09/03/2018

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0:00:16 > 0:00:20Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be

0:00:20 > 0:00:23bringing us tomorrow.

0:00:23 > 0:00:26With me are historian and Daily Telegraph writer

0:00:26 > 0:00:29Tim Stanley and Daily Mirror columnist Susie Boniface.

0:00:29 > 0:00:36Many of tomorrow's front pages are already in...

0:00:36 > 0:00:38Let's take a look at them.

0:00:38 > 0:00:39The meeting between Donald Trump

0:00:39 > 0:00:42and Kim Jong Un leads the FT - with claims it was a

0:00:42 > 0:00:44snap Trump decision.

0:00:44 > 0:00:46Meanwhile the i says the proposed face-to-face meeting

0:00:46 > 0:00:48has stunned the world.

0:00:48 > 0:00:54And The White House says Donald Trump will take a hardline

0:00:54 > 0:00:55position with North Korea, according to the Guardian.

0:00:55 > 0:00:57The search for clues in the investigation

0:00:57 > 0:00:59into the attempted murder of the former Russian spy

0:00:59 > 0:01:04and his daughter leads the Mirror - with a picture of police

0:01:04 > 0:01:07at the grave of Skripal's wife.

0:01:07 > 0:01:13Threats of a cyber war between the UK and Russia lead

0:01:13 > 0:01:14the Express.

0:01:14 > 0:01:17The Daily Mail warns that parking charges

0:01:17 > 0:01:19could rise by up to 45% in some areas as councils

0:01:19 > 0:01:21try to manage their budgets.

0:01:21 > 0:01:25The Sun leads with reports that actress Liz Hurley has returned

0:01:25 > 0:01:33to the UK after her nephew was reportedly stabbed.

0:01:33 > 0:01:39So, the meeting between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump takes centre stage

0:01:39 > 0:01:46in most of the papers along with the spy story from Salisbury. Starting

0:01:46 > 0:01:51with the Daily Mirror, and this stark image, it says, poisoned spy,

0:01:51 > 0:01:55clues from the grave, saying that police have examined the graves of

0:01:55 > 0:02:01Skripal! Wife and sun amid fears that they were poisoned. We have not

0:02:01 > 0:02:04heard that information efficiently but there is a lot of speculation

0:02:04 > 0:02:08about the death of other members of his family?That's right. And before

0:02:08 > 0:02:17we came on Susie was providing a very good explanation of why they

0:02:17 > 0:02:21might have gone to this particular graves.The problem is that we know

0:02:21 > 0:02:24so very little about what is going on, so all we have is a series of

0:02:24 > 0:02:29dramatic images of police officers in these ridiculous chemical suits

0:02:29 > 0:02:33and tents overgrazed. They're not talking about eggs you mean anybody

0:02:33 > 0:02:36is as yet, because that would be a publicly and the coroner would have

0:02:36 > 0:02:42to be involved. What they are doing is examining the grave, because

0:02:42 > 0:02:46Sergei Skripal's daughter is known to have visited him because it was

0:02:46 > 0:02:51the anniversary of her brother's death. They are known or expected to

0:02:51 > 0:02:54have visited his brave on the anniversary of his death and his

0:02:54 > 0:02:59mother is also buried nearby. So they are examining those graves to

0:02:59 > 0:03:04try to find the way by which the nerve agent was administered but was

0:03:04 > 0:03:09it in some flowers, was it on the grave, was it something they touched

0:03:09 > 0:03:13or eight, or as they have done in the restaurant and the pub, how did

0:03:13 > 0:03:20the agent get onto them? It is an incredibly hard thing to establish,

0:03:20 > 0:03:25presumably.It could be anywhere? Exactly. And these images are going

0:03:25 > 0:03:29to be quite alarming to the people living in Salisbury. I have been

0:03:29 > 0:03:33thinking while all of this were going on, if this were America, a

0:03:33 > 0:03:36honour would have called a press conference by now to explain to us

0:03:36 > 0:03:39in great deal what is taking place. There could be lots of reasons why

0:03:39 > 0:03:44that is not going on but until then come it looks like Chernobyl. Some

0:03:44 > 0:03:47of these images are quite frightening because they are going

0:03:47 > 0:03:52to, it paces. We are reassured that because these agents tend to

0:03:52 > 0:03:56degrade, they pose no threat to the public. They are trying to find the

0:03:56 > 0:03:59source of it so that they can figure out what was going on. One reason

0:03:59 > 0:04:04why they might not be leading us through the evidence, as we might

0:04:04 > 0:04:06expect, could be because they are living it up to the politicians to

0:04:06 > 0:04:12take charge of that, because this is after all likely to be a political

0:04:12 > 0:04:15story as well as a criminal investigation. Nevertheless we are

0:04:15 > 0:04:18left trying to piece together for ourselves what is going on from the

0:04:18 > 0:04:23little we are told and the images that we see. And I think that when

0:04:23 > 0:04:26all this is over some people are going to raise concerns about the

0:04:26 > 0:04:30fact that the public has not been kept as informed as we might want to

0:04:30 > 0:04:36be.And the fact that the military have been sent into Salisbury,

0:04:36 > 0:04:39seeing that, although it might be to try to reassure people... On the

0:04:39 > 0:04:45contrary! It is the military who in recent years in Afghanistan and Iraq

0:04:45 > 0:04:49have had the most expertise in chemical weapons and nerve agents,

0:04:49 > 0:04:54so that is why they are there, because they're the experts are. But

0:04:54 > 0:04:59the history of politicians getting bricked first in these kind of cases

0:04:59 > 0:05:03is patchy and bad. There is a political element to this but it is

0:05:03 > 0:05:11a crime.And part of what these guys are doing probably is, as they did

0:05:11 > 0:05:15with Alexander Litvinenko, trying to trace the polonium-210, across

0:05:15 > 0:05:18London and into hotels and eventually to the teapot itself,

0:05:18 > 0:05:23that is what they did and they will be trying to do the same thing

0:05:23 > 0:05:25around Salisbury, trying to find the traces of where the nerve agent

0:05:25 > 0:05:30might have been so that they can pin it on to one individual who was in

0:05:30 > 0:05:33one of those places at various times. But frankly if it is that

0:05:33 > 0:05:40safe and it has degraded, why do these guys have to wear these suits?

0:05:40 > 0:05:44Is it because they are afraid their faces are going to melt off? And if

0:05:44 > 0:05:48that is the case then it is not as safe as they're saying. So Tim is

0:05:48 > 0:05:56right. Seeing as we are all aware that it is very likely Russia, there

0:05:56 > 0:05:59is no political reason why they cannot give us more information, as

0:05:59 > 0:06:04they would do if it was anybody else, let's face it.It is

0:06:04 > 0:06:08reasonable to infer that the reason why one might use a nerve agent like

0:06:08 > 0:06:12this is to create panic and to send a message. It is frightening to

0:06:12 > 0:06:15think that because somebody routinely goes to a grave once a

0:06:15 > 0:06:20year one might put the agent on that grave and kill them that way, it's

0:06:20 > 0:06:25really quite frightening. These visuals underscore that message.Do

0:06:25 > 0:06:30you think this could be extended? We had MPs this week calling for the

0:06:30 > 0:06:34opening of the investigation into 14 other cases. Talking about a number

0:06:34 > 0:06:40of other people who have come from Russia and who have died and people

0:06:40 > 0:06:44say it was supposed to be natural courses but some people are saying

0:06:44 > 0:06:50it needs to be reopened?I suspect so. It gains added political

0:06:50 > 0:06:54salience from these images, because if a foreign power is using a nerve

0:06:54 > 0:06:58agent to kill its critics abroad, as well as that being totally

0:06:58 > 0:07:01unacceptable and criminal, if they have put members of the British

0:07:01 > 0:07:06public at risk as well, and some people are talking about this as an

0:07:06 > 0:07:11actor of war, this is very, very serious.It is almost an act of war

0:07:11 > 0:07:14which has been perpetrated by a state upon which we are reliant for

0:07:14 > 0:07:19many of our gas supplies and for keeping peace on the other side of

0:07:19 > 0:07:24the EU and upon which we are reliant for our own property market, because

0:07:24 > 0:07:26so much money comes into London and spreads through the country as a

0:07:26 > 0:07:31result of. It is an impossible situation for the politicians to be

0:07:31 > 0:07:34in if it is Russia which is responsible. Perhaps that is why

0:07:34 > 0:07:38they want to sit on it. There are people who are concerned and if

0:07:38 > 0:07:43someone from a foreign nation is able to reach across here and put

0:07:43 > 0:07:47his finger on somebody and extinguish their life... That is

0:07:47 > 0:07:56terrifying.Let's move on to the FT and another story which is on the

0:07:56 > 0:08:00front of lots of papers, as you would imagine. This is the idea that

0:08:00 > 0:08:04President Trump and Kim Jong-un might meet face-to-face. The meeting

0:08:04 > 0:08:11was a snap Trump decision, it says here.Thursday night was I think the

0:08:11 > 0:08:16most interesting and exciting night yet in the trap presidency.Tim,

0:08:16 > 0:08:23pour you!Well, I always disregard all the soap opera stuff, all the

0:08:23 > 0:08:33Russia staff! What is Melania Trump wearing?!Within 24 hours, Trump

0:08:33 > 0:08:37signed an order slapping tariffs on steel and aluminium, and a couple of

0:08:37 > 0:08:40hours later South Korea's national-security adviser stood in

0:08:40 > 0:08:45front of the west wing and announced that Trump had agreed to a meeting

0:08:45 > 0:08:48with Kim John Barnes of this is really quite significant. He is not

0:08:48 > 0:08:55the first president to be invited to meet the North Korean leader. He is

0:08:55 > 0:08:59the first sitting president to agree to do it in principle. One suspects

0:08:59 > 0:09:03that one reason why it was left up to the South Koreans to announce it

0:09:03 > 0:09:07is so that the administration at some point in the future duck out of

0:09:07 > 0:09:11it if it wishes.And in the last 24 hours the administration has been

0:09:11 > 0:09:14making it very clear that it is keeping the pressure on and North

0:09:14 > 0:09:19Korea has to make clear concessions before the meeting goes ahead.

0:09:19 > 0:09:22Nonetheless, a timetable has been set. It was said in the announcement

0:09:22 > 0:09:28that he would meet him by me. So, this is happening very, very

0:09:28 > 0:09:33quickly. And it has the potential to turn this situation around. This is

0:09:33 > 0:09:39a genuine diplomatic coup. And the South Koreans were very clear that

0:09:39 > 0:09:43it was down to the pressure that Trump had put on the North Korean

0:09:43 > 0:09:49regime. If he pulls this off, this is the beginning of turning all our

0:09:49 > 0:09:51perceptions of the Trump administration around.Is that the

0:09:51 > 0:09:57prize that he has got?That's the prize.There's a lot of ifs. As you

0:09:57 > 0:10:03said when you started, this is the idea. We have the idea. We have had

0:10:03 > 0:10:08the idea that he comes to Britain for a state visit, the idea that

0:10:08 > 0:10:13he's going to build a wall. None of these things have yet happened. Kim

0:10:13 > 0:10:16Jong-un has renegade on every international promise he has ever

0:10:16 > 0:10:25made, flat. -- has reneges to. My lifetime in journalism has taught me

0:10:25 > 0:10:28that if you want to understand a story, try and work out who benefits

0:10:28 > 0:10:33from it. Who benefits from Kim wanting to offer to stop testing and

0:10:33 > 0:10:40meeting Trump. Kim benefits, not Trump so much. Kim is the one who is

0:10:40 > 0:10:43strong and who has made the reach across. Trump is in a weakened

0:10:43 > 0:10:49position when he says yes. What happens next. How can they both come

0:10:49 > 0:10:55away from it being the strong man for their citizenry? They can't both

0:10:55 > 0:11:04win out of that summit, it would be very, very typical. So I think the

0:11:04 > 0:11:08chances of it actually happening are fairly slim and you have to remember

0:11:08 > 0:11:10that every time Trump agrees to do something he changes his mind fairly

0:11:10 > 0:11:16quickly on many things. It would be very easy for Kim if Trump says

0:11:16 > 0:11:20something on Twitter one day to withdraw the application and then it

0:11:20 > 0:11:25is Trump's fault.Again there are things which Trump has changed his

0:11:25 > 0:11:28mind about, nobody is denying that, but there are other things he has

0:11:28 > 0:11:31been consistent on. He said during the campaign, I will protect

0:11:31 > 0:11:38American jobs - he has done it. And he has consistently said he was

0:11:38 > 0:11:42prepared to meet Kim Jong-un. It was missed but he actually said last

0:11:42 > 0:11:48Saturday at a dinner that he would meet him. He made a joke about it.

0:11:48 > 0:11:52He said, I will go and meet Kim Jong-un and people talk about the

0:11:52 > 0:11:56dangers of meeting a madman but that is just a risk that Kim Jong-un is

0:11:56 > 0:12:00going to have to take! He has got a good sense of humour! Let's be

0:12:00 > 0:12:07realistic. It is not in Kim's best interests to give up the nuclear

0:12:07 > 0:12:10programme is in that is what keeps him in power and what keeps the

0:12:10 > 0:12:15world's attention. For him, the win is that America backs off, and for

0:12:15 > 0:12:19America it is that the American president has helped to reduce

0:12:19 > 0:12:23tension in the Korean peninsula. Moving on, the Saudi prince who has

0:12:23 > 0:12:27been here this week, red carpet rolled out, leaves the UK with a

0:12:27 > 0:12:36hint of finally landing Typhoon gets.Again, it is an idea! Another

0:12:36 > 0:12:44bit of PR brilliance. When we have visits by foreign dig trees,

0:12:44 > 0:12:51agreements they sign while they are here are agreed in advance. What's

0:12:51 > 0:12:54happened here is that the Saudi prince has met with the Defence

0:12:54 > 0:12:59Secretary and written a memo of intent, in other words, yeah, I will

0:12:59 > 0:13:05have some planes! Don't worry about the price, we will agree that

0:13:05 > 0:13:08another time. That his all that has happened. Added to which the Saudis

0:13:08 > 0:13:15have been saying this for the last four yes. We need to sell Thai fax,

0:13:15 > 0:13:18BAE Systems, we don't sell very many and we need to give the company

0:13:18 > 0:13:26going, so they have done something which has boosted our position. The

0:13:26 > 0:13:31BAE Systems share price has gone up as a result but all it is is a

0:13:31 > 0:13:35promise that at some point in the future we will spend billions. I

0:13:35 > 0:13:41could sign this memo and it would mean the same thing!We have had the

0:13:41 > 0:13:43Labour leader saying this is unacceptable, we should not be doing

0:13:43 > 0:13:48this?Britain's relationship with Prince Mohammed is very, very close.

0:13:48 > 0:13:52There are only two foreign countries which have continued to support

0:13:52 > 0:13:55Saudi Arabia so strongly, and that is America and Britain, and it is

0:13:55 > 0:14:00partly because of this, because we sell them so much stuff, which

0:14:00 > 0:14:06raises questions among those who question that. It has been a week of

0:14:06 > 0:14:09extraordinary diplomatic turnarounds. He has try to give the

0:14:09 > 0:14:14impression that he has forward looking, he wants to move away from

0:14:14 > 0:14:22oil, granting women the right to drive, putting himself forward as a

0:14:22 > 0:14:26progressive force and Britain also to get that statement of intent as

0:14:26 > 0:14:31well so that Britain will have this close economic relationship with a

0:14:31 > 0:14:34power which is not just a Draconian feudal monarchy but one which is

0:14:34 > 0:14:38forward-looking. But frankly the judgment of whether or not Saudi

0:14:38 > 0:14:42Arabia is really changing is whether he gets out of Yemen, and he shows

0:14:42 > 0:14:48no signs of doing that.Very quickly, Daily Mail, counselling

0:14:48 > 0:14:53parking -- council parking charges to sort.This is a long-running

0:14:53 > 0:14:57story about local authority funding and austerity since 2010 and the

0:14:57 > 0:15:02fact that council taxes have gone up and many councils have few parts of

0:15:02 > 0:15:06the budget which they can increase but now they have been told they can

0:15:06 > 0:15:10increase council tax due to the social care crisis. The Daily Mail

0:15:10 > 0:15:14has done a story which says that one of the parts of the budget they can

0:15:14 > 0:15:18automatically increase on their own is car parking charges. The truce is

0:15:18 > 0:15:23that they may well increase by 45%...The residents permits could

0:15:23 > 0:15:30be a lot more.They could be, but they're not going to get nearly as

0:15:30 > 0:15:35much from that as they will do from council tax increases. So, this is a

0:15:35 > 0:15:42very small part of the budget. When there is a cap on something

0:15:42 > 0:15:45somewhere you have to increase your income from something else.The kind

0:15:45 > 0:15:50of thing which will infuriate people.Absolutely, I recently

0:15:50 > 0:15:54passed my test and became a driver. That's the most exciting thing which

0:15:54 > 0:15:59has happened this week!I've been driving for about nine months. It

0:15:59 > 0:16:04has changed my relationship with my council, because I've realised

0:16:04 > 0:16:13that... All these potholes! My beautiful, lovely card! Poor tilde

0:16:13 > 0:16:16is getting destroyed by these potholes in the road! Council tax is

0:16:16 > 0:16:27already very repressive really, -- very progressive. It doesn't say

0:16:27 > 0:16:32anything about your income. -- very regressive.I think we could do a

0:16:32 > 0:16:39song about that!Breaking news - he's passed his driving test! And

0:16:39 > 0:16:46that is it from the papers tonight's. That is for use seven

0:16:46 > 0:16:52days a week on the BBC website. And if you missed the programme any

0:16:52 > 0:16:56evening you can watch it later on the iPlayer. Thank you very much to

0:16:56 > 0:17:00Tim and to Susie. And good driving!