:00:00. > :00:00.hearing from the British Olympians as they get kitted up to prepare to
:00:00. > :00:00.head to Sochi. All in Sportsday coming up in 15 minutes' time after
:00:00. > :00:21.the Papers. Hello and welcome to our look ahead
:00:22. > :00:25.to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow morning, with me our
:00:26. > :00:29.political commentator Jo Phillips and James Rampton, features writer
:00:30. > :00:34.for the Independent. We will have a look at the front pages, starting
:00:35. > :00:38.with the fallout of allegations against Lord Rennard, which
:00:39. > :00:42.dominates the Independent. The paper carries his photo above the
:00:43. > :00:45.headline, I'm the victim! The Telegraph also leads on Lord
:00:46. > :00:51.Rennard, the paper also says that fracking for shale gas may not begin
:00:52. > :00:54.in the UK for at least another year. Exposure to sunshine can cut the
:00:55. > :00:58.risks of heart attacks and strokes, so says the Daily Express. The
:00:59. > :01:02.Guardian leads on Syria, saying officials there could face war
:01:03. > :01:05.crimes charges as evidence has been found of killings.
:01:06. > :01:09.And a number of high-street businesses are set to make their way
:01:10. > :01:20.onto the stock market, says the Financial Times.
:01:21. > :01:25.The suspension of the Lib Dem peer Lord Rennard dominates several of
:01:26. > :01:30.the front pages, and we can take a look at them now. The Independent,
:01:31. > :01:34.I'm the victim! Talking about the personal statement he issued today.
:01:35. > :01:38.The Daily Telegraph claims Lord Rennard is trying to smear his
:01:39. > :01:44.victims. The Daily Mail describes the turmoil as sex pest storm: Clegg
:01:45. > :01:49.in crisis. What do you make of the mixture of coverage, Jo? It is
:01:50. > :01:56.certainly not the sort of coverage that anyone in the Liberal Democrats
:01:57. > :02:00.would want, that is for sure! I am awfully glad I'm not doing that job
:02:01. > :02:06.any more! This is not good for the party. I think more worryingly it is
:02:07. > :02:12.not good for politics. And I think it is, in some ways, I think it is
:02:13. > :02:16.creating a culture, as all of us in the media do to a certain point,
:02:17. > :02:21.creating such a storm that I think it is terribly important to make the
:02:22. > :02:27.point that, actually, you know politics is and can be a very nasty,
:02:28. > :02:33.dirty, ruthless, beastly business. It is not for the faint-hearted. But
:02:34. > :02:37.the idea that women going into politics are going to be, you know,
:02:38. > :02:44.systematically abused at Westminster, or anywhere else, is
:02:45. > :02:52.simply not true. And I think... I know Chris Rennard, I worked with
:02:53. > :02:58.him years ago, and I held him then, as I do now, in the highest regard.
:02:59. > :03:01.The Lib Dems have handled this appallingly, marrying pomposity and
:03:02. > :03:05.fast in a way that beggars description, and there doesn't seem
:03:06. > :03:10.to be an end in sight. You have got two blokes shouting at each other,
:03:11. > :03:13.Chris Rennard and Nick Clegg, and as the gap between them gets ever
:03:14. > :03:17.wider, and the general public are thinking, do you know what,
:03:18. > :03:23.politics, what is all that? There are other issues that are more
:03:24. > :03:33.important. James? I'm quite interested that the Independent has
:03:34. > :03:35.Chris Rennard standing in front of a Lib Dems poster saying, cleaning up
:03:36. > :03:38.the streets, and it will take a long time to clean up the streets of the
:03:39. > :03:42.Lib Dems at the moment, because they seem to be in turmoil. Loathe as I
:03:43. > :03:45.am to say it, I agree with the Daily Mail, the first time I have ever
:03:46. > :03:48.said that, it is the worst crisis that has faced Nick Clegg's
:03:49. > :03:52.leadership. He really has handled this so badly, and one Lib Dem was
:03:53. > :03:56.saying it is two blokes chucking grenades at each other, and when
:03:57. > :03:59.they go off, there is a lot of collateral damage. A lot of people
:04:00. > :04:03.get hand, that is what is happening. I think it is terribly
:04:04. > :04:06.sad that what is a very serious case has become something much wider, and
:04:07. > :04:09.because of the way it has been mishandled, has blown up into
:04:10. > :04:15.something that is doing serious damage to the Lib Dems, and
:04:16. > :04:18.particularly will harm them with female voters, I think. They would
:04:19. > :04:21.think, this party cannot even deal with its own former chief executive,
:04:22. > :04:25.why would I vote for them?! Going back to what you said, Jo, if they
:04:26. > :04:28.have handled it as badly as you clearly both think they have had, at
:04:29. > :04:32.what point should they have been doing things they have not thank you
:04:33. > :04:40.my well, hindsight, of course, as we all know... That is what we are here
:04:41. > :04:43.for! Hindsight and expertise, never getting our hands dirty! It should
:04:44. > :04:47.have been dealt with and properly when the allegations were first made
:04:48. > :04:53.several years ago. Now, I don't know the exact extent of the
:04:54. > :04:57.allegations, and all I know is what is in the papers, the same as we all
:04:58. > :05:02.know. But it seems to me that what happened is that it was not dealt
:05:03. > :05:07.with. What I don't quite understand is whether the women who are at the
:05:08. > :05:10.centre of this then just went away and thought, well, that is
:05:11. > :05:13.disappointing, and something that happened to make them, if you like,
:05:14. > :05:19.reignite their claims against Lord Rennard. But what seems to be
:05:20. > :05:23.missing, Julian, in all of this, you know, since last year, almost
:05:24. > :05:27.exactly one year ago this story first broke, but Nick Clegg and
:05:28. > :05:32.Chris Rennard, who used to work really closely together as chief
:05:33. > :05:35.executive and leader, having spoken. I heard that being acknowledged by
:05:36. > :05:40.Nick Clegg on the radio this morning. I was astonished when I
:05:41. > :05:45.heard that, and that some point these things happen, you know, there
:05:46. > :05:50.is nothing good, ever, about allegations of sexual inappropriate
:05:51. > :05:55.behaviour or bullying or anything like that. But we're not talking
:05:56. > :06:00.about 15-year-olds, we are not talking about a very vulnerable
:06:01. > :06:03.young women. We are talking about grown women in a cup environment.
:06:04. > :06:07.Somewhere along the line, wouldn't you have just picked up the phone
:06:08. > :06:11.and said, come on, let's sort this out? Now they are both in a position
:06:12. > :06:16.that neither of them can move from. Nick Clegg said he had to keep a
:06:17. > :06:22.distance, I have to go through the party process. With the juicy's
:06:23. > :06:25.report, but I agree with you, Jo, even at the height of the troubles
:06:26. > :06:30.in Northern Ireland there were secret talks, people talking to the
:06:31. > :06:33.IRA from the government, and you cannot achieve anything in politics
:06:34. > :06:38.without talking to those you see as your enemy. And Clegg and Rennard
:06:39. > :06:42.have got to find, somehow, some form of mediation, a bit like Relate, go
:06:43. > :06:47.to a counsellor to bring them back together. We have got to sort out
:06:48. > :06:51.what to do with the kids and a Volvo, there is always a Volvo
:06:52. > :06:56.involved! We must sort this out now, or else the marriage is going to be
:06:57. > :06:59.destroyed, and the party will be destroyed in the process, and that
:07:00. > :07:04.is a disaster for the Lib Dems. And at the root of this are claims that
:07:05. > :07:08.these women have gone through some deeply unpleasant thing. If this
:07:09. > :07:12.becomes a story about two blokes, which it is at the moment, that
:07:13. > :07:18.removes their story and their dignity. It will put off female
:07:19. > :07:23.voters. And lots of other people. On the other side of this, I do think
:07:24. > :07:28.there are women, other women's issues, if you like, that are a lot
:07:29. > :07:35.more serious, that all political parties need to be talking about,
:07:36. > :07:40.and I think this is in danger of clouding those. Sticking with one of
:07:41. > :07:43.the front pages, the Telegraph has other stories, including a reference
:07:44. > :07:47.to the state of the British economy. IMF hails Britain as the
:07:48. > :07:52.best in the West, that is the headline halfway down the right-hand
:07:53. > :07:56.side. James. George Osborne will be lighting a cigar over breakfast, I
:07:57. > :07:59.am sure he does not smoke, but metaphorically putting his feet up
:08:00. > :08:03.and saying, I have done a good job. This time last year the IMF was
:08:04. > :08:07.accusing him of playing with fire, they were quite trenchant in their
:08:08. > :08:11.criticism of him. Today they are saying it is the fastest-growing
:08:12. > :08:17.recovery of all, forecasts have been increased, 2.4% this year, up from
:08:18. > :08:23.1.9%, paid only in October, that prediction. It is a big jump. I am
:08:24. > :08:28.no Tory, but I have to say, these are very promising figures. As a
:08:29. > :08:32.British person, I am delighted. It does make the political debate
:08:33. > :08:36.fascinating, doesn't it? We saw a flavour of it at PMQs last week, in
:08:37. > :08:40.terms of the cost of living against these figures now, and that is how
:08:41. > :08:44.it will continue to play. Absolutely, and this is the thing,
:08:45. > :08:50.if the coalition can win on the argument on the economy, that is
:08:51. > :08:54.fine in the big boys' bit. But Labour are obviously pinching for
:08:55. > :08:58.the cost of living, which Rachel Reeves has been doing the shadow
:08:59. > :09:02.work and is, getting no coverage on the front pages certainly, but it is
:09:03. > :09:09.very interesting, which is the one that resonates with the voters?
:09:10. > :09:13.Probably Labour in reality, because it is much more relevant. But I will
:09:14. > :09:17.tell you what I do like about this, Olivier Blanchard, like I know him
:09:18. > :09:23.terribly well... A good mate of mine, too! Chief economist at the
:09:24. > :09:29.IMF. But he was the one, as you said, George Osborne, he said he was
:09:30. > :09:33.playing with fire. How very gallant of him to say that he was pleasantly
:09:34. > :09:43.surprised, which in a way is an admission of, I was wrong! It is a
:09:44. > :09:50.glorious understatement. Like a teacher saying I am disappointed!
:09:51. > :10:00.Anti-fracking may not happen until next year. -- fracking may not
:10:01. > :10:05.happen. It is not what was promised. 50 wells were predicted this year
:10:06. > :10:13.but now the most optimistic we'll see one or two this year.
:10:14. > :10:16.Environmentalists will be delighted. It is still highly controversial.
:10:17. > :10:25.David Cameron says it could solve our energy needs for the next 50
:10:26. > :10:29.years but I believe the research are in can -- the research is not
:10:30. > :10:33.conclusive. Does it cause earthquakes in Blackpool? Hold your
:10:34. > :10:38.horses, it is not such a bad thing if the pace is slow and we learn
:10:39. > :10:42.more about this process. We were just told that it would be thousands
:10:43. > :10:47.of jobs and millions of pounds, and local authorities could keep that
:10:48. > :10:57.money, so it is not what it was cracked up to be. Or fracked up to
:10:58. > :11:03.be! Now, the convention in Switzerland and who will go and who
:11:04. > :11:08.will not. According to this, 11,000 dead prisoners in Syria. These seem
:11:09. > :11:13.to have been ratified by a significant group of fairly reliable
:11:14. > :11:17.people, reading this piece. Absolutely, an eminent group of
:11:18. > :11:23.three lawyers, one the chief prosecutor for the special court in
:11:24. > :11:28.Sierra Leone, one brought the prosecution in Liberia of Charles
:11:29. > :11:31.Taylor. An eminent body is presenting this quite shocking
:11:32. > :11:36.evidence. I will not go into all the detail because it will put viewers
:11:37. > :11:40.off. Let's just say, some horrific thing happened to these people, that
:11:41. > :11:49.is beyond doubt. You tell a share in, Georgia, beyond any shadow of a
:11:50. > :11:53.doubt. -- mutilation and torture. It is another shocking indictment of
:11:54. > :11:57.what President Assad's regime seems to be doing in that country. And
:11:58. > :12:02.what on earth is the international community going to do with this? It
:12:03. > :12:06.seems to have been going on for two or three years now and still these
:12:07. > :12:10.apparent atrocities are happening and the international community has
:12:11. > :12:15.not intervened. This may be something that takes people into
:12:16. > :12:18.thinking we must do something. It seems like an absolute turning
:12:19. > :12:34.point. It seems to be perfectly valid because the photographs were
:12:35. > :12:36.taken by an official photographer who defected and smuggled them out.
:12:37. > :12:39.You talk about intervention. It will not change the follow-up question.
:12:40. > :12:42.OK, we need to intervene, but what does intervention look like? That is
:12:43. > :12:51.what we have been talking about for three years. I blame George Bush.
:12:52. > :12:56.Obama is terrified of intervening and causing another Iraq. That went
:12:57. > :13:01.spectacularly wrong and is still going spectacularly wrong and so the
:13:02. > :13:06.President does not want to do it again. But in the meantime, the
:13:07. > :13:11.humanitarian issues? Yes, that is just why he doesn't want to
:13:12. > :13:18.intervene. And now this gesture of Nicolas Anelka's a few weeks ago,
:13:19. > :13:21.which we are told has caused West Bromwich Albion's is sponsored to
:13:22. > :13:31.say thank you and good night at the end of the season. -- sponsor. I was
:13:32. > :13:38.at Upton Park when he made this gesture. Did it inside a lot of
:13:39. > :13:42.supporters? I did not notice it. I was more disgruntled by the goal. I
:13:43. > :13:48.did not hear anybody talking about it. Nobody was asking what it was
:13:49. > :13:53.all about. If we think the Lib Dems are bad at investigating, the FA can
:13:54. > :14:01.take some beating! They have toured the Lib Dems how to do it, haven't
:14:02. > :14:07.they? -- they have shown them how to do it. He is still being picked to
:14:08. > :14:13.play. He might play tonight. The chairman of an antiracism campaign
:14:14. > :14:19.is saying there should be disciplining. Why has West Brom
:14:20. > :14:22.taken so long to do it? The vote will not be renewing their
:14:23. > :14:31.sponsorship and I am not surprised. -- Zoopla. It is horrific and in
:14:32. > :14:39.France it is causing controversy. So why is he still playing? I will just
:14:40. > :14:44.phone West Brom now! Time has beaten us on this occasion. Thank you to
:14:45. > :14:48.both my guests. They will both be back at 11:30pm for another look at
:14:49. > :14:52.the stories making the news tomorrow. Stay with us. At 11
:14:53. > :14:56.o'clock we will have further analysis of the political wrangling
:14:57. > :14:57.following the suspension of the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard.
:14:58. > :15:16.Coming up next, Sportsday. Hello and welcome to Sportsday. I'm
:15:17. > :15:19.Sarah Stone. West Brom and Everton shared the points in Pepe Mel's
:15:20. > :15:25.first game in charge at the Hawthorns.
:15:26. > :15:27.World number two side New Zealand win netball's Tri-Series, after
:15:28. > :15:29.England are forced into a last-minute change of