:00:00. > :00:00.And Lewis Hamilton leads the way in practice and head of the Spanish
:00:00. > :00:13.Grand Prix. That is in 15 minutes, after the papers.
:00:14. > :00:19.Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be
:00:20. > :00:22.bringing us tomorrow. With me are the Economist's Jeremy Cliffe, and
:00:23. > :00:29.novelist and journalist Dreda Say Mitchell.
:00:30. > :00:32.Many of the papers are covering the first day of the Rolf Harris sex
:00:33. > :00:35.abuse trial. The Mail here is focusing on a letter the prosecution
:00:36. > :00:39.claim he wrote to the father of one of his alleged victims. The Mirror
:00:40. > :00:45.also leads with Rolf Harris and this letter that the jury heard in court.
:00:46. > :00:48.More on Rolf Harris in the Telegraph, and their front page also
:00:49. > :00:51.features the British servicemen sent home from Afghanistan after photos
:00:52. > :00:55.appeared of them posing next to the body of a dead insurgent. The
:00:56. > :00:58.Independent leads with a special report from Mariupol in Ukraine,
:00:59. > :01:09.where there's been violent clashes between government forces and
:01:10. > :01:13.pro`Russian separatists. Russia are celebrating Victory Day,
:01:14. > :01:17.the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II in red Square. That is in the
:01:18. > :01:21.Financial Times. The FT also features the situation in Ukraine
:01:22. > :01:23.and a story about the hotel at the Shard in London. The Guardian
:01:24. > :01:35.headline suggests that NHS hospitals need thousands of extra nurses. And
:01:36. > :01:38.Take That's Gary Barlow is on the front page of the Times, which says
:01:39. > :01:44.that he and his fellow band members Howard Donald and Mark Allen are
:01:45. > :01:49.facing a ?20 million bill for tax avoidance. `` Mark Owen. And the
:01:50. > :01:53.Express has the story that the Queen has been told to take it easy.
:01:54. > :01:58.Prince Charles stood in for her at the last minute during an official
:01:59. > :02:05.ceremony. Let's unpick some of those stories. We start with the Daily
:02:06. > :02:10.Mirror. Like many of the papers, the Rolf Harris trial is featuring
:02:11. > :02:14.prominently. They have this headline, forgive me, I sicken
:02:15. > :02:17.myself. This was to do with the letter the court heard about? Yes,
:02:18. > :02:22.it was an allegation by the prosecution that said Mr Harris said
:02:23. > :02:26.a letter to the father of one of the people he allegedly abused. It goes
:02:27. > :02:32.to show how dramatic and how much media interest there is in this
:02:33. > :02:40.trial. This is just the first day, and it is splashed across the front
:02:41. > :02:45.pages. Rather lurid stuff. Dreda, this is making the front pages of
:02:46. > :02:48.many papers. And particularly this letter the Star wrote, saying he
:02:49. > :02:51.loathed himself for what he had done. But he was making the point
:02:52. > :02:54.that although there was a relationship with one of these
:02:55. > :02:59.alleged victims, he is saying it was when she was not underage.
:03:00. > :03:04.Absolutely, and that is something to remember about this case. I feel
:03:05. > :03:08.quite uneasy talking about it, because we have already had an
:03:09. > :03:11.incident this year with somebody in the spotlight. It was proved that
:03:12. > :03:15.the allegations against them were not true, so we need to be clear
:03:16. > :03:19.that there is a court case still going on and we have to see what
:03:20. > :03:24.happens. And we will leave it there for that very reason. Let's go
:03:25. > :03:28.inside the Daily Mail. They pick up on this story we have in talking
:03:29. > :03:32.about a lot today, the suggestion from Amnesty International that
:03:33. > :03:34.Nigeria had an inkling of what was going to happen to these 300
:03:35. > :03:43.schoolgirls who have so dreadfully been taken. That is at the bottom of
:03:44. > :03:50.the page. Tell us more about that? I find this a horrific and upsetting
:03:51. > :03:53.story which becomes worse every day. This is the fourth week, and now it
:03:54. > :03:56.has been alleged by Amnesty International that the Nigerian
:03:57. > :04:01.government were warned for hours before this incident, and nothing
:04:02. > :04:05.appears to have happened. They categorically showed the clip where
:04:06. > :04:11.the president said that is not true. But I think there are so many
:04:12. > :04:14.undercurrent here. One of the big things for me is the sense that
:04:15. > :04:19.Nigeria feels like two very different countries. There is the
:04:20. > :04:23.north and north`east, and then there is the South, predominantly
:04:24. > :04:28.Christian, with traditional African religions. It feels like there is
:04:29. > :04:33.not cooperation. And it also feels like some Nigerians may say that
:04:34. > :04:37.because this happened to girls in the north, did the government in
:04:38. > :04:41.Abuja care about them? You mentioned Amnesty International. One of the
:04:42. > :04:45.interesting parts of the story is the extent to which that charity has
:04:46. > :04:49.driven this story up the agenda. This is about girls and women being
:04:50. > :04:52.treated as the spoils of war, which has happened for decades, but I
:04:53. > :04:55.can't think of any similar story that has got the prominence that
:04:56. > :05:00.this has stopped so it is testimony to them that they are putting
:05:01. > :05:04.pressure on the Nigerian government. It is interesting that it has only
:05:05. > :05:08.happened because of an international outcry. This happened quite a while
:05:09. > :05:11.ago and if there was not an international outcry, when you think
:05:12. > :05:17.about other countries where you have had war is going on, there has been
:05:18. > :05:22.so much to show that women are used as weapons in war, and we can't have
:05:23. > :05:26.that happening in Nigeria. The international community has clearly
:05:27. > :05:30.been horrified. The US and Britain are offering help. We understand
:05:31. > :05:35.there may be use of American drones to track down these hiding places. I
:05:36. > :05:40.suppose the international community has to tread a cautious line here,
:05:41. > :05:45.because they don't want to get embroiled in Nigerian internal
:05:46. > :05:48.politics. Absolutely. The US and Britain have said there was no
:05:49. > :05:54.question of military intervention in this. As you say, the tensions
:05:55. > :05:57.between north and south Nigeria are so volatile that getting dragged
:05:58. > :06:03.into the situation would be a terrible mistake. There is so much
:06:04. > :06:06.pressure because of media campaign that it is a difficult tightrope
:06:07. > :06:15.that the governments of the West have to walk. Also, the no doubt ``
:06:16. > :06:20.Nigerian security forces have been accused of human rights violations
:06:21. > :06:24.as well. So if international intelligence specialists come in,
:06:25. > :06:30.they have to be very careful. It is a very complex issue. But the focus
:06:31. > :06:34.has to be on finding those girls. Let's look at one of the other
:06:35. > :06:40.stories in the Daily Mail on page four, the suggestion that the
:06:41. > :06:43.government's Help To Buy scheme for first`time buyers, to give them a
:06:44. > :06:49.foot on the ladder, has somehow gone a bit awry. Yes, this is George
:06:50. > :06:52.Osborne's scheme to help those struggling to get on the housing
:06:53. > :06:57.ladder. The government effectively subsidises their mortgage. At the
:06:58. > :07:00.important criteria are that those who take on the scheme have to have
:07:01. > :07:05.at least 5% of the value of the house to put down as a deposit to
:07:06. > :07:10.show that they are safe to lend to. The problem that has emerged is that
:07:11. > :07:14.a lot of people on this scheme have not put down 5% of the mortgage
:07:15. > :07:20.value because of some technical reason to do with the computer
:07:21. > :07:23.system, inevitably. We know government computer systems rarely
:07:24. > :07:26.go to plan. The result is that there seem to be lots of people who have
:07:27. > :07:37.taken on this scheme who may not be safe gets. This smacks to me of the
:07:38. > :07:40.sub`prime mortgage crisis in 2007. There is the suggestion that people
:07:41. > :07:44.will be overstretching themselves and left without a security blanket.
:07:45. > :07:47.What struck me about this story is that there seems to be a difference
:07:48. > :07:51.between people in the south and people in the north and Scotland.
:07:52. > :07:55.Apparently, this scheme is working well in the north and Scotland.
:07:56. > :08:01.There is a differential between the prices of Robert E. If you are young
:08:02. > :08:11.person living in London, 10% is a lot of money. In this article, they
:08:12. > :08:13.quoted 10% of 200,000. I spoke to a young couple this week and they said
:08:14. > :08:19.they are desperate to do this scheme. They cannot afford ?20,000,
:08:20. > :08:25.so it is fine to have a Help To Buy scheme. However, there should have
:08:26. > :08:29.been differential is built into it. It is a tale of two countries. The
:08:30. > :08:33.extent to which the London property market has exploded in the last year
:08:34. > :08:36.seems to have no bearing on what is happening elsewhere in the country.
:08:37. > :08:38.A lot of people in the north and Northern Ireland are in negative
:08:39. > :08:43.equity, which in London seems impossible. So maybe a more
:08:44. > :08:48.differentiated scheme would have been helped for. And also, what
:08:49. > :08:54.about help to rent? That is why so many people have been pushed to buy,
:08:55. > :08:57.because rents are so high, or even higher than mortgages. Something
:08:58. > :09:03.needs to be done about the rental market. And in this country, we are
:09:04. > :09:06.wedded to the idea of buying. But with property prices, you can see
:09:07. > :09:09.why people might think it would be a good investment if they could only
:09:10. > :09:15.get on the ladder. Let's move further afield now. The Independent
:09:16. > :09:18.has a picture of a police station burning in Aria pour in Ukraine. We
:09:19. > :09:23.have been hearing about those clashes between government forces
:09:24. > :09:31.and pro`Russian insurgents. They have the stark headline there. The
:09:32. > :09:34.suggestion is that civil war looms. The Independent and 50 are going
:09:35. > :09:40.with the metaphor of clouds and storms. They have a very ominous
:09:41. > :09:43.picture on the front, with a burning building and dark clouds billowing
:09:44. > :09:47.above and wind in the trees. It sums up the situation very well. The FT
:09:48. > :09:55.used the phrase of a cloud above Russia as well. Beyond this, what
:09:56. > :10:00.strikes me is the shift we have seen since a few weeks ago, when you saw
:10:01. > :10:03.those idealistic scenes of young people in Kiev, protesting for
:10:04. > :10:08.liberalism and wanting to join the European Union. Now the region seems
:10:09. > :10:10.to be descending into civil war. There is now a slanging match
:10:11. > :10:14.between the Russians on the one side, who are making lots of
:10:15. > :10:18.provocative and symbolic gestures, with Putin in the Crimea at the
:10:19. > :10:23.moment. Then you have the government in Kiev, using the opportunity of
:10:24. > :10:28.that commemoration to launch attacks on Russian militants in eastern
:10:29. > :10:36.Ukraine. It is becoming an extremely dark and and threatening story. The
:10:37. > :10:40.suggestion that the approach of the Ukrainian government has become more
:10:41. > :10:45.strident and they are upping their game which is exacerbating the
:10:46. > :10:49.situation. Absolutely but the government would say that they were
:10:50. > :10:52.taking back ` I think it was a police headquarters and I think
:10:53. > :10:56.pro`Russian, you can use all types of words, militants, freedom
:10:57. > :11:00.fighters, it depends what side you are on. But you talked about this
:11:01. > :11:04.picture and the one in the FT, there is one missing and it is the one
:11:05. > :11:10.with Putin in Crimea, that kind of collects it all. It seems such a
:11:11. > :11:14.shame that on a day that's meant to be about commemorating victory, that
:11:15. > :11:20.you have what I consider to be quite a provocative move by the Russian
:11:21. > :11:23.president. He should have just let it lie. This country is descending
:11:24. > :11:27.and before we know it, it is going to be descending into civil war.
:11:28. > :11:32.Let's bring in that picture you mentioned on the FT ` cloud over
:11:33. > :11:35.Russian celebrations, that analogy and metaphor continuing and this
:11:36. > :11:41.really the proud Russian force there is march through Moscow. We see how,
:11:42. > :11:45.perhaps, President Putin has used that, as some people would say, has
:11:46. > :11:50.hijacked those celebrations to make an altogether more modern point. The
:11:51. > :11:55.symbolling seems to be intent on both sides. You have the Ukrainian
:11:56. > :12:01.government using the commemoration as the Independent put it, to crow
:12:02. > :12:04.about the deaths in eastern Ukraine, the Russian activists that have been
:12:05. > :12:08.killed and apparent lit commemoration in Moscow, which
:12:09. > :12:15.happens every year was unusually bombastic. It lasted 15 minutes more
:12:16. > :12:22.than usual. Everyone ratcheting things um.
:12:23. > :12:27.We must push on to the i. A very unnerving story. Britain's Camp
:12:28. > :12:32.Bastion shame and these photographs, supposedly of British servicemen
:12:33. > :12:37.posing with a dead Taliban fighter. Pictures from 2002 which have come
:12:38. > :12:45.to light online. I think it was 2012, at Camp Bastion which was the
:12:46. > :12:48.biggest British base in Afghanistan. . First of all, there is an
:12:49. > :12:52.investigation, so we need to be clear ` are these true pictures? But
:12:53. > :12:57.if they are, this is horrifying. I think what horrified me when I read
:12:58. > :13:02.this story was, there was a line in it that says ` concerns that the
:13:03. > :13:06.photograph pro provoke the Taliban for more propaganda and get more
:13:07. > :13:11.people on its side. Actually when I look at this, I don't think at that
:13:12. > :13:15.` I just think, somebody is dead in this photograph and somebody has
:13:16. > :13:19.their thumb up, really. So forget about the recruitment and prop began
:13:20. > :13:25.darks somebody has died here and I think there `` prop began darks I
:13:26. > :13:30.think there should be a sense of someone has died and having
:13:31. > :13:34.reverence for that. I know the MoD says it has zero tolerance for that.
:13:35. > :13:39.When I read that article, it was all about whether it was going to make
:13:40. > :13:46.more Afghanis join the Taliban. It is certainly a grotesque image. We
:13:47. > :13:53.will talk more about that. Sorry to bring things to an end. We will be
:13:54. > :13:58.back in an hour's time, plenty more to talk about, and see what is
:13:59. > :14:04.making the headlines tomorrow. Stay with us, at 11.00pm we'll get an up
:14:05. > :14:06.date on the situation in eastern Ukraine. Coming up next, time for
:14:07. > :14:22.Sportsday. Hello and welcome to Sportsday. I'm
:14:23. > :14:27.Katherine Downes. Peter Moores is back at the helm and England are
:14:28. > :14:28.back to winning ways. They beat Scotland in a rather rainy One Day