:00:37. > :00:42.Good morning. 50 years ago this month, John F. Kennedy was
:00:43. > :00:49.assassinated in Dallas and the papers have been obsessed all week.
:00:50. > :00:55.And what an eloquent man. Do not pray for easier lives, prayed to be
:00:56. > :01:00.stronger men. That is not bad. But there is a less high-minded phrase
:01:01. > :01:06.followed by today's politicians. Forgive your enemies, he said, but
:01:07. > :01:11.never forget their names. Today we have the editor of London's Evening
:01:12. > :01:16.Standard Sarah Sands and Kevin Maguire, associate editor of the
:01:17. > :01:21.Daily Mirror. And John F. Kennedy features in our show today. David
:01:22. > :01:28.Miliband, now head of the international charity, International
:01:29. > :01:36.Rescue is here to deliver a lecture, lessons from JFK. Sir Elton John's
:01:37. > :01:40.most famous song, Candle In The Wind, was written originally about
:01:41. > :01:46.Marilyn Monroe, one of John F. Kennedy's girlfriends. I have been
:01:47. > :01:51.talking to him about his childhood, his family and his extraordinary
:01:52. > :01:55.career. The nation that does not trust its people to judge between
:01:56. > :02:01.truth and falsehood in a free market is a nation that does not trust its
:02:02. > :02:05.people. JFK again, but it is the kind of thing papers have been
:02:06. > :02:10.saying about the new form of press regulation. Maria Miller, the
:02:11. > :02:16.culture, media and sport Secretary is here to talk about that and the
:02:17. > :02:21.arts in Britain. Imagine if Alan Partridge had a soul. His creator
:02:22. > :02:26.Steve Coogan has made a film with Dame Judi Dench which is profound,
:02:27. > :02:32.heart-wrenching and has the critics gushing with praise. We will be
:02:33. > :02:36.talking to Steve Coogan about that. You should be nice to the people on
:02:37. > :02:44.the way up because you might meet them again on the way down. Sound
:02:45. > :02:49.words. First the news. The police watchdog is to hold a
:02:50. > :02:53.fresh investigation into the conduct of three police officers involved in
:02:54. > :02:59.the so-called Plebgate affair. They are accused of giving a misleading
:03:00. > :03:04.account of a former meeting with Andrew Mitchell. They have been
:03:05. > :03:07.strongly criticised in a report by the Home Affairs Select Committee
:03:08. > :03:11.and two of them have been summoned to appear before Parliament again
:03:12. > :03:17.this week. The police claimed Andrew Mitchell called them plebs, and he
:03:18. > :03:21.has always denied it. But the fallout from this encounter
:03:22. > :03:25.continues to damage the reputation of the police. Days after the
:03:26. > :03:30.incident these three police Federation members met Mr Mitchell
:03:31. > :03:35.for private talks. They met at his constituency office last October.
:03:36. > :03:40.After the meeting the three police officers said Andrew Mitchell had
:03:41. > :03:45.not explained himself. But Andrew Mitchell had recorded the meeting
:03:46. > :03:48.and proved he had. There was an internal police enquiry and the
:03:49. > :03:55.officers faced no disciplinary action. Last week they gave evidence
:03:56. > :04:01.to this committee of MPs. Today's the committee's chair is scathing
:04:02. > :04:04.about the evidence. We were appalled by the evidence we received from
:04:05. > :04:11.these officers which was inconsistent, lacked credibility and
:04:12. > :04:15.character. Two of the officers are accused of misleading the committee
:04:16. > :04:19.and they have been recalled to Parliament on Tuesday. The committee
:04:20. > :04:25.found there was a regrettable absence of leadership by all three
:04:26. > :04:28.constables involved in the enquiry. The Independent Police Complaints
:04:29. > :04:32.Commission said there were a number of irregularities in the way the
:04:33. > :04:41.internal enquiry was handled and it will hold a new public enquiry. The
:04:42. > :04:45.government has abandoned plans to make some visitors hand over
:04:46. > :04:49.thousands of pounds as a bond before being allowed to enter the country.
:04:50. > :04:55.The money would have been retained if they had stayed on after their
:04:56. > :05:00.visas expired. The proposals were criticised by senior Liberal
:05:01. > :05:04.Democrats. The union which represents prison officers says
:05:05. > :05:10.staff cuts may have been a factor in the disturbance at Maidstone jail in
:05:11. > :05:13.Kent yesterday. The Prison Officers' Association claims government
:05:14. > :05:22.reforms could lead to unrest if prisoners had to spend more time in
:05:23. > :05:25.their cells. Officers with riot training were sent in to resolve the
:05:26. > :05:28.incident. No one was hurt and an investigation is underway.
:05:29. > :05:31.Pakistan has accused the US of deliberately sabotaging its efforts
:05:32. > :05:36.to start peace talks with the Taliban following a drone strike
:05:37. > :05:40.which killed the movement's leader. The government says the killing of
:05:41. > :05:45.Hakimullah Mehsud has undermined talks it was due to have with senior
:05:46. > :05:50.Taliban members. The US State Department has declined to comment.
:05:51. > :05:54.The Labour leader Ed Miliband is promising a tax break for companies
:05:55. > :05:59.which increase the wages of their lowest paid staff. He says if his
:06:00. > :06:04.party wins the next election, he will offer a rebate to bosses who
:06:05. > :06:11.put workers on what is known as the living wage. It is ?8.55 an hour in
:06:12. > :06:23.London and ?7 45 throughout the rest of the UK. And no to the front pages
:06:24. > :06:27.and the interview over the living wage is in the Independent on
:06:28. > :06:33.Sunday. The papers cannot decide what to lead on today. The mail on
:06:34. > :06:49.Sunday has a story about Holocaust survivors' souvenirs. It is being
:06:50. > :06:58.sold on eBay. We probably will not be talking at great length about
:06:59. > :07:08.that. The Sunday Mirror, yes they are at it again over MPs' expenses.
:07:09. > :07:13.A picture of Dame Judi Dench and it is 50 years since the National
:07:14. > :07:19.Theatre was founded. The Sunday Times have got a story about Ed
:07:20. > :07:30.Miliband's struggle with the Unite union in Scotland. The Sunday
:07:31. > :07:39.Telegraph, Al-Qaeda bomb plotter pleads to Europe for his freedom.
:07:40. > :07:48.Kevin, let's start with the Ed Miliband interview. Dad indulged me
:07:49. > :07:58.in my red Sox obsession, says Ed Miliband about his dad. But he went
:07:59. > :08:03.at the age of 12 and he fell in love with baseball and he was watching
:08:04. > :08:09.them the other morning when they won the world series. But the crunchy
:08:10. > :08:14.bits of this interview is about the living wage. There are half a
:08:15. > :08:18.million people in Britain who do not earn a living wage. Explain the
:08:19. > :08:25.difference between the minimum wage and the living wage. The minimum
:08:26. > :08:29.wage is ?6 31 an hour and is a legal requirement and everybody must be
:08:30. > :08:36.paid that. The living wage is an aspirational wage, drawn up by a
:08:37. > :08:47.commission that earns -- that says you have to earn a certain amount.
:08:48. > :08:53.Things like spending ?50 on a birthday for your child, taking your
:08:54. > :08:58.children to the zoo. Yes, the cost of fares, the cost of housing, that
:08:59. > :09:05.is what they reckon. Six and a half million, more than one in five are
:09:06. > :09:09.not getting the living wage. We now subsidise low pay through tax
:09:10. > :09:14.credits, why not get people on the living wage and subsidise companies
:09:15. > :09:20.to pay it. Ed Miliband reckons you would get a lot of that by paying
:09:21. > :09:27.less in tax credits and people would pay more. It is not a bonanza, but
:09:28. > :09:34.it is far better. Is it a name and shame thing? There are several
:09:35. > :09:40.hundred in the private sector as well as the public sector who pay
:09:41. > :09:45.the legal wage. City Hall are about to make that announcement. You can
:09:46. > :09:53.do it by example or you can do it by subsidising. You started a campaign
:09:54. > :09:58.in London. It is pertinent to London because of the cost of living. It is
:09:59. > :10:03.interesting because it affects the right as well as the left and people
:10:04. > :10:07.thinking this thing of workers on benefit and people not earning
:10:08. > :10:14.enough to survive, so they have to take benefits. One of the big
:10:15. > :10:20.scandals is supermarkets, hugely profitable, making a fortune, paying
:10:21. > :10:24.less than the living wage. You are prepared to come on the show and
:10:25. > :10:30.talk about press regulation, thank you because there are not many
:10:31. > :10:35.people who want to do that. You have chosen something from David Davis.
:10:36. > :10:41.It is the mail on Sunday. There is a sullen tone to the newspapers at the
:10:42. > :10:45.moment. They are feeling a bit muddled. David Davis says, do not
:10:46. > :10:54.trust the state with control of the free press. But it is entirely how
:10:55. > :11:02.you frame the argument. The other side would say it is not politicians
:11:03. > :11:05.intervening. Is it about the press and politicians, or is it about the
:11:06. > :11:15.way the press deals with innocent victims? I am now about to go and
:11:16. > :11:20.drown myself in my coffee. Is the press going to be able to tell
:11:21. > :11:27.stories about misbehaving MPs? One hopes so. Steve Coogan says no
:11:28. > :11:35.politician was to prevent investigative or public interest
:11:36. > :11:43.journalism. We have him on later on. They did not want to investigate the
:11:44. > :11:54.Telegraph and the expenses list. It is all taking part against the
:11:55. > :12:02.backdrop of this media story. It has been agreed by the Queen. The Sunday
:12:03. > :12:10.Times is talking about how much did they know? If you were not aware of
:12:11. > :12:16.this trial, you probably would have been on Jupiter for the past week.
:12:17. > :12:21.But they cannot comment on the trial because of reasons of contempt, so
:12:22. > :12:26.they go through what has happened. If anyone wants to make comments on
:12:27. > :12:34.Twitter, everyone is advised to keep their traps shut. Things have come
:12:35. > :12:40.out of that we knew about. But the more pertinent piece today is in the
:12:41. > :12:45.Observer, a very powerfully argued editorial in the Observer on press
:12:46. > :12:53.regulation. It attacks the Royal Charter, saying it is just a piece
:12:54. > :12:57.of vellum that was hatched up. It is part of the same group as the
:12:58. > :13:14.Guardian and they have been hovering on the fence for quite a long time.
:13:15. > :13:18.The charter is a dud, it is a voluntary system that nobody is
:13:19. > :13:24.going to join, but it says, give it a go. They also make the point it is
:13:25. > :13:30.often said by politicians who don't want to interfere in the press when
:13:31. > :13:36.they interfere in the press that they talk about Edward Snowden and
:13:37. > :13:41.the leaks from the US intelligence operative to the Guardian?
:13:42. > :13:51.Politicians are jumping up and down calling for the Guardian to be
:13:52. > :13:55.prosecuted. If we are wondering idly what the kind of story the
:13:56. > :14:01.politicians might not want to read you have an example. For instance,
:14:02. > :14:08.this is exactly the kind of story I would suggest the politicians would
:14:09. > :14:12.prefer not to see. That is about politicians claiming for their
:14:13. > :14:17.energy bills. It is a painful one because people are feeling the pain.
:14:18. > :14:21.It is that thing of one rule for them. They will say it is in the
:14:22. > :14:30.rules, but it is useful that we note nevertheless. We pay the energy
:14:31. > :14:34.bills of 340 of them. Maybe people will wonder why MPs are less keen on
:14:35. > :14:40.interfering in the energy market because it does not affect them. I
:14:41. > :14:49.would like to go to the Sunday Times report on the union problems in
:14:50. > :14:53.Scotland. The Unite union has joined an unholy trinity of the European
:14:54. > :14:58.Union and the human rights act as a hate figure. They have now got
:14:59. > :15:07.access to at least part, possibly the whole document, that Labour
:15:08. > :15:11.prepared. A private enquiry. They have taken out some of the most
:15:12. > :15:17.damning bits. I read the whole report in the summer. They have left
:15:18. > :15:24.out bits that show a rather differently, but there is no doubt.
:15:25. > :15:28.Why did we not read the whole thing in the mirror? I read it and
:15:29. > :15:37.reported it and wrote about it, but I did not have the whole copy. This
:15:38. > :15:41.is not surprising? No, they are running a campaign and it is about
:15:42. > :15:49.Grangemouth and what happened in the Labour Party. The Unite union is a
:15:50. > :15:56.major force on the left. They are mobilised in a way political parties
:15:57. > :16:01.used to be. They are mobilised to get people selected for the party,
:16:02. > :16:07.more labour people. Ed Miliband once trade unionists to join the Labour
:16:08. > :16:13.Party as individuals. Be careful what you wish for. But then at
:16:14. > :16:22.Grangemouth Unite was accused of using bully boy tactics. Who has got
:16:23. > :16:25.the leverage? Is it a tax exile in Switzerland who is threatening to
:16:26. > :16:36.shut the plant completely or a bunch of workers? But going to people's
:16:37. > :16:40.houses with effigies of rats? There was an issue of terrorising people
:16:41. > :16:45.in that family, absolutely, but the people who sat them would not have
:16:46. > :16:55.had to face the consequences. It is about making people in companies see
:16:56. > :17:02.the consequences of their decisions. Now to a lighter subject, the
:17:03. > :17:07.National Theatre. Last night was a fantastic night at the National
:17:08. > :17:12.Theatre and this astonishing Roll Call of great names from Judi Dench
:17:13. > :17:23.and Helen Mirren and so on. There is nothing more to say except, isn't it
:17:24. > :17:28.great? The only other thing one might say is that, do you think it
:17:29. > :17:34.is fair manner as the editor of the Evening Standard and a Londoner,
:17:35. > :17:45.that Londoners get 15 times per head the amount for arts than anywhere
:17:46. > :17:52.else in the country. People can come to London, if you want excellence
:17:53. > :18:00.then audiences will follow. I won't ask you this! You will get a
:18:01. > :18:06.different answer! It is a moment of celebration. Kevin, you have another
:18:07. > :18:10.story from the Observer about Pakistan, very serious story
:18:11. > :18:21.potentially. They are trying to negotiate with the Taliban. Yes, it
:18:22. > :18:29.is the leader of the Pakistan Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, he was
:18:30. > :18:32.assassinated by a US drone, controversial in itself because of
:18:33. > :18:39.the number of civilians who died, but the attack now is that the
:18:40. > :18:45.Pakistan Government are hoping to negotiate with him and they are
:18:46. > :18:50.saying that killing him have made it more difficult. You wouldn't shed
:18:51. > :19:00.tears for this guy, but the connotations can be extreme. So this
:19:01. > :19:03.puts America back in the freezer. That's right. There is a serious
:19:04. > :19:10.problem with the Taliban and maybe there was never going to be a deal
:19:11. > :19:13.because they are so medieval in the way they approach modern life, but
:19:14. > :19:23.this could be totally counter-productive. There is a long
:19:24. > :19:29.history of this. In a sanctimonious way I said we are not going to talk
:19:30. > :19:44.much about Sven, but we cannot resist. You have got Ulrika's view,
:19:45. > :19:50.Nancy coming in, and I believe this was a book about football! Everybody
:19:51. > :19:54.is interested in Nancy and the bit I think I would find particularly
:19:55. > :20:00.delicious in this is the threat that Nancy is not going to take this
:20:01. > :20:04.lying down. The real division in life is between those who need
:20:05. > :20:13.surnames and those who don't, simply, Nancy. One last story is on
:20:14. > :20:21.Twitter. There is now atwitter parlous, I right? Yes, and it is
:20:22. > :20:26.topped by Justin Bieber who has more followers than Barack Obama. David
:20:27. > :20:30.Cameron is on about half a million, Ed Miliband on about 250 million but
:20:31. > :20:44.in Britain the people with the biggest figures are One Direction.
:20:45. > :20:51.You cannot push me up to the top because I'm not on Twitter at the
:20:52. > :20:56.moment. How do you exist? Because I would get into trouble almost every
:20:57. > :21:00.day. Thank you for not getting us into trouble, and now to the weather
:21:01. > :21:04.which has been brisk, wild and beautiful, that is the weather I
:21:05. > :21:06.have seen in the south-east, but sadly there are probably more dreary
:21:07. > :21:19.days ahead. The past 24 hours has certainly been
:21:20. > :21:23.wild, some strong winds underneath this cloud with persistent rain and
:21:24. > :21:29.stole the risk of flooding across parts of the north-east. Strong to
:21:30. > :21:32.gale force wind initially easing down through the afternoon so
:21:33. > :21:37.becoming less blustery and the frequent showers we have to the west
:21:38. > :21:42.will gradually eased down as well. Many dry and bright, particularly in
:21:43. > :21:47.eastern areas but not particularly warm. This rain pushing its way
:21:48. > :21:54.eastwards, around the coast and the Channel Islands with gale force
:21:55. > :21:58.winds for a time. Many of you will be waking up tomorrow morning to
:21:59. > :22:07.some frost on the ground but lovely blue skies overhead. The wind and
:22:08. > :22:13.rain will clear, a few showers in northern Scotland and the north of
:22:14. > :22:17.Wales tomorrow, but the most there will be sunny skies throughout. The
:22:18. > :22:22.brightest day of the week, because for the rest of the week there will
:22:23. > :22:28.be showers and blustery winds, but nothing unusual for November.
:22:29. > :22:38.Told you! Few musicians enjoy the global fame and lasting success of
:22:39. > :22:41.Sir Elton John. Of all the great showmen, he's one of the hardest
:22:42. > :22:45.workers, constantly touring and producing new albums, the newest of
:22:46. > :22:48.which - The Diving Board - has been compared to his 1970s heyday. What's
:22:49. > :22:51.perhaps less well known is that Elton started life as a classical
:22:52. > :22:55.musician playing Mozart and Bach at the Royal Academy of Music. He's
:22:56. > :22:58.never forgotten that early help, spending literally millions on
:22:59. > :23:01.helping young musicians, and most recently funding a magnificent new
:23:02. > :23:04.organ, which takes pride of place in the main hall. When we met there
:23:05. > :23:08.recently to discuss his life and music, Elton told me what compelled
:23:09. > :23:15.him to become such a unique organ donor. Because the one they had was
:23:16. > :23:21.absolutely useless and it had been redundant for many years. Now they
:23:22. > :23:25.have a brand-new organ which is magnificent sounding. It is very
:23:26. > :23:30.modern looking and they have something forever. The last one was
:23:31. > :23:44.a disaster so I wanted to put that right. The Academy has given me so
:23:45. > :23:53.much. You also fund scholarships here, don't you? Yes, in 1988 I came
:23:54. > :23:58.here aged 11 and I went to school Monday to Friday, came here on
:23:59. > :24:03.Saturday, played the piano and sang in the choir and did theory and
:24:04. > :24:08.orals and met some wonderful people but rock 'n' roll had just
:24:09. > :24:13.happened. My hands are such that I was never going to make a classical
:24:14. > :24:17.pianist. Your fingers are not too long? You need beautiful pointed
:24:18. > :24:22.fingers and I didn't have that, and I didn't really have the desire.
:24:23. > :24:26.Once I heard the piano being played in a different sort of way, which
:24:27. > :24:40.was alien to anybody who taught here... So you were coming out of
:24:41. > :24:46.Bach? Yes, Mozart, Bach, Chopin into Jerry Lee Lewis but I have never
:24:47. > :24:51.forgotten the skills I learned here. In The Diving Board, you talk about
:24:52. > :24:59.yourself at 16, I wonder what kind of person you were? I was very shy,
:25:00. > :25:06.I had a semiprofessional band and I played the organ, the Vox
:25:07. > :25:10.Continental. I knew I wasn't cut out to be a classical musician so I
:25:11. > :25:14.followed my instincts and my instincts were right but I had to
:25:15. > :25:18.fight along the way to get there. I didn't have a lot of encouragement
:25:19. > :25:25.from my Father, my mother encouraged me all the time but I had to fight
:25:26. > :25:30.tooth and nail to get where I was. The academy helped give me that
:25:31. > :25:36.ambition. I think you were similar to David Hockney in some respects, a
:25:37. > :25:42.working-class boy given the skills which enables you to do something
:25:43. > :25:48.different. Exactly, it enabled me to have that knowledge of chord
:25:49. > :25:54.structure, harmony, choral work. You play the wonderful composers here.
:25:55. > :25:58.Your new album is all about fame and reflecting on fame, how much is this
:25:59. > :26:03.an attempt to go back to the first few albums? It was an accident in a
:26:04. > :26:08.way because my producer suggested I make a record with piano and drums
:26:09. > :26:13.as a template and I have never really made a record like that.
:26:14. > :26:29.Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome end to -- Elton John.
:26:30. > :26:46.We went into the studio with a batch of lyrics. I went in with a bass
:26:47. > :26:52.player and a drummer and it just flowed out of me and it was very
:26:53. > :26:57.relaxing to not have the incumbent of other musicians around you.
:26:58. > :27:00.Consequently I think I am playing better and singing better on this
:27:01. > :27:05.record when I have ever done before. I don't ever want to stop
:27:06. > :27:09.learning and there is still room for improvement. You are part of a
:27:10. > :27:13.generation of rockers and you have to find new ways of writing relevant
:27:14. > :27:21.music for this age group, can you reflect on that? I don't think it is
:27:22. > :27:28.relevant, to be honest. I don't think my melodies and songs are
:27:29. > :27:34.relevant to the current generation. I am not really interested in not
:27:35. > :27:38.any more, I don't have to chase the charts any more, I don't have to
:27:39. > :27:44.have a top ten record. I can just do what I like and that is a tremendous
:27:45. > :27:50.asset for a musician when you are 66. I have the freedom not to care
:27:51. > :28:00.about that any more. Talk about your extraordinary relationship with
:28:01. > :28:07.Bernie Taubin. He sends you the lyrics and then what happens? It is
:28:08. > :28:10.kind of an act of God in a way that we have never been in the same room
:28:11. > :28:17.writing a song and yet it is still as fresh as it was all those years
:28:18. > :28:26.ago. He pleased with the recent albums? He is elated. He was never
:28:27. > :28:30.big on the Rocket Man. He thought they were great although he thought
:28:31. > :28:34.I took the costumes too far. I was having the time of my life and he
:28:35. > :28:39.thought they detracted away from the songs and I think critically they
:28:40. > :28:44.did, perhaps. Now, one is entering the twilight years, and the
:28:45. > :28:46.recognition is coming that they were great songs anyway but I was having
:28:47. > :29:11.the time of my life will -- the time of my life. You are also
:29:12. > :29:17.one of the great gay icons and I am just wondering how much David
:29:18. > :29:23.Furnish has changed you as a person. Tremendously. A relationship with me
:29:24. > :29:28.before that was never a 50/50 relationship, I was always a hostage
:29:29. > :29:32.taken. David has taught me so much about relationships, about
:29:33. > :29:38.confrontation, honesty, genuine love. We have been together 20 years
:29:39. > :29:44.this week and it has been an amazing journey. We are still learning about
:29:45. > :29:49.each other. When I got sober in 1990I had to start learning how to
:29:50. > :29:55.live all over again, and I was learning to process life as it
:29:56. > :29:59.comes. Now you have your own family. Someone who knows you told me to ask
:30:00. > :30:05.you about Zachary because he is about to go to school for the first
:30:06. > :30:10.time next year. He will go in 2015, but I have got to make sure I am
:30:11. > :30:14.there, I will take him and pick him up. I don't want to be in another
:30:15. > :30:24.part of the world playing concerts, I want to be there for him. It is
:30:25. > :30:28.all them now. You think you have learnt everything and then these
:30:29. > :30:33.beautiful creatures, long and you cannot believe the amount of Love
:30:34. > :30:38.you feel for them. I am very optimistic about the world, I think
:30:39. > :30:44.we are in good hands, the world is changing, dominoes are slowly
:30:45. > :30:48.falling. In what way? People are being more tolerant and accepting of
:30:49. > :30:55.people 's collar, people 's religions. That does not apply
:30:56. > :31:00.everywhere. Northern Ireland was not solved in a day, it was done by
:31:01. > :31:05.diplomacy, bargaining and discussion. Talking about it. Since
:31:06. > :31:09.the Diana moment, you have had to cope with the burden of being a
:31:10. > :31:14.national treasure, probably in international treasure, do you feel
:31:15. > :31:19.the weight of that? Freddie Mercury said I looked like the Queen Mother
:31:20. > :31:24.on live aid! I sometimes feel I am the acceptable face of homosexuality
:31:25. > :31:29.and if that is the case I will use that to break down barriers. I am
:31:30. > :31:33.going to Russia at the beginning of December. That might be slightly
:31:34. > :31:39.tricky, given what is going on there. I have been going there since
:31:40. > :31:45.1979. I don't see the point of not going. You go there and try to break
:31:46. > :31:50.down some walls and try to talk to people and bring people together
:31:51. > :31:55.with music. I am a musician, I bring people together, they don't care who
:31:56. > :31:59.is gay or straight, and when you are in that concert hall it is like
:32:00. > :32:06.going back to Belfast in the crazy horrible days. People came together
:32:07. > :32:10.and forgot their troubles. Music and sport are the common denominator is
:32:11. > :32:22.that can do that. In my life I have had the ability to heal a lot of
:32:23. > :32:28.wimps. Thank you. an interesting and thoughtful man. The organ was also
:32:29. > :32:35.funded by the percussionist Ray Cooper. The legend of John F.
:32:36. > :32:42.Kennedy fascinate historians. Not only historians. David Miliband
:32:43. > :32:50.returns to London to give a lecture on the relationship between the US
:32:51. > :32:55.and Britain. Good morning. Good morning. In this lecture you make a
:32:56. > :33:04.great play of Kennedy's support for the European project. It was
:33:05. > :33:09.remarkable. JFK is famous for many things, but not in my understanding
:33:10. > :33:14.with his engagement in the foundation of the European Union.
:33:15. > :33:18.Doing research for this lecture it became clear he was passionate about
:33:19. > :33:23.the integration of Europe and Britain's place in Europe. One of
:33:24. > :33:35.his key advisers says, without Britain, the European Union is
:33:36. > :33:42.lacking it lodestone. He was talking about the pool for democracy in
:33:43. > :33:47.Europe. In your lecture you do not explain very much where democracy is
:33:48. > :33:52.going to fit into Europe. Before he went into government he was setting
:33:53. > :33:58.the agenda. He said a Democrat looks at foreign policy. He says, Europe
:33:59. > :34:03.is integrating, but around the rest of the world is independence. Today
:34:04. > :34:08.we are dealing with independent countries that cannot actually hold
:34:09. > :34:13.a ring. The European lesson he drew was a different one. It was not
:34:14. > :34:18.about democracy, it was about delivering. That is the lesson, the
:34:19. > :34:23.European Union needs to expand its economy, it has to do trade and
:34:24. > :34:30.investment partnerships with the US. You are a very lone voice. There is
:34:31. > :34:37.a drive for independence inside Europe and northern Europe. It is
:34:38. > :34:41.gaining in strength. You are right, the Kennedy model of more and more
:34:42. > :34:47.integration is under challenge from a splintering. From my point of view
:34:48. > :34:53.now living 3000 miles from London if Europe is going to have a voice in
:34:54. > :34:57.the world, and Britain, it is not that we subsume ourselves into the
:34:58. > :35:02.European Union, it is we are stronger with a more effective
:35:03. > :35:07.European Union. That is why JFK's warnings do not split Europe. It
:35:08. > :35:18.builds up Europe as a partner of the US as an important message. Can I
:35:19. > :35:21.turn to the International Rescue. I thought the Thunderbirds had taken
:35:22. > :35:28.over when you introduced me in that way. The biggest crisis is Syria and
:35:29. > :35:37.people have turned away from it a bit. This is an apocalyptic crisis.
:35:38. > :35:41.It is a defining crisis. Syria is dissolving before our eyes. At least
:35:42. > :35:48.one in three, possibly one into, Syrians have been displaced from
:35:49. > :35:51.their homes. The siege on the neighbouring countries is immense.
:35:52. > :35:57.They have had 20% of the population increased. The number of refugees in
:35:58. > :36:02.Lebanon is like the whole of Britain moving to America. With the
:36:03. > :36:09.announcement of polio this week, what you have got is an absolute
:36:10. > :36:12.dissolution and the world if anything is turning away. This
:36:13. > :36:17.chemical weapons thing is being sorted out so we do not need to
:36:18. > :36:23.worry about it. For an organisation like mine, 800,000 Syrians are
:36:24. > :36:29.dependent on health care from us. We have two smuggle it across the
:36:30. > :36:35.border. 300,000 young Syrians who are refugees in Lebanon have got no
:36:36. > :36:41.education. That is the kind of issue that is energising me and inspiring
:36:42. > :36:47.me. Is this big enough if not well handled to upend Turkey and Israel?
:36:48. > :36:55.Propping up the neighbouring states, often the ally states, NATO and
:36:56. > :37:00.Jordan and the long-term ally of the West, but Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and
:37:01. > :37:07.Jordan are under siege at the moment. Unless they get support on
:37:08. > :37:12.the scale of the Marshall plan in the 1940s, you can see them
:37:13. > :37:17.buckling. That is an area where the humanitarian challenge has big,
:37:18. > :37:22.political consequences. It is important to warn people about that.
:37:23. > :37:27.Can I turn to another foreign affairs issue. You talked about your
:37:28. > :37:31.drive to get the Taliban to negotiate in Afghanistan early on.
:37:32. > :37:36.What is your feeling about the latest drone strike killing the
:37:37. > :37:43.leader? It is a classic case of an own goal the West does again and
:37:44. > :37:47.again. They say they have got contacts Lower down the chain who
:37:48. > :37:54.they say will be more engaged. I have got to be careful about what I
:37:55. > :37:58.about this. 2000 villages around Afghanistan we are delivering
:37:59. > :38:04.services to and my priority is for the safety of my staff. I have to be
:38:05. > :38:08.careful about what I say. But for ten years there has been a vicious
:38:09. > :38:17.and bloody battle that has cost many lives. A lot of people are thinking,
:38:18. > :38:23.in 2014 we can pull out. But on a humanitarian level we have got to
:38:24. > :38:28.surge into Afghanistan. If we spend 0.1% of what is being spent on the
:38:29. > :38:36.military under humanitarian side, we can make a difference. The American
:38:37. > :38:41.bill is $10 billion a month. If we spent 0.1% of that on education and
:38:42. > :38:47.health, the basics of a decent society, that is where the future of
:38:48. > :38:52.Afghanistan is. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. Let
:38:53. > :39:01.me bring you back to a domestic issue. You were involved in the idea
:39:02. > :39:06.of the living wage and your brother has been suggesting that firms paid
:39:07. > :39:13.a living wage and be reimbursed by the government. I think it is
:39:14. > :39:20.encouraging to see real ideas coming through in politics. The
:39:21. > :39:25.organisation is doing a lot of things to organise people outside
:39:26. > :39:30.politics conventional. Now conventional politics is picking it
:39:31. > :39:33.up. All across the western world the issue of how people in the middle
:39:34. > :39:39.and the lower end of the income scale is going to get benefit is the
:39:40. > :39:44.issue. The squeezed middle, the break between economic growth and
:39:45. > :39:51.the prosperity of the ordinary person is the issue. It is the issue
:39:52. > :39:56.in America and Europe. I think the idea that we can build on the
:39:57. > :40:00.minimum wage which sets a national minimum and then say sector by
:40:01. > :40:07.sector you build up a living wage, I think it is a powerful idea. But we
:40:08. > :40:12.see the old politics coming back in the crisis of the Unite union. When
:40:13. > :40:18.you look at that do you have a shiver? Does it remind you of the
:40:19. > :40:27.1970s and the 1980s? Is it a big issue for the label party? It is so
:40:28. > :40:32.big that it is right to reform relationships with the unions.
:40:33. > :40:35.Working people have an important state and it is important to bring
:40:36. > :40:43.them in, but old politics has no place. Is it right to talk about
:40:44. > :40:49.what your father said in the papers saying that he was somebody who
:40:50. > :40:56.hated Britain. I thought it was hateful. My dad was taken away from
:40:57. > :41:02.us nearly 20 years ago in 1994 and at the same time he has been taken
:41:03. > :41:08.away from us what he left. What he left can never be taken away from
:41:09. > :41:13.me. He left memories of love and fun and engagement and what it meant to
:41:14. > :41:18.be a close family. On the one hand it was hateful, but then I thought
:41:19. > :41:24.not even the Daily Mail can take my memories away from me. It must have
:41:25. > :41:28.been hard for my mum. But for me he was a dad and I know he loved
:41:29. > :41:35.Britain and that is what is important. So do I add it is nice to
:41:36. > :41:38.be back. Imagine you have an illegitimate baby and you are taken
:41:39. > :41:45.in by nuns and you are made to work to atone for your sin. Your child is
:41:46. > :41:49.taken and sold for cash to anonymous Americans and there is nothing you
:41:50. > :41:53.can do. You spend the rest of your life wondering and hoping. This
:41:54. > :41:59.sounds like fiction, but it is a true story that happened relatively
:42:00. > :42:04.recently. Philomena was written by and style Steve Coogan with Judi
:42:05. > :42:08.Dench playing the lead character. Her search in old age for the child
:42:09. > :42:14.who has been stolen from her is the core of this film. You abandoned him
:42:15. > :42:26.as a baby. I did not abandon my child. He will be 50 today. You must
:42:27. > :42:36.be Philomena. I did not like that word. You are a journalist. I used
:42:37. > :42:41.to be. But what if he died in Vietnam or came back with no legs or
:42:42. > :42:47.lived on the street? Do not upset yourself.
:42:48. > :42:50.When we met earlier I asked Steve Coogan why he took up this
:42:51. > :42:57.particular project and what it was like to add opposite Dame Judi
:42:58. > :43:03.Dench. I was absolutely petrified, but I knew I would not get another
:43:04. > :43:09.chance to play this role. Nobody would offer me this, so I gave it to
:43:10. > :43:15.myself. I told the director to keep an eye on me. When you look at her
:43:16. > :43:23.she looks very different. She does not look like the iconic Judi Dench.
:43:24. > :43:27.At the end of the day they returned her, but during the day I felt I was
:43:28. > :43:37.hanging about with a little Irish lady. After that I was starter. We
:43:38. > :43:43.are having a private conversation. No need to be rude, she is a nice
:43:44. > :43:49.person. You should be nice to the people on the way up because you
:43:50. > :43:52.might meet them on the way down. I thought you were anti the Catholic
:43:53. > :44:01.hierarchy and probe the spiritual faith. It was very important to me
:44:02. > :44:07.in the criticisms of the church, it would have been preaching to the
:44:08. > :44:15.converted. It would have not been inclusive. In all the scandals that
:44:16. > :44:19.have engulfed the church, it was those people who lead these
:44:20. > :44:24.diligent, dignified, quiet and unremarkable lives I wanted to
:44:25. > :44:30.represent. How did the Catholic Church respond? As an institution
:44:31. > :44:38.they have not responded. They sent us a few warnings and legal missives
:44:39. > :44:42.early on. You have a Catholic background yourself. I found it
:44:43. > :44:48.quite emotional to read the story and quite compelling. It is about a
:44:49. > :44:52.mother and a son and we all have mothers. I also thought it was
:44:53. > :44:58.something that would chime with people. It was a way to explore
:44:59. > :45:04.ideas of faith and secularism within two main characters. Because it is
:45:05. > :45:09.about the Catholic Church it is about Ireland. I was raised a
:45:10. > :45:16.Catholic and I have a lot of Irish ancestry. I felt like I could talk
:45:17. > :45:19.about it and write about it. The conclusion is that the woman of
:45:20. > :45:27.simple faith has more to teach you and vice versa. Absolutely, I am
:45:28. > :45:35.trying to talk about the limitations of cynicism. It is a surprisingly
:45:36. > :45:41.non-cynical film. I have made my living by being cynical in a way. It
:45:42. > :45:45.is a short-term solution, it is an aspirin that does not cure the
:45:46. > :45:54.underlying illness, but it struck me there are so many films at the
:45:55. > :45:57.moment that is style over substance. To say something sincere and
:45:58. > :46:07.authentic is the abnormal thing to do. That is one of the things that
:46:08. > :46:11.motivated me. Are you going to be haunted by Alan Partridge for the
:46:12. > :46:18.rest of your life? Is he going to grow old alongside you? The short
:46:19. > :46:26.answer is yes. As the character has developed he has become more similar
:46:27. > :46:30.to me. He has become richer. He was conservative early on, but we have
:46:31. > :46:41.made him much more touchy-feely conservative. What is it like in
:46:42. > :46:49.there? Scary, stressful, lots of shouting, a lot like being married
:46:50. > :46:58.again. There is a crazy person running around with a gun, so a lot
:46:59. > :47:06.like being married again. You were part of this campaign, is it a done
:47:07. > :47:10.deal now? No, the shame about the whole thing is the polarisation of
:47:11. > :47:14.the argument that has taken place because it should have been a
:47:15. > :47:18.grown-up discussion and what is sad is that the newspapers, the ones
:47:19. > :47:24.against the Royal Charter, have portrayed it in a simplistic way.
:47:25. > :47:29.Harold Evans who is respected by most journalists said the way the
:47:30. > :47:35.press had misrepresented it had been staggering. I can see why the
:47:36. > :47:38.newspapers are worried. If I sue Private Eye for invasion of privacy
:47:39. > :47:42.or whatever and I have no real case and it is a rubbish case and I am
:47:43. > :47:50.beaten in court, they now have to pay my fees. Yes, but if they join
:47:51. > :47:56.the Royal Charter... Let me give you an example. If Private Eye had been
:47:57. > :48:00.a member of the self-regulation back in the day that the Royal Charter is
:48:01. > :48:08.proposing, if they had been a member of that back in the day when they
:48:09. > :48:12.were sued by James Goldsmith, who nearly bankrupted him, they would
:48:13. > :48:16.have been protected. Do you think there is a chance of any of the big
:48:17. > :48:26.newspaper groups coming under the Royal Charter now? I hope it gets
:48:27. > :48:30.away from this... It has become an atrocious war now rather than a
:48:31. > :48:34.grown-up conversation. I hope we can go beyond that because it is what
:48:35. > :48:44.the public want, and there has been a vote in Parliament between our
:48:45. > :48:47.democratic representatives. They have diminishing options and their
:48:48. > :48:53.behaviour at the moment is like a recalcitrant teenager who keeps
:48:54. > :48:57.shouting that it is an fair and all you have asked him to do is tidy his
:48:58. > :49:12.bedroom. The Royal Charter to bring -- begin
:49:13. > :49:21.the process of press regulation was agreed last week. It's going to be
:49:22. > :49:25.printed on vellum, no less, that's calf skin though the calf has died
:49:26. > :49:27.long since. Then the slow process of imposing the system on Britain
:49:28. > :49:30.extremely reluctant newspapers begins. Parliament and the public
:49:31. > :49:33.support the new system but most of the press regards it as dangerous
:49:34. > :49:37.political interference. Which way we go is a genuinely important moment
:49:38. > :49:40.for Britain, and the woman in charge - Maria Miller - joins me now. They
:49:41. > :49:45.have their own system now, IPSOS, are you going to make them join?
:49:46. > :49:49.There is complete agreement that self-regulation should be overseen
:49:50. > :49:52.by a set of principles in the Royal Charter. Both the government and the
:49:53. > :49:58.press agree with that. The most important thing happening now is for
:49:59. > :50:07.the press to go forward with their own self-regulatory body. It cannot
:50:08. > :50:14.be self-regulatory if it is a body they will not join, can it? Are you
:50:15. > :50:19.happy to see how that goes? Self-regulation has to be determined
:50:20. > :50:24.by the industry. The industry are setting up their own self-regulatory
:50:25. > :50:28.body and the only role of the government was to oversee this put
:50:29. > :50:38.in place with a set of principles that will guide that. If their body
:50:39. > :50:45.is seen to work, as it were, the Royal Charter body, it doesn't need
:50:46. > :50:48.to happen at all presumably? No, the self-regulatory body needs to happen
:50:49. > :50:55.and the press need to show they are making real progress with the
:50:56. > :51:01.signing and apologies when things go wrong. But if they do, you won't
:51:02. > :51:07.make them? You won't make them join the body? No, in a country with
:51:08. > :51:13.freedom of the press which is an integral part of our system, it is
:51:14. > :51:17.important to have a self-regulatory approach. This seems to be a change
:51:18. > :51:24.of tone, from people who were saying if the press do not join there will
:51:25. > :51:27.be swingeing fines. That is not what you are saying? I want to guard
:51:28. > :51:31.against some of those people who were trying to foist upon this
:51:32. > :51:37.country statutory regulation, and ultimately that is what was
:51:38. > :51:47.happening in March of this year. I'm afraid too many people in Parliament
:51:48. > :51:53.were free to talk about... And I think the press are pushing forward
:51:54. > :51:58.with this. So nothing else needs to happen if this works? Ultimately
:51:59. > :52:01.there are opportunities for the press to be able to be recognised
:52:02. > :52:07.and I would encourage them to look at that because it means they can
:52:08. > :52:20.get the sort of incentives around costs. Another is a -- an
:52:21. > :52:28.organisation like Hacked Off will be disappointed to hear that. Leveson
:52:29. > :52:35.said very clearly that success would be a system where we have the press
:52:36. > :52:39.going with us and I hope they will see the Charter is an opportunity to
:52:40. > :52:42.demonstrate to people who read their paper is that they take
:52:43. > :52:46.responsibility very seriously indeed in terms of the way they print it
:52:47. > :52:51.and when errors and mistakes are made that they have a system of
:52:52. > :52:54.redress in place. I think what is other contagious about being
:52:55. > :52:58.recognised under the Royal Charter is that it would involve having a
:52:59. > :53:04.low-cost form of arbitration in place, the sort of thing the Dowler
:53:05. > :53:08.family were calling for. If I were a newspaper editor, I would say the
:53:09. > :53:11.disadvantage of feeling the politicians were standing behind
:53:12. > :53:16.this process is so great that I would prefer to take my chance in
:53:17. > :53:20.court, you are comfortable with that? I think that is
:53:21. > :53:24.misunderstanding the role of the Royal Charter. One of the reasons we
:53:25. > :53:28.didn't take the press Charter forward is because it didn't exclude
:53:29. > :53:32.ministers from the process. We want to make sure the process is
:53:33. > :53:38.absolutely outside of the political process, that is why it didn't
:53:39. > :53:41.exclude ministers from the process. We want to make sure the process is
:53:42. > :53:44.absolutely outside of the political process, that is wired to set up
:53:45. > :53:46.through a Royal Charter, why the Royal Charter can only be varied if
:53:47. > :53:51.everyone agrees. If the press system works, the Royal Charter is
:53:52. > :53:57.redundant really? Yes, subject to them doing it. Can I ask you about
:53:58. > :54:01.another issue, Grant Shapps said some pretty swingeing things about
:54:02. > :54:04.the BBC recently, basically there has to be radical reform or you will
:54:05. > :54:12.lose a big chunk of your licence fee. Do you agree with that? I want
:54:13. > :54:17.to see the BBC doing what they are doing now, looking at a root and
:54:18. > :54:20.branch review. All the issues that have come to the surface in the last
:54:21. > :54:26.year have shown a weakness in understanding of the relative roles
:54:27. > :54:31.of the two different elements of the BBC. The work that Tony Hall has put
:54:32. > :54:37.in place to look at governance I think is exactly the right thing to
:54:38. > :54:41.be focusing on now. Other issues around licence fees are four Charter
:54:42. > :54:50.renewal which is some way off in the future. Can I ask you about some
:54:51. > :54:58.other questions firstly the discrepancy of per capita funding
:54:59. > :55:07.for arts in this country, it is 15 times different from people in
:55:08. > :55:13.London and elsewhere. It cannot go on, can it? You are absolutely
:55:14. > :55:20.right. It is something we have inherited, something we are doing
:55:21. > :55:23.something about. The arts Council have been increasing the amount that
:55:24. > :55:28.goes outside of London but we are also looking in a more detailed way
:55:29. > :55:33.at the figures you are quoting because you are right about the per
:55:34. > :55:41.head funding, but when you look at the per visit funding the figure is
:55:42. > :55:46.very different. London is a huge Magnum photographers and important
:55:47. > :55:50.for our creative industries. I went to the National Theatre last night
:55:51. > :55:54.to see the anniversary of that incredible institution, which has
:55:55. > :55:59.been the heart of some of our great successes both in film and
:56:00. > :56:02.broadcast. We are in the middle of prize-giving season across the arts
:56:03. > :56:08.at the moment and everybody is saying the Turner prize this year is
:56:09. > :56:13.the best for many years. Any reflections on that, who might win,
:56:14. > :56:18.what kind of art is on show there? I wouldn't ever want to pre-empt that
:56:19. > :56:23.sort of event but I think we are seeing a renaissance of Britain in
:56:24. > :56:26.arts and culture, not just domestically within our own shores
:56:27. > :56:31.but internationally and that is what I am using to take Britain around
:56:32. > :56:39.the world and to sell Britain around the world. Maria Miller, thank you.
:56:40. > :56:42.Now, the news headlines. The former Foreign Secretary David Miliband has
:56:43. > :56:48.accused the world of turning away from the crisis in Syria, which he
:56:49. > :56:55.described as apocalyptic. He told this programme the country is
:56:56. > :56:59.dissolving before our eyes. David Miliband warned that the refugee
:57:00. > :57:03.crisis was at a critical point on the borders of neighbouring
:57:04. > :57:07.countries and that a new Marshall plan was needed for the region. That
:57:08. > :57:14.is all from me for now, the next news on BBC is at one o'clock. Now a
:57:15. > :57:17.brief look at what is coming off immediately after this programme.
:57:18. > :57:22.You have heard the headlines on Plebgate, can we trust the police?
:57:23. > :57:33.The main author of the Hillsborough reports think we cannot. And put the
:57:34. > :57:36.swastika be a symbol of peace? Join me at ten o'clock.
:57:37. > :57:41.Sarah, a very different tone on press regulation than we have been
:57:42. > :57:48.hearing up to now from the culture secretary? It seems we are all after
:57:49. > :57:51.the same thing, which is effective self-regulation and it is just the
:57:52. > :58:00.mechanism so I think it is very interesting if there is room for
:58:01. > :58:05.flexibility. I quite welcomed it. To give self-regulation ago, that is
:58:06. > :58:09.where you are? Yes but the Royal Charter has an important role to
:58:10. > :58:13.play to set a framework for the press regulation to be viewed
:58:14. > :58:17.within. I think there is not perhaps as much difference between where the
:58:18. > :58:20.government has been and where the press is. This is the most
:58:21. > :58:27.consummate tree tone we have heard for a long time on this, would you
:58:28. > :58:43.agree? It sounds like it is getting to a breakthrough. Press is so much
:58:44. > :58:49.an important part, and I think we need to see the goodwill coming from
:58:50. > :58:52.them as well. You would be happy to give independent self-regulation as
:58:53. > :58:58.proposed by the newspaper industry and magazines, you would be prepared
:58:59. > :59:01.to give that a go? No, I want to seek independent self-regulation
:59:02. > :59:07.within the context of a Royal Charter. I'm afraid that is all we
:59:08. > :59:11.have got time for this morning. Join me again at the usual time next
:59:12. > :59:23.week, a special extended programme for remembrance Sunday when I will
:59:24. > :59:26.be speaking to to the Chief of the Defence Staff, to veterans of the
:59:27. > :59:30.Second World War, we'll have some live music, and an interview with
:59:31. > :59:32.actor Rupert Grint. So lots to look forward to, but for now, a very good
:59:33. > :59:36.morning!