07/02/2018 The Papers

Hello, and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me are Kate Andrews,

News Editor at the Institute

of Economic Affairs and the former

Labour advisor and political

commentator Ayesha Hazarika.

Good to see you both. We have quite

a few of the papers already in.

Let's look at some of them.

The FT leads with the state

of the UK stock market,

suggesting it's trailing its rivals

because of concerns around

growth and profits.

It also has news of the German

Chancellor's coalition deal to stay

in power.

Some low alcohol beverages are being

marketed as if they are soft drinks,

warns the Metro, quoting a study

that claims people who switch

to weaker drinks could end up

consuming more alcohol overall.

The Express reports that millions

of households will see their council

tax bill rise this year.

The picture shows the Duchess

of Cambridge getting her

heel stuck in a grate.

The Telegraph has revelations

about a campaign to overturn Brexit

that apparently has the backing

of billionaire George Soros.

The i newspaper focuses

on the plight of young migrants

prepared to take extreme risks

to get to the UK.

The Times reports on a hundred

million pound financial shortfall

at Surrey County Council.

The Sun has a response

from Denise Bulger to the news

that her son's killer Jon Venables

has been jailed for a second

time over the possession

of child abuse images.

The Guardian's front page reveals

secret government documents have

estimated a no-deal Brexit

would hit the economy

to the tune of £80 billion.

No chance of getting through an

addition of the papers without

talking about Brexit. No matter how

hard we try! We are going to start

with that story, the front page

of...

We tried really hard(!)

We

can't ignore it, a secret plot to

thwart Abraxas, apparently, a

picture of Mr George Soros? --

thought Brexit.

Apparently it is his

plot, he is a billionaire, known

quite famously for breaking the bank

of England, that is in reference to

the fact that he bet against the

pound during the 1992 Black

Wednesday currency crisis. He did

not literally break it! He has been

accused of coming up with plans over

a dinner, a secret document has been

leaked that would put the government

in a position where it would have to

call a general election will

probably hold a second referendum.

The goal is not to get a soft

Brexit, it is to reverse the

decision. I don't think it is

particularly newsworthy that some

people have enough money to be

holding a private dinner are

discussing the fact that they would

like to remain in the European

Union. Even putting a document

together is not shocking. I imagine

lots of people are doing this. The

most newsworthy thing about me is at

the end, sources at the dinner said

that the message fell flat and that

donors left without giving money.

Even if you are very opposed to

Brexit, it is hard to see how it is

not going to happen at all. That is

probably not because people are

going to get behind. Soft Brexit,

maybe, but not at all, that is

unlikely.

The Daily Telegraph, we

know where they stand?

Absolutely,

the byline, the first name is Nick

Timothy, I think the beard has gone,

but he is still very much a man

connected into Number 10 and was

very against this kind of you. I was

a Remainer, I would like us not to

leave the EU, but I am also a

Democrat. We had a referendum and

voted to leave. I think everybody

has the right to make arguments

about what kind Brexit, get people

to change their minds. What is about

this is the fact that it is the

people that really want to stop

Brexit happening, it is like they

learned nothing from the Remain

campaign. It did not do well, is

lost. It should have spoken to

working men and women, particularly

outside of London. Again, we have a

millionaire, a billionaire

businessman, lots of other rich,

white, powerful men, based in

London, trying to reverse something

that has happened. That is not the

way to get a successful outcome on

Brexit. These other guys that look

like they could have been Presidents

club. They are not really...

We are

not casting aspersions, Mr Soros,

you are a very rich man, please do

not sue!

It shows a ten year to what

is going on. Make the arguments

about why you are worried, don't

have a rich, powerful, mail dinner

to thwart it.

What is funny, planted

a document discusses having Momentum

style rallies and concerts. There is

recognition about what is getting

people excited and motivated. I

don't think the people at this

dinner would necessarily be the

people attending those rallies and

concerts. There is a recognition of

it.

I think they love that the

Jeremy Corbyn phenomenon and said,

we will have a piece of that. It is

not as simple. The thing that

motivated these people, they felt

that they were the underdogs that

would not go to rallies for the 1%

that have just come back from Davos,

you know what I mean?

They want a

change, and Brexit is the change.

If

you disagree with Brexit, this is

not the way to do it.

We are all

Brexiteers now.

Does Brexit mean

Brexit?

The Times, the UK's richest

county hit by £100 million cash

crisis, how can that be?

Well, it

looks like many, many areas of the

UK are falling short when it comes

to council funding. Nearly every

part of England is warning that tax

rises, particularly council tax, to

make ends meet. Nine out of ten

councils will be hit by Williams of

pounds of deficit. The average looks

to be 6.9% of the budgets. There are

a few reasons that this is

happening, of course. The government

has cut funding to local areas, and

this means they either have to

reduce services or make up the funds

in some way. It is understanding

that there are certain services they

don't want to cut, particularly

related to children. They are

looking at new ways to raise

revenue. The problem is that council

tax has risen by 60% since 1998.

Councils are needing to find

funding, but families have to find

extra cash. I am very nervous about

this. I call for a pause before they

raise taxes to look where they could

be making more efficiency.

Surrey

County Council said in a statement

this evening that they have agreed a

three-year budget, despite severe

pressures. We aren't councils across

the country, they are keen to

stress, are under pressure due to

rising demand for services and

falling government funding. We have

been managing the growing need for

social care, partly by making

savings of £540 million since 2010.

The key, Ayesha, is that this is one

of the richest, a Tory council, if

they have trouble, everybody does?

That is what I was shocked by. The

average gap was 14.7 million, and

you wonder why. It gets you to a

broader point. Local authorities and

councils have been under severe

pressure for a very, very long time,

since the financial crash, since

2010. They have really had budgets

cut and cut. Actually, the first

councils that bore the brunt of it

were lots of northern councils, lots

of Labour run councils. Some of the

cuts were political in terms of how

it was meted out. All councils are

facing it. You cannot underestimate

the knock-on affect people's lives

that these things have. You

mentioned services being cut, cuts

to the roads. Sure start centres

closing. That has a huge impact on

childcare. Adult social care has a

huge impact on the NHS. We have seen

older people not being able to get

out of hospital, bed blocking,

backing up A&E.

And adult social

care, the cuts to councils. Youth

centres, it has a huge knock-on

effect crime.

I would argue that you

need to rethink taxes. There has to

be a better way to redistribute

money, whether it is locally or

nationally. If you are a family, you

don't care whether the money or the

tax, where it is coming from, it

affects you directly.

Staying with

The Times, sit more exams to beat

stress?

Yes, the claim here is that

children should be setting more

exams, not fewer, so that they find

them less stressful. Nick Gibb is

actually talking about internet or

social media pressures rather than

assessments, on the other side you

have a Labour MP saying that exams

bring women in particular to

breaking point. She mentions a high

achieving girls school. You know, I

think we have to look at this from

more of a social perspective.

Children are facing all kinds of

pressure that Ayesha and I would not

have grown up with. Particularly

online. The point about internet and

social media is very important. Is

there one way of teaching kids how

to take exams or schooling that will

fit all? Of course not, some

students will do a lot better if

they are sitting more exams, some

will need to wait until the day and

that is how they will perform. I

wish we could speak more about the

individual and not just what kids in

need.

Is there logic to doing more

exams?

No!

If you run more

marathons, you will get better.

Kids

are not marathon running machines.

We put so much pressure on them and

we should let kids be kids, let

their minds expand and let them

learn things. One thing that would

really help children is more

creativity, the curriculum on

creative subjects that have been

cut, more sport provisions. I think

you have better, healthier, more

intelligent and better rounded

children if they have healthy

brains, intellectualism, creativity,

healthiness through sport. All of

this is just completely wrong.

It is

interconnected. There is not a one

size fits all. Kids need options.

The front page of the Financial

Times, we will quickly look at this.

Angela Merkel looks like she has her

grand coalition. The FT is reporting

that. She has given ground in order

to get the coalition and stay in the

chancellery. We are going to go to

the Express. Ayesha, gift from

heaven, £700,000 request. This is a

lovely story?

We had a negative

story about local councils and this

is a positive one. If village was

trying to raise funds for a

community hall for 60 years.

Yesterday they found out a resident

left them £700,000 in his will so

that they could do the job. What a

lovely story.

Absolutely amazing.

His wife deserves credit as well.

They have identical wills, who ever

passed away first sent the money to

the other and then they were jointly

planning to give.

It shows that

local things are really important,

having community spaces, they are

going to build a fantastic amenity

space for birthday parties, communal

activities. People need these things

in their communities.

Absolutely.

Finally, the bold truth. Gust of

wind revealing Donald Trump's bald

truth.

You don't think this is the

biggest story?

Why are we doing this

last? We should have done it first.

Sending people off to bed with a

smile on their face. You know they

say hairdo? This is a hair don't!

There were pictures of him with his

mother and he has identical hair.

You need serious hairspray to keep

that in place.

It looked like a very

windy day. I am sure this happens to

supermodels all the time as well...

It does not, you're not going to see

them...

Wind going through your hair

is a good look.

He is not going to

be on the Armani commercial, no

matter what his doctor says.

This is

why he is so upset as a human being.

He would be happier if he sorted his

hair out.

Why doesn't he just face

up to it, like me? If you are bald,

you are bald! Sorted out, I know you

are watching online. Don't tweet at

us!

That's it for The Papers tonight.

Don't forget you can see the front

pages of the papers online

on the BBC News website.

It's all there for you -

seven days a week at bbc.co.uk

and if you miss the programme any

evening you can watch it

later on BBC iPlayer.

That is what Donald is going to do!

Thank you Kate Andrews

and Ayesha Hazarika.

Goodbye.