17/12/2017 The Papers

Hello and welcome to the lookahead

to what the papers will be bringing

us. Let's start with a look at the

front pages. The Metro leader with a

picture of Rebecca Dykes, the

British embassy worker found dead on

the side of the road in Beirut. The

Financial Times said millennial is

an gig economy workers have been

left behind by pension reforms. The

Daily Express looks at a warning of

wild winds for Christmas, saying 70

mph storm chaos is on the way. As

with many of the papers, the

Telegraph taking a picture of

Rebecca Dykes as well as a message

from the UK government that the

Saudis must stop starving Yemen 's.

In the Times, the Tories urging

Theresa May to stay on over fears a

leadership election would wreck post

Brexited trade talks. -- Brexit. And

across party allies being called

saying Labour are the key to

securing a soft Brexit. In the

mirror, news that a British embassy

worker has been killed in Beirut.

And the Daily Mail lead with what it

is calling middle-class pension

crisis with more than 6 million

failing to save enough for their

retirement. Let us dealt in. You can

start us off on the times. Time to

think about Brexit...

There's a

change. This is more about the

leadership which confuses me because

I think Mrs May surprised everybody

in the last few weeks and has done

extremely competently so I do not

know where this leadership contest

comes from. It seems to me the paper

is making up an agenda. Even mobbed

is not think it is a good idea. --

Mogg. The timing is interesting. The

election has to be in 2022 and much

of this mess created by Brexiters

will have to be sorted before then.

I can see why people are beginning

to think because she herself has

said at some point she wants to see

this thing through and then the Mac

but I think it is such a wrong

moment to be talking about Tory

leadership contest. The people in

this country are really trouble,

divided parties, don't really know

where we want to go and the idea of

another leadership contest does not

help the country feel at ease.

It is

fair to say, in recent months will,

there have been mutterings that

somebody else is needed at the helm.

The story down saying that she must

stay because if she goes the

uncertainty and change in leadership

would be disastrous for Brexit

talks.

Even a fortnight ago the

knives were out after the problems

with the DUP deal but commonsense

has broken out in the Conservative

Party and she pulled off a terrific

agreement with the European Union

and there was the European summit

and they agreed that significant

process has been made and they can

move on to stage two and that is a

terrific accolade for Theresa May.

If you think the timing, because

round two, the second phase of

negotiations will start in the new

year where there would be an

agreement on the transition

agreement and some agreement on the

framework of the new trade

relationship with the EU but, after

Brexit, in the 29th of March, 20,019

we have to organise the trade

deal...

And the transition period...

Can I finish, please. We have a

transition period so the trade deal

can be finalised and it cannot be

finalised until we are a third

country in any case. We are talking

about the spring of 2021 before we

get through the transition agreement

and hopefully the detailed trade

agreement will come into operation

so you are talking 2.5...

But there

is an interesting paragraph at the

end in the Times, the timetable is

likely to dismay those in Parliament

to believe the best chance of

securing the top job lies in an

early contest and David Davis and

Boris Johnson a mention.

It is

guesswork. Those two names come

quite closely after some comments

from Michelle Barnier, the EU chief

negotiator, about cherry picking the

best Brexit. David Davis and Boris

Johnson would disagree with that and

they would come at loggerheads...

Some people say I do not understand

why this man gets any presence at

all but there you are, he belongs in

a sort of costume drama but he said

something, like, you are not going

to give away all of these and Boris

Johnson has said Suckling but this

is one of the problems in the Tory

party, these endless struggle that

goes on and not just over Brexit. It

never seems to settle.

As far as I

can see, the Cabinet talks, they

will meet next week...

Is everybody

going to fall into line?

The rugged

site that the subcommittee has some

sort of coming together of the view.

And the negotiator for the EU would

say that. David Davis, Theresa May,

they will take their negotiating

position and I suspect that if they

are rational, both sides will come

to some mutually agreeable...

I am

sorry but I not sure they are

rational.

In the Guardian, they have

a different approach...

A lot of the

arguments we were having earlier,

Ruth were saying... The Raikkonen is

that disagree with you, Ruth, and

82% in surveys done...

By the FT...

Not just the FD, and every time I

said this, they are foreign,

lefties, Irish, but they are

economists and they have said this

thing is not going to happen in the

way that...

No, no...

This is in the

Guardian. For the sake of the

nation, for the sake of our future

generations, because we have lived

our life and we have to think about

the future generations, that the

right enough people within all

parties but even within Labour, who

might want to work with the kind of

sensible, rational Tories to come up

with a better model because when we

are heading seems to me utterly

wrong and it seems wrong... There is

a new poll done today which shows

that Remainers and Leavers, the

Remainers have gone up substantially

by 11 points.

What you make of this

story?

Could Labour rebels be picked off to

join the Tories?

I could not believe

this for a second. I wonder what the

strategy of these rebels is.

Assuming there is a framework

agreement next autumn which I think

is a strong possibility, what will

they do? Vote against it? There will

be no deal! What is the game?

I

don't understand. Apparently by

going over the head of Jeremy

Corbyn, they could put hard

Brexiteers back in their box, they

say.

Theresa May makes these

decisions, but is she a hard

Brexiteer?

She is not the only one.

She is the Prime Minister. She is

constantly under pressure from this

other lot. She should not be the

only one making these decisions.

Is

there an appetite among Labour

backbenchers to get involved with

the government?

I would be very

surprised.

I think there is such a

strong... I really admire the 11

Tories who did what they did last

time with the vote, it could not

have been easy for any of them. We

know what is happening with them.

There are Labour MPs...

Like to?

Chuka Umunna. There is one example.

This has got to be bigger than a

political party. What is going to

happen and what is happening is so

important! Two it is very important.

Political allegiances could dissolve

for the greater good.

It would be

great to have more voices, but you

believe politically it is

impossible?

I think it is a

political nonstarter. I am prepared

to admit I am wrong.

In terms of

what we might see as you move into

phase two, we are hearing about the

Canada plus plus plus deal. The

story focusing on Michel Barnier.

David Davis, sorry, last week,

watching him perform, he was

half-asleep!

He was tired.

All of

these studies he commissioned which

he refuses to let us look at. We

still have not seen 52 of them!

He

has released them but has kept

information back for commercial

sensitivity.

He cannot do that! He

has even said that actually they

have not been done.

He was talking

about the impact on the economy.

Yeah. We need to know that!

He has

given that evidence to the exiting

committee. But it is commercially

sensitive.

Some of the work has not

been done. He has said it but you

will not agree on that. I think she

is right to say that.

We will stay

with the Guardian. The picture of

Rebekkah Dykes. We don't know much

about this story, but what do we

have?

This dear lady was working for

the Department of International

Development in Beirut and she was

kidnapped and strangled. It would be

inappropriate to speculate as to why

she was killed and the circumstances

of her death.

A family spokesman

saying we request the media take

care with her privacy. The Times.

Social media. The perils thereof.

According to the Times Facebook has

finally conceded that social media

can harm health, and it proposes

users improve their well-being I

posting more updates and comments.

How does this work? -- by posting.

It is an addiction. It is an

addiction. Now it is out there you

cannot put the genie back into the

bottle at all. Academic studies,

especially for young people, it is

extraordinary how they feel they are

living if they are opposed...

It is

not real if there is no photograph.

There is a whole thing going on

where Facebook says it recognises

the problem but says go and do more

of it! It understands nothing!

Talking about putting the genie back

in the bottle. Do you agree? There

was a survey a few weeks ago, I

cannot remember who did it, many

young people said they would rather

social media was never invented and

could live happily without it. That

is a pie in the sky.

It is done. I

understand that people look for

admiration all of the time and it

does not always come. They also

contrast and compare their

lifestyles with others, and others

look better. What is happening is

that they feel undermined by this.

They are probably addicted to it is

a pillar it is a form of addiction.

Some psychologists are worried that

the core of each individual, the

selfhood, if you like, is now

distorted.

The self is now dependent

on what other people think of us.

That is true for all of us to a

point. We live in a society and

depend on others. But when

everything is tied to what others

think of you, and they can be unkind

and thoughtless and cruel, it is a

horrible thing. And I get so much

hate mail. The only way I survived

it is by not looking. I am old

enough not to do that.

We will talk

about pensions. Two different angles

on the story. The headline,

middle-class pension crisis. What

are they saying?

The Daily Mail

talks about middle classes while the

Financial Times talks about

millennials and the big economies.

They are saying that even with the

pensions, we are talking about

increasing contributions. -- gig

economy. Nevertheless, there will be

many people outside the remit will

not be in a position to save enough

for old age. I am afraid this is a

truth and I don't know how to get

around it. Certainly, government

reforms have made the situation

better for those who are employed.

But for those not employed, problems

will continue.

Even here? This

surprises me, for those earning more

than 55,000, they would have to save

50%!

Those are figures plucked out

of the air. The moral of the tale is

we live in an ageing society with

more and more demands made of the

new generations, future generations,

of taxpayers. People will be

expected to save for old age for

themselves. And it will be

difficult.

Especially, as the

Financial Times talks about, the

changing role of employment,

especially the gig economy.

Those

poor people delivering food on

bicycles, they get almost nothing.

How do they save? How are they

supposed to save? Older people are

really not thinking about how the

young have to live. I saw someone

saying they are having cappuccinos

and eating avocados and not saving

and this rubbish, you are earning £5

an hour!

It is not just a pension

issue, it is broader.

How can you

save?

Most people in the gig economy

like it because it gives them

freedom. Though some people will not

safe enough for old age.

Food for

thought. We will finish with The

Telegraph. Just talk us through this

one. Saudis must stop starving

Yemen.

It is interesting and

important. Because, you know, the

Tories, all governments, have been

sucking up to Saudi Arabia for

decades, the royals, everybody. I

have not heard such a strong

statement on Yemen coming from a

Secretary of State. And on the front

page of The Telegraph! I think it is

really important. The story in

Yemen, we know about Syria and what

is happening in places in Iraq and

so on, most people know nothing

about what is being done in Yemen.

And actually, reporters are being

kept out as well. And it is the

children! There is typhoid! There

is, you know, cholera! All of these

things happening, no water, absolute

starvation, a policy of starvation.

And this focuses on aid that should

get through, but an accusation that

Saudis are preventing it.

The new

International Development Secretary

replacing pretty -- Priti Patel,

they are warning Saudi Arabia is

blockading aid. I think the Yemen

civil war is horrific. Perhaps not

enough attention is paid to it. But

it is tragically part of the Saudi

Arabian, Iranian, conflicts, the

struggle for the control over the

Middle East. These poor people in

Yemen are in the middle of this

horrendous conflict, it this is

racking their lives. -- this is

wrecking their lives.

The aid depot

across from Saudi Arabia had

medicine and food just sitting

there.

The UN elected Saudi Arabia

on to the human rights committee. I

cannot believe that happened!

There

is a lot more to talk about all of

those stories, but that is it from

us tonight. Don't forget, all of the

front pages are on line on the BBC

News website. You can read a

detailed review of the papers seven

days a week. That is at

bbc.co.uk/papers. And you can