13/12/2016

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:00:15. > :00:19.Hello there. Well to Our Conor look ahead to what the papers are

:00:20. > :00:21.bringing us tomorrowment With me are Pippa Crerar,

:00:22. > :00:23.political correspondent at the London Evening Standard,

:00:24. > :00:30.and Neil Midgley, media commentator Let's lock at some of the front

:00:31. > :00:35.pages: The FT says Donald Trump has the backing of senior Republicans to

:00:36. > :00:39.push through Rex Tillerson's nomination. This follows criticism

:00:40. > :00:45.the oil boss is too close to Vladimir Putin. The I turns over its

:00:46. > :00:49.front page to the crisis in Aleppo, as people leave the war torn city.

:00:50. > :00:53.The Metro leads with that story. The paper says the rush is on to save

:00:54. > :01:00.100 children cut off from their parents and stuck in the city.

:01:01. > :01:04.The Telegraph claims UK taxpayers have footed a 50 million bill for

:01:05. > :01:08.all southern rail strikes this year. According to the Times ministers are

:01:09. > :01:12.considering to break up Southern and pushing for an all out ban on rail

:01:13. > :01:17.strikes. The Daily Mirror calls for a complete renationalisation of the

:01:18. > :01:22.rail network, which it says it supported by unions, MPs and the

:01:23. > :01:25.public. Thousands of banking jobs in the UK could be lost if ministers

:01:26. > :01:30.don't agree a transitional deal on access to the sing the market. The

:01:31. > :01:35.Express highlights a report which claims that positivity may be the

:01:36. > :01:38.key to living a longer life. Its headline eye catching, revealed: How

:01:39. > :01:42.to live longer. The secrets are in that paper. You are probably going

:01:43. > :01:52.to buy it now, that's the whole point.

:01:53. > :01:55.Onto the I. We've been hearing from our correspondents tonight, experts

:01:56. > :02:01.on the region, this is the beginning of the end game, it might seem. Yes,

:02:02. > :02:05.well weapons have fallen silent. As you say, it appears to be the end

:02:06. > :02:09.game for Aleppo. There's two main areas that the papers are covering

:02:10. > :02:16.of this story, one is of course, that the people of Aleppo themselves

:02:17. > :02:21.and that many have been on social media, using Twitter and posting

:02:22. > :02:27.videos online throughout the conflict and given people real

:02:28. > :02:31.insight, real civilian journalism. Many of them have said farewell,

:02:32. > :02:35.because they don't know what the future holds, whether they will find

:02:36. > :02:42.themselves escaping the city and making it through to somewhere more

:02:43. > :02:45.peaceful or whether they will leave and meet a tragic end. There's a

:02:46. > :02:52.powerful photo here of a father carrying his child through the

:02:53. > :02:55.rubble. It would be impossible for anybody to feel anything but gutted

:02:56. > :02:59.about what's gone on there. The second element of what the papers

:03:00. > :03:02.are covering is the blame game. British politicians in the House of

:03:03. > :03:05.Commons held an emergency debate in which they discussed all the

:03:06. > :03:09.different possibilities, aid drops, what could be done next. There were

:03:10. > :03:13.powerful speeches, not least from George Osborne, the former

:03:14. > :03:17.Chancellor who said, "We can't absolve ourselves of blame. MPs are

:03:18. > :03:23.deceiving themselves if they don't think they played a role in this,

:03:24. > :03:29.because in 2013 MPs voted against military action in Syria.

:03:30. > :03:33.Andrew Mitchell told me tonight that if they had the vote now, obviously,

:03:34. > :03:39.it wouldn't be a vote for military action, the lack of foresight three

:03:40. > :03:43.years ago, many people including George Osborne are pointing to as

:03:44. > :03:51.part of the problem here. Yes. Yes, they are. It's impossible to say how

:03:52. > :03:55.those air strikes, which remember were planned in retaliation for

:03:56. > :03:59.Assad using chemical weapons on his own people. It was nothing to do

:04:00. > :04:03.with Aleppo, nothing to do with Russian involvement. That has come

:04:04. > :04:09.subsequently, certainly military involvement on this scale.

:04:10. > :04:14.Therefore, I do wonder if we unpick history at our cost. Also, when has

:04:15. > :04:20.British military intervention in the Middle East actually done any good

:04:21. > :04:26.at all? That's my question. That seemed to be the point made by the

:04:27. > :04:30.US Congress as well. President Obama went to Congress, he didn't have to.

:04:31. > :04:35.He could have unilaterally done this, he felt after Iraq and after

:04:36. > :04:40.the mess the West has made of past engagements in the Middle East, that

:04:41. > :04:43.he had to do that. Congress said no, just as the British Parliament. That

:04:44. > :04:51.was after the British Parliamentary vote. Exactly. He decided he had to

:04:52. > :04:54.do that to cover his own back. And it swung between humanitarian

:04:55. > :04:58.intervention and not. Really British MPs and the Americans were scarred

:04:59. > :05:01.by Iraq. When Ed Miliband first started talking with David Cameron

:05:02. > :05:05.about the 2013 vote he was supportive and said he would like to

:05:06. > :05:09.support it in the House of Commons. Then after a series of concessions

:05:10. > :05:13.and then it became apparent to him he didn't have the support amongst

:05:14. > :05:16.his own backbenches. He took a political decision not to. They were

:05:17. > :05:23.hugely scarred by Iraq. You swing both ways. Nobody wants to repeat

:05:24. > :05:27.Srebrenica or Darfur, unfortunately, we've got to hope that what's

:05:28. > :05:31.happened in Aleppo, something like 5,000 people over the last month

:05:32. > :05:40.alone have died there. It's just a tragedy. 82 killed in their own

:05:41. > :05:46.homes, reminder of the Civil War in Lebanon and the massacre of

:05:47. > :05:53.civilians by militias linked to the Israeli forces there. Onto the

:05:54. > :05:58.Telegraph. The rail strike. Now rail strike costs taxpayers 50 million

:05:59. > :06:03.while train company saves cash. All this is over who is supposed to shut

:06:04. > :06:08.the doors. I mean that's what it boils down. To And who is supposed

:06:09. > :06:15.to drive the train ie... A driver would be good. And well, but no. Not

:06:16. > :06:22.one who isn't on strike. The driverless trains is what this is

:06:23. > :06:26.all about. Again, like my simplistic view of British military

:06:27. > :06:31.intervention in the Middle East, show me a an innovation that any

:06:32. > :06:40.trade union has ever supported. Are you calling them Luddites? RMT,

:06:41. > :06:44.ASLEF? Yes. Yes! I am. It's a great story showing that the taxpayer is

:06:45. > :06:51.footing the bill for the strike, because what we've got here is a

:06:52. > :06:55.situation where this line or set of lines haven't been privatised in the

:06:56. > :07:00.sense of sold off to the highest bidder. It's a fixed price contract

:07:01. > :07:06.that Southern Railway's parent has to run the services, but the

:07:07. > :07:09.Government maintains control of both the revenue and the cost. Well

:07:10. > :07:14.that's all very well, if you think you know what the costs are going to

:07:15. > :07:17.be. You think, oh, we might get more revenue and attract a few more

:07:18. > :07:21.passengers onto this line. Fixed price contract with your builder,

:07:22. > :07:25.for example, when you renovate your house is generally a good thing,

:07:26. > :07:29.because your builder takes the risk of things running over. In this

:07:30. > :07:33.case, this has come back to haunt the Government. Of course, now there

:07:34. > :07:36.is less revenue, less fares being paid, because fewer people are

:07:37. > :07:40.travelling because no trains are running. Also the Government has to

:07:41. > :07:46.pay the cost of the compensation. So this atomisation of the railways

:07:47. > :07:48.that was the way that the Major Government privatised the railways

:07:49. > :07:55.is coming back to haurnt the Government now. To the Daily Mail

:07:56. > :08:00.then. Daily Mirror. Sorry. Renationalise - no that wouldn't be

:08:01. > :08:04.the Mail. That would be a story! Daily Mirror. Renationalise our

:08:05. > :08:08.railways now! Do you think that's been given added impetus by this?

:08:09. > :08:13.It's really popular with the public. A lot of people think it's just like

:08:14. > :08:18.the papers, lefty socialists that want to renationalise the railways.

:08:19. > :08:20.Loads of people do. Every poll done it suggests the majority of the

:08:21. > :08:23.Brits would like to renationalise. We like to complain about the state

:08:24. > :08:27.of the railways. These are people all under the age of 35, who don't

:08:28. > :08:33.remember what it was like. Quite possibly. But it is something, I

:08:34. > :08:40.mean, the Government is certainly thinking about doing, and the Times

:08:41. > :08:47.picks this up, is stripping GTR, the parent group of its massive

:08:48. > :08:51.franchise in the new year. Other senior rail industry figures are

:08:52. > :08:55.concerned that it's going to be like a poison effect and start a ripple

:08:56. > :09:01.affect around the industry and cause more strikes. There's a feeling that

:09:02. > :09:04.the unions are considering launching coordinated action in other areas as

:09:05. > :09:15.well. They want to nip this in the bud. What then happens to it is

:09:16. > :09:18.really an unknown. Sadiq Khan has called for a renationalisation of

:09:19. > :09:23.the Southern franchise. He wants Transport for London to run it. He

:09:24. > :09:25.says that's the long-term solution, more local democratic

:09:26. > :09:28.accountability. That's nationalisation of another sort. But

:09:29. > :09:31.the Government is currently discussing all options. They started

:09:32. > :09:35.holding talks again with unions tonight. It's something. The company

:09:36. > :09:39.and the unions, which won't stop this current round of strikes, but

:09:40. > :09:45.hopefully might prevent the action happening again at Christmas and

:09:46. > :09:50.disrupting the ailways then. Financial Times, Mr Trump? This is

:09:51. > :09:53.brilliant. I mean, he's got more millionaires in his Cabinet than you

:09:54. > :09:58.would see at the average country club. Billionaires! Millionaires and

:09:59. > :10:03.billionaires. This guy has been given an award by Vladimir Putin and

:10:04. > :10:13.he's putting forward as America's top diplomat. Yes. Not only is he

:10:14. > :10:16.putting him forward as America's top diplomat, Rex Tillerson head of

:10:17. > :10:22.Exxon Mobil, the oil company who is very close to Putin, or so we

:10:23. > :10:27.believe, not only has he got to be nominated by Trump, he has to be

:10:28. > :10:32.confirmed by Congress. Trump is worried that even a Republican

:10:33. > :10:37.Congress, which is what he's got, won't necessarily confirm him in

:10:38. > :10:42.this new role as America's top diplomat. Trump is rolling out, as

:10:43. > :10:48.the Financial Times says, heavy weights to blunt the Tillerson

:10:49. > :10:52.nomination revolt, including Bob Gates, former Defence Secretary and

:10:53. > :11:01.Condoleezza Rice who was high up in the Bush administration. Red blooded

:11:02. > :11:06.Republicans, both of them. Both of them unimpeachable. When you get to

:11:07. > :11:14.the fourth paragraph of the story, you realise that Exxon Mobil is a

:11:15. > :11:18.client of Mr Gates' consulting firm, whose founders include Miss Rice.

:11:19. > :11:23.Yeah. Millionaires and billionaires all round. I know! I know! And

:11:24. > :11:28.what's perhaps, I'm just trying to get my head around this, because it

:11:29. > :11:34.seems so bizarre that you would have someone so close to Vladimir Putin

:11:35. > :11:40.being put forward as America's top diplomat. The suggestion is that

:11:41. > :11:43.this is all Nixon going to China in reverse, this is trying to isolate

:11:44. > :11:47.the Chinese by co--ying up to Russia. I think the relationship

:11:48. > :11:51.between the States and Russia over the next few months is definitely

:11:52. > :11:56.the one to watch. We've had the CIA a few days ago suggesting that the

:11:57. > :11:59.Russians, it was proven they were interfearing with the US election.

:12:00. > :12:06.We've now got a Secretary of State who received a medal from Vladimir

:12:07. > :12:10.Putin and whose, Moscow's senior foreign policy chief is saying, he's

:12:11. > :12:15.not just close to Putin. He's close to all of us. He wanted sanctions

:12:16. > :12:22.watered down against Russia as well. Trump has made a big thing about his

:12:23. > :12:25.not being an outsider, that he's, Washington outsider. That would

:12:26. > :12:29.bring a breath of fresh air into relations. The impact of that

:12:30. > :12:34.relationship is massive. Not just for China, but the rest of the world

:12:35. > :12:40.as well. To appoint an oil executive who is close to Russia and has no

:12:41. > :12:45.experience is likely to cause, ruffle a lot of feathers around the

:12:46. > :12:49.world. It's going to be interesting. Finally, Einstein and the shrinking

:12:50. > :12:53.father Christmas. The faster an object travels according to

:12:54. > :12:58.Einstein's special theory. That object could be Santa Claus.

:12:59. > :13:03.Exactly! How does Santa fit down the chimney. Good question. The answer

:13:04. > :13:07.is that Santa and Rudolph and all the rest of them have to travel so

:13:08. > :13:11.fast to get presents to all the children around the world that

:13:12. > :13:15.Einstein's theory of relativity dictates that they get smaller,

:13:16. > :13:21.physically smaller, which is what happens to all objects, as you will

:13:22. > :13:25.know, according to the theory. It proves that father Christmas exists,

:13:26. > :13:32.a fact which my three young children will be delighted to hear. Exactly!

:13:33. > :13:35.Many thanks for looking at some of the stories behind the headlines.

:13:36. > :13:43.Thanks to you for watching and goodbye.

:13:44. > :13:49.Hello there. We start with a quick look at the satellite sequence over

:13:50. > :13:55.the last few hours. It shows this cloud in the Atlantic just getting

:13:56. > :13:57.closer and closer to us. It will bring rain with it. Ahead of that, a