07/01/2018 The Papers

Now on BBC News, here's

Ben Brown with The Papers.

Hello and welcome to our

look at the front pages

of the Sunday papers.

With me are Sian Griffiths,

the Education Editor

of the Sunday Times,

and Prashant Rao from

the International New York Times.

Today's front pages

first, starting with...

The Sunday Times, which says

the Prime Minister will hold

a Cabinet reshuffle tomorrow,

with up to six ministers

being moved or sacked.

Its main story follows

an investigation by the paper

which claims to have found Google

profiting from those

with addictive diseases.

The Sunday Telegraph reports

that Theresa May is to appoint

a new Education Secretary

to try to reinvigorate

the Government's approach

to schools, leaving

the incumbent Justine Greening

fighting for her job.

In another area of education policy,

the Mail on Sunday claims Mrs May

has criticised her new

university tsar, Toby Young,

after old social media posts of his,

described as obscene

and sexist, were unearthed.

The Observer headlines

President Trump's reaction

to a new book about his

administration - the publication

by the journalist Michael Wolff

questions President Trump's mental

stability since taking office.

The Sunday Express writes that

Theresa May has ordered

a review into parole boards,

after former taxi driver

John Worboys, found guilty of sexual

assault against 12 women,

was released after

nine years in prison.

Let us take off with that reshuffle.

Sian, as an education correspondent

you will know all about this, the

Education Secretary, Justine

Greening, fighting for her job.

Absolutely, and the rumours have

been going around all week that

there will be... That she is one of

the main people who is likely to be

moved on.

What has she done wrong?

Well, where does one start?

Education policy is in a mess. We

have rows about school funding, a

teacher recruitment crisis, some of

the most expensive degrees in the

world, we have children coming out

not able to get jobs. It is a big,

big mess. To be fair to Justine

Greening, she inherited a lot of it.

She has tried to smooth a path

through, but I think the feeling is

she has been pretty ineffective. I

think the reason why Theresa May

wants to move her on his in the last

election, we know that education

policy was a very big issue for

parents, it really played into

Labour's hands, Jeremy Corbyn saying

he would scrap tuition fees, he said

he would get rid of the £9,000 a

year fees, he would improve school

funding, we are getting stories

about parents being asked for

donations for textbooks because

schools have so little money, and he

would make huge efforts to get more

teachers into schools, there are not

enough maths and science teachers,

that played incredibly well with

parents and Theresa May wants to

claw back some of that ground.

Quite

a big reshuffle, but not huge, why

do you think the Prime Minister is

making it now? Is it an attempt to

freshen up the Government?

I think

that is probably it. There are two

separate issues here, there is the

political issue, and the education

issue. I guess she is trying to get

back on the front foot, that

election was a complete disaster, so

the interesting thing is, the Sunday

Telegraph notes this, that kind of

suggestion that she has dealt with

the European Union but she is unable

to sacked several Cabinet ministers

if she wanted to, they are

questioning how strong she really

is.

Because of the Brexit balance,

she has to keep people like Boris

Johnson in place.

But also she is

dependent on the DUP so any mass

Tory rebellion will create all kinds

of new problems. So I feel like this

is a very difficult reshuffle to

pull off because the people you'd

demote or fire, you will have to

placate them and head of a

rebellion. It is a very difficult

thing to pull off.

I think you're

right and I think we have seen a bit

of that in the Sunday Telegraph

where Justine Greening sent out a

series of tweets defending her

position and St Mary's school

standards are rising statistics and

statistics. So I think it is not

going to be as easy as all that.

Still with the Tory Party, we have

got the Prime Minister, according to

the Mail on Sunday, slamming Toby

Young, who is her university Zaha,

his position on the new watchdog is

said to be in jeopardy by the mail

on Sunday for these obscene and

sexist tweets and posts on social

media. What do you make of that?

This feels kind of like a scandal,

somewhat unnecessary, in the sense

of it was not something that came as

a surprise, these things could

easily have been researched.

From

years ago?

This is the kind of

simple research you should do before

appointing somebody, you check their

public comments and the public

record, and this is another

controversy that I'm not sure they

needed at this point. This is

something where it is an important

issue, Britain's university system

is incredibly important, to Britain

and the wider world. I went to a

British university. It matters, who

is the regulator. This kind of

controversy distracts from the at

hand.

-- from the issue. Can Toby

Young hold onto this position?

He

has been fighting to hold onto it

all week. I think is hoping that

attention will divert to the

reshuffle on Monday, and whoever

comes in, if somebody replaces

Justine Greening, will be well

disposed so towards him. He is only

one of 15 people on this board but I

agree, such an important new

regulator for university and this

belief undermines that very

important job, and this new

organisation, which has only just

been announced. We will not go into

the details of some of the tweets,

some of the least offensive ones are

still pretty offensive.

Maybe not at

this time of the morning!

Even

people coming to his defence are

doing so in such a heavily guarded

way. Saying that these are

impossible to defend, then they go

on to defend him! But this is a very

complicate -- complicate a

controversy that is not very

necessary.

And if anything else

comes out...

One more tweets and

you're out! The Donald Trump Sardar

goes on, with this new book about

his White House -- Sardar, and his

reaction to. He is saying he is a

very stable genius, obviously a very

modest one!

Of course he is. I think

we all know what the tweets were, I

think this book, Michael Wolff has

suddenly become the most important

person in journalism today. We do

not need to go over the accusations

and Trump's counterclaims. One of

the interesting things that has come

out about this, it was written about

in the New York Times recently, as

the President continues to make

these tweets, and the bellicose

rhetoric, what is -- when it is not

backed up by action it says

something about the power of the

American Presidency and the erosion

of the institution of the American

presidency. If he does not follow

through on these various allegations

and accusations, whether it is to do

with the book or the age to the

Palestinians, all this matter of

international and domestic issues,

it says something about his own

power.

He says stuff but doesn't do

it?

Is there a case to say he is

blowing off steam? But that erodes

his other public statements because

these are a matter of public record.

He is speaking on behalf of the

presidency. So this matters.

And the

more he says things about this book,

surely the more he just promotes the

book and makes it a top seller?

It

is just a brilliant headline, Tron,

I'm a very stable genius! Who

wouldn't want to read that? So the

first thing you think is, how stable

are you to be tweeting this stuff?

Still on the Observer, companies

facing a new VAT burden after

Brexit?

The details are in the

paper, how VAT will happen to be

handled differently by British

companies when Brexit happens. If

Brecht -- if Brett -- if Britain

leads the customs union. This is one

of a litany of issues that will have

to be iron out. A new level of

day-to-day complexity, whether it is

for better or for worse, it is a

huge uncertainty, it is not just how

we enforce the common agricultural

policy or being part of the single

market, it is the little things that

small businesses will have to deal

with, they are going to need some

time for adjustment. Whether that is

good or bad for the economy, think

that will play out, but these

things, fishery policy, you know,

cars that are sold, innumerable

issues like this that will come

through.

Let's rattle through them.

The Sunday Times, they have insight,

undercover investigation into

Google, profits from the plight of

addicts. A company reaping millions

from parasites playing on the

vulnerable?

This is a good

investigation. When you are an

addict and you're looking for help,

you are very likely to go onto the

internet and typed into the search

engine, where can I get advice? So

you get these referral centres, and

they look like free advice lines,

but actually they are being paid

hundreds of pounds to refer people

to addiction clinics and that is not

made clear to the people looking for

these, and Google are also charging

these services to come to the top of

the search engine. So there is a

whole layer of commercial

moneymaking going on, but the poor

old addict and their family had no

idea about it. They think they are

searching in a transparent way for a

good service to help them, and

actually all this money making is

going on. In America, some states do

not allow this practice, it is

illegal. In this country it is legal

but you have to ask, how proper is

it? Young addiction clinic has

already said they are not going to

use these referral practices any

more. -- one addiction clinic. They

do call them parasites.

You can see

how the papers are targeting people

over a lot of these investigations,

on YouTube as well, running terror

videos and so on.

Rightly so, these

company played an enormous role in

our lives. It is right they are

scrutinised in this way. It is not

just addicts, if you have any

question, what are you going to do?

It is a turn of phrase, you Google

it. This company and others like it

up a central role in everything we

do and our lives, our economies, the

scrutiny is well-placed. These are

effectively as powerful as

governments. They need to be

scrutinised.

Also the Sunday Times,

acid attacks, a voluntary code on

restricting the sale of acid because

of the horrible rise in acid

attacks. This is just restricting

the sale to younger people under the

age of 18.

It is, but we were

discussing this fellow, this is part

of a much more complex problem about

youth violence and youth crime, and

the Observer has a story about

Cressida Dick talking about tackling

knife crime as a public health

issue, this story also notes, the

Home Office has commissioned

research that will look into the

motivations behind carrying and

using acid as a weapon. There are

obviously things we can do that grab

headlines, but this is a complex

problem that will require much more

multifaceted response. Which you

were collaborating on.

Absolutely.

OK, if we have the retailers saying

we are not going to sell acid to

under-18s, but as we were saying,

any kid can get that stuff, could

get bleach from the kitchen cupboard

and take it out.

And they can get it

easily online.

So the parents of a

big role to play because I think it

is parents that need to be in charge

of the teenagers, they need to know

what they are carrying when they go

out. I don't think that this is

going to stop the problem although

it is a welcome initiative.

Let's

talk about the Golden Globes, the

first major awards ceremony, really,

since the whole Harvey Weinstein

thing blew up. There is good to be

something of a protest, a black

dress protest by some of the

actresses, they are saying that

normally they are expected to twirl

these wonderful dresses and to add

glitz to the Hollywood spectacle,

but this time they will wear a

sombre black as a mark of protest.

Is that a good move?

Absolutely. A

lot of people have said it is

elitist, what does it count for? But

these are powerful women who can

command column inches in newspapers,

front-page pitches, and they are

making an important point, that

sexual harassment is rife through

almost every industry you can think

of. They are making the point for

Hollywood, but the fact they are

making it means that women in other

industries will also be empowered to

speak out.

But some women, some of

the victims are saying, these women

should have done more than this,

they should have spoken out earlier

and that their silence has been the

problem.

I think that is probably a

valid criticism to some degree, but

the fact is, we are now where we are

and I think you rightly said, one of

the criticisms would be, they could

have boycotted, but he made the

point that this is all about

coverage, it is about raising the

public consciousness about the issue

and what better way to do so? They

are going to get enormous numbers of

colleges and photographs.

It is

going to be THE story.

They are not

just doing this, there is legal

defence fund, all sorts of practical

things are doing. I think Hollywood

actresses are doing quite a bit in

reaction to this, and it is not...

This is quite a positive thing they

are doing.

Let's just end with what

we hope is not the end of Andy

Murray's tennis career. The Sunday

Times front-page suggesting it could

be. Because Pat Cash has been saying

actually, he needs potentially a hip

operation on both hips, so if he

does need surgery, that is good to

be very hard to recover from in

terms of fighting for grand slams.

This is so sad. This idea that he

may never challenge again for a

grand slam title. I just think Andy

Murray has been one of those

national icons, the first British

guide to win Wimbledon, it has been

fabulous watching his career. And

also watching how he has become a

national treasure from someone who

was regarded as someone with a bit

of a chip on his shoulder, the idea

that he has fought so hard from

quite a humble background to become

this world-famous...

He has achieved

a lot but potentially got so much

more to achieve, but obviously it is

going to be very hard, even if he

doesn't have surgery, to continue.

I

think we remember the athletes in

particular who had these dizzying

heights but they were cut short.

There is this particular form of

sadness we remember them with. Andy

Murray at his peak was incredible

and to not be able to watch that, we

have been graced with Roger Federer

and Rafa Nadal for so long that

perhaps we have become spoiled and

think they will last forever. But

this is an example.

The game must

take such a toll on your body, the

impact, the continual impact.

I

increasingly believe that these are

professional athletes and the huge

toll this takes on them, obviously,

we should not... They are paid a lot

of money to do this, but you see a

lot of professional athletes in

these kinds of very demanding

sports, as they get older, they have

a lot of physical problems because

they have been taking such a toll on

their bodies for so long. Andy

Murray has been playing tennis since

he was... It is very difficult.

Let

us hope for the best and hope he

does recover, and get back onto the

big stage and win a few more grand

slams.

That's it for The Papers.

Thanks to my guests,

Sian Griffiths and Prashant Rao.

Just a reminder - we take a look

at tomorrows front pages every

evening at 10.40pm here on BBC News.

Goodbye for now.