:00:00. > :00:00.to you and the guys trying to get some of these people's power back
:00:00. > :00:21.on. Hello and welcome to our look ahead
:00:22. > :00:27.to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. With me, Neil Midgley
:00:28. > :00:41.from the Daily Telegraph and the media executive Sue Douglas. Let's
:00:42. > :00:45.talk about the Daily Telegraph, Sue Douglas - gay couples free to marry
:00:46. > :00:51.after historic vote by MSPs. This of course is the Scottish issue of the
:00:52. > :00:57.Telegraph. I am interested in what the minister actually said, Alex
:00:58. > :01:00.Neil. He says, this legislation sends a powerful message to the
:01:01. > :01:06.world about the kind of society we in Scotland are trying to create. He
:01:07. > :01:11.said, a nation where the principles of fairness and equality are weaved
:01:12. > :01:15.into the fabric of our society. That is a push for independence, isn't
:01:16. > :01:24.it? It may well be. Probably they are latching onto anything. It is
:01:25. > :01:31.quite a long stretch to make that into a cry for independence, I
:01:32. > :01:37.think. I suppose, given that the law was passed in England last year...
:01:38. > :01:40.Excuse me, I have got a bit of a cold tonight. Yes, the same thing
:01:41. > :01:45.has been passed in England, but what he saying is, this is the kind of
:01:46. > :01:51.land, this is the kind of fare, equal society, which we want. I am
:01:52. > :01:56.not sure he is necessarily entirely in step with the people who are
:01:57. > :02:01.going to be voting. Opponents of the law have been saying that public
:02:02. > :02:05.opinion is out of step. Obviously, the Church of Scotland and the
:02:06. > :02:08.Catholic Church in Scotland, both saying, as with the English
:02:09. > :02:13.churches, that they will not conduct same-sex marriage is. I am gay so I
:02:14. > :02:17.am in favour of this legislation, both north and south of the border.
:02:18. > :02:21.But further down, it talks about, there were some amendments, for
:02:22. > :02:28.example, trying to protect potential foster parents, trying to ensuring
:02:29. > :02:36.in the law that those people would not be barred from a -- from
:02:37. > :02:40.adopting or fostering. Those amendments, protecting those kind of
:02:41. > :02:45.people were defeated. To my mind, we are going quite a long way towards
:02:46. > :02:49.the thought police, if we start dictating who is and who is not
:02:50. > :02:55.essentially a good parent, based on what their view of marriage is.
:02:56. > :02:58.Also, that has very little to do with independence. These are big
:02:59. > :03:03.picture stories which affect the whole country, and the moral tide of
:03:04. > :03:09.the country, they are not really about how Scotland is, on its own,
:03:10. > :03:13.going to lead, because it is not, as you have said. They are following.
:03:14. > :03:18.The front page of the Scottish Daily Telegraph as well, jobs at risk with
:03:19. > :03:23.Alex Salmond, say bosses. Fears voiced over the economic
:03:24. > :03:28.consequences of a yes vote. Bob Dudley making his views felt today
:03:29. > :03:34.on the independence question. It is quite ironic I think, because the
:03:35. > :03:38.old chief executive of BP, Tony Hibbert, was an Englishman, who made
:03:39. > :03:42.himself very unpopular in the US, being under the attic after that big
:03:43. > :03:45.oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, they have brought in an
:03:46. > :03:53.American and he is being underpin attic in Scotland. -- being
:03:54. > :04:04.undiplomatic after that big oil spill. If I were Alex Salmond, I
:04:05. > :04:11.would because in him, because I think the Alistair Darling campaign,
:04:12. > :04:18.the no campaign, the -- the Better Together Campaign, but rape Britain
:04:19. > :04:23.is better together... Hugh Pym -- Great Britain -- was actually
:04:24. > :04:29.speaking to Bob Dudley about which pet's latest figures, and it just
:04:30. > :04:34.happened to be quite an afterthought, 15-20 minutes into the
:04:35. > :04:40.conversation, when this came up, and he was not reticent. You would think
:04:41. > :04:46.he might have been a little bit more diplomatic, potentially, perhaps, in
:04:47. > :04:50.what he said? Again, I think probably, what he was doing was
:04:51. > :04:53.creating a great sound bite which has very little to do with
:04:54. > :04:58.independence. Back to the point I was making earlier, it is much more
:04:59. > :05:01.about the future of BP and about him as a spokesman for BP saying
:05:02. > :05:11.something memorable, which I do not think anybody will remember. Do you
:05:12. > :05:15.think so? Hugh Pym was saying, he was waiting for him to step back a
:05:16. > :05:23.little bit, from what he was saying, but in fact, no, it all came out.
:05:24. > :05:27.Great Britain is great, and all of the other issues, it felt as if he
:05:28. > :05:33.had been thinking about it for a while. There is still a lot of oil
:05:34. > :05:37.in the North Sea off Scotland, in which BP has interests. If there is
:05:38. > :05:40.uncertainty over the currency and over the membership of the European
:05:41. > :05:43.Union, then clearly those are big factors for big is this. We should
:05:44. > :05:47.reiterate that there are lots of businesses out there who think that
:05:48. > :05:56.going it alone is I will just throw that in. -- is a good idea. Prince
:05:57. > :06:01.Charles went down to the Somerset Levels today, and said, the tragedy
:06:02. > :06:08.was that nothing happened for too long. Yes, he said, there is nothing
:06:09. > :06:14.like a jolly good disaster to get people to start doing something. Did
:06:15. > :06:20.he say that?! Yes, he did say that. We are very good in adversity,
:06:21. > :06:25.aren't we? We know what he means. Well, his views, presumably, on what
:06:26. > :06:31.the Environment Agency has or has not been doing, are quite clear. His
:06:32. > :06:38.opinions carry weight, but he does not have, even as you were
:06:39. > :06:40.suggesting, Clive, the restraints on pen and tongue which the chief
:06:41. > :06:45.executive of a large corporation might have. And he has come out and
:06:46. > :06:50.said almost in as many words that a lot of people have been saying about
:06:51. > :06:54.the Environment Agency. Chris Smith, who has not even been to Somerset
:06:55. > :07:03.yet. Not in the last few weeks. Yes, during the crisis. Where are they
:07:04. > :07:07.and what are they doing? So, do you think David Cameron, when he heard
:07:08. > :07:13.these comments, went, oh, no. I do not know, but the line he could have
:07:14. > :07:18.borrowed would have been, we are great when we pulled together. That
:07:19. > :07:22.is why I imagine he was there, trying to give some sense of
:07:23. > :07:26.coherence and community, we have got to deal with this together. He was
:07:27. > :07:32.not down there just to slag off the Environment Agency. He is also a
:07:33. > :07:35.farmer of course. He cares about the countryside and climate change and
:07:36. > :07:39.all of the other things which people have talked about in this context.
:07:40. > :07:46.So I think will be his visit puts him very much on the front pages.
:07:47. > :07:51.Let's go on to the Independent. This has the continuing battle in Syria.
:07:52. > :07:53.The battle for Homs. Patrick Cockburn is the only western
:07:54. > :07:58.journalist, according to the Independent, witnessing the latest
:07:59. > :08:08.eruption in the city, as the flash point of the civil war continues, it
:08:09. > :08:13.says. We have been inundated with pictures like this. It becomes
:08:14. > :08:18.almost unreal, unless you have those personal stories of someone being
:08:19. > :08:22.found in the debris. It's very undisturbed -- hard to understand.
:08:23. > :08:27.When you look at to picture like that, the complete destruction for
:08:28. > :08:30.-- of a city that has survived for hundreds of years. Some of the
:08:31. > :08:35.buildings have literally been standing for hundreds of years, and
:08:36. > :08:40.look what we have done to them. But it is almost background. We don't
:08:41. > :08:46.take enough notice any more, and I think it needs those personal
:08:47. > :08:53.stories to bring it home. Are we in the media doing enough to bring it
:08:54. > :09:01.home to the public? This is a great piece of reporting. The movement in
:09:02. > :09:06.the tectonic plates is happening at governmental level, of course,
:09:07. > :09:11.between the Americans, Russians, French, British, the Syrian regime
:09:12. > :09:17.as it stands, the Syrian opposition... We are between two
:09:18. > :09:21.sets of Geneva talks. The Russians say that the Syrian regime will
:09:22. > :09:28.indeed come to the next round of talks, whether or not there is an
:09:29. > :09:33.agreement. It's very difficult to report on what's really going on in
:09:34. > :09:39.those discussions, because they are going on between half a dozen
:09:40. > :09:44.people. Also, what is going on in Syria is not isolated. People are
:09:45. > :09:47.trying to get over the border into other countries. It has been
:09:48. > :09:53.spilling over into the Lebanon, and what is happening in Beirut now is
:09:54. > :09:59.significant. There is car bombs and people dying all the time in Beirut
:10:00. > :10:03.at the moment. That whole area is becoming difficult, and what we do
:10:04. > :10:11.about that isn't just peace talks. This is a real seismic change,
:10:12. > :10:16.tectonic plates clashing. It has to be said that the peace talks did
:10:17. > :10:20.reach the conclusion that women and children were supposedly able to
:10:21. > :10:24.leave the city, though the menfolk have to sign in register before they
:10:25. > :10:32.leave. As a result, not many have left. Let's go onto the Mirror. This
:10:33. > :10:37.is an interesting one. Osborne plans to cut top rates of tax even more.
:10:38. > :10:47.Over my dead body, says Danny Alexander. Some are saying, I've got
:10:48. > :10:52.no problem with that. Probably both coalition parties! He's not the most
:10:53. > :10:57.charismatic politician, Danny Alexander. The two coalition
:10:58. > :11:02.parties, given that we now have a fixed term parliament and we know
:11:03. > :11:07.when the next election is, May 2015, in a way we didn't have previously,
:11:08. > :11:11.the battle lines have been drawn between coalition parties as much as
:11:12. > :11:15.they are between the Tories and Labour. It means the coalition
:11:16. > :11:21.parties are in an uncomfortable position, where they have to govern
:11:22. > :11:26.together, yet set out their stall for the election campaign. What
:11:27. > :11:39.Danny Alexander stirs here, he will oppose any move by George Osborne to
:11:40. > :11:47.reduce the top tax rate of 45p in the pound. The extra revenue raised
:11:48. > :11:56.by the extra 5p in the pound is very small. Yes, what are we arguing
:11:57. > :12:01.about? It's almost like squabbling over minor things. Are these the
:12:02. > :12:08.major issues in the economy? Its symbolism. The Lib Dems want to keep
:12:09. > :12:12.a higher tax rate to indicate that they are bashing the rich, because
:12:13. > :12:17.it is the fault of the rich that we had the recession in the first
:12:18. > :12:21.place. The Tories, if they are being real Tories, would say, in order to
:12:22. > :12:27.have economic growth, first, you need greed, and you pick -- and you
:12:28. > :12:31.need people who want to get rich. They will only get rich if they
:12:32. > :12:38.don't pay too much tax. Isn't this all confusing for the voter? The
:12:39. > :12:42.member of the public, seeing two parties in the coalition squabbling
:12:43. > :12:48.like this when they are supposed to be running the country? That's
:12:49. > :12:53.right. The high ground is, in the end, trying to be divisive about
:12:54. > :12:59.rich and poor and the haves and have-nots. In the taxi on the way
:13:00. > :13:04.here, I was talking to the taxi driver and saying, what has happened
:13:05. > :13:07.now is there are more people... . The social divide between the haves
:13:08. > :13:13.and the have-nots is probably greater than it has ever been, and
:13:14. > :13:18.that is the greatest story. Squabbling about 5p, that isn't
:13:19. > :13:22.going to affect very many people, is evading the issue. We can continue
:13:23. > :13:28.this all night. We will continue in an hour's time. Banks for that. Stay
:13:29. > :13:36.with us on BBC News, because at the top of the hour, 11pm, we will have
:13:37. > :13:39.much more on the storms that are hitting south-west, and the fact
:13:40. > :13:45.that lots of people that don't have any power. The lines have come down,
:13:46. > :13:46.causing a lot of problems for many people. Now it's time for sports
:13:47. > :14:00.day. Hello and welcome to Sportsday.
:14:01. > :14:03.The headlines tonight: Is it all over for KP? Kevin Pietersen is
:14:04. > :14:08.dropped for England's one-day tour of the Caribbean and the World
:14:09. > :14:09.Twenty20. Michael Laudrup becomes the