Browse content similar to 30/06/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight, we're building up to the big heavy weight title fight. Who | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
will come out on top? The unions take on the Government | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
over pensions. In the red corner - author and | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
agitater Michael Rosen. Government and the public sector | :00:34. | :00:41. | |
are squaring up for a fight and this is just round one. Brawling in | :00:41. | :00:47. | |
the streets of at thens, but is there a winner? | :00:47. | :00:55. | |
Adam Boulton shows us some moves. The Chinese General once said | :00:55. | :01:05. | |
:01:05. | :01:08. | ||
"strategy without politics is the As both David Haye and Andy Murray | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
get ready for the showdowns, what makes a real winner? Talent or | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
self-believe? Jazzie B will be dancing like a butterfly. | :01:17. | :01:25. | |
Appearing on this Week does wonders for my self-esteem. | :01:25. | :01:34. | |
Ding-ding. Round one! Welcome to This Week. For those who | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
can just about remember why we went to war in North Africa, a critical | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
milestone has been reached. Arrest warrants from the International | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
Criminal Courts and a threat to deploy Prince Harry's chopper in | :01:47. | :01:53. | |
the nightclubs of Benghazi, last Monday marked the 100th day of | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
NATO's military campaign to prevent Colonel Gaddafi attending the 2012 | :01:57. | :02:04. | |
Olympics. Although unseating the dictator has proved shifter than | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
shifting tickets to handball events, let's not forget what we have | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
achieved so far. Without the no-fly zone there's the chance we would | :02:12. | :02:21. | |
have to see Colonel Gaddafi pitch his Bedouin tent on Centre Court | :02:21. | :02:31. | |
:02:31. | :02:31. | ||
this week. Boy George Osborne, Merv the | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
Governor King. It's not as though Europe is facing a crisis the size | :02:36. | :02:43. | |
of Lembit Opik's asteroid. When Andy Murray is in sight of a | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
Wimbledon final - C'mon Tim!. Oh, that's the other guy! Speaking of | :02:48. | :02:54. | |
those who can take a day off work without anybody noticing in the | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
slightest I am joined by two sickie-throwers, the Wayne and | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
Waynetta Slob of late night political chat. I speak of Michael | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
Portillo and stie Stewart, yet another flash -- Gisela Stewart, | :03:09. | :03:19. | |
:03:19. | :03:22. | ||
yet another fashion clash. One has got a purple top and black bottom. | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
Christine Lagard was appointed the head of the IMF. A decision I think | :03:26. | :03:36. | |
will be disastrous for the world. Her first comment on being elected | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
was about Greece. It was the comment made by someone who is a | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
founding mother of this euro currency mess we are in. As far as | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
the IMF is concerned, saving the euro or saving Greek membership is | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
not the priority. The IMF's priority so to do the best deal to | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
make sure we don't get global meltdown. If that means the Greek | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
and the Irish leaving, so be it. I think she is the wrong choice. I am | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
very sorry that George Osborne welcomed her to the job. I am | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
fascinated by that moment. The consensus is she will be great. | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
That is well done. You have given us food for thought. Good! Do you | :04:17. | :04:26. | |
know what she used to be? What she used to be! She used to be a | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
synchronised swimmer. I am glad it was not a quiz question. We have | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
that coming up. Your moment, Gisela? The continued failure by | :04:35. | :04:43. | |
the Prime Minister to keep Mrs Bowen better. This is the wife of | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
the Conservative backbencher. showed Cameron's ability to really | :04:49. | :04:58. | |
respond to humour and to be fair him together with Natasha chair the | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
backbench committee which had its first year. I was sceptical to | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
begin with. They have made an extraordinary success of that | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
committee. I am prepared to give him a lot of credit. He brought | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
humour to the House. Also allowed the backbenchers, as part of his | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
work, to be much more forceful than they have been hither to. The House | :05:20. | :05:30. | |
:05:30. | :05:31. | ||
of Commons operates with catch faces in the -- catchphrases in the | :05:31. | :05:39. | |
House of Commons. David Aimish used to say "the people in bas dil son." | :05:39. | :05:45. | |
And every time he said "Basildon" people used to cheer. Do not adjust | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
your set. That is the colour they are wearing! Nothing wrong with | :05:50. | :05:59. | |
that. Now, imagine a workplace riddled | :05:59. | :06:05. | |
with sexual frustration, raging hormones. Stop laughing. Where | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
people draw Willies in tip pex. It's not the This Cap week office. | :06:11. | :06:19. | |
Michael was in tears when he saw what Gisela had done to his justice | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
Bieber pencil case. He does have one! I am talking about schools. I | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
am working in conditions for immense rebellions. Teachers went | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
on strike, closing thousands of schools across England and Wales. | :06:34. | :06:40. | |
Former laurri yet and occasional teacher, Michael Rosen, he went on | :06:40. | :06:50. | |
:06:50. | :06:55. | ||
the picket line. My parents were both teachers, so I | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
grew up with an enormous amount of respect and admiration for the | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
profession. I go into schools and colleges all the time, including | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
this one, so I see how difficult it is, the job that teachers do and | :07:08. | :07:15. | |
how valuable that is. Teachers develop young people. They | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
give them the skills they will need if they are going to go to work and | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
that we need for the economy. They help create tolerance, socially- | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
minded people, again that will lead in a future society. That is what | :07:27. | :07:37. | |
:07:37. | :07:40. | ||
we owe to teachers. This Government's attack on | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
teachers' pensions is part of a broader, full-frontal assault on | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
the public sector. This Government thinks that private equals good, | :07:48. | :07:58. | |
:07:58. | :07:58. | ||
They think if they can portray the teachers as greedy with their gold | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
plated pensions, they can drive a wedge between the public sector | :08:02. | :08:12. | |
:08:12. | :08:15. | ||
workers and the rest of the public. But the private sector can't | :08:15. | :08:22. | |
replace the public sector. Chart ty, no good for delivering a universal | :08:22. | :08:28. | |
free education service. What they deliver is something piecemeal, | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
which ends up excluding people. We need a secure, well-paid public | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
sector. I don't know if these strikes will work. I certainly hope | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
so. I hope that everyone will support the public sector unions | :08:40. | :08:46. | |
and what they're doing today. It would be great if the Labour Party | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
leadership would support these strieblgs. I am not holding -- | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
strike. I am not holding my breath on that one. It is time we valued | :08:54. | :08:59. | |
the public sector and stood up to the Government when they attack it. | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
Michael Rosen, straight from that picket line in north-east London | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
now joins us in our own revolting Westminster studio. Good evening. | :09:08. | :09:14. | |
Are you saying that there is no problem whatsoever with public | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
sector pensions? I think really it is actually Lord Hutton who | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
suggested there wasn't much problem with it. He would like to import, | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
he suggested it was a good idea importing a certain amount of | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
private pensions into the matter. It was his words who said it was | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
affordable. Its is his graph that caused the problem. He said they | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
were unfair? He said that it is affordable. If they are affordable | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
they are affordable. I will come on, the Government may have taken a | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
wrong turn on this issue of affordable because of that very | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
graph. I have interviewed Government ministers this week and | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
cannot get an answer out of them on that at all. Maybe they didn't read | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
it. You are not saying politicians sign things that they have not read, | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
other than their expenses! On the fairness issue, is it fair to ask | :10:02. | :10:09. | |
the general taxpayer to subsidise, through their taxes, more generous | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
pensions in the public sector than they on average enjoy themselves | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
a way it's the wrong way to frame it, isn't it? What is the general | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
taxpayer doing? They subsidise the rich and super rich with their | :10:23. | :10:31. | |
subsidies for their own pensions. Yes, if you take someone like Mr | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
Fred Goodwin, with his �700,000 pension a year, as he saupbltered | :10:36. | :10:43. | |
away he was getting tax relief on that. The general public don't like | :10:43. | :10:50. | |
that either. The average public pension is higher than the average | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
private sector pension. Outside of local Government they are not self- | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
financing. The general taxpayer is paying for these pensions. That's | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
an argument for the private sector workers to have fought harder to | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
defend their pensions. This is one of the richest countries in the | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
world. The issue is the distribution of money, it's the | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
distribution of money, not whether one group is subsidising another | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
group of workers. We have tax avoidance. There is massive wealth | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
in this country. That is where we should be looking. Mr Brown took | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
�100 million out of private sector pensions, that is why they are | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
worse than public sector pensions. It is not something I would have | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
supported. I am not here to defend the Labour Party, as you may have | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
noticed. Let's see if Michael will defend the Conservatives. The | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
Government did have that change tack, the unaffordable claim, we | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
all produce this graph from the Hutton Report showing as a | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
percentage of GDP, the cost of public sector pensions declined | :11:57. | :12:03. | |
over time. It peaked last year at just under 2%. They are saying it | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
is untenable, rather than unaffordable. It was a mistake to | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
say unaffordable? It was the wrong line. I think the line, any way, | :12:12. | :12:18. | |
that resonates more, is that it is unfair. We've seen today members of | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
the public interviewed. They have said I have gone through it with my | :12:23. | :12:28. | |
private sector pension, I don't see why public sector pensions should | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
be so generous. The National Audit Office. That is why the graph is | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
going down. They approved it. have been changes, perfectly true. | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
They have taken a hit. In terms of the comparison, there is still a | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
big gap. One is the gap in the extension of provision. The second | :12:49. | :12:56. | |
is the extent of the coverage. gap is widening. If you have taken | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
the big hit, you are in the private sector. That is not an argument | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
that the public sector ought to as well. This is the so-called race to | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
a bottom. You have the idea that we are a rich country and if our | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
public spending goes on we will get richer. We are not as rich as we | :13:12. | :13:17. | |
used to be. If the.... Sixth richest in the world. We were | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
fourth. That is my point. We are going down the scale. If we keep | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
increasing public sending or not dealing the problems we will go | :13:24. | :13:33. | |
down the scale further. If it is re-phrased as "unfair" rather than | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
"unaffordable," does that make it a more compelling argument. It is a | :13:36. | :13:38. | |
more compelling argument that we need change. You cannot deny the | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
fact that we all need to work longer. We need to move to averages | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
in terms of pensions rather than:.: So you say, in a school that what | :13:48. | :13:54. | |
we want is 66 year olds, 67 year olds, 68 year olds. I with us in a | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
school yesterday. I did two-and-a- half hours in a school. I was | :13:58. | :14:04. | |
shattered. I am 65. If you say teachers could be 66 and 67. I have | :14:04. | :14:10. | |
young children. I don't want them taught by shattered teachers. | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
Someone has to generate the wealth to fund our pensions. We have to | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
look at how to make it a fairer system. I don't think it is fair. | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
It is not right to, have as your starting point to have a strike and | :14:22. | :14:32. | |
:14:32. | :14:34. | ||
a walkout. I don't think that was This Michael first, has David | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
Cameron got the stomach to fight the unions? I think he has and | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
particularly they have begun so badly. They began with a strike at | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
the wrong time. They have only probably got a fifth of the civil | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
servants out on strike today or maybe fewer. So it's begun badly. | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
It is quite an interesting tragedy. Both sides have made drastic | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
mistakes. The Government has made the wrong argument. The Chief | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
Secretary of the Treasury provoked the unions and now the unions have | :15:05. | :15:15. | |
:15:15. | :15:22. | ||
gone off half-cock. I interviewed the Prime Minister - and although | :15:22. | :15:30. | |
he talks about negotiations going on, they aren't prepared to do this. | :15:30. | :15:37. | |
Are the unions up for a strike? not that near to the unions to know. | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
You were on the picket line, though? On the ground, people are | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
very angry. This is an unfair society that coming out of this | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
crisis, the economic crisis, the rich are in fact doing very well. | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
They are recouping their losses. They are being asked to - they are | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
asked to make the sacrifices where the super-rich are doing very well. | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
There is a question of how you respond to that anger and you put | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
it right. The unions are probably walking into a trap here by evoking | :16:10. | :16:16. | |
all kinds of images of the '80s, the battle... Neither of you | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
support the unions. Hold on. are not exactly doing it from a | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
point of view of supporting them. Ed Miliband has not been vocal... | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
No, no, we can go back to the miners' strike. The Labour Party | :16:29. | :16:37. | |
leadership didn't support the miners. It's a completely different | :16:37. | :16:43. | |
argument. Depends which aspect of the world... Michael... A massive | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
amount of wealth is made in this country and poverty, nothing has | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
changed. We are in the process of putting legislation through where | :16:51. | :16:58. | |
we take child benefit away from anyone who earns over �40,000. | :16:58. | :17:04. | |
Quite frankly, to call out teachers and lose a day at school and stop | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
people, single parents going to work because we are angry was not | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
the right... It was too early. is their livelihoods over the whole | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
of their lifetimes. All right. You have both made your cases very | :17:18. | :17:27. | |
clearly for our viewers to decide. Viewers in a sense - public opinion | :17:27. | :17:30. | |
has a big impact on strikes. Where do you think public opinion is now? | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
I am assuming this will not be resolved by the autumn and it will | :17:36. | :17:45. | |
kick-off again in a bigger fashion. Where will it be in the autumn? | :17:45. | :17:55. | |
:17:55. | :17:57. | ||
depends to what extent the union leaders decide to say where we | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
stand. These people at the other end of society are making millions | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
of money and they are not greedy. They are supposed to have the | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
incentives. People need incentives to go into a classroom and teach. | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
They need to know that their life is secure and that when they work | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
at the end of 40 years work they will get a decent pension. | :18:17. | :18:23. | |
Otherwise we will lose them. We will have worst teachers. Thank you | :18:23. | :18:29. | |
very much. Now, a great spiritual leader once | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
observed, "You yourself - as much as anybody in the entire universe - | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
deserve your love and affection." Although it sounds like something | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
Michael said during his power- hungry personality cult phase, it | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
is in fact one of the sayings of the Buddha! So, in the spirit of | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
Zen, for which we are known, stick around because British soul master | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
Jazzie B will be joining us to talk about the power of self-esteem and | :18:53. | :18:59. | |
the dangers of self-love. And after former BBC Chairman Michael Grade | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
claimed making a complaint to the BBC was a "grisly and 'hopeless" | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
business we'd like to point him in the direction of our own puddle of | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
filth, otherwise known as the Viewers' Comments section on our | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
interweb page. Or - just like the Pope - you can sign up and follow | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
us in the twittersphere. "A disgrace", "unhelpful and ill- | :19:19. | :19:26. | |
informed", "he should be ashamed of himself." No, not another selection | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
of your comments - that's how the head of one teaching union, Mary | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
Bousted, described Ed Miliband today. And she's not the only one | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
getting shirty this week. On his visit to the UK the Chinese | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
President ticked off Sky's Adam Boulton for daring to ask a | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
question about human rights! So we asked the man himself for his | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
round-up of the week at Westminster - Adam Boulton that is, not Wen | :19:50. | :20:00. | |
:20:00. | :20:35. | ||
Hello, I'm in training. I may be one of two journalists permitted to | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
question the Chinese Prime Minister this week, but it would seem I have | :20:38. | :20:45. | |
still got a lot to learn. Do you accept as is often argued here if | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
China is the continue its impressive economic progress it | :20:49. | :20:55. | |
will have to make progress on both human rights and democracy? | :20:56. | :21:01. | |
TRANSLATION: Your question struck me that you may have not made very | :21:01. | :21:11. | |
:21:11. | :21:11. | ||
I was only trying to be polite. Perhaps 5,000 years of Chinese | :21:11. | :21:17. | |
culture have got something to teach us. After all, it was the Chinese | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
military scholar who said "strategy without tactics are the slow route | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
to victory, tactics without strategy are the noise of defeat". | :21:27. | :21:36. | |
Come to think of it, that sounds like Westminster in a typical week! | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
At least I gave David Cameron something to chuckle about in a | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
difficult week. The Tories like to consider themselves party of Queen, | :21:44. | :21:50. | |
country and the forces. This week, military top brass were demoted | :21:50. | :21:58. | |
from the top table while the real fighting was on the streets. | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
those considering strike action at a time when discussions are ongoing, | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
I would say to you these strikes are wrong for you, for the people | :22:08. | :22:16. | |
you serve, for the good of the country. Men's natures are alike, | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
it is their habits that cast them far apart. Take public sector | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
strikes, easy for Conservatives to condemn, Liberal Democrats to lie | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
low, but tricky for union-backed Labour. I don't think political | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
leaders in opposition or in Government should applaud strikes | :22:35. | :22:45. | |
:22:45. | :22:46. | ||
or condemn strikes. He who is ignorant both of himself and his | :22:46. | :22:52. | |
enemy is truly in peril so the Labour Leader took a different line. | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
I do think the strikes are a mistake. They shouldn't be going | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
ahead because they will inconvenience parents and children. | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
Public sector pensions do need to be reformed. The Government has got | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
to take its share of responsibility because they have gone about these | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
negotiations in quite a provocative way. My message to both sides is | :23:10. | :23:20. | |
:23:20. | :23:23. | ||
get round the negotiating table. Miliband switched to another | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
subject - NHS reform. The whole country will have heard that he has | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
admitted they are spending �852 million on making people redundant | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
and he can't promise they want be rehired to do their old jobs. | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words | :23:42. | :23:50. | |
good. David Cameron struck back on strikes. What the whole country | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
will have noticed is that a time when people are worried about | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
strikes, he can't ask about strikes because he's in the pocket of the | :23:58. | :24:08. | |
:24:08. | :24:22. | ||
unions. The master also said he who will not economise must agonise. | :24:22. | :24:31. | |
Greece voted through its austerity package. Saving the euro was | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
priority number one for the new IMF chief. Yet another French person. | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
David Cameron stuck the to his guns, no more British cash for Greece and | :24:40. | :24:49. | |
certainly not for the EU budget. Mrs Bone wanted to know whether if | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
a bail-out came before 2013, despite qualifying majority voting, | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
Britain would vote no in any case. I know that she would be very happy | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
if the Prime Minister give that undertaking and it would be helpful | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
for the Bone household if he could. I do feel now that a very big part | :25:07. | :25:17. | |
:25:17. | :25:19. | ||
of my life is trying to give pleasure to Mrs Bone! LAUGHTER | :25:19. | :25:29. | |
:25:29. | :25:31. | ||
feel on this occasion I can only go so far. There was bad news on the | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
home front for the party of law- and-order. Burglaries and robberies | :25:34. | :25:40. | |
are up in the recession according to latest statistics. Old master | :25:40. | :25:48. | |
Ken Clarke reached for his art of war who said, "He who is pruden and | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
waits for an enemy who is not will be victorious" - or to put it | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
another way, bash a burglar. can hit the borrowing lar with the | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
poker if he is in the house and you -- burglar with the poker if he is | :26:03. | :26:11. | |
in the house and you will have a reasonable defence if you do so. | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
For me, annoying the Prime Minister of China, seems easier than getting | :26:15. | :26:23. | |
a visa to visit the middle kingdom. Then forget injuries but always | :26:24. | :26:33. | |
:26:34. | :26:45. | ||
Thank you. You wouldn't want to hit him with a poker. Greece, we saw it | :26:45. | :26:50. | |
unfold in Parliament and on the streets. What did you make of it | :26:50. | :26:56. | |
all? As I said last week, we are heading for disaster, I fear. This | :26:56. | :26:59. | |
is a huge threat to the British economy, a huge threat to the world | :26:59. | :27:05. | |
economy. There is no medium or long-term plan. There simply is | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
another buy-out for a brief period of time. What the Greeks are being | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
asked to do is unaffordable. I can't see how they can survive. | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
This will lead to some meltdown. What we have done, not we, but what | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
the European Union has done this week is simply buy time? It hasn't | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
in any way resolved what's happened? It is worse than that. | :27:28. | :27:34. | |
Worse? It's thrown good money after bad and it's in a state of complete | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
denial and the responsible thing would be for the Commission to sit | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
down and draw up plans for a legal framework which would allow a | :27:41. | :27:46. | |
country, whether it is Greece or otherwise, to leave the euro so you | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
can resolve it. The Maastricht Treaty never made any provision for | :27:50. | :27:58. | |
a country to leave the eurozone? was seen as the project, it will | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
only advance if nobody is allowed to leave the European Union or the | :28:02. | :28:09. | |
eurozone. We have a political aspiration that is deaf and blind | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
to reality. Who will pay the price? The poor people on the streets will | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
find their savings are worth nothing. What I would say is (a) | :28:17. | :28:21. | |
I'm staggered that both the House of Commons and the government is | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
not much firmer to demand that we draw up plans. I'm staggered that | :28:25. | :28:30. | |
the Prime Minister did not respond when I raised with him Article | :28:30. | :28:32. | |
Provisions which would allow the European Union to impose currency | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
restrictions in the case of an emergency. I just find it | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
unbelievable that across Europe everybody keeps pretending that if | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
only they cut their taxes and public spending, it will be all | :28:45. | :28:52. | |
right. It won't. You are German in origin. It is said that the average | :28:52. | :28:56. | |
German is now up to here with the thought of a further bail-out to | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
Greece or Portugal or Ireland or Spain. Is that right? What do you | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
think of the modern euro country? Not only are they up to here with | :29:03. | :29:10. | |
that notion, but also in the past, Germany used to be able to purchase | :29:10. | :29:15. | |
agreement. They aren't sufficiently successful that they could afford | :29:15. | :29:21. | |
to do this. There is a lack of political will. As I look at it, I | :29:21. | :29:27. | |
have been following this closely, everybody knows that this extra | :29:27. | :29:32. | |
money isn't going to help the situation because there's a senior | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
banker, he said to me today that Greece is insolvent. Yes. Yet, the | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
price Greece is being asked to pay will never be carried out. As I | :29:41. | :29:47. | |
understand it, a board of non- Greeks has been created to sell off | :29:47. | :29:55. | |
50 billion euros worth of Greek assets. Greece's airports and | :29:55. | :30:02. | |
buildings. That is not going to work? When I was arguing 15 years | :30:02. | :30:10. | |
ago with Ken Clarke that there were issues of sovereignty, he laughed. | :30:10. | :30:17. | |
It is clear there are issues of sovereignty. It is a battle state. | :30:17. | :30:23. | |
The money which we are pumping is going in to save the euro. Greece | :30:23. | :30:28. | |
is indeed insolvent. The European leaders want to save the euro | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
project at all cost. The British Government is concerned only to | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
make the childish point that we are not going to pay anything for the | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
bail-out. The serious point is that this thing is a phenomenal threat | :30:39. | :30:49. | |
:30:49. | :30:50. | ||
It would mean David Cameron should consider taking a position, perhaps | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
the IMF and American health as well to try and -- help as well, to try | :30:55. | :30:59. | |
and knock heads together. I would not bother with the IMF now. It is | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
led by Christine Lagarde. I forgot about the new line of the IMF, you | :31:04. | :31:11. | |
only told me a few moments ago. IMF going into Greece, what its | :31:11. | :31:17. | |
traditional package is countries in trouble, you increase taxes, cut | :31:17. | :31:22. | |
public sending -- spending and devalue currency. The IMF in terms | :31:22. | :31:26. | |
of its normal roles, knows that this package will not work because | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
the third element is not there for Greece. We will keep an eye on this | :31:31. | :31:39. | |
as the weeks go by. It is a long way to go yet. It's staggering the | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
House of Commons is not discussing this. The leader of the House of | :31:42. | :31:48. | |
Commons says debate on Europe are backbench business. It didn't come | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
up at Prime Minister's Questions. Speaking of PMQs, the Ed Miliband | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
tactic now, which he did for a third week in a row of picking a | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
specific detail. He thinks the Prime Minister is weak on detail, | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
so he goes for a detail hoping to catch the Prime Minister out. | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
Actually, sometimes he does. Sometimes it is clear the Prime | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
Minister is not across these details. I suggest to you though | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
that there may be diminishing returns to this, that most think | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
the Prime Minister cannot be expected to know everything and | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
there's a kind of Oxford debating union trick about this, which | :32:21. | :32:26. | |
people won't like. The week before last, it was a detail on a point | :32:26. | :32:32. | |
that was highly political. It was a political issue and Cameron, who | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
usually does not look at his notes started to flick through them and | :32:35. | :32:41. | |
showed a weakness. It only works as a detail in relation to something | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
big. This week it did not work. The world around us is in a state of | :32:46. | :32:53. | |
collapse. There are strikes, the economic crisis. He was going on | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
about the NHS. It seemed irrelevant. As a Government you don't want to | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
get a reputation of ministers not knowing the details. And over this | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
pension thing, ministers have looked like they don't know the | :33:08. | :33:13. | |
basic argument. Mr Maude on the Today Programme.... Painful... I | :33:13. | :33:18. | |
think we should pass over it. loved it. It was great! I would | :33:18. | :33:23. | |
like to re-play it a couple of times! You can do that on the BBC | :33:23. | :33:26. | |
iPlayer. The Speaker gave the Prime Minister a bit of stick today. In | :33:26. | :33:32. | |
fact he gave it to him yesterday, gave it twice to him, but what does | :33:32. | :33:39. | |
the Commons think of the Speaker Bercow now? In general? To be | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
absolutely honest, I think in terms of statement, if you are there, you | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
know you're going to get called, it's much more predictable. He has | :33:47. | :33:50. | |
done what he said he would set out to do and make sure the | :33:50. | :33:57. | |
backbenchers get more of a voice. I think the new intake... He's had | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
more support than not? When push comes down to shove he comes down | :34:01. | :34:09. | |
on the side of the backbenchers. Questions about Ken Clarke, fellow | :34:09. | :34:16. | |
Cambridge graduate as well. Is it wise for politicians to say, it's | :34:16. | :34:23. | |
all right for a burglar to whack -- it's all right to whack a burglar | :34:23. | :34:29. | |
with a poker. Also, who, here's the big political question of the week, | :34:29. | :34:39. | |
:34:39. | :34:39. | ||
who has a poker in 2011? That's a very good point. Who has Hush | :34:39. | :34:46. | |
Puppies in 2011. They go together. I had my head many my hands. | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
Firstly, the point you made, it's not for Government ministers to say | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
hitting someone with a poker who has come through your front door is | :34:53. | :34:58. | |
the correct thing to do. It must be so far from what Ken Clarke | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
believes and thinks. He must think it is a piece of nonsense. Poor Ken, | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
he is standing on his head twice a week, it's not a comfortable | :35:07. | :35:15. | |
position. I go to bed with a poker in one hand, hush huppis on the end | :35:15. | :35:22. | |
of the bed. -- hush puppies on the end of the | :35:22. | :35:27. | |
bed. If you like what you see in the political mirror, there are few | :35:27. | :35:33. | |
better places to pollish it than in the This Week sofa, or as Diane | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
Abbott thinks, the political Siberia, otherwise known as the | :35:38. | :35:41. | |
shadow public health team. It made us think about the importance of | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
assessing one's talents and thoughts. After we picked ourselves | :35:45. | :35:50. | |
up from our fit of despair, we decided to put self-esteem in this | :35:50. | :36:00. | |
:36:00. | :36:02. | ||
I'm the real champion. There'll never be one like me. I will prove | :36:02. | :36:09. | |
I'm the greatest. I'm going to eat raw meat. I'm going to get ready. | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
You could never accuse heavy weight boxers of lacking in self-esteem. | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
As David Haye prepares for the biggest fight of his life, he knows | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
that humility is rarely regarded in -- rewarded in the ring. I cannot | :36:22. | :36:27. | |
wait to get in there and do what I've got to do. Andy Murray claims | :36:27. | :36:33. | |
the harder he works, the luckier he gets and believes he has what it | :36:33. | :36:42. | |
takes to reach a Wimbledon final. Just to understand... Jamie Oliver | :36:42. | :36:47. | |
asked a group of failing students to be taken on. Too little, or | :36:47. | :36:52. | |
centre stage. For me, the discipline, it was easy. Just how | :36:52. | :36:57. | |
important is a healthy assessment of your own abilities and talents? | :36:57. | :37:02. | |
Can it spur you on to success, and help fulfil your dreams, or blind | :37:02. | :37:09. | |
you to your faults and fill an overinflated ego? | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
Sorry about that so late at night - it has probably frightened you. | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
Come out from behind the sofa. It is all right. We won't bite. Jazzie | :37:17. | :37:23. | |
B, welcome. When you started out, were you aware of the talents you | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
thought you had and the faults you thought you had? I think when I | :37:27. | :37:33. | |
started out I was very fortunate because of my parents instilled so | :37:33. | :37:39. | |
much in regards to my confidence, et cetera, et cetera. Then I had a | :37:39. | :37:44. | |
fantastic time at school. I had some great teachers, who also | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
encouraged that. So, some might say I might be slightly overconfident | :37:48. | :37:54. | |
in certain areas, where that could be a help as well as a hinder repbs. | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
You probably need that in your business. The background of parents | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
and teachers gave you a healthy sense of self-esteem. I would like | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
to believe so. Not an overblown one? Come from a large family, you | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
get put in your place, you know often enough. That also helps. | :38:14. | :38:19. | |
have to eat quickly. You have to eat quickly. Who wears the right | :38:19. | :38:24. | |
sized shoes, et cetera, et cetera. All those things helped in regards | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
to my personal confidence. There are often, I have met a lot of | :38:27. | :38:34. | |
people from various walks, who seem to be over confident and sometimes | :38:34. | :38:40. | |
that may be over-compensating for their insecurities. When you dealt | :38:40. | :38:47. | |
with kids in Jamie Oliver's dream school, you were a teacher along | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
with others, Alister Campbell. David Starky. They have all been on | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
this programme, which is why they have self-esteem. Tell me, these | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
kids, because there were some difficult ones, did they suffer | :39:00. | :39:06. | |
from a lack or in some cases too much self-esteem that wasn't | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
justified? Some of them, the majority of them who, which I think | :39:10. | :39:16. | |
most people who saw the programme would know, those who, yes, had too | :39:16. | :39:21. | |
much and maybe believed that the world owed them something, and for | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
my measure I believe a lot of that is because of the lack of self- | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
esteem. So, often enough the bravado they come up and I'm this | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
and I'm that, and maybe attacking you before you've actually finished | :39:35. | :39:41. | |
the sentence, shows a level of insecurity. Yes. I see in a sense | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
it's the lack of self-esteem that makes them give the impression they | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
are full of self-esteem. Absolutely. That can be a very, very dangerous | :39:50. | :39:55. | |
combination. How would you describe your self-esteem, Michael? I would | :39:55. | :39:59. | |
describe it as Jazzie B did. It was my parents, it was my school that | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
gave me that confidence. I remember a time when I didn't have so much | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
confidence. I was in a house surrounded by books, but for | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
instance I didn't know at one time I would go to university. I didn't | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
know I would go to Cambridge. I have been surprised at every move | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
along the way. I observed that a big difference between people who | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
succeed and people who don't is not necessarily a gap between the gap | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
between the successful and the lack of talent of the unsuccessful. The | :40:28. | :40:33. | |
striking thing is self-esteem of the security and the lack of self- | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
esteem of the less successful. That is a big factor. People who do well, | :40:38. | :40:42. | |
a lot of them go around pinching themselves every day. When I was in | :40:42. | :40:49. | |
Cabinet I used to pinch myself. Am I really....? Is this really many? | :40:49. | :40:55. | |
Is that me? You think, "What am I doing here?" Would you like to | :40:55. | :41:01. | |
complete this hat trick of people who have self-esteem? It does start | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
at home in the sense that you grow up and there's a safe environment | :41:05. | :41:12. | |
in that sense. The other thing is learning from mistakes, from | :41:12. | :41:18. | |
reallyence to recover. That is bgs realistic about yourself. I | :41:18. | :41:24. | |
benefited greatly, it is incredibly liberating. Half the rules you | :41:24. | :41:28. | |
break because you don't know they are there. The other half you break | :41:28. | :41:35. | |
and get away with it. It is changing your background sometimes | :41:35. | :41:41. | |
is also good. Do you think it is a problem for boys more than girls? | :41:41. | :41:48. | |
What I am worried about is boys between 11hf17. | :41:48. | :41:55. | |
It's a mix of the two. What is per pech waited in the media for girls. | :41:55. | :42:00. | |
It is dangerous. Having two children myself who are, one is a | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
right teenager as it were and one is moving on. It's interesting to | :42:03. | :42:11. | |
see that, plus come from a large family, I've a snapshot or even a | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
bird's eye view of the differences of the males and females. Going | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
through interesting times right now, as well as living with technology, | :42:19. | :42:25. | |
et cetera, et cetera. There's always that, a huge element of | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
doubt, and then a huge one of self- belief. It's trying to get that | :42:29. | :42:36. | |
right, that you know, the guys I think, I'll stick my neck out and | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
say, yeah, they probably suffer a lot more, as well as that idea of | :42:41. | :42:49. | |
who is the alpha male? Particularly with the schooling systems. Then, | :42:49. | :42:55. | |
we're looking at society now, where a lot of boys are failing in | :42:55. | :43:01. | |
various aspects of that as well. Interesting times. It is a problem | :43:01. | :43:07. | |
for both of them. What are you up to? I'm about to join Jamie Oliver | :43:07. | :43:13. | |
on the Big Festival tomorrow on Clapham common. I'm looking forward | :43:13. | :43:20. | |
to that. Soul to Soul has been back on tour. We have been touring since | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
March. Onwards and upwards. With a healthy self-east steam following | :43:24. | :43:30. | |
you. Jazzie B, thank you for coming in tonight. Staying up until this | :43:30. | :43:35. | |
unGodly hour! It's a perfect time for me. That's your lot for tonight. | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
We leave you with a thought. The Chinese Prime Minister visited the | :43:40. | :43:46. | |
UK this week, he confirmed the loan of two giant pandas to Edinburgh | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
Zoo. Yes, the so-called panda diplomacy. The practise of shipping | :43:52. | :44:00. |