20/01/2014 The Papers

hearing from the British Olympians as they get kitted up to prepare to

head to Sochi. All in Sportsday coming up in 15 minutes' time after

the Papers. Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow morning, with me our

political commentator Jo Phillips and James Rampton, features writer

for the Independent. We will have a look at the front pages, starting

with the fallout of allegations against Lord Rennard, which

dominates the Independent. The paper carries his photo above the

headline, I'm the victim! The Telegraph also leads on Lord

Rennard, the paper also says that fracking for shale gas may not begin

in the UK for at least another year. Exposure to sunshine can cut the

risks of heart attacks and strokes, so says the Daily Express. The

Guardian leads on Syria, saying officials there could face war

crimes charges as evidence has been found of killings.

And a number of high-street businesses are set to make their way

onto the stock market, says the Financial Times.

The suspension of the Lib Dem peer Lord Rennard dominates several of

the front pages, and we can take a look at them now. The Independent,

I'm the victim! Talking about the personal statement he issued today.

The Daily Telegraph claims Lord Rennard is trying to smear his

victims. The Daily Mail describes the turmoil as sex pest storm: Clegg

in crisis. What do you make of the mixture of coverage, Jo? It is

certainly not the sort of coverage that anyone in the Liberal Democrats

would want, that is for sure! I am awfully glad I'm not doing that job

any more! This is not good for the party. I think more worryingly it is

not good for politics. And I think it is, in some ways, I think it is

creating a culture, as all of us in the media do to a certain point,

creating such a storm that I think it is terribly important to make the

point that, actually, you know politics is and can be a very nasty,

dirty, ruthless, beastly business. It is not for the faint-hearted. But

the idea that women going into politics are going to be, you know,

systematically abused at Westminster, or anywhere else, is

simply not true. And I think... I know Chris Rennard, I worked with

him years ago, and I held him then, as I do now, in the highest regard.

The Lib Dems have handled this appallingly, marrying pomposity and

fast in a way that beggars description, and there doesn't seem

to be an end in sight. You have got two blokes shouting at each other,

Chris Rennard and Nick Clegg, and as the gap between them gets ever

wider, and the general public are thinking, do you know what,

politics, what is all that? There are other issues that are more

important. James? I'm quite interested that the Independent has

Chris Rennard standing in front of a Lib Dems poster saying, cleaning up

the streets, and it will take a long time to clean up the streets of the

Lib Dems at the moment, because they seem to be in turmoil. Loathe as I

am to say it, I agree with the Daily Mail, the first time I have ever

said that, it is the worst crisis that has faced Nick Clegg's

leadership. He really has handled this so badly, and one Lib Dem was

saying it is two blokes chucking grenades at each other, and when

they go off, there is a lot of collateral damage. A lot of people

get hand, that is what is happening. I think it is terribly

sad that what is a very serious case has become something much wider, and

because of the way it has been mishandled, has blown up into

something that is doing serious damage to the Lib Dems, and

particularly will harm them with female voters, I think. They would

think, this party cannot even deal with its own former chief executive,

why would I vote for them?! Going back to what you said, Jo, if they

have handled it as badly as you clearly both think they have had, at

what point should they have been doing things they have not thank you

my well, hindsight, of course, as we all know... That is what we are here

for! Hindsight and expertise, never getting our hands dirty! It should

have been dealt with and properly when the allegations were first made

several years ago. Now, I don't know the exact extent of the

allegations, and all I know is what is in the papers, the same as we all

know. But it seems to me that what happened is that it was not dealt

with. What I don't quite understand is whether the women who are at the

centre of this then just went away and thought, well, that is

disappointing, and something that happened to make them, if you like,

reignite their claims against Lord Rennard. But what seems to be

missing, Julian, in all of this, you know, since last year, almost

exactly one year ago this story first broke, but Nick Clegg and

Chris Rennard, who used to work really closely together as chief

executive and leader, having spoken. I heard that being acknowledged by

Nick Clegg on the radio this morning. I was astonished when I

heard that, and that some point these things happen, you know, there

is nothing good, ever, about allegations of sexual inappropriate

behaviour or bullying or anything like that. But we're not talking

about 15-year-olds, we are not talking about a very vulnerable

young women. We are talking about grown women in a cup environment.

Somewhere along the line, wouldn't you have just picked up the phone

and said, come on, let's sort this out? Now they are both in a position

that neither of them can move from. Nick Clegg said he had to keep a

distance, I have to go through the party process. With the juicy's

report, but I agree with you, Jo, even at the height of the troubles

in Northern Ireland there were secret talks, people talking to the

IRA from the government, and you cannot achieve anything in politics

without talking to those you see as your enemy. And Clegg and Rennard

have got to find, somehow, some form of mediation, a bit like Relate, go

to a counsellor to bring them back together. We have got to sort out

what to do with the kids and a Volvo, there is always a Volvo

involved! We must sort this out now, or else the marriage is going to be

destroyed, and the party will be destroyed in the process, and that

is a disaster for the Lib Dems. And at the root of this are claims that

these women have gone through some deeply unpleasant thing. If this

becomes a story about two blokes, which it is at the moment, that

removes their story and their dignity. It will put off female

voters. And lots of other people. On the other side of this, I do think

there are women, other women's issues, if you like, that are a lot

more serious, that all political parties need to be talking about,

and I think this is in danger of clouding those. Sticking with one of

the front pages, the Telegraph has other stories, including a reference

to the state of the British economy. IMF hails Britain as the

best in the West, that is the headline halfway down the right-hand

side. James. George Osborne will be lighting a cigar over breakfast, I

am sure he does not smoke, but metaphorically putting his feet up

and saying, I have done a good job. This time last year the IMF was

accusing him of playing with fire, they were quite trenchant in their

criticism of him. Today they are saying it is the fastest-growing

recovery of all, forecasts have been increased, 2.4% this year, up from

1.9%, paid only in October, that prediction. It is a big jump. I am

no Tory, but I have to say, these are very promising figures. As a

British person, I am delighted. It does make the political debate

fascinating, doesn't it? We saw a flavour of it at PMQs last week, in

terms of the cost of living against these figures now, and that is how

it will continue to play. Absolutely, and this is the thing,

if the coalition can win on the argument on the economy, that is

fine in the big boys' bit. But Labour are obviously pinching for

the cost of living, which Rachel Reeves has been doing the shadow

work and is, getting no coverage on the front pages certainly, but it is

very interesting, which is the one that resonates with the voters?

Probably Labour in reality, because it is much more relevant. But I will

tell you what I do like about this, Olivier Blanchard, like I know him

terribly well... A good mate of mine, too! Chief economist at the

IMF. But he was the one, as you said, George Osborne, he said he was

playing with fire. How very gallant of him to say that he was pleasantly

surprised, which in a way is an admission of, I was wrong! It is a

glorious understatement. Like a teacher saying I am disappointed!

Anti-fracking may not happen until next year. -- fracking may not

happen. It is not what was promised. 50 wells were predicted this year

but now the most optimistic we'll see one or two this year.

Environmentalists will be delighted. It is still highly controversial.

David Cameron says it could solve our energy needs for the next 50

years but I believe the research are in can -- the research is not

conclusive. Does it cause earthquakes in Blackpool? Hold your

horses, it is not such a bad thing if the pace is slow and we learn

more about this process. We were just told that it would be thousands

of jobs and millions of pounds, and local authorities could keep that

money, so it is not what it was cracked up to be. Or fracked up to

be! Now, the convention in Switzerland and who will go and who

will not. According to this, 11,000 dead prisoners in Syria. These seem

to have been ratified by a significant group of fairly reliable

people, reading this piece. Absolutely, an eminent group of

three lawyers, one the chief prosecutor for the special court in

Sierra Leone, one brought the prosecution in Liberia of Charles

Taylor. An eminent body is presenting this quite shocking

evidence. I will not go into all the detail because it will put viewers

off. Let's just say, some horrific thing happened to these people, that

is beyond doubt. You tell a share in, Georgia, beyond any shadow of a

doubt. -- mutilation and torture. It is another shocking indictment of

what President Assad's regime seems to be doing in that country. And

what on earth is the international community going to do with this? It

seems to have been going on for two or three years now and still these

apparent atrocities are happening and the international community has

not intervened. This may be something that takes people into

thinking we must do something. It seems like an absolute turning

point. It seems to be perfectly valid because the photographs were

taken by an official photographer who defected and smuggled them out.

You talk about intervention. It will not change the follow-up question.

OK, we need to intervene, but what does intervention look like? That is

what we have been talking about for three years. I blame George Bush.

Obama is terrified of intervening and causing another Iraq. That went

spectacularly wrong and is still going spectacularly wrong and so the

President does not want to do it again. But in the meantime, the

humanitarian issues? Yes, that is just why he doesn't want to

intervene. And now this gesture of Nicolas Anelka's a few weeks ago,

which we are told has caused West Bromwich Albion's is sponsored to

say thank you and good night at the end of the season. -- sponsor. I was

at Upton Park when he made this gesture. Did it inside a lot of

supporters? I did not notice it. I was more disgruntled by the goal. I

did not hear anybody talking about it. Nobody was asking what it was

all about. If we think the Lib Dems are bad at investigating, the FA can

take some beating! They have toured the Lib Dems how to do it, haven't

they? -- they have shown them how to do it. He is still being picked to

play. He might play tonight. The chairman of an antiracism campaign

is saying there should be disciplining. Why has West Brom

taken so long to do it? The vote will not be renewing their

sponsorship and I am not surprised. -- Zoopla. It is horrific and in

France it is causing controversy. So why is he still playing? I will just

phone West Brom now! Time has beaten us on this occasion. Thank you to

both my guests. They will both be back at 11:30pm for another look at

the stories making the news tomorrow. Stay with us. At 11

o'clock we will have further analysis of the political wrangling

following the suspension of the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard.

Coming up next, Sportsday. Hello and welcome to Sportsday. I'm

Sarah Stone. West Brom and Everton shared the points in Pepe Mel's

first game in charge at the Hawthorns.

World number two side New Zealand win netball's Tri-Series, after

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