17/02/2018 The Papers

This week on the programme, my guest

is the best selling writer, Mick

Herron, with his new book on the

Luke Jackson lamb...

Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me are Nigel Nelson,

political editor

of the Sunday Mirror and Political

commentator, Jo Phillips.

Many of tomorrow's front

pages are already in.

We almost have an embarrassment of

riches tonight!

The Observer investigates

Britain's prison

system, claiming two-thirds

of prisons are providing inmates

with inadequate conditions

or unacceptable treatment.

The Sunday Express says Theresa May

has declared there will be "no

going back" on Brexit.

The Telegraph leads

on claims prominent members

of the Labour Party met eastern bloc

agents during the Cold War.

The Mail on Sunday has

an interview with Brendon Cox -

the widower of murdered MP Jo Cox -

Who has stepped down from his role

in two charities after admitting

inappropriate behaviour with a

colleague.

The papers says he has also stepped

down from two charities,

set up in his late wife's memory.

The Sunday Times says

the Education Secretary is looking

at a number of university reforms,

including cheaper tuition

fees for some courses.

And the Sun on Sunday reports

on alleged marriage difficulties

between pop stars Cheryl and Liam

Payne.

A variety of stories for us to mull

over. We will start with a story

that has been rumbling on. We talked

about it last night in a different

form. The Sunday Telegraph, a

Czechoslovakian agent claims 15

Labour MPs met with spies. It

started with Jeremy Corbyn and is

now spreading out?

Among the 15 were

John McDonnell. They said they were

absurd claims. It has been called

ridiculous. If you put this into

context, we are talking about the

1980s. Eastern Europe was going

through a major change because of

Gorbachev, the Berlin Wall coming

down in 1989. We used to get in the

House of Commons a lot of East

Europeans who would pop in and pop

out. You would think, well, some of

them may be spies, maybe all of

them? You would be careful about

talking to them! But MPs did. It

would be reasonable for MPs to do

that on the basis that they wanted

to learn what was going on in

eastern Europe at the time. If

Jeremy Corbyn really thought he was

talking to a diplomat, that shows a

bit of naivete. You always have to

imagine that these people may have

been spies. The idea that they could

have been passing information

across, I'm not sure they had any.

Or there is no evidence of what they

could have done.

What could Jeremy

Corbyn in 1986 possibly have

provided about the British treatment

or Secret Service to a

Czechoslovakian agent or spy?

And

how many other MPs from other

parties...

Exactly. Eastern Europe

was a big political football at the

time. They spoke to all of these

people. If you were sensible about

it, you always thought that maybe

this diplomat is not a diplomat, or

whatever. You would be a bit careful

but you would listen to them.

Shall

we move on?

I think it is a bit of a

nonstory.

Sorry! "Yes, I was a sex

pest" confesses Jo Cox's husband,

this isn't quite what he admitted...

It absolutely isn't what he says. He

is clearly deeply embarrassed. He

has resigned with immediate effect

from the two charities that he was

running, set up in the wake of Jo

Cox's murder. An astonishing tearful

confession in the Daily Mail. He

does not say that he was a sex pest.

He says he knew that there were

incidents when he was working with

Safety Children that people feel

uncomfortable and it made them feel

uncomfortable. I think the story in

itself is obviously, for him, a

great fall from grace. A public

figure with a great deal of public

sympathy. He would of Jo Cox and the

father of their two children. -- of

the widow. We hear this time and

again. When men say, it was just a

bit of banter. Here, he says he

failed to acknowledge at the time

how he made people feel

uncomfortable but he saw his

behaviour as playful rather than

predatory.

It shows that years

later, people can take a very

different view?

And in fairness, he

takes a different view. While he

doesn't go as far as admitting

allegations made against him, what

he is actually saying is that his

behaviour was bad, he drank too

much, some people may have felt

uncomfortable cause of it. He

regrets of that. It shows it can

come back and haunt you years later.

The statement from the Jo Cox

foundation says that the board has

accepted his resignation as a

trustee, since establishing, they

have admired the dedication that

Brendan has shown to create a

positive legacy for Jo It was

established in 2016 for practical

efforts to champion the cause is

that she did. He is taking a step

back because he does not want this

to get in the way of all of that.

Let's stay... We are moving to The

Sunday Times, I beg your pardon. "No

Screen sex, please. We are actors!"

I think at this time of night, it is

half term, it must be

post-watershed... I will only read

out the first bit. Equity are

suggesting they needed a rethink

about sex scenes, in rehearsal and

protecting actors and actresses. I

would have thought they already did

that. There is a lovely thing here

that says when Roger Moore had to

film a sex scene he would apologise

in advance to the act was involved

in case she aroused him noticeably,

which presumably means raising two

eyebrows instead of one!

And if you

did not raise his eyebrows!

And if

nothing happened, indeed! We don't

want to go into the details...

Perhaps at 11:30pm! But they want

safeguarding and probably a

chaperone?

If you have the

safeguards they mention here, you

deserve an Oscar nomination if you

can carry them out!

I thought people

pretended to kiss each other, I

didn't think they really did it.

In

the 1950s, the bedroom scene meant

one that was capped on the floor --

that one foot was kept on the

floor...

There will be an intimacy

director.

Who could possibly apply?

Staying with The Sunday Times...

Where are we at? About seven

minutes? Six minutes? With better

crack on! Students to get cheaper

places at University...

What it

appears to be the case, apparently,

is that Damian Hines, remember the

new Education Secretary, I can tell

you what he looks like, this is his

first big interview and he is

stamping his authority because the

government is going to order

universities to offer students value

for money. They will slash tuition

fees for arts and drama and

vocational courses. They are the

ones that have expanded a lot. They

are the cheapest to run and make

universities the most money.

Universities are concerned over the

loss of money but I would have

thought that kids looking at that

and think, the tuition fees are not

as high, they will be flocking to do

these presumably not very well run

courses. It doesn't make any sense

at all.

But some courses would be

cheaper to run.

Sue universities

make more money?

Universities should

not be charging so much...

If one is

5000 and another 7000... There is a

lot of arguments that one needs to

happen is to bring back the

maintenance grant for poorer

students to help with living costs.

But I seriously think the government

is going to announce a cap on fees

and they will raise the level of

income of which students have to

pay.

And abolish tuition fees

entirely.

And unleash a wave of new

faith schools, a strange expression,

to unleash them... And grammar

schools. We have been there before.

Let's have a look at The Observer.

Shock figures revealed the dire

state of Britain's prisons?

They are

shocking figures, 68% of surveyed

prisons, they provide unsatisfactory

standards. Two inside jails are an

acceptably unsafe. -- are unsafe. We

know that they are not fit for

purpose. They had to build a lot

more prisons or take some of the

84,000 prisoners out of them, and

try other forms of punishment. But

you cannot carry on packing more

people into jail the way that we are

at the moment, and leave them in

these conditions.

There is little

rehabilitation going on.

And a huge

problem with drugs, particularly

psychoactive drugs and increasing

levels of violence. What is most

damning is not necessarily The

Observer's and research but Lord

Woolf, he oversaw the Strangeways

enquiry after the riot in 1990. He

says that we are in that kind of

territory, back to pre-Strangeways

Times, which is shocking.

And Jeremy

Corbyn is under pressure? Neil

Kinnock appears to be applying

pressure?

Apparently 20,000 Labour

members have demanded a say on

Brexit and Neil Kinnock has halted

the exit altogether. It is clear

that Jeremy Corbyn will be

confronted by some people in his

Shadow Cabinet this week who want

him to come clear on whether he

wants to remain in the single market

and the customs union. From the

referendum, Jeremy Corbyn has never

been clear about what his particular

stance on Brexit is. It has been

confusing for Labour Party members

and the rest of the country.

What is

the point?

Good question!

No, I did

not say that! Nigel, please! You

will get me into such trouble to

even imply such a thing! What is the

point in changing their stance?

Theresa May says there will be no

second referendum but it is

happening.

Yes, I still think that

there is a very small possibility

that there could be. I do think it

is unlikely. It would mean a change

in public attitudes, and we would

have to see it with people

protesting or whatever. I do not

think any of those would happen.

Brexit will go ahead but there's the

possibility that you could have a

second referendum and it would have

to be a referendum on whether we

left, given the conditions we had.

It isn't unreasonable for party to

ask their leader on their position.

There are local elections coming

up...

It is now perfectly clear that

they do not have a clue. But we do

have all of these speeches to come.

They still have to go for an away

day to get their position sorted

out. And Angela Merkel is curious as

to what they will come back with.

And we all?

And in the

Independent...

A lovely photograph.

Lizzy Yarnold successfully defending

her Winter Olympics title.

And she

looks about ten years old. It's a

beautiful photograph. She has hit

the record books, hasn't she? And

she is a fan of the archers. She

calls her tea tree Mervyn.

Would you

like a go?

No! You need nerves of

steel.

Once you start...

How do you

get into it? You cannot do it

easily.

It isn't at most leisure

centres!

Apparently the Winter

Olympics are very popular with

children and I think it's because it

looks like magical scenery and not

like sports playing field.

You don't

normally get to see these sports.

And it is great television. It is

great to watch something like that.

When you see her shooting down

there...

You the toboggan?

A sleigh!

With bells! And a nice and cosy rug

to sit on. And my Father Christmas

outfit.

That's it for The Papers this hour.

You'll both be back in an hour.

Next it's Meet the Author.