02/01/2016 The Papers

Hello, and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be

With me are Rashid Razaq, culture correspondent

for the London Evening Standard and Caroline Wheeler,

political editor for the Sunday Express.

The Observer leads with the story that government budget cuts

are almost doubling the number of homes considered as being

at significiant risk of flooding within 20 years.

The Sunday Times headlines an executive pay row,

saying the Enviroment Agency's PR chief left the organisation

with a six figure pay-off, despite a troubling week

The Sunday Express leads with the same story,

saying senior managers at the Environment Agency have been

awarded bonuses worth almost ?300,000.

Independent on Sunday's picture shows a woman in Bahrain protesting

against Saudi Arabia's decision to execute 47 individuals -

an act that has been condemned worldwide.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that 11-year-olds will be expected

to know all their times tables when they leave primary school,

The Sunday express. The lead story here, jury at Flood fat cat bonuses.

You have written this story, tell us about it. Flooding has been on the

agenda for over a week since we had the terrible Boxing Day floods. As

you just said, the country is bracing itself again tonight,

different parts, for yet more flooding. And we have discovered

that the flooding bash Environment Agency, which has been criticised

for not doing enough last weekend, has awarded some of its senior staff

around ?300,000 in performance related bonuses and I am sure many

Flood victims out there, in fact we have spoken to some, who will find

that not very impressive, given the fact that they are still trying to

pump out their homes. Among those to have been given bonuses include the

guy who is basically in charge of flooding and for flood risk

management. He was given a bonus of more than ?10,000. We thought it was

important to highlight this because we don't often hear about these

kinds of bonuses being paid to the public sector? Do you think it is

fair these people are being put on the front page when they had

obviously done good work, potentially, in the earlier parts of

the year. Unprecedented weather we were told from the Prime Minister,

one day due date bonus? I think it is a great story by Caroline. I

think we probably should have asked them to give it back. The point of

the story was we wanted to say, the rainfall has been unprecedented but

this is not a nice lead picture. If you look back over the last couple

of years, we had flooding in Cumbria last Christmas and before that, we

have the Somerset Levels. When the main job is about learning and

strategy in terms of flooding, we have to ask whether this is

warranted or not. It is public money, as well. These are public

sector people and they pitifully haven't fulfilled their job duties

here. The flood defences were not adequate. But, surely, they have

been faced with incredible rainfall. They've only got a certain amount of

money to play with. If it was a bottomless pit of money, we could

have flood defences everywhere as high as we like but we don't have

that kind of cash. That is part of the problem. The Environment Agency

does have a limited budget and there have been questions this year about

whether the Environment Agency has enough money to fulfil its basic

civic duties so the question still remains, given its limited budget,

should it be awarding performance related bonuses to people when that

money could have been possibly diverted elsewhere to help prevent

what we have seen devastating the country. Helpfully, the Observer

focuses on just that, how much money that government is prepared to give

to the Environment Agency. The suggestion is here, Rashid, that

many, many more houses are going to be at risk of flooding because of

decisions by the government over the next 20 years. Yes, twice as many

households are at a significant risk. Even though you said

unprecedented weather, I think we have to prepare for this now. The

emphasis often gets put on climate change, which often absolves the

authorities of responsibility because, these things are out of

control. But, you know, we've got the forecasts, we've got the

predictions, we've had these floods repeatedly in the last few years. It

is peddling obvious that these flood the fences are not adequate. More

funding probably does have to be made available. Eventually got the

money will be found, because you can't have large areas of the

country which I inhabit all because you got houses that nobody can

insure because they are not probably protected. It will be a big headache

for the government because this new insurance scheme which is due to

come in in the coming year is not going to protect homes which are

new-build which will make a real problem for the government with its

whole right to buy scheme because most of those new bills. Insurance

is one particular problem but then you still got to protect those homes

that have been there a long time that have been built in flood

plains, areas like Hull which are entirely built on a flood plain,

what do you do to protect them? We do know that other countries have

had similar problems and have come up with ingenious ways of solving it

but they will be expensive. I know the Prime Minister has made

available money for Cumbria, and money will be offered to Yorkshire

in the coming hours but we have to ask is this enough and what can we

do to stop these repeated events? I am not sure, at the moment, having

looked at the response we have seen, that anybody yet has the answers.

Corbyn in high-stakes reshuffle. Hilary Benn, who is he swapping

with? It doesn't seem to give any answers. There was a bit of a power

tussle, as I'm sure everybody is aware, last year, over the Syrian

vote, will be have this extraordinary situation where Jeremy

Corbyn opened the vote opposing air strikes and Hilary Benn closed it,

basically calling for extra to happen. So, there has been a real

spit and schism within the party there. There is talk of this

so-called revenge reshuffle and Hilary Benn has been the focus of

that because there is a need to bring unity to the front bench. It

is going to be very difficult for him to move a popular figure like

Hilary Benn from that kind of job and as it is one of the most senior

jobs inside the Cabinet, one wonders what he could offer to him which

would be satisfactory and which wouldn't cause all out civil war in

the party. Yet again, we are focusing on Labour's internal

politics, rather than putting pressure on the government in terms

of flood defences or any other policies. I think Corbyn is dammed

if you does, dam to be doesn't. He is acting like a leader, being said

-- decisive, shoring up his leader, -- party, but it seems like more of

the same with the internal wranglings of the Labour Party again

and again. The Independent on Sunday, one of their very striking

voters, damn you, it says. This is a tester in Bahrain, Birmingham the

execution of the Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr ionomer. I have to say, 47 of

them were Sunni in a Sunni kingdom. 45 of them. And two of them were

Shia. The Independent is saying... They are calling on the British

government to condemn these killings. All the focus is on the

Shia cleric. But if we are condemning, what are we condemning,

is that his killing of the other 45 alleged Al-Qaeda leader or Islamist

terrorists? Really, we have to ask, how much of an influence can we

possibly bring to bear on a place such as Saudi Arabia. If the

Americans can't influence them. A lot of papers are asking how much

influence does Britain and a lot of other countries you have a

relationship with Saudi Arabia, how much influenced to their want to

bring to bear because they all prize their relationship with Saudi Arabia

for various reasons. That is the point the Independent on Sunday is

trying to make. The whole issue of whether David Cameron condemns it

not, but foreign and wealth office have that strongly, we oppose any

country that has the death penalty. David Cameron made that very clear

in October. He says he doesn't do agree at all with their punishment

regime. This is more about the whole kind of fall out of the story

earlier on, David Cameron, the prison contracts, how much do we

want to be sidling up and ally ourselves to a nation that has an

appalling human rights record Richard Mark but, as you say, where

do you go on this. Iran doesn't have a great record itself. There was a

focus on the fact that one of those who was executed was accused of the

attack on Frank Gardner. One of the people executed is said to have been

the killer of the Irish cameraman who was working with Frank Gardner

in Saudi Arabia all those years ago. The Sunday Times, PM must go if he

loses a U-boat. I wonder how long David Cameron will feel he can hang

around if he didn't winds the referendum. Whichever way we are

supposed to vote, according to him. It is almost dead the obvious. I do

see how David Cameron could hang on. -- stating the obvious. What do you

think? I agree. In many ways, I think it is stating the obvious. I

think the parameter would have to go. In any main ways, he has almost

said that to his own Cabinet, that if he does lose, he will fall on his

own sword in many ways. And by losing, we decide to leave the

European Union? Unless the narrative completely changes between now and

then. He is saying that is what he is seeking to achieve, he wants to

get to a situation where we have a relationship with Europe that has

undergone a transformation so that it is acceptable to the British

public and if he doesn't achieve that, he has said that he will

support it but we are a long way off that and as long as he keeps to what

he says, and fights to keep Britain in but in a renegotiated Europe, I

can't see there would be any other consequence to an advert. The Sunday

Telegraph, pupils must know times tables by the age of 11. This is

when they leave primary school. I think a lot of people will be

surprised that this isn't already the expectation. I don't think I

know them by the age of 35. So I am a little bit worried. It seems like

a very retrograde step, really. What seems retrograde? Learning

timetables by road. Is that the way to teach mathematics in 2016? To a

new generation of kids who are competing with international league

tables, we are way down in terms of mathematics and -- is this a step

forward? I think this is also about a refocus. The government has been

very focused on that receipt and phonics for a very long time. As a

mother who -- of a six-year-old who was expected to be reading chapter

books by the age of five, I have seen this massive focus on the three

ours and maths has fallen by the wayside, and it is perhaps the kind

of China and other countries higher up the league tables, there has been

more of an emphasis. I think this will go down like a bucket of cold

sick with the teachers who already feel like there is enough testing

going on within schools are particularly primary schools. But

without times tables, so much of maths that you need to be able to do

is closed off to you. I agree, to that extent, but as you are saying

about rote, I think it is one thing to be able to do it by Bert but to

do it -- to understand what it means, that is different. If this is

going to introduce a practical element, that is welcome, but I

think if it is going back to it a row with the teacher with a ruler

tapping their board, I am not in favour. What is eight times seven?

We will get back to you. 56, says a voice in my ear. Do you see that?

The brains behind the operation. That's it for the papers this hour.

Thank you both. You'll be back at 11.30pm

for another look at the stories