15/11/2017 The Papers

Hello, and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me are the journalist

and broadcaster Aasmah Mir,

and the political commentator and

former Tory adviser Jo-Anne Nadler.

Welcome to you both. Let's have a

look at tomorrow's front pages. We

start with the Financial Times,

leading with the situation in

Zimbabwe, and also with a picture of

Richard Ratcliffe who met the

Foreign Secretary today his wife is

-- the man whose wife is imprisoned

in Iran. And this picture on the

Metro of a military vehicle on the

streets of Harare. The i is another

paper reading on Zimbabwe, a picture

of Robert Mugabe with his wife

Grace. The Daily Express claims

£30,000 could be saved -- 30,000

lives in NHS could be saved between

now and 2030. The Daily Telegraph

leads on the so-called pro-Brexit

mutineers. And as well as the

situation in Zimbabwe, the Times has

the story about the record high

number of EU citizens now working in

Britain. The guardian again focuses

on Zimbabwe but also has a group of

MPs calling for an investigation

into Russia's role in Brexit. The

daily Mirror running a story on

schools begging parents to pay for

pens and glue. Aasmah, there is only

one story on the front pages.

Everybody gripped by what is going

on in Zimbabwe. It sounds like a

coup, and it looks very much like a

coup, but we are not allowed to say

it is?

No, if you look at the front

pages we have selected, the tank on

the front page of the Metro, and

very strikingly on the front page of

the Guardian, a Major General,

Sibusiso Moyo, in a uniform, on

television, but it has essentially

become the C that people are not

allowed to say because with a coup

come very many ramifications,

clearly, the chaos that that could

mean, what it could mean for the end

of Robert Maghaberry, and also what

it might mean in terms of membership

of the African union, because for

example...

Is this the point,

because they call it a coup African

Union away in?

Has to weigh in and

say stuff, which we know they have

been loathe to say. They have been

great supporters of Robert McCartney

over the years, and also in terms of

Egypt, when they had their coup they

were pretty much put it out, so that

will have a lot to do with the fact

of why they haven't said that as a

coup.

Large focus, Jo-Anne on Grace,

Grace Mugabe, who a lot of the

papers are referring to as Gucci

Grace.

Indeed, and we are hearing a

lot about the personality of the

young wife of Robert Mugabe and she

seems to have been instrumental in

what has happened there. The concern

of other members of the top of the

government that she might miniver

herself into a situation of taking

over from her husband at his death,

it seems to have been what has

precipitated the events of the last

couple of days, and obviously there

is some coloured pieces, and some of

the papers, about her and her high

spending proclivities, and equally

of Mugabe's sons and rather vulgar

pictures they have been taking of

themselves in nightclubs and the

sort of thing.

You were saying to me

outside when you read the papers,

look at the front pages, you get the

sense what they are really trying to

do here, the army, and Mnangagwa,

the vice president, is heal the rift

within their own party. It has not

been brought about by conditions in

the country?

This is the irony.

People in Zimbabwe have been

suffering for many years now, and as

we see on the front page of the

Financial Times, charts showing the

absolutely horrendous condition of

the economy there, the crisis in

agriculture, the runaway inflation

etc, we have been hearing about that

for years, and yet the whole

situation does not seem to have been

brought about by a revolt of

ordinary people, because they have

not been in a position to do that,

but it is the fallout of

machinations right at the top.

Yes.

The Daily Telegraph had an

interesting piece. She has gone back

to Zimbabwe on her Zimbabwean

passport, and there is a scholar in

here. We don't often speak about

life in Harare and how bad it has

got, but what strikes you, Aasmah,

about what it is like in Harare at

the moment?

I think it is very much

a case of there is still a little

bit of support for Robert Mugabe,

the die-hard loyalist people who

believe that he very much fights for

African people, has done over the

last 40 years, then there are also

people who don't want to dare to

dream, who say they can't believe

this day has finally come, and

because again no one is calling it a

coup, they still don't want to

believe, and they would believe it

until they actually see it, until

they see a new leader in the

presidential mansion. I think it is

very much that sense that comes

through of just being on the edge of

something historic, but not quite

there yet.

It is the money as well,

though, the fact there is none, none

on the banks?

Exactly, and Mnangagwa

has been making noises, outward

noises, about bringing in foreign

capital, and trying to rebuild the

economy in a way perhaps that Mugabe

himself and his direct followers

would not have had any truck with,

because obviously he is a Marxist.

Really, I mean, this story, we have

been at this point, looking at the

fall of dictators across so many

countries over the last 20-30 years,

and there is always this intense

feeling of enthusiasm and excitement

at the moment that appears to be

happening, then so often

unfortunately something else rushes

in to fill the vacuum and we can...

The Zimbabwean Spring. We will see.

Just before we moved off Micah

Telegraph, a story you, Jo-Anne,

would have been interested in the

day. -- move off the Telegraph. A

story of the rebels, the mutineers,

as we tell them, a lot of criticism

in that front page. Theresa May you

think came out in the right sort of

way today?

I think the Conservative

Party has handled the story on the

front page of the day's Telegraph

very effectively actually. They have

closed on the story by really

saying, we encourage people to make

sensible amendments to bills, and

this is all part of that process,

and indeed the 15 so-called

mutineers pretty much took that line

themselves and ministers involved

with the discussions are around the

bill also took that line, so this

idea, rightly or wrongly, whether

the Telegraph was trying to foment

some further aggression, well, not

aggression but falling out within

sectors of the Conservative Party,

it doesn't seem to have worked.

But

on that point we have heard on

social media, some of these 15

people, one or perhaps more, have

had death threats, which I have to

say is very sad and does not

surprise me at all, Drew doesn't.

Which is why the newspapers need to

be more careful, Twitter and social

media -- it really doesn't. Let's

talk about the Financial Times, and

about Scotland because Scotland has

brought in this regulation today

about alcohol prices. Tell us about

it.

This legislation was actual

brought up many years ago, but it

has been caught up in many legal

challenges and it is the UK Supreme

Court to have finally given it the

go-ahead today because the Scotch

Whisky Association had said, Norma,

we don't want minimum alcohol

pricing, clearly, because it would

affect their margins. We are talking

about... The clue is in the name,

and minimum price, you can't go

below that so obviously prices would

then go up what the Government

hopes, that clearly it would become

too expensive for some people and

they would stop drinking and the

particular problem would be reduced.

There have been other arguments that

for example taxing it might be more

effective, but the UK Supreme Court

has said, Norma, we think the most

effective way of sorting this

problem is going to be a minimum

price -- has said, no. It could be

at this point round about 50p per

unit. A fantastic day for the SNP.

Yet another piece of legislation,

you know, that they would say that

they are leading the way on,

something that doesn't exist

anywhere else in the UK.

Something

the UK would follow?

Anywhere else

in the world, I believe. Canada and

Russia apparently have some

form of

minimum pricing on alcohol, which I

didn't know until I read that.

Let's

move onto Boris and Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliffe. He has been

meeting her husband Richard

Ratcliffe today. Interesting, about

the deal that might be on the table

to bring her home?

That's right. We

haven't heard very much about this

but Mr Ratcliffe is saying in the

Expressed that he feels his wife is

being used as a bargaining chip by

Iran to force Britain to pay I think

it is £400 million, which was agreed

in an arms deal before the Iranians

revolution in 1979. Obviously with

the revolution that deal went on

hold, as it were, and he is arguing

that his wife...

Frozen, sitting in

a bank, while the sanctions were in

place?

Indeed, in his argument is

that his wife has very unfortunately

been caught up and is now is being

used as a pawn to try to force the

UK's hand to release this money to

Iran Aasmah.

It is interesting, we

don't pay terrorist groups but we

are prepared to pay governments that

hold people hostage?

Nobody is

saying we are prepared to do it but

that now seems to be an element in

the diplomatic...

But the Americans

have done it. They don't pay

terrorist groups but they did pay

money that was frozen in the bank

for Americans held in Iran? What's

the difference?

Discuss! You could

say there is no difference, but a

lot of people who are very

sympathetic for Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, they would that

is what it takes, after the awful

mess we got into over a misguided

remarks, then so be it.

I think the

British Government does everyday

money has to go back, that it is

their money.

But it would be very

unfortunate if it were seen to have

been triggered by this particular

incident.

That is the point. The

court ruled the money was theirs,

but it is about how it is given

back...

It is interesting because it

does begin to shed light on exactly

how complex this is as a diplomatic

negotiation, regardless of whether

ministers have said clumsy things or

whatever, there are many more layers

of this under the surface that we

have yet to find out about.

Yes.

Let's look at the story on the

times. Record number of EU workers

in Britain, despite Brexit. I

thought they were all supposed to be

going home because they didn't want

to be in Brexit Britain.

Absolutely.

I think there was either about to be

a documentary about crops lie and

wasted in the fields because no one

wants to do the work that the EU

workers previously dead, that they

have gone or were about to go, and

allegedly no British workers want to

do that -- workers previously did.

But these figures would suggest that

is not the case. It is all about the

particular timescale we are speaking

about here, isn't it? 2.37 million

migrants from the U the EU states

employed between July and December.

Compared with the same period last

year -- from that year. What will

the next set of figures say? This is

perhaps not something that will

happen straightaway and the

repercussions will happen perhaps in

the next set of figures, but at this

point, no, they don't seem to have

left yet.

You have a nine-year-old.

Do you send them to school with glue

and p?

I thought you were going to

say, do you send them to school

with...

LAUGHTER

-- glue and pens. The front page of

the Mirror. Schools making parents

pay for pens and go. The

I suspect

this is a chance for the daily

Mirror to have go at Theresa May.

If

they are short of money, that is one

thing, but who makes parents pay for

pens and glue? I know I do...

I

don't think that is unusual. If the

Mirror really wanted to embarrass

the Prime Minister then I'm sure

there would be more fundamental

elements of the school requirements

that perhaps periods are being

prepared to pay for now.

I'm asking.

Are their parents at some schools,

poorer parents, who get help with

this, and should be? This is a

school in Berkshire.

£90 a year for

each child to buy basic items like

books, glue and pens. Again I am not

dogma my daughter is not quite at

that age I'm deferring to both of

you who have school aged children.

Would you be expected to buy books

and glue? Pens and pencils, yes, but

books and glue?

Let's not get hung

up on glue, per se, but I think it

can become more contentious.

Absolutely.

If you're able to it is

great to buy your children books,

but if it is an expectation on

parents who has not previously been

before, that would be where the

story might be.

Just very quickly,

the Telegraph has a story that

Google wants the US Government to

ban foreign governments from posting

election adverts. We have heard lots

more from Google and Facebook

recently that there were more, you

know, for an ad is being paid for,

and now they want to get to grips

with it.

Yes, well, it seems it is

about time they did. The question

is, it seems to me, not

understanding a great deal

necessarily about the technology of

it, how can you ensure that that

doesn't... I mean the Internet is

global, and if you badly for foreign

add any particular jurisdiction, how

could you ensure it was not seen

elsewhere? On the same platform? I

would need to hear a bit more about

how that was going to work.

Able to

police themselves. We are out of

time. Thank you both for your

company. That is almost it for the

Papers tonight. There are papers

that have since come in. The Daily

Mail splash with a warning from

Probert -- Brexit Tories, don't

betray your voters. And the Son, BBC

staff sleeping at their desk.

Really? -- the Sun. Anyway, we are

very much a week! Thanks very much

for watching.