:00:00. > :00:00.bit about you and if I can do it, so can everyone else. That is all for
:00:00. > :00:13.now. Now it is time for a review of the papers.
:00:14. > :00:16.Hello and welcome to our Sunday morning edition of THE PAPERS.
:00:17. > :00:27.With me are Ian Birrell and Mina Al-Oraibi.
:00:28. > :00:33.The Observer has a picture of the flooding crisis,
:00:34. > :00:36.showing a street submerged in West Yorkshire and reports that
:00:37. > :00:40.The Sunday Express leads with the flooding, calling it
:00:41. > :00:43."The Day Britain went under" is the Mail on Sunday's take
:00:44. > :00:46.on the same story - the paper reports that Britain has
:00:47. > :00:48.been hit by its worst floods in decades.
:00:49. > :00:51.The Human Rights Act is holding back British troops in Iraq
:00:52. > :00:52.and Afghanistan, according to Defence Secretary Michael Fallon,
:00:53. > :01:02.Meanwhile claims on the front page of the Independent on Sunday
:01:03. > :01:04.thatthe Conservatives are set to, as the paper has it,
:01:05. > :01:07."attack local democracy" by banning councils from divesting themselves
:01:08. > :01:13.And the Sunday Times says a Knighthood due this week
:01:14. > :01:15.for David Cameron's election chief, Lynton Crosby, is set
:01:16. > :01:30.Let's begin. No doubt about the front pages, the Mail on Sunday, the
:01:31. > :01:34.day Britain went under and this extraordinary picture of streets
:01:35. > :01:37.turned into rivers. The footage is amazing, a terrible thing to happen
:01:38. > :01:42.this time of year, at any time of the year but to give really now. It
:01:43. > :01:46.raises a lot of interesting issues given the fact that seems to be a
:01:47. > :01:52.preponderance of this happening, some homes head for the second or
:01:53. > :01:56.third time in a decade, rivers at record levels. Obvious issues, we
:01:57. > :02:00.are told climate change will lead to extreme weather conditions, you
:02:01. > :02:04.can't end .1 particular incident but there seems to be issues here,
:02:05. > :02:09.whether we are building the right flood defences, the government cut
:02:10. > :02:16.flood defences by 14% this year, the wider issue which for a lot of
:02:17. > :02:18.people, given over ?5 billion a way to resolve climate change abroad at
:02:19. > :02:24.the same time we are spending less than half of it in this country. A
:02:25. > :02:27.lot of interconnecting issues, the immediate issue of getting people
:02:28. > :02:31.out of their homes and making them safe and comfortable, and then what
:02:32. > :02:38.should we spend the money on? Do flood defences work? Are they the
:02:39. > :02:42.right type. Especially because as Ian says it is becoming more
:02:43. > :02:46.frequent and we can expect more of this to happen in the coming few
:02:47. > :02:51.weeks and months before the next season hits. In terms of planning
:02:52. > :02:56.and spending it's about flood defences but how are the homes being
:02:57. > :03:00.prepared, how much warning people being given? Surely some of these
:03:01. > :03:04.evacuations should have happened in advance, 10,000 homes without
:03:05. > :03:08.electric and we don't know why not service will get back. In terms of
:03:09. > :03:13.government preparation, it's about the immediate but it's unclear what
:03:14. > :03:18.has been planned for the next few weeks. I think one of the main
:03:19. > :03:22.issues is the fact that red alerts... There are two red alerts
:03:23. > :03:25.from The Met office, when they were issued, could it have been done
:03:26. > :03:31.earlier and the questions are about reparation. Where do you see the
:03:32. > :03:35.supposed climate change debate? Is there a debate any more? I know some
:03:36. > :03:43.people don't believe climate change causes global warming but is that a
:03:44. > :03:46.marginal activity? In Britain and America there is a serious body of
:03:47. > :03:50.opinion that doubts that despite the pattern is that we are seeing and I
:03:51. > :03:53.think that's a problem. It's not a question of whether it climate
:03:54. > :03:57.change but it's a question of whether it's man-made that is a part
:03:58. > :04:00.of it and you can't say this is down to climate change but there seems to
:04:01. > :04:05.be more extreme weather conditions which is what we were told to
:04:06. > :04:11.expect. It raises issues about house-building. What way are we
:04:12. > :04:17.building them? Is there a problem with farming? What about trees and
:04:18. > :04:22.the higher ground? Are we doing the rights of the flood defences, or are
:04:23. > :04:25.they channelling the water down. Dredging is another question, is it
:04:26. > :04:31.good or bad? That's interesting. Most of us think of flood defences
:04:32. > :04:36.as big walls round rivers but perhaps there is a different way,
:04:37. > :04:42.more trees upstream for example. There's also the argument of pushing
:04:43. > :04:49.the into other places, if you allow it to me and there is less problems
:04:50. > :04:52.with flooding. You have lived in the United States for the last few
:04:53. > :04:58.months, four is the debate about global warming and climate change?
:04:59. > :05:03.Has it changed? It's election season, you see much more division
:05:04. > :05:05.between the Democrats and the Republicans. It's changed in the
:05:06. > :05:10.sense there are more and more people saying the sciences they are but
:05:11. > :05:18.it's a question of what can be done. The focus is on China and India, the
:05:19. > :05:24.US feels like it's the good guys, we are doing enough. We have seen crazy
:05:25. > :05:28.weather. At the moment, it is so warm in London, I was just in
:05:29. > :05:32.Connecticut and New York, it's incredibly warm for this time of
:05:33. > :05:36.year, the changes are here. I think less people are discussing when
:05:37. > :05:43.climate change comes, now it's here, what do we do? We had the Paris
:05:44. > :05:46.Conference and they fail to come up with concrete action, but it was
:05:47. > :05:52.encouraging people came together and recognise the scale of the problem
:05:53. > :05:58.and came up with devices to work more on renewables. The Sunday
:05:59. > :06:04.Times, a knighthood for a Cameron's election chief Lynton Crosby. This
:06:05. > :06:09.award will provoke a fresh row over cronyism in the honours system. If
:06:10. > :06:13.the story is correct, they are right, there will be a row. How is
:06:14. > :06:18.this for public servers, what is the point of the honours system? This is
:06:19. > :06:21.supposed to be someone who has given something the public good,
:06:22. > :06:24.recognition of something towards the entire country, hard to see for a
:06:25. > :06:30.Lynton Crosby comes into the argument. He ran an amazingly
:06:31. > :06:36.successful campaign. I am not sure he wondered, Prime Minister one at
:06:37. > :06:39.by remaining a moderately likeable figure in a fervent political
:06:40. > :06:44.situation. All he did was help impose discipline, he is slightly
:06:45. > :06:52.overrated for what he delivered but I think the truth is most of the
:06:53. > :06:57.public knows the sleuth exists at all level of the honour system,
:06:58. > :07:01.whether it's funding, are people getting political appointments. It's
:07:02. > :07:04.one more reason for the corrosion of faith in politics but it's not
:07:05. > :07:08.surprising. It would be more surprising if there was not a crony
:07:09. > :07:12.row with the honour system whoever is in government. Maybe we should
:07:13. > :07:17.make it over at, you pay half a million, you get a million -- you
:07:18. > :07:23.get a peerage. Maybe we should just do that? I thought it was pretty
:07:24. > :07:29.overt Don Reading. Not peerages. There is another way you could let
:07:30. > :07:32.people get perks. The story is amazing, they referred to David
:07:33. > :07:37.Cameron's her dresser forgetting an MBE, we missed that. Every year we
:07:38. > :07:44.have something. It keeps the newspaper is busy. I suspect the
:07:45. > :07:50.public will be more interested in Barbara Windsor getting a Dem heard.
:07:51. > :07:54.She has cheered a sub for decades. The Telegraph, two interesting
:07:55. > :07:57.stories. Ministers suspend the Human Rights Act, troops being held back
:07:58. > :08:05.in the fight against terrorists, says the Defence Secretary. He talks
:08:06. > :08:12.about fixation claims being taken out against soldiers. This also
:08:13. > :08:14.focus on shoot to kill and for protection the police have this is a
:08:15. > :08:19.tricky area regardless of what you think of the Human Rights Act. It's
:08:20. > :08:26.one of those issues that has different facets. Partly it's about
:08:27. > :08:30.what the government thinks about being part of the European Union,
:08:31. > :08:35.the Bill of Rights. That is one issue. I think this is being
:08:36. > :08:38.politicised in that sense, the troops and the army are hugely
:08:39. > :08:44.porting to the contrary. It is an argument that can win over support
:08:45. > :08:47.to get out of the European Convention. Having said that, we are
:08:48. > :08:51.witnessing around the world, especially when it comes to
:08:52. > :08:55.countries like the UK and US, questions about rules of engagement
:08:56. > :08:59.and what happens in times of war so I think it's important to have
:09:00. > :09:04.accountability and raise questions. The problem is when you have certain
:09:05. > :09:10.investigations, the UK spend ?100 million since 2000 and four and
:09:11. > :09:13.investigations in compensation elated to misconduct during war.
:09:14. > :09:19.Some people say this is about money and lawyers but at the same time we
:09:20. > :09:22.have to have these questions, we have to have public enquiries and we
:09:23. > :09:28.have to keep holding those that hold the guns to account. I think it's
:09:29. > :09:33.one of those arguments that need to be made, if you have a British bill
:09:34. > :09:37.of rights how does that secure whoever is the innocent person or
:09:38. > :09:41.civilian... How different would it be from European legislation, given
:09:42. > :09:45.that the British was one of the driving forces behind the
:09:46. > :09:48.legislation in the first place. Not just the British but the
:09:49. > :09:51.Conservative Party, it was Conservative backed, inspired
:09:52. > :09:56.Churchill and pushed forward by the Conservatives. The British Bill of
:09:57. > :10:01.Rights would probably have many of the same protections within it. What
:10:02. > :10:05.it wouldn't have... Compare the money spent on the investigation
:10:06. > :10:08.into Bloody Sunday, this is not a huge summer and it's right that
:10:09. > :10:13.people should be held to account, you have to be able to hold people
:10:14. > :10:17.to account, it's like the culture in the NHS, if people make mistakes
:10:18. > :10:23.they should be dealt with. It's the same here, the question is how do
:10:24. > :10:27.you have the best system to do it? Whether they should be
:10:28. > :10:29.accountability? That brings us to my favourite story, the Sunday
:10:30. > :10:37.Telegraph, British couple first cloned hobby from dead dog. An
:10:38. > :10:44.estimated ?76,000 to a South Korean company. What do you think? You are
:10:45. > :10:49.dog lover. You know... Will be tied anyone who said they weren't. It's
:10:50. > :10:52.incredible, I think, you spend six to ?7,000 to get a cloned version of
:10:53. > :11:01.your dog. I have had a dog and much as I loved it, when it went, you
:11:02. > :11:07.just wait and then get another one. -- ?67,000. I am sure they are happy
:11:08. > :11:12.with the new puppy. It is a cute puppy. It is called Dylan, nice
:11:13. > :11:16.name. I find this difficult because I believe in the soul. Even if you
:11:17. > :11:23.have physical attributes you cannot ring the soul back. I think this
:11:24. > :11:27.puppy is gorgeous and cute... I don't know, the South Korean
:11:28. > :11:39.company... Of course don't have a soul. Disturbing bill-macro Dylan
:11:40. > :11:44.have a soul? -- does Dylan? Now to a long-running story... Christian
:11:45. > :11:49.genocide warning, dozens of MPs and peers calling on the government to
:11:50. > :11:52.talk about the persecution of Christians in Surrey as genocide,
:11:53. > :11:57.something that religious leaders of all faiths have touched on in the
:11:58. > :12:03.past few days. Of course, it comes around Christmas time, we are
:12:04. > :12:06.thinking about Christians and this is where Christianity came from and
:12:07. > :12:11.we see Christians under attack but it's not just in Syria, we have had
:12:12. > :12:14.it in a rack and let's not forget Bethlehem and what happens in
:12:15. > :12:18.Palestine. There is something to be said about the right place of
:12:19. > :12:23.Christians in the Arab world and the Middle East and the protections that
:12:24. > :12:26.they need. Having said that, what is happening in Syria, there is mass
:12:27. > :12:31.killing on many fronts and many different sides are responsible. I
:12:32. > :12:35.think the use of the term genocide itself has to be used delicately.
:12:36. > :12:42.What is this are doing is not just attacking Christians and the Yazidi
:12:43. > :12:45.people, they are attacking others. We have to be cautious about not
:12:46. > :12:49.saying we need to protect the script and not another group because that
:12:50. > :12:55.feeds into what extremists from all sides want. It's a kind of equal
:12:56. > :12:59.opportunity slaughter to anyone who gets on the way but the Archbishop
:13:00. > :13:03.of Canterbury said Christianity might become a stranger to the land
:13:04. > :13:06.of its birth in the Middle East and that is something that worries
:13:07. > :13:13.people, not just the Christian faith but other faiths. I get slightly
:13:14. > :13:15.uncomfortable focusing on one community, given the horrors that we
:13:16. > :13:18.have seen unleashed on various communities. There is a
:13:19. > :13:24.casualisation of the word genocide which we have seen in recent years,
:13:25. > :13:27.community leaders and church leaders jumping up and down further
:13:28. > :13:33.favourite cause and using this word which should be used carefully.
:13:34. > :13:38.There have been huge, historic atrocities that are unanswerable. I
:13:39. > :13:44.think it's too easy to call things genocide and again... Here it is,
:13:45. > :13:47.not divisive at focusing on one section, when there is horror
:13:48. > :13:51.perpetuated on so many communities from atheists through to gay people,
:13:52. > :13:59.through to all the different religions, moderates, even within
:14:00. > :14:02.the Sunni Muslim faith. There are atrocities all round and it's wrong
:14:03. > :14:07.to focus on one group, however horrid and horrific some of the
:14:08. > :14:12.things have been. Let's move on to the Observer, a troubling story,
:14:13. > :14:15.mental health patient sent to accident and emergency, troubled
:14:16. > :14:20.children added to the burden and concerns about lack of out-of-hours
:14:21. > :14:26.care. How those with mental health issues are treated differently from
:14:27. > :14:31.those with physical health problems and it's become a long-running sore.
:14:32. > :14:35.It's been underfunded, the Cinderella of the National Health
:14:36. > :14:39.Service, what's quite good in the last two or three years is
:14:40. > :14:44.politicians, to give them credit, they have woken up to this. On all
:14:45. > :14:47.sides, you see people raise the issue of mental health as being one
:14:48. > :14:52.of the real failings of British health care and social care. It
:14:53. > :14:56.shows the story underlining it, there is too little money going into
:14:57. > :15:02.it, simply for the Vic TPC Sawgrass, too little on offer, too many
:15:03. > :15:05.frequent closures but I get the impression that within society we
:15:06. > :15:09.are beginning slowly to wake up to the fact that mental health is as
:15:10. > :15:16.big a problem as physical health and needs to be treated in that way. One
:15:17. > :15:18.of the interesting things is how many people, politicians,
:15:19. > :15:23.entertainers, have talked about their own mental health issues, like
:15:24. > :15:28.depression... It's now part of the conversation. The issue of stigma
:15:29. > :15:34.with illnesses, further physical or mental... Politicians and
:15:35. > :15:39.celebrities can raise the profile. You remember a time when people
:15:40. > :15:44.would not use the word cancer. It's the same thing with mental health,
:15:45. > :15:47.if you said you had any form of depression, it's almost like a
:15:48. > :15:52.handicap and people don't want to talk about it. What is important
:15:53. > :15:55.about this story is that increasingly, honourable young
:15:56. > :15:59.people under the age of 18 field they have nowhere to go except A
:16:00. > :16:06.and they are being pushed their under -- after 5pm. Anyone in a
:16:07. > :16:12.distressed state suffers enough, think about being under 18 and going
:16:13. > :16:18.through that, what about those who shy away and will not go there? It's
:16:19. > :16:24.about community support, what sort of support can we give through the
:16:25. > :16:27.NHS but also not three A? Quite a complicated story in the
:16:28. > :16:32.Independent, the Tories planning an attack on local DeMarco C, local
:16:33. > :16:44.authorities diverse team themselves of unethical funds, -- local
:16:45. > :16:47.democracy. It's a bit of a generic headline but there is something
:16:48. > :16:51.interesting, the government has the right to tell local authorities and
:16:52. > :16:56.communities that they can cannot invest in certain companies that
:16:57. > :16:59.they see as unethical and of course, for the anti-apartheid movement,
:17:00. > :17:04.this was such a big part of the campaign, an important part of
:17:05. > :17:10.recognising that taking money out of anyone who helped a business problem
:17:11. > :17:14.the apartheid regime, we saw some things going on with arms companies
:17:15. > :17:18.and tobacco companies but what this is about particularly is Israel,
:17:19. > :17:21.Palestine and the Middle East. That is why it's an interesting story and
:17:22. > :17:29.it will be very contentious if it goes through. It's hugely important
:17:30. > :17:36.because of the apartheid message. Local people who care about these
:17:37. > :17:40.issues, they want to have a voice feel the government is not listening
:17:41. > :17:48.but this be local councils are. -- the anti-apartheid message. This is
:17:49. > :17:50.going to be a big story. There's also an interesting philosophical
:17:51. > :17:56.issue, whether they have the right to to the community in that area and
:17:57. > :18:00.that way. Should they be involved in foreign policy debates? A lot of
:18:01. > :18:06.interesting issues. Interesting. Thank you both. A reminder that we
:18:07. > :18:09.will take a look at tomorrow's front pages every evening at 10:30pm and
:18:10. > :18:14.11:30pm right here on BBC News.