:00:13. > :00:17.Hello and welcome to our look at the morning's papers. With me are the
:00:18. > :00:22.Social Affairs Editor of the Guardian, Randeep Ramesh, and the
:00:23. > :00:27.author Matthew Green. First let's have a look at the front pages.
:00:28. > :00:30.The FT leads with Insurers attack City watchdog ` the financial
:00:31. > :00:37.insurance industry responding there to plans to investigate 30 million
:00:38. > :00:41.financial products. The Mail has the teenager who says she caught TB from
:00:42. > :00:50.her cat, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the
:00:51. > :00:53.world. Tuberculosis and Rex is the front page on the Sun. The
:00:54. > :00:57.Independent has a headline about a plan to spend ?45 million on a free
:00:58. > :01:04.school, which it says will make it the most expensive in the country.
:01:05. > :01:06.The Telegraph claims Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, made ?1
:01:07. > :01:09.million profit by abusing the parliamentary expenses system and
:01:10. > :01:12.overclaiming for her mortgage. Banks must give fraud victims their money
:01:13. > :01:18.back is the Times' lead, referring to plans to potentially refund
:01:19. > :01:22.victims of credit card fraud. And the Guardian has the headline
:01:23. > :01:27.that an independent Scotland might keep the pound, which comes, it
:01:28. > :01:30.says, from a private admission by a government minister.
:01:31. > :01:36.That is where we will start, with the Guardian. Independent Scotland
:01:37. > :01:42.might keep the pound. Doubts grow over pro`Europe `` prounion fear
:01:43. > :01:46.tactics. We will come on to whether there is any truth in this in a
:01:47. > :01:53.moment, but this has been one of those very tricky issues for the
:01:54. > :01:58.pro`independence group, who are in a bit of a bind as to what the
:01:59. > :02:01.currency would be. Yes, Alex Salmond's fatal flaw in his
:02:02. > :02:04.argument, according to the Westminster parties, has been that
:02:05. > :02:09.he would not be able to keep the pound. That has been something Ed
:02:10. > :02:14.Balls, George Osborne and Elliott `` Danny Alexander agree on. However,
:02:15. > :02:20.Alex Salmond says, of course we will, it is up to us. If you want us
:02:21. > :02:23.to pay our debts, let us have the pound. At the heart of the story
:02:24. > :02:30.lies the fact that there would have to be a deal done. What this
:02:31. > :02:34.supposedly minister says is that if the UK wants to keep its nuclear
:02:35. > :02:38.weapons in Faslane, we might have to give up the pound. We might have to
:02:39. > :02:43.let Scotland have it. Alex Salmond has lapped on this and said, finally
:02:44. > :02:49.we have an admission here that Scotland will be able to keep the
:02:50. > :02:53.pound. He seeks to allay fears. The backdrop is the bounce in favour of
:02:54. > :02:59.Alex Salmond, which has been pretty strong. Yes, the polls are changing,
:03:00. > :03:06.and giving the pro`union campaign pause for thought. Yes, it is
:03:07. > :03:10.starting to look like a close run thing. I have spent a lot of time in
:03:11. > :03:15.Scotland in the last few weeks and opinion is clearly very divided, but
:03:16. > :03:19.there is certainly a real sense that it could actually happen, which I
:03:20. > :03:23.don't think any of us would have imagined going back a few years. I
:03:24. > :03:29.certainly would not have done. You write a lot about foreign affairs.
:03:30. > :03:33.Do you look upon this as a foreign affairs issue? It can feel a bit
:03:34. > :03:38.like going into a foreign country, especially into some of the smaller
:03:39. > :03:41.towns and regions in Scotland. There was a report out a few months ago
:03:42. > :03:45.talking about the dominance of London as an economic hub, and it is
:03:46. > :03:48.understandable when you get into some of these areas why people would
:03:49. > :03:53.feel they would be better off going alone rather than continuing to be
:03:54. > :03:59.tied to a system that is obviously focused down in the south. We
:04:00. > :04:04.understand this is a government minister, not a Cabinet minister,
:04:05. > :04:09.which might make the argument little bit weaker. It might do, although
:04:10. > :04:13.the defence is that the Minister quoted would play a central role in
:04:14. > :04:17.the negotiations of the break`up of the UK. So there seems to be, of
:04:18. > :04:20.course, Downing Street wants to play down the story, but I trust the
:04:21. > :04:25.instincts of my colleagues on this one. I think there probably is
:04:26. > :04:29.something in this, because you do need to make a deal at the end of
:04:30. > :04:33.the day. If Scotland votes yes, they have two gain the outcomes. One of
:04:34. > :04:38.those might be, if you want nuclear weapons, the SNP say we are going to
:04:39. > :04:43.get rid of them. If you say we won't get the pound, let's meet in the
:04:44. > :04:52.middle. But the issue is whether people will, who will they believe?
:04:53. > :04:54.Because a lot of people, when you hear BBC reporters speaking to
:04:55. > :05:00.people who are undecided, the fear is that if they take that leap and
:05:01. > :05:06.it does not work out, the undecided voters are more likely to stick with
:05:07. > :05:11.what they know. Couldn't this just be a catastrophic error by whoever
:05:12. > :05:15.is negotiating? Is it as simple as that? It is a negotiation.
:05:16. > :05:20.Independence really is a foreign country, in terms of this nation's
:05:21. > :05:23.outlook on what it should be. If it came to that, we would be
:05:24. > :05:29.negotiating a whole series of things we would never think of today. It is
:05:30. > :05:33.not that far away. Let's move on to the Telegraph. Their lead story, we
:05:34. > :05:39.have seen expenses stories on the Telegraph so often. This time,
:05:40. > :05:43.Cabinet minister abused expenses. Maria Miller, Culture Secretary, not
:05:44. > :05:46.Culture Secretary at the time, apparently made ?1 million profit
:05:47. > :05:51.after over claiming for her mortgage. This has been such a rich
:05:52. > :05:57.seam of stories for the Telegraph, even now. Yes, it is the gift that
:05:58. > :06:01.keeps on giving. Maria Miller is obviously going to have to fight
:06:02. > :06:03.back from these allegations. The other point they are making in the
:06:04. > :06:06.story is that not only is she story is that not only is she
:06:07. > :06:09.accused of over claiming for her mortgage, but actually not
:06:10. > :06:13.cooperating fully with the investigation, which would be
:06:14. > :06:18.ammunition for her opponents. I guess the question is whether she
:06:19. > :06:22.can survive this. There is a point in the story that she might be urged
:06:23. > :06:25.to make some sort of apology. But it would be a big scalp for the
:06:26. > :06:31.Telegraph to claim if she doesn't make it. She is expected to repay up
:06:32. > :06:37.to ?5,000 and be censored. It does not see much of a rap on the
:06:38. > :06:40.knuckles. It is actually a very complicated financial compensation
:06:41. > :06:44.which we can't get our heads round at this time of night. The point is
:06:45. > :06:50.that she is a big figure, the Culture Secretary. She was not at
:06:51. > :06:56.the time. Does that matter? Can you trust someone who perhaps lied back
:06:57. > :07:00.then? Are you lying now? I don't want to cast aspersions on what she
:07:01. > :07:04.did or did not do, but if the Telegraph is correct, she would be a
:07:05. > :07:09.very senior politician carrying a very big wound, limping her way
:07:10. > :07:13.through the coming elections. I wonder why this has only emerged
:07:14. > :07:16.now. They did so much digging around and we heard about duck ponds and
:07:17. > :07:25.motes being dredged, but this has only come to light. I think it has
:07:26. > :07:30.lasted a year, that is the point. Oh, she was on the list way back.
:07:31. > :07:33.The Telegraph has been running with this story for more than three
:07:34. > :07:39.years, so they have really done the heavy lifting on it. And they are
:07:40. > :07:45.looking, it seems, to claim what would be the biggest scalp of that
:07:46. > :07:49.investigation, if she were to leave her post, or be reshuffled out of
:07:50. > :07:54.it. It says a Parliamentary Commission is understood to have
:07:55. > :08:00.said the arrangement did not benefit her financially, and she is unlikely
:08:01. > :08:07.to have been aware of the seven figure profit on the sale. What
:08:08. > :08:11.should she be penalised for, making the profit or over claiming on the
:08:12. > :08:17.mortgage? It is not the profit, but that is the bit that people may be
:08:18. > :08:20.cross about. Absolutely, and the suggestion that she did not
:08:21. > :08:24.cooperate fully with the investigation and may, therefore,
:08:25. > :08:27.have had something to hide. This is not going to be the end of it for
:08:28. > :08:33.the Telegraph because they will not leave it at that. Let's move on to
:08:34. > :08:37.the Independent. Congratulations, a big day for Tanya and Nick and a big
:08:38. > :08:42.day for Britain. Not just Civil Partnership Act anime or, but
:08:43. > :08:48.marriage for same`sex. And we assume that Tanya and Nick are going to be
:08:49. > :08:52.tying the knot tomorrow. This is something that the majority of
:08:53. > :08:55.politicians, the main three parties, were all in favour of, although
:08:56. > :09:01.there are still some people who really don't like the idea. That's
:09:02. > :09:06.right. It's a big day for Britain but on the flip, why has it this
:09:07. > :09:12.long? There are people who are opposed to it, but from where I am
:09:13. > :09:16.standing it seems the right thing to do. Would be most people agree with
:09:17. > :09:21.that. It has taken a long time to get here. There have been argument
:09:22. > :09:27.is made that this is not what marriage is, and marriage is about
:09:28. > :09:30.one man and one woman. The anecdotal stuff is that people get shouted
:09:31. > :09:35.down when they raise the religious objection, or the procreation
:09:36. > :09:38.argument. The politician who has gotten a mess over this is Nigel
:09:39. > :09:43.Farage of UKIP, who can't seem to decide whether he wants to be in
:09:44. > :09:48.Europe, out of Europe, supporting gay marriage in Europe but not out
:09:49. > :09:53.of Europe, sending messages to pink News that he then retracts. Of all
:09:54. > :09:57.of the politicians to look clumsy, he has done over this issue, and
:09:58. > :10:03.that may be to do with people who vote for UKIP being older. Are we in
:10:04. > :10:06.danger, sitting in our metropolitan media bubble of being out of touch
:10:07. > :10:14.with what many people in other parts of the country think? Always that
:10:15. > :10:17.danger. In America it has not been straightforward because some
:10:18. > :10:21.states, California for example, it has been legal and then not. They
:10:22. > :10:26.have had some gay marriages which have to be respected, but then the
:10:27. > :10:31.law is repealed. We are not going to get into that mess here, are we? It
:10:32. > :10:37.seems a decisive shift in the UK and I do not think there is much danger
:10:38. > :10:44.of it backtracking. Let's move onto this menagerie I talked about. I
:10:45. > :10:51.caught TB from my pet kitten, in the Daily Mail. Jessica, 19, struck down
:10:52. > :10:57.with pneumonia, rushed to hospital with severe lung damage after
:10:58. > :11:03.catching it from her pet kitten. On the Sun, it is not just cats but
:11:04. > :11:12.dogs as well. Tuberculosis, pet dog gives killer disease to youngsters.
:11:13. > :11:19.It's easy to make light of stories like this, but tuberculosis is a
:11:20. > :11:24.disease we are not familiar with in this country. You have seen it in
:11:25. > :11:31.many countries you have lived in, around the world? Absolutely, it's a
:11:32. > :11:34.terrible disease and bad news if cases are starting to appear from
:11:35. > :11:39.cats. But I think the weight of scientific opinion is that a very
:11:40. > :11:44.rare and unlikely scenario that has happened in a one in a million. But
:11:45. > :11:47.it is the case that this is a really serious case that is making a
:11:48. > :11:52.comeback around the world and in the UK as well. The number of cases here
:11:53. > :11:56.are rising pretty dramatically. Some of those are drug resistant cases
:11:57. > :12:01.which are the tough ones to treat. It's one thing for it to be in
:12:02. > :12:06.badgers and cattle, which we don't have on our laps in sitting rooms,
:12:07. > :12:12.but these are household pets? They are household pets. I do like the
:12:13. > :12:19.fact the kitten got it off the badger. Was the kitten kissing the
:12:20. > :12:22.badger? There was a cow involved somewhere in the chain. Was Jessica
:12:23. > :12:33.living on a farm? I'd think she does. Obviously this is an important
:12:34. > :12:36.subject, the UK has a rising TB presents. This is the Daily Star, we
:12:37. > :12:44.don't feature it enough, you could argue. Invasion of the German rats,
:12:45. > :12:49.German super rats with orange fans, does not clean his teeth, apparently
:12:50. > :12:53.terrorising towns within striking distance of the Channel Tunnel. How
:12:54. > :12:56.do we know they are German? Well, they are French, you would think, if
:12:57. > :13:02.they are in striking distance of the Channel Tunnel. Maybe there is a
:13:03. > :13:09.good reason why you don't mention the Daily Star too often. The German
:13:10. > :13:16.rats are mutant and super. And its exclusive. And they don't have TB.
:13:17. > :13:23.They may be very healthy. They may be kissing a cap that does. I told
:13:24. > :13:30.you, a menagerie, cats, rats and dogs. We'll be back for another look
:13:31. > :13:35.at the papers at 11:30. Later, more on the hour`long phone call between
:13:36. > :13:36.President Obama Vladimir Putin on the subject of Ukraine. Coming up
:13:37. > :13:49.next, Sportsday. Hello and welcome to Sportsday. I'm
:13:50. > :13:51.Lizzie Greenwood`Hughes. The headlines tonight: The fans planning
:13:52. > :13:57.a protest over Old Trafford tomorrow say it'll prove David Moyes isn't as
:13:58. > :13:58.popular as he thinks he is. St Helens win