Browse content similar to 06/11/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Later in the programme: A shake up in organ donation is on | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
the cards as the Government prepares to publish new plans this | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
week and I'll be joined by two members of parliament to discuss if | :00:47. | :00:57. | |
:00:57. | :00:57. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2228 seconds | :00:57. | :38:06. | |
there should be less of them Good afternoon. | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
Coming up: Cuts in MPs and broadcasting. | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
Plans to make wills the first part of the UK to adopt consent for | :38:16. | :38:21. | |
organ donation is to be published this week. It is a radical way of | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
helping the 300 or more people waiting for organ transplants in | :38:26. | :38:33. | |
Wales at any one time. Voices are warning that the move will not work. | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
Few would oppose a policy to maximise the number of organs made | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
available to patients desperate for transplants. Welsh government plans | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
for consent to be published this weekend are intended to do just | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
that. They come at a time when a debate on people automatically | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
being on the donor register until they decide to come off has been | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
gathering pace. At first glance, the issue of presumed consent | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
appears simple. Making everyone an organ donor unless they choose to | :39:05. | :39:12. | |
opt out would make more transplants and more lives saved. But the | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
transfer -- practicalities of presumed consent might not be so | :39:16. | :39:19. | |
straightforward, and that is before we consider religious or | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
philosophical concerns. The Welsh government is expected to announce | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
a softer form of presumed consent meaning relatives would be | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
consulted about using loved one's organs in the highly dramatic | :39:32. | :39:38. | |
circumstances of their death. of the real problems I have got | :39:38. | :39:43. | |
with presumed consent is that it undermines trust. I do not mind | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
moving to a more presumptive attitude because almost everyone is | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
in favour of organ donation. It is reasonable to have a presumptive | :39:51. | :39:53. | |
attitude when you discuss this with relatives in the immediate | :39:53. | :40:00. | |
aftermath, or sometimes be for a the machine is switched off. If it | :40:00. | :40:03. | |
is presumed consent there is an immediate suspicion. That is why I | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
put it in for a debate in the House of Commons. I want to spend half an | :40:08. | :40:17. | |
hour explaining in a considered way why this will not work. It does not | :40:17. | :40:22. | |
work, it does not deliver but a fraction more organs. What we do | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
need is to understand what will work. People are dying because we | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
do not have an effective system is. The Welsh government is confident | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
there is widespread support for Wales to lead the way and become | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
the first part of the UK to introduced presumed consent. | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
will get an increase to up to 30% in organs which was sold a lot of | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
issues for people who are waiting for a transplant. We are losing one | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
person every week here in Wales, and that is a huge amount of people | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
who are dying. We need to give hope, I believe the Welsh government have | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
got this absolutely right and they are progressive. I think the rest | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
of the UK will follow. The saw signs last read in Scotland that | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
that was the case. Politicians are urged to come up with policies that | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
make a real difference to people's lives. Anything that increases | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
organ donations would do that. This week we should have a better idea | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
how the Welsh government plans to address some of the fears of some | :41:24. | :41:28. | |
of those who doubt presumed consent will have the effect that some | :41:28. | :41:33. | |
people want. The White Paper on introducing an | :41:33. | :41:36. | |
opt-out system for organ donation is expected this week. A Bill could | :41:36. | :41:43. | |
then go to -- forward to the Assembly next year. The world | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
government told us debates and consultations in Wales have | :41:46. | :41:56. | |
:41:56. | :42:01. | ||
convinced us the public is ready to Margaret Haig Thomas, Viscountess | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
Rhondda was a leading Welsh suffragette. She fought for women | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
to sit and vote in the House of Lords just after the First World | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
War. The Lords prevented her to take her father's seat, but friends | :42:14. | :42:17. | |
to Baroness Gale of Blaenrhondda the portrait of a Viscountess | :42:17. | :42:24. | |
Rhondda is now sitting proudly in the Houses of Parliament. | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
Hanging with kings and queens of the past, a newly acquired portrait | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
of a powerful Welsh lady is now on display in the Lords gallery. A | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
lady who was forbidden to taking her rightful place in the House of | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
Lords. Despite inheriting her father's title, Viscountess Rhondda | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
could never sit in the House of Lords. So her journey to this place | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
has been a long, hard struggle. Baroness Gale of Blaenrhondda has | :42:49. | :42:57. | |
always been a fan of the by Countess. I am so pleased we have a | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
portrait, at last of Viscountess Rhondda. She inherited the title | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
from her father. With special permission from King George the | :43:07. | :43:11. | |
fifth because she was the only child. When she did, she then tried | :43:11. | :43:17. | |
to take her seat in the house of Lords. She went to a sub-committee | :43:17. | :43:22. | |
to the House of Lords, a committee of privileges, and the six men who | :43:22. | :43:26. | |
sat on the committee, five voted in favour of her coming. There was | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
great rejoicing at the thought of a woman in a house of Lords for the | :43:30. | :43:35. | |
first time. But the Lord Chancellor did not like this idea at all. So | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
he convened a another committee of 30 men, and guess what? They said | :43:40. | :43:48. | |
no, she cannot come in. She never got to sit here. But she fought the | :43:48. | :43:53. | |
battle for women. She certainly broke down barriers for women. | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
Outside politics she was very active in the business community. | :43:57. | :44:04. | |
She inherited her father's wealth and business interests. She was one | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
of the very few women who was successful in business. And she had | :44:08. | :44:16. | |
a magazine as well? She did. She put a lot of money into that | :44:16. | :44:21. | |
magazine, it was a feminist magazine. It was her journal where | :44:21. | :44:27. | |
she could express or her views on women's rights and so on. She was | :44:27. | :44:32. | |
quite a controversial character, I believe. She divorced her husband, | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
she set up home with a female lover, it is thought. It must have been | :44:37. | :44:42. | |
quite something, caused quite a stir. She was obviously a very | :44:42. | :44:48. | |
determined woman. She did unconventional things from the time | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
- work for the time, like having a divorce. Obviously, her Wells | :44:52. | :44:57. | |
allowed to to do all that. Some books you read about to say she | :44:57. | :45:04. | |
lived with a close woman friend at that time. Probably a bit unusual. | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
Lots of things about her, fighting for equal rights for women, equal | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
pay, all issues that women are still fighting for. Are there | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
things that she actually achieved in her lifetime when it came to | :45:17. | :45:24. | |
women's rights? What I think she did was lay the groundwork, if you | :45:24. | :45:29. | |
like. She broke down barriers, that is for certain. Certainly in | :45:29. | :45:34. | |
politics and for women in the House of Lords, she broke down barriers | :45:34. | :45:42. | |
for women like me. Her father was from the valley. She couldn't come | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
into the House of Lords. My father was a coal miner and worked in a | :45:48. | :45:53. | |
colliery which her father owned. I feel because of her, I am in the | :45:53. | :45:59. | |
House of Lords today. Do feel a certain attachment to her? I do. I | :45:59. | :46:03. | |
feel I have a lot of links to her, a lot of contrasts and a lot of | :46:03. | :46:09. | |
similarities. She was the daughter of a very wealthy man. She had all | :46:09. | :46:15. | |
the privileges one could imagine. And I was, if you like, the exact | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
opposite. But we still believed in the same things. When I read about | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
the thing she believed in and what I believe in, there are | :46:24. | :46:29. | |
similarities. Am very pleased we have got this portrait of | :46:29. | :46:35. | |
Viscountess Rhondda so everyone can see what a wonderful woman she was. | :46:35. | :46:41. | |
The Lords committee paid �7,000 for the painting. Today's Lords and | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
Ladies have the pleasure of viewing this painting from now until | :46:44. | :46:47. | |
Christmas. We have heard MPs discussing cuts | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
in public spending but they are also discussing a cut in their | :46:50. | :46:57. | |
numbers. The UK government wants to cut the number of MPs to 600. They | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
would each constituency to have more or less the same number of | :47:00. | :47:05. | |
voters at the next general election. Wales could lose 10 of its 40 MPs. | :47:05. | :47:09. | |
The Boundary Commission for England has redrawn the map for that | :47:09. | :47:13. | |
country and we're expecting the Welsh proposals in the new year. | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
What can we expect? We can discuss that with Owen Smith and Alun | :47:18. | :47:26. | |
Cairns. It is said, Owen Smith, that Wales is over-represented in | :47:26. | :47:33. | |
Westminster. That is a new view. It is not something we have heard from | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
the Conservative Party over many years. It is something they have | :47:37. | :47:43. | |
come to recently, and it is because it is in their party's own interest | :47:43. | :47:49. | |
to reduce the number of MPs across the UK. We will see a 7% reduction | :47:49. | :47:55. | |
in MPs across the UK. It will hit - - hit Labour and Liberals | :47:55. | :48:00. | |
disproportionately. The vast majority of Welsh MPs will be | :48:00. | :48:06. | |
Labour Party MPs. If you have constituencies with equal weight, | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
it is something like within 5% of 75,000 voters, surely that is good | :48:10. | :48:15. | |
for democracy? I think the reverse is the case. This is not an | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
argument we have heard from anyone for many years. We have not been a | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
democracy weather has been privacy attached with mathematical accuracy, | :48:25. | :48:30. | |
and mathematical exactitude. We have had an interest in making | :48:30. | :48:35. | |
politics closer to people. Making politics identified with people. | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
Unfortunately, we will end up with constituencies that are bigger and | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
people do not identify and the same sense. Particularly in Wales where | :48:43. | :48:48. | |
we have a sense of Locale and an attachment to our local identities. | :48:48. | :48:56. | |
I feel it will be less democratic. The accusation is that this is an | :48:56. | :49:00. | |
attack on Labour, gerrymandering of the boundaries to help the | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
Conservative cause. It seems that his strongest argument is that this | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
is a new idea. It is not. In 2004 Michael Howard first proposed the | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
changes to the number of MPs across the UK. Particularly in Wales | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
relating to the powers of the Assembly. The Prime Minister talks | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
about cutting the cost of politics, reducing the number of MPs to 600, | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
and therefore when we look at the detail around that you take a | :49:27. | :49:33. | |
constituency that has some 39 of 40,000 voters. My constituency has | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
72,000 voters. Why should a voter in Barry have that the vote count | :49:38. | :49:44. | |
less than someone else? It does not make sense there for their needs to | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
be a fair distribution of Members of Parliament. On the partisan | :49:47. | :49:53. | |
point, I'm am naturally worried. My Conservative colleagues in | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
Westminster are worried about their boundaries. But we have all voted | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
for it because we think it is the right thing to do. You say you have | :50:01. | :50:06. | |
all voted for it, but Iain Duncan Smith has apparently warned David | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
Cameron about the party teetering on the brink of further mutiny | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
because not all Conservative MPs are happy about this. I did not | :50:14. | :50:20. | |
know anything about that tittle- tattle. Conservative MPs are | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
naturally concerned about their own personal role, but they recognise | :50:25. | :50:31. | |
the bigger picture and that is about making votes equal. At the | :50:31. | :50:37. | |
moment it is not. My voters do not have the same power as other areas. | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
You speak to Conservative backbench cot -- colleagues, a lot of them | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
left high rate paid jobs for a seat in Parliament. Will they think, I | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
might go back to the city? They might go back to where they came | :50:50. | :50:55. | |
from in any field. I do not know why you suggest the city. The | :50:55. | :51:00. | |
Conservative Party has a diverse nature. The parliamentary party has | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
voted for it. It was in the manifesto to reduce the number of | :51:03. | :51:09. | |
MPs by 10%. There has been a slight adjustment to that, but the bottom | :51:09. | :51:14. | |
line is about making the whole of the United Kingdom equal in terms | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
of numbers. It is not right that my voter in Barry does not have the | :51:19. | :51:26. | |
same amount of influence as someone in Pontypridd. Peter Kane has said | :51:26. | :51:34. | |
new boundaries might bring together towns that were in the past rivals. | :51:34. | :51:38. | |
What does rivalry have to do with boundary changes? I think he is | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
making the point that in Wales we have a sense of local identity. | :51:43. | :51:48. | |
Whether it is on the rugby field, are in politics. That would be true | :51:48. | :51:54. | |
of England as well? People have often said we are too parochial in | :51:54. | :51:59. | |
Wales. I think it is a positive that we have a clear sense of our | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
local identities. The point he is really making is that | :52:02. | :52:07. | |
geographically Wales, and in particular the South Wales valleys | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
have a certain sense of what they are about. You will end up with | :52:12. | :52:22. | |
:52:22. | :52:36. | ||
communities that traditionally have sat easy together having problems. | :52:36. | :52:41. | |
What about a scenario where made wills would be covered by only two | :52:42. | :52:51. | |
:52:52. | :52:54. | ||
constituencies? -- made a Wales. That is part of the difficulty now. | :52:54. | :52:59. | |
My surgery work is absolutely phenomenal. When I talk to other | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
members of parliament with smaller constituencies, it seems to me they | :53:02. | :53:08. | |
do not have that same pressure. It is about balancing it out and make | :53:08. | :53:15. | |
sure that every individual's vote counts the same way. Labour are | :53:15. | :53:17. | |
against this because they're going to lose out more than the | :53:17. | :53:21. | |
Conservatives? We are against it because we think it is | :53:21. | :53:25. | |
gerrymandering. Yes, we're going to lose out by a greater degree and | :53:25. | :53:30. | |
that is what the Tories have designed it for. Politicians and | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
opinion formers should take a stronger stance on the threat to | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
English language broadcasting in Wales. That is according to Menna | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
Richards. Speaking at the Welsh political archive annual lecture in | :53:43. | :53:46. | |
Aberystwyth on Friday she said she understood why it most of the | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
recent debate surrounding broadcasting have focused on S4C, | :53:49. | :53:53. | |
but she was surprised how little attention had been given to cuts in | :53:53. | :53:57. | |
English-language programming. Because the whole of the BBC has | :53:57. | :54:03. | |
had to cut back and make savings, BBC Wales has been forced to cut | :54:03. | :54:06. | |
100 hours of programming in English language over the last five years. | :54:06. | :54:11. | |
What is sad about it is that the programmes we have lost have | :54:11. | :54:16. | |
included comedy and drama about Wales for Welsh audiences. I think | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
people have been preoccupied by the future of S4C, and understandably | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
so. But perhaps people have not realised what has been going on | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
behind the scenes of English- language television programmes. The | :54:27. | :54:32. | |
people who make those programmes at BBC and ITV do a fantastic job, but | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
I think that audiences in Wales deserve more output, more | :54:36. | :54:41. | |
programmes that tell them something about their lives, that reflect | :54:41. | :54:49. | |
their interests. Owen Smith and Alun Cairns are still with me. Have | :54:49. | :54:53. | |
we lost sight of any problems regarding English language | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
broadcasting because of the focus which has been put on a S4C's | :54:58. | :55:04. | |
trials and tribulations? I haven't. It has been one of the things I | :55:04. | :55:08. | |
have consistently raised in the House of Commons. Slightly ironic | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
that Menna Richards should be raising it because it has been on | :55:11. | :55:17. | |
her watch that we have seen this dramatic diminution in the volume | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
of programmes about Wales in English. She is right to | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
highlighted. We do have a contemporary art stand in Wales, we | :55:25. | :55:31. | |
have less current affairs, less drama, certainly less drama made in | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
Wales. The danger is with S4C being folded into the BBC is that you | :55:36. | :55:43. | |
will see form -- for good reasons and that perhaps, greater | :55:43. | :55:48. | |
concentration on Welsh-language programmes. She might say, how do | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
you expect us to commission and broadcast more programmes when our | :55:51. | :55:56. | |
funding is being cut? Yes, the funding is being cut. But choices | :55:56. | :56:01. | |
are being taken. Her predecessor has been in the forefront of | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
highlighting this, not just recently, but four, five years ago, | :56:05. | :56:09. | |
this trajectory of fewer English language programmes was very clear. | :56:09. | :56:15. | |
We could have done something to arrested, and we should do. We have | :56:15. | :56:20. | |
all been talking about it for. Welsh language broadcasting has a | :56:20. | :56:23. | |
Stirchley been a politically sensitive issue for many reasons. | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
Has that hindered the debate around English-language broadcasting? | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
much of the last year I have spent my time pressing the government to | :56:32. | :56:36. | |
come up with a positive settlement for S4C. Working with independent | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
companies and people within the BBC to come up with a positive answer. | :56:40. | :56:45. | |
I think it is fair to say Menna Richards does make a good point. | :56:45. | :56:50. | |
The vocal numbers that have been shouting about S4C for a very good | :56:50. | :56:54. | |
reasons, and there was support their objectives and their outcome, | :56:54. | :56:58. | |
but it has detracted from the wider debate about broadcasting. What I | :56:58. | :57:03. | |
would like to see is more of broadcasting about Wales on network | :57:03. | :57:09. | |
television. She is also pointing the finger at people like you. She | :57:09. | :57:12. | |
said a Scottish newspapers and media attack the BBC and management | :57:13. | :57:18. | |
in London. By you doing the same? have always made the point to Mark | :57:18. | :57:24. | |
Thompson that I want to see more about Wales on network television. | :57:24. | :57:29. | |
The North-East does well, Scotland does well on network television. It | :57:29. | :57:34. | |
is easy to talk about Wales within wheels, but I want to see it on | :57:34. | :57:41. | |
network television. -- Wales. raised this with Chris Patten, it | :57:41. | :57:46. |