28/01/2018 The Papers

Now it is time for Ben and The

Papers.

Now it is time for

Ben and The Papers.

Hello, and welcome to our Sunday

morning look at the papers.

With me are the journalist

James Rampton and Peter Conradi,

Foreign Editor at the Sunday Times.

Let us take you through sop of the

front-pages at least.

Let us take you through sop

of the front-pages at least.

The Sunday Times says

Meghan Markle plans to make

a speech at her wedding.

Donald Trump has criticised

Theresa May, according

to the Mail on Sunday,

who say the US president thinks

the PM's approach to Brexit hasn't

been "tough enough".

The Independent on Sunday leads

with a dramatic picture of the bomb

in Kabul which has killed at least

95 people and injured many more.

The Telegraph says a Cabinet source

is warning of Brexit betrayal,

as civil servants backing remain

are handling the terms

of departure from the EU.

A crackdown on rogue

parking companies is

the Express's main story.

And the Observer leads with claims

that Academy schools

are facing a cash crisis.

Let us start off then with the Mail

on Sunday.

Trump's snub to the Prime Minister

over Brexit according to the Mail on

Sunday at least. This is from this

Piers Morgan interview with Donald

Trump in Davos. It is on ITV

tonight.

Piers Morgan doesn't get

enough publicity so we will talk

about him for the next ten minutes.

And Donald Trump: It is the dream

team. As if the Brexit negotiations

weren't going badly enough already

and we were feeling completely

sidelined by Europe and the Tory

party is in some sort of meltdown we

have Donald Trump saying I could

have done that better. We were

talking earlier, it might have been

more of a story if Trump said I

couldn't have do 19 better. It is

another indication of how der rye

sieve he is of this country and

dismiss sieve of Theresa May. He

says anything she did I could have

done better. It plays into the idea

she is sub missive and subservient

in his presence because she is

desperate for a post-Brexit trade

deal. It is demeaning for us but we

are in a desperate position and this

reflects that. The sort of thing

most Presidents wouldn't say about a

British Prime Minister. Would it be

the way I negotiate? No, I wouldn't

negotiate it the way it's beening

inned. I would have had a different

attitude.

He is a stable genius.

So

I have read and heard on Twitter.

The great thing is his line would

have been the EU is not all it is

cracked up to be. Great negotiating

stance, that is how he would have

handled it. It is tremendous fun, I

think, really his interview, it is

predictable as well as James says

really. The other element is the

fact he appears to have invited

himself again for a state visit to

Britain, much to everyone's

surprise. He is apparently coming

twice, once...

Once is never enough.

Precisely. Once after a Nato summit

and again in October. So there is a

wonderful deadpan line, Mr Trump's

comment took Downing Street and

Buckingham Palace by surprise.

He was meant to come for the opening

of the American embassy but he

didn't because he doesn't like south

London. He did make a big impact at

Davos this week. He arrived with a

massive entourage, a bit like a rock

star there.

There was a wonderful

photo on the front of the guardian.

The Evening Standard in London and

it was snow Apocalypse Now, his

fleet of helicopters and it was like

the scene from Apocalypse Now of all

the helicopters flying through the

air in Vietnam with snow added.

There is a sense of pique about the

fact he hasn't had the official

invitation, he has been banging on

about how Macron in the French

capital rolled out the red carpet

for him, they closed the Eiffel

Tower. Anything that smacks of sell

relate rope and red carpet, he is a

sucker for that. If we want a trade

deal he should spend three weeks in

Buckingham Palace and it would be a

done deal.

What he hasn't... What he

hasn't been invited to, this is the

Sun on Sunday newspaper, apparently

he hasn't been invited, perhaps not

that surprisingly, to Megan and

Harry's wedding. Let us go through

the quotes of that. This is another

mart of the interview. Have you got

an invite to the Royal Wedding? Not

that I know of said Donald Trump.

Would you like to go? I'd want them

to be happy is his answer. All of

that is the backdrop is Meghan

Markle had a go.

Piers Morgan said

Meghan said you were a misogynist.

He says I still hope they are happy.

And oh my invitation is lost in the

post.

I mean, you know, I think

Meghan Markle is a great thing, I am

sure she will bring joy to the

nation, one of the great things she

will do is snub Trump. You can't say

that, he is a divisive misogynist

and the next day say you are welcome

to my wedding, perhaps under

pressure from the Government to talk

about this fabled trade deal we are

supposed to be doing.

Perhaps if you

sit down the table next to the mad

uncle or aunt.

To be fair there may

not be room for Donald Trump,

because it is a relatively you

know... It is a small and intimate

affair isn't it.

I don't think there

is room in London to land the

helicopters, maybe the garden of

Buckingham Palace the only place.

Wasn't Prince Harry, he was

interviewing Barack Obama, and there

was an issue there about whether

Barack Obama would be invited to the

wedding. So you can't have even, can

you, there is a lot of ex-Presidents

to get through.

Maybe an American

President has different status when

it is the an American citizen who is

doing the marrying.

Any way,

speaking of that wedding, whether or

not Donald Trump is there, and it

looks like he probably won't be, the

Sunday Times is saying, your paper

Peter.

Indeed.

Meghan is going to

make a speech at the wedding. And no

reason she shouldn't, but that is

quite an interesting bit of detail

ahead of the wedding.

Yes,

presumably if Trump were there, it

would give her the opportunity to

remetre views on his attitude. You

are still a misogynist, you are

still the President. It is a break

with precedent. Why not? It is 2018.

And yes, because the expectation is

her father, former Hollywood

lighting director is not going to

speak for her. We don't learn why he

is not going to, but what more can

one say.

It is 800 people, of some

of the most influential people, I

can't say the word, in this country

and he is a very private man. I like

the cartoon, the agent is saying

tell the Palace Meghan won't accept

a non-speaking role. I go to a lot

of young people's weddings this days

through my children. Young people, I

know some.

Have you been invited?

Yes I have taken Trump's invite! It

would be more unusual for the bride

not to speak. That has become a

totally, a given at most weddings. I

think that is is right. If the groom

speaks why shouldn't the bride as

well.

She showed us how articulate

she is, you know, and I am sure it

will be a very good speech.

Is she

going to obey him or not.

We will

wait for the Sunday Times...

You

will have to wait until May to find

out.

The Sunday Times, their main

story is about the Defence

Secretary, Gavin William song it is

a chilling warning he put out this

week, about how Russia could cause

not just thousands of deaths but

thousands and thousands and

thousands of deaths, by targeting

energy and gas pipelines. There is

sort of suggestions about why he's

put that out there this week.

I

think it is intriguing he put it out

there the same day he admitted his

had a flirtation with a former

colleague, apparently the Guardian

was on to the story as well. But

security chiefs are saying his

warning about Russia is is alarmist,

and that there may be a suggestion

he has used secret information to

ramp that up. I mean it is

incredible the rise of this man. Six

monthsing a he wasn't a household

name in his only household. Only

famous for having a spider in his

office to put fear of God...

That is

quite a claim to fame

I think he

called the spider Chronos because

the God ate his own children.

Putting the fear of God into the

backbenches, now he became Defence

Secretary after perhaps he suggested

that Michael Fallon should leave,

and now, he is making a rather

unsubtle bid to be leader I would

say, and the Russian revelations are

part of a distraction technique,

after he revealed about the

flirtation he wanted to distrack

people.

A good day to bury bad news.

There is still this jostling for, if

Theresa May goes, who will be the

party leader? Leader? He is he a

leader?

The point is he has come

from nowhere very fast, hasn't he. I

mean really the way things are

going, who knows? Who knows.

I will

take over.

Well, speaking of all of

that, the Telegraph are saying that

Mandarins are forcing Theresa May

into a Brexit betrayal. They are

letting remain nor civil servants

dictate the terms of departure from

the European Union. It is another

warning, I suppose from the

Brexiteers that the whole thing is

being held up or soft pedalled if

you were.

This is a story that one

feels the Sunday Telegraph could

write every week, the mail could

write. The custodians of a hard

Brexit. The Telegraph is out to see

any signs of sabotage from within,

particularly from the ranks of the

Mandarins. This is all part of the

manoeuvring, I think one would

expect at this stage in the process.

It is inkicktive of panic within

Brexit rank, they are accusing the

Mandarins, I know they are capable

of bias, the Mandarins by law have

to be impartial and implement the

Government's policies and the

Government policy is to deliver

Brexit, so, blaming the Mandarins is

the last resort of the scoundrel and

I think it may well be it is, you

know, slight hint they may well be

panicking, and Theresa Villiers has

reinforceded that by suggesting that

it may be we are seeing a dilution

of Brexit, we have heard Jacob

Rees-Mogg in week, urging the

Government to hold its never and

really enforce a tough Brexit --

nerve. So I think the assertiveness

they are making these comments with,

tells me they are worried are.

Let

us look at that, that Sunday

Telegraph story with Teresa I

havier, a commentary piece by her,

she says May once set out a bold

vision for Brexit, we must not let

this go. A direct warning from what

was a senior Cabinet Minister.

It is

true. It talks to the point that the

one can have a bold vision and I

think certainly what is happening is

the Mandarins who have to deal with

the nitty gritty of separating us

from the EU, necessarily are going

to flag up the problems there are. I

mean, the extent tent to which the

EU is closely, we are so closely

intertwined with the EU, when you

try to, you move beyond slogans to

sort things out. You realised the

complexity of the challenge. It

indicates the Civil War that every

Tory leader has been toppled by

Europe. It is the Civil War that

will not end and the struggle

between Brexiteers an remainors at

the moment is a continuation of

that. As far as I can see there is

no end, even in the war cabinet it

is evenly split between the two

and...

Maybe there will be an end to

it once we have left the EU.

There

will be argument about the way it is

done and should we have another

referendum.

There are

erecriminations with parking. Much

more serious... We have got on to

the main story R time is up for the

parking cowboys.

Quite right too.

Says man who has had a few tickets

in his time.

I have had a run in. I

had a run in with a parking cowboy.

But I won. I beat them. This is

essentially the way, this is about

parking on private land, so you park

on private land and you get clamped

or ticketed, and according to the

Express's front-page exclusive,

rogue firms that do this will no

longer be allowed to use the DVLA

database to hunt down innocent

drivers.

It is straightly extreme

language.

Cowboys indicate John

Wayne riding in to liberate

oppressed driver, they have a good

point. These companies are using

DVLA records in order to chase

people down. I didn't know people

were allowed to access that, that is

being stopped. They are issuing 11

tickets every minute, if that is

stopped that has to be a good thing.

Everybody recents getting a parking

ticket. The idea of parking, being

privatised in this way, people will

recent than any way. What is the

idea, the state should do it all?

I

think what we are talking is parking

on private land and often these

things, I am not speaking from birth

personal experience here.

Is the

counselling working?

I'm moving on.

The signage often is not clear, or

they are overzealous. This is

obviously a blow for freedom and

liberty! Fighting back against

cowboys. Maybe it will be different

when we leave the European Union.

Let us finish off on a story about

Swindon's Macey ready for Oscar

close up. That is the Sunday Times

newspaper, there we go. There is...

A lot of mentions today. I can't

think why actually! Macey changed

her mind about what she wants to

wear to the Oscars.

Heart-warming is

a dreadful overused word but I am

going to say this is a heart-warming

story because it is a six-year-old

girl from Swindon, and she 's the

youngest ever deaf person ever to be

involved in an Oscar-winning film.

The previous youngest winner was

Shirley Temple who was also six, but

this is a very very powerful film

about a young girl, who feels locked

out of the rest of the world because

she's not born into a deaf family,

as nine out of ten children are,

she's isolated in that world, and

trying to make her way and it's just

awe very very touching story about a

young girl making her mark on the

world, and proving that anything is

possible to her. I think that is a

really great message.

I haven't seen

the film but it seems moving. What

is interesting she is the fourth

generation in her family, to be

deaf, you know so we are talking

about the film, but there are

serious points here about how you

know, problems, the parents have

faced in getting treatment for her

or schooling for her, they had to

move from Cornwall to skin don --

Swindon so she could attend school

with specialist support. Anything

like this that puts a spotlight on

the problems or the issues or the

challenges that deaf children face I

think is welcome.

He is going to be

the most famous person from Swindon.

All I know about Swindon is it has

the most round about s of any city

in Europe. That is a better story.

She will be in the headlines many

years to come.

You are be deluged

from people...

Billie Piper is from

Swindon. Melinda messenger. What a

surprise, a journalist who is wrong.

It is a great story, she will be

famous.

I have always enjoyed my

visits to Swindon he adds hastily.

You are getting a letter from the

mayor of Swindon.

I will have to

apologise like Boris Johnson.

The

man who said this this town is just

about round abouts. Good to talk to

you, thank you for being with us.

You can see the front-pages of The

Papers online on our BBC News

website. All there for you seven

days a week.

If you miss the rowing you can watch

it later on, BBC iPlayer. Thank you.

Goodbye from us.

-- the programme.