0:00:00 > 0:00:00My guest on meet the author this week is historian Norman Davies who
0:00:00 > 0:00:04leaves his usual European territory to navigate the world in a global
0:00:04 > 0:00:07journey into history.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be
0:00:18 > 0:00:19bringing us tomorrow.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21Our guests joining me tonight are the political commentator
0:00:21 > 0:00:23Jo Phillips and Nigel Nelson, political editor
0:00:23 > 0:00:27of the Sunday Mirror.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32The Mail on Sunday reports that Theresa May had
0:00:32 > 0:00:34to intervene in a stand up row between the Defence
0:00:34 > 0:00:39and Foreign Secretaries in the House of Commons
0:00:42 > 0:00:45The Observer leads with a warning that the EU is under
0:00:45 > 0:00:48pressure NOT to give the UK a better trade deal than other non-member
0:00:48 > 0:00:51countries get after Brexit.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54The Sunday Express says leading Brexit supporting MPs want the UK
0:00:54 > 0:00:57to make clear it will walk away from any trade deal they don't
0:00:57 > 0:00:59think is good enough.
0:00:59 > 0:01:00 The Sunday Telegraph goes
0:01:00 > 0:01:03with tensions within the Cabinet over the meaning of the commitments
0:01:03 > 0:01:07the Prime Minister made to move the Brexit talks on.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09And the Sunday Mirror reports that some delivery drivers
0:01:09 > 0:01:11are working 14 hour days, and earning less
0:01:12 > 0:01:21than the minimum wage.
0:01:21 > 0:01:27Let's dip in to some of those. Plenty of Brexit to mull over. Take
0:01:27 > 0:01:30us to the Observer, their front page talking about trade deal talks that
0:01:30 > 0:01:36will follow what emerged in the last few days.There's nothing like
0:01:36 > 0:01:40puncturing somebody's party balloon, is there? What a week, there we were
0:01:40 > 0:01:45on a knife edge, the DUP looking as if they were going to blow up that
0:01:45 > 0:01:48particular balloon, then everything goes fine and the Observer have come
0:01:48 > 0:01:55up with an unnamed source, an EU source close to the talks, who is an
0:01:55 > 0:02:01official. They go on to say, as he just said in the headlines, we have
0:02:01 > 0:02:04been approached by a number of nonmember countries expressing
0:02:04 > 0:02:08concerns and making it clear it would constitute a major problem if
0:02:08 > 0:02:12suddenly the UK were to get better terms than they got. You can
0:02:12 > 0:02:15understand where they're coming from, but frankly if this is based
0:02:15 > 0:02:18on one unnamed source, unofficial, it's not much of a story.That's
0:02:18 > 0:02:26right. The deals that have been done with other countries obviously are
0:02:26 > 0:02:30specifically for other countries, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the
0:02:30 > 0:02:34one that takes our fancy if we don't go the Norway route would be Canada.
0:02:34 > 0:02:40At the moment, Canada just goods, so we would really like a Canada plus,
0:02:40 > 0:02:45so we can have services in there. That's the most important thing, if
0:02:45 > 0:02:49we don't have services we don't have much of a deal anyway.Presumably
0:02:49 > 0:02:53the arguments, as you say, from those outside is that if we now see
0:02:53 > 0:02:57a better deal being done by someone else, albeit somebody a very
0:02:57 > 0:03:00different situation geographically and in recent terms, historically,
0:03:00 > 0:03:04they may want to renegotiate their own position.I think that is the
0:03:04 > 0:03:08argument. If you have a country that wants to join, who is going through
0:03:08 > 0:03:13the slow process of becoming a member or partial member, or getting
0:03:13 > 0:03:17to the stage of becoming a member, if they see us coming out looking
0:03:17 > 0:03:22like we've got a jolly good deal, that might put them off.The other
0:03:22 > 0:03:26danger is, if it was New Zealand and we ended up on World Trade
0:03:26 > 0:03:30Organisation rules, we would want a load of New Zealand's land quota, so
0:03:30 > 0:03:35it may not actually go quite so well for other countries if we ended up
0:03:35 > 0:03:40in that situation.Take us to the Sunday Telegraph, going with Brexit
0:03:40 > 0:03:42as well, this time talking about the Cabinet truce threatening to
0:03:42 > 0:03:50unravel.The argument here is that Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, key
0:03:50 > 0:03:56Brexiteers in Cabinet, were bought off in the sense of, they would
0:03:56 > 0:04:01support Theresa made's breakthrough on Friday, on the basis that it
0:04:01 > 0:04:06doesn't actually mean a great deal. So we had this wonderful alignment
0:04:06 > 0:04:10is nothing about, and according to the Telegraph, full alignment does
0:04:10 > 0:04:14not mean a thing. No legal basis, we don't have to care. I think that
0:04:14 > 0:04:22might be a bit of a misunderstanding. The whole issue of
0:04:22 > 0:04:27the Irish border at the moment, now described as kicking McCann down the
0:04:27 > 0:04:30road, but what we have actually done in Scott McCarron in the right part
0:04:30 > 0:04:38the road. The Irish border should never have been discussed one. --
0:04:38 > 0:04:44what we have done is got the can in the right part of the road.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48The question really comes down to, do we follow EU rules as we do now,
0:04:48 > 0:04:57which means we followed the process, or if Theresa May Sallai, do we
0:04:57 > 0:05:02follow... We don't follow EU rules, but we arrive at the same
0:05:02 > 0:05:07destination? -- if Theresa May gets her way. While we are a member of
0:05:07 > 0:05:12the EU, we must take each rule step-by-step and obey it. The
0:05:12 > 0:05:14argument is probably can get to an open border by going a different
0:05:14 > 0:05:19route.Is that you're reading of it? Pretty much, that was fairly
0:05:19 > 0:05:27comprehensive!I wasn't quite sure where the can was at one point, but
0:05:27 > 0:05:31I'm with you otherwise!Rattling around the curve in Nigel's head...
0:05:31 > 0:05:40Is it an Irish road? An Irish lane? It's now a phase two lay-by.Lovely,
0:05:40 > 0:05:44as long as we're not going up a cul-de-sac.The mail on Sunday, I
0:05:44 > 0:05:48think I may have said Boris Johnson in the intro but I didn't mean it, I
0:05:48 > 0:05:55meant Mr Hammond.This is lovely. Never mind Cabinet Brexit truce
0:05:55 > 0:05:58threatens to unravel... This is Gavin Williams, some may not be
0:05:58 > 0:06:04familiar with him. He is the new Defence Secretary. He allegedly went
0:06:04 > 0:06:09head-to-head with Philip Hammond and had a furious bust up in the Commons
0:06:09 > 0:06:14and the Prime Minister had to step in and say, stop behaving like
0:06:14 > 0:06:22children or cricketers and pull ourselves together and be sensible.
0:06:22 > 0:06:28Interestingly, political editor of the mail on Sunday has done a really
0:06:28 > 0:06:32interesting piece on Gavin Williamson inside, because it's
0:06:32 > 0:06:36quite clear there is a huge loss of bad blood between the Defence
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Secretary and Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, who of course was a
0:06:39 > 0:06:44Defence Secretary. Simon Walters has done this piece where he compares
0:06:44 > 0:06:53Gavin Williamson and he is meteoric rise -- his meteoric rise to John
0:06:53 > 0:06:58Major under Thatcher. He is asking the question, a month ago, the idea
0:06:58 > 0:07:01of Gavin Williamson succeeding Theresa May if she stands down in
0:07:01 > 0:07:09March 2019 would have been dismissed as a joke. Look at now. He has gone
0:07:09 > 0:07:13from wit, his feet under the MoD, launched a one-man publicity blitz,
0:07:13 > 0:07:18picked a fight with the Chancellor, he has saved two military dogs from
0:07:18 > 0:07:22being put down on last week said all Britons who fought for Isis should
0:07:22 > 0:07:27be killed. He is obviously out there to get the headlines. I just wonder,
0:07:27 > 0:07:34I know he's a whip...Or was a whip. And if you were a whip, you tend to
0:07:34 > 0:07:39make one or two people unhappy along the way.And you know where all the
0:07:39 > 0:07:42skeletons are, so you have a bit of Lethbridge.I don't think Williamson
0:07:42 > 0:07:50has had a great week. He had a comeback, suggesting you should
0:07:50 > 0:07:55start shooting IS fighters, wherever they may be. Saving the two dogs was
0:07:55 > 0:08:03a plus. But he's also now lost his tarantula, because it turns out it
0:08:03 > 0:08:09contravenes MoD pet policy, and MoD pet policy is no pets. So the
0:08:09 > 0:08:14tarantula has had to go. His week has not ended on a high note.I'm
0:08:14 > 0:08:17afraid it is now so publicly known that apparently somebody in the
0:08:17 > 0:08:22Treasury refers to him as Pike, stupid boy.Everyone in the MoD is
0:08:22 > 0:08:25now referring to him as Private Pike.Which the mail on Sunday
0:08:25 > 0:08:34picked up on. With their little photo of lavender, and John Murray
0:08:34 > 0:08:46of course, who played Frasier. The Sunday Times. This is fast track
0:08:46 > 0:08:53degrees... Sorry, this is the Telegraph.Yes, good idea, this one.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Comes from Joe Johnson, universities minister. What he's trying to do is
0:08:57 > 0:09:02reduce the time people need to take their degrees from three years to
0:09:02 > 0:09:05two. The idea is it will save you a whole lot of money because you don't
0:09:05 > 0:09:12have to pay extra tuition for the last year, that's £5,500. You would
0:09:12 > 0:09:17need a maintenance loan for the last year, what Joe Johnson says is...
0:09:17 > 0:09:24You will also be out earning a year earlier.This is the point. He says
0:09:24 > 0:09:2725,000 is what a student will save by that of sleight of hand because
0:09:27 > 0:09:3219,000 of it is the average wage of graduate gets in their first year
0:09:32 > 0:09:36away from university.That's the assumption that you will learn that
0:09:36 > 0:09:36in your first
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Broadley, not a bad idea. The idea is it will be available in every
0:09:45 > 0:09:49subject rather than just if you, like accountancy, Law, journalism,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53and it gives students a chance to get through it in those two years
0:09:53 > 0:09:56and it would certainly be cheaper. Actually, there are an awful lot of
0:09:56 > 0:10:00students who are feeling that they are not getting value for money,
0:10:00 > 0:10:05particularly when you look at the walloping great salary that so many
0:10:05 > 0:10:10vice chancellors and senior university staff are getting. Also
0:10:10 > 0:10:13for mature students, before the family commitments and things, a two
0:10:13 > 0:10:18year commitment, over and done with, get out early, perhaps much better.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21It makes you wonder why somebody under that system would still opt to
0:10:21 > 0:10:27do every year.The way the Joe Johnson puts it, it's tradition. We
0:10:27 > 0:10:30are so used to the idea that a university course is three years,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35that people have not thought about trying to do it in two. Obviously,
0:10:35 > 0:10:40doing it in two means a lot more hard work, it does cost 20% more a
0:10:40 > 0:10:44year to go and do, but it does seem sensible if you could make it kind
0:10:44 > 0:10:48of fashionable, it is something that could work.And employers would be
0:10:48 > 0:10:52happy as well.It does come in the wake of the National Audit Office
0:10:52 > 0:10:57report which says so many degrees, so many poor quality degrees, have
0:10:57 > 0:11:01left many graduates with very low earning potential. 11 people who did
0:11:01 > 0:11:06not go to university.I nearly went to the Sunday Times early but I will
0:11:06 > 0:11:12go there now. This is civil partnerships to go straight, this is
0:11:12 > 0:11:18effectively mooted for a while? Exactly, it's a campaign that
0:11:18 > 0:11:20heterosexual couples have been campaigning for, to bring them in
0:11:20 > 0:11:24line with homosexual couples, because people who don't necessarily
0:11:24 > 0:11:30want to get married, heterosexual couples, up till now can't do it.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34This is now a Private bill setting out the changes to bring everything
0:11:34 > 0:11:38into alignment, quite why they didn't do it in the first place,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Lord alone knows. It does seem as though it has good backing, and it
0:11:42 > 0:11:49is as we say something that has been long campaigned for. It would also
0:11:49 > 0:11:51help stabilise families. It would give people who live together who
0:11:51 > 0:11:55previously had not wanted to get married, it would actually put them
0:11:55 > 0:12:00on a more equal footing and would make life a lot easier in terms of
0:12:00 > 0:12:03pensions and wills and things like that.It's also a matter of
0:12:03 > 0:12:10equality.Illegal case.Broadly, the reason heterosexual couples could
0:12:10 > 0:12:14not have this is because it was reserved exclusively for same-sex
0:12:14 > 0:12:19couples, on the basis that same-sex couples could not get married. Now
0:12:19 > 0:12:25they can, both things should be available to all.Doubters, there is
0:12:25 > 0:12:32one quoted, Andrew Williams might it's not helpful, making do with a
0:12:32 > 0:12:37very pale reflection of marriage. They may well think that the people
0:12:37 > 0:12:40living together with no protection in law as an even worse reflection,
0:12:40 > 0:12:46and as Nigel says, it's not equal. Should we finish with Christmas
0:12:46 > 0:12:54themed photograph?Let's!I think this was your choice.Actually, my
0:12:54 > 0:12:59choice was a scantily clad man getting out of the sea...Maybe when
0:12:59 > 0:13:03it's a bit later, after the watershed! The Sunday Telegraph has
0:13:03 > 0:13:10a photograph of the Prime Minister, with a Christmas tree, and a
0:13:10 > 0:13:16hilarious little tag line, special Branch.Very good.There she is,
0:13:16 > 0:13:23putting what apparently...It's an ornamental stiletto. It is the tree
0:13:23 > 0:13:27she devoted herself, apparently, to her local church. I must say, it's
0:13:27 > 0:13:33actually a very nice photograph.It is, actually.Whatever you think
0:13:33 > 0:13:39about code politicians, they do work very hard. You know perfectly well
0:13:39 > 0:13:44she's not had a minute to herself, and I think it's very nice
0:13:44 > 0:13:49photograph.And she's smiling a lot, but then you would, wouldn't you?
0:13:49 > 0:13:52She has seen her premiership survival of the last minute. Could
0:13:52 > 0:13:58have been very different.And it may change by Monday.That's politics.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Even in an hour's time it may.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02That's it for The Papers this hour.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Thank you Jo and Nigel, you'll both be back at half 11
0:14:05 > 0:14:07for another look at the stories making the news tomorrow.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12Coming up next, it's Meet The Author.