29/06/2014 The Papers

Good evening and welcome to our look ahead at what the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow. Welcome to my guests. Thanks for being with us.

Let's have a look at the front pages. The Financial Times claims

officials in Berlin will do everything in their power to stop

the UK leaving the EU. David Cameron is writing in the

Telegraph that Britain's drive for EU reforms are on track and insists

he can do business with Jean`Claude Juncker. Elton John joined the

debate about gay members of the clergy. He says that he believes

Jesus would allow same`sex priest to marry.

The Express says deferring a state pension could leave thousands of

people better off in the long run. The Guardian has Dolly Parton, who

made her sparkly debut at Glastonbury today.

And The Daily Mail claiming the Prince of Wales is trying to

influence former Labour ministers on a range of issues, from climate

change to alternative medicine. The Times says plans to merge income

tax and national insurance will be a key part of the next Conservative

manifesto. And the Independent says David

Cameron's European allies have warned him that his threats about

Britain leaving an unreformed EU could backfire.

Let's take a look at some of the stories. We start with the Times and

this headline that George Osborne's grand plan is to join up the tax

system. This is all about the idea of merging National Insurance and

income tax? We have two separate tax in `` tax systems. Income tax is

reasonably straight award. You are in a certain amount, you pay a

certain amount. National insurance is more complicated. This idea

appears to be a Conservative plan which will be in their next

manifesto for the election next year, where you would merge them

together. You would have a single percentage that you pay. It will

worry a lot of people if they see this because for example the paper

says if you were earning 40%, your tax rate would go up to 52%. That's

how much they are taking anyway, it's just that it would be that much

more transparent. From the conservative point of view, it is

more sensible to have one system because you can talk about lowering

VAT. People, governments in the past, abused national insurance as a

stealth tax. None of us really understood it. But if it was a

simple percentage, that debate would be slightly more... Easier to

understand. This article points out that party strategists say you would

need quite a big public awareness campaign because the headline

numbers would change and people might think, hang on, this looks

like a lot of tax I'm paying. It's great to believe we have a

transparent government and telling people what they are paying and what

that percentage is a good idea but if you suddenly find out you pay...

If you pay half of your earnings, that is a lot. But national

insurance has been reduced or increased in the past and people

don't know if they are better off or not. We are only now coming out of

the downturn. Suddenly people paying more tax. I'm not sure it's a good

idea. A big PR campaign is a good idea. But for the long`term I think

it will be good news, if we can get the IT to work. This would be a huge

IT project that previous governments and this government have not done

well with. We are still dealing with universal credit. The Ministry of

Justice today announced it spent a lot of money on you `` on attack

system that won't go anywhere. It's a nice idea to have transparent

government but I'm not sure the technology exists yet to make such a

thing possible. The other point the Times make is that is appalled that

suggests the business world is supportive of this. `` that the

business world is supportive. I think the point of IT is good.

Government should not do IT projects unless they are absolutely sure they

will work. We know all the stories that have been going on for decades.

For the game that you get for doing this, the downside could be very

significant. It would be disastrous if our tax system suddenly fell. And

you have to put up taxes to cover that! ISIS declares the creation of

its own is a mixed eight. This is the proclamation by Islamic

extremists ISIS, but they have proclaimed the establishment of a

caliphate was the empire with an extreme religious and political

leader. It's news in that we didn't know how far ISIS was going to go.

Lots of ground has been taken in Iraq at the Iraqi army has been

fighting back. This is surprising in terms of how bold they want to be

and what their ambitions are. Ramadan started yesterday. This

might be interesting for the Islamic world to hear, but I think it is

disturbing because these are bold ambitions from what is still a

terrorist group. It is concerning. We don't yet know how far this will

It sends a message to other Islamic groups, that they are the big guys.

This is Isis, they are saying that they have won the territory. If you

want to look, this is the good aspiration that has been part of

Islamic fundamentalism for a long time. `` great aspiration. They have

said to the people of Iraq that they are the people who can deliver. It

is done so quickly. For a long time, people hadn't even heard of Isis, to

come from there to here, it is scary how quickly they are moving forward.

They have a quote from Charles Lister, he said that this

announcement is likely to be the most significant development in

international jihad is since 9/11. People are saying that although it

is a bold statement, it should not be underestimated `` jihadism. We

have heard although the Iraqi army have regained much of Tikrit. That

is disputed. Land seems to be changing hands quickly, it is

difficult to see how stable any army gains will be in the face of

terrorist groups that are moving quickly. With Ramadan starting,

there will be some subsidence to a degree in the hostilities in Iraq,

that probably gives Isis time to consolidate the ground which holds,

one of the problem is that there has been up until now is that it is good

at taking things but less good at defending them. There is probably

now a period where there is less intensity to the fighting, and it

can consolidate those gains they have made. To the Independent,

Cameron is empty threat to the EU, there is the suggestion that, for

all of his posturing and hard lining on European countries, warning David

Cameron and his threats about the British people leaving the EU, if it

is not reformed, that could backfire? This is what we have in a

lot of the papers, the wash up from last week, there is a story in the

Financial Times about Germany being more conciliatory. There is no doubt

that some countries, like Germany, want the UK to remain part of the

European project is that moves up to speeds. But, there are more

ambivalent about whether Britain is part of it or not. I think there is

a limit to what David Cameron can achieve. In terms of opening up the

single market in things like competition, competition, services,

there is a lot of willingness across the board to give some things that

Britain wants. On freedom of movement, for the people, that is a

no no. It will be a big problem for David Cameron, if you look at all of

the polls and focus groups, anti` Europeanism is about immigration

now. That'll make the people vote in 2017, I don't see how Cameron can

win many concessions on that. There are suggestions that he, himself, is

extending the olive branch to Jean`Claude Juncker, and he can work

with this man now, that is what he is saying. Last week, there was a

lot of hot air. David Cameron has to do business with this man, a lot of

the other governments have rallied around him anyway. It is the

question as to whether this is the direction of travel, and they have

to work with this person. You are right, there's little room for

manoeuvre, in what it is that they can retract from the referendum not.

What the Berlin press was talking about was that they have to focus on

economic growth in the EU, that is important for governments. You can

see why Jean`Claude Juncker was supported for that. David Cameron is

smart enough to say that he has let his wounds, they have made peace

amid the phone call, let's get on with business. We were chatting

before we came on air, if we come to the Financial Times now, the story

is the polar opposite. This says that Germany pledges to keep the UK

in Europe. You made reference to this. The German finance minister

said that letting Britain leave would be unimaginable, and that they

will do everything in their power to keep us in. On one hand, there is a

warning that there will not be that many sweeteners, but the suggestion

is that there will be some? The chairman position, `` the German

position, I was talking to a senior German, and they said that the point

of Germany is that they will do whatever they can to keep you in,

but don't ask us to choose between you and the EU. That is how it is

best characterised, they want Britain to stay, they don't like the

idea of an EU without Britain in it. If the requests and the demands from

Britain are too great, Germany, as you saw with Jean`Claude Juncker,

will not side with us. Let's turn our attention is to something

different now, this is the Daily Mail, how Charles influenced key

policies. This is a result of BBC Radio 4's documentary, three former

Labour ministers have talked about how Prince Charles bit their ear on

certain quality issues, and got them to change their minds, particularly

David Blunkett on, schools. He consorted with Labour ministers on

issues, including climate change and grammar schools, that was topical at

the time, this was several years ago. In terms of asked why this is

interesting, Prince Charles rightly is engaged with a lot of groups on

the ground, NGOs, and understandably, he has views on

these things. The question as to why he should be interfering, or

advising or sharing his views with government ministers is maybe not a

bad thing. They may not have taken his advice, I am not clear why it is

a story, other than this is a monarchy in waiting. There is no

defined role for a monarchy in waiting. Naturally, he will be

interested in different things and share those viewpoints. Whether the

ministers take those views or not, that is up to them. Why shouldn't

they? They make the point, the Daily Mail makes the point that the Queen

never makes her views known on controversial issues. There is

something saying that it is not the role of the monarchy to express

views. Occasionally she has expressed views, I see no reason why

he shouldn't have views. He has been unsuccessful in getting his

viewpoints adopted by the government, that is a good thing as

well, I don't know why we are so upset with him having thoughts.

It'll be interesting to watch the documentary, to see how those views

are conveyed. And see different conversations like this can happen.

It is a Radio 4 documentary, it went out this afternoon, and it is

available on iPlayer. The story was picked up by the papers, and these

letters, the black spider letters, the handwritten ones. People have

said that they should be allowed to see them, as members of the public,

and see what he is writing to people. It is a slippery slope, once

you show those, what more do you show? Advice to ministers, that has

been a red line. And policy advice to ministers, they do not publish

and would not publish stuff like that. There is this court case, the

Guardian is fighting it with the Cabinet office at the moment, to

release those letters. They will be fun to look at, I don't know... I

don't think we will learn a great deal. We cannot let the paper review

go without referring to the picture on lots of the front pages, we are

looking specifically at the Independent, a glorious picture of a

sparkly Dolly Parton, playing at Glastonbury in front of 100,000

people. It made her feel like a rockstar. I bet that she didn't get

muddy! Wearing white is a tough choice at Glastonbury. There are

people who will really enjoy this. It is closing night at Glastonbury.

She is the closing event. People hung around for this, clearly, she

was a good draw. And something to pull in. People suggested that she

had more people singing along to her then Arcade Fire. Although there is

some controversy, some people are saying that she was not singing

live, but her management said that she did. Glastonbury like to throw

in the spanner into the works. She survived the mud, and put smiles on

people 's faces despite the guru. I think she wrote a muddy song as

well! Have a listen to that on you Tube, if possible. `` the goo. ``

YouTube. That's it for The Papers this hour.

Thank you, Zamila Bunglawala and Oliver Wright. Stay with us here on

BBC News: At midnight, GPs with a poor record in detecting cancer

could be named under government proposals. But coming up next it's

time for World Cup