16/12/2016 The Papers

the first round. Wright 13-0. A bit of a rest for the ponies as well as

for me. Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be With me are Vikki Orvice,

Sports Writer at the Sun, and Katie Martin from the Financial

Times. At least the first editions. The

Times says British officials believe Russia is waging cyber attacks and

unconventional warfare against the UK. The Daily Mail leads with the

chaos facing people planning to travel abroad this Christmas after

trade unions announced strikes over the festive period. The Independent

describes a prison system in crisis after prisoners staged a riot at

Birmingham prison which is still going on tonight. The Telegraph has

a story of two former soldiers prosecuted for the murder of an IRA

commander in Belfast 44 years ago. The Express says the Home Office has

been accused of trying to cover-up the number of illegal migrants

attempting to get into Britain. The Guardian leads with an accusation by

Clinton and flood amid Putin -- by Hillary Clinton that President Putin

was involved in the US election. The Daily Mirror leads on the story that

Camelot has been fined ?3 million for paying out on an potentially

bogus ticket. Let's begin with The Times. Russia threat to Britain, so

it's not just the United States that has something to fear. That's the

fascinating thing. We've been getting used to the idea that Russia

has been involved in some way directly or indirectly with the US

elections. I don't think it's occurred to that many people this

could spread further and they could be involved in politics on our

shores. Yes, The Times is saying there is propaganda and

unconventional warfare, fake news has become a huge topic in the

states. I know that organisations with a "alt-right" bent are trying

to get themselves established in Europe and it's something the UK

needs to look closely at. Theresa May is going to chair a national

security session to discuss potential Russian interference.

Clearly this has been taken to the highest level. Interesting nobody is

yet suggesting some how he might have tried to influence the outcome

of the European referendum result. What do you make of this? A lot of

this is speculative, may be partly because it's the kind of subject we

don't necessarily know who is pulling what strings. It is

fascinating in terms of a new Cold War except it is computers and

cyberspace rather than checkpoint Charlie! There is a lovely quote

from President Obama speaking yesterday, telling Russia don't do

this stuff because we can do this to you. Of course, it's complicated by

the fact we've got Donald Trump as President-elect who claims to be

Putin's new best friend! Maybe it will all stop. Maybe. One of the

things that struck me, as he was saying that that quote from Obama,

the rhetoric around international relations has become incredibly

petty. This isn't a playground argument, this is national security.

You will remember that photograph a lot of papers ran back in September

of the two men standing staring at each other on smiling at the G20.

President Obama said tonight on the news conference we ran that he had

basically said at that meeting to Vladimir Putin, cut it out or there

will be consequences. He says he appears to have done. Maybe Theresa

May needs to try something similar next time she bumps into Vladimir

Putin! I'd like to be a fly on the wall! Staying with President Putin

and The Guardian also with a photo of Michelle Obama who is apparently

going to tell an Oprah about life in the White House and what she brings

about her husband 's achievements, Hillary Clinton has accused Vladimir

Putin of this because she doesn't like him very much. It is apparently

"Personal beef" against because of criticism levelled against him over

national elections in Russia. This is what she was saying to donors in

Manhattan, apparently. It resonates with the idea that international

relations appeared to have become incredibly petty. Clearly, she feels

she has been singled out and victimised here. Certainly, the way

that all of this, the e-mail leaks from the Democratic party and over

the course of the election... The media had all the tools at their

disposal to run the same stories about the Republicans but they

didn't. There is all kinds of analysis that needs to go into how

this all happened. Certainly Hillary Clinton, she's a pretty serious

person, she's making direct allegations has. Is there a risk of

her in doing this? That she looks like a sore loser? She does. At the

bottom of this story it says Obama is waiting for a final report into

Russian hacking attacks. He says they will publish it at a time and

place of their own choosing. You would assume he will publish it in

the next month. Unless he does something really clever and

publishes it on Vladimir Putin's Facebook page which proves he can do

to them what they did to him! The point is serious. Actually, he's on

the way out and in a sense this could be the blustering of the

school yard again. But actually, I can call you out but I can't do very

much. Yes, but by the CIA and FBI are on the same page now. A few days

ago there was some disagreement. The FBI wouldn't endorse what the CIA

said about Russia being responsible. Exactly. Now they say they agree. To

the extent they might feel they will get sidelined under Trump, he seems

to like to do national security and briefings his own way... I guess

it's in their interests to work on this through Christmas and get this

done before The Donald is in the hot seat. Order with the day before.

Let's move on to the Financial Times weekend. You've got a story on the

front here. Let's start with the one at the bottom which is fantastic

quirky story about this drone that the US Navy was using but the

Chinese seem to have scooped up and run away with. Which again,

diplomatic relations at the moment when you've got Trump ringing

Taiwan... It's utterly bizarre because the indication is it was

doing some kind of Marine biology, not military at all. But obviously

America is saying we want it back! Not even clear who's got it.

Unidentified Chinese fisher man? Bully we want our ball back! It

probably is a ball. Again, it plays into this idea, and obviously this

isn't Russia but he's being prodded before the new guy arrives. The new

guy hasn't got off to the best fitting with China. We just

mentioned the phone call he took from Taiwan. You can brush it off

and say it was a ten minute chat, the President just wanted to be nice

and say congratulations, where is the harm. There's a lot of harm

here! China takes its one China policy pretty seriously. Either this

is a blunder from Trump or a sign of how relations are going to be from

now on, but, things like this, China snaffling drones from the sea, these

things don't happen by accident. It is likely this was a well

choreographed decision from the top. This is China we are talking about.

The early flushes of the relationship between China and

Donald Trump do not look fantastic. Interesting that Obama was saying at

his news conference that China does the same stuff he accuses Russia

forgiving but he says they do it for business. They try to manipulate

cyber data for business benefits rather than political ones. Some

interesting questions will be asked of the new administration. Let's

move onto your story, this is interesting in the light of the

threat that UK banks could lose the right trade in your raise once we

are out of the European Union. This is a different take on the future of

the city. A lot of people were saying foreign banks have a huge

presence in the UK and in the event of leaving the European Union, a lot

of them might feel to be in the EU. A lot of this was dismissed as

Project fear. In real life, these banks, in this case Japanese banks,

they really need these practical things to be in place. There was a

meeting at the Treasury between lots of officials from Japanese banks

with some Treasury officials and it was a frank exchange of views.

LAUGHTER I love that phrase! What were they saying to the Treasury

officials? It's all going to be great, don't worry about it.

Obviously they weren't being that glib. What the Japanese banks were

saying is we need to know we can get passporting. Basically we can have

the right to trade on behalf of our clients, do business on behalf of

our clients in the European Union and the UK. We are kind of in London

because it's part of the European Union. They need to get some solid

guidance on what is going to happen to these passporting writes,

otherwise they are going to start planning to leave by mid-2017 which

is pretty soon. It's very soon, are you worried? Or do you feel this is

part of the lobbying... If you are trying to plan and you are a

business, you tend to want to know how it is going to work you. And is

it better to relocate to Frankfurt or or wherever. Some government

ministers think some of these worries are exaggerated. Yes, for

example a good number of thousand of people who were employed by Japanese

banks in London, it's difficult for me to imagine they will all

disappear overnight. It's not just about Japan, this is almost a test

case. If the rules aren't good enough Japanese banks, are they good

enough German, Italian banks? Say what you like about bankers, but

ranks provide a lot of money into this country. There comes a point at

which your cutting your nose off to spite your face. Talking about where

people might be going, are either of you planning to travel away over

Christmas? Plans to go and lie on a beach? I've just been away. When you

see the front of The Daily Mail? We've spoken about the Cold War and

Russia. It's like papers from 30 years ago! I do like the quite "The

grinches who stole Christmas" is a furious MPs. It's not just the cabin

crew, BA cabin crew. At least BA look as if they've tried to pick

Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The big problem looks like it'll be the

baggage handlers who are going to start on the 23rd on the 24th. If

you remember those scenes a few years ago of huge queues. A lot of

people even at regional airports, a lot of people now check in online,

even if they don't check in when they arrive, so the interaction is

not as much as it once was. My colleague here, the business

correspondence was saying he heard that at Stansted Ryanair had said if

the baggage handlers aren't there and people aren't that then they

will simply make it hand luggage only. There is a nice quote here,

one industry source has advised passengers to pack Christmas

presents, valuables and a change of clothes in their hand luggage. If

you remember a few years ago there was a guy who tested out a coat to

go on one of the budget airlines. He had pockets everywhere. So he didn't

have to pay his ?45 extra. It could catch on! We've got time for a

couple more quick little stories. The Daily Telegraph, could there be

a threat to your Christmas bird this year? If the turkey is still running

around on the farm somewhere before it faces its fate. It's in its final

days. Turkeys can't catch a break at this time of year. In addition to

the poor turkeys that are going to be gracing our Christmas tables,

there has been an outbreak of bird flu on a Lincolnshire farm which has

tested positive for a strain of the disease. The poor turkeys, if they

aren't about to end up on dinner tables then they've got the lurgy.

Experts will say you can't get it as a human but there is always that

fear it will put people off buying it in the first place. It's

Christmas Day, if you're going to get a turkey you're going to get a

turkey in one way or another. Interesting, it was on the continent

and there was a warning affecting a lot of French farmers and inevitably

it still spread as these things have a chance to do. And finally as they

used to say on the news. You spotted this story so you should tell us

about it. The government has launched a nationwide competition to

host the 2023 European capital of culture, even though Britain is

leaving the EU. The Culture Secretary has made the argument that

the United Kingdom is leaving the EU but we aren't leaving Europe.

Apparently it's the UK's turn to play host alongside Hungary because

it's Hull next year. We have the Hull City of Culture bus down here

outside Broadcasting House and an enthusiastic team of supporters

talking about the great things that will be happening in Hull next year.

It's a bit unfortunate timing, this! Britain's eligibility to participate

in the scheme will be decided as part of the Brexit negotiations.

This is part of our trade-off. Do you think Theresa should give up

culture to keep British residents able to give in the EU or is the

City of Culture more important? Somewhere someone has got a

whiteboard with banking, your revision, capital of culture on the

other! You've got to get your bargaining chips where you can!

Check the whole City of Culture website, a lot will be happening

there. And who knows, possibly a British City of Culture in 2023.

Thank you both so much. Don't forget all the front pages

are online on the BBC News website where you can read a detailed review

of the papers. It's all there for you, seven days

a week at bbc.co.uk/papers, and you can see us there too,

with each night's edition of The Papers being posted

on the page shortly Thank you Vikki Orvice

and Katie Martin.