24/01/2014 The Papers

next 90 days or lose his world title. And how England won their

first Ashes of the winter, beating Australia in Perth. That is all

after The Papers. Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the morning's papers will be bringing us. With me are Louise

Court, Editor in Chief of Cosmopolitan, and James Miller who

is a political journalist for the Sunday Post. Welcome. Do not believe

all you have heard. It is only 12 minutes.

The i says the Prime Minister, David Cameron, is being accused of

"fiddling data" on economic recovery. The Mail claims teachers

who take drugs are to be allowed back into the classroom under new

rules. The Daily Telegraph says that NICE is urging patients to be more

assertive with their doctors, in order to get the medicines they're

entitled to. The Times has a picture of President Hollande of France

meeting the Pope at the Vatican. Its lead story is the number of terror

arrests in the UK, as fears grow about the threat posed by Britons

travelling to and from Syria. The Daily Express warns that gales are

about to batter Britain again. The Mirror has an investigation into

abortion drugs which it says are available on the internet for as

little as 78p. The Guardian says 185 Nepalese construction workers have

been killed in the last year, while working on projects for the 2022

World Cup in Qatar. And the FT lists a string of currencies hit by the

fall of the Argentine peso. Let's begin. We start with the i, a

story that has been reported throughout the day. The headline

is" Prime Minister accused of fiddling data on economic recovery.

Leading economists denounce government assertions over rising

household income is dubious at best". We almost what we can do with

statistics and it depends what you want them to say. Absolutely. I

don't think the Prime Minister has personally fiddled the data, but you

can obviously do what you like with statistics to an extent. The second

hit is IFF Star rector -in 2015 average pay will be lower than it

was pre-recession and lower than in 2010. -- the IFA is director.

We know when the general election will be, and all political parties

are getting their ducks in a row. Labour have been talking about cost

of living prices for months and this is the way the coalition are coming

back at that. The challenge is that if you say to everybody, it is all

better and everything is great, if it will don't feel it, it will

cheese them off being told this. Isn't the theory that you nudge

people in the right direction and eventually they will believe it?

There has been research done that people are actually behaving,

although the climate is getting better, as if they are in the midst

of a recession. They don't trust what is happening and they have

changed their spending habits. To tell people it is fabulous, it

infuriates people who don't feel it. With some of the statistics quoted

earlier today, we are meant to be ?3 better off on the average wage

which, you know, you can hardly buy a copy for that. That is probably

what people are giving up, treats like Coffey. There are regional

differences, aren't there? We know employers are being encouraged pass

on any profits, any improvements they are seeing to their staff,

rather than holding onto that benefit. But, as you say, people are

not necessarily behaving as if the recession is coming to an end.

People think the economy is going to get worse, which is bizarre, given

that the government is hammering everybody with the good news. Again,

I suppose it suggests that people don't necessarily trust the

statistics they are being given, and headlines like this possibly feed

into that, maybe they feed it. It is a bit of a chicken and egg. Do

people not trust the stats because of the stories, or do the papers put

it on the front page because they know people will not believe any

stats put in front of them? People know how they feel about the money

in their wallet, or not in it. Which is why they don't trust the stats.

They trust cold, hard cash. The Guardian has kind of a related story

insofar as what a future Labour government would do in economic

terms. Ed Balls gives Labour a dilemma, to raise tax cut spending.

The Shadow Chancellor has his colours to the mast, giving a

binding commitment that a Labour government will run a budget surplus

by the end of the next Parliament. He is a bit of a hostage to fortune

with that idea. It is about trust and labour wanting people to trust

them with the economy again. Absolutely, and to persuade voters

that they will be tough on government spending and they have an

economic plan for sustained recovery. I think also, when you

have got the coalition going out and saying, we are making things better,

Labour have to come to the table with something that they are going

to be doing. But I think it is a very brave statement. Things are

getting better, that is the thing, isn't it? Even if it is a small

amount at the moment, which is possibly why it falls feels able to

say he will run a surplus, because he thinks the economy will be in a

position where he can do that. It is a bit of a risk, and he does say it

is a binding commitment. I do not quite understand how it is binding,

other than he gets voted out if he does not meet the commitment.

Whether he goes to jail, or what! It is one of those difficult positions

for shadow ministers. They have two attack what is currently going on

and then give a solution for how they would change it. They cannot

say on the one hand more debt is being racked up where the Coalition

Government and then not have a plan to deal with it. It is whether he

chooses to tax us, or to keep cutting away at the welfare budget,

which they have also been critical of. It depends which voters they are

after. If they are after the middle ground, by saying you will raise

tax, is it going to go down as popular? No. But if you are talking

to the labour homeland, if you are saying we are going to cut spending,

that is going to cause problems. So they are in a tough place. They have

to get the message out maybe earlier than they might like. They can't

change tack just a few weeks before the election because nobody would

believe it. With the economy turning a corner, the cost of living a tag

line which they have been running is beginning to wear a bit thin. It

looks like the figures might actually begin to play into the

hands of the Tories in terms of the cost of living crisis if not being

over, if there is one, will at least not be as bad, there will be light

at the end of the tunnel. Daily Telegraph says you should be pushy

with your GP to get the best drugs. We are encouraged to adopt an

American attitude, according to NICE, who decide which drugs are

local authorities should be funding. That assumes you are confident in

front of your GP and I am sure many people still feel deferential in

front of a family doctor. And it assumes that you even know which

drugs are available to you and you should be getting. Absolutely. This

story, the chairman of NICE says we must be more like the Americans. You

go in and demand the drugs you want. That is very different because the

whole health service in America is very different. We have all done

it. You go to the doctor and you say, I am going to ask this and

this, and you come out and go, I forgot to ask any of that, because

you get the white coat syndrome. He says he wants people to be more like

Americans but American people are a product of the American health

system, which is alien to us. Completely alien. If you look at the

trouble that Obama has had getting very minor social insurance compare

to what we had in 1948-9, when the NHS started. It is a very weird

story and what he is trying to say. We are told all the time the NHS is

on its knees and he is saying there are loads of these drugs, just ask

for them and be more assertive. The but only the ones that NICE has

approved. That is the vital part. We hear stories about wonder drugs that

NICE will not approve, and aren't they bad people. Doesn't he have a

point that maybe some of us could take more responsibility for our

health, to get ourselves informed about what we are entitled to? Yes,

there is a big part to play for that in terms of talking about

information prescriptions. Send people home with basically a fact

sheet so they find out about their condition. But that is not the same

as being pushy. That is being well informed. He says he does not want

people to be confrontational. It is a fine line between being pushy and

confrontational. It is assuming you go there and are educated and

articulate, but if you are a little old lady who goes there, who may not

be up-to-date to go on the internet and find out what she should have,

it's outrageous. If you have a parent with a chronically sick

child... I am fairly sure this doctor, this professor would not

want people coming in who have just been on the internet. Everybody

knows, anybody who has been unwell and looks on the internet, they go

to the doctor going, what have I got? ! This other story in the Daily

Telegraph, Heinrich Himmler's love letters to his wife, documenting the

rise and fall of the Nazi regime, being made public for the first

time. They are in a bank vault at the moment in Tel Aviv. It will make

fascinating if uncomfortable reading. What I find fascinating

about this is you wonder how the Israeli family got hold of these

letters. It is an extraordinary story. Whenever you see any Nazis

painted in a humanlike, it is always mind-boggling. Is it a good thing or

a bad thing? He is a monster. Is it a good thing to think that he is

like the rest of us and we are all capable of it, in a way, or is it a

bad thing to have him humanised? Let's look at the Daily Mail.

Drug-taking teachers let back into class. New roles allow convicted

users to keep their jobs if they have a convicted record. How will

parents feel about that idea, if these people are supposed to be

morally guiding their children for several hours a week? There have

been rows before between the teaching union and some teachers,

because when schools have tried to enforce compulsory drug teaching,

and it is a debate that happens in America as well because teachers say

it is against Civil Liberties, and a lot of parents, you would not want

some drug crazed teacher teaching your children. Should people be

given a second chance? Realistically I don't think most parents will mind

because most parents have been doing the same. Do you think? We are how

long since the drugs revolution of the 60s? We are not talking major

drugs offences. It may not be what you want for your kids. Minor drugs

offences. I don't think we are talking Howard Marks. Personal use.

Let's move on to a final one. It is in the 's times,

there is a picture of three of the national uniforms that the teams

will be wearing. The Chevron one is for Norway, the one in the middle is

the United States and the one on the right, the semi-rainbow, and Adidas

creation for Germany. They are beyond shocking. The French and the

Italians are great. But everybody else's outfits are just awful. You

think, these poor athletes, they have dedicated the last three years

of their lives to getting up at dawn, no boozing and they have to

wear the most outrageous outfits. Which one would you choose? Blimey.

The Chevron is, I suppose. Don't combine with your tie! James and

Louise will be back at 11:30pm. Stay with us because we will be looking

at the government's claimed that new figures on wages prove most of us

are better off. Now it is time for Sportsday.

Hello and welcome to Sportsday - I'm Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes. The

headlines tonight - From the Blues to the Reds - Juan Mata breaks

Manchester United's transfer