:00:14. > :00:20.Tonight: Join This Week, for the Political Apprentice. In politics,
:00:20. > :00:23.times are tough and investment hard to come by. Has the Chancellor, Boy
:00:23. > :00:31.George, done enough to make sure he won't be fired come the next
:00:31. > :00:37.election? One budding apprentice, author and activist, Owen Jones, is
:00:37. > :00:41.given the chance to be project manager. I have my doubts that
:00:41. > :00:47.cutting the top rate of tax will get anyone hired, but I certainly
:00:47. > :00:51.think it should be George Osborne who gets fired.
:00:51. > :00:55.The Queen has been doing the top job for 60 years and this week
:00:55. > :01:05.addressed Parliament. Speaker John Bercow hopes his performance will
:01:05. > :01:10.
:01:10. > :01:18.keep him out of the boardroom. collide A kalaidescope Queen.
:01:18. > :01:22.Channel Four's Sarah Smith, is in the girls' team. John Bercow was
:01:22. > :01:27.revelling in the pageantry this week, he left many MPs wanting to
:01:27. > :01:30.say "you're fired." And are the rules of the boardroom
:01:30. > :01:36.very different from the rules of the internet? Top comic tweeter
:01:36. > :01:39.Dave Gorman guides us through the etiquette of the internet. As far
:01:39. > :01:43.as I can tell the rules of the internet internet haven't really
:01:43. > :01:53.been written down yet, we are all just feeling our way. It's my
:01:53. > :01:56.studio and it's my money. Evenin' all, welcome to This Week. Yes, I
:01:56. > :02:00.know. I'm still here. I appreciate that last Thursday I caused a bit
:02:00. > :02:03.of a storm in a Blue Nun wine glass after an untypical spasm of self-
:02:03. > :02:06.awareness. I concluded that This Week was nothing more than an
:02:06. > :02:16.amoral vacuum in the dark heart of the BBC1 schedules and announced my
:02:16. > :02:18.
:02:18. > :02:21.resignation! Some of you even believed it, which only shows how
:02:21. > :02:26.much of the Blue stuff you'd been necking. I think when I said I was
:02:26. > :02:30.off to be a runner on the One Show that was a clue it was a spoof but
:02:30. > :02:33.even if I'd been serious I realise that now is not the time to throw
:02:33. > :02:38.in the towel; to desert the sinking ship; to do an 'H' from Steps and
:02:38. > :02:40.walk out on my less talented colleagues! Not with the BBC's
:02:40. > :02:44.much-loved Director General announcing his departure, which
:02:44. > :02:47.means his well-paid job is now up for grabs! And so I hereby declare
:02:47. > :02:50.that the This Week team, if called upon to serve, after a groundswell
:02:50. > :02:53.of public support would consider on a job-share basis only, putting
:02:53. > :03:01.their limited creative talents aside, to hold the keys to the BBC
:03:01. > :03:03.executive bog. Even Diane is prepared to turn her back on the
:03:03. > :03:09.high-profile glory of the shadow public health team just as long as
:03:09. > :03:15.the DG's taxi expense account remains. You'd expect nothing less
:03:15. > :03:18.from the Queen of the Claim. Speaking of those who get paid an
:03:18. > :03:20.absolute fortune to lord it over everyone else, I'm joined on the
:03:20. > :03:24.sofa tonight by two of Westminster's most detached
:03:24. > :03:27.residents. The Grand Poobah and Grand Dame of late night political
:03:27. > :03:30.chat. I speak, of course, of Alastair Campbell - currently
:03:30. > :03:39.trending as #rivieragigolo - and our very own #sadmanonatrain,
:03:39. > :03:43.Michael Trainspotter Portillo. Good evening to both of you. Hello,
:03:43. > :03:47.Andrew. Moment of the week, Michael? No doubt that my moment of
:03:47. > :03:52.the week in the sense I will never forget it was the moment of the
:03:53. > :03:57.attack on the French school. Such horrifying details about the way
:03:57. > :04:02.these children were murdered in cold blood, such extraordinary evil.
:04:02. > :04:06.I don't want to draw any political point from it, particularly, even
:04:06. > :04:10.if the man claims he has political motivations, he's clearly so
:04:10. > :04:13.deranged as to be quite an exception, doesn't leave to any
:04:13. > :04:16.broader conclusions, although it seems it may have some effect on
:04:16. > :04:19.the French election. But you know, when ask you what was the moment of
:04:19. > :04:23.the week, that was the shot everying -- shattering moment.
:04:23. > :04:27.was the story, almost overshadowed the Budget at many points.
:04:27. > :04:30.Alastair? Mine was before that, what I think is the end of the
:04:30. > :04:35.National Health Service. The Bill finally got through. It's a really
:04:35. > :04:39.bad moment. I think it's a bad moment for politics as well, I
:04:39. > :04:42.don't think they had a mandate for it. It's a massive event. Do tkpwu
:04:42. > :04:47.along with Labour's official line this is privatisation? It's opening
:04:47. > :04:51.the whole thing up to the market and I think think I think pitting
:04:51. > :05:01.the bits of the health service against it each which in a way will
:05:01. > :05:04.be damaging. If in three years... Let's see. You are discredited?
:05:04. > :05:08.I put in the cuts that are happening, cuts which are having an
:05:08. > :05:11.impact, politically it's dangerous to the coalition and the Lib Dems
:05:11. > :05:15.have made a mistake by getting so identified with it. It's certainly
:05:15. > :05:23.not been a happy experience. think it could be as significant as
:05:23. > :05:26.the Budget. We shall see. Now, it's been an important week
:05:26. > :05:29.for Boy George. He delivered the Budget yesterday, or re-announced
:05:29. > :05:32.it, if you've been reading the papers and it turns out - wait for
:05:32. > :05:37.it - we're all better off! That's right, Gideon is personally going
:05:37. > :05:40.to come round and stuff a crisp new fiver in our pockets. Except if
:05:40. > :05:43.you're an old person, then he'll just kick you in the grannies. But
:05:43. > :05:46.is the Chancellor's vision for the economy the right one for Britain?
:05:46. > :05:56.We asked journalist and author, Owen Jones, for his Take of the
:05:56. > :06:02.
:06:02. > :06:08.week. Hello, is that Gideon? Could I get
:06:08. > :06:12.a taxi to This Week studios? Great! # The taxman's taken all my...
:06:12. > :06:16.That's what I call being all in it together. Before the last election
:06:16. > :06:20.most of us thought that the Tories were the party of the well-off. How
:06:20. > :06:29.did George Osborne take on this ill-founded prejudice? By handing
:06:29. > :06:32.most of kaepbt a cheque for �40,000 -- cabinet. Your car, Mr Jones.
:06:32. > :06:38.Give this man champagne. This is ridiculous. Champagne may be
:06:38. > :06:44.flowing for some, indeed the average millionaire could afford
:06:45. > :06:49.�288 bottles with a tax cut given to them by George Osborne.
:06:49. > :06:52.Thanks. When the average Briton is taking
:06:52. > :06:56.the biggest hammering in living standards, since the 1920s, have
:06:56. > :07:06.the Tories just revealed their true colours as the political arm of the
:07:06. > :07:06.
:07:06. > :07:16.rich? Of course, the Tories will argue
:07:16. > :07:20.
:07:20. > :07:24.the poor will be better off because Once you take into account real
:07:24. > :07:28.term cuts to tax credits and benefits, as well as the VAT hike,
:07:28. > :07:34.whoever has to scrub up after the champagne reception is set to be
:07:34. > :07:44.worse off than they were before that Clegg-Cameron love-in in the
:07:44. > :07:46.
:07:46. > :07:50.It's not just the poor being hit. The average Briton is set to be
:07:50. > :07:53.worse off in 2016 than they were at the turn of the century and all
:07:53. > :07:58.this because of a crisis that had absolutely nothing to do with while
:07:58. > :08:02.the beaming rich are being handed tax cuts. How can Labour tap into
:08:02. > :08:06.this growing sense of injustice? Of course, they only call it class war
:08:06. > :08:09.when you stand up for the bottom 70%. Stand up for the top 1% and
:08:10. > :08:13.they call you a moderate. With New Labour's own cosying up to the
:08:13. > :08:16.wealthy still fresh in the public mind, Ed Miliband will have to draw
:08:16. > :08:24.a thick line under Labour's own past if anyone's going to take them
:08:24. > :08:28.seriously. The polls show that Osbourne's tax
:08:28. > :08:32.cuts for the top fly in the face of public opinion. Even the most
:08:32. > :08:35.Conservative voters want the rich to pay more. We have had a lot of
:08:35. > :08:41.talk about compassionate Conservativism, but with this
:08:41. > :08:45.Budget we are back to the same old Tories. Cheers.
:08:45. > :08:55.Yeah, I know it's daytime but I have come here early for the Blue
:08:55. > :09:00.
:09:00. > :09:04.Owen Jones, who has found out the hard way there are no nibbles
:09:04. > :09:08.before our programme. Welcome to This Week. I hope the car is parked
:09:08. > :09:13.on a phaoert while we do this. -- metre while we do this. The 50p tax
:09:13. > :09:19.rate, for most of Labour's life, for all but 57 days of 13 years, it
:09:19. > :09:23.was 40p under Labour and Alistair Darling said it was temporary, and
:09:23. > :09:26.Mr Osbourne's only taken it back to 45p. This is Labour policy? Well,
:09:26. > :09:30.it was actually one of the most popular policies the last
:09:30. > :09:33.Government introduced and what was interesting about is if you look
:09:33. > :09:37.across the social scale people back that policy and even Conservative
:09:37. > :09:40.voters, majority of, over 60% according to polls back that policy.
:09:40. > :09:44.Actually, you are right, it was a break from a consensus which New
:09:44. > :09:47.Labour and the Tories backed which was you don't make the rich pay
:09:48. > :09:52.more tax. With Alistair Darling introduced it, he said it would be
:09:52. > :09:55.temporary. He was wrong to say that. You think it should be permanent?
:09:55. > :10:00.We have a situation, the sun Times, your old newspaper, does a rich
:10:00. > :10:03.list every single year. The top 1,000 wealthiest people in Britain,
:10:03. > :10:07.their wealth went up by by an average of a fifth last year and
:10:07. > :10:11.the year before 30%, the biggest hike it's before recorded. There's
:10:11. > :10:15.plenty of money around the top and we should be taxing it. Why has the
:10:15. > :10:19.50p top rate taken in so little so far? There was a variety of reasons
:10:19. > :10:22.for that. Firstly, because New Labour actually they didn't
:10:22. > :10:26.implement it straightaway, they gave a period to allow it to bed in,
:10:26. > :10:32.if you like. There is a jump in the number of people paying themselves
:10:32. > :10:36.dividends before it came into action. So A4E, the subject of a
:10:36. > :10:40.Newsnight investigation tonight examining massive corruption, Emma
:10:40. > :10:44.Harrison, their former chairman, for example, she paid herself huge
:10:44. > :10:49.amounts of dividends just before. That won't be possible in the
:10:49. > :10:54.coming year so that would not be tax avoidance. I understand that,
:10:54. > :10:57.you can only stall for one year. Isn't the lesson from that, when
:10:57. > :11:04.the state are going to take away more than half of people's income,
:11:04. > :11:07.because the real rate is 52 because of national insurance, the kind of
:11:07. > :11:10.people on the Sunday Times rich list they will find ways of not
:11:10. > :11:14.giving you half their income. That's the wrong way of looking at
:11:14. > :11:18.it. There is a massive problem with tax avoidance in this country, so
:11:18. > :11:21.we talk about... Because Because the rates are high? We talk about
:11:21. > :11:24.benefit fraud, about 1.2 billion according to the Government but tax
:11:24. > :11:28.avoidance is worth about �25 billion and I have to say normally
:11:28. > :11:31.when a law is introduced if people don't abide by it, they don't say
:11:31. > :11:34.well we will scrap the law because people aren't abiding by it, that's
:11:34. > :11:37.- the only time there is an exception to that is when the rich
:11:38. > :11:42.are involved and they say the policy is wrong. They're not
:11:42. > :11:45.breaking the law by avoiding it. That's the point. If you commit
:11:45. > :11:50.benefit fraud in this country the state will come down like a ton of
:11:50. > :11:58.bricks. If you evade tax you are breaking the law. That's the point.
:11:58. > :12:02.That's why Sir Philip Green... talked about aggressive tax
:12:02. > :12:06.avoidance. A lot of the big companies do. You said this Budget
:12:06. > :12:14.hands a majority of the cabinet a cheque worth �40,000. How do you
:12:14. > :12:19.work that out? Well, the average top rate taxpayer will save �10,000.
:12:19. > :12:22.14,000 millionaires will get over �40,000. The number of millionaires,
:12:22. > :12:28.23 millionaires in this cabinet, out of 29 Ministers. The majority
:12:28. > :12:35.of those will get up to �40,000. They don't earn a million a year?
:12:35. > :12:38.Depends who you are talking about. No one in the cabinet. Where would
:12:38. > :12:42.the �40,000 - you are assuming because you are worth �1 million,
:12:42. > :12:45.that you get �1 million a year. This is a tax on income, no one in
:12:45. > :12:50.the cabinet is making �1 million a year. They may be worth a million
:12:50. > :12:54.and more, but they're not earning a million. Correct? So the �40,000 is
:12:54. > :12:58.not right. It depends, because a lot of them, it is as couples
:12:58. > :13:03.earning huge amounts of money. They'll pay separate tax. If we
:13:03. > :13:07.look at the Conservative Party, over half Conservative funding
:13:07. > :13:12.comes from the City. That's not the point. I am simply saying, is it
:13:12. > :13:16.your claim tonight that there are many people in the cabinet who are
:13:16. > :13:21.as we speak earning �1 million a year? Well, Wye like to see the
:13:21. > :13:27.whole cabinet and all Tory MPs, all Tory MPs come clear about their
:13:27. > :13:31.earnings, including... They have to as cabinet Ministers, don't they?
:13:31. > :13:36.Um..., well I think cabinet Ministers' salaries are published.
:13:36. > :13:38.You also have to declare any other. That's why I find it odd today when
:13:38. > :13:42.George Osborne, one of the more wealthy members of the cabinet,
:13:42. > :13:45.said he wasn't a top rate taxpayer, I thought that was very odd. Let's
:13:45. > :13:50.come back to the general policy, throughout the time you were in
:13:50. > :13:53.power you kept the top rate at 40p, indeed on the times that I met Tony
:13:53. > :13:58.Blair in the early days he was adamant that would remain the
:13:58. > :14:02.policy and it did until the 11th hour of the Labour Government when
:14:02. > :14:05.he was long gone. Was that wrong? think the 50p rate was put
:14:05. > :14:07.newspaper extraordinary economic times. I think that in a sense we
:14:08. > :14:11.are still living with the consequence of those, that's why I
:14:11. > :14:14.don't agree with some of the thing Owen said but I agree with the
:14:14. > :14:18.basic point. I think it was the wrong choice for this time. I think
:14:18. > :14:22.to fund it it he's had to do some of the other things we will talk
:14:22. > :14:25.about in relation to pensions and taking away tax credits and the VAT
:14:25. > :14:29.rise going ahead and so forth. I think that it is the wrong choice
:14:29. > :14:32.and I think Owen asked the question in the film, is it Osbourne showing
:14:32. > :14:36.his true colours? And I think it is. Do you think it should now be
:14:36. > :14:40.permanent? No, I don't. I don't think it should be permanent. But I
:14:40. > :14:43.think that for now it's not the right time. With all the other
:14:43. > :14:47.priorities the Government has, and I think the other thing we are
:14:47. > :14:51.overlooking from this Budget, the borrowing figures were terrible.
:14:51. > :14:56.The unemployment which he barely mentioned, one million young people
:14:56. > :15:02.out of work... We can do some of that. We are here to talk about the
:15:02. > :15:06.points Owen raised. You have warned many times on this programme that
:15:06. > :15:13.50p, maybe the right thing to cut but it but it was politically
:15:13. > :15:17.impossible or dangerous. What do I'm impressed that he cut it,
:15:18. > :15:22.because I did think it was almost impossible to do. It is politically
:15:22. > :15:26.dangerous. It was only a few weeks ago when I heard Vince Cable saying
:15:26. > :15:30.for the first time that he wasn't wedded to the 50p that I saw the
:15:31. > :15:35.chance for the coalition to get rid of it. It is quite a strong point
:15:35. > :15:39.tonight that Vince Cable said on Question Time that the 50p was
:15:39. > :15:44.useless... That isn't what he said to the Liberal Democrats conference.
:15:44. > :15:49.But that is what he is saying tonight. Are you glad he's done it?
:15:49. > :15:54.By the way he isn't doing it now, but next year. And he is allowing
:15:54. > :15:58.them to defer again. Owen right is that we got hit and that is why the
:15:58. > :16:02.tax revenues didn't come in as they should have done. Now he is saying
:16:02. > :16:08.to the people who ripped off the state last time, do it again.
:16:08. > :16:14.in the City yesterday and a number of people made that point.
:16:14. > :16:19.serious party in Government lives with a tax rate of 50%. Why?
:16:19. > :16:25.Because they see it is anti- competitive. Do you know which
:16:25. > :16:31.decade in the Britain had the highest rate of Britain? Thatcher's.
:16:31. > :16:37.It was the 1960s. We had a high level of tax. Are you aware there
:16:37. > :16:42.is more competition now. Tell me about the 1960s. I'm interested.
:16:42. > :16:49.can see what you are doing there, it is very clever. In the 1940s to
:16:49. > :16:56.1970s we had the highest level of growth. We had a few economic
:16:56. > :17:01.recessions. And the top rate of tax reached 98% at one point of income.
:17:01. > :17:06.In the 1960s the top 1% of taxpayers accounted for 5% of
:17:06. > :17:11.income tax receipts, between tax rate was 98%. When it got to 40%
:17:11. > :17:16.the top 1% accounted for 30% of income tax receipts. That's
:17:16. > :17:23.socialists for you. The amount of wealth that's been produced and
:17:23. > :17:32.concentrated at the top. But they are paying much more in income tax
:17:32. > :17:36.now than when it was 98%. They are about the pay a lot less. I think
:17:36. > :17:41.that the economy is not, has not recovered. I think that that Budget
:17:41. > :17:47.should have had a plan for jobs and growth. It is not there and he's
:17:47. > :17:52.signalled his property. It is certainly not now. Serious parties
:17:52. > :17:58.of Government, before Owen interrupted me, don't live with the
:17:58. > :18:04.50%. He is here to interrupt you. He's here to enjoy himself. If
:18:04. > :18:07.Labour ever gets back it won't have a 50% rate of tax. As Alastair
:18:07. > :18:13.mentioned, they've gone through a terrible time on the NHS, doing
:18:13. > :18:17.what a lot of people said they wouldn't do, this massive reform.
:18:17. > :18:25.Owen is wrong that they earn �1 million now. But this is a Cabinet
:18:25. > :18:30.of largely rich people who overall will benefit from these taxes. Is
:18:30. > :18:33.it playing to type? Gordon Brown laid a clever trap. He hoped the
:18:33. > :18:38.trap would be sprung before the election. He hoped the Tories would
:18:38. > :18:44.say no, we'll get rid of the 50p, but they lived with it until this
:18:44. > :18:49.week. But now they are not going to live with it any more. The timing
:18:49. > :18:53.is clever, because it comes in next year. There'll be two years before
:18:53. > :18:57.the election. It is about the politics of this. It is interesting
:18:57. > :19:03.that Ed Miliband made this the big issue when she responded to the
:19:03. > :19:06.Chancellor. That is because he didn't listen to the Budget. Come
:19:06. > :19:12.the election, unless Labour is prepared to say we will reinstate
:19:12. > :19:16.the 50p it ceases to be an election issue. That is true but it is an
:19:16. > :19:19.extremely popular policy. The fact is this is a policy which even
:19:19. > :19:24.attracts the majority of Conservative voters. Therefore do
:19:24. > :19:29.you think Labour will, I know you think they should, campaign on a
:19:30. > :19:34.50p tax rate come the election? they won't. There's a lack of
:19:34. > :19:38.leadership from them at the moment. I think if they called for more
:19:38. > :19:42.taxation on the rich, for the people at the top to toy their fair
:19:42. > :19:47.share they would get a lot of popular support. That is what
:19:47. > :19:53.they'll do. I don't think you can rule it out. Owen Jones, thank you
:19:53. > :19:58.for being with us. The car is outside. Boy George may have given
:19:58. > :20:05.up on asking his multi-millionaire Cabinet colleagues to pay the 50p
:20:05. > :20:09.rate of tax. Coming soon writer, comic, broadcaster top tweeter Dave
:20:09. > :20:13.Gorman will be guiding us through the delicate world of internet
:20:13. > :20:18.manners. For those of you who still don't know how to behave online,
:20:18. > :20:23.and this seems to be most of you who watch this programme, there's a
:20:24. > :20:28.certainly circle of hell reserved for you on our web page, our
:20:28. > :20:34.Twitter page and our Twitter mainframe. I don't know what that
:20:34. > :20:37.is. I know you do, Alastair. There are reports this week that call me
:20:37. > :20:43.Dave and Boy George have given their homes in Downing Street a
:20:43. > :20:49.make-over, at the cost of a meer �1.8 million to the taxpayer. At
:20:49. > :20:55.that price they must have used the very posh wallpaper from George's
:20:55. > :21:02.family business, Osborne and Little. Decorating doesn't need to be
:21:02. > :21:06.expensive. You can always do it yourself. We asked Channel 4's
:21:06. > :21:16.Sarah Smith to don her over alls and give us a round-up of the
:21:16. > :21:22.
:21:22. > :21:28.Unlike the Chancellor, I'm not the heir to a wallpaper dynasty but I
:21:28. > :21:33.do like to think I'm a bit of a dab hand at DIY. I've been task to
:21:33. > :21:37.choose one of these and put it on the wall. How hard can it really
:21:37. > :21:42.be? This year's Budget was about as leaky as this old budget. So when
:21:42. > :21:46.the Chancellor unrolled it in front of the nation there weren't many
:21:46. > :21:51.surprises. But there was a huge political gamble at the heart of it
:21:51. > :21:54.confirm a very wealthy Chancellor get away with giving away millions
:21:54. > :21:57.to millionaires? There was a small Tam cut for the rest of us by
:21:57. > :22:02.raising the personal allowances. That was to please the Liberal
:22:02. > :22:11.Democrats. But there was a much bigger tax cut for people who earn
:22:11. > :22:16.over �150 a year. From April next year, the top rate of tax will be
:22:16. > :22:23.45p. No Chancellor can justify a tax rate that damages our economy
:22:23. > :22:28.and raises next to nothing. It is as simple as that.
:22:28. > :22:33.It wasn't all tax cuts for the rich. There is higher staff duty on house
:22:33. > :22:38.purchases over �2 million, which is not really a "mansion tax" but the
:22:38. > :22:43.Liberal Democrats can pretend it is. And there's a big crackdown on tax
:22:44. > :22:47.dodges, which Nick Clegg is claim is sort of like a tycoon tax. But
:22:47. > :22:52.did the coalition's junior partners not notice that the Chancellor was
:22:52. > :22:56.about to rip up granny's tax allowances? And did he think the
:22:56. > :23:02.rest of us wouldn't this is that this is a nice way of helping the
:23:02. > :23:09.poor old dears with hose horribly complicated self assessment forms?
:23:09. > :23:15.We will simplify the tax forms better pensioners by doing away
:23:15. > :23:18.with age-related allowances for those reaching 65 on or behalf 2013.
:23:18. > :23:24.The first rule of budgetary politics is you don't mess with the
:23:24. > :23:33.grey vote. So has the Chancellor made a big mistake here? Maybe. But
:23:33. > :23:40.he has stopped us all talking about that 50p tax cut. Oh, damn it!
:23:40. > :23:44.Ed Miliband didn't let himself get distrackeded. He turned in one of
:23:44. > :23:46.his best parliamentary performances yet. Let's have some tax
:23:46. > :23:56.transparency. Hands up in the Cabinet if you are going to benefit
:23:56. > :24:00.from the income tax cut. Come on. Come on. Come on. Labour might not
:24:00. > :24:05.have liked it but the business community were delighted with what
:24:05. > :24:09.they heard. So now the Chancellor just has to wait and see whether
:24:09. > :24:14.his gamble paid off. Is this going to be remembered as the budgets
:24:14. > :24:24.that business loved? The Budget that cut taxes for the very
:24:24. > :24:37.
:24:37. > :24:40.richest? Or the Budget that raised It's been a week of parliamentary
:24:40. > :24:44.pageantry. The Palace of Westminster was give an good brush-
:24:44. > :24:48.up in anticipation of the Queen's visit to mark her Diamond Jubilee.
:24:49. > :24:53.The great and the good were all there - Prime Ministers old and new,
:24:53. > :24:58.and Speaker Bercow, never one to shun the limelight. He seized the
:24:58. > :25:03.opportunity to extol Her Majesty's visit use. This is a nation of many
:25:04. > :25:09.races, faiths and customs, beginning now to be reflected in
:25:09. > :25:15.Parliament. All of this progress has occurred during your reign. You
:25:15. > :25:19.have become to many of us a kaleidoscope Queen of a
:25:19. > :25:22.kaleidoscope country in a kaleidoscope qefplt
:25:22. > :25:27.It is not difficult to imagine what the Prime Minister thought of the
:25:27. > :25:32.Speaker's grandstanding. He certainly enjoyed the
:25:32. > :25:42.opportunity to poke fun at the Speaker's language when asked about
:25:42. > :25:48.
:25:48. > :25:56.the Budget. This is if you like, Mr Speaker, a kaleidoscope Budget.
:25:56. > :26:06.MORE! MORE SPEAKER I'M SO ENCOURAGED THAT THE PRIME MINISTER
:26:06. > :26:17.
:26:17. > :26:21.IS USING MY LANGUAGE. ANDY BURNHAM We will repeal this Bill at the
:26:21. > :26:26.first opportunity and that we will restore the N in NHS. Mr Speaker,
:26:26. > :26:32.we have given this fight. We have given this fight everything that we
:26:32. > :26:35.confirm our fight will go on to protect and restore this party's
:26:35. > :26:39.finest achievement So for now all that coalition cracks have been
:26:39. > :26:43.papered over. All those Liberal Democrats worrys have been smoothed
:26:43. > :26:49.away as the whole Cabinet banged on the table to celebrate the passing
:26:49. > :26:59.of the Bill. A job well done, they like too think. Just like this one.
:26:59. > :27:02.
:27:03. > :27:12.Oh, no! How did that happen? It happens to me too, Sarah.
:27:12. > :27:19.Joining us at our little community college Brenda Green. Will we
:27:19. > :27:25.remember this Budget? And if we do, for what? A lot of people will get
:27:25. > :27:32.a big tax cut, myself included. The average wage in this country is
:27:32. > :27:36.�26,000. So a large chunk of people over �20 million will get a tax cut.
:27:37. > :27:42.Presumably we all get our tax bills, a lot of us, I'm in that bracket,
:27:42. > :27:47.will be pleased. But it is not enormous. If you are one of those
:27:48. > :27:51.people who are on middle and low incomes it does make a difference.
:27:51. > :27:56.But it is not life changing. think the problem that's happened
:27:57. > :28:02.this week is that a positive news story, certainly for the Liberal
:28:02. > :28:07.Democrats, has been drowned out by the granny tax. I just wanted to
:28:07. > :28:12.get your overview. What do you think, some budgets are not
:28:12. > :28:15.remembered. Will this be remembered and if so for what? I think the
:28:15. > :28:19.last thing -- the lasting significance of it was in the
:28:19. > :28:25.bigger figures and the economic forecasts. He tried to make a big
:28:25. > :28:33.thing of it being 0.8 rather than 0.7. It was third of what he was
:28:33. > :28:37.planning for in his first Budget. I think it is the fact that the
:28:37. > :28:41.economy and the recovery is not happening. That is back to the
:28:41. > :28:46.earlier discussion, because they haven't got the right priorities
:28:46. > :28:51.and a strategy for jobs and growth. The tax changes will be remembered.
:28:51. > :28:56.This will be the biggest Budget of the Parliament. But that doesn't
:28:56. > :29:00.necessarily mean, and what he's done about the elderly, by the way
:29:00. > :29:06.no older person is going to lose out on this. Every pensioner is
:29:07. > :29:16.going to benefit from the bigger tax allowance that all income tax
:29:17. > :29:17.
:29:17. > :29:21.payers benefit from. Hold on, the alliance is going to be frozen. Any
:29:21. > :29:26.-- the allowance is going to be frozen. No, what they are losing
:29:26. > :29:31.out on is what their position would have been if this change had not
:29:31. > :29:35.been made. All pensioners will be better off. It is money that they
:29:35. > :29:45.expected to have that they will not now have. They didn't know that the
:29:45. > :29:51.
:29:51. > :29:55.income tax allowance was going to That's a cut. Pensioners are going
:29:55. > :29:58.to lose their advantage over other income taxpayers. Yeah. But all
:29:58. > :30:05.income taxpayers are benefiting from this enormous increase in the
:30:05. > :30:12.threshold. All right. We have run out of time on your original
:30:12. > :30:15.statement. You need to get to the point more quickly! You mentioned
:30:15. > :30:21.the threshold, which is what the Liberal Democrats have been dining
:30:21. > :30:25.out on. But the news headlines are about the 50p tax rate and about
:30:25. > :30:28.the so-called granny tax. They are. In the end, the Lib Dem achievement
:30:28. > :30:32.for the Tories is that you are giving cover to these unpopular
:30:32. > :30:36.policies. Well, OK. Anyone who is involved with the Lib Dems has to
:30:36. > :30:41.learn to be a permanent optimist, here is an optimistic take. The
:30:41. > :30:45.headlines were atrocious this morning, absolute carnage. Never
:30:45. > :30:49.seen worse after a Budget, never seen worse. Horrific. They must
:30:49. > :30:52.have been head in hands, all of them. But I think if you look
:30:52. > :30:58.slightly behind it, it was interesting, if you looked at the
:30:58. > :31:01.Sun which had gone furious and hated the Budget, if you looked at
:31:01. > :31:05.the breakdown of measures they gave a thumbs up to the Lib Dem measures,
:31:05. > :31:08.a thumbs up to the tax there is hold changes, to -- threshold
:31:08. > :31:13.changes, to the property taxes and the case studies in all the papers,
:31:13. > :31:18.all the case studies of lower income working people benefiting.
:31:18. > :31:22.So what you have to try and... Unless you neighbouring tax credits
:31:22. > :31:25.and other tax changes in the system and eight out of ten cuts are still
:31:25. > :31:33.not through there. A lot of those people they will come to be a lot
:31:33. > :31:39.worse off. It's an important mission of this whole parliament.
:31:39. > :31:44.Are the Lib Dem grass roots, who we know are pretty unhappy in general.
:31:44. > :31:50.They're all wearing red like Nick was. Are they going to be happy
:31:50. > :31:54.with the cut in the 50p rate, happy that the Lib Dems cabinet Ministers
:31:54. > :32:00.banged the cabinet table as the health and social Bill was passed
:32:00. > :32:04.into law? Well, definitely not the last. They won't be happy with that.
:32:04. > :32:07.Then unlikely to be happy with the disaster that is the coverage of
:32:07. > :32:12.the Budget because nobody wants to be associated with a mess, right?
:32:12. > :32:15.The granny tax, in my view, was handled incredibly badly, I think.
:32:15. > :32:18.We have officially had the discussion about this, there is an
:32:18. > :32:23.argument to be had on the merits of asking the older generation to also
:32:23. > :32:33.make a contribution to... He didn't do that, he did sneak it out.
:32:33. > :32:37.agree. It was clear. It wasn't clear. It was a gift... He got the
:32:37. > :32:41.tone all wrong. He should have been much more still in austerity mode,
:32:41. > :32:46.he was trying pretend things are better than they are. He gave a
:32:46. > :32:50.gift to the lobby by trying to hide something. To find a negative story
:32:50. > :32:57.and everyone loved it. Is Ed Miliband right to have gone
:32:57. > :33:00.entirely on the 50p cut in his Budget reply? It's what, as Labour
:33:00. > :33:03.leaders have been touring the studios, that's almost all they
:33:03. > :33:06.want to talk about, is that sensible? Even in a Budget response,
:33:06. > :33:10.because the Budget is the big thing, the Chancellor's got all the things
:33:10. > :33:14.to announce. It's a tough gig, yes. I thought Ed did extremely well.
:33:14. > :33:17.The truth is you get one or two points across if you are lucky. I
:33:17. > :33:22.thought he got that point over incredibly well. Including when he
:33:22. > :33:25.was sort of pointing at the front bench. Now what he and Ed Balls and
:33:25. > :33:30.the others have to do is take this into the area of where is the plan
:33:31. > :33:34.for jobs and growth, that's the big hole in the heart of this Budget.
:33:34. > :33:38.Stkwrous recap, when the Conservatives cut the top rate of
:33:38. > :33:41.tax to 40p the Labour Party were so furious the sitting of the House of
:33:41. > :33:45.Commons had to be suspended. There was absolute uproar. It was Alex
:33:45. > :33:49.Salmond that caused the disruption, not the Labour MP. It was who
:33:49. > :33:53.started it, but Labour was there with a fury as well. These things
:33:53. > :33:57.do pass into history. I think by the time we get to the election the
:33:58. > :34:04.45p will not be a problem. We might be heading for 40p by then. It's
:34:04. > :34:09.always going to be an interesting choice. As I have spoken to Lib
:34:09. > :34:13.Dems post the Budget, they're kind of of surprisingly chipper, after
:34:13. > :34:17.the coalition went through a rough time from Mr Clegg downwards they
:34:17. > :34:22.seem to be kind of back in the game again. The coalition which you
:34:22. > :34:25.could have thought was maybe a bit shaky, this Budget for all its
:34:25. > :34:28.headlines this morning, seems to have put the coalition back on the
:34:28. > :34:32.road again, would you agree with that? I would. I think also this
:34:32. > :34:35.kind of interesting public negotiation that's been going on
:34:36. > :34:39.between both sides of the the coalition has been a big plus for
:34:39. > :34:42.the Lib Dems because it's allowed Nick Clegg to publicly make a
:34:42. > :34:46.speech saying I want to go further and faster on these tax thresholds,
:34:46. > :34:51.and now he can say I got that. Everyone's pretty satisfied because
:34:51. > :34:55.that's a headline page one manifesto policy. The 50p cut and
:34:55. > :34:58.they got the corporation tax cut, so in a sense for the moment anyway,
:34:58. > :35:02.they're happy. We will swhaoe the weekend papers make of it because
:35:02. > :35:09.that's often the real test of a Budget. I have to get to the big
:35:09. > :35:12.issue. On a scale of twoupb ten -- scale of twoupb ten, how much does
:35:12. > :35:17.David Cameron hate the Speaker of the House?
:35:17. > :35:22.Ten being really vengeful, hate beyond hate. One being I just don't
:35:22. > :35:30.like him. With the two clips you showed it's got to be at nine.
:35:30. > :35:36.was going to say 8.5. Miranda? think calmer -- Cameron does good
:35:36. > :35:45.hate. The face there - the Queen looked bemused but Cameron...
:35:45. > :35:50.idea what he was talking about. You put Kaleidoscope into a Tony Blair
:35:50. > :36:00.speech. No love lost. Twoupb ten? Probably about a nine. The Speaker
:36:00. > :36:00.
:36:00. > :36:10.was shaking with anger. If I round up 8.5 it's all nine. 999!
:36:10. > :36:10.
:36:10. > :36:13.Maybe what the Speaker should dial. Nice to see you again. Now, we
:36:13. > :36:15.learnt a new verb this week - chatterboxing - the act of posting
:36:15. > :36:24.online comments about This Week, whilst simultaneously watching the
:36:24. > :36:28.show. I am maced most of you can do anything at once, never mind two
:36:28. > :36:30.things. Not to be confused with wineboxing - an act involving Blue
:36:30. > :36:36.Nun and a remote control, which results in an altogether different
:36:36. > :36:38.sort of hangover. So with our highly underpaid team of interns
:36:38. > :36:41.currently hunched over their Raspberry Pi's, feeding us your
:36:41. > :36:46.instant vitriol, what exactly are the rules of etiquette in the
:36:46. > :36:51.online world? And who's making them up as we go along? We've decided to
:36:51. > :37:01.put "netiquette" in this week's Spotlight. Get it? I thought of
:37:01. > :37:08.
:37:08. > :37:14.Following his collapse on the field Fabrice Muamba's family thanked the
:37:14. > :37:17.public for their kindness, with the online community galvanising
:37:17. > :37:22.sympathy and support for the young football star. I have to say
:37:22. > :37:29.worldwide the support he's had, the prayer from countries all over the
:37:29. > :37:32.world, and people that just - how nice a lad he is. While celebrities
:37:32. > :37:36.David Mitchell and Victoria Coren choose a traditional way to
:37:36. > :37:41.announce their engagement, in The Times, they were soon trending in
:37:41. > :37:45.the top ten following so many tweets of congratulations. It is
:37:45. > :37:50.saoeupls the virtual world has a darker side as broadcaster Richard
:37:50. > :37:54.Bacon this week revealed how he had been hounded by an online troll.
:37:54. > :38:04.had come home to find a barrage of abuse, mainly on Twitter. He had
:38:04. > :38:05.
:38:05. > :38:11.always post under a madeup name and currently calls him Dick Bacon.
:38:11. > :38:14.After Stan Collymore was abused on twit, his abuser was given a
:38:14. > :38:18.community sentence. As more people express feelings and emotions
:38:18. > :38:21.online how easy is it for people people to hide behind a keyboard?
:38:21. > :38:31.Or is the etiquette of the internet something that we will all have to
:38:31. > :38:35.get used to? We are joined by Dave Gorman.
:38:35. > :38:40.200,000 followers on Twitter. that right? It is, we checked.
:38:40. > :38:45.have already told me, you are odd, you are smug, patronising and I
:38:45. > :38:49.look like death warmed up. Who has come off best? I don't know.
:38:49. > :38:52.they in the main polite to you? Most are. The vast majority, as
:38:52. > :38:57.with the world, most people are polite but every now and then, it's
:38:57. > :39:01.just a young medium, people don't quite know what the rules are. If
:39:01. > :39:05.someone, you know if you appear on TV someone somewhere is at home
:39:05. > :39:07.going I hate him and turning off and that's fine. Happens a lot on
:39:07. > :39:12.this programme. If they were having that conversation and you walked
:39:12. > :39:15.into the pub they wouldn't shout it at you. They would whisper because
:39:16. > :39:19.they're well brought up. If you are on Twitter and put at in front of
:39:19. > :39:25.your name you are shouting it at them and that's a weird thing to do.
:39:25. > :39:29.It would seem to me that anonymity can encourage the rudeness. People
:39:29. > :39:33.will say things behind an anonymous shield they're never going to say
:39:33. > :39:37.to your face or even in a letter they would sign. With some people
:39:37. > :39:40.it's the bravery you felt at the age of seven when you went knocking
:39:40. > :39:43.on doors and running away before they opened it. It's look what I
:39:43. > :39:50.did, I dared to challenge that authority. If they see you as an
:39:50. > :39:54.authority. I doubt that very much! Do they sometimes - I found this on
:39:54. > :39:58.Twitter sometimes people have been rude and they actually haven't
:39:58. > :40:01.realised they've been rude. Exactly. Some people they think you always
:40:01. > :40:04.put someone's at in front of their name because that's what they are
:40:04. > :40:07.on Twitter, they think that's the behaviour of that world. Actually
:40:07. > :40:10.if you are talking about someone rather than to them you shouldn't.
:40:10. > :40:14.Because that's not what a conversation is. It's a weird thing.
:40:14. > :40:18.It comes from maybe reality TV has put this odd morality of at least I
:40:18. > :40:24.say it to your face. That's not polite. Talking behind your back is
:40:24. > :40:28.polite. That's normal, how you were brought up! And safer. Absolutely.
:40:28. > :40:33.Who is making the rules then in this brave new world? I don't know.
:40:33. > :40:38.It goes both ways, as well as the ub phre -- unpleasantness and in
:40:38. > :40:42.the film there were examples, horrible recently. Also that
:40:42. > :40:46.outpouring of sort of positivity. Everyone's turned... The football
:40:46. > :40:53.player? Exactly. You get odd things like the other day I got told off
:40:53. > :40:59.by someone after the passing of Davey Jones from the Monkees, I got
:40:59. > :41:03.told off because I hpblt tweeted -- hadn't tweeted RIP. I was sorry to
:41:03. > :41:08.hear about it but I don't feel the need to publicly display grief
:41:08. > :41:11.because it was in the news. 136,000 followers, Alastair. Off reputation
:41:11. > :41:16.of being a bit of a bruiser. Does that mean that people think they
:41:16. > :41:19.can be a bruiser to you on Twitter? Possibly, but I find, I agree with
:41:19. > :41:24.Dave, most people are nice on Twitter and I probably get less
:41:24. > :41:27.abuse on Twitter than in the press. Or on blogs. Blogs tend to be more
:41:27. > :41:30.unpleasant. The other thing I find happens is if somebody is
:41:30. > :41:35.unpleasant on Twitter, other followers sort of get in and sort
:41:35. > :41:42.it out. The other thing,... character isn't enough to be rude
:41:42. > :41:46.to you. They need a blog for Campbell. I do think there is a
:41:46. > :41:51.sort of basic niceness still, and the nastiness, you just got to
:41:51. > :41:56.ignore it. I don't unfollow, I don't block anybody. Let people say
:41:57. > :42:02.what they want. Don't you even block the rude and unpleasant?
:42:02. > :42:05.Tkoeu. That's what they want. That's a warning do you, out there.
:42:05. > :42:09.I do. It's the fear of being blocked for a lot of people that
:42:09. > :42:13.makes them more... People see blocking as a strange aggressive
:42:13. > :42:17.move. I think it's like moving seats on a bus. If someone sits
:42:17. > :42:20.next on a bus with horrible noise and I see an empty seat I will move.
:42:20. > :42:27.I am not being rude. Michael Portillo, redundant in this
:42:27. > :42:31.conversation, with zero followers. Because he is not there. Now you
:42:31. > :42:36.love political argument. You are a man of the people as we can all
:42:36. > :42:40.hear and see. Don't you think you are missing out? I don't do it
:42:40. > :42:44.mainly because I watch you week by week obsessed tpweu and I don't
:42:44. > :42:47.want to turn into a sad person like that. Aren't you tempted? You can't
:42:48. > :42:51.even sit here on the show without looking at tweets all the time. I
:42:51. > :42:55.don't want to be in that state of prediction. I have people to speak
:42:55. > :42:59.to. Some days I don't look at it. Come on, I have never seen five
:42:59. > :43:04.minutes you don't look at it. and I don't spend every hour of the
:43:04. > :43:08.day together. That's our line and we are sticking to it! We can't
:43:09. > :43:12.tempt you? I am not tempted at the moment. I bet you within a year you
:43:12. > :43:16.will be there. He will be and if he is not somebody pretending to be
:43:16. > :43:22.him will be. There is somebody pretending to be me now. I didn't
:43:22. > :43:24.want to do it, but I did. Dave, what are you up to? I have a show I
:43:25. > :43:31.am touring, four nights in London at the start of April and then on
:43:31. > :43:34.the road. Excellent. Good luck with the tour. Thank you very much.
:43:34. > :43:36.That's your lot for tonight, folks. But not for us, because it's "Top
:43:36. > :43:41.Rate Taxpayer" night at Annabel's and Samantha Cameron will be
:43:41. > :43:47.celebrating her good fortune with Tory Blue Nun Royale all round.
:43:47. > :43:49.Drinks will be on her. But we leave you with the man who this week took
:43:49. > :43:51.the Kaleidoscope Queen, of a Kaleidoscope country, in a
:43:51. > :44:01.Kaleidoscope Commonwealth, on a psychedelic trip down the rabbit
:44:01. > :44:08.
:44:08. > :44:13.hole. He is the Eggman. He is the Walrus. He is the Speaker! Coo coo
:44:13. > :44:17.ca choo! Nighty night - don't let Big John ankle bite.
:44:17. > :44:22.# Big John # Every morning at the mine cow see