28/03/2014 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look at the morning's papers. With me are the

Social Affairs Editor of the Guardian, Randeep Ramesh, and the

author Matthew Green. First let's have a look at the front pages.

The FT leads with Insurers attack City watchdog ` the financial

insurance industry responding there to plans to investigate 30 million

financial products. The Mail has the teenager who says she caught TB from

her cat, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the

world. Tuberculosis and Rex is the front page on the Sun. The

Independent has a headline about a plan to spend ?45 million on a free

school, which it says will make it the most expensive in the country.

The Telegraph claims Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, made ?1

million profit by abusing the parliamentary expenses system and

overclaiming for her mortgage. Banks must give fraud victims their money

back is the Times' lead, referring to plans to potentially refund

victims of credit card fraud. And the Guardian has the headline

that an independent Scotland might keep the pound, which comes, it

says, from a private admission by a government minister.

That is where we will start, with the Guardian. Independent Scotland

might keep the pound. Doubts grow over pro`Europe `` prounion fear

tactics. We will come on to whether there is any truth in this in a

moment, but this has been one of those very tricky issues for the

pro`independence group, who are in a bit of a bind as to what the

currency would be. Yes, Alex Salmond's fatal flaw in his

argument, according to the Westminster parties, has been that

he would not be able to keep the pound. That has been something Ed

Balls, George Osborne and Elliott `` Danny Alexander agree on. However,

Alex Salmond says, of course we will, it is up to us. If you want us

to pay our debts, let us have the pound. At the heart of the story

lies the fact that there would have to be a deal done. What this

supposedly minister says is that if the UK wants to keep its nuclear

weapons in Faslane, we might have to give up the pound. We might have to

let Scotland have it. Alex Salmond has lapped on this and said, finally

we have an admission here that Scotland will be able to keep the

pound. He seeks to allay fears. The backdrop is the bounce in favour of

Alex Salmond, which has been pretty strong. Yes, the polls are changing,

and giving the pro`union campaign pause for thought. Yes, it is

starting to look like a close run thing. I have spent a lot of time in

Scotland in the last few weeks and opinion is clearly very divided, but

there is certainly a real sense that it could actually happen, which I

don't think any of us would have imagined going back a few years. I

certainly would not have done. You write a lot about foreign affairs.

Do you look upon this as a foreign affairs issue? It can feel a bit

like going into a foreign country, especially into some of the smaller

towns and regions in Scotland. There was a report out a few months ago

talking about the dominance of London as an economic hub, and it is

understandable when you get into some of these areas why people would

feel they would be better off going alone rather than continuing to be

tied to a system that is obviously focused down in the south. We

understand this is a government minister, not a Cabinet minister,

which might make the argument little bit weaker. It might do, although

the defence is that the Minister quoted would play a central role in

the negotiations of the break`up of the UK. So there seems to be, of

course, Downing Street wants to play down the story, but I trust the

instincts of my colleagues on this one. I think there probably is

something in this, because you do need to make a deal at the end of

the day. If Scotland votes yes, they have two gain the outcomes. One of

those might be, if you want nuclear weapons, the SNP say we are going to

get rid of them. If you say we won't get the pound, let's meet in the

middle. But the issue is whether people will, who will they believe?

Because a lot of people, when you hear BBC reporters speaking to

people who are undecided, the fear is that if they take that leap and

it does not work out, the undecided voters are more likely to stick with

what they know. Couldn't this just be a catastrophic error by whoever

is negotiating? Is it as simple as that? It is a negotiation.

Independence really is a foreign country, in terms of this nation's

outlook on what it should be. If it came to that, we would be

negotiating a whole series of things we would never think of today. It is

not that far away. Let's move on to the Telegraph. Their lead story, we

have seen expenses stories on the Telegraph so often. This time,

Cabinet minister abused expenses. Maria Miller, Culture Secretary, not

Culture Secretary at the time, apparently made ?1 million profit

after over claiming for her mortgage. This has been such a rich

seam of stories for the Telegraph, even now. Yes, it is the gift that

keeps on giving. Maria Miller is obviously going to have to fight

back from these allegations. The other point they are making in the

story is that not only is she story is that not only is she

accused of over claiming for her mortgage, but actually not

cooperating fully with the investigation, which would be

ammunition for her opponents. I guess the question is whether she

can survive this. There is a point in the story that she might be urged

to make some sort of apology. But it would be a big scalp for the

Telegraph to claim if she doesn't make it. She is expected to repay up

to ?5,000 and be censored. It does not see much of a rap on the

knuckles. It is actually a very complicated financial compensation

which we can't get our heads round at this time of night. The point is

that she is a big figure, the Culture Secretary. She was not at

the time. Does that matter? Can you trust someone who perhaps lied back

then? Are you lying now? I don't want to cast aspersions on what she

did or did not do, but if the Telegraph is correct, she would be a

very senior politician carrying a very big wound, limping her way

through the coming elections. I wonder why this has only emerged

now. They did so much digging around and we heard about duck ponds and

motes being dredged, but this has only come to light. I think it has

lasted a year, that is the point. Oh, she was on the list way back.

The Telegraph has been running with this story for more than three

years, so they have really done the heavy lifting on it. And they are

looking, it seems, to claim what would be the biggest scalp of that

investigation, if she were to leave her post, or be reshuffled out of

it. It says a Parliamentary Commission is understood to have

said the arrangement did not benefit her financially, and she is unlikely

to have been aware of the seven figure profit on the sale. What

should she be penalised for, making the profit or over claiming on the

mortgage? It is not the profit, but that is the bit that people may be

cross about. Absolutely, and the suggestion that she did not

cooperate fully with the investigation and may, therefore,

have had something to hide. This is not going to be the end of it for

the Telegraph because they will not leave it at that. Let's move on to

the Independent. Congratulations, a big day for Tanya and Nick and a big

day for Britain. Not just Civil Partnership Act anime or, but

marriage for same`sex. And we assume that Tanya and Nick are going to be

tying the knot tomorrow. This is something that the majority of

politicians, the main three parties, were all in favour of, although

there are still some people who really don't like the idea. That's

right. It's a big day for Britain but on the flip, why has it this

long? There are people who are opposed to it, but from where I am

standing it seems the right thing to do. Would be most people agree with

that. It has taken a long time to get here. There have been argument

is made that this is not what marriage is, and marriage is about

one man and one woman. The anecdotal stuff is that people get shouted

down when they raise the religious objection, or the procreation

argument. The politician who has gotten a mess over this is Nigel

Farage of UKIP, who can't seem to decide whether he wants to be in

Europe, out of Europe, supporting gay marriage in Europe but not out

of Europe, sending messages to pink News that he then retracts. Of all

of the politicians to look clumsy, he has done over this issue, and

that may be to do with people who vote for UKIP being older. Are we in

danger, sitting in our metropolitan media bubble of being out of touch

with what many people in other parts of the country think? Always that

danger. In America it has not been straightforward because some

states, California for example, it has been legal and then not. They

have had some gay marriages which have to be respected, but then the

law is repealed. We are not going to get into that mess here, are we? It

seems a decisive shift in the UK and I do not think there is much danger

of it backtracking. Let's move onto this menagerie I talked about. I

caught TB from my pet kitten, in the Daily Mail. Jessica, 19, struck down

with pneumonia, rushed to hospital with severe lung damage after

catching it from her pet kitten. On the Sun, it is not just cats but

dogs as well. Tuberculosis, pet dog gives killer disease to youngsters.

It's easy to make light of stories like this, but tuberculosis is a

disease we are not familiar with in this country. You have seen it in

many countries you have lived in, around the world? Absolutely, it's a

terrible disease and bad news if cases are starting to appear from

cats. But I think the weight of scientific opinion is that a very

rare and unlikely scenario that has happened in a one in a million. But

it is the case that this is a really serious case that is making a

comeback around the world and in the UK as well. The number of cases here

are rising pretty dramatically. Some of those are drug resistant cases

which are the tough ones to treat. It's one thing for it to be in

badgers and cattle, which we don't have on our laps in sitting rooms,

but these are household pets? They are household pets. I do like the

fact the kitten got it off the badger. Was the kitten kissing the

badger? There was a cow involved somewhere in the chain. Was Jessica

living on a farm? I'd think she does. Obviously this is an important

subject, the UK has a rising TB presents. This is the Daily Star, we

don't feature it enough, you could argue. Invasion of the German rats,

German super rats with orange fans, does not clean his teeth, apparently

terrorising towns within striking distance of the Channel Tunnel. How

do we know they are German? Well, they are French, you would think, if

they are in striking distance of the Channel Tunnel. Maybe there is a

good reason why you don't mention the Daily Star too often. The German

rats are mutant and super. And its exclusive. And they don't have TB.

They may be very healthy. They may be kissing a cap that does. I told

you, a menagerie, cats, rats and dogs. We'll be back for another look

at the papers at 11:30. Later, more on the hour`long phone call between

President Obama Vladimir Putin on the subject of Ukraine. Coming up

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

Lizzie Greenwood`Hughes. The headlines tonight: The fans planning

a protest over Old Trafford tomorrow say it'll prove David Moyes isn't as

popular as he thinks he is. St Helens win