10/03/2018

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0:00:00 > 0:00:01Meanwhile, England lose to France in Paris, scoring just 16 points

0:00:01 > 0:00:11to their rival's 22 points.

0:00:20 > 0:00:24Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be

0:00:24 > 0:00:25bringing us tomorrow.

0:00:25 > 0:00:26With me are Nigel Nelson, Political Editor

0:00:26 > 0:00:28of the Sunday Mirror and the political

0:00:28 > 0:00:33commentator, Jo Phillips.

0:00:35 > 0:00:44Many of tomorrow's front pages are already in.

0:00:44 > 0:00:46The Observer leads on Government figures that reveal almost

0:00:46 > 0:00:48four times more men than women are in Britain's

0:00:48 > 0:00:50highest paid posts.

0:00:50 > 0:00:52The Sunday Express says that the ex-Russian spy

0:00:52 > 0:00:55Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia may have been poisoned

0:00:55 > 0:01:00by the contents of a parcel that went undetected in the post.

0:01:01 > 0:01:04The Sunday Telegraph reveals that senior Government figures

0:01:04 > 0:01:07are leading a plan to ban Russian officials involved in corruption

0:01:07 > 0:01:09and human rights abuses.

0:01:09 > 0:01:15The Sunday Times claims that since becoming Prime Minister,

0:01:15 > 0:01:18Theresa May has received over £800,000

0:01:18 > 0:01:27of donations from Russian oligarchs.

0:01:27 > 0:01:29The Sunday Mirror front page features claims that up to one

0:01:29 > 0:01:31thousand children could be involved in a new child abuse and trafficking

0:01:31 > 0:01:38scandal. And the Sunday People says that the Russian President Vladimir

0:01:38 > 0:01:40Putin is planning eight more attacks. Of course, it's worth a

0:01:40 > 0:01:42reminder that Russia has not yet been found responsible for the

0:01:42 > 0:01:50Salisbury attack. Worth reminding us that Russia has not yet been found

0:01:50 > 0:01:57responsible for these attacks.

0:01:57 > 0:01:59So Russia dominating the majority of the front pages,

0:01:59 > 0:02:01as it has for the past few days.

0:02:01 > 0:02:02So let's have a closer look

0:02:03 > 0:02:07Starting with the express. Interesting take. The one problem

0:02:07 > 0:02:11with this, there has been a complete sort of security clamp-down on

0:02:11 > 0:02:18basically any information coming out, and so, it's like a example of

0:02:18 > 0:02:23the new Inco, when that happened, 2006, people were prepared to talk

0:02:23 > 0:02:28to you and now they are not, but what is being suggested here is that

0:02:28 > 0:02:32it was a parcel delivered to their house which may have contained the

0:02:32 > 0:02:36poison. -- Alexander Litvinenko. At the moment, we still do not know

0:02:36 > 0:02:41what the nerve agent was that they ingested, the express has said it

0:02:41 > 0:02:49could be something which is labelled newcomer, a variety of different

0:02:49 > 0:02:58agents. It is more powerful, hugely powerful, a pinhead on your hand

0:02:58 > 0:03:02could kill you. There is a huge variety of those particular nerve

0:03:02 > 0:03:06agents, we are led to believe that the authorities know what the nerve

0:03:06 > 0:03:10agent is but they will not tell us, one assumes it is something they

0:03:10 > 0:03:15have tucked away here, and it is too secret to reveal. They will have a

0:03:15 > 0:03:20quandary but eventually it will have to come out.The news that you were

0:03:20 > 0:03:23reading says that traces have been found at the restaurant.Traced back

0:03:23 > 0:03:29to the restaurant at which they dined, Zizzi, really.They may have

0:03:29 > 0:03:34taken it in on their bodies. There is an awful lot of fantastic

0:03:34 > 0:03:37speculation, there is a human tragedy in all of this, but this is

0:03:37 > 0:03:44a cracking good story, it is John Vaccaro meets McMafia meets Nigel

0:03:44 > 0:03:53Nelson! -- John Le Carre but one week on it is full of stuff like, a

0:03:53 > 0:03:56neighbour has seen a courier arrived... Well, my neighbours from

0:03:56 > 0:04:01the BC that, so in the absence of fact, lots of speculation.Why a

0:04:01 > 0:04:07nerve agent, I have thought about that, have you picked up on that?

0:04:07 > 0:04:12One of the interesting thing is, why come in with something, a

0:04:12 > 0:04:15radioactive thing for Alexander Litvinenko, polonium, the Russians,

0:04:15 > 0:04:19I'm pretty sure it is the Russians that did this, they want everyone

0:04:19 > 0:04:23else to know about the fact that they did it, so the more exotic you

0:04:23 > 0:04:28can make the death, the more likely it is that people will believe it is

0:04:28 > 0:04:35you, and there is another side of this, it is a warning, yes, and...

0:04:35 > 0:04:38What are your friends like? You have heard this from your friends!

0:04:38 > 0:04:42LAUGHTER One of the things they are doing,

0:04:42 > 0:04:47making this stuff, like a new toy, they want to go out and use it, they

0:04:47 > 0:04:52have a laboratory, making these different agents. I never understood

0:04:52 > 0:04:56what you don't just pushed somebody in front of a train if you want to

0:04:56 > 0:04:59kill them but the Russians like the idea of this exotic way of doing it.

0:04:59 > 0:05:08It is drama. Let's turn to the Sunday people. We are still on the

0:05:08 > 0:05:14subject of Russia, but now, a slightly different take.Talking

0:05:14 > 0:05:24about how many spooks do I know, this is... Look at this, a Russian

0:05:24 > 0:05:29ex-KGB Major, I have known him for several years, he has been targeted

0:05:29 > 0:05:36for assassination by the Russians because he effected over here, Boris

0:05:36 > 0:05:40Karpichkov, and he claims he received a call on February 12, with

0:05:40 > 0:05:46a hit list of eight names, his name was on it, and so was Sergei

0:05:46 > 0:05:51Skripal. What was interesting about that, he did not recognise the name,

0:05:51 > 0:05:56they served in different parts of the Russian intelligence network so

0:05:56 > 0:06:00he has never met Sergei Skripal, in Britain or in Moscow, and he served

0:06:00 > 0:06:05there. The name did not mean anything to him. It does now, three

0:06:05 > 0:06:11weeks later, the attack comes.You know, there has been a lot made...

0:06:11 > 0:06:14Now they are looking at the wider family, some people are saying this

0:06:14 > 0:06:21is a message, if you do mess with... This is all speculation. And

0:06:21 > 0:06:26obviously, the police in Salisbury, special forces investigating

0:06:26 > 0:06:31toxicology, have apparently been looking and examining the

0:06:31 > 0:06:35Gravestock... I don't think we yet know whether they have exhumed the

0:06:35 > 0:06:46body of his wife...Some flowers appear on the grave.His son died of

0:06:46 > 0:06:50liver disease, he was cremated, I believe, the wife died of cancer,

0:06:50 > 0:06:58some years ago. -- examining the graves. It is about the wider family

0:06:58 > 0:07:03but also, how long, he has been here for a long time.The next question,

0:07:03 > 0:07:09so many questions, what can the British government do in

0:07:09 > 0:07:13retaliation, if we turn to the Sunday Times, we have an article

0:07:13 > 0:07:17here, but it has been described as a response to a poisoning scandal, not

0:07:17 > 0:07:24too sure if they are saying they are going to carry out some of these

0:07:24 > 0:07:31measures, without the evidence...? This is a story about... Theresa May

0:07:31 > 0:07:36promised to distance her party, the Conservative Party, from Russian

0:07:36 > 0:07:39donors, when she became Prime Minister. It has been revealed that

0:07:39 > 0:07:42Russian oligarchs and their associates have registered donations

0:07:42 > 0:07:47of more than £800,000 tinged she became Prime Minister, that is quite

0:07:47 > 0:07:53a lot more than previous Conservative Party leaders. -- since

0:07:53 > 0:07:57she became Prime Minister. These people are willing to pay quite a

0:07:57 > 0:08:00lot of money for some of the things mentioned here, not the Russians

0:08:00 > 0:08:06solely, anyone who wants influence is willing to pay things like

0:08:06 > 0:08:10£160,000 to play tennis with David Cameron. £30,000, to have dinner

0:08:10 > 0:08:14with the Defence Secretary, Evan Williams. Strikes me as frightfully

0:08:14 > 0:08:22overpriced(!)usually so! And his tarantula.There is this stuff

0:08:22 > 0:08:26about, where are you taking money from, you are right, it leads on to,

0:08:26 > 0:08:32what do you actually do, do you hit people in the wallet?Turning to the

0:08:32 > 0:08:36Telegraph... The paper goes into this a little deeper, and it is...

0:08:36 > 0:08:42That is enough... A Visa ban?This is what the Telegraph are talking

0:08:42 > 0:08:49about what could be done, and this is a sanctions regime, to do it

0:08:49 > 0:08:55alongside the US and Canada, and the idea is to freeze assets, target

0:08:55 > 0:09:00people, very difficult to do things like that, I'm not sure how much

0:09:00 > 0:09:07Vladimir Putin would care if we did, but within London, about £90 billion

0:09:07 > 0:09:11of Russian money comes through London. Clearly, it would cost us

0:09:11 > 0:09:16quite a bit to lose it but when we get to a stage like this, yes, we

0:09:16 > 0:09:19must do so. One thing I don't understand why they don't do,

0:09:19 > 0:09:23chucked out a few Russian spies, that seems to hurt them more. Our

0:09:23 > 0:09:28spies would have to leave Moscow, but it seems to me that is the way

0:09:28 > 0:09:34forward, to show a bit of strength. Also this act, which has been

0:09:34 > 0:09:40hovering around for a few years, Magnitsky Act, one of the people on

0:09:40 > 0:09:48your hip list -- hit list. Bill Browder got it brought in in America

0:09:48 > 0:09:54because it was his lawyer who died in prison on what they said were

0:09:54 > 0:09:58trumped up charges, no reason why we couldn't do something like that.

0:09:58 > 0:10:03Staying with the Telegraph, further down, chaos for Accident and

0:10:03 > 0:10:09Emergency, a bit of a meltdown...?I think I speak with a certain

0:10:09 > 0:10:14interest in this because my son is a paramedic. I do sometimes wonder

0:10:14 > 0:10:19about the calls they are sent out to, as do most ambulance crews who

0:10:19 > 0:10:23are probably working tonight. And we completely, everybody understands

0:10:23 > 0:10:28the dispatcher has got a terrifically difficult job, and if

0:10:28 > 0:10:31someone says, I have chest pains, you know you do not know if they are

0:10:31 > 0:10:34having a heart attack or whatever it is but when we heard the report last

0:10:34 > 0:10:41week of some repeat callers, one person making over 3000 calls, to an

0:10:41 > 0:10:46Ambulance Service, there has to be somewhere that you are gauging

0:10:46 > 0:10:50these, because there are people going to hospital who perhaps do not

0:10:50 > 0:10:54need to be in Accident and Emergency and people who need to have other

0:10:54 > 0:10:58services, mental health, social services, care for all the people...

0:10:58 > 0:11:01You can't put it all on the Ambulance Service and then expect

0:11:01 > 0:11:04them to be out on the streets responding to what is happening

0:11:04 > 0:11:11immediately.Let's go back to the express, I love this story, did you

0:11:11 > 0:11:20know this happens...I guess something like it. We all go on

0:11:20 > 0:11:24hostile environment courses now and go through the kidnap stuff, but

0:11:24 > 0:11:28Meghan Markle, the one she has gone on, it beats the lot, the express is

0:11:28 > 0:11:31saying that she was sent off to Hereford, the SAS headquarters, to

0:11:31 > 0:11:36be put through her paces, and rather than news the blank ammunition that

0:11:36 > 0:11:39I have been used to when we have gone on these courses, she gets live

0:11:39 > 0:11:44and mean is on. The SAS officer who founded the course says, I guarantee

0:11:44 > 0:11:49that she would have been petrified. He seems to say rather gleefully!

0:11:49 > 0:11:53LAUGHTER Not as much as the woman who would

0:11:53 > 0:11:57have been her mother-in-law, Princess Diana, her hair caught

0:11:57 > 0:12:06fire!She did insist on sitting by the window. A point that is

0:12:06 > 0:12:08interesting to take out of this, normally you go through the course

0:12:08 > 0:12:13once married, however, they are... She, Megan, in particular, is going

0:12:13 > 0:12:18through beforehand because, I will read this out, member of the Royal

0:12:18 > 0:12:23family is according to one military source because of heightened

0:12:23 > 0:12:26security issues at this time, they have had to put her through that

0:12:26 > 0:12:33early rather than later.We are only weeks away from the wedding, May

0:12:33 > 0:12:4119... Obviously imprinted on your mind! That is why, my invite stuck

0:12:41 > 0:12:45in the post(!) if you are going to do it, why wait?The way they talk

0:12:45 > 0:12:49about some of the details, you do not realise that they have to know

0:12:49 > 0:12:57what they are doing.Some of us are old enough to remember Princess and

0:12:57 > 0:13:02busting out of a crowd with a gun, very serious. -- Princess Anne,

0:13:02 > 0:13:07bursting out of a crowd with a gun. Big day tomorrow, isn't it.

0:13:07 > 0:13:17Mothering Sunday, yes. The Sunday Times here is talking about new

0:13:17 > 0:13:20politically correct cards that you have two sent out. Waitrose sending

0:13:20 > 0:13:25out gender neutral is one, happy You day, rather than Mother's Day, which

0:13:25 > 0:13:33I think is horrible. I prefer the ones from Scribblers, if you are

0:13:33 > 0:13:38dealing with a same-sex couple, two mothers is better than one would be

0:13:38 > 0:13:42one of the cards, and another one that I like, dad, thanks for being

0:13:42 > 0:13:47the most amazing mother. They seem to have a bit of wit about them. The

0:13:47 > 0:13:53worst thing is that we should rename the day completely... To make it

0:13:53 > 0:13:59gender neutral. Guardian 's day of carers day. Which is all. Blue it

0:13:59 > 0:14:04takes it away from what it was, which is Mothering Sunday, part of

0:14:04 > 0:14:08the Easter pattern of Lent.Many people will not be aware of that.

0:14:08 > 0:14:13But it is like when you say happy holidays instead of happy Christmas,

0:14:13 > 0:14:18we are having holidays because it is Christmas. This is to do with

0:14:18 > 0:14:21ancient church stuff that carried on into the Anglican and Catholic

0:14:21 > 0:14:27Church, going to your mother church which would be bigger church to the

0:14:27 > 0:14:31parish it is not about mothers. This is pure commercial...We were

0:14:31 > 0:14:39talking about this.And you call yourself a historian(!)what you

0:14:39 > 0:14:45think about Father's Day? Should it be the same thing happening?I'm

0:14:45 > 0:14:51sure the same thing will happen... You have grandparents... It is like

0:14:51 > 0:14:54Valentine's Day, if you care about somebody, do you have to have a

0:14:54 > 0:14:59special day to do it?That is what my husband says, and it still

0:14:59 > 0:15:03doesn't wash, he says, everyday is Valentine's Day! Know, Nigel, no!

0:15:03 > 0:15:12LAUGHTER -- every day.The getting the card?

0:15:12 > 0:15:19He never does forget the card, I always do!I hope he's not watching.

0:15:19 > 0:15:26Thank you very much, back again, just after 11:30pm. May even have

0:15:26 > 0:15:29different stories mixed in, make sure that you tune into the papers,

0:15:29 > 0:15:36and stay tuned, next on BBC News, it is meet the Author.