18/11/2017 The Papers

He takes over from Kezia Dugdale.

Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me the broadcaster and former

Fleet Street editor,

Eve Pollard and the journalist,

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

Welcome to you both. Let's take a

look at tomorrow's front pages.

The Observer leads on the situation

in Zimbabwe, with a picture of one

of the anti-Mugabe demonstrators

that have been out

on the streets of Harare.

The Mail on Sunday reports

on an apparent altercation

between two Labour MPs

in the Commons chamber.

The Sunday Express claims that

in Wednesday's budget the Chancellor

will announce support for Britain's

tech industries that could mean

we'll have driverless cars

on our roads by 2021.

The Sunday Telegraph also leads

on a pre-budget announcement,

this time reporting that nurses

are in line for a pay rise.

Well now, where shall we start? The

Observer, shall we do them first? Ya

's men, it is about Robert Mugabe,

extraordinary scenes in Zimbabwe

will stop -- Yasmin.

It is an

extraordinary story. The Army has

not behaved as army is usually do.

They have been respective of the old

man. I was in Uganda when the EDI

main coup happened and I can tell

you that armies behave shockingly

when coups happen. -- Idi Amin. Now

it seems that people are coming out.

They were quite scared in the

beginning or disbelieving. Now even

the army people and Zanu people are

saying...

That is the party.

He has

ruled over them. He has been

shocking at times. I think he will

have to go but he could have done it

differently. He could have left with

grace. He has a lot of money.

With

Grace or with his wife?

Good point.

Design extraordinary situation.

It

is heartening, if you're going to

topple a dictator which he was, this

is a civilised way of doing it.

Today he handed out things at a

university. He went out specially.

He is 93. They are showing him a bit

of respect. But you'd think is only

every other country which was run by

a code to...

But it ain't over. The

person who was selected was his

first choice.

This is a man with the

nickname the crocodile. A long-time

associate of Robert Mugabe involved

with most things...

One thing which

it is important to remember, and I

read a column about this, we do need

to remember what he was like in the

early days. He was a hero, a

liberationist hero. He was put into

prison for ten years.

He got a

degree when he was in prison.

His

baby boy died then. The radiation

authorities and our government would

not let him go to the funeral -- the

Rhodesian authorities. Then he

turned into this person who was

dictatorial and thought the country

belonged to him.

He did.

It is the

end of an era. Let's go domestic.

Eve, the Sunday Telegraph, looking

ahead to the budget. Philip

Hammond's in trade must be enormous.

They are talking about a pay boost

for nurses?

Quite a lot of his

intraday is coming from his own team

and this is actually, apparently he

is going to give a boost to nurses

and probably to schools, but what is

interesting is that I've four years

and others have said this, the NHS

is not -- should not be a political

football, it is much too serious. It

should have a Royal commission. We

are paying managers a fortune. We

are paying agencies a fortune to get

nurses. We don't have nurses homes.

How can you afford to live in London

if you are in a? I can remember the

time, my parents had a friend who

was a nurse, lived in a nurses home.

But the reason it is always going to

be in politics is because taxpayers

pay for it so it is bound to be a

political football.

But in France

they paid for the health service and

it is not a football.

As you have

said, they want the teachers, they

want the cap removed. State schools

are in a terrible state. And then

there are the people who want a

Brexit whatever it is called, war

chest, because it is going to cost.

I don't know how he's going to do

all of this because he is a sensible

man.

He is a sensible man who has

built up a good business of his own.

The curious thing about Brexit is it

seems like a very bad divorce.

Somebody has taken the money and

Somerby has taken the house and they

say only when you give me the money

and the house I will tell you when

you can see the children.

I wish we

had got a mediator and not got a

divorce!

Nobody told us we would

have to give billions. I don't know

why.

We seem to have strayed from

the NHS to Brexit. I know there are

links. There is a lot of detail in

this story. There are quite a few

other things in there as well.

They

are talking about tech because the

driverless cars which of course

journalists are fascinated by,

because most of them are in a state

where they would like to have

driverless cars and not want to

drive themselves when they have had

a drink or two.

That is a rather

sweeping statement!

It is. They will

probably tell us we cannot drive

them anyway. I would love it, I

could talk on the phone and put on

make-up it would be fantastic.

In

the idea of this thing in your house

which you speak to and it does

things, oh no!

Hang on, we have

strayed again. Get back to this

story in the Sunday Telegraph.

In

previous budgets we more or less

knew all about the budget by now.

This one is happening this week and

we are still making guesses as to

what Philip Hammond will do.

Housing.

No money really. He has got

to loosen austerity.

The point about

all these stories, it is not just

about what will the Chancellor do,

will he put a penny on tax here or

there, he has a political battle to

fight, Yasmin? Brexit is on his mind

but he wants to stop young people

voting Labour.

It is a political

agenda because the Tory party is

losing support. But he himself is in

a lot of trouble because of this

Brexit think tearing his own party

up. I would not want to be Philip

Hammond.

No one talks about Brexit

caring the Labour Party apart.

They

are not in power so they did have to

do the budget.

They don't count. It

will mean a big change for him.

Let's go back to this business of

driverless cars because the Sunday

Express is saying driverless cars by

2021. Where do they get that 2021

from?

I don't know. According to the

Sunday express, it very confidently

said driverless cars will be on the

roads in three years as part of a

multi-million pound plan, as part of

the technological revolution. I

don't know if these are placed

stories, prebudget placed stories or

mad thinking.

For a start, you would

have to flatten half our roads which

have eternal bumps. 2021 is much to

year. And Kessler are still busy

getting out there driverless cars --

Tesla. I love the idea of them. You

can do your washing and make up!

We

seem to have gone round in a circle

again! The point is, I have to

confess, I have a motorcar now which

I have learned to be cautious with

it, because if it thinks there is

another car getting in the way the

brakes come on. We are not too far

away from the time when cars are

automatic.

It is very soon. The

human still has two count. The have

been some incidents where they have

started testing these things. The

human instinct is a very important

one.

Are they going to be running on

electricity? How will we make enough

electricity and will we have enough

place to plug your car in?

We have

any got the front page of the Sunday

Express, but it does say Philip

Hammond is a Houdini of politics if

he gets all this right, he is

expected to spend money developing

artificial intelligence.

Europeans

are doing this, the Americans are

doing this, the one way we will

survive if we sadly do have to stave

off on our own is being as fit and

as good as them at business so we

will have to make stuff. There is no

doubt we need money put into it.

I

think I would prefer money to be put

into more essential services than a

driverless car. We don't need it.

This might lead us back to the

Observer again. They have a story on

the front page, 1000 nurseries shut

as childcare crisis mounts. What is

this about?

This is about how many

nurseries, many of them outstanding,

have closed over the last year. The

Tories did promise, if you remember,

30 hours for people earning less

than £100,000 a year, 30 hours of

free childcare. That is terribly

important because when you and I

were working, childcare was not so

expensive, but now it has become a

very expensive.

This will help the

middle classes, £100,000 is beyond

the imagination.

But it means if you

are less than that if you are a

woman you can have a part-time job.

The truth about this as they are

going bust these places, because

their rates have gone up, because

their rents have gone up. What

should have happened if everybody

should have looked at schools around

the country and said, can we build a

class on. It would be easier if

parents were taking little ones and

bigger ones to the same place. Can

we make space somewhere on the

facilities. The playground may not

be as big. Then they would not have

to pay rent and all the rest of it.

Talking about a radical approach to

childcare?

It is also about how much

childcare workers are paid. We are

going to have to start thinking more

seriously about means tested

benefits. People that can afford it

pay for their own childcare and

people who can't and need to go out

to work need to be better

subsidised. This 100,000 cap, I

never agreed with it. But also what

I am astonished by, it says the

preschool learning Alliance say

local authorities typically pay

nurseries and childminders for

pounds 27 hour. -- £4.27.

The other

thing is I bet you if you or I

volunteered to be teachers and we

would both be bloody good, in a

nursery for a day a week, they

would... The trouble with means

testing if it costs more to means

test than to pay people out almost.

I know why it was a universal

benefit, lots of these universal

benefits have been good since the

end of the war, but we cannot afford

for middle classes to be getting the

amount of money out of the state,

including me.

Very quickly, one last

one, the Sunday Telegraph front

page, a picture of a smiling couple

70 years married. What do you think?

Ask her, she is a royalist! I am

not!

I think the Queen has done a

brilliant job. One of the brilliant

jobs is she and the Duke of

Edinburgh have stayed married for 17

years.

That is an achievement. But

lots of other couples do.

Not as

many as they used to.

That

generation.

Will see of the next

generation can keep it up.

They

can't, they went!

Thank you very

much. -- they won't.

That's it for The Papers this hour.

Thank you Eve and Yasmin -

you'll both be back at 11.30

for another look at the stories

making the news tomorrow.