22/04/2017 The Papers

the National Grid says 24 hours' worth of electricity has been

Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be

With me are Bonnie Greer, playwright and writer

for the New European and former newspaper editor Eve Pollard.

Tomorrow's front pages, starting with...

In one of many polls in the weekend papers,

the Mail on Sunday claims the Conservatives' opinion poll lead

has been slashed in half because of Theresa May's plans over

The Sunday Mirror claims their survey gives

the Tories their biggest lead since 1991, with more than 50%

Theresa May parks her battle tanks on Labour's

lawn according to the Sunday Times as it reports on Tory manifesto plan

to offer ?100 off energy bills for workers.

A poll in the Sunday Express suggest one

in seven Labour voters will switch to the Tories

The Sunday Telegraph has an interview

with Patrick McLaughlin, Chairman of the Conservatives,

who claims that Jeremy Corbyn is not suitable to take

on the responsibilities of Prime Minister.

And the Observer reports a pledge from Lib Dem

leader, Tim Farron, that he won't do any coalition deals,

saying he wants the Liberal Democrats be the main opposition.

There you have it. A little taster. A more in-depth natter about those

papers with ease and Bonnie, how are we starting, kicking off with the

Mail? What's interesting is here you have a paper supporting the Tory

party saying that the Tory lead, which is meant to be huge, will be

slashed, and this is the latest poll, we have to talk about polls in

a minute, after tax U-turn. I think it is true to say the Tories rely on

older people to vote for them, they're very worried about the

triple lock. They also worry about older people because they are often

freelance because there's no option after a certain as, and this is what

Philip Hammond wanted to do after the Budget, they aren't going to

vote for her. You have the Sunday Mirror, a Labour supporting paper,

saying Jeremy Corbyn will have a total disaster and going through the

polls. To be sympathetic for once to the editors of the newspapers, it's

the first weekend we are having an election, there are no manifestoes,

so you can't write about manifestoes. You can't really write

about much other than the polls. I remember ordering polls when I was

an editor, they're very expensive. But in the old days they would do it

face to face. There's a sort of entertainment value in a sense.

Polls are getting a very bad reputation in the UK. 2015 World Cup

a disaster. The EU referendum was a multipronged disaster as far as the

city was concerned -- 2015 was a disaster. So here they are back

again and I think, as you said, there's no manifestoes yet so the

only entertainment we can have until that comes along are the polls. It's

interesting, listening to Eve, I suddenly thought, the Mail on

Sunday, which is a little bit different from the Mail, this might

be a dog whistle to their readership as this might be too if they think

there is trouble ahead. Let's some it up, the Mail on Sunday is

saying... The lead plummeted to 11%. The landslide they were hoping for

is not going to happen. The Sunday Mirror... The Mirror has a blowout

for the Tories. Yes. And then we have another paper here that has got

another poll where Theresa May is laughing on the Sunday Times and

there is some kind of... I would imagine the people who vote, and

that's a very small percentage of the electorate, will they be paying

attention to any of this to be honest with you? It is too early.

It's too early but we've only got six and a bit weeks? My other

feeling also as an editor, and they are very expensive, the polls, it's

rather interesting, if you talk to politicians they'll tell you if you

go out on the street and you open the doors to people, you can tell,

if they don't look you in the eye, they want to get rid of you in the

nicest possible way and you know the way things are going. The fact is if

you're going to polls online, I don't know about you, but if someone

says can I do a survey with you online I normally say no. If I

happen to be in the mood to say yes, I'm not going to give it the full

attention and I may not be totally honest because it's an advert, I

want to get rid of it and move on. To go back to what you were saying

about the Conservatives, their call voters is an older vote, Theresa May

is using later in Crosby, who ran a campaign, that was the last

campaign, the mayoral campaign, for Zac Goldsmith. That worked well,

didn't it? It sure did. But in the general election 2015 he got

through, they are using the same tactics they used for GE 2015, it's

about stability, the Labour Party is all over the place, and stability

soppy that's where they're going. That's the bottom line, if they

going for this older generation, the ones they know will show up at the

polling booth, then this is going to be a headline that is crucial. I

think this will make them talk about it on Monday morning. The Sunday

Times is saying that Theresa May is talking about tactics, parking her

battle tanks on Labour's lawn and as part of wooing those voters, ?100

off energy bills. Is that going to work? I don't think that Labour has

got a lawn at the moment. They are rather lawnless at the moment. We

all know energy bills are high and if you have children and the weather

is bad, you spend a lot of money. Somehow I don't think ?100 is going

to do it. Not for the people that read this paper. They have been a

tiny box down here, Corbyn's office in chaos, that doesn't mean anything

to those who read this paper as well. I'm going to say something

that is counter narrative and counterintuitive, I'm sure people

will agree, I think so far... There's a lot of things about

Corbyn, and I have a lot of issues with him, but he is baked into a lot

of people's mines, you either like him or you don't. There's not going

to be any surprises or anything pulled out of a hat. Teresa May is

all over the shop actually and is going to be interesting to see when

she finally -- what she finally lands on when we get the manifesto

and I don't think Labour is going to lose as much as people think. One

thing John Curtice says, he is I think the guru of all this, got

general election 2015 right and the EU referendum right, he said we are

becoming more like the United States in that there are now safe seats,

there are areas that cannot be breached. If we turn to the Sunday

Express, they seem to think one in seven Labour voters are going to

vote Tory. I disagree with Bonnie because I think you have the whole

Brexit thing and you have Labour voters, particularly up north,

voting for Brexit. The Tories are going for the North, Abe? And

they're also going for Scotland -- aren't they? There's nothing up

there, Scotland is off the table. The Scots may well go ahead with

independents and I think they could get some seats in Scotland. The Tory

leader of the last campaign didn't even put conservative on her

billboards. It was her and stability. She has become rather

well-known and well liked since. I think so but I think that is off the

table. It will be interesting to see how many Labour candidates put

Jeremy Corbyn on their campaigns. Some Tory candidates might not go

with Theresa May either. It depends on how well you are known by your

constituency. These are going to be a bunch of local elections and maybe

this might be the first time when people can say I like her, I don't

her party but I like her and she's doing a good job. I also think Tim

Farron will do well. Let's go over to the Lib Dems and the Observer. We

heard Vince Cable speaking earlier, talking to my colleague earlier, and

he was saying there may have to be a rise in taxes somewhere along the

line. Tim Farron says they are not going to do any coalition deals. He

believes they are the only strong opposition. That's bad news for

Labour because there was I hope perhaps there could be a coalition

but he's decided this is maybe his moment and he's going to have a go.

My real irritation about tax, and we all know we need more money in the

national health, we need more money in schools, is I think the more we

find out, we find there's bad procurement for drugs, the NHS pays

much more for some drugs and other countries, and we need to learn to

be good at it. I think the NHS should be depoliticised. It matters

too much for it to be a political football. And I actually think we

should think about what we should do with our schools, how we can use

them more and make more of them. These are the two areas where each

political party... That's their only playground in a sense. We can look

at it in an emotional and intellectual way and say why do

people always use the NHS as a football and education as a

football, because there's nothing else for people to go this really

into people and send a signal to them without making a big banner,

NHS... That's why I think in a way Labour is doing something that is

very interesting. Jeremy Corbyn has made this a Brexit party. I'm not a

Brexit person but I see the logic of what he's doing because the

homelands... The heartlands voted big-time for Brexit, so he's taken

that of the table for Labour and he's saying, right, it's going to be

a soft Brexit for you guys but let's talk about what matters to you, the

NHS, education, he is trying to shift the conversation. If he can do

that, and he may be able to manage that. The EU is saying that Theresa

May pass claimed that she will be strengthened in the Brexit deal by

this general election victory is the other front page story on the front

of the Observer and it has been dismissed as nonsense -- Theresa

May's claim. Whether you like her or not the election will be about

Brexit because that's the next big thing and she's right. The fact is,

I was a Remainer, but one of the things I think she will do is to

weaken the Brexiteers in her party who do want hard Brexit. My other

feeling is you have to lots of people negotiating. The Europeans

are bound to say if you want to stay in... If you want any trade deals

you have to allow freedom of movement and you have to allow all

sorts of things which this country, like it or not, and I didn't, voted

for. They voted to leave the EU. And without any doubt Brussels knows

it's in trouble. You've got the French elections tomorrow, who knows

how that will go. You got Italy and all these people. The problem for

the United Kingdom, coming in as a single player in this, it's already

got completely out of control with Donald Trump who now says after he's

had a talk with Angela Merkel, I made a mistake, oh, God, I'm with

the EU now. The hole back of the queue thing is back on the table

again. -- the back of the queue thing. Theresa May is saying that

they have to do this except, but they don't and Liam Fox has come

back sending squillion is of our tax money, he has come back with

nothing, no deals, nothing. -- except. I agree with Eve on this,

this election is another Tory proxy war where she has got to quell the

Euro sceptics in her party saying you don't have a mandate, you can't

bring this up, but that's what this is about. Very quickly, a big day

tomorrow for all these fitness gurus and charities, everyone is running

for charities, the Sunday Times saying there's huge security for the

London Marathon. We were saying earlier, I don't know if this is

right, but should it be publicised in this way? I think you have to.

After the terrible events in Paris this week, and you have to reassure

people saying there will be people all along the run, and it is a long

run, checking there is no terrible accident. You have the royal family

and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William turning

up, this is for their charity. This marathon is for their charity

rather. And I also believe that it makes you sound as if you're in

control. Of course none of us are in control because these terrible

things keep happening. It is a tribute to the British stiff upper

lip, we are going to do this and not be rattled by it. If anyone is

wondering about the connection with the Royals, if you want to follow it

on Twitter it is mind of a marathon. Bad language on the back of the Mail

on Sunday. Not their bad language but... -- mind of a marathon. We

come from the day when this guy first came on the scene, they called

him nasty from the get go. I'm really happy that women are not

putting up with this dude, it is really good. He's in his 70s, he's

had a wonderful life, a wonderful career. From about 1978, 1979 and

women aren't putting up with it any more. Women weren't paid enough...

And now they are big stuff. They aren't putting up with this and now

this old guy has got the message, good, go off with your nasty self!

The also upset Serena Williams, I doubt she is bothered. She is

laughing, she could beat him eight months pregnant! Sounds exhausting!

Eve Pollard, Bonnie Greer, it's been wonderful! Thank you very much. I

didn't do much there! Anyway, that is it for the papers. Thank you to

both my guests. Coming up next it is Meet the Author.