:00:00. > :00:00.Olympics. Jamie Nicholls stole the show as he booked his place in the
:00:00. > :00:18.final of the slopestyle event. That is coming up in 15 minutes.
:00:19. > :00:29.Hello, welcome. With me, the deputy editor of the Guardian, and the
:00:30. > :00:35.former speech writer for Margaret Thatcher, now managing director at a
:00:36. > :00:41.PR firm. Let's begin with the daily express, reading on the weather, it
:00:42. > :00:47.says this weekend's storm is set to be even worse than the of October
:00:48. > :00:52.1987. The news that William Roache has been cleared of all charges also
:00:53. > :00:58.features on the front page. The Daily Telegraph reports that flood
:00:59. > :01:02.defences which could have protected the Dawlish train line were delayed
:01:03. > :01:07.so the Environment Agency could consider the impact of the work on
:01:08. > :01:14.birds. William Roache is expect King to return to Coronation Street, that
:01:15. > :01:20.is the lead here, it says the actor -- and the actor is also on the
:01:21. > :01:25.front of the Independent. And, the FBI will investigate hacking by
:01:26. > :01:29.blue-chip companies. Pressure on the Education Secretary to take more
:01:30. > :01:31.action against the practice of female genital mutilation in
:01:32. > :01:37.Britain, that is the Guardian's lead. And, David Cameron stepping
:01:38. > :01:41.into the Scottish referendum debate, he has pleaded with the voters to
:01:42. > :01:47.keep the UK together, says the Financial Times.
:01:48. > :01:55.Let's begin, very nice to see you both. Let's start with the
:01:56. > :01:59.Independent, the William Roache story, which is across several front
:02:00. > :02:04.pages. It is on pretty much every front page, an extraordinary set of
:02:05. > :02:11.circumstances, a clear verdict. The police and the prosecutors will be
:02:12. > :02:16.criticised whichever way they drum. After Jimmy Savile, they would be
:02:17. > :02:20.criticised if they did not prosecute, but now, are they being
:02:21. > :02:26.too hard? But when you have allegations being made, they have to
:02:27. > :02:31.be investigated. There is a difference between the level the CPS
:02:32. > :02:35.have to satisfy themselves about, slightly more than 50% chance of
:02:36. > :02:40.conviction, and what a jury has to do, which is beyond all reasonable
:02:41. > :02:45.doubt, and clearly, some cases will result in acquittal. The problem is
:02:46. > :02:51.the history of this, you are going back 50 or 60 years, no forensics or
:02:52. > :02:55.DNA, it just comes down to who's word the jury believes. Historical
:02:56. > :03:00.cases are notably difficult to prove, you had the element of
:03:01. > :03:06.celebrity, that is a difficult combination. William Roache has gone
:03:07. > :03:11.through an extraordinary ordeal, he was amazingly dignified, and that
:03:12. > :03:16.phrase no winners will stick, but it is slightly predictable and
:03:17. > :03:20.depressing, the criticism. The CPS says it has a duty to listen to the
:03:21. > :03:23.allegations, and it has got a duty to press charges if they think there
:03:24. > :03:29.is a reasonable chance of a conviction. What else are they to
:03:30. > :03:36.do? William Roache cleared, but rape convictions are poor still,
:03:37. > :03:40.historically. Yes, we have to be careful, though. We have to be
:03:41. > :03:43.respectful of the court, because unlike any of us, and the faster
:03:44. > :03:48.Daugherty of people watching this, we were not present in court, we did
:03:49. > :03:59.not hear the evidence, the jury did, they reached the decision, have to
:04:00. > :04:03.accept it. My point is, my company worked with Lord McAlpine, sometimes
:04:04. > :04:08.there is a bit of a feeling that once something has been said about
:04:09. > :04:12.something, it must be true. William Roache has got a very clear
:04:13. > :04:16.decision, it is very important that everybody respect that, but even so,
:04:17. > :04:19.we can agree that the police and prosecutors are in a difficult
:04:20. > :04:27.position. Some test it, the anonymity debate has risen its head.
:04:28. > :04:31.There was a CPS report, quite a detailed report from last year, but
:04:32. > :04:40.concluded that falls allegations of rape were very rare indeed. Let's
:04:41. > :04:45.have a look at the Metro. 81 years old, he looks extraordinary, the
:04:46. > :04:52.longest serving member of a soap, but on the anonymity, because this
:04:53. > :05:01.was part of the coalition agreement, where do you stand on something like
:05:02. > :05:05.that? David Cameron... It would not have made much difference, because
:05:06. > :05:10.William Roache is such a famous figure, there was going to be
:05:11. > :05:14.publicity. It is a difficult balancing act, because on the one
:05:15. > :05:18.hand, you want to Mitchell that people who have been subjected to a
:05:19. > :05:21.terrible crime come forward, but on the other, you do not want an
:05:22. > :05:28.allegation that can destroy somebody handing over their head at the stage
:05:29. > :05:31.before a decision has been made to prosecute. On balance, it was the
:05:32. > :05:34.right thing to put in the coalition agreement, but you will have people
:05:35. > :05:40.of goodwill and intelligence on both sides. William Roache was suspended
:05:41. > :05:47.from performing until the end of the case. Yes, this will not go away,
:05:48. > :05:52.because we do have the combination, the toxic combination, of historical
:05:53. > :05:56.and celebrity. We have several people who are awaiting trial, and
:05:57. > :06:01.at least three or four people on bail, so this will run and run.
:06:02. > :06:07.Let's move on to the Daily Telegraph, the flooding, the Prime
:06:08. > :06:11.Minister taking control of Cobra, Owen Paterson on sick leave, but
:06:12. > :06:18.this has become a political story now. Yes, the particular angle but
:06:19. > :06:23.the telly -- that the Daily Telegraph goes on, some members of
:06:24. > :06:27.the House of Lords said that the Environment Agency decided not to
:06:28. > :06:32.reinforce the sea wall because they had to consider the invitations for
:06:33. > :06:37.the local bird population. The paper's angle is unfair, because the
:06:38. > :06:41.implication is that the Environment Agency decided to be obstructive.
:06:42. > :06:43.The law says you cannot do anything without environmental impact
:06:44. > :06:49.assessments, which takes into account the impact upon wildlife,
:06:50. > :06:54.which is why it takes so long to build airports or doodling for
:06:55. > :07:00.fracking. The fire at agency have promoted -- the Environment Agency
:07:01. > :07:03.have rated this, but it is wrong to imply that some officials just
:07:04. > :07:08.decided that they were going to be obstructive, but now it looks like
:07:09. > :07:13.it would have made common sense. We have to review a lot of the laws,
:07:14. > :07:15.and the clear that protecting people and their livelihoods and property
:07:16. > :07:19.is more important than other considerations. Some might say it is
:07:20. > :07:27.optimistic they will get that track up and running in six weeks. A great
:07:28. > :07:35.cartoon here, what do you make of how the Prime Minister has waded
:07:36. > :07:42.in? 's we saw a new front man, Eric Pickles, who levels into the fact
:07:43. > :07:45.that it had been the wettest January since 1820, since George III was on
:07:46. > :07:51.the throne. I do not know where that came from. There are no records past
:07:52. > :07:56.1910, so where he checked that out from, I do not know, but it has
:07:57. > :08:01.become political, there are demands for David Cameron to go down there.
:08:02. > :08:08.He is thinking of his PR advice, just after Christmas, he was
:08:09. > :08:11.harangued on TV, and nightmare PR pictures emerged, so the man who is
:08:12. > :08:16.going down there tomorrow is Chris Smith, the boss of the Environment
:08:17. > :08:20.Agency, and he will get a warm reception, one would imagine he is
:08:21. > :08:28.equipped with a couple of bodyguards. He is a Labour peer. And
:08:29. > :08:38.a former cabinet minister. He always struck me as a city dweller. He is a
:08:39. > :08:41.very nice man. The wide issue, I was an MP in Cumbria during the foot and
:08:42. > :08:45.mouth crisis, and it took them in a long time to react to something
:08:46. > :08:50.which happened 300 miles away from London, and a lot of people in the
:08:51. > :08:55.West Country are thinking, if this had happened in the Home Counties,
:08:56. > :08:58.the reaction might have been faster. You said that the last time there
:08:59. > :09:05.were floods in Oxfordshire, his constituency, he was in Rwanda. How
:09:06. > :09:10.much damage did that do? It seems a long time ago, there was a short
:09:11. > :09:15.honeymoon for Gordon Brown, a lot of people said that David Cameron was
:09:16. > :09:19.in big trouble. He has had a problem with flooding fulsome time, it is
:09:20. > :09:25.difficult for any government. It has taken them a long time, too long,
:09:26. > :09:29.but UKIP are strong in the West Country, they will make a lot of hay
:09:30. > :09:33.out of the fact that, again, the government have got billions to
:09:34. > :09:37.spend on overseas aid but they did not have the millions that would
:09:38. > :09:43.have made a difference. It is naked opportunism. I am not saying it is
:09:44. > :09:47.not, but it is an odd given that will have traction. It made it, but
:09:48. > :09:53.we should address some of the more central questions, why did we build
:09:54. > :09:59.homes on areas judged to be at high risk of floods? That seems to be
:10:00. > :10:07.pretty barmy. A great story for the daily express, it is chiming with
:10:08. > :10:10.what is happening. Yes, . At they like to lead on the weather pretty
:10:11. > :10:16.much every day, and today it is topical! Two of their most favourite
:10:17. > :10:25.stories, house prices as well, but there is no royal story. They always
:10:26. > :10:30.have weather stories, but they were saying it would be one of the worst
:10:31. > :10:35.winters for years before Christmas. I think they do that before every
:10:36. > :10:42.Christmas! If you predict enough, you are right eventually. Worse than
:10:43. > :10:45.1987, we had better check that with one of our forecasters. Coronation
:10:46. > :10:52.Street on the front as well, Bill Roache leaving, cleared of all
:10:53. > :10:57.charges. Let's go to your paper, Paul, a great picture on the front,
:10:58. > :11:02.the opening of the Sochi Olympics, one of the Russian dolls and a
:11:03. > :11:09.snowboarder on top. Now, you want to go to the house price bubble, just
:11:10. > :11:15.to the right hand side of the mutilation, FGM story. Yes, this is
:11:16. > :11:17.an extremely interesting piece of well-developed reportage. The
:11:18. > :11:22.headline is that Hackney has seen the largest growth, 11.6%
:11:23. > :11:28.year-on-year growth in house prices, against a national average of 5.4%.
:11:29. > :11:37.The reporter here has been out looking at first-time buyer flats
:11:38. > :11:40.and came across one for ?300,000 in a state of disrepair, two bedrooms,
:11:41. > :11:46.not with any windows, absolutely appalling. At the same time, rents
:11:47. > :11:49.are going up as well, and the voices of people trying to get on the
:11:50. > :11:54.property ladder are ones of utter despair. Actually, when you think
:11:55. > :11:59.about it, ?300,000 for a starter flat in Hackney, the sort of deposit
:12:00. > :12:04.you would need for that, even on the national average, is going to be
:12:05. > :12:08.huge, isn't it? The Government was trying to address that with the help
:12:09. > :12:12.to buy idea, but the underlying question that we have to ask is, I
:12:13. > :12:17.am sure Hackney has developed an awful lot, but many people would say
:12:18. > :12:20.who know London's history, it is not the area you would expect to be the
:12:21. > :12:24.epicentre of a house price bubble, not regarded as the most attractive
:12:25. > :12:28.part of London. Is this sustainable? Can we have dropped the prices in
:12:29. > :12:34.the heart of the capital so completely out of line with average
:12:35. > :12:38.earnings? Can at last? Something that was put to the Chancellor the
:12:39. > :12:42.other day. So completely out of kilter with anyone outside of London
:12:43. > :12:47.as well, the regions, the disparity is very difficult. We are running
:12:48. > :12:51.out of time, another hit of these papers in an hour, one last story on
:12:52. > :12:57.the Telegraph, which one were we going to go with? It was the smoking
:12:58. > :13:03.ban, another good story about the pillow which stop snoring, we will
:13:04. > :13:11.about that later! I think we will do that later. Let's do the smoke ban
:13:12. > :13:15.in cars carrying children. That is quite fun, though, snoring! We have
:13:16. > :13:19.not got the graphic, they are busy making it now! They are not going to
:13:20. > :13:25.do it in 15 seconds. Tell us what this story is. At the time that
:13:26. > :13:29.there is a Parliamentary vote coming up on a proposal that there should
:13:30. > :13:33.be a ban on parents smoking in their own cars with children in the
:13:34. > :13:36.back-seat, there are hundreds of health experts who have written to
:13:37. > :13:41.the British medical in support of this idea. We know that the Health
:13:42. > :13:51.Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, came out in support himself quite recently.
:13:52. > :13:57.People are talking about civil liberties. I thought the pro-smoking
:13:58. > :14:02.lobby was represented solely by David Hockney. Ken Clarke? Forest
:14:03. > :14:09.have popped up here, saying they regard it as inconsiderate, but you
:14:10. > :14:12.know, you have got to let people smoke in private places. I suppose
:14:13. > :14:18.there is a difficulty about enforcing it. You cannot smoke in
:14:19. > :14:21.company cars or vans. The precedents that people may be worried about is
:14:22. > :14:25.that if you establish in law that it is an offence to smoke in the
:14:26. > :14:28.presence of children in a car, doesn't it logically follow that it
:14:29. > :14:32.should be an offence in your own home? Is that where we want the law
:14:33. > :14:35.to go? Do we want inspectors knocking on the door saying you
:14:36. > :14:39.appeared to have children present when you are smoking, that is an
:14:40. > :14:43.offence? There are difficult balances to be struck here. We are
:14:44. > :14:45.all clear it is a serious condition that needs to be looked at
:14:46. > :14:50.particularly when shall not involved, but I don't think we want
:14:51. > :14:55.to have too many people who have an excuse to interfere with people's
:14:56. > :14:59.private lives. Libertarians versus... Maybe they can smoke
:15:00. > :15:03.electronic ones, who knows? All right, thank you both very much
:15:04. > :15:07.indeed, Paul Johnson and Dan Collyns. That is our first look at
:15:08. > :15:16.the papers, we will be back at 11:34 a second look, we will try to get
:15:17. > :15:21.the pillow story for you! -- 11:30 for a second look. At 11 o'clock,
:15:22. > :15:28.the latest from Belfast, where a major incident has been declared for
:15:29. > :15:31.the young people who have been affected by drugs and alcohol.
:15:32. > :15:42.Coming up before that, time for the sports news in Sportsday.
:15:43. > :15:48.Hello and welcome to Sportsday, I'm John Watson. On the way this
:15:49. > :15:51.evening, the England and Wales Cricket Board refuse to explain the
:15:52. > :15:56.reasons behind ending Kevin Pietersen's international career.
:15:57. > :15:57.Jamie Nicholls steals the show for Team GB as the Winter Olympics