:05.tourists across the UK. It also accuses the BBC of being poor
:08:06. > :08:11.reporters on this story. We will be speaking to Alex Salmond. The SNP
:08:12. > :08:13.are pledging a higher minimum wage in Scotland if independence happens.
:08:14. > :08:20.The only political story which really covers more than one paper,
:08:21. > :08:25.the Independent on Sunday, about the coalition in crisis over free
:08:26. > :08:35.schools. Nick Clegg turns on Michael Gove over his ideological school
:08:36. > :08:38.reforms, says The Observer. Well, ideological is a word which
:08:39. > :08:43.everybody associates with Michael Gove. It is a secret word that you
:08:44. > :08:51.say when you are disagreeing. First of all, Nick Clegg, he has given an
:08:52. > :08:57.interview to the Independent, and this speech is actually on Thursday.
:08:58. > :09:00.He never actually makes a speech now without pre-briefing. He does not
:09:01. > :09:06.actually need to give the speech is any more. But I think Michael Gove,
:09:07. > :09:10.he is obviously very clever, but sometimes he is not very smart. I
:09:11. > :09:13.think the idea that you could have schools with people teaching who
:09:14. > :09:18.were not teachers was obviously headed for trouble. Surprise,
:09:19. > :09:22.surprise, that is happening. I think this is a bandwagon, which Nick
:09:23. > :09:26.Clegg jumped on. He and the Labour Party are in the bleak agreement, as
:09:27. > :09:32.far as I can ascertain. It was only yesterday, as it were, at Nick Clegg
:09:33. > :09:37.was assuring us that he and the Conservatives would be shoulder to
:09:38. > :09:44.shoulder, all the way through to the election. That lasted about 12
:09:45. > :09:50.hours. You mentioned the issue about qualified teachers, and there is a
:09:51. > :09:55.story today in The Observer, which is about artificial intelligence in
:09:56. > :10:00.society, raising questions like, if you have robot cars, and there is a
:10:01. > :10:04.car crash, who will be liable as it is a very good story. It moves on to
:10:05. > :10:09.the question of whether robot teachers in schools might work. This
:10:10. > :10:12.lovely quote says, I can see a future where you have a couple of
:10:13. > :10:17.robots sitting in the corner of a classroom. If you need a push or
:10:18. > :10:22.want to be challenged, you get 20 minutes with a robot. Obviously,
:10:23. > :10:26.computers are used in school all the time, they have done some
:10:27. > :10:38.experiments with these particular robots. This discussion is now
:10:39. > :10:44.taking place regarding so-called socio-bots. Moving on, this one was
:10:45. > :10:49.mentioned in the headlines, the Archbishop of Canterbury damning
:10:50. > :10:54.energy price hikes. On the front cover of the Daily Mail, this is
:10:55. > :10:58.being framed in moral terms. The Archbishop has criticised the energy
:10:59. > :11:02.companies for imposing huge price rises for struggling families, and
:11:03. > :11:06.later in the paper, they talk about him as being the nation's chief
:11:07. > :11:09.moralist. They have a quick though at the church for being a bit too
:11:10. > :11:16.left-wing, but it is interesting, that we have now moved to appoint
:11:17. > :11:23.where it is a moral issue, as opposed to political. He is a very
:11:24. > :11:29.different kind of Archbishop to the last one, isn't he? I think he is
:11:30. > :11:33.great, because he speaks his mind. He lives in the real world, he has
:11:34. > :11:42.paid his own energy bills, which is something that many politicians do
:11:43. > :11:47.not do. I have been shopping around, and I was actually wanting to wear a
:11:48. > :11:56.big jump, with a reindeer on it, the whole jumper story is ridiculous! To
:11:57. > :12:02.be fair, our parents and grandparents did exactly that. A lot
:12:03. > :12:06.of people do put on jumpers, but when you have a 9% hike, it is
:12:07. > :12:12.nothing to do with jumpers, seems to be to do with greed. I just think
:12:13. > :12:20.energy prices are going to be the new bankers, I am sure they will be
:12:21. > :12:25.up before a fusilier committees. Let's move onto another story, and
:12:26. > :12:29.what is your next one? Alex Salmond, who we are going to see in
:12:30. > :12:33.a minute. I am looking forward to seeing the new, slimmed down
:12:34. > :12:39.version. He has been on the Independence diet! You start for
:12:40. > :12:48.several days and then you can eat what you like? I think he has been
:12:49. > :12:52.coming up with this, so he has had to starve every day he has been
:12:53. > :12:55.working on it, because he has been working on it for so long. We are
:12:56. > :13:01.going to have the Scottish Magna Carta, which is going to be unveiled
:13:02. > :13:07.on November 26. All of the details will be there, yes! He gave a very
:13:08. > :13:10.rousing speech yesterday. Yes, well, he is a rabble-rouser, and has
:13:11. > :13:17.always been. And now, this is his moment, he is loving it. He is going
:13:18. > :13:20.to love the fight, I have to say. Whenever you speak about Alex
:13:21. > :13:24.Salmond, you get discussions about Braveheart. There is a story in the
:13:25. > :13:29.Sunday Times mentioning Braveheart as one of the most historically
:13:30. > :13:33.inaccurate films. Can this be true? It played fast and loose with the
:13:34. > :13:42.truth, that is certainly true. This one basically says, they were given
:13:43. > :13:45.$10,000 to go through the scripts of films to find out whether they were
:13:46. > :13:50.historically accurate. This is because, as we come towards the
:13:51. > :13:53.Oscar season, if you want to bad-mouth particular films, you can
:13:54. > :14:00.say they are historically inaccurate. People will say, I
:14:01. > :14:04.will, yes, the book was tarted up. Captain Phillips, and we are already
:14:05. > :14:11.having stories about the crew having very different stories to the one
:14:12. > :14:14.which was portrayed in the film. It is smearing within the film
:14:15. > :14:22.industry. Yes, what is interesting is that now, saying something is
:14:23. > :14:26.historically inaccurate is the new Best worst thing you can see in the
:14:27. > :14:31.run-up to the Oscars. You have got qualified professors being employed
:14:32. > :14:37.to check out the historical background of films. It is made even
:14:38. > :14:42.more acute by the fact that people will watch a film, and they will
:14:43. > :14:46.have a second screen at the same time, they will be looking at their
:14:47. > :14:51.iPad or their phone and saying, hang on, did he actually say that? I
:14:52. > :14:56.think a film should be removed from people before they go into cinemas.
:14:57. > :15:03.You have just stepped into some big shoes as the film critic for The
:15:04. > :15:10.Observer, is that daunting? Terrifying. Philip was and still is
:15:11. > :15:13.the greatest film critic in the English-language. He does for me
:15:14. > :15:17.what I think all great critics do, he is able to explain why he loves
:15:18. > :15:28.something, and he writes with such beauty and elegance. So, no pressure
:15:29. > :15:33.than? None at all! I think we have got a police story. A very good
:15:34. > :15:41.piece of analysis in the Sunday Times. It is very good and a very
:15:42. > :15:48.interesting topic. This has come up with plebgate, the Andrew Mitchell
:15:49. > :15:53.story. How many times the police make things up, to put it bluntly.
:15:54. > :15:59.And shockingly it does seem to be quite a bit. The model I took from
:16:00. > :16:07.this is to take a tape recorder if you're ever interviewed by police.
:16:08. > :16:11.If you ever go to a protest rally, protesters are filming the police
:16:12. > :16:19.and we have come to this sorry state when we do not trust anything unless
:16:20. > :16:24.we take it. They have an opinion poll showing that the public are
:16:25. > :16:30.also starting to question the police much more. Andrew Mitchell's wife
:16:31. > :16:41.had to persuade him to take that meeting. And she was right. As wives
:16:42. > :16:49.so often are! Here in the Sunday Telegraph, can we still trust the
:16:50. > :16:58.BBC? Apparently not! You may have read this story before. The question
:16:59. > :17:04.about immigrants perhaps not being this terrible drain on us. And then
:17:05. > :17:14.we have a couple of pictures. Kirsty Wark, left-leaning. And then
:17:15. > :17:21.another, tending to the right. The argument begins on the front page
:17:22. > :17:28.and runs right through. Thank you both very much. The weather now, and
:17:29. > :17:38.it was dark and wet this morning when I got up. In the weather studio
:17:39. > :17:42.is Nick Miller. It is a feast of weather today,
:17:43. > :17:50.changing from one moment to the next. Feeling quite warm when the
:17:51. > :17:58.sun makes an appearance but if you do catch a shower, you will
:17:59. > :18:03.certainly know about it. It may well be into the afternoon, the far north
:18:04. > :18:10.of Scotland avoiding most of those showers. Slow moving showers in
:18:11. > :18:17.Northern Ireland and not much sunshine here. Some heavy downpours
:18:18. > :18:23.in South East England. Torrential downpours with gusty wind possible.
:18:24. > :18:32.But it is showers, not constant rain. Then we have another area of
:18:33. > :18:40.low pressure feeding rain into southern parts of England and Wales
:18:41. > :18:47.as the night goes on. That continues during Monday and Tuesday remains
:18:48. > :18:52.very unsettled. For much of the week ahead we have spells of rain and
:18:53. > :18:58.showers but staying on the mild side.
:18:59. > :19:01.A year today, the country called Great Britain may have disappeared
:19:02. > :19:04.forever. The man leading Scotland's independence campaign, Alex Salmond,
:19:05. > :19:07.gave a barnstorming speech to the Scottish National Party yesterday.
:19:08. > :19:16.But he hasn't convinced a majority of Scottish voters yet. He joins me
:19:17. > :19:22.now. Welcome. Can I ask first, on the day after the referendum, if you
:19:23. > :19:28.do get a yes vote, what happens? Do you have a team that goes to
:19:29. > :19:36.Westminster to negotiate, perhaps another team going to the EU? The
:19:37. > :19:45.answer is yes. There will be an eight team-mate period with Scotland
:19:46. > :19:50.becoming an independent country. There will be negotiations both with
:19:51. > :19:54.London and the European union. But just to take issue with your
:19:55. > :19:59.introduction. The state we currently live in is not Great Britain but the
:20:00. > :20:04.United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain will
:20:05. > :20:12.not disappear as a geographical expression. What will happen is that
:20:13. > :20:24.Scotland will be an independent country with the Queen as the head
:20:25. > :20:28.of state. Both countries I hope, the country is actually called the
:20:29. > :20:33.United Kingdom. You do not want to exclude Northern Ireland from your
:20:34. > :20:38.analysis. But for most people Great Britain is a familiar entity and it
:20:39. > :20:44.will go. That is the point I was making. I was making the point, you
:20:45. > :20:49.do not changed geography by changing where power lies. England and
:20:50. > :20:58.Scotland will still be close neighbours and the Queen will be the
:20:59. > :21:03.head of state. This is a matter of identity, otherwise what is it
:21:04. > :21:06.about. To return to the question of what happens in that negotiating
:21:07. > :21:12.period. What happens if you have a disagreement over something such as
:21:13. > :21:17.the deficit. The share of the national deficit. And you cannot
:21:18. > :21:23.agree with London. Will there be some kind of Court of Appeal, some
:21:24. > :21:27.kind of George Mitchell figure who will come in. Because I am sure
:21:28. > :21:34.there will be endless disagreements in that period. There is plenty of
:21:35. > :21:44.disagreements between London and Edinburgh at the moment. We have put
:21:45. > :21:50.forward a fiscal commission, which includes Nobel laureate economists,
:21:51. > :21:53.and exact formulation about how you do reconcile these things and
:21:54. > :21:59.coordinate fiscal policy. But you speak as if this has never been done
:22:00. > :22:06.before. Many countries have shared currency in recent years. And that
:22:07. > :22:11.is possible to do. Scotland is in a stronger fiscal position just now
:22:12. > :22:16.than the rest of the United Kingdom. But what happens over a period of
:22:17. > :22:21.time will depend on our policies in terms of taxation and spending and
:22:22. > :22:27.how we grow the economy. That is the opportunity resented by Scottish
:22:28. > :22:31.independence. Yesterday your main message was that Scotland was
:22:32. > :22:38.essentially a social democratic country and England essentially more
:22:39. > :22:48.conservative. But would you be able to get most of what you want with
:22:49. > :22:56.so-called Devo Max? So you get something close to full independence
:22:57. > :23:01.anyway? It would be an interesting argument if evil Max as you call it
:23:02. > :23:07.was on offer. But it is not on offer. Westminster actually refused
:23:08. > :23:14.to have it on the ballot paper. So we have a choice to become an
:23:15. > :23:18.independent country and govern ourselves in cooperation with our
:23:19. > :23:23.friends and neighbours but by controlling our own finances.
:23:24. > :23:37.Independent has a big advantage over Devo Max. Devo Max would not allow
:23:38. > :23:41.any powers over the nuclear issue. Identity is important to people. It
:23:42. > :23:45.is also a question of where best Scotland should be governed from. I
:23:46. > :23:50.think the majority of people in Scotland trust the government in
:23:51. > :23:57.Edinburgh to operate in Scottish interests. A very small minority
:23:58. > :24:03.trust the UK government. We just have an opinion poll showing that in
:24:04. > :24:09.dramatic fashion. And our task in the next year is to say that if it
:24:10. > :24:13.is the Scottish government that is trusted, that is where power should
:24:14. > :24:18.reside. What happens to the submarines at Faslane? Do you order
:24:19. > :24:24.them to sail south and where would they sail to? They should be safely
:24:25. > :24:30.removed. Once Scotland becomes independent, and after people have
:24:31. > :24:35.elected their first government, if it were to be an SNP government then
:24:36. > :24:40.we would ask the submarines to be moved from Scotland as soon as was
:24:41. > :24:44.safely possible. The emphasis on safety. No one would want to
:24:45. > :24:52.compromise that. But a country has the right to say if we do not want
:24:53. > :24:56.to possess nuclear weapons. When you talk to defence ministers in London
:24:57. > :25:02.they say, we might have some kind of leaseback arrangement. But as far as
:25:03. > :25:09.you're concerned, that is for the birds? It is for the birds. The
:25:10. > :25:12.Ministry of Defence quite recently briefed that they were going to
:25:13. > :25:21.annex Faslane. But that ridiculous story just lasted overnight for
:25:22. > :25:25.Downing Street dismissed it. The reality is that if Scotland becomes
:25:26. > :25:29.an independent country and if they choose and SNP government, then we
:25:30. > :25:39.would not to be a non-nuclear country. Part of NATO, certainly.
:25:40. > :25:47.How soon could that happen? We have put forward a policy that as soon as
:25:48. > :25:51.could be safely organised. There are estimates saying that that could be
:25:52. > :25:56.done in a relatively short period of time. But we put forward the policy
:25:57. > :26:02.in the way we did to allow that point of negotiation. Sticking with
:26:03. > :26:09.defence, for instance the Royal Navy. Does HMS Glasgow and HMS
:26:10. > :26:17.Edinburgh join a new Scottish navy? How does that division happen in
:26:18. > :26:25.practical terms? And the same with regard to the RAF. The recent paper
:26:26. > :26:29.for the Ministry of Defence that was released in the past week or so
:26:30. > :26:33.conceded for the first time that there would be a proper negotiation
:26:34. > :26:39.over defence assets. Scotland is entitled to a share of the asset of
:26:40. > :26:49.the former state. But we also have to take into account the liabilities
:26:50. > :26:57.of the former state as well. Scotland is a maritime nation but
:26:58. > :27:02.there is no ship stationed anywhere close to Scotland at the present
:27:03. > :27:06.moment. We have a lot of things that we do not need such as nuclear
:27:07. > :27:11.weapons. But the major ships that we do need are stationed elsewhere.
:27:12. > :27:20.Would you envisage a division of the Royal Navy and the Royal air force?
:27:21. > :27:25.Or would you start again with a completely new defence Force? It is
:27:26. > :27:30.likely that there would be assets that would be negotiated which would
:27:31. > :27:35.go to the Scottish defence force. It does not mean that the Royal Navy
:27:36. > :27:42.does not continue. It just means that some of the assets would go to
:27:43. > :27:51.the Scottish defence force. We will be outlining detailed plans for that
:27:52. > :27:56.shortly. To be clear, we would be talking about separate navies and
:27:57. > :28:01.air forces? Scotland would have its own defence force. That would act in
:28:02. > :28:06.corporation with friends and allies as part of the NATO alliance. One of
:28:07. > :28:13.these friends and allies would be England. But when we come to
:28:14. > :28:17.Scotland becoming independent, some of the assets of the current defence
:28:18. > :28:25.forces would fall to the Scottish defence force. After the
:28:26. > :28:32.extraordinary defence cuts off the path decade or so, Scotland has
:28:33. > :28:36.planned only to have one air force base left in Scotland and one naval
:28:37. > :28:40.base. So we are starting from a very low position in terms of assets at
:28:41. > :28:47.the present moment. But the Scottish defence force will have forces were
:28:48. > :28:54.put to a country of just over 5 million people as part of the NATO
:28:55. > :28:57.alliance. As many other countries defend themselves properly and
:28:58. > :29:04.adequately without weapons of mass destruction. If I was an RAF pilot
:29:05. > :29:09.of Scottish origins, I would reasonably expect to go back to
:29:10. > :29:19.Scotland. But this would split into two different air forces? I am sure
:29:20. > :29:30.that you do know that people in the forces, I think they are from 23
:29:31. > :29:35.nationalities at the present moment. Mostly Commonwealth countries. And
:29:36. > :29:39.they serve in the armed forces. In the defence paper I think the point
:29:40. > :29:42.was made that people would have the choice as to which force they wanted
:29:43. > :29:47.to serve in. We will put forward a defence force appropriate for an
:29:48. > :29:52.independent country with a non-nuclear bases. But it will be
:29:53. > :29:58.adequate to protect Scotland and cooperate with friends and allies.
:29:59. > :30:03.To touch on the currency question. In the end the monetary policy
:30:04. > :30:10.committee of the bank of England, they would dictate for instance
:30:11. > :30:13.inflation policy. The South of England is a very different economy
:30:14. > :30:18.to Scotland so presumably you would have to put up with monetary policy
:30:19. > :30:27.not necessarily in the interests of Scotland, at least for some time.
:30:28. > :30:31.Well, that is what happens at the moment. There are no Scottish
:30:32. > :30:36.representatives on the monetary policy committee. What we would have
:30:37. > :30:40.is control of taxation and spending, which we do not have moment. I think
:30:41. > :30:45.fiscal policy is the dominating issue in terms of making an economy
:30:46. > :30:48.grow successfully. That is the control which we do not have at the
:30:49. > :30:53.moment. Our approach to monetary policy would be what is in the best
:30:54. > :30:57.interests of Scotland, and indeed in the best interests of England as
:30:58. > :31:01.well, which is to share a currency. On a historical note, the Bank of
:31:02. > :31:08.England was founded by a Scot, as you probably know, and sterling does
:31:09. > :31:11.not belong to George Osborne, it is as much our currency, certainly, it
:31:12. > :31:16.is more our currency than George Osborne's currency, but it is a
:31:17. > :31:22.shared currency. One last question, if I might, a vexed one, will you
:31:23. > :31:27.promise, yes or no, to debate at some point with Alistair Darling,
:31:28. > :31:30.from the no campaign? I know you prefer to deal with David Cameron,
:31:31. > :31:37.that if that is not available, will you debate with Alistair Darling? As
:31:38. > :31:41.I said yesterday, the first debate should be Prime Minister to First
:31:42. > :31:44.Minister. David Cameron is trying to dictate the terms of the debate
:31:45. > :31:53.without actually debating himself, which is not acceptable. That sounds
:31:54. > :31:57.a bit like a no. Rock star. After weeks of wrangling, America's
:31:58. > :32:01.politicians have finally agreed, they will end the government shut
:32:02. > :32:04.down and borrow billions more, raising the vast national debt still
:32:05. > :32:10.further. President Obama said he hoped it meant the end of the
:32:11. > :32:15.crisis. But the deal lasts only until January. The new US Ambassador
:32:16. > :32:20.to the United Kingdom is here for his first major TV interview in this
:32:21. > :32:26.country. Welcome. Thank you for having me. It looks like this deal
:32:27. > :32:31.was done right at the last minute, and it is only until January, so
:32:32. > :32:36.there is another crisis in February, and to a lot of the rest of the
:32:37. > :32:40.world, it looks like the system is dysfunctional, and the world economy
:32:41. > :32:46.is going to be affected by this? Andrew, there is no doubt that what
:32:47. > :32:50.we saw over the 17 days of shut down, which was the first issue, and
:32:51. > :32:57.then the second issue, as you mentioned, is the debt ceiling, was,
:32:58. > :33:01.how do I put this diplomatically, not our finest hour? The president
:33:02. > :33:07.himself put it quite bluntly. He said, it had encouraged our enemies,
:33:08. > :33:13.emboldened our competitors and depressed our friends. He feels, and
:33:14. > :33:18.I would reiterate, that this is not the way we should behave going
:33:19. > :33:21.forward. That is not how our democracy works. One point of
:33:22. > :33:27.clarification, and I have spoken to many friends here in the UK, who are
:33:28. > :33:32.watching with great concern, is that gridlock, the words you used, is
:33:33. > :33:36.built into our system, in some sense, which is a good thing. It is
:33:37. > :33:41.different to your system, but it works for us. What you saw here in
:33:42. > :33:46.these crises was not gridlock, it was something different. We saw
:33:47. > :33:58.utter ideological confrontation really, between the Tea Party and
:33:59. > :34:04.the President's group. Deep Party is pointing out that every day, the
:34:05. > :34:09.government is spending millions of dollars more than it brings in. They
:34:10. > :34:13.have got a point, haven't they? There are many legitimate points to
:34:14. > :34:16.be made about how we get our fiscal house in order, and the president is
:34:17. > :34:21.passionate about having that debate and that discussion but that not
:34:22. > :34:26.what we saw in the shut down. That was taking an ideological position
:34:27. > :34:30.about what is called Obamacare, and holding the government hostage over
:34:31. > :34:35.that. I am hesitant to use metaphors like that, but in a way, that is
:34:36. > :34:38.what was going on. And so the budget debate is a really important one,
:34:39. > :34:44.one which I hope we will see Congress gets to buy the middle of
:34:45. > :34:47.December. Let's have this discussion about both, jobs and long-term
:34:48. > :34:52.fiscal responsibility - we can do that. Do you think we are seeing
:34:53. > :34:55.what has been the world's greatest country during the 20th century
:34:56. > :34:59.reaching a tipping point, with the Chinese, for instance, downgrading
:35:00. > :35:08.America, and its borrowing status? I do not. America remains the bedrock
:35:09. > :35:13.of the world economy, and we are a vibrant democracy, and one that I
:35:14. > :35:18.hope in the coming months will be getting back to our previous form. A
:35:19. > :35:23.further period of confrontation like this could knock the British
:35:24. > :35:29.economic revival for six, as well as everybody else's, I guess. Which is
:35:30. > :35:33.why, as I said, friends here in the UK have been watching with great
:35:34. > :35:38.concern. This was a big deal, this was not our finest hour. But it is
:35:39. > :35:43.behind us, in the end, Democrats and Republicans did come together,
:35:44. > :35:49.albeit at the last minute, to sort it out. Can I come onto the
:35:50. > :35:53.revelations from Edward Snowden - do you think the government has acted
:35:54. > :35:58.wisely, making him a martyr, and it appears to a lot of people around
:35:59. > :36:01.the world that you are using a huge stick to crush a rather small nut,
:36:02. > :36:07.thus giving Edward Snowden credibility and support? I would not
:36:08. > :36:11.characterise it that way. President Obama has been very clear, and it is
:36:12. > :36:15.worth pointing out that he actually called for a vigorous domestic
:36:16. > :36:19.debate about these issues before this stuff came out. Remember, in
:36:20. > :36:25.his big defence speech, he covered drones and other important topics,
:36:26. > :36:29.and he said, look, we have to balance the legitimate security
:36:30. > :36:33.concerns not only of our citizens, but of our allies, and balance them
:36:34. > :36:37.with the privacy concerns shared by all people. That is the balance that
:36:38. > :36:42.he is seeking to protect. The Guardian newspaper here, like others
:36:43. > :36:46.around the world, has come in for a lot of criticism from Secret Service
:36:47. > :36:50.people for seriously compromising British and American security by
:36:51. > :36:59.publicising these revelations - do you agree with that? I would focus
:37:00. > :37:04.more, as I said, and I go back to what the president said, which is
:37:05. > :37:11.the importance of having this debate about the trade-offs between
:37:12. > :37:14.security and privacy, between transparency and secrecy. And also,
:37:15. > :37:18.to do so in a way which protects whistle-blowers, which is different
:37:19. > :37:23.by the way from the wholesale releasing of hundreds of thousands
:37:24. > :37:25.of documents. President Obama put in specific measures to protect
:37:26. > :37:29.whistle-blowers, if they see something illegal or unethical, but
:37:30. > :37:34.that is an important part of the balance. And freedom of the press is
:37:35. > :37:38.something which is important here, who surely important back home in
:37:39. > :37:42.America, and to make sure that whatever we do does not have a
:37:43. > :37:46.chilling effect on the press. That is an interesting phrase, a chilling
:37:47. > :37:51.effect on the press - is America watching closely our own big debate
:37:52. > :37:56.on press regulation and is there an unease about possible state
:37:57. > :38:00.regulation on the press in the world's oldest democracy? We have
:38:01. > :38:06.been watching the debate with great interest. We have been watching
:38:07. > :38:11.quietly, and not commenting, it is an internal issue for the UK. But of
:38:12. > :38:16.course, we watch, we are greatly interested. The UK is our closest
:38:17. > :38:25.ally, and so we watch with great interest. Thank you very much ever
:38:26. > :38:28.since his Oscar-winning performance as Gandhi Sir Ben Kingsley has been
:38:29. > :38:37.one of Britain's most eminent screen actors. He was unforgettable in
:38:38. > :38:41.Schindler's List, and he was endearing in Hugo. His career has
:38:42. > :38:46.taken a slightly unexpected turn in the past couple of years, with him
:38:47. > :38:52.emerging as the go to die for blockbuster action movies. He has
:38:53. > :38:55.appeared in Iron Man 3, and in his new film, Ender's Game, he is a hero
:38:56. > :39:00.in a futuristic world living under the threat of alien invasion. Sir
:39:01. > :39:07.Ben Kingsley will be speaking about all of that in a moment, but first,
:39:08. > :39:11.a tense scene from the film. What is the game where you get to read about
:39:12. > :39:16.and start over? That cannot happen, do you understand? Do you? Because I
:39:17. > :39:25.trained others, each one ultimately a failure. All right, he
:39:26. > :39:31.understands. You are not the first, but you will be the last. Welcome.
:39:32. > :39:36.It is a very spectacular film, and perhaps you would explain the basis
:39:37. > :39:43.of it - it is an alien invasion, and you are an extraordinary, tattooed
:39:44. > :39:47.elder statesman Commander, yes? The tattoos are Maori, and they tell of
:39:48. > :39:52.the lineage of the Warrior and his warrior caste, so that by reading
:39:53. > :39:58.the face, if you are able to decipher the tattoos, you can see
:39:59. > :40:00.that he is a warrior, and his forebears have been warriors,
:40:01. > :40:08.generation after generation after generation. Our wonderful writer
:40:09. > :40:13.-director wanted to place an archetype close to the character, in
:40:14. > :40:19.order for him to be something close to the pure form, which is very
:40:20. > :40:30.close to me as an actor. So, I am playing a warrior, which is all he
:40:31. > :40:37.is. And he is determined to train Asa's Carrick are basically to be a
:40:38. > :40:47.weapon in the defence of our planet. -- character. To what extent do you
:40:48. > :40:51.think these great big blockbuster films are a way of discussing
:40:52. > :40:56.contemporary politics? It is a very good question. I think if a film
:40:57. > :41:01.seeks to base itself in archetypes, rather than stereotypes, if you have
:41:02. > :41:07.something in its pure form on a screen, rather than a copy of a copy
:41:08. > :41:11.of a copy, then I think all sorts of people will relate to the film on
:41:12. > :41:16.many levels. For me, I can relate it to a very simple myth, that once
:41:17. > :41:20.upon a time, the gods looked down and found an adolescent and tried to
:41:21. > :41:25.change him. My question is, is he changed at the end of the film,
:41:26. > :41:27.worries his young soul manipulated and distorted out of all
:41:28. > :41:33.recognition? That is the key to the film. You only have to look at it
:41:34. > :41:37.for 30 seconds and you can see that it must be a very expensive film to
:41:38. > :41:44.make. A lot of direct does these days say these films suck the oxygen
:41:45. > :41:47.from the rest of the industry. The films have to make so much money
:41:48. > :41:51.back on them that there is not enough space left for smaller
:41:52. > :41:56.productions is that a fair criticism? One has to address
:41:57. > :41:59.oneself to that as an individual film-maker. Out of the catalogue of
:42:00. > :42:03.films that I have been involved in over the last 12 months, three of
:42:04. > :42:09.them have been tiny, independent films, because that is the seedbed
:42:10. > :42:11.of our craft. That is where we find the wonderful young directors and
:42:12. > :42:18.writers and up-and-coming actors. So, I will give weeks of my time to
:42:19. > :42:23.encourage this, and it is up to the individual. It need not be a
:42:24. > :42:28.threat, if we place our energies, saying, this is important, let's
:42:29. > :42:34.feed this, because it is that which feeds the rest of the industry. If
:42:35. > :42:38.it is well enough written and acted and made, then it will find its
:42:39. > :42:42.audience, you are saying? Of course. That is of huge importance.
:42:43. > :42:46.I am always interested in turning points in people's lives, and
:42:47. > :42:50.looking at your career, I guess everything changed with Gandhi would
:42:51. > :42:56.that be fair? Definitely, I was at the Royal Shakespeare Company, but I
:42:57. > :42:59.must say, Andrew, that without 15 years of classical theatre, Richard
:43:00. > :43:04.Attenborough would not have heard the wherewithal to work with me,
:43:05. > :43:11.because I did have a sense of epic destiny, of men isolated in an
:43:12. > :43:16.extraordinary historical context. A huge weight of responsibility, to
:43:17. > :43:19.play a character like that. Let me tell you one of Richard
:43:20. > :43:23.Attenborough's finest moments, when we were losing the light one day,
:43:24. > :43:26.and it was clear that the crew were rather stressed, that they may not
:43:27. > :43:30.get the scene, and I was lying on the floor in the middle of a
:43:31. > :43:35.terrible wired by workers, being charged by bosses, and I could see
:43:36. > :43:40.the we were shrinking, a little pool of artificial light on the planet,
:43:41. > :43:45.and Richard came up to me and said - we have all the time in the world.
:43:46. > :43:50.That relaxed me, and he got the tape. Wonderful man. You have said
:43:51. > :43:54.in the past that you had a slightly difficult childhood, a cold
:43:55. > :43:57.childhood, in some respects, and you felt embraced and brought in at the
:43:58. > :44:05.time of the knighthood, so can you tell us about that? It was
:44:06. > :44:10.enormously important to you in motion the? If I can be candid, and
:44:11. > :44:14.I think it is fair to others who have suffered the same weird level
:44:15. > :44:18.of indifference, my mother actually found it extremely difficult to
:44:19. > :44:22.accept my knighthood, so I was almost forced to stop people in the
:44:23. > :44:27.street and tell them, don't listen to mum! It was an embrace from a
:44:28. > :44:38.culture and a country and a language that I deeply love, and coming from
:44:39. > :44:43.that kind of shadow, it meant an awful lot to me. She had been an
:44:44. > :44:49.actress herself, so do you think she was jealous? She played small parts
:44:50. > :44:53.in movies, and I think it is highly possible that that was part of her
:44:54. > :44:58.attitude towards her children. That must have been very painful. It was
:44:59. > :45:03.very difficult, yes. Thank you very much for joining us. Great pleasure,
:45:04. > :45:09.thank you. Now, was Andrew Mitchell stitched up? That is the question
:45:10. > :45:14.being asked at Westminster, with MPs of all parties concerned that Mr
:45:15. > :45:18.Mitchell may have been the victim of a police conspiracy. The story has
:45:19. > :45:25.taken some extraordinary twists and turns, but what does it say about
:45:26. > :45:28.the force at large? In simple terms, can we trust our police? I'm joined
:45:29. > :45:38.now by the Policing Minister, Amy and green. Do you believe there was
:45:39. > :45:43.a conspiracy? The actual conspiracy is still being investigated by the
:45:44. > :45:50.Crown persecution service, if there is one. We will see what they say.
:45:51. > :45:55.What happened when those three Police Federation representatives
:45:56. > :45:59.came out of this meeting in Sutton Coldfield and said things that do
:46:00. > :46:03.not seem to be borne out by the transcript of the meeting, that is
:46:04. > :46:09.disturbing and stop if Andrew Mitchell had not taken that meeting
:46:10. > :46:15.he would still be hung out to dry. That is a worrying thing for a lot
:46:16. > :46:22.of people. That is the key point. We all want to have confidence in the
:46:23. > :46:29.police. Andrew Mitchell clearly can command the resources of the people
:46:30. > :46:33.may not be able to to prove what individual police officers said
:46:34. > :46:38.about him was not true. That is the key. We know that and we also seem
:46:39. > :46:45.to know that their chief constables then changed the reports. There was
:46:46. > :46:55.a cover-up of a cover-up. If so can they survive? Well we have not yet
:46:56. > :47:06.heard their side of the story. We can all judge on what they say after
:47:07. > :47:09.that meeting on Wednesday. If police officers behave badly then it is
:47:10. > :47:16.serious for confidence in the police. But there is a very small
:47:17. > :47:20.minority who do behave badly. I was at the Police Bravery Awards last
:47:21. > :47:27.Thursday were you heard great stories. But there are some bad
:47:28. > :47:34.apples. And if chief police officers are engaged in cover-ups, that is
:47:35. > :47:42.serious. Do you think there is a crisis of confidence in the police?
:47:43. > :47:48.This is one story. We have Ian Tomlinson, Hillsborough. Earlier in
:47:49. > :47:53.the programme you pointed out an opinion poll showing that 66% of
:47:54. > :47:59.people still do have trust in the police. That is lower than it used
:48:00. > :48:03.to be. What needs to be done are practical measures to ensure that
:48:04. > :48:09.the very small minority who do behave badly can be properly dealt
:48:10. > :48:17.with. So there is a worry out there. Is there anything that you can do to
:48:18. > :48:23.address that? There is and that is what we are doing. One of the key
:48:24. > :48:27.changes we need to make is to stop the police investigating serious and
:48:28. > :48:31.sensitive complaints against them. Clearly the Andrew Mitchell affair
:48:32. > :48:34.would fall into this. We are increasing the powers of the
:48:35. > :48:38.independent police complaints commission and the resources for
:48:39. > :48:44.that so it can do much more work independently of the police. So you
:48:45. > :48:50.feel it is not working properly at the moment? It needs more powers and
:48:51. > :48:57.resources. We are giving them both. What about the culture, the
:48:58. > :49:04.institutional culture -- culture in the police? It is not just a
:49:05. > :49:07.question of following rules but of having a culture of honesty and
:49:08. > :49:17.transparency. What we're doing there is introducing direct entry at
:49:18. > :49:36.senior levels. Opening it up to anyone? To anyone. What we want is
:49:37. > :49:41.people who have not had to start on the beat as a police constable and
:49:42. > :49:44.work their way up for 25 years. Some people who do have the relevant
:49:45. > :49:51.skills can enter at different levels. Former head teachers from
:49:52. > :49:59.schools, army officers? Even journalists could come chief
:50:00. > :50:04.executives? In all seriousness, people will bring a new attitude and
:50:05. > :50:09.a new background and I think that will help the police service a lot.
:50:10. > :50:15.It will open it up. And people will come in and ask, why do you do it
:50:16. > :50:22.that way. And they will question things. What about looking again at
:50:23. > :50:26.the police code of ethics? Well the new college of policing, which is
:50:27. > :50:32.one of our reforms that does not get enough attention because it is a
:50:33. > :50:37.very big change, the college is there to set standards and one of
:50:38. > :50:42.the first things they are doing is consulting on a new code of ethics.
:50:43. > :50:46.That will be announced in a few weeks time. That will set out
:50:47. > :50:52.clearly how police officers should operate. One key change is that
:50:53. > :50:57.every time they are promoted, they will have to show that it is still
:50:58. > :51:02.ingrained in them. That is done in other organisations like the
:51:03. > :51:06.military. People watching will simply say that if the police can
:51:07. > :51:10.tell untruths about a senior politician and then hide what has
:51:11. > :51:17.happened, distort the evidence, it could happen to anyone. My simple
:51:18. > :51:24.message is that the vast majority of police are honest and decent people
:51:25. > :51:27.doing a dangerous job well. And that we are improving the system so that
:51:28. > :51:33.those few who break the rules will be much better controlled and
:51:34. > :51:37.inspect did independently. That we are changing the culture inside the
:51:38. > :51:45.police so it is much less inward looking. Is Andrew Mitchell going to
:51:46. > :51:49.get an apology? I hope so. Let us start with the people who left his
:51:50. > :51:55.office. And said things that were palpably untrue, if you read the
:51:56. > :52:01.transcript. Absolutely they should apologise. And what about the guy
:52:02. > :52:05.who kicked him out in the first place? David Cameron. Well he did
:52:06. > :52:14.not because Andrew Mitchell resigned. He resigned. Let us do
:52:15. > :52:22.this in order, find out what the facts are what the CPS say, whether
:52:23. > :52:27.there was a criminal conspiracy. All those questions need to be answered
:52:28. > :52:30.first. Thank you very much for joining us.
:52:31. > :52:41.Now over to Naga for the news headlines. The deputy Prime
:52:42. > :52:43.Minister, Nick Clegg is to distance himself from one of the government's
:52:44. > :52:47.key education policies, by criticising the way the free schools
:52:48. > :52:50.system works. In a speech this week, he will say that England's free
:52:51. > :52:58.schools have too may powers and should be made to follow the
:52:59. > :53:04.National Curriculum. The SNP will set out his vision for
:53:05. > :53:10.an independent Scotland today. Alex Salmond told this programme that the
:53:11. > :53:13.majority of Scots trusted the government in Edinburgh over
:53:14. > :53:18.Westminster. He also confirmed that if Scotland became independent, it
:53:19. > :53:23.would have its own defence force and UK nuclear submarines would be sent
:53:24. > :53:33.south of Scottish waters as soon as is safely possible. That is all for
:53:34. > :53:42.now. The next news on BBC One is at one o'clock. Coming up, is Miley
:53:43. > :53:55.Cyrus part of the over sexualisation of pop music? And our godparents
:53:56. > :53:59.still relevant? Joint us later. Damian Green is still here, and Ann
:54:00. > :54:02.Treneman joins us once more. We're also joined by Ousmane from the
:54:03. > :54:06.Malian band Tamikrest who are in the UK on tour at the moment and play in
:54:07. > :54:10.East London this evening. They are based in North Africa and play and
:54:11. > :54:22.record there when they're not performing in Europe. The album is
:54:23. > :54:26.about women in Mali. Why is that? We have been fighting for independence
:54:27. > :54:31.for 50 years and women play a particular role in our society. We
:54:32. > :54:42.have great respect for them. Thank you very much. Ann Treneman, this
:54:43. > :54:45.plebgate issue will be huge in Parliament next week. We will see
:54:46. > :54:51.police coming before a select committee. I would like to see a few
:54:52. > :54:58.more out there now talking about the problem. Because there is a problem.
:54:59. > :55:03.Everyone feels that there are more than a few bad apples. Two thirds of
:55:04. > :55:08.people still have confidence in the police which is surprising given
:55:09. > :55:13.this spate of stories. But police chiefs to need to be out there. That
:55:14. > :55:18.is why I'm pleased that the head of the College of policing, it is his
:55:19. > :55:24.job to change a culture and he is out there talking about this. One
:55:25. > :55:34.third of the electorate do not have confidence and that is a lot. More
:55:35. > :55:37.than journalists! It is really important for people to have
:55:38. > :55:46.confidence in the police. Police leaders need to be talking about
:55:47. > :55:51.this. That is all that we have got time for this week. Thanks to all my
:55:52. > :55:55.guests. Join us again next Sunday at nine when we'll be over on BBC Two.
:55:56. > :55:59.For one week only, that's BBC Two at nine. On this channel you will get
:56:00. > :56:02.motor racing live from India. With me on BBC Two, a host of informative
:56:03. > :56:05.and entertaining folk, including the great musician Ronnie Wood. He's
:56:06. > :56:09.giving a very rare performance away from the Rolling Stones at the
:56:10. > :56:12.Albert Hall later this month. But next Sunday he's talking about his
:56:13. > :56:16.music and his art and playing live right here in the studio. But to
:56:17. > :56:59.play us out today, as promised, it's Tamikrest and a track from their new
:57:00. > :57:10.album, Chatma. MUSIC.