:00:15. > :00:17.Hello and welcome to our look at the morning's papers.
:00:18. > :00:19.With me are the broadcaster, Anna Raeburn,
:00:20. > :00:23.and Robert Fox - the Defence Editor for the London Evening Standard.
:00:24. > :00:29.The Observer has a picture of the flooding crisis -
:00:30. > :00:32.showing a street submerged in West Yorkshire - and reports that
:00:33. > :00:38.The Sunday Express leads with the flooding - calling it a
:00:39. > :00:44."The Day Britain went under" is the Mail on Sunday's take
:00:45. > :00:47.on the same story - the paper reports that Britain has been hit
:00:48. > :00:56.The Human Rights Act is holding back British troops in Iraq
:00:57. > :01:04.and Afghanistan, according to Defence Secretary Michael Fallon,
:01:05. > :01:07.Meanwhile claims on the front page of the Independent on Sunday...
:01:08. > :01:11.That The Conservatives are set to, as the paper has it, "attack local
:01:12. > :01:13.democracy" by banning councils - from divesting themselves of
:01:14. > :01:17.And the Sunday Times says a Knighthood due this week for David
:01:18. > :01:20.Cameron's election chief, Lynton Crosby, is set to spark controversy.
:01:21. > :01:40.Welcome to you again. There are a lot of pictures around, the mail
:01:41. > :01:44.says it all in the shares. This is the best picture because it shows
:01:45. > :01:50.that this is no longer, not that it was ever good, but not happening to
:01:51. > :01:56.small isolated villages but it is happening to bigger cities and it is
:01:57. > :02:05.totally devastating something it is flooding to a level that we have not
:02:06. > :02:11.seen. It is so widespread and it does raise the question about what
:02:12. > :02:17.we should have had in place as a plan. I've listened to people from
:02:18. > :02:21.the various departments that they have been quicker off the mark but
:02:22. > :02:26.the damage has outweighed anything that has been in place that could
:02:27. > :02:34.have anticipated this. That is the case. Going on, we have seen the
:02:35. > :02:37.papers and they have got details that some of the people have left
:02:38. > :02:45.their homes, torrential rain it is awful. The climate is changing. That
:02:46. > :02:52.is the real problem, isn't it? This thing is ongoing but they are on the
:02:53. > :02:56.fourth warning. Not that is the centre of gravity, but you are
:02:57. > :03:02.rightly saying it has got to Manchester, York and this is
:03:03. > :03:08.big-time. I wonder how we are prepared in terms of first-line
:03:09. > :03:21.response as we call them. It is supposedly happening in other major
:03:22. > :03:26.area. Will people know what to do? Distressed animals, which is a huge
:03:27. > :03:36.problem in the circumstances. Other countries have lived with chronic
:03:37. > :03:44.threat. 80% of the Italy is seismic, that is honourable to earthquakes.
:03:45. > :03:50.With almost any other major European ally, of course United States,
:03:51. > :03:54.because the way our armed forces have been hollowed out, there just
:03:55. > :04:01.aren't the numbers to do it. They say that people can volunteer, but
:04:02. > :04:08.they are nowhere near achieving their target. This is a warning. We
:04:09. > :04:11.are going to need the human as well as the physical resources because
:04:12. > :04:19.this is going to happen again and again. The stories inside are all
:04:20. > :04:29.about people's homes being wrecked. It is the most terrible thing. It is
:04:30. > :04:37.a repetitive terrible thing. They will use their -- they will lose
:04:38. > :04:43.their homes, their businesses but they will be grateful for their
:04:44. > :04:47.lives, limbs and pets, but it will take a very long time to sort this
:04:48. > :04:51.out. And dare I say, it will cost and bottom money. And eventually,
:04:52. > :04:56.the insurance companies will say that they cannot pay out to
:04:57. > :05:05.everybody and that will create yet another problem. The Independent on
:05:06. > :05:09.Sunday, don't tend to go for things elsewhere, but this is intriguing.
:05:10. > :05:19.The Tories planned attack on local democracy. This is an investigation
:05:20. > :05:27.done from an old friend of mine and he has been looking into proposals
:05:28. > :05:33.and plans from mission control to stop local councils choosing where
:05:34. > :05:38.they place or don't place things like investments into pension
:05:39. > :05:43.funds, in what they regard as an ethical or antisocial organisations.
:05:44. > :05:51.Remember in the past, the withdraw funds from South Africa and the
:05:52. > :05:54.particular case now, and this is following Foreign Office advice, is
:05:55. > :06:00.that they have been withdrawing funds and holding them back from
:06:01. > :06:05.investing in anything to do with Israel connected with the West Bank
:06:06. > :06:10.settlements. The Foreign Office advice is not to do it because they
:06:11. > :06:17.are risky. Now, the proposal is that they are going to withdraw these
:06:18. > :06:25.powers, that is, fiscal choice in a crucial area from local authorities.
:06:26. > :06:30.They are terribly libertarian government is actually building up
:06:31. > :06:35.big government in Whitehall. Traditionally conservatives coming
:06:36. > :06:40.back to Margaret Thatcher and they don't like local authority very
:06:41. > :06:45.much. Surely there is a point that it all local authorities go around
:06:46. > :06:51.deciding on their investment choices, but their own Preferment in
:06:52. > :06:55.the way they dish out their money. Lotta people might find that odd.
:06:56. > :07:03.Shouldn't everybody be following a central policy? That is the idea of
:07:04. > :07:08.the central policy. This is about 70 million people in a country are not
:07:09. > :07:17.going to be governed by one set of ordinance or organisation. Is can't
:07:18. > :07:21.be and it isn't. -- it. Why shouldn't we have different
:07:22. > :07:24.authorities making different decisions if those other decisions
:07:25. > :07:33.that their members are comfortable and happy with always presuming they
:07:34. > :07:42.know about them. The other the that track the art -- the other thing is
:07:43. > :07:49.about preparing to slip through Parliament and unprecedented curve
:07:50. > :07:54.on councils to make them do it without having any debate about it.
:07:55. > :08:03.It is just got to become an act of law. That is the way relations are
:08:04. > :08:11.put in. I do think she is right. 2016 is going to be where devolution
:08:12. > :08:16.is going to come up. If it goes a certain way, Scotland will
:08:17. > :08:27.immediately go for a referendum. Once you get the Scottish people
:08:28. > :08:36.involved, the question raised by old friends, that Simon's point about so
:08:37. > :08:40.many areas of the North feel disenfranchised is absolutely right.
:08:41. > :08:46.We're not governing and we cannot go on governing a country of 70 million
:08:47. > :08:55.as if it is just over 40 million. The Sunday Telegraph, Minister
:08:56. > :09:02.suspend Human Rights Act. Michael Fallon has some very strong opinions
:09:03. > :09:05.about this. He argues that there is a strong case for suspending the
:09:06. > :09:10.human rights law when sending forces into action overseas. He says we
:09:11. > :09:15.don't need these ambulance chasing British law firms, it is not only
:09:16. > :09:18.expensive, but it inhibits the operational effectiveness of our
:09:19. > :09:23.troops because they start to worry about whether they will end up in
:09:24. > :09:34.court or not. You know a lot about this, Robert. Is it true? To British
:09:35. > :09:44.troops worry about legal action? It sounds doubtful but it is an
:09:45. > :09:49.important issue. They are more concerned with the wall will be the
:09:50. > :09:54.person closer to the rear. The kind of people that I'm not supposed to
:09:55. > :09:59.say who will be operating in those areas as we speak. There will only
:10:00. > :10:04.be a few dozen. They are up for it because it is their job and they
:10:05. > :10:07.believe it is a duty and they hope that their commanding officer, the
:10:08. > :10:13.chain of command should protect them. Actually, I hope that Michael
:10:14. > :10:19.Fallon has not been properly quoted here. As he is quoted, he is being
:10:20. > :10:22.grossly oversimplistic about this. Yes there are the end of this
:10:23. > :10:38.chases, yes they do cost a lot of money, but things do go wrong. The
:10:39. > :10:46.case of because -- the case of the young recruits. They do have a human
:10:47. > :10:56.rights, Mr Fallon. They are taking up an awful lot of time and money?
:10:57. > :11:01.Yes, they do. That is what he is getting at. He's getting at a
:11:02. > :11:04.European Community, that the Prime Minister says he would like to take
:11:05. > :11:10.a view on and this is a nice convenient to flag up and say we can
:11:11. > :11:27.be out of this. I think this is true, -- too, located. We can't tell
:11:28. > :11:38.them that they are not cobble. They are -- culpable. This is all about
:11:39. > :11:44.the plight. Christians in the Middle East and the rise of the Islamic
:11:45. > :11:52.State. They have written a lot about the ethics of war and they are very
:11:53. > :12:02.experienced. What do we have here fresh and blue particularly in
:12:03. > :12:06.Syria. What has happened to the Christian minorities, and there are
:12:07. > :12:13.tiny splinters of this where they made at the gander opportunity of
:12:14. > :12:17.this. It should always be remembered because it is just about the only
:12:18. > :12:22.village on planet Earth that still speaks the language of Jesus
:12:23. > :12:30.Christ. These people have been absolutely rolled over. The people
:12:31. > :12:34.we do not hear about enough of the Christian Palestinians who are a
:12:35. > :12:49.minority of the Palestinian. They have a horrible time. These are MPs
:12:50. > :12:55.calling on... They talk about the persecution of Christians in Syria
:12:56. > :13:04.is genocide. Somebody should be culpable for it. Does it make a
:13:05. > :13:10.difference at all? I think we will disagree here but go on. I think it
:13:11. > :13:15.will say some into the world that this may be now a minority religion,
:13:16. > :13:21.but it is a religion like all other religions, held dear. Therefore,
:13:22. > :13:37.nobody should be simply killed because they are different. Robert?
:13:38. > :13:44.I think the facts on the ground so, -- complicated. We heard about the
:13:45. > :13:52.breakdown and we have hundreds militant group. You hear from
:13:53. > :13:59.conferences about a peace plan if only for groups can get together. It
:14:00. > :14:01.is not about four group. It is the brutal realist of me that has
:14:02. > :14:07.travelled as part of the world the nearly 50 years is that these people
:14:08. > :14:12.are regarded as people who get in the way. That is the thing we need
:14:13. > :14:20.to think about what we can do about it. Thank you very much for joining
:14:21. > :14:23.me this evening. That is it. Coming up next is reporters.