:00:00. > :00:08.Tonight, as the BBC celebrates 50 years of Doctor Who, join This Week
:00:09. > :00:23.as we save the political universe. With danger stalking the city
:00:24. > :00:28.streets, is it time for politicians to regenerate our roads and make
:00:29. > :00:31.them safer for Britain's cyclists? Time travelling, humanoid alien,
:00:32. > :00:42.otherwise known as Jon Snow, comes to the rescue. I don't have a lot in
:00:43. > :00:47.common with Doctor Who. He has a scarf and I have a tie. He has a
:00:48. > :00:50.TARDIS and I have a bike. One strange creature possibly from
:00:51. > :00:53.Planet Gallifrey, the Rev Paul Flowers, is causing an implosion on
:00:54. > :01:02.planet Westminster. The Mirror's Kevin Maguire is studying the
:01:03. > :01:07.fallout. In a week when politicians traded fire over Army cuts and who
:01:08. > :01:09.runs the banks, I bet the Reverend Flowers wishes he could go back in
:01:10. > :01:12.time. And how do we travel into the future
:01:13. > :01:18.if we're unprepared? Master of cooking Delia Smith wants to
:01:19. > :01:29.regenerate some basic life skills. And I can tell you one thing, the
:01:30. > :01:33.studio is not bigger on the inside. Reverse the polarity of the neutron
:01:34. > :01:39.flow. Evenin' all. Welcome to This Week.
:01:40. > :01:43.Well who'd have thunk it? The Co-op, that nice ethical place me old mum
:01:44. > :01:47.used to shop and bank and get her divvy from - remember the divvy -
:01:48. > :01:50.turns out to be the Bank of Breaking Bad, run by a debauched evil genius
:01:51. > :01:56.called Flowers, masquerading as a crystal Methodist preacher man. It
:01:57. > :01:58.was the perfect cover. And he was the perfect bank manager. Off his
:01:59. > :02:02.skull on horse tranquillisers at rent boy orgies, he was never going
:02:03. > :02:05.to worry about your overdraft, was he? He certainly never worried about
:02:06. > :02:08.Labour getting high on the bank's supply, with cheap mutli-million
:02:09. > :02:10.pound loans happily renewed and increased, especially after he
:02:11. > :02:13.became Off-His-Ed Miliband's NBF, which was a shrewd move by Ed, since
:02:14. > :02:22.Labour's credit-worthiness meant their only alternative was Wonga.
:02:23. > :02:27.Perhaps genius is the wrong word for the rev. When asked by the Commons
:02:28. > :02:32.Banking Committee the size of his bank's assets he insisted, twice,
:02:33. > :02:37.they totalled ?3bn. The real figure was ?47bn. If he'd known that, think
:02:38. > :02:41.how much more he'd have loaned Labour, or how big a run on meth and
:02:42. > :02:44.rent boys would there have been? At least he brought some welcome
:02:45. > :02:48.innovation to British banking. Co-op cash machines now give you four
:02:49. > :02:56.simple choices. Cash, coke, crystal, or ket. Genius, indeed! Speaking of
:02:57. > :03:01.those who are off their heads, I'm joined on the sofa tonight by two
:03:02. > :03:04.men who just aren't half as much fun as Reverend Flowers. Think of them
:03:05. > :03:07.as the unqualified and unsuitable of late night political chat. I speak,
:03:08. > :03:18.of course, of #manontheleft Alan "AJ" Johnson, and #sadmanonatrain
:03:19. > :03:26.Michael "Mind the Gap" Portillo. Your moment of the week? I read this
:03:27. > :03:29.morning that it is thought that four Britons had in killed in Syria
:03:30. > :03:35.fighting for Al-Qaeda. It is thought up to 300 buttons have gone out to
:03:36. > :03:39.Syria to fight. It is thought 500,000 written is visit Pakistan
:03:40. > :03:45.every year. I mention Pakistan because it is probably the hot bed
:03:46. > :03:50.of radicalism. Some of those may be going to be radicalised. When a week
:03:51. > :03:54.or two ago the security chiefs appeared in front of a Commons
:03:55. > :03:58.committee, one of them will you did to looking for a needle in a
:03:59. > :04:03.haystack. It gives us an idea of the Needle and the haystack. Among these
:04:04. > :04:06.people there will be some who could represent a huge danger to the
:04:07. > :04:13.country and we rely on the security forces to find them. They come back
:04:14. > :04:18.well trained and up for it. And ready to radicalise others and get
:04:19. > :04:23.them to go out. Moment of the week, month and year was when Maria Miller
:04:24. > :04:32.announced yesterday morning that Hull was the UK city of culture. Why
:04:33. > :04:37.was that important to you? It means a lot to the city. Andrew motion,
:04:38. > :04:44.the biographer of Larkin, said something after the fishing industry
:04:45. > :04:47.collapsed, it was the biggest fishing port in the world and it
:04:48. > :04:51.almost collapsed overnight. He said Hull is at the end of one kind of
:04:52. > :04:55.life, waiting for a new one to begin. A feeling in Hull is that the
:04:56. > :05:00.new life began with the recognition as the UK city of culture.
:05:01. > :05:04.Now, "selfie" has been named word of the year by the chaps at Oxford no
:05:05. > :05:07.less. So, ever-ready to jump the shark, we're launching our own This
:05:08. > :05:12.Week version, the TWelfie. See what we did there? So tweet us your
:05:13. > :05:15.TWelfie. We want actual photographic evidence somebody out there is
:05:16. > :05:19.watching this drivel. Make sure you include yourself, plus Michael, Alan
:05:20. > :05:28.or my good self on the TV screen. Extra points for a glass of Blue Nun
:05:29. > :05:35.in shot. And if we get more than half a dozen, we might even put them
:05:36. > :05:38.in the end credits. Now, cast your absent minds back to
:05:39. > :05:41.that Tory make over of yesteryear, when nothing screamed "modern" like
:05:42. > :05:43.call-me-Dave riding to work on a bike, chauffeur following behind
:05:44. > :05:50.with briefcase, cucumber sandwiches and jar of gentleman's relish. But
:05:51. > :05:54.with six fatalities on London streets in the past two weeks, and
:05:55. > :06:01.over 3,200 cyclists killed or seriously injured last year, cycling
:06:02. > :06:05.has become a dangerous business. So is it time for politicians to take
:06:06. > :06:09.two wheels more seriously? We turned to Channel 4 News presenter and keen
:06:10. > :06:20.bike man Jon Snow for his take of the week.
:06:21. > :06:29.I have been cycling two, from, at work for 40 years, I would say, but
:06:30. > :06:43.every day I come within perhaps a second or an inch of very serious
:06:44. > :06:47.trouble. So the news that six cyclists have
:06:48. > :06:52.been killed on the streets of London in the last two weeks must make
:06:53. > :06:53.every cyclist think again and again, there but for the grace of God go
:06:54. > :07:12.I. Can I introduce you to the shortest
:07:13. > :07:16.cycle lane in London? It is 25 feet. You see, politicians are in complete
:07:17. > :07:22.confusion about cycling. On the one hand, they want us to cycle because
:07:23. > :07:27.we are so fat and unfit. But do they want to spend any money on it? ?150
:07:28. > :07:35.million has been granted this year, which is big by their standards but
:07:36. > :07:39.it will do nothing. Politicians tend to see everything through the eyes
:07:40. > :07:43.of the motorist, but I believe there will be huge rewards for the first
:07:44. > :07:47.political leader who decides they want to redraw the urban map to
:07:48. > :07:57.favour and prioritise both pedestrian and the cyclist.
:07:58. > :08:03.I fully accept that there is a pretty good deal of bad behaviour
:08:04. > :08:08.among cyclists in the urban jungle, but you will not get good behaviour
:08:09. > :08:13.until you have provision. That means filters on traffic light especially
:08:14. > :08:23.for cyclists, separated cycleways, warning signals on trucks. We
:08:24. > :08:37.respond to our surroundings, and for now, it is a dog eat dog world.
:08:38. > :08:43.Proving you can ride a bike, deliver a piece to camera and crash into the
:08:44. > :08:50.car in front of you. At least he got to the studio safely. Welcome back
:08:51. > :08:56.to this week. These deaths in London, is this a trend or a
:08:57. > :08:59.terrible coincidence? Probably a terrible coincidence because
:09:00. > :09:07.generally deaths of cyclists have been falling. But six in nine days
:09:08. > :09:12.is not good. You are a cyclist. I used to do a lot more cycling. Do
:09:13. > :09:17.you not feel the streets are more dangerous? The problem is that
:09:18. > :09:20.cycling has become a success, partly because of the Olympics, but also
:09:21. > :09:24.because people want to become fitter, and because traffic jams in
:09:25. > :09:29.London have got very bad. So there are many more. Where once I might
:09:30. > :09:36.see four cyclists on my way to work, I now see 80 or 90. That is over a
:09:37. > :09:39.period of 30 years. But in the meantime, nothing has changed except
:09:40. > :09:46.for paint on the road which means nothing. There are some bike lanes
:09:47. > :09:55.now in our cities. Paint on the road. You can still swerve onto them
:09:56. > :09:58.in a car. The armadillo, a little blob which they bolt into the road
:09:59. > :10:06.and is cheap to put in, you would feel that if you went into the lane
:10:07. > :10:09.with a car. Supposing money was not an object, what would you do that
:10:10. > :10:15.would make the streets bike friendly? I am afraid you would have
:10:16. > :10:18.to move on the motorist. You would have to say the congestion charge, a
:10:19. > :10:22.terrific invention which only affected fifth in percent of people
:10:23. > :10:26.who drive in central London who live in London, and most people driving
:10:27. > :10:30.in central London have come from outside, you would have two trouble,
:10:31. > :10:36.quadruple it. To stop the cars coming in? There is no requirement
:10:37. > :10:44.for a private car in the middle of London. I voice found the trucks
:10:45. > :10:51.dangerous. He would have to limit them somehow and make them smaller,
:10:52. > :11:02.possibly. Are their votes, Michael, in cyclists? There are probably more
:11:03. > :11:06.votes in motorists. There were not for Ken Livingstone. He got his
:11:07. > :11:14.congestion charge through precisely because motorists were in the
:11:15. > :11:17.minority. But then he lost. The congestion charge has been a success
:11:18. > :11:21.but I would have thought there were more votes in motorists. I am not
:11:22. > :11:26.sure you have to be anti-motorist. One of the things that happened in
:11:27. > :11:29.Scandinavian countries is that cycle lanes are carved out of pedestrian
:11:30. > :11:35.areas, rather than out of driver areas. If you have a wide pavement,
:11:36. > :11:39.you can paint a narrow cycle lane, which gives enough room for a
:11:40. > :11:44.cyclist in each direction. You then have two educate pedestrians. I am
:11:45. > :11:53.always in great danger in these cities where there are cycle lanes.
:11:54. > :11:57.In Amsterdam, you forget. After a while, you would get used to it. I
:11:58. > :12:01.think there are things that could be done. I began this evening being
:12:02. > :12:08.fairly anti-your whole idea, but when I heard in the introduction
:12:09. > :12:12.that 3200 cyclists each year are injured or killed, I was completely
:12:13. > :12:21.shocked. I had no idea it was that many. The number of motorists who
:12:22. > :12:25.die on the road is 5000. One of the other things in London is the
:12:26. > :12:28.introduction of the Barclays Bank bicycles, which have been a great
:12:29. > :12:35.step forward. Then people do not have to bring their bicycle in. I
:12:36. > :12:38.used to represent postmen and women who had to cycle for a living. We
:12:39. > :12:46.had a hell of a job to convince Royal Mail to actually hand out
:12:47. > :12:49.helmets as part of the uniform. It was a long struggle. I noticed you
:12:50. > :12:53.were wearing your helmet and high visibility jacket. The thing I find
:12:54. > :12:59.interesting is that this is a test for Boris. Boris has kind of
:13:00. > :13:04.achieved his reputation on being a bit of a show man. This is a big
:13:05. > :13:08.little issue for him. He has championed cyclists. But I noticed
:13:09. > :13:14.in the week he was talking about forbidding cyclists wearing
:13:15. > :13:21.earphones. I support that. You have to have every sense with you. But
:13:22. > :13:27.the main problem is lorries turning left with cyclists on the inside. If
:13:28. > :13:33.you do not hear the lorry, you are in trouble. There does not seem to
:13:34. > :13:40.be evidence that earplugs are the problem. I think Boris needs to do
:13:41. > :13:43.more thinking on this. I am not anti-motorists. I think they would
:13:44. > :13:46.have a better time that they could not drive in central London, because
:13:47. > :13:52.they would be able to travel by public transport, which is working
:13:53. > :13:59.extraordinarily well. But you seem not to be thinking about the HGV
:14:00. > :14:04.problem. In Paris, they banned HGV vehicles from the centre of Paris
:14:05. > :14:09.rush hour. And I hear that last year they had not one single cyclist
:14:10. > :14:19.death. The HGV problem must be the biggest aplomb, rather than cars in
:14:20. > :14:25.general. They had a fatality many years ago and decided to fit the
:14:26. > :14:36.trucks with warning sounds on the left saying, truck turning left. I
:14:37. > :14:41.think that is effective. But you may well have to change our habits of
:14:42. > :14:46.delivery. There are many more cyclists than before in all major
:14:47. > :14:52.cities and towns, but cyclists are not yet a political lobby. They are
:14:53. > :14:55.not yet a powerful political group. I think the pedestrian would
:14:56. > :14:59.benefit, too, because there is a threat at the moment to the
:15:00. > :15:06.pedestrian from the cyclist. The pedestrian suffers most, and they
:15:07. > :15:13.complain most. And then cab-drivers. Who are the political champions of
:15:14. > :15:21.cyclists? Boris must the one. David Cameron was undone by the car
:15:22. > :15:30.chasing behind. We have the baronet, Sir George Young, but not many. And
:15:31. > :15:34.Andrew Mitchell. There are lots of champions in the Olympic line-up,
:15:35. > :15:41.but not in the Commons. If you were to make the city - I take the point
:15:42. > :15:47.of the congestion charge, although it may mean only the well-off could
:15:48. > :15:51.drive in. I would ban the private car from the centre of cities. In
:15:52. > :15:57.London, you do not need a private car between Park Lane and the bank,
:15:58. > :16:08.or Euston and the river. I would allow taxis, minicabs, possibly. But
:16:09. > :16:10.there is no requirement for them. The infrastructure for public
:16:11. > :16:20.transport in central London is excellent.
:16:21. > :16:27.The Times has been woken up by the tragedy of their own female reporter
:16:28. > :16:34.who is still in a coma now, year after being knocked under a truck.
:16:35. > :16:38.Do you think it is now getting too dangerous?
:16:39. > :16:43.I wouldn't advocate my daughter is right in central London because I
:16:44. > :16:50.think it is too dangerous. Unless you are very experienced.
:16:51. > :16:57.Would you accept there is a breed of cyclists that is the enemy of
:16:58. > :17:03.cycling, aggressive, unpleasant? The present lack of provision reads
:17:04. > :17:09.aggression. I want to be out front, I want to be seen, I like the boxes
:17:10. > :17:14.in front of the cars, many cars or in the box, frankly. But I want to
:17:15. > :17:19.be in the front, I want to be seen, I don't want to be on the left,
:17:20. > :17:26.ever. A lot of the paint takes you along the left. These bike lanes
:17:27. > :17:32.take you along the left. If you have the armadillos the trucks wouldn't
:17:33. > :17:41.cross those. Are you going to cycle home tonight? I am going to get a
:17:42. > :17:50.cab. I did arrive on my bike. In a recession, the taxi drivers take
:17:51. > :18:00.you. Thank you.
:18:01. > :18:06.It is reverend flowers late. One of the most iconic and integrating
:18:07. > :18:15.figures of the known universe, a Dalek, Delia Smith has come among
:18:16. > :18:21.us. Don't forget to send in your Twelfie. When Michael was defence
:18:22. > :18:30.secretary he was the latter-day Julius Caesar, compounding lesions
:18:31. > :18:38.of men -- commanding. He is lucky if he can command the support of his
:18:39. > :18:42.own party for stop --. With skirmishes breaking out on both
:18:43. > :18:48.sides of the house we said Kevin Maguire off to boot come. Here is
:18:49. > :18:51.his round-up of the week. -- Boot camp. After you have seen this you
:18:52. > :18:58.will want the return of national service.
:18:59. > :19:08.Hand out your pocket and stand to attention.
:19:09. > :19:27.I thought he was talking to Corporal Clegg. Come on, get up there.
:19:28. > :19:32.It is a dirty job covering Westminster politics, every day
:19:33. > :19:38.brings a new obstacle. It is like one through mud, are you watching,
:19:39. > :19:44.Lord lovers? The government was on fire, planning to issue marching
:19:45. > :19:51.orders to 25 regular soldiers and replace them with reservists. --
:19:52. > :20:00.25,000. There has been a number of claims about these amendments. We
:20:01. > :20:04.are trying to ruin plans. We are saying let's pause for a brief
:20:05. > :20:12.moment, we need to check whether these plans stand up. He accused him
:20:13. > :20:20.of aiding the red enemy, Hammond on the skirmish. The government has set
:20:21. > :20:26.out its plan, we are legislating to delivery, the Army has embraced it
:20:27. > :20:28.wholeheartedly, for Parliament to introduce additional tripwires at
:20:29. > :20:42.this stage would create uncertainty.
:20:43. > :20:51.Training, training and more training. That makes a good soldier.
:20:52. > :20:55.Could you imagine a former councillor getting a conviction for
:20:56. > :21:00.indecency, conviction for taking drugs, little experience of
:21:01. > :21:10.banking, and running and ethical bank, could it happen? Cameron has
:21:11. > :21:18.all but -- ordered an enquiry into how he was running the bank? Why
:21:19. > :21:24.won't alarm bells rung earlier, particularly by those who knew. They
:21:25. > :21:28.will be important in the coming days that those who do have information
:21:29. > :21:38.bring it to the authorities. He is also playing party politics. His
:21:39. > :21:43.scriptwriters got a bit carried away with the drug jokes. Can he tell the
:21:44. > :21:49.house when under his esteemed leadership and that of the
:21:50. > :22:02.Chancellor, Britain can now expect to catch up with them?
:22:03. > :22:07.I want to ask whether it is parliamentary to use such an
:22:08. > :22:12.unjustifiable route and offensive phrase about another honourable
:22:13. > :22:20.member? The kernel apologised for his
:22:21. > :22:25.strokes, or part of the theatre that is prime ministers questions. Major
:22:26. > :22:31.Miliband cannot protect his own involvement. He was having a
:22:32. > :22:39.nightmare about the leaked e-mail about the Shadow Chancellor.
:22:40. > :22:43.His close friend of planning Minister is right, he says this,
:22:44. > :22:47.there are many people who don't like the Tory party and don't trust their
:22:48. > :22:52.motives. He says the Prime Minister is not the man to reach them. What
:22:53. > :22:56.he is saying is this Prime Minister is a loser.
:22:57. > :23:00.Labour couldn't believe it's not when a Tory minister said people
:23:01. > :23:08.wouldn't dream of voting Conservative. The tension between
:23:09. > :23:21.traditionalists and modernisers, were apparently it was a get rid of
:23:22. > :23:26.the green crap.. Labour hopes they will serve as fifth columnist so
:23:27. > :23:46.Miliband occupies Downing Street from the back door.
:23:47. > :24:18.Both sides skirmishing ahead of the all-out war Scotland. There is an
:24:19. > :24:21.optimum level of taxation from an independent Scotland. Across a range
:24:22. > :24:26.of taxation we will be setting up was abilities, and menu of options,
:24:27. > :24:33.if the SNP were elected and trusted to govern in Scotland that is how we
:24:34. > :24:36.do things better. Hostilities are heating up in
:24:37. > :24:40.Scotland, these are just the opening shots of what will be a long
:24:41. > :24:47.campaign, it should be pasty next week when the white paper is
:24:48. > :24:51.published. -- tasty. It is not as bad as it is made out to be, this
:24:52. > :24:57.military game. Thank you, Corporal Clegg, one of my army of special
:24:58. > :25:02.advisers, it is how I got round the course.
:25:03. > :25:13.Famous for doing all his own stunts for stop not. How can it be after
:25:14. > :25:18.the huge failure of bank regulation that helped the crash of 2008, that
:25:19. > :25:24.under a Labour government and with the regulators complicit, you
:25:25. > :25:30.appointed somebody to run one of the ten biggest banks in the country who
:25:31. > :25:41.couldn't even read a balance sheet? Amazing, we didn't appoint him, the
:25:42. > :25:49.co-opted. -- the co-opted. -- the Co-op did. We have had banks that
:25:50. > :26:00.have money laundered, been involved in scandals, Miss old insurance --
:26:01. > :26:10.Miss old. The Co-op bank has gone through a dreadful time. The Lloyds
:26:11. > :26:18.bank merger, Flowers had a couple of meetings, visits to Downing Street,
:26:19. > :26:27.the pressure was on them to merge. All three parties were in favour of
:26:28. > :26:35.it. They all wanted the Co-op bank to buy Lloyds branches.
:26:36. > :26:43.This government had responsibility for judicial allegiance. It was
:26:44. > :26:47.madness. When we learned certain big banks were involved helping the
:26:48. > :26:54.Mexican drug cartels laundered money, when we learnt that policies
:26:55. > :27:01.were being mis-sold, that should never have been sold, the one that
:27:02. > :27:03.we were told that was different, that was ethical, that was clean,
:27:04. > :27:12.there would never get its hands dirty, was the Co-op. It wasn't
:27:13. > :27:20.involved in all that, it seems to have appointed the separated twin of
:27:21. > :27:27.the Mayor of Toronto. You are in a different league in terms of what
:27:28. > :27:32.you describe, and yet all of that, I have not heard Cameron or Osborne
:27:33. > :27:38.say anything about what the banks were doing for a long time. Now this
:27:39. > :27:43.idea that what has happened in the Co-op could be placed at the feet of
:27:44. > :27:51.Ed Miliband or the Labour Party, it is quite frankly ridiculous. He was
:27:52. > :27:58.close to him, he met him twice. For the Prime Minister, while Andy
:27:59. > :28:11.Coulson and Rebecca Brooke -- while Andy Coulson is in the docks...
:28:12. > :28:14.He only met him twice? More the Mac. -- more than that. He put him on his
:28:15. > :28:24.business advisory committee. He met him on March this year and loans
:28:25. > :28:32.came from the Co-op to Labour. You say never something wrong? -- I do
:28:33. > :28:45.saying something was wrong? It was a low interest rate you or I
:28:46. > :28:49.couldn't get. I might surprise you, but first of
:28:50. > :28:54.all vertical interference in banks is generally disastrous. One of the
:28:55. > :29:00.reasons why the government was so anxious Lloyds flogged their
:29:01. > :29:04.branches was they were persuaded to buy the bank of Scotland so all
:29:05. > :29:12.these interferences are terrible. It is deeply shocking the FSA approved
:29:13. > :29:18.Flowers in 2010. It was absolutely customary, to appoint as chairman of
:29:19. > :29:26.a bang, somebody who knew nothing about banking. Certain names come to
:29:27. > :29:37.mind. How did the Lib Dems play this? I think the mutual mudslinging
:29:38. > :29:42.about who was closer to the Co-op and who the scandal will stick to
:29:43. > :29:46.can become trivial. I do understand there is an issue that the enquiry
:29:47. > :29:51.might happen close to the general election, because of the other
:29:52. > :29:56.enquiries that might have to happen first. You can see why David Cameron
:29:57. > :30:00.wants to pin this on Labour. But what matters about this story is the
:30:01. > :30:05.networks of power in this country. How is it that somebody like this
:30:06. > :30:14.character can rise to such an extraordinary position and keep that
:30:15. > :30:17.position? That extraordinary appearance at the select committee
:30:18. > :30:21.where he admitted he thought the balance sheet said 3 billion, rather
:30:22. > :30:31.than 47, why did the flares not go up? I think there is something
:30:32. > :30:39.really wrong here. You are right about Rob board in Toronto, but he
:30:40. > :30:42.was at least elected. The era of open appointments to things gets a
:30:43. > :30:48.lot of stick but there is a reason why we should have more diversity,
:30:49. > :30:52.more women at the top of banking. We now have a woman in charge of the
:30:53. > :30:57.Co-op bank who knows as much about banking as reverend flowers. You
:30:58. > :31:06.often get a woman appointed to clear up a mess which has been made. This
:31:07. > :31:13.is not a gender issue. None of them know anything about banking. I am
:31:14. > :31:17.not sure that is true about this woman. In Lincolnshire, she ran a
:31:18. > :31:25.Co-op in Lincolnshire with amazing success. But not the banking side. I
:31:26. > :31:32.don't know what her experience has been in banking. But the Co-op does
:31:33. > :31:37.not own the Co-op any more. It is hedge fund is. Vincent cable is
:31:38. > :31:45.looking at whether it is entitled to call itself a Co-op. It is a huge
:31:46. > :31:54.tragedy. My plea is that it is treated in a grown-up way, rather
:31:55. > :31:59.than trying to turn it into... If it was some Tory, you would not be
:32:00. > :32:06.saying that. I would hope we had more justification than Cameron.
:32:07. > :32:12.Should we have a moment of silence for the death of Tory modernisation?
:32:13. > :32:16.I do not think David Cameron has given up on Tory modernisation. I
:32:17. > :32:22.think intellectually he still probably believes he needs to be on
:32:23. > :32:28.the centre ground. Time to ditch the green crap? That was only one
:32:29. > :32:40.aspect. The overseas aid thing has survived. Equal marriage, he did
:32:41. > :32:45.that. But we are talking about now. All of the mood music from the
:32:46. > :32:52.Cameron camp now is of a return to Tory basics. Yes. But as a summary
:32:53. > :33:00.of his total position, to ignore the risky to with his own party on gay
:33:01. > :33:06.marriage would be an unbalanced representation of what he has done
:33:07. > :33:10.for the Tory party. Your party keeps on saying, we are the nice people
:33:11. > :33:19.and we did all of the good things and all of the bad things was the
:33:20. > :33:27.horrible Tories. That is right. You know it is rubbish. The point that
:33:28. > :33:31.Nick Bowles was making was interesting. He has fallen out with
:33:32. > :33:34.the Lib Dems completely, it seems. It is the idea that if you are going
:33:35. > :33:38.to do something like push through equal marriage, which may be
:33:39. > :33:43.unpopular with your right wing, you are not getting the credit for it.
:33:44. > :33:49.It is an important message for David Cameron, which is that you are
:33:50. > :33:54.riding two horses at the moment. It is the signal that it sends. And the
:33:55. > :33:58.speech was also about young people and how they do not feel any
:33:59. > :34:05.identification with anyone in politics. It is a wider message. Is
:34:06. > :34:12.it good or bad for Labour that Tory modernisation is dead? I think it is
:34:13. > :34:18.dead, or grasping for air. It is good for Labour. Cameron before, and
:34:19. > :34:21.Michael, who started this off, that reasonableness that Cameron was
:34:22. > :34:26.expressing in opposition and was there at the beginning, has
:34:27. > :34:31.gradually eroded. The speech was incredible is similar to one I made
:34:32. > :34:37.in 1997, and to one that Cameron made in 2004. Now, it's easy to
:34:38. > :34:40.drift through life relying on others to get their hands dirty and
:34:41. > :34:46.fingernails chipped. But some skills always come in handy. Knowing how to
:34:47. > :34:50.change a fuse if the lights go out. Knowing how to change a plug if the
:34:51. > :34:53.kettle won't boil. Knowing how to install a bank of telephone lines if
:34:54. > :34:57.you're planning a leadership challenge against a sitting Prime
:34:58. > :35:02.Minister. These are essential skills we should all have at our disposal.
:35:03. > :35:03.And that's why we've decided to demonstrate our own, and put "life
:35:04. > :35:18.skills" in this week's Spotlight. You would not dream of giving an
:35:19. > :35:23.18-year-old a bunch of car keys and a car and saying, offer you go, you
:35:24. > :35:28.can now drive. You have to have lessons. You have to learn.
:35:29. > :35:36.Who would argue with Delia Smith and her personal mission to teach kids
:35:37. > :35:41.to cook? My ambition and dream is that anyone who wants to learn to
:35:42. > :35:47.cook cam. The British Council claims an alarmingly small number of Brits
:35:48. > :35:50.can speak a foreign language, and with careers advice in schools
:35:51. > :35:55.branded appalling this week, maybe we should listen to Simon Cowell,
:35:56. > :36:02.who says the secret of success is to be useless at school and then get
:36:03. > :36:08.lucky. Something that graduates will be thrilled to hear, as 47% of them
:36:09. > :36:12.are apparently now stacking shelves in non-graduate jobs. So, are their
:36:13. > :36:18.skills we need for life, and what should they be? It seems the only
:36:19. > :36:20.life skill you cannot do without these days is an ability to take a
:36:21. > :36:31.self portrait. There was no film in the camera.
:36:32. > :36:36.Delia Smith, welcome to the programme. Good to see you. Is
:36:37. > :36:42.cooking a life skill? It is useful, but is it essential? It is the most
:36:43. > :36:47.important life skill, because it enriches your life. If you can make
:36:48. > :36:53.beautiful food at home every day and enjoy good food, your life is
:36:54. > :36:57.enriched, definitely. And it brings with it lessons of discipline and
:36:58. > :37:03.creativity, all sorts of other things that are applicable
:37:04. > :37:07.elsewhere? Absolutely. It encompasses lots of things.
:37:08. > :37:14.Community. Sharing food with people. Sitting round a table. We do not do
:37:15. > :37:21.that very often now. And it saves a lot of money. Because it is cheaper
:37:22. > :37:28.to cook at home than to buy three prepared, or go to a restaurant. And
:37:29. > :37:30.instead of a sad ready meal, you have something delicious and
:37:31. > :37:38.beautiful and it makes you feel good. Are we losing this skill?
:37:39. > :37:42.Definitely. Young people are afraid to cook and I think that is very
:37:43. > :37:48.sad. And many older people are afraid to cook. People are afraid,
:37:49. > :37:53.and I know for certain that you cannot just get into the kitchen and
:37:54. > :38:00.cook. You have to be taught. When you say young people are afraid to
:38:01. > :38:04.cook. Why? Because it is a skill and you need to learn it. You would not
:38:05. > :38:08.drive a car without having lessons but you are expected, you leave
:38:09. > :38:14.school, live on your own, go to university, whatever, and suddenly
:38:15. > :38:20.you have to go and cook. It is interesting we have lost this skill
:38:21. > :38:25.at a time when food and restaurants and, they have never been better.
:38:26. > :38:29.When I first came to London, London was a culinary desert. Now, it is
:38:30. > :38:38.probably the best city in the world to dine out. And TV is full of
:38:39. > :38:44.programmes. And yet it has never been covered more, yet we are not
:38:45. > :38:50.good at it any more. It is good that we are more educated about food. And
:38:51. > :38:53.as you say, you have cooking from around the world. In the
:38:54. > :38:57.supermarket, you can shop around the world. We know a lot, and many of
:38:58. > :39:04.the programmes have taught people a lot, but the skills of actually
:39:05. > :39:11.cooking are not being taught. Is it that lifestyles are too hectic?
:39:12. > :39:18.Lifestyles are hectic. The television, I was able to teach one
:39:19. > :39:23.generation to cook. It is fantastic media to be able to communicate in
:39:24. > :39:28.people's homes. But then it became minority programmes. BBC Two was
:39:29. > :39:35.created for minority programmes. They had a department called further
:39:36. > :39:40.education, of which I was part. And we were able to teach people because
:39:41. > :39:47.they had their own slot. But that all went, and suddenly you are into
:39:48. > :39:52.audience ratings and not what it was created for in the first place,
:39:53. > :39:56.minorities. And off you go, and it has to be more and more
:39:57. > :40:05.entertaining. Is cooking a life skill? Not in the sense of a skill
:40:06. > :40:11.you need to five. You can buy instant food and go out to
:40:12. > :40:16.restaurants, -- not a skill you need to survive. The thing that has
:40:17. > :40:21.perplexed me is that I'm astonished if the skill is not improving given
:40:22. > :40:24.the almost saturation coverage of cooking programmes on television.
:40:25. > :40:30.And they are on now because they do get the ratings, and they are
:40:31. > :40:37.incredibly cheap to make. As cheap as this programme? Nothing could be
:40:38. > :40:42.that cheap. I think you are too modest about this. It started with
:40:43. > :40:46.you. You go into any kitchen, practically, and you will find the
:40:47. > :40:53.original book that you did. It was boiling and a. I never cooked until
:40:54. > :40:57.I was in my 30s, and it was this whole idea that you should be
:40:58. > :41:02.involved in cooking, something you enjoy. If you enjoy eating food, you
:41:03. > :41:08.can explore the ability to cook it. I would find it extraordinary if it
:41:09. > :41:14.was disappearing. I thought it was flourishing, and you are one of the
:41:15. > :41:21.main reasons. The interest in food has been transformed. Yes, I agree.
:41:22. > :41:27.We have an online cookery school, and we did a survey of 200 schools.
:41:28. > :41:32.50% of pupils did not know how to soft boil an egg. 90% of pupils said
:41:33. > :41:37.they would really love to learn to cook. You were one of the people who
:41:38. > :41:45.started getting cooking back into schools, because the Thatcher
:41:46. > :41:49.government took it out. And you started to get a long way down the
:41:50. > :41:57.line. Change of government and it is all ditched. But now, your
:41:58. > :42:02.government is getting back in again. It is coming back next year and it
:42:03. > :42:07.is in the curriculum. And I'm sure a lot of the money you spent has
:42:08. > :42:11.helped to pay for it. But they can only teach people 15 recipes,
:42:12. > :42:22.apparently, from the age of 11 to 14. That would get you through a
:42:23. > :42:28.week. We do not put enough emphasis on life skills, do we? It is
:42:29. > :42:35.different skills now it is about technology. Information technology
:42:36. > :42:38.is a life skill now and we put effort into that. You are really
:42:39. > :42:45.disabled if you are not able to access the internet. That is how I
:42:46. > :42:51.am teaching people to cook. I am way ahead of my time. And so now you can
:42:52. > :42:57.learn to cook. You can put your tablet on the fridge, and you can
:42:58. > :43:05.stop it, rewind, sit on the bus and learn how to make an omelette. I am
:43:06. > :43:08.going to do it. I am going to teach people to cook.
:43:09. > :43:13.That's your lot for tonight folks, but not for us because we're off to
:43:14. > :43:17.The Welly Club, on Beverley Road in Hull. Local MP, Alan, has promised
:43:18. > :43:23.to show Michael and me how the new City of Culture won its title.
:43:24. > :43:26.Delia's giving it a miss. She's still barred. But we leave you
:43:27. > :43:29.tonight with dramatic evidence that, despite what we've been told, there
:43:30. > :43:32.really are unintelligent life forms out there after all. Nighty-night,
:43:33. > :44:43.don't let the TWelfie bite. # You're so vain
:44:44. > :44:47.# You probably think this song is about you. #