19/08/2014 The Papers

rush at the European athletics championships in Swansea, and the

European swimming in Berlin. That is all in Sportsday, in 15 minutes,

after the papers. Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers

will be bringing us tomorrow. With me are Neil Midgley, media

commentator from Forbes.com and the political commentator and journalist

Miranda Green. Tomorrow's front pages, starting with: The Financial

Times pictures how rail fares will rise 3.5% from January, in another

above`inflation increase. The Telegraph says husbands who bully or

intimidate their partners could be jailed under a new offence of

domestic abuse. The I quotes research which suggest the majority

of English voters want Scotland to remain part of the UK. The Daily

Mail claims nurses are being asked to question elderly patients about

whether they would agree to a 'do not resuscitate' order. 'Private

patient income soars at NHS trusts' is the headline on the front of the

Guardian. The Daily Express also leads on house prices. It says the

average home has risen 23,000 pounds in a year. The Times leads on

allegations in the High Court concerning the mayor of Tower

Hamlets in London. And the Scotsman quotes Alex Salmond as saying he

would be prepared to give up his political career if that was the

price of gaining an independent Scotland. We will talk about that a

little bit later on. What we will start with the Daily Mail. Do you

want us to let you die? That is the headline. Nurses on home visits told

to ask elderly patients if this is what they would want. It is a great

Daily Mail splash, do you want us to let you die? Nurses are making home

visits to patients, elderly patients, and filling in a form,

which is part of a scheme to keep people out of hospital apparently

and improve care for the elderly. But as part of this, patients are

being asked whether they will sign a DNR. This is one of those issues

where if the system works as it should, this is all right. If your

heart stops beating, many don't want special measures. Many people who

are very old don't want that, they consider that time is up. The

question is whether the system always works as it should. What the

Daily Mail is pointing out is that some vulnerable elderly people may

feel pressured by nurses that they don't know. The burden of this story

really is that these forms are being taken out by nurses that they have

never met before. It is not a district nurse with whom they have

an ongoing relationship. It might be someone they have never met, and

might seem like an intrusive and pressurised question, and people may

later regret you answers. The Daily Mail is not necessarily saying that

it is wrong to ask these questions, but that the wrong people are asking

them. The elderly person needs a... I don't know, feels that they can

trust. Absolutely, it is not just the person asking the question, but

the circumstances. You might ask somebody already in hospital who is

going through a difficult illness how they felt about a DNR order on

their notes. At this is a home visit to assess before someone has become

seriously ill. Their attitude to ageing, what the health problems

might be, how he would like to be treated if they become ill. It is

supposed to be part of this strategy to keep people out of hospital. But

it seems there is an extra question tag onto the questionnaire. Well by

the way, you know, do you want us to let you die? And it is being

described by health experts in the Daily Mail as callous for the reason

that somebody might be feeling vulnerable when visited at home in

this way I health professional age are not know or have a relationship

with. They might well sign a form to try and be corporative, really, and

then very much regret it later. And also, the family may not be present,

it may not be the widest possible way to assess whether it is

appropriate for somebody to have a DNR order. `` corporative. There has

been so much discussion recently about assisted suicide and the Right

to Die `` co`operative. They don't in some cases want to needlessly and

painfully prolong their lives. There is this whole ethical dilemma about

when life should be allowed to end by doctors. It will stay on the

front pages as a huge ethical dilemma of our times. It is. Let us

go through a dilemma that the Scots will be going through on the 18th of

September. The referendum there. Alex Salmond, the First Minister,

has said I would quit if it meant a yes vote. He would trade his career

and his party to support independence. But that question is

not on the ballot. It seems in recent days as if the yes camp is

sort of closing in on no. They have had a healthy lead for the last few

months, and what all the experts say, the people who watch Scottish

politics very closely, is that Alex Salmond and the SNP and those in

favour of Scotland separating need a game changer to overtake the No

campaign. And this story says that somebody in the independence

campaign has tried to publicise a fairly throwaway remark by Alex

Salmond earlier this week, because they don't want people to go to the

ballot box thinking they are voting on the issue of whether Alex Salmond

will be the king of a new independent Scotland. He is talented

and charismatic, but also divisive as a politician. Many in Scotland

don't like the idea of Alex Salmond being in charge, while they are

attracted to his vision. So they are trying to remove the Alex Salmond

personal factor from the vote. Will that work? As you say, he has not

actually resigned. So we might never know. But apparently, according to

this story, he is something of an electoral liability. So maybe the

yes campaign are trying to have their cake and eat it too. Have them

leading it, but also have in the wings the possibility that he will

leave it at some future point. As an addition to this story, we have the

front of the... It is actually page four of the I there. They want the

government to be tough on Scotland, even if they vote No. That is not

what Westminster is moving towards, it seems to want to give Scotland

everything, to try and keep them in the union. Yes, but the English

generally take a different view. They want the Scots to stay with

them, so they are not in favour of Scottish independent, by quite a big

margin, I think, which surprises me actually, as I would have thought

the English would be quite in favour of getting rid of them. Why? One of

the reasons is that the English... In this is a thorny issue, given

royal revenues, but public spending per head in Scotland is much higher.

One of the things coming out of this poll is that the English want public

spending in Scotland authorised I Westminster and paid for in part I

the alleged taxpayer, paying for free tuition, and healthcare for the

elderly... This is very interesting, because I suspect, I have covered

last month, it was fantastic. What I last month, it was fantastic. What I

suspect is that the English are using their hearts and not their

heads, in their response to these kinds of questionnaires, as to

whether or not Scotland should separate, so the idea of the union

disappearing, the idea that Scotland is no longer part of what we want,

and what we like, it is not about economics. And it is the heart

ruling the head, that Alex Salmond hopes to tap into as far as Scottish

voters are concerned. It is an interesting question as to whether

that is going on. I agree that the slogan Better Together probably

makes a lot of sense to the English. The polling data from the papers

tomorrow morning would suggest that is absolutely the case. But there is

really bad news for both the yes and no camps in this story. Because,

unfortunately for Alex Salmond, it shows that people in England would

not be keen at all on his plan to keep some sort of currency union.

The Sterling, absolutely. The English would like the government to

reject that. That is bad for Alex Salmond. On the other hand, this

poll is bad for the prounion No campaign, because it shows the

English would like Scotland, public spending to be cut in the event of a

no. And also, as explained, they would like Scottish MPs to be

deprived of the right to vote on English matters at Westminster. This

is a kind of constant running issue since devolution in 1999. This is

contrary to the policies coming out of the No campaign. It will be

interesting to see whether negative reaction to the setback for the yes

side or the no side stronger in Scotland. We are into the last month

of the campaign. If the polls start moving in one direction or the

other, there will be a lot of people getting very jumpy about this. It

goes back to the fundamental thing about this referendum, which is that

only the Scots get a vote. It is presented as a referendum on

Scottish independence. It is also a referendum about the breakup of the

United Kingdom, which is as much an issue for the English and the Welsh

and the northern Irish, as it is for the Scots in many. So it is hardly

surprising that the English, denied a vote, when you ask them in the

opinion polls what they think the consequences of the Scottish vote

should be, they are not particularly charitable. It could also have a big

effect on the BBC as well. We face a big funding cut of Scotland votes

yes. Neil, with your media analyst hat on, what are they talking about?

Roughly speaking, 10% of the licence fee comes from Scotland, so ex

hypothesi, if you take Scotland away, the BBC gets less money. I

think it is overdramatised, not least because if the BBC becomes the

English broadcasting Corporation, effectively, then they won't have to

spend money in Scotland either. They won't have revenue, but they also

won't have expenditure. Some say that is what it already is,

actually. The BBC, whether a figleaf or not, has put a lot of effort in

all the nations. Question Time has gone to Glasgow, the weakest Link

went to Scotland for production. They are trying to get more network

programmes in the nations. That would not be the case. The person to

talk to about a casting is Alex Salmond. He wants to persuade the

Scottish people they can have all the BBC stuff they have at the

moment, and a separate Scottish broadcasting company which would

make its own programmes. Now you can't have both of those for the

same money. You just can't, it doesn't add up. You either have to

have less BBC, so you have to have a Scottish broadcasting company which

would buy some BBC programmes but not others, so you might get

EastEnders but not Strict league. Or you say we will take the BBC in its

entirety `` Strictly. Or you say we will pay a license fee in Scotland,

and an additional fee for a Scottish broadcaster, which would be

unpopular. One suspects for Scottish voters this is more of an issue for

the BBC. It is not really at the top of Scottish voters' minds, as they

decide what to do on independence. I think that is not quite right

actually. One of the things the pro` independence campaign has tried to

do... They have tried to promise as much stability and continuity as

possible. There has been a lot of don't frighten the horses about the

pro` independence campaign. They have tried to say they are not

abolishing the Queen, they will keep her as head of state. All this stuff

about the Sterling, it will still be used as the currency, and even in

that large document he produced at that large document he produced at

the beginning of the summer, they have tried to say the cultural UK

riches including the BBC, will remain there as. That may not be the

case. That may affect people's vote. Britain will send jets to join the

hunt for kidnapped girls. 200 girls are still missing after being

kidnapped by the Islamist group Boko Haram. This story was absolutely

huge when it happened. Over 200 schoolgirls taken in north`eastern

Nigeria. The whole world was horrified. In fact, it was

impossible at the time to find them, do anything about it. The

government was heavily criticised for a flat`footed response. There

were calls for international intervention and it did not happen.

The UK is involved in surveillance and intelligence gathering. It is

going to step up its role in trying to work out a pattern of Boko Haram

movements in Nigeria. There is no suggestion the UK is going to swoop

in and rescue the girls. The UK is becoming very involved in

surveillance and intelligence gathering. That is also one of the

key roles for the Brits in Iraq against the Islamic State. There is

very little understanding of the shape of ISIS. That is also the case

with Boko Haram. This is two areas of the world where the UK is

starting to think of how it can help, even if it is not going to

have military intervention. That is the key. Very briefly. David Cameron

has been talking about using UK military assets and prowess, but not

Brits on the ground. This musty one of the obvious ways he is referring

to. `` this must be. These girls need to be rescued. If we have got

jets, we should send jets. There is a wider question of when British

foreign policy keeps being interventionist, when does it end?

Look at what is happening in Iraq. But look at Kosovo, look at Sierra

Leone. There are success stories. We could talk about this for a lot

more. But we cannot, unfortunately. It has been good to have you with

us. Now it is time for Sportsday.

Hello and welcome to Sportsday. 10`man Arsenal are held to a

goalless draw in their Champions League qualifier in Besiktas.

Manchester United reach an