31/07/2014 The Papers

for the first half of the year largely due to warmer weather. But

Ofgem says that the big six firms are set to double profit margins

over the next year. Welcome to the papers. With me are

Martin Bentham, whose the home affairs Editor from the London

Evening Standard and the Financial Analyst, Louise Cooper. Let's take a

look at the front pages. The FT reports European businesses are

starting to feel the effects of The Times says the cost of rebuilding

Afghanistan has surpassed the amount spent restoring Europe after World

War II. The Telegraph has a story about the increase in households

being forced to pay higher rates of stamp duty. The Metro carries a

story about a TV interview in which a UN official broke down in tears,

saying his organisation had reached "breaking point" in Gaza. The Mail

leads on a driver who killed a man while using two mobile phones at the

wheel of her car. The Guardian reports on the conflict in Gaza. It

says the number of people killed is greater than in both previous rounds

of fighting between Israel and Hamas. The Express has a story on a

funding boost for the NHS to help tackle cancer. And finally, the

Mirror describes how a Commonwealth Games cyclist from Sierra Leone was

held in isolation for four days ` before being cleared ` because of

fears about the Ebola virus. I'm going to start with the Guardian,

the headline is Gaza death toll goes past 1400. Israel going to continue

until the Hamas tunnels are destroyed. This was printed before

we got news of the humanitarian truce which has been announced this

evening, and hopefully that will be bolstered by a longer term, durable

ceasefire if negotiators in Cairo over the weekend can make something

stick. But nonetheless, Louise, the Guardian headline still holds that

the reason this number is so significant is that it is more than

the two previous Gaza conflicts we have seen in terms of casualties.

It is an appallingly large number of people. 80% of them, they say, all

civilians as well. I spent the last hour doing something useful. 20

years ago that Yasser Arafat actually got the Nobel Peace Prize

for supposedly negotiating peace. Here we are, with the death toll

1400 in just the past few weeks. It seems every step forward is

accompanied by a step backwards, and little progress is made. But

sometimes, diplomatically things are going on behind the scenes that we

are not privy to. This agreement by both sides, and unconditional

humanitarian truce that will give people a breathing space. It is

fantastic news. What is crucial is if they can flush out something that

will stick. Israel promises to continue attacks until all Hamas

tunnels will be destroyed. That will be one of the key questions about

what happens to the amending tunnels. `` remaining. The Israelis

will have to presumably withdraw from Gaza. There will be a halt in a

rocket fire from Gaza as well, I suppose. All of those problematic

obstacles. It seems to be with that they have got a set point in morning

when you can shoot, but one minute past seven o'clock, you can't. Why

don't you just stop killing each other right now? Maybe it is to get

the word out to people? We are looking at you like the expert. We

have had ceasefires before where rockets were fired and that triggers

a new exchange. Does Hamas control those firing the rockets? You are

assuming they do, maybe they do not. Let us look at the Times. We are

talking about the tunnels. This is the picture of some Israeli soldiers

trying to clear one of the tunnels. This is the thing that is

interesting. They have got these tunnels where people can access

Israel. That is terrifying to the Israeli populace. It started with

that rocket fire from Gaza. It has changed completely into this title

issue. `` tunnel. Israel has galvanised opinion and

understandably it is very terrifying for them. They have been relatively

immune from suicide attacks as of the wall they built. And they

control the borders. Isn't it because they control the borders

that tunnels were built in the first place to get food, livestock, what

ever? And now they are being used for military purposes. They were

built from Egypt. But still, you learn to build a tunnels because

Israel puts a wall around you. Staying with the Times. Cost of

Afghan rebuild on scale with the Second World War. Corruption and

waste is pushing the figure that time. There was not a great deal of

infrastructure in parts of Afghanistan in the first place. You

have to wonder what they will end up with. There has been some progress.

I have been to Afghanistan in different points over the past

decade. There has been some progress, albeit very slowly. One of

the problems is, highlighted this report, most projects have been

hampered by poor planning, shoddy construction and bad oversight. A

lot of money has been going astray. That clearly is a problem. It is a

difficult country to keep a grip on. All of the systems, the checks and

balances, I'm not in place. What the Times has done is compare the cost

of the war in Afghanistan to the Marshall plan of rebuilding

Germany. They have worked out into the's prices, the Marshall plan cost

the equivalent of ?61 billion. American taxpayers have offered

?61.5 billion and Britain ?890 million for this development.

Germany is in a pretty bad state after the Second World War. And here

we are, Afghanistan is costing more. But if you want to try and stop

fundamentalism rising up and people being radicalised, you give people

jobs and a better life. The report is saying the amount of corruption

and wasted money. That is the question and I agree with it. It is

a question of the management. That has been a problematic issue. That

is the real question. It seems very poorly. The Financial Times, the

property loan. ?122 billion of property in England and Wales is

held in offshore funds and tax havens. We did not know who is

buying it up? This is a bit of them, especially in London. They quit and

anticorruption watchdog and they talk about corrupt leaders have used

shell companies to hide assets. That is one issue. There is a separate

issue. Sometimes these companies are being used to avoid stamp duty. The

government has changed that. My favourite, there is a bit here that

says, laundering which make regulations require real estate

agents to carry out due diligence. There is a reference from an estate

agents and, when you have accompanied hidden offshore, it is

almost impossible for an estate agent to find out what is going on.

You have to make a professional judgement whether you are satisfied

with the information provided. So if you say, yes, I am happy with the

information, I get hundreds and thousands of pounds commission or if

I say no, I am not happy at, I do not get any commission. I wonder

what the answer could be. Sometimes the level of cynicism on the BBC

papers got back cynicism towards real estate agents failing hundreds

of thousands in commission. `` owning. Let us look at the

Independent. ?300 million genetic revolution. Trying to map our entire

DNA. But always alarms some people. Too much would be known about us.

What we know is that different drugs work well on you depending on your

genetic make`up. You have got a disposition towards certain

illnesses depending on your genetic make`up. What your genome looks like

will affect your health in the future and how it is treated. At

some point in the future, AGP will know your whole dinner. `` genome.

What worries me is the organisation sorting this out say they want drug

companies to have access to all of that data. Almost makes you feel a

little naked having that information in your file. The interesting thing

about the drug companies. As long as it is properly regulated and

controlled. That always works. If they develop new drugs to help us,

they need to have access to material like this. That aren't `` are

problems, but they have a positive role. I am not sure I want to know

too much of what is going to happen down the line. There is a

probability that things will happen. It's not that you will exactly know.

If you have got a perfect set of DNA. You are not much use to the

drugs companies, I suppose. We are going to do a compare and contrast

exercise with how women are photographed and featured on the

newspaper. We know the Daily Telegraph likes to put a pretty lady

on the front. The model Miranda Kerr. She has been fought over by a

number of men, compared to Helen of Troy. Compare the Daily Mail. Here

we have a picture of Zara Philips. She is on the front page. I think

they traditionally choose on flattering photographs. The one on

the Daily Mail is not too bad. But the one on the Metro. What a brutal

photo in the Metro. Tom Cruise looks gorgeous, Zara Philips is pulling a

face. And there is another one on the front page of the Express. She

does not look too bad. Picture editors, leave her alone. I am not

even a royalist. It did not even occur to you. I think they look

perfectly reasonable. It is the sensitivity of it. The one on the

Metro looks a bit hideous, but the others look reasonable. Tom Cruise

is looking pretty good. That is what you say. Louise has a bit of a

fondness for Tom Cruise. Goes back a long way. That is it for the night,

before we get any more carried away. Lovely to have you both. Coming up

next, it is time for Commonwealth games Sportsday. I will be back

again at midnight for another look at the main news, particularly the

truce that has been announced in the Gaza conflict this evening.