07/01/2016

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:00:00. > :00:00.Gulliver knocks out the defending women's champion. The latest tennis

:00:00. > :00:13.news from Qatar. That is coming up in 15 minutes.

:00:14. > :00:16.Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers

:00:17. > :00:20.With me are Rowena Mason, the political correspondent at the

:00:21. > :00:29.Guardian, and Ben Chu, the economics editor at the Independent.

:00:30. > :00:31.The FT leads on the turmoil in global financial markets.

:00:32. > :00:34.The Metro reports on the killing of the actress Sian Blake

:00:35. > :00:39.The Express focuses on house prices and the threat

:00:40. > :00:46.The Independent says Whitehall officials signed off a controversial

:00:47. > :00:50.letter by the NHS's top independent medic, questioning whether striking

:00:51. > :00:53.junior doctors would be available to help in the event of a Paris-style

:00:54. > :01:01.The Telegraph says health chiefs have been criticised

:01:02. > :01:03.for producing nanny state alcohol guidelines that warn people against

:01:04. > :01:08.The Guardian leads with that new advice.

:01:09. > :01:16.The Times leads on the Syrian town besieged by President Assad's

:01:17. > :01:20.forces, where 40,000 people are in danger of starving to death.

:01:21. > :01:23.And the Mail says an organisation that backed

:01:24. > :01:26.Jihadi John is now targeting young Muslims at their universities.

:01:27. > :01:45.The Financial Times. Is China sneezing and we are about to catch a

:01:46. > :01:48.cold? That is the worry because China has clearly had another

:01:49. > :01:55.terrible day with its markets falling and having to freeze its

:01:56. > :02:01.stock markets for the second time in a very short period and concerns

:02:02. > :02:09.have been expressed today by George Osborne that there is this dangerous

:02:10. > :02:13.cocktail of potential risks. The prospect of a global slowdown that

:02:14. > :02:18.could affect us over here. The British economy has been doing OK by

:02:19. > :02:24.several measures. Record job figures... The Chancellor says all

:02:25. > :02:30.of this is in jeopardy now and that it might not necessarily be his

:02:31. > :02:35.fault. It tends to do this when there are doubts about the strength

:02:36. > :02:38.of the global economy. He will say that the UK for all the progress we

:02:39. > :02:45.have made is not immune from global headwind. He did that during the

:02:46. > :02:50.Greek crisis last year. I think it is essentially an insurance policy.

:02:51. > :02:54.It is not that he expects things to fall apart but if they do, it will

:02:55. > :02:59.be able to say that he specifically warned about these dangers and no

:03:00. > :03:04.one can accuse him of being complacent. That is what he has done

:03:05. > :03:09.today in Cardiff. In terms of the economics of it, it is all down to

:03:10. > :03:14.the Chinese stock market falling and the domino effect. That is ironic

:03:15. > :03:17.because there is no real correlation between the Chinese stock market and

:03:18. > :03:21.the Chinese economy, which is the second biggest economy in the

:03:22. > :03:27.world. If that stutters, that really will affect us. But it is not clear

:03:28. > :03:37.there is any link between the Chinese stock market and the Chinese

:03:38. > :03:40.economy. Is it that their economy is in turmoil or is having problems

:03:41. > :03:46.because there is not enough growth in the economy? What is the issue if

:03:47. > :03:49.it is not the market? China is a big source of global demand for

:03:50. > :03:54.commodities but increasingly services and everything else.

:03:55. > :03:58.Because we are an increasingly globalised economy, if the world's

:03:59. > :04:02.second-biggest economy slows down, not even goes into recession, just

:04:03. > :04:05.to slows down, that can have big effects. That is what people are

:04:06. > :04:10.reading into the stock market frenzy. They think there is

:04:11. > :04:19.something more serious happening in China. As a political correspondent,

:04:20. > :04:22.the state of the British economy and the stewardship of it by George

:04:23. > :04:27.Osborne, that very much determines whether he will be running the party

:04:28. > :04:35.when David Cameron steps down. That is right. He will be in with a much

:04:36. > :04:42.better shot if people see him as a safe pair of hands, particularly in

:04:43. > :04:46.a time of economic turmoil, so it suits him to be able to point to

:04:47. > :04:54.external events such as this potential slowdown in China as the

:04:55. > :04:58.cause of any potential problems in the UK. If you look at what Labour

:04:59. > :05:02.is saying, John McDonnell turned the Chancellor's metaphor on its head,

:05:03. > :05:08.saying that if there is a dangerous economic cocktail, it is George

:05:09. > :05:12.Osborne himself who has been mixing it. He says it is the level had

:05:13. > :05:19.consumer debt and overseas borrowing and things like that that will cause

:05:20. > :05:27.possible problems of the UK. -- the level of consumer debt. Whitehall

:05:28. > :05:32.officials sexing up the case against junior doctors. We know that they

:05:33. > :05:35.will be going on strike next Tuesday and this feeds into the acrimony

:05:36. > :05:44.between the two sides in this dispute. Yes. A very senior figure

:05:45. > :05:48.in NHS England wrote quite an incendiary open letter directed at

:05:49. > :05:53.the junior doctors in November, saying that if there was another

:05:54. > :05:55.Paris style attack and you were on strike, can we have any guarantees

:05:56. > :06:00.you would be able to get back insufficiently QuickTime to help

:06:01. > :06:03.those who were injured? The junior doctors took great umbrage at this,

:06:04. > :06:11.saying that this was undermining their credibility as doctors. And

:06:12. > :06:15.they always suspected Jeremy Hunt had something to do with this. They

:06:16. > :06:19.seem to have found the evidence that he did have something to do with

:06:20. > :06:23.this, that this was a co-ordinated piece of propaganda, if you like, on

:06:24. > :06:29.the Health Secretary to undermine the image of the doctors and prevent

:06:30. > :06:32.them from going on strike. This is a fantastic story and it really

:06:33. > :06:36.emphasises what a massive public relations battle the whole thing

:06:37. > :06:43.is. They both want the public with them. Sir Bruce Keogh, who is

:06:44. > :06:47.supposed to be independent, one might assume that he would have from

:06:48. > :06:56.time to time consultations with the Secretary of State as well as the

:06:57. > :06:58.BMA. That is true. He is a member of the medical establishment, so he

:06:59. > :07:03.does have an interest in trying to prevent the strike from going ahead,

:07:04. > :07:12.but some of the language being used in these exchanges... One official

:07:13. > :07:15.said that the risk of a major incident should be pressed quite

:07:16. > :07:25.strongly in the media wants the strikers announced their intention

:07:26. > :07:30.and Sir Bruce Keogh should be as hard edged as he could be on that.

:07:31. > :07:38.It seems that they were egging him on. To sex it up. One could say

:07:39. > :07:45.that. Alcohol guide. Health chiefs attacked over nanny state alcohol

:07:46. > :07:49.guides. And quite tough as well, these new suggestions on the part of

:07:50. > :07:54.the authorities on how much alcohol we should be consuming. I don't

:07:55. > :07:58.often find myself agreeing with libertarian think-tanks, and when I

:07:59. > :08:05.saw their name mentioned in this article... But we are talking about

:08:06. > :08:12.booze! LAUGHTER. On this one, they do have a point. The recommended

:08:13. > :08:19.weekly allowance of alcohol is down from 20 minutes to 14 units, which

:08:20. > :08:28.works out to about a pint a day. -- 20 units. But the evidence does not

:08:29. > :08:31.seem particularly strong. It does seem that the medical establishment

:08:32. > :08:37.has taken it upon itself to decide that the level of safe risk is lower

:08:38. > :08:44.than many people are consuming. That is fair enough if this were not

:08:45. > :08:54.sanctified as being official advice. If people could make it

:08:55. > :09:01.their own mind, that would be fine, but the scientific evidence of risk

:09:02. > :09:04.does not necessarily back this up. Yes, but it is incumbent on any

:09:05. > :09:12.society to protect its citizens and if the authorities feel that

:09:13. > :09:19.drinking a pint a day... It is obviously a strongly held view.

:09:20. > :09:24.There have been many warnings in recent years some experts on alcohol

:09:25. > :09:27.that everybody is drinking too much and there has been a lot of pressure

:09:28. > :09:36.on the government to bring in minimal alcohol pricing. --

:09:37. > :09:39.minimum. There is no getting away from the fact that we do have a

:09:40. > :09:44.large health problem with alcohol in our society. We might not like it,

:09:45. > :09:48.but they are telling us that is what is best for us. Is there a

:09:49. > :09:52.psychological thing going on? They say that scientifically maybe two

:09:53. > :09:57.points of the cable will tell everyone is on point because we know

:09:58. > :10:03.they will want to have 2 bytes. -- ten pints will be OK but we will

:10:04. > :10:16.tell everyone that one pint is the... -- two types. You have got to

:10:17. > :10:22.treat people like adults and say that these are the scientific risks

:10:23. > :10:38.that we know about. Be informed but take the decision yourself. The

:10:39. > :10:40.Guardian. Clinton and Tony Blair's special relationship. Transcripts of

:10:41. > :10:46.conversations they had when they were both in power have been

:10:47. > :10:50.released. This is fascinating. I would advise anyone to go and read

:10:51. > :10:57.the complete transcripts of these conversations. This article is full

:10:58. > :11:06.of eliminating snippets of conversation, including the death of

:11:07. > :11:20.Princess Diana. -- illuminating. They are calling each other body --

:11:21. > :11:23.bud and mate. You sometimes wonder how they found the time for all of

:11:24. > :11:34.this medicine in Smalltalk, but it is really interesting. And at the

:11:35. > :11:41.same time, -- all of this small talk but it is really interesting. He was

:11:42. > :11:46.certainly comfortable with whoever was in the White House. Remember

:11:47. > :11:53.that famous advice he gave to the Washington ambassador? To get up the

:11:54. > :12:07.cars of the White House and stay there. -- to get up the INAUDIBLE.

:12:08. > :12:12.I'm sorry? ! I'm not sure there is anything that is particularly

:12:13. > :12:16.surprising here. What isn't it surprising is the prescience of Bill

:12:17. > :12:24.Clinton talking about stateless terrorists. This was back in 1997.

:12:25. > :12:31.He was spot on about that being an evolving threat. And he talked about

:12:32. > :12:35.his concerns for the children of Princess Diana at the time, that

:12:36. > :12:43.they would have a tough time in life. Yes. There is a conversation

:12:44. > :12:48.that happened just after the death of Princess Diana in which Tony

:12:49. > :12:51.Blair was calling her a rock of stability in the sense that she

:12:52. > :12:58.connected with the outside world. Talking about how William is quite

:12:59. > :13:02.like her. Clinton replies by saying that he feels so bad for her. He

:13:03. > :13:10.says she was just getting hold of her life... The Mirror. The ?2.7

:13:11. > :13:19.billion pension cash grab. Experts warn that poverty may follow. I did

:13:20. > :13:25.see quite a few Lamborghinis... Apparently lots of pensioners are

:13:26. > :13:28.cashing in pensions. Is a sense, this is what the Chancellor wanted

:13:29. > :13:34.to happen when he unveiled his organisation policy. He wanted --

:13:35. > :13:40.liberalisation policy. He wanted people to take control of their

:13:41. > :13:45.money. There were concerns at the time that everyone would spend

:13:46. > :13:50.irresponsibly and would have to fall back on state support in later

:13:51. > :13:55.years. These figures out today suggest that many people did draw

:13:56. > :14:01.money down and that a minority bought annuities with them. I'm not

:14:02. > :14:08.clear what people will do with the money they have drawn down. They may

:14:09. > :14:13.invest it. It is not quite a clear slam dunk, saying that people have

:14:14. > :14:16.gone crazy and behaved irresponsibly, but I do think that

:14:17. > :14:21.the most important statistic to come out of this is that only 20% of

:14:22. > :14:31.people consulted the government advised that this about what to do.

:14:32. > :14:35.That is the same to watch. -- the thing to watch. And talking about

:14:36. > :14:42.pensioners, although not you specifically, the Daily Mail. Still

:14:43. > :14:53.sprightly at 183. The oldest creature on earth. This is Jonathan

:14:54. > :15:00.the tortoise. He has recently been living a healthy, low alcohol

:15:01. > :15:07.lifestyle. And he has a new lease of life after being put on a more

:15:08. > :15:14.nutritious diet of apples, carrots, cucumbers and guava. I just wonder

:15:15. > :15:17.if he has drawn down his pension yet. Yellow Lamborghini in the back

:15:18. > :15:21.of the photograph. Coming up next,

:15:22. > :15:25.it's time for Sportsday.