:00:00. > :00:00.in the cricket against South Africa in Cape Town. More on that later.
:00:00. > :00:23.Welcome to our Sunday morning edition of the papers. With me are
:00:24. > :00:31.Phillipa Leighton Jones, editor of WSJ City at the Wall Street Journal
:00:32. > :00:35.and journist KunalDutta. The the observer leads with flooding and
:00:36. > :00:41.claims the Government budget cuts are almost doubling the number of
:00:42. > :00:48.homes considered as being at writhe risk of flooding. The Sunday Times
:00:49. > :00:53.headline an executive pay row. Saying the Environment Agency PR
:00:54. > :00:57.chief left the organisation with a six figure payoff despite troubling
:00:58. > :01:02.week for the agency. The Sunday express leads with the same story.
:01:03. > :01:08.Saying senior managers at the Environment Agency have been awarded
:01:09. > :01:13.bonuses worth almost ?300,000. The Independent on Sunday's picture
:01:14. > :01:18.shows a woman in Bahrain protesting against Saudi Arabia's decision to
:01:19. > :01:23.excuse 47 individuals, including a prominent Shia cleveric. The Sunday
:01:24. > :01:26.Telegraph reports 11-year-olds will be expected to know all their times
:01:27. > :01:35.tables when they leave primary school under new Government plans
:01:36. > :01:40.It's hunt the guilty parties for the flooding rather than acts of God.
:01:41. > :01:45.The Environment Agency, we'll get to them in a minute. Revealed how Tory
:01:46. > :01:49.cuts are wrecking UK flood defences is The Observer splash. Ministers
:01:50. > :01:55.warned of risk twice the number of homes face threat. This is moving on
:01:56. > :01:59.to the next chapter of who gets the blame for the lack of flood
:02:00. > :02:05.defences. This one is particularly damning for the Tories. As you'd
:02:06. > :02:08.expect from the Observer. This is the emergence of a report from the
:02:09. > :02:15.association of drainage authorities which warned the Government things
:02:16. > :02:21.were getting worse. We've had five the wettest winters since 2010 or
:02:22. > :02:26.since 2,000. As things have progressively got worse, the Tories
:02:27. > :02:29.have cut the budgets for drainage, flood defences and this is why we're
:02:30. > :02:33.at the situation we are now. Questions have been asked about this
:02:34. > :02:37.all week. The emergence of this report and the fact the Tories were
:02:38. > :02:46.told about this ahead of time calls into question their decision to cut
:02:47. > :02:55.budgets for this. The key figure in here is today homes at risk from
:02:56. > :03:03.floods, 330,000, it will rise to 570,000 by 2035 which calls into
:03:04. > :03:06.question a lot of things. Also, last week, the Government, the word
:03:07. > :03:11.unprecedented appeared in every statement pretty much they said.
:03:12. > :03:14.This is saying this might have been unprecedented but not unpredictage.
:03:15. > :03:22.People thought this could happen if this course of policy was followed?
:03:23. > :03:25.Yeah, we've seen with floods, initially it was climate change the
:03:26. > :03:30.big issue. The Government said we've got to do something about climate
:03:31. > :03:37.change which is such a long-term policy procedure. With actual
:03:38. > :03:42.flooding itself, it's no coincidence we are seeing this much more
:03:43. > :03:48.frequently. We are seeing storms almost annually. We only started
:03:49. > :03:55.naming storms in November and, this was Alf bet cal. And we're already
:03:56. > :04:01.coming to F. We only started with Abigail in November. So, they've got
:04:02. > :04:05.nowhere to hide. I think what this is about is saying enough about the
:04:06. > :04:08.big rhetoric about climate change, we need to do something. Things have
:04:09. > :04:12.to happen on the ground. Money has though flow into the north where
:04:13. > :04:17.this problem is being hardest hit rather than just in the capital. The
:04:18. > :04:23.whole northern powerhouse thing, three Great Northern cities under
:04:24. > :04:25.water is... That's a huge challenge. Cameron's made the northern
:04:26. > :04:31.powerhouse a key parts of his election pledge. Look what's
:04:32. > :04:35.happened. He worried about the pair of wellies he'll don so he doesn't
:04:36. > :04:39.look posh. Some of these homes arend water some not for the first time.
:04:40. > :04:44.Lhotse Facing the problem of not being able to insure their homes. It
:04:45. > :04:50.is miserable. Disgusting when you see what flooding does. The other
:04:51. > :04:58.way to point the finger of blame is the Environment Agency. This the
:04:59. > :05:04.Sunday express's take. Fury at fat cat bonuses. Awarded bonuses of
:05:05. > :05:10.almost ?300,000. This is the other side of it. We were sussing earlier,
:05:11. > :05:17.the viern agency is effectively public funded. It has to be
:05:18. > :05:21.accountable to the public. When you see the disconnect between massive
:05:22. > :05:25.flooding problems and failure of flood defences and you look at the
:05:26. > :05:31.agency and the bonuses that executives are getting for it, there
:05:32. > :05:39.is likely to be, publicly, a question of is that actually
:05:40. > :05:46.working? Rewards for failure. If this was banging. What would happen,
:05:47. > :05:53.these days anyway, executives would say we accept we haven't done the
:05:54. > :05:59.job expected. They'd hand back the bonuses or implement some long-term
:06:00. > :06:03.incentive. That is hard to do when you've something as unpredictable as
:06:04. > :06:09.the weather. Why not say here's your bonus. We'll pay you in ten years
:06:10. > :06:19.when we see how you've done. Use the scientific evidence of how things
:06:20. > :06:25.are going to go. At least work with a modus operandi who... One or two
:06:26. > :06:31.people not around during the Christmas period when storm Frank
:06:32. > :06:37.hits. Being in sunny places. The message the head of this agency was
:06:38. > :06:42.at home with family and they failed to mention at first that at home was
:06:43. > :06:46.in Barbados. I think it's tricky all round for them. They need to take a
:06:47. > :06:52.good long hard look at their incentive schemes. This story will
:06:53. > :06:57.run and run, these two stories about what the Government and Environment
:06:58. > :07:03.Agency is doing. Given the figures, people won't accept this. They're
:07:04. > :07:06.not. And these moves where the Government responds like David
:07:07. > :07:11.Cameron has today, a ?40 million emergency fund to go to Yorkshire.
:07:12. > :07:15.Matching of charity donations to ?2 million, it's seen as on the hoof
:07:16. > :07:20.when you're responding to things like this. Whereas, I think,
:07:21. > :07:23.long-term, there needs to be a much more clear strategy in place which
:07:24. > :07:28.acknowledges this will be the story that does carry on and will happen
:07:29. > :07:32.next year probably It seeps haphazard up to now, dare I say, not
:07:33. > :07:38.taken particularly seriously. There needs to be a revisit of how far up
:07:39. > :07:42.the agenda this goes. I'm sure David Cameron's thinking about that. One
:07:43. > :07:47.of the things he's also thinking about, the biggest story we can
:07:48. > :07:51.predict of 2016, what happens when we vote on Europe, if we vote this
:07:52. > :07:59.year which most of us seem to think will happen. Pinsters, PM must go if
:08:00. > :08:02.ministers loose EU vote. It would be terrible for David Cameron
:08:03. > :08:09.personally if he were to lead a campaign to stay in Europe and the
:08:10. > :08:16.people rejected it? Yes, it would be bad for him. I just warn everyone
:08:17. > :08:21.not to underestimate what a master tactics he is strategically. The way
:08:22. > :08:27.he's pitching getting this deal from Europe he's after, it will be very
:08:28. > :08:34.carefully presented to the country. I think when it comes to it, don't
:08:35. > :08:41.under estimate the fact he has until February to get the deal he needs
:08:42. > :08:44.from Brussels. Then has the lag period where he needs to sell that
:08:45. > :08:51.into the country. He's very good at that. That's the key point. He
:08:52. > :08:54.doesn't have much time and is distracted by the floods. Six weeks
:08:55. > :08:59.Bev he has to do this deal with Europe the. He might or might not
:09:00. > :09:07.get a good deal. Whatever happens, there will be a huge degree of
:09:08. > :09:14.uncertainty. His key job is to educate the public. There is still
:09:15. > :09:20.too little information out there about what EU membership means.
:09:21. > :09:25.There's been spurious data put out there or heavily spun data. The EU
:09:26. > :09:32.cost us X amount last week and that's why no flood defences. We've
:09:33. > :09:43.been spending money on EU membership without telling about the upside of
:09:44. > :09:45.EU membership. Euro scepticism, Britain's relationship, how
:09:46. > :09:49.eurosceptic Britain is open to debate. People thought Ukip would be
:09:50. > :09:53.the party to pull Britain out of Europe or gain attraction. They
:09:54. > :10:00.haven't done that. When it comes to it, the time he has, if the
:10:01. > :10:05.referendum is later on, he will have time to build a case very carefully.
:10:06. > :10:09.It is how considered people are. Those people who are very interested
:10:10. > :10:12.are very interested. A lot of British people are, we're irritated
:10:13. > :10:17.by various things but not that bothered. That's part of it. The
:10:18. > :10:22.other key question is whether, even if he wins this referendum, it
:10:23. > :10:26.becomes a run are sore. If it is overwhelming we want to stay in or
:10:27. > :10:34.get out. If it's quite close, David Cameron's still got a split party.
:10:35. > :10:39.He has but the Tory Party has by its nature has always been dealing with
:10:40. > :10:45.their disgruntled backbench Eurosceptics. That seas been the
:10:46. > :10:49.challenge since John Major. David Cameron is one of the more
:10:50. > :10:57.successful Prime Ministers at keeping them quietly in the back
:10:58. > :11:02.Birch in the days of John Major we saw leadership challenges talking
:11:03. > :11:08.about frequently. Someone here said if eurosceptic MPs don't agree with
:11:09. > :11:15.Cameron, Osborne will have them out so watch out. Let's look at the
:11:16. > :11:22.Sunday Telegraph. Two quick stories. Nick'spm will be an outsider.
:11:23. > :11:27.Rebuilding the Conservative Party in Scotland says she believes George
:11:28. > :11:37.Osborne, Boris Johnson and Theresa May may all be beaten in the race to
:11:38. > :11:44.beat David Cameron. She says the party are not necessarily good good
:11:45. > :11:48.at picking people you think. And pupils must know all times table by
:11:49. > :11:52.age 11. Frankly, if they don't already, it's a good thing for
:11:53. > :11:58.people to be able to count, isn't it? Geoff knitly able to count,
:11:59. > :12:05.yeah. That's useful. We were talking about it earlier. What kind of times
:12:06. > :12:10.tables does, is, I guess the argument goes, gives you an
:12:11. > :12:14.inference and understanding of numbers you don't necessarily get
:12:15. > :12:19.otherwise through calculators or coding or anything else. It is so
:12:20. > :12:24.important for everything else. I've no experience of teaching. I have a
:12:25. > :12:31.12-year-old son. I've seen some of the maths homework. Everything he
:12:32. > :12:37.does, you need to know times tables. I was quite shocked pupils didn't
:12:38. > :12:42.know times tables. 74,000 children are still failing to meet the
:12:43. > :12:48.standard required. I know teachers of stressed. Maybe there's a failure
:12:49. > :12:54.of the teaching methods. An implication under Labour the
:12:55. > :12:59.teaching became quite unstructured. Maybe it needs to be pulled back to
:13:00. > :13:02.old fashioned teaching. Find different ways to teach children
:13:03. > :13:10.times tables. Maybe all pupils should know how to spell reasonably
:13:11. > :13:14.by age 11. A start as well. Read? This is a really interesting story
:13:15. > :13:21.in the Independent. Dam you, it says. The excuse of 47 prisoners by
:13:22. > :13:29.the beleagueered Saudi Arabian regime yesterday. 1078 of these were
:13:30. > :13:37.extreme Sunni Isis lambists. Al-Qaeda persuasion. Many focussed
:13:38. > :13:41.on the killing of a Shia cleric. A protester but a peaceful man. Yes,
:13:42. > :13:51.it is to do with power in that region on. The fact the Shia's
:13:52. > :13:55.rightfully in countries like Saudi Arabia feel marginalised, possibly
:13:56. > :14:01.oppressed. Sheikh al-Nimr wasn't a violent man. He told the BBC in 2011
:14:02. > :14:08.breve his arrest words were more powerful than weapons. So,
:14:09. > :14:15.symbolically, this has had huge ramifications across parts of the
:14:16. > :14:20.Middle East. Particularly in Iran, the rhetoric coming out of Tehran
:14:21. > :14:26.last night was extremely hostile. There will be worried as we ally
:14:27. > :14:34.closer to the Saudi rib ya for what David Cameron argues is national
:14:35. > :14:37.security reasons, this this destabilisation could have grave
:14:38. > :14:43.consequences for Britain's relationship. This comes at a very
:14:44. > :14:48.tricky time for Saudi Arabia. Dividing Shia's and Sunnis further
:14:49. > :14:52.won't help. On December 28th they implemented a round of austerity
:14:53. > :14:58.measures, including VAT and taxes on water and electricity. The key
:14:59. > :15:05.reason there is Saudi is reliant on the ol rev enewes. Oil prices
:15:06. > :15:12.slumped from $100 a barrel to $38 a barrel. They've bout themselves calm
:15:13. > :15:17.and legitimacy by being able to provide a relatively comfort for
:15:18. > :15:22.Saudi nationals. Now, there that could lead to a restive population
:15:23. > :15:26.there as well. Tricky time for them. Phillipa, I wanted toent on what I
:15:27. > :15:33.thought was an interesting story in the Sunday Times. Beans means grills
:15:34. > :15:41.eats like Gwyneth. She's been derided for what she eats, Gwyneth
:15:42. > :15:51.pal Strow. Bear Grylls doesn't eat much meat and eats more like Gwyneth
:15:52. > :15:57.Paltrow. They are saying, bear Grylls doesn't eat considering dial
:15:58. > :16:01.eyes but goes eats seeds and yoghurts, things normal people might
:16:02. > :16:06.eat. He's done this because he's just written a recipe book. One of
:16:07. > :16:11.my favourite lines. He doesn't eat much meat, he relies more on plant
:16:12. > :16:15.food such as quinoa, buckwheat for his protein which surely we all do.
:16:16. > :16:23.Just catching up with the rest of us. The crocodile eyes are not easy
:16:24. > :16:29.to get in stains breast. Half of it, I don't know what it is. What did
:16:30. > :16:34.you make of that story? The great macho guy who has been eating and
:16:35. > :16:46.preying with barrack Obama in the wild turns out to be eating veggie
:16:47. > :16:51.burgers? It is a contrast between a television personality who Bear
:16:52. > :16:58.Grylls is out there, explore tiff. Eating deer. Why do that at home? If
:16:59. > :17:03.that's his work life, it stands to reason he's not doing that. I want
:17:04. > :17:09.to see Gwyneth eat a crocodile's eye. That would get on page one.
:17:10. > :17:23.That's it for the papers.s thank you both. A reminder, we take a look
:17:24. > :17:24.atom's front pages every evening at 10.30pm and 11.30pm every