17/12/2013 The Papers

his future by Geoffrey Boycott. And we'll have all the action from the

league cup finals which have taken place this evening.

Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow. With me are Jenni Russell, columnist at The

Times, and Tim Collins, former speech writer to Margaret Thatcher

and now head of the political unit for the PR firm Bell Pottinger. The

Independent leads with questions over the death of Abbas Khan, the

British surgeon found dead in a prison cell in Syria.

prison cell The paper asks, why would he kill

himself? The Daily Mirror says Lord

Hanningfield is facing a police probe over clocking in claims but

the BBC understands The Met has yet to respond to calls from a Labour MP

to look into the allegations. The Telegraph says fracking is

planned for half of Britain under Government plans to increase the

search for shale gas. David Cameron is rushing through

curbs on access to benefits for Romanians and Bulgarians, according

to The Guardian. The Express says we're in the middle

of a house price boom and that the market is booming all over Britain.

The Mail claims that women over the age of 65 drink more often than the

under-40s. And The Times leads with the

conviction of a former headteacher of a prestigious prep school for

historic child sex offences. Many of the papers dominated by

Syria but also the story about migration. This is clearly the

government in a panic over what the British population will think when

the restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians working here are lifted

on January one. They said a few months ago that they didn't think

they could do anything to restrict those benefits but we know

behind-the-scenes the policy unit and other people have been working

hard on proposals. Now Cameron has announced that when people arrive

here in January, instead of claiming benefits after one month, they will

wait three months. The other thing which is interesting is that I don't

know if you have seen coverage about the remaining Roma people begging --

Romanian Roma people begging. The border agency will now be able to

send an EU national back to their country and ban them for one year if

they have been found guilty of begging. That is a dramatic change

because up to now there has been nothing that they could do. Do you

get the feeling it has been rather leaving it a bit late? This is

clearly a panicked reaction because something like three quarters of the

British population say they are worried about the idea that migrants

may come for just the same reasons as Polish people did several years

ago. They look at pregnancy that wages are here -- they look at

Britain and see that wages are higher. If we had a similar

opportunity, wouldn't we take it? We gather that The Sun has a poll.

There was one published earlier this week that show that public opinion

is more nuanced. Although three quarters of people will say that if

people are coming year to pay taxes then they are perfectly fine. I

think what the Prime Minister is addressing is a small minority of

those who might be coming over here who are attracted by the strength of

the British welfare state. We are slightly different in that we don't

have a contribution record, like other European countries where you

have to have a record of contribution. The public are not

against any form of migration. They just welcome people who are here to

work. In The Telegraph, this headline, Cameron will block

benefits to EU migrants. Different but they have obviously all had the

same briefing. For once, The Telegraph is less friendly to the

Prime Minister than The Guardian. It says he wants to make the UK are

less attractive place for EU migrants. But The Guardian gives the

full quote. It finishes with EU migrants who want to live off the

state. I don't think it is as simple as that. There is a large minority

in Britain to whom UKIP appeals who don't want migrants to come even if

they are coming to work. There are people in society worried about

their culture or job rates being affected. The arrival of migrants,

hard-working and willing to work for lower wages, has undercut people's

labour power. People are worried about that. That point is picked up

in The Guardian. A Conservative MP says that if you're thinking about

economic rationality, minimum wage in Romania is about ?1 per hour. Why

wouldn't you want to move from one to the other. It has to be looked at

in the way that all these things are managed, what is the impact of those

who are low skilled and on low wages in the United Kingdom who may feel

they are missing out? It is possible to manage migration in a sensible

way. We can't carry on thinking either everybody in or nobody in. We

have to work out who will strengthen and improve public services and

economic strength. But there is a whole of questions about

infrastructure and skills and such. The Sun has the headline draw a red

line on immigration or else. The Sun, still Britain's biggest selling

newspaper, indicates that there are a large number of people who think

that people are only coming year to claim benefits. This is The Sun

hand-wringing to their readership which I find that unpleasant. It

seems to be saying foreigners are not welcome. I think it is

understandable that people worried about rapid change. I think people

are less concerned about the nature of people who are about to arrive so

much as protesting about what has happened and the last decade. It was

an extraordinary rate of immigration. Most of us dislike

change unless we have chosen it. To be fair to The Sun, it highlights

Romania and Bulgaria. What is is doing is linking this into the

renegotiation the Prime Minister says he wants to have about

Britain's status in Europe. One of the basic four freedoms of the

European Union is freedom of labour. The Prime Minister is saying that

there are a number of other countries, like the Germans, who are

concerned about the possibility that freedom of movement. These proposals

to curb it could be welcomed by other countries. So, a different

topic altogether. Plastic banknotes, according to The

Guardian, will come into use by 2016. Apparently the decision has

already been made by the bank. I am astonished by this. We now all have

to pay 5p for plastic bags at checkouts and now we are going to be

producing these hideous things. I suspect we might be more careful

with plastic banknotes. Yes, but we are adding to the total of plastic

in the world. Isn't there are arguments that they take more

handling than our paper not? So it is claimed. But what will it feel

like? We're talking about the second half of the second decade of the

21st century and we are talking about having paper currency at all?

We should be moving towards having it all done by a smart card and away

from cash. More and more shops and services are doing things

electronically. Why are they going on the assumption that we will still

be using cash? If you get your wallet stolen then you will be

awfully glad that the existence of cash and that you don't just have to

have this electronic medium. Well you won't get the cash in the wallet

back but you would be compensated for anything on your card. On to the

FT. This story says that everyone is trying to curry favour with Ukraine.

Russian deal with Ukraine, bloated EU. They say that the gas price has

been slashed and $15 billion bond pledge. I think across Europe, the

view has been taken that it is intolerable that the Russians are

leaning on the Ukrainians. I suspect that could be some bad things going

on in terms of internal democracy but I think we should look at it

sometimes from the other side's point of view. If the EU were to

expand and take in Ukraine, that would mean security guarantees would

go to include the Ukraine and later expand for the Ukraine. If you're in

Russia, the Ukraine is right next to Russia. It is a tremendous security

threats to them if they have NATO right up, absorbing Ukraine. And

people aren't that wild about Romanians and Bulgarians in the UK.

If we bring in Ukraine it's another 60 million people. Ukraine is more

or less equally divided between the Russians in the North who would like

to stay close to Russia and people in the South who suffered

appallingly under Stalin who are less keen on it. I think it is the

scale here of the bride Russia is offering. It is cutting the price by

one third at which it will sell gas. It is also reversing the ban on

Ukrainian imports, which is apparently one of the reasons the

Ukrainian economy went into decline. When Russia offer ideal to the

Ukraine, we call it a bribe but when the EU do it it is standard

commercial practice. This is why think it looks rather different from

Moscow. I think we take a view which has not really been justified by our

activities in the west of the last ten or 15 years that we have the

right to lecture other countries about national security. Cutting our

gas bills by a third... I think it is fascinating that unless they

hadn't been these protests in Ukraine wouldn't have had such a

good deal now. The Daily Mail headline - women over 65 are

drinking more often than the under 40s.

That's very surprising, isn't it? Is bigger blue possibly not. --

Possibly not. I would imagine most over 65 is our sitting there five

days a week with a glass of wine with dinner. They are not out there

in the streets hitting people and having drunken fights and being

taken home in ambulances, which is what tends to happen to the younger

age bracket. I really doubt some of these figures here. It says that 14%

of over 65s drink five times a week and only 2% of those aged 16 to 24

do. I think I know those 2%, in that case, so I don't know where the

others are! It's actually rather wonderful that the daily wail which

was running -- Daily Mail which a few years ago was running campaigns

about how terrible youth drinking was is now talking about the

grannies. And how young women are doing all right. I suspect, is

usually the case, it is about the difference between quantity and

frequency but I think above all, across all age groups, perhaps a bit

less would be good. The last story - great fun. The Telegraph - just say

no, it's not worth the trouble and strife. A study to assess weather

men sink into deep depression during a marriage where he had been asked

to obey every wish of his wife. That would depress any man or woman. You

are being turned into a slave. It was one man and one woman. My wife

is watching this so obviously, I always agree with everything she

says and I'm perfectly cheerful. Thank you very much to you both for

your input. Jenni Russell and Tim Collins.

Stay with us because at midnight, we'll have the latest on the search

for the missing teenager Jayden Parkinson. Police have cordoned off

a graveyard in Didcot. But coming up next, it's time the Sportsday.

Hello and welcome to Sportsday. I'm Katie Gornall. Our headlines this

evening: Jose's love affair with the League Cup is broken, as Sunderland

find the "Ki" to knock out Chelsea. Not an ideal place to play football

- Roy Hodgson says he's worried about the climate when England play

Italy in