:00:00. > :00:00.Lionel Shriver, about her work, and whether Donald Trump's America is
:00:00. > :00:11.represented in her latest book. Hello and welcome to our look ahead
:00:12. > :00:15.to what the the papers will be With me are Robert Fox,
:00:16. > :00:18.Defence Editor of the London Evening Standard, and Esther McVey,
:00:19. > :00:31.former Conservative And not a single Donald Trump story
:00:32. > :00:33.tonight. I'm in mourning! I am sure it is just a momentary hiatus.
:00:34. > :00:35.The FT says Theresa May is on the brink of formally
:00:36. > :00:38.launching Britain's exit from the European Union, after rebel
:00:39. > :00:41.Tory MPs admitted they were unlikely to have the power to block the move
:00:42. > :00:43.when the bill returns to Commons tomorrow.
:00:44. > :00:45.The i says Tory veteran Lord Hestletine, who was sacked over
:00:46. > :00:48.Brexit, has accused Mrs May of treating colleagues
:00:49. > :00:54.For the Metro, it's "March madness", as strikes over driver-only trains
:00:55. > :00:57.spread to three parts of the country.
:00:58. > :01:00.The Telegraph has a picture of a serious-faced Nicola Sturgeon
:01:01. > :01:03.behind Theresa May - it says the Scottish leader
:01:04. > :01:07.is threatening to derail Article 50, the formal notice of the UK leaving
:01:08. > :01:09.the EU, with plans for a second independence referendum.
:01:10. > :01:12.Brexit preoccupies the Express again - it says MPs have been urged
:01:13. > :01:14.not to wreck the bill's progress through Parliament.
:01:15. > :01:19.And The Times says the heads of 35 Oxford colleges
:01:20. > :01:21.have signed a letter, pleading with MPs to allow EU
:01:22. > :01:28.citizens already resident in Britain the right to stay after Brexit.
:01:29. > :01:37.The Guardian focuses on the possible trade implications of Britain
:01:38. > :01:42.post-Bragg said. The photograph is of Murray Black, Britain's youngest
:01:43. > :01:48.MP, who says she hates parliament and may stand down at the next
:01:49. > :01:53.election. It will be a sorrier place without her, probably. Let's starred
:01:54. > :02:00.with Brexit. It's on many of the front pages. The likelihood it could
:02:01. > :02:05.be treated -- triggered this week. Tories into a mile ahead of Article
:02:06. > :02:09.50, it says. Five big Tory names on the front page. The Chancellor and
:02:10. > :02:13.the Prime Minister's relationship said to be under strain. The
:02:14. > :02:15.referendum was supposed to be the end of Conservative divisions on
:02:16. > :02:24.Europe. It hasn't worked out that way? I wouldn't say the Tories are
:02:25. > :02:30.in turmoil. Yes there are tensions and fundamentally it's more to do
:02:31. > :02:35.with the budget last week, I would say, and people coming forward
:02:36. > :02:41.saying, you have broken a manifesto pledge by increasing national
:02:42. > :02:48.insurance to be and is for the self-employed. That would be the
:02:49. > :02:53.issue. But Theresa May deftly shifted that away, leaving it to a
:02:54. > :02:58.vote in the autumn, saying, let's have a look at self-employed, the
:02:59. > :03:04.Devon -- the definition of it. As for Michael Heseltine, who is saying
:03:05. > :03:09.she is treating colleagues as performing fleas, what happened here
:03:10. > :03:15.is, and he knows, and anybody who is a member of the government voting
:03:16. > :03:19.against the government, and he has been in government for many years,
:03:20. > :03:22.knew he would be sacked for what he did because that is going against
:03:23. > :03:28.the very nature of collective responsibility. So he wasn't treated
:03:29. > :03:32.unusually. It would have been unusual to have allowed him to have
:03:33. > :03:38.carried on. I think this is making a story out of not too much. But
:03:39. > :03:41.obviously every party has got differing views on differing things.
:03:42. > :03:47.I don't think this is big. Do you think it is as big as the front page
:03:48. > :03:56.would have it? I must say, reading the article, it is a storm in a
:03:57. > :03:59.store -- Tory teacup. Lord Heseltine got a lot of praise for saying the
:04:00. > :04:08.House of Lords is and to get the government to think again. And also,
:04:09. > :04:13.we want a unilateral declaration that EU residents will have their
:04:14. > :04:19.rights guaranteed. Theresa May agrees with that. There isn't one MP
:04:20. > :04:23.who doesn't agree. There is something running behind this, isn't
:04:24. > :04:28.there? If we are to ignore entirely what the House of Lords did or said
:04:29. > :04:33.and voted upon in the deliberations on Brexit, and Article 50, as Mr
:04:34. > :04:37.Davies is inviting his party, Parliament and the country to do,
:04:38. > :04:42.what on earth is the point of parliament? This is the real
:04:43. > :04:45.question of what I would now call, seeing what is going on in the
:04:46. > :04:54.Netherlands, the nativist part of the right-wing of Tory party, part
:04:55. > :04:56.of their claim for Brexit was to return sovereignty, national
:04:57. > :05:02.sovereignty, to the country. The instrument of sovereignty, which
:05:03. > :05:05.they seem to be playing in and out with, is Parliament. They keep
:05:06. > :05:10.saying the people have spoken and that's it. Are they really saying
:05:11. > :05:18.that uniquely a referendum is the only thing that you cannot rescind,
:05:19. > :05:24.abrogate, alter, moderate? Anything you say in Parliament, including a
:05:25. > :05:31.motion to shoot all redheads tomorrow morning, can be rescinded.
:05:32. > :05:34.That is her statute law works. This idea that this thing is set in
:05:35. > :05:41.stone, I think they are driving themselves into a big trap. The
:05:42. > :05:47.daily express saying MPs are told not to sabotage EU exit. That is not
:05:48. > :05:53.going to happen, is it? They will win the vote. It will be triggered
:05:54. > :05:57.this week. Of course. We are constantly talking about it. There
:05:58. > :06:01.will be pressure from the public. There is pressure from the media.
:06:02. > :06:06.They are constantly talking about it in the House. Parliament is
:06:07. > :06:12.actually, you know, in charge of what's going on. Everybody is having
:06:13. > :06:16.a say. All they are saying is it was a referendum, so what we have to
:06:17. > :06:22.make sure is that is seen through. Everybody is having a say. The Daily
:06:23. > :06:29.Telegraph headline talks about Nicola Sturgeon's last ditch attempt
:06:30. > :06:34.to stop Brexit. It is not go to happen. We are going to leave. What
:06:35. > :06:39.is Nicola Sturgeon doing? She is trying to get a Scottish boys at the
:06:40. > :06:48.table in the negotiations. -- voice. This has been her problem. Some of
:06:49. > :06:50.the more extreme suggestions, including in this story, that
:06:51. > :06:56.Scotland can go it alone because, by the time that the Brexit
:06:57. > :07:02.negotiations are finished in two years, March 2019, they could be out
:07:03. > :07:05.of the United Kingdom, that is brinkmanship of the most
:07:06. > :07:12.extraordinary order. The suggestion again in the Telegraph piece is that
:07:13. > :07:16.she may be forced to go for another referendum for the independence of
:07:17. > :07:21.Scotland. Well, the opinion polls at the moment say she won't win it. And
:07:22. > :07:27.with a declining economy. She's looking weaker all the time. She
:07:28. > :07:30.keeps coming back to this, we are having another referendum. She has
:07:31. > :07:35.marched her voters to the top of the hill, she now has nowhere to go and
:07:36. > :07:44.she is sounding very weak. There is the possibility of the break-up of
:07:45. > :07:50.her party, too. Look at DfT. Rebel MPs except likely defeat. The
:07:51. > :07:57.Commons expected to pass the bill. The story we are going to look at is
:07:58. > :08:01.at the top. Anger rises as President Erdogan calls the Dutch Nazis. This
:08:02. > :08:08.is a complicated story. The opposition in Turkey have been able
:08:09. > :08:16.to campaign ahead of the vote this week. The ruling party feel that
:08:17. > :08:20.they have not been given the same opportunities to speak to their
:08:21. > :08:25.electorate in the Netherlands. This is ineptitude on both sides. As a
:08:26. > :08:34.DfT is reporting it. What appears to have happened is this. -- as the
:08:35. > :08:43.financial Times is reporting. How began's ruling party asked for two
:08:44. > :08:47.senior figures. To come to the Netherlands to hold a rally to
:08:48. > :08:51.persuade Turks, those that might have the vote and were not sure --
:08:52. > :08:57.we are not sure how many there are in the Netherlands, to vote for
:08:58. > :09:04.greater powers for President Erdogan come June, or whenever the election
:09:05. > :09:09.is. It is much earlier. It is not this week. That is the Dutch general
:09:10. > :09:14.election. Sorry. You have let the cat out of the bag. That is the
:09:15. > :09:20.point. They asked them not to do it this weekend because of the run-up
:09:21. > :09:24.to the Dutch, very toxic, general election, where nativism and the
:09:25. > :09:27.presence of Muslims in their country is an issue. I really think it is
:09:28. > :09:33.about timing from their point of view. President Erdogan's reaction
:09:34. > :09:38.has been so hyper, I would even call it absurd, to call them Nazis is
:09:39. > :09:42.inept, it is completely wrong. What he has done easy has got the
:09:43. > :09:46.headlines around the world. He was trying to get the 5 million Turks in
:09:47. > :09:50.Europe to vote for him to have extended powers in Turkey. It isn't
:09:51. > :09:54.only the Netherlands that have said they don't want these rallies.
:09:55. > :10:00.Germany have said they don't want them because of the agitation on the
:10:01. > :10:05.ground. More importantly for the Netherlands, it is because there
:10:06. > :10:13.election is this week. March madness, says the Metro. A million
:10:14. > :10:22.hit by train strikes. We saw the disruption on Southern trains. No
:10:23. > :10:29.more will be hit this week. My hometown is coming out. This is the
:10:30. > :10:33.RMT making sure 2000 guards walk out. At the end of the day everybody
:10:34. > :10:38.has got to get to the nub of what these strikes are about. They keep
:10:39. > :10:45.going back. Is it about safety of the passenger? Is it about these
:10:46. > :10:51.driver only operated trains? No, it's not. We have had them for 30
:10:52. > :10:56.years. 60% of trains are run on them. We know they are safe. This is
:10:57. > :11:00.about RMT having power, flexing its muscle and really not thinking about
:11:01. > :11:07.the people they are causing so much strive to. It is about a union
:11:08. > :11:10.protecting members and their jobs, isn't it? It is completely wrong. It
:11:11. > :11:17.is not about that. They are not losing their jobs. They are getting
:11:18. > :11:22.the guards to do other things. They are opening -- opening and closing
:11:23. > :11:26.the door is not the most important thing on a train. It could be
:11:27. > :11:30.checking whether there is anti-social behaviour on the train,
:11:31. > :11:33.checking whether people are safe, it could be about telling them where
:11:34. > :11:37.they need to get off or payment about a train tickets. It is not
:11:38. > :11:43.about just opening and closing the door. I want to return to the
:11:44. > :11:53.Telegraph. Foreign aid wasted on green energy plans. ?2 billion. This
:11:54. > :11:56.is an old theme. I don't mean old story. The Telegraph are going in on
:11:57. > :12:05.the enormous aid budget. ?12 million. -- ?12 billion. 0.7% of
:12:06. > :12:10.GDP. Cameron pledged to support the millennium goals of the UN and they
:12:11. > :12:16.can't account for a lot of it. The Telegraph has dug out to schemes
:12:17. > :12:22.which have not yielded anything. -- two. A solar power scheme in Kenya
:12:23. > :12:26.and a wind in Ethiopia which has provided energy for barely 100
:12:27. > :12:33.households at a cost of half a billion between them. One of these
:12:34. > :12:42.things is that it is very difficult to audit a lot of what Dhif it is
:12:43. > :12:46.doing. -- divot. Plus it is becoming a tremendous political football
:12:47. > :12:52.because anything from defence through to welfare says, why are we
:12:53. > :13:01.spending 12 billion? They want to repatriated. -- to repatriate it.
:13:02. > :13:06.But they really don't will know, and the civil service don't know, how to
:13:07. > :13:10.disentangle this. Year after year there is an awful lot of money
:13:11. > :13:14.wasted. I have witnessed a tremendous waste of money in
:13:15. > :13:19.Afghanistan, for example, where we spent 3 billion of aid. I wonder how
:13:20. > :13:26.much of that is yielding at the moment? I think Mrs May, the Prime
:13:27. > :13:31.Minister, will have to deal with this in this term because it has
:13:32. > :13:35.been building. And the money is going up. By 2020 it will be 16
:13:36. > :13:40.billion. When at home people are saying, we need several billion for
:13:41. > :13:45.other things, whether it is social care, it shouldn't be a sacred cow,
:13:46. > :13:50.foreign aid, that we can't look at and say, is this money being spent
:13:51. > :13:55.wisely? If it is not, could it be better spent at home? You read my
:13:56. > :14:03.body language. I want to do one more story. The RSPCA in a dogfight with
:14:04. > :14:10.Crofts over dog leads. You have no interest in this. I have no dog in
:14:11. > :14:17.this fight! The argument is these dogs are held to tightly on their
:14:18. > :14:24.leads. Crofts say this is nonsense. I have two agree with Crofts. I love
:14:25. > :14:31.dogs. I have several of my own. Very naughty. But I think in this
:14:32. > :14:43.instance, they are not your regular run of the mill dog, they are
:14:44. > :14:48.performing dogs. These are more performing dogs. Doesn't mean to say
:14:49. > :14:53.they want to be kept on a tight league and have their heads held up?
:14:54. > :14:57.We are overemphasising the point. They are going around a ring. They
:14:58. > :15:03.have been doing it for many years. The Kennel Club says it is a silly
:15:04. > :15:07.nonissue. If you don't agree with Crofts, it could be a different
:15:08. > :15:18.issue altogether. For the RSPCA -- for the dogs to do what they have
:15:19. > :15:22.been trained to do, leave them be. It is part of posture as well. This
:15:23. > :15:33.is a problem with fine thoroughbreds. Over breeding dogs, I
:15:34. > :15:40.do believe, is wrong. There ears aren't right, their eyes right.
:15:41. > :15:49.That's it for now. There you go. You have to fight your corner. You can't
:15:50. > :15:53.get a word in edgewise. Don't forget, the front pages are online.
:15:54. > :16:07.You can read a detailed review of the papers. We will be back at half
:16:08. > :16:18.past 11. Don't leave us yet. Robert and Esther will be back.
:16:19. > :16:22.Now its time for Meet the Author with Rebecca Jones.
:16:23. > :16:27.For much of her career, Lionel Shriver scribbled