24/01/2016 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our Sunday morning edition of The Papers.

With me are Lisa Markwell, Editor of the Independent on Sunday

and Ian Birrell, Associate Editor of the Mail on Sunday.

The Observer says David Cameron is considering plans to allow

thousands of unaccompanied migrant children into Britain.

The Sunday Express leads on the story that the RAF has foiled

a plan by so-called Islamic State to attack London, Brighton,

The gloves are off says the Sunday Telegraph as Conservative

infighting deepens over whether to stay in the European Union.

The Independent on Sunday's cover photo shows rows of cars under snow

And in the Sunday Times, the story that a former British spy

is to expose what he says was MI5 knowledge of torture at Guantanamo

Good morning to you both. Let's start with the Independent. That is

your newspaper. Why don't we look at the Snow Festival. Ian, help us with

that. A great picture on the front page, cars buried. First of all,

it's caused deaths of people as well but a massive storm. This is the big

overnight story. A one metre has fallen in one area of West Virginia.

Phenomenal. Ten states are in emergency. The number of dead is up

to 18. In New York, five of the six deaths have been caused by people

falling over in the snow but it's a big deal for America and it's

interesting how well-prepared they seem to be in many ways, certainly

from the outside. I'm sure there will be the usual weather fuss about

poor preparations but they close down the tube, police on the streets

and suchlike. It's hard for papers in a way to do justice to this

because it's a very visual thing for television but this picture is great

showing the depth of the snow. What struck me is it was a short time

ago, couple of weeks ago, they were having the mildest weather with

people in short sleeves wondering about Central Park. And Donald Trump

saying he does not believe in global warming because it's cold outside.

There's politics in this as well, of course. Always politics. Extreme

weather is something I think we all have to get used to, between highs

and lows, it happens very suddenly. But the preparation is really

interesting. When we first started to see pictures, you get the usual

thing of people in Central Park on skis and it's snowing, that's

charming, but, as the evening progressed and it became clear it

was unprecedented, and people were dying, you change how you want to

represented visually. Also comes after the hottest year in which you

are right about the extreme weather and the fluctuating conditions. I'm

sure Donald Trump will be angry about it in some way. OK, right,

staying with your paper, Lisa, your main story, schools told to drop

university snobbery. What's this about? Nicky Morgan, the Education

Secretary, has noticed all been briefed, which is very true, but

high-flying state schools, not private schools, are funnelling the

more able pupils very much towards university. That's nothing new, it's

always happened, but they believe it's to the detriment of inner work

and apprenticeships which, if you like, are becoming training for all

pupils because universities and students have debt, it's not

necessarily... There's no guarantee or likelihood you're going to get a

job at the end of university. What's happened is, because there's been so

much emphasis on University, pupils are not even getting the information

in careers advice about the fact that they could be having an

alternative route into employment and so what they want to do through

legislation which is quite unusual, law will be brought in very quickly,

that schools including academies will be compelled to bring in people

from further education colleges and companies to articulate to the

students, you could be coming to us, earning money more quickly and

progressing in your career. While it's an interesting issue, it does

seem pretty crass politics because the Tories are trying to show that

the party of everyone and, at the same time, trying to spread the

message they are backing apprenticeship, the Levy pushed by

George Osborne, which is an interesting thing with tax on

business. You don't need a law with this. This is the government trying

to use legislation to underline a political point and dry home a

political message. It seems silly to clog up Westminster's time with

another needless use of legislation. I presume it will be waved through

very quickly. It's not a contentious because no one is going to oppose

it. Let's go on to the Observer. Wider Java go at this? This is on

the back of Jeremy Corbyn's ill timed visit to Calais. Which was

interesting. Ill timed why? While I have sympathy for a lot of things

he's saying, I'm not sure politically it's the wisest and it

coincided also with a group of refugees and migrants storming a

ferry. The picture the public is getting is not the most popular

message is doing. Even though I have great sympathy for the things he's

saying and for his determination against political consensus on it.

Orthodoxy. To ram home at a different message. This is about

migrant children particularly. It's a story which is curious because

there's not much evidence the government is considering the report

which save the children have been pushing for a long time to take 3000

children. The right thing to do, the government seems to be like an

offshoot of save the children. But she ever does not seem to be firm

evidence they will act on it although let's hope they are. What

they're asking for something quite different because the government has

said they will help people and bring people over, I think its 20,000,

from camps in the Middle East. This is saying... Over five years. These

children have already arrived in Europe. It would be a change and

that for the government is slightly dragging its feet. It's interesting

how it also plays into the discussions with the Tory party.

We've got a comment piece by the prime Mr Balls saying talks should

be put on hold until this is sorted out because it's such a big issue

now. -- the Prime Minister. David Cameron has not been to Calais and

he he is the highest-ranking British politician to go. The riot in

protest going on in Calais yesterday, I don't think it

coincided with Jeremy Corbyn because it was only announced last minute he

was going. That was happening anyway. Let's go on to the Sunday

Telegraph. Their front page says Europe, the gloves are off as Tory

rift widens. I seem to have been reading that Tory refs since Tories

were invented. It makes a change from Labour refs. -- riffs. -- --

rifts. . Europe has got to have a considered message which it won't

show the public. If the referendum is going to take place, this summer,

they have got to look coherently like they're on the same side but

most of the people involved in this, Liam Fox, Frank Field, say they are

for the outcome pain. Nicholas Soames. They are not the most

dynamic figures dare I say in the Conservative Party. Nicholas Soames

is pretty noisy. Noisy and dynamic? It ties into what we're talking

because they are conflating the migration issue as well. Nicholas

owned and Frank Field had a group with a talk about an end of open

door policy in Britain which is ludicrous because Britain does not

have an open door policy despite some of the myths about it. We are

pretty restrictive policy wise compared to Europe. It's the usual

suspects on the hard right of the Conservative Party. They are are

opposed to the EU trying to push their case. Isn't it also about the

politics of the newspaper concerned, as well? I can't remember they have

declared which read go, but appears to me the views of the editor and

the management and so on, the stories they report on Europe, they

seem to be merging together now. It's difficult to pick a path. The

Telegraph group is conservative and sceptical. I have no problem with

that. They are pushing their cause. You know, it's not like it totally

made up story. There are divisions within the Conservative Party which

threatened to explode and there is a group of hard right conservatives

who are very opposed to Britain's membership and are doing everything

to try and put some dynamism into a rather divided and confused campaign

to pull out. The most sensible voice in this comes much later down in the

story as you might expect. Stephen Crabb, the Welsh Secretary, saying

on both sides, if they start to use the language of Project fear, where

its scaremongers the public, it does everybody a disservice and really,

it's more important, whichever way they go and campaign on both sides,

it can't be about the politics of fear. Realistically it has to be

because that will have to do with the debate. People are nervous about

pulling out of Europe. I think ultimately, Britain will vote to

stay in Europe because people are scared of the unknown. And they will

be persuaded the risks are too great. Senior Tories accusing David

Cameron of bringing back his flash man persona. There's a group of hard

like MPs who don't like him and we're prepared to overthrow him

after they thought was not going to win the election and were dismayed

by the fact he won the election. Let's move on. Still on the front

page of the Sunday Telegraph. This is a tale everyone can relate to.

The matter of the ?33 million ticket. It's a bit like a film

script. The idea that some unfortunate person bought a lottery

ticket which defied the odds and one this extraordinary life changing

amount of money, 33 million, and she was desperate to go into the house

wondering what she done with it. It's a story one can relate to but

the question is, whether it will wash. It was in a pair of jeans.

Yes, this is the back story. The ticket was in a pair of jeans and

went through the washing machine so the bar code which would show

whether and where it was bought and the date has conveniently become

blurred. But the numbers are still clear. We've all part of ?33 million

lottery tickets to the wash, haven't we? What terrible cynics you are.

Let's hope it's true. Everybody likes those amazing stories so if

it's true, it's a film script waiting to happen. Absolutely.

Worcester woman is going to bomb the big screen any time soon, I'm sure.

Let's move on. The Sunday express. The front-page story sounds, a tax

on four towns foiled by the RAF. -- attacks. This needn't detain us for

very long because it has been rather overplayed I would say. Would you

give more credence to the lottery woman? Shall we say first of all

what it says? This is a conversation picked up by people who listen to

pilots and air traffic on an emergency channel by two pilots, not

British, very soon after the Paris attacks which is also significant,

they were using coded language in Arabic which led the people

listening in to believe they were planning to somehow bring into the

country chemical weapons and weaponry that would be used in an

attack. Now, that is significant and important and, of course, you would

expect the monitoring to be very careful in the air and we all know

why. But, when the language, the conversations were passed on to

GCHQ, it was quickly decided the pilots wear clean, which... How do

the RAF get involved? I presume on the channel, the emergency channel,

the RAF would have two scramble pretty quickly. My knowledge of

aviation security is not a second to say. Again, it would be a great film

script it was true. Also, RAF is a good word for headlines. Only three

letters. They have now been put on a watchlist of is nothing to suggest

this a real and present danger. What strikes me as what's going to

undermine any films is the fact attacks on London and Bath and

Brighton may be but Ipswich? You never know. Funnily enough I think

that's an interesting part about it. I was talking to a colleague

yesterday about Oxford Circus, and Buckingham Palace and places where

lots of people go but actually, it would be... I always hesitate to

talk about Islamic State and propaganda, so-called, that would be

a very, very significant way to mobilise a huge amount of

national-security in an unprecedented way in this country if

the were dotted around the country and not just in one place. Let's

move on. Staying with a world of intelligence. The Sunday Times front

page about an MI5 officer saying I will expose torturous secrets. This

is an interesting story which claims a senior official is prepared to

confirm what everyone has long suspected, which is that British

intelligence operatives were in some way involved in the interrogation of

people being captured and tortured at Guantanamo Bay. And the story

says, this senior officer has asked to give evidence to a Parliamentary

enquiry, he has not yet been given permission, but it would be quite

difficult for the authorities to say no to the person concerned. And if

they do, I think it really helps in us getting to grips with something

which is Long stained the country and one of the legacies of the new

Labour government and their support for what happened in Iraq and

elsewhere in the world and Afghanistan, I think this is

potentially a big step forward and a really interesting story and put MI5

in a very difficult position because they will institutionally want to

say no because it is washing their dirty linen in public but, equally,

there is a big public interest in this person being allowed to do so

so I think it's a fascinating story. Might it not lead on to suspicions

around that somehow Britain are not just closing its eyes to what

happened in Guantanamo Bay, but might have actually been involved in

it? It's always been very, very delicate, the line trod by MI5 that

they've always denied participating or condoning any torture of

detainees, but there's always the knowledge, slightly difficult point.

When I was in Libya, I got these documents showing MI5 were sending

over questions to the Libyan authorities under Colonel Gaddafi,

the dictator, and they'll actually putting forward the questions that

should be asked to people who had been rendered and being tortured and

they did on three different occasions. As you say, keeping a lid

on this is increasingly difficult and it interesting Dominic Greaves,

who heads up the intelligence and security committee has said, if it's

the case that this person is trying to get evidence suppressed, that

can't be allowed to happen. We have to hear from any interested parties.

That is a very interesting element and of course, coming after

Alexander Litvinenko the security services are really under the

microscope. Lisa, Ian, thank you very much indeed.

Just a reminder we take a look at tomorrow's front pages every

evening at 10.30 and 11.30 here on BBC News.

Really mild this Sunday across the UK but it's going to be

crisp and very cold across the eastern side