04/03/2018 The Papers

That is all the sport for now and

next on BBC News, it is back to Ben

Brown with the papers.

Hello and welcome to our review of

the Sunday papers.

With me are Katy Balls,

Political Correspondent

at The Spectator and Ben Chu,

Economics Editor at The Independent.

Welcome to you both. Thank you so

much for coming in.

There's a good mix

of stories, from the extreme weather

to a look ahead to the Oscars.

The Observer takes stock

of the financial cost the wintry

weather has taken on the country -

suggesting it's cost us £1 billion

per day.

The Sunday Times leads

on an investigation into how

internet giants may be

implicated in the trafficking

of vulnerable women.

The paper also looks ahead

to tomorrow night's Oscars -

with a picture of Gary Oldman -

who has the Best Actor nod

for playing the part

of Winston Churchill.

The actor also takes centre stage

on the front of The Telegraph -

alongside the paper's top story

which looks at the way BBC

presenters' salaries are taxed.

The top story for the Mail

is the latest gossip

from within Theresa May's cabinet.

This time involving the Foreign

Secretary.

This time involving

the Foreign Secretary.

So plenty to be looking

at this morning.

Let's kick off with the weather. It

has been an atrocious week of

weather, of course. I was reporting

it from the north-east of England,

pretty chilly, I must say. We have

talked a lot about the travel

implications for people but also the

economic implications, Katie, the

big freeze according to the Observer

costing us £1 billion a day. I am

not sure exactly how they worked

that out.

Yes, the beast from the

east appears to be subsiding but the

aftermath will not be pretty and it

is thought it has cost us so much

money in terms of lost productivity

that it could affect our growth for

the first quarter of the year and we

could see a drop of .2%. That is

obviously not a good thing but it's

also hard to know how that could

actually be avoided, because it

comes back to the debate about

should we spend lots of money in

case there was bad weather or is it

where enough that we just need to

deal with it as we have now.

I

suppose with the best will in the

world however much you grip the road

and whatever preparations you take,

in a country like this, you will

always have so much disruption when

you have that much snow and ice.

It

is the old debate about should we

invest in snowploughs and things

like Canada and Switzerland have,

but the problem is that this does

not happen often enough for that

investment.

Which is why it is news,

really.

Yes, this would be nothing

in Montreal. It is interesting how

they have worked out this £1 billion

figure. People have been spending

less in the shops, but they have

also been drawing more heat and

energy, so it does go the other way.

We have had a precedent for this. It

was in the final quarter of 2010,

very, very bad weather and the

growth rate collapsed. In fact, the

first estimate was that it fell by

.5%. It went from .6% 2.1%. So we

have seen very cold weather having a

very significant impact on growth

rates.

Katy, inside the Observer

some pictures and the headline that,

Britain's tale of empty shops,

really referring their to our

economic story, but also reunited

communities and people pulling

together to help each other. I must

say, I did see that in

Northumberland. Really going out and

pulling people out of snowdrift and

so on if they had to.

Yes, and I

think that is the positive story it.

The Observer looks at an area near

Glasgow and we have stories of the

blizzards and all the problems it

caused, but at the end here it says

one local resident says that it took

twice as long to get all these

objects from the snow, because they

were chatting to each other so much

and stopping to catch up and gossip,

so in a way it reminded him of how

it used to be when everyone stopped

at the shops and spoke to each

other. That was a nice way of

bringing the communities together.

And one of the most dramatic things,

Ben, was all these drivers stuck for

hours and hours on motorways and

roads, with jackknifed lorries and

then everyone else stuck there,

really, for the whole night. But the

good old British spirit often coming

through and people not daunted too

much. Just having cups of tea in

their cars and so on.

Yes,

heartening. One place you did not

see that kind of spirit was in

Ireland where some thieves had a

snow looting episode where they

destroyed a small store and looted

all the alcohol and expensive food.

But you will always get these

different stories and it is

encouraging as Katy says that there

were places where people came

together to fight adversity as well,

as you to DC in this kind of

scenario.

And we have got is no baby

as well, I believe, with a baby born

off the motorway as they can get to

the hospital. So mother positive

story to tell in years to come.

Has

it been a positive story for Theresa

May and Brexit? Her big speech

possibly slightly overshadowed on

Friday by the weather. If you look

across the newspaper front pages

today, what is good from her point

of view perhaps is that there is in

the big backlash from either faction

to be speech that she made.

Exactly

and the Observer has this headline.

If you told Theresa May this time

last week that the only person the

journalists would have to dig out to

be critical of the speech would be

Michael Heseltine, a man who has

said he would prefer a Corbyn

government to Brexit, I think she

would have been pretty happy and

hoping that would be the scenario.

He had obviously found problems with

the speech but I think he is such an

extreme. We know he really opposes

Brexit, no matter what kind Brexit.

He wants to lead a rebellion in the

Lords on it. I don't think she could

have said anything other than we

will stay the EU or have a second

referendum to make him happy, but

like you say, in general the people

in her own party seem to be fairly

happy. Perhaps by disappointing

everyone a little bit.

Let's not go

too far. Michael Heseltine saying

that the Brexiteers are holding a

knife to Theresa May's throat, which

is quite a vivid description?

Yes,

but I think it's quite accurate. The

way we are talking about it speaks

of the UK domestic debate, because

of course what really matters about

how the speech is perceived as how

the EU see it. Do they think what

she outlined admitted to a cherry

picking approach, which they have

said they will not have, or do they

think it was constructive? That is

the key thing. We are talking about

whether Jacob Rees Mogg liked it,

Michael Heseltine, which are very

relevant questions because we all

know Theresa May's position is very

fragile. That she could be brought

down by her own party if they think

she is not handling Brexit right. So

it's understandable, but actually

the bigger issue is how the

Europeans about that? That

determines whether we will get any

serious results in time.

Katie, the

mail on Sunday continuing on the

Brexit theme. Boris in new dirty

tricks row with Number ten. This is

the PM's fixer supposedly leaking a

memo.

As Ben pointed out, this goes

back to the domestic view of Brexit.

The idea of dynamics within the

Conservative Party and how it

affects Theresa May's position. A

memo was leaked to Sky News this

week which had a line in it where

the Foreign Secretary seemed to

concede that there could be a hard

Irish border. They feel like this

was unfair because it was one line

from a very long letter with lots of

different options, and the

suggestion was that it was leaked by

Number ten to put Boris Johnson in

his place. It's quite funny, because

obviously a key ally of Boris

Johnson told the mail on Sunday

this, but if you get off the front

page Boris Johnson's spokesmen says

it is a load of baloney, not true

and they are not accusing Number ten

of anything.

That speech by Number

ten, I guess it was a reality check

in some ways in that you were saying

we will not get everything we want

in the negotiations. It may be

obvious, but she spelt it out.

Yes,

and actually if we look at the

European reaction, Michel Barnier

said that. He welcomed the sense of

realism in the speech. And I think,

yes, one should recognise that she

was saying, we will not have all the

benefits of being in the EU when we

are out of the EU. It sounds

obvious, but for her to say that,

because her line-up until now is

that she wants all the benefits of

being in the and her ministers have

been saying that. It is blatantly an

unrealistic expectation, said she

has dialled it down. But as I say,

whether they still think what she is

asking for, this basket approach

where we are in think in regulation

and diverging other areas, depending

on what suits the UK, whether they

look at that and think no, no

chance, is the key question.

Let's

move away from Brexit. The Sunday

Times lead on Internet giants

profiting from pop-up brothels.

Yes,

this is Number ten considering new

laws on sex trafficking and it is

being directed at Internet giants.

This idea that because on places

like Facebook you can see these

adverts, brothels advertised, should

the host sites be culpable for that?

It has been a big debate and in

America right now they are trying to

pass legislation which will mean

that is the case. It is something

which of course all Internet

companies massively resist because

they can't keep track of everything,

but I think the question is as well,

most of these adverts are not

saying, there is a pop-up brothel.

They are a bit more subtle than

that. You can probably still work it

out, but how much responsibility and

how far are these Internet giants

are opposed to dig really to find

that out? I think most people would

agree they shouldn't have something

saying brothel.

Also in The Sunday

Times, the MP gender pay gap. We

have heard a lot about the gender

pay gap in other industries, Ben,

including BBC presenters, of course.

But this is MPs, they are saying,

and men being paid more than women.

It's important to recognise that MPs

do not get paid differently

depending on whether they are men or

women. They both get the same amount

per year. But what The Sunday Times

research is looking at is what they

earn outside. So once you factor in

the back that men and women in

Parliament, MPs, and different

amounts in that outside jobs, you

get this gender pay gap. So you're

the buckled Tory MP, male Tory MP,

gets about £100,000 including their

MP salary, whereas female MP

salaries get about 90 6000. There is

the gender pay gap. The gap between

Labour MPs is lower, 79,004 men,

78,000 for women. A lot of people

would be saying that MPs shouldn't

be doing any other work they should

just get their basic salary for

doing their MP work.

I think this is

a fair point and this is may be

looking at that male MPs are more

able balance family commitments. We

were speaking about this before and

saying that George Osborne had about

six jobs whilst he was an MP. I

would have completely skewed

everything. I think he was financial

adviser, briefly the editor of the

standard, or he planned to edit the

standard whilst being an MP,

obviously be speech circuit which

can be very lucrative.

The Sunday

Telegraph, let's go on to that. They

are talking about Britain being told

to brace for a spring crime spree,

Ben, and knife crime which has been

so dominant in the last few years

seems to be increasing. I am not

sure how you predict there is going

to be a surge in that?

The logic

appears to be that as the weather

gets warmer naturally, you get more

crimes because people are out in the

streets more. That is essentially

the basis of the story. They say the

number of young people who have been

killed by knife crime this year has

been about double what it was at the

same time last year. So if it

continues to extrapolate trends in

the way it has is the weather gets

warmer, you will get more crime. It

is highlighting the fact that that

does seem to be this surge in knife

crime, violent crime, from a pretty

low base, it must be said and it is

localised to certain areas. There

was not a nationwide crime wave

going on but they do seem to be

pockets of this and really this is

drawing attention to that trend.

And

how do you reduce knife crime?

It is

very difficult, isn't it? We know

that Sadiq Khan is very worried

about this because we had four

stabbings in one night recently and

his plan is to significantly

increase stop and search. It is seen

as quite controversial because of

how it affects communities, but I

think the judgment is now coming

from the police that it does need to

be done if they are going to tackle

this, because they think it is very

effective. And therefore you will

see more things like body cameras so

you can attest to the fact this is

not being done in a manner which

could be accused of being racist or

other intentions.

OK, it is the

Oscars, of course. Very exciting.

Gary Oldman, the great British hope.

His pictures are plastered over a

lot of the front pages. Are you an

Oscar fan?

A Gary Oldman fan? I

can't say I have ever stayed up to

watch it but what I find astonishing

is that he is a huge favourite to

win an Oscar, which is about 95%

chance implied that he is going to

win it. Obviously the odds are

begged the way the betting is going,

but that seems to me. An

extraordinary set of odds to be

giving on something like that

because we do not know how the votes

are tallied up. I think it is

interesting from that perspective

alone.

I suppose in some years there

is more competition among the male

leads and maybe this year he is the

dominant one. Whereas in the best

actress category, there is more

competition.

Yes, I think there is

more room for surprise. I think if

you back a pound on Gary Oldman, you

get a 4p return. I have seen a film

I thought was very good.

Very good

or amazing?

Very good. I rarely go

to the cinema but I went to the

cinema for that and it was good.

Did

you believe the story quite up

because people talk about Churchill

and the prostatic sand whatnot.

I

would say it was up from the Crown,

that is my level of expertise.

I saw

shape of the water, which everybody

gets very excited about, but I just

couldn't get into it. Then, have you

had any movie favourites you would

be voting for?

I saw Dunkirk, which

I thought was excellent, but some of

the critics saying it was not a

documentary, why wasn't this in it,

why wasn't that in it, but I think

that is misinterpreting what it was

about.

I think it is good to see

that British talent, be it acting,

technical talent, is still there at

the Oscars.

Definitely, and I think

that makes it more fun to watch.

Like the World Cup, we are reaching

for the British.

Yes, and hopefully

Gary Oldman will deliver. All we

will be gutted.

Now, this is about

Easter trees.

If this replicating the idea of

Christmas trees?

When I heard about

this story, I thought it sounded

awful, like going to get a Christmas

tree again but four is Detry. Then I

realise it is something we do at

home, get a branch and hang some

decorations on it. It's a nice

little ornament on the table.

Essentially what the story is is

trying to push this as a concept,

because they have got a quote from

John Lewis and they are talking

about Liddell and algae, so they are

trying to get people to get into

this.

There is always the commercial

aspect in these areas.

I think we

are getting more into arts and

crafts as a nation, but it is

becoming more commercial now and you

can buy baubles with chicks inside

them and whatnot but I think you

could do it more cheaply at home.

It

is interesting, because the seasonal

trappings have just been out for

ever but a lot of the Christmas

traditions only go back to Victorian

times. So you can invent them.

Yes,

Charles Dickens invented it, didn't

he? With the Christmas trees, plum

pudding and Turkey. We have to

understand that a lot of our

traditions are invented and

commercial companies do play a role

in shaping the way we see things.

Maybe we will be the generation that

invented Easter trees. Anyway, thank

you very much, both of you. I hope

to see you again very soon. But Katy

and then, thank you very much

indeed. Don't forget, you can see

the front pages of the papers on our

website seven days a week. And if

you happen to miss the programme any

evening in the week, you can was

watch it later on BBC iD there. Our

thanks again to Katy and then, but

for now, goodbye from us.