20/04/2014 The Papers

And coming up after the papers, the Film Review takes a look at Piers

Brosnan and Emma Thompson's new film, The Love Punch.

Hello, and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing

us tomorrow. With me are the barrister Sophia Cannon, and Tim

Montgomerie from The Times. The Financial Times claims that

Barclays is poised to announce it is to pull out of parts of its

commodity business. The paper says an announcement is due later in the

week. The Daily Telegraph features the new portrait of the Queen taken

by David Bailey and released to celebrate her 88th birthday

tomorrow. The paper leads on a letter which 55 public figures have

signed which accuses David Cameron of fostering alienation by his

insistence that Britain is still a Christian country. A striking

picture of the Pope graces the cover of the Guardian, greeting crowds

after his Easter mass. The paper also reports on how the shootout at

a Ukrainian checkpoint is threatening the Geneva peace deal.

The Independent highlights a report which it says shows teachers are

facing an increasing amount of online abuse by pupils. The Times

says the Chancellor may soon find some room for tax cuts, according to

some latest research on consumer spending. The Mail reports on the

rise in skin cancer cases since the 1970's being blamed on more holidays

taken abroad. The Express highlights the improving survival rates for

people with skin cancer. And the Sun reports on how the graves of some

World War One heroes have become neglected because they are not being

officially maintained. Let's begin with the Daily

Telegraph. That headline, which is not in any of the other papers,

David Cameron divides Britain over faith. This letter, signed by 55

prominent people, was saying that he is at risk of alienating people. I

think this is nonsense. If David Cameron or the PM was a Muslim, and

it talked about his Islamic faith, then people would not have dared

criticise him for saying that. If he was an atheist and talked about

that, people would say it was great that he had the courage to do this.

All he is doing, is he is a man who has been deeply comforted by his

religious faith over the last few years, particularly after the death

of his son. He is talking about his fate, and they think it is

regrettable that people are trying to shut him down for saying this. He

is not in any way trying to stop other people from different faith

traditions having their say, playing their full part in British public

life, and they think what we have here is some people who quite enjoy

taking offence doing exactly that. You think it is Christian bashing? I

think he is trying to alienate Ukip. He has alienate some people by not

allowing `` by allowing gay marriage, and that has pushed some

people to Ukip. We always knew that David Cameron, and Tony Blair, who

couldn't wait to convert to Catholicism, have been prime

ministers of faith. Coming out at this time, at this stage, saying it,

it is a political move. I see him as someone who spends far to much time

following politics, and he has given a number of Easter messages. That is

including before the gay marriage issue. Perhaps people are paying

more attention to what he says now, because it is before the general

election, but he is not saying anything very new from things he

said last time. I want my PM legislating, not proselytising. The

article says, we respect the fate of the PM, but we wish to object to the

repeated characterisation of our country as a Christian country, and

the negative consequences for our politics and society that this view

engenders. I think they are wrong, this is a Christian country. Through

a quirk of our political system, we have an established church and state

and they are linked together. In this we are going to have them

disestablished, this is a Christian country and we have to support that

in any way, shape or form. We have this idea that our church and state

are knitted together. And think what is great about our country, is that

you can send your child to a Christian, was long, Jewish school,

a school with no religious background. Anyone of any religion

can serve in the House of Representatives. We are one of the

most tolerant societies, and what these people try to do is that ``

they tried to say that you can have any faith except Christianity. We

will move on, it is thought the French President has information

that points to the fact that Bashar al`Assad has continued to use

chemical weapons. I think 2014 will go down as the year of the

dictator, and also the year of people in the West doing nothing.

But we have proof? What is that? If we believe that Bashar al`Assad is

using chemical weapons and killing his people, we should have stepped

in in March. It wouldn't stand up in a court of law, to think that. Sigh

and there is more than a whiff, isn't that? We know that chemical

weapons were used in the civil war. Bashar al`Assad's troops possessed

those weapons, even if he didn't use them himself he was responsible for

their safety. At that time, remember Barack Obama saying that it is a red

line and if it is crossed we will take action, President Putin the

main sponsor, he looked into Obama's eyes and said, these people

don't mean what they say and I will take advantage of that. You are

agreeing wholeheartedly with that? Wholeheartedly. It is a slippery

slope on where we go. Staying with Syria and Ukraine, look at the

Financial Times. The picture on the back of the pope informal downs the

Vatican, with Easter Sunday being a major highlight of the Christian

calendar. The Pope leading prayers for peace in Syria and Ukraine. The

Pope is doing more than the EU and the West by saying, pull your finger

out and get this done. In Ukraine, it is an orthodox question country,

and it should hopefully listen to this pontiff. I know they have their

own pontiff, but there is the idea that this Pope is saying more about

world peace than the UN and the EU at the moment. I think one of the

things is, other Christian leaders notice as well, this is an age of

extraordinary Christian persecution. The wars and conflicts that we are

seeing in the Middle East mean that the Christian populations of that

region, who once lived quite peacefully in coexistence with

Muslims and other people, are being driven out of the region. Syria was

a place were particularly Christian worship was free. Now, Christians

are very embattled as they are in Iraq and Egypt and other places, and

a pink one of the reasons why the Pope is so clear and anxious about

this decision, is that he is here from the frontline about her serious

the situation is. A charming picture on the Guardian. This shows why this

Pope is so popular. He must be up there with Justin Bieber, the Queen,

Kim Kardashian... He is well`known, he is well and well liked. Not very

often you say that about a Pope. The main stories about Ukraine and the

shootout we have been reporting on that Sloviansk. The Ukrainian crisis

is showing all the signs of hitting the wrong way. We had a little bit

of hope last week when we have those breakthrough talks between America,

Europe and Ukraine, but the trouble is now that you have so much

intermingling of these little green men, basically Russian troops that a

well`equipped but don't have the insignia of the official Russian

army, with Ukrainian paramilitaries, Ukrainian army, and there is no one

really in control any more. Of course there is! Vladimir Putin is

in control! He has been in control from the start. And the West has sat

on air like an old man trying to satisfy his wife, sitting at the

front door with a half cocked gun while Vladimir Putin is sneaking up

the drainpipe. It is that clear. We can't do anything unless we want to

do something, and we are not, we are impotent. Back to the UK, we are

going to look at the Daily Mail. A huge rise in skin cancer cases since

the 1970s, claimed on Sunshine getaways. Everybody remembers the

carry on film where they are all going off to Costa Del Sol. Appears

that it is the, the Costa Del Kill. There has been an increase... If you

look onto the Daily Express, a very different story. They must wonder

who has got the story right, because that is the success in war on skin

cancer. Because eight in ten people survive, and it is the most common

cancer in the UK, it is survivable if it is recognisable. You have to

check your skin, and you have to make sure when you go on holiday

that you don't burn, and that you do cover`up. As brown as IM, I myself

got burnt, and I have children who are mixed race, and you have to be

so careful. One person who appears to have very good scheme would be

Her Majesty, and distorted for her 80th birthday tomorrow, taken by

David Bailey. It is a beautiful picture, one of the most attractive

features of anybody's face is always there smile, and here is a beautiful

smile from the Queen. It has taken Her Majesty for the front page, and

not Kate! It shows our monarch in her prime, she looks beautiful for

her age, and 88! Charles must be thinking, 20 more years! She looks

fantastic. He would be taking the throne any time soon. No, not from

that picture. Thank you for your time. Stay with us on BBC News,

because at midnight we will have the latest on the ferry disaster in

South Korea, as transcripts are released of the moment he ferry

started to sink. Up next, The Film Review.