07/05/2014 The Papers

reporters today that he would like to be the one. Manchester United

make an announcement next week. All of that to come in 15 minutes.

`` West Brom. Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. With me are

former government policy advisor and academic Zamila Bunglawala, and

Oliver Wright, Whitehall editor at The Independent. Tomorrow's front

pages, starting with The Metro leads on the capture of Michael Wheatley,

the man known as the Skullcracker, who had been on the run from an open

prison since Saturday. The Telegraph runs with the same story, reporting

that the Justice Minister is promising a change in the prison

release rules as a result of the case. The Daily Express has an

entirely different story, it's warning that 60 mile an hour gales

are set to hit Britain in the next few days. The Guardian features a

photo collage of the social media protest against the kidnapping of

over 200 school girls in northern Nigeria. The FT reports on Vladimir

Putin's appeal to pro`Russia supporters in Eastern Ukraine to

shelve a proposed independence referendum. The Mirror has a picture

exclusive of fugitive Michael Wheatley, known as the Skull

Cracker, being arrested after five days on the run from an open prison.

Supermarkets and restaurant chans have millions of people are eating

Halal meat without knowing it, claims the Daily Mail on its front

page. And the Times reports that British SAS officers have joined in

efforts to find and rescue the school girls kidnapped by Islamist

group Boko Haram in Nigeria. So let's begin. Let's start with the

Daily Mirror, this is the Skull Cracker quarter after five days on

the run, they have a picture of him behind bars. It looks like he is

handcuffed. It is an extraordinary story. `` he has been caught. This

is a guy who has been in prison for 34 years now. Actually, he was

probably on the verge of being released, most times when prisoners

are about to be released they are put into open prisons which is where

he was and where he escaped from. Despite the fact he was supposed to

be released in the next year or so, he still went on the run, as he has

done twice before. Last time he went on the run he carried out armed

robberies. It is inexplicable, it defies logic. He is going to be in

prison for a long time from now on. The government should not be saying

that they should be changing the law, when they let people out, on

the basis of this case. It sounds like good politics. It would be an

effective policy. There is the suggestion that the Justice

Department is going to look at this case to see if the law needs

changing. He was in an open prison because he was potentially going to

be released at some point quite soon in the future. One wonders if he is

redeemable? After this many years in prison and still committing the same

crimes it is a good question. We had to look at what rehabilitation he

has received, before being let out into an open prison, but before we

start reforming our prisons and the penal system, we need to look at the

people we haven't prisons, the numbers are horrific. We have to

look at it in the main. When people are let out of prison, what support

do have? If this man escaped, maybe he thought he was not going to get

any help and has gone back to his old ways. It has to be looked into.

He has announced initiatives in the past, looking in to support that ex`

offenders do have once they leave prison. It is part of the problem,

that the sentencing guidelines means that judges hands are tied. They

have too allow for a certain period when this man is in jail and is then

released. Is that part of the problem or are judges thinking that

prisons are overcrowded? The numbers do not stack up, 13 life sentences

and he is out within eight years and is in an open prison. What does that

mean to those who were hurt by him? We had to look at why our prisons

need reforming, what the sentences mean in the long`term and what we

are going to do with prisoners. Those who have to be released early,

and those who have not committed as severe crimes as this, some people

have rehabilitated and do deserve to be back on the streets. Their

policies are not delivering on better systems for Prison Services.

It is supposed to be a cornerstone of a so`called civilised society,

that we allow prisoners the opportunity to be rehabilitated. Of

course, and it has got to be. It is good politics but bad policy, you

should not make laws on the basis of cases like this. Let's move on to

the Times, this is the story which is in traction around the world now,

British special forces are proudly joining the hunt for those 200 girls

in northern Nigeria, there is Malala Yousafzai on the front, herself a

victim of Islamist extremists in Pakistan. It is an incredible

story, these girls have been missing for over three weeks. The

international community, including Britain, is supporting this. How do

we start talking about this issue of reality, that girls are not safe in

schools? Malala Yousafzai herself was not safe in her school, this is

not only something confined to Africa but it happens across the

world. In this case, these girls are going to be sold. It is not that

they are not safe and not allowed to go school, but they will be sold

into slavery. That is the threat that has been made. Nigeria has

questions to answer. How long it has taken for them to do something about

it. It is good that the international community will support

them but we have to find these girls. It is not looking hopeful

that three weeks and we have no sign of where they are in this jungle.

Boko Haram, the leader, clearly a nutter. He is saying that they are

threatening to sell the girls into slavery. There is a lot of slavery

across the board in Chad and Niger. He is not saying that because you

would do what we want, we do not know what they are doing. We know

that primarily they want to destabilise the Nigerian

government. That is the ultimate aim. I am afraid it has proved an

extraordinary effective way of doing that. It is so difficult. It is

difficult for the Nigerian government and for countries like

the UK and the US, to know how they can effectively help. It is all very

well, you get good headlines, British special forces joining the

hunt, but I would be a little questionable about how effective and

how they would be operating in Nigeria. We had to find out what the

African union is going to be doing about this, they are scented to a

lot of conflict internally in the states. They know the territory

better. `` they are sent into. The underlying issue is, in all

convicts, women and girls are the first one to suffer, they are the

first victims, and in this case, there are hundreds. Gender`based

violence, it has been a problem in this case for the last two or three

years. The Daily Mail reports that many people are eating Halal food

without knowing it. It is not labelled in supermarkets. I cannot

get excited about this story, it is an interesting issue, the Daily Mail

have on the inside of their pages a big chart, they have a bunch of

reporters doing a big ring around of the major supermarkets and take

ways, asking about the macro to meet policy. One of their policies are if

animals were slaughtered after being stunned. `` Halal policy. The RSPCA

do say that they don't have a problem with Halal meet, so long as

the animals are stunned `` meat. There is not a quote from anyone in

the article saying that they do not like the idea of eating this meat if

the animal is not stunned. So, what is the fuss? If this was kosher

meat, would we be making such a big deal of it? I am throwing that

question open. It is an interesting point. We seem to continuously talk

about Muslims and the issues surrounding this, including halal

food, if this was kosher meat, would we be saying this? It has ultimately

been a business decision by these companies, to sell this meet, they

are not required by law to label it. Perhaps we should look at the law,

`` meat. So far, it is a business decision that has been made. It is

economical for them. They do not serve the national market but are

exporting to markets where this food does have to be halal. There is an

opinion bit in here about New Zealand lamb being halal, more than

70% is, because they sell a lot of their meat to Arab countries. If it

was kosher, I am confident it would not be a headline, but now that it

is, if the animal is stunned, why is it a big story? It is interesting.

Let's go to the Independent, middle`aged women on the scrapheap.

You are a very young woman! Stop digging Clive! What I was going to

say is that you are not on the scrapheap because you are here on

the papers section. But I mess that up! It is difficult to know how to

follow! It is a disturbing for a number of reasons `` messed. We have

pushed up the pension age. We know that we want women to be work for

longer. Women want to be in work for longer, but if the jobs are not

available, 45% of women more are unemployed. Versus 35% of men. Men

are getting the jobs while women are being told to work longer. It is

greater inequality in the UK for women to be suffering these types of

numbers in employment. Women want to work not finding the jobs. A lot

more men are becoming employed at the same time. We had to know what

is happening in terms of gender discrimination, is it age and gender

disc relation they are facing? What is interesting about this story is

the number of women who get on the government 's work programme `` get

jobs on the governments work programme. `` discrimination. They

want to go back to work and want to contribute. Your point about the

pension age is an important one. You have to ask, why is that? What other

problems? The Department of and pensions say that the proportion of

women in work has never been higher but that is not the same. `` the

Department of Work and Pensions. There have been a lot of headlines,

especially in the Telegraph, about more women going out to work. The

cause of economic circumstances, and the current economic problems. And

we aren't talking about what skills or education women have, which is

probably very high because they are of the generation that did go to

university. What the question is, gender discrimination is still very

real. These women are suffering it, compared to men of the same age.

What you suspect is happening is because of the change in the

pensions age and the squeeze on living standards, a lot of women in

that age group are saying, I do need to go back to work. They have

probably been out off the work force. Time and their skills may not

be up`to`date as somebody younger, so they are not being chosen. But

they have families and have people they are supporting, which is

difficult. What you do as a society to address that will be important.

And given David Cameron's inability, the Conservative's

inability, to connect with a `` with the majority of women voters.

Staying with the Independent, Odessa, the cultural melting pot

boils over. This is a report from the Ukraine and is away from the

focus of things, which has been in the east of Ukraine. It is a

complicated story. But the key thing is that says this is much murkier

and the problems in the Ukraine don't just extend in the east. It is

difficult to see who the good and bad guys are. The messages, this

isn't black and white. `` message is. It is worth reading, it's a

great piece. I read bits of it and it looks amazing. This is

interesting in the context of what Vladimir Putin was seen today, that

he doesn't feel there should be this referendum on the east of the

country. He has always known it `` we have always known it's a

complicated situation and it isn't necessarily a good thing for him to

take over the whole of the east of Ukraine. Maybe we don't read about

this internal conflicts as much because they aren't directly

affected by the sanctions and geographically where it is. But a

lot of what we talk about in terms of Russia currently is the

international impact and how we in the West might feel differences. But

many people are suffering. The article is about people who have

died and women who have been raped. These things are continuing. It is a

complex picture. Some things don't get as many headlines. A good

piece. Very interesting. It has been great having you in. Thank you. Stay

with us. At the top of the hour, more on the fugitive robber, the

so`called Skull Cracker who is now behind bars again. Time for

Sportsday. Hello and welcome to Sportsday. I'm

Lizzie Greenwood`Hughes. The headlines this evening: The title is

theirs to lose. Manchester City put four past Aston Villa to storm to

the top of the Premier League table. Sunderland make the great escape,

beating West Brom 2`0, but the result