:00:07. > :00:16.Tonight on This Week, is Westminster descending into political farce?
:00:17. > :00:25.What is it with the Lib Dems and sex scandals? As Nick Clegg and his
:00:26. > :00:27.party find themselves in a fine old mess over allegations of improper
:00:28. > :00:31.behaviour, racing driver and TV presenter Amanda Stretton thinks it
:00:32. > :00:43.time for men to stop behaving like Benny Hill in the workplace. Women,
:00:44. > :00:45.don't lap up that any hill type of behaviour. It's the pits.
:00:46. > :00:48.Britain's economic recovery is speeding up, as unemployment falls
:00:49. > :00:55.faster than expected. The Guardian's Nick Watt has been chasing the
:00:56. > :00:58.stories in outer space. The economy is accelerating faster than a
:00:59. > :01:01.speeding comment, leaving Ed Miliband a little lost in space.
:01:02. > :01:08.And a proper comedian and proud Essex boy, Russell Kane chases his
:01:09. > :01:11.dream of being on This Week. I'm working class but I've got a degree.
:01:12. > :01:15.Honest! And we drive the fastest political
:01:16. > :01:20.milk cart in the West. Evenin' all. Welcome to This Week.
:01:21. > :01:24.Yes, another week, another Lib Dem sex scandal. The Chris Rennard saga
:01:25. > :01:26.was showing no sign abatement when along came an official report into
:01:27. > :01:29.another Lib Dem worthy, Portsmouth along came an official report into
:01:30. > :01:32.MP Mike Hancock, which promptly knocked Rennard off the headlines,
:01:33. > :01:36.at least for now. If the Rennard affair is less Jimmy Savile, more
:01:37. > :01:39.Benny Hill, without the slapstick but with the tickle, the Hancock
:01:40. > :01:44.affair is no laughing matter. Not that the Lib Dems can be accused of
:01:45. > :01:48.a rush to judgment. Despite serious allegations, "credible" according to
:01:49. > :01:51.the report, against Mr Hancock by a vulnerable female constituent three
:01:52. > :01:55.years ago, it was only on Wednesday that the Lib Dems got round to
:01:56. > :01:58.suspending him. And that was only because the QC's report, which
:01:59. > :02:01.suspending him. And that was only MP's local Lib Dems voted to keep
:02:02. > :02:06.under wraps, was leaked. Have you noticed, by the way, how the Lib
:02:07. > :02:08.Dems have become a job creation scheme for lawyers investigating sex
:02:09. > :02:12.scandals? Yes, whenever anybody drops their trousers when they
:02:13. > :02:17.shouldn't, it's the lawyers who trouser the dosh. But I digress. The
:02:18. > :02:21.Lib Dems may have taken their time to deal with Mr Hancock but they
:02:22. > :02:24.moved like greased lightning compared with their handling of the
:02:25. > :02:28.Rennard Chronicles, which are now in their 11th year. There are dark
:02:29. > :02:32.rumours that the saga is splitting the Lib Dems in two, though I would
:02:33. > :02:34.have thought ridicule a bigger threat than division. And even
:02:35. > :02:37.have thought ridicule a bigger the Lib Dems did divide, would
:02:38. > :02:44.anybody notice? Speaking of those who you wouldn't notice in an empty
:02:45. > :02:46.room, I'm joined on the sofa by two men whose on-screen partnership has
:02:47. > :02:53.caused a minor puddle in the Westminster area. Think of them as
:02:54. > :02:56.the Elton John and David Furnish of late night political chat. I speak,
:02:57. > :03:06.of course, of #manontheleft Alan "AJ" Johnson... And #sadmanonatrain
:03:07. > :03:12.Michael Portillo. Your moment of the week? A worker in a Shoreditch
:03:13. > :03:16.restaurant spotted a former prime minister, Tony Blair. He put his
:03:17. > :03:22.hand on his shoulder and attempted to perform a citizens arrest for war
:03:23. > :03:23.crimes over Iraq, to which the former Prime Minister retorted, do
:03:24. > :03:27.you not agree Saddam Hussein was a former Prime Minister retorted, do
:03:28. > :03:32.brutal dictator who needed to be removed? The dishonesty of that
:03:33. > :03:35.reply astonishes me, because Tony Blair explained to the House of
:03:36. > :03:38.reply astonishes me, because Tony Commons why we had to go to war in
:03:39. > :03:42.Iraq, because he was content for Saddam Hussein to remain in place
:03:43. > :03:47.and it was all about weapons of mass destruction. If they gave them up,
:03:48. > :03:50.the regime was welcome to stay. You have to be careful when you give
:03:51. > :03:53.permission to Prime Minister to go to war because they will change the
:03:54. > :03:59.basis on which permission is given, which is why the House of Commons
:04:00. > :04:03.was so very wise to deny David Cameron the right to go to war in
:04:04. > :04:08.Syria. I think it means you have to be careful if you go to a restaurant
:04:09. > :04:14.in Shoreditch. If you are a worker there. There have always been a
:04:15. > :04:18.small number of terrorist suspects we can neither deport nor take
:04:19. > :04:21.through the courts, because that would reveal the intelligence
:04:22. > :04:25.sources. We had a system called control orders which was changed to
:04:26. > :04:33.something else, which was, as Chamois Chakravarty would say,
:04:34. > :04:37.control orders light. The light bit was that they removed the ability to
:04:38. > :04:42.relocate these people, and they also said, you cannot have one of these
:04:43. > :04:48.for more than two years, so they removed the right to renew it. Two
:04:49. > :04:53.people have gone. Two people have escaped over the last ten months, ab
:04:54. > :05:00.squandered, one in a taxi and one in a burka. We now have six left, whose
:05:01. > :05:04.control order lights come to an end next week. We had a debate on
:05:05. > :05:08.Tuesday and we said to the Home Secretary, you thought these men so
:05:09. > :05:15.dangerous they were subject to these strict orders this week. What has
:05:16. > :05:19.changed next week. Answer, was there none.
:05:20. > :05:22.Now, Lib Dems tend to hold themselves in rather high regard,
:05:23. > :05:25.unlike the electorate. Yet it's increasingly hard for the party to
:05:26. > :05:27.unlike the electorate. Yet it's claim the moral high ground when
:05:28. > :05:28.unlike the electorate. Yet it's it's mired in accusations of sexual
:05:29. > :05:30.unlike the electorate. Yet it's harassment, complacency and
:05:31. > :05:33.shambolic party discipline. Nick Clegg's former special adviser
:05:34. > :05:36.Bridget Harris, who accused former election supremo Chris Rennard of
:05:37. > :05:40.improper behaviour, this week said, "After 15 years working in the Lib
:05:41. > :05:41.Dems I realised there's no greater good, just everyone doing a sheet
:05:42. > :05:49.job". I think we can safely conclude she's
:05:50. > :05:53.disillusioned. So how difficult is it being a woman in worlds dominated
:05:54. > :05:57.by men? We turned to presenter, journalist, and pioneering female
:05:58. > :06:21.racing driver, Amanda Stretton. This is her take of the week.
:06:22. > :06:30.I know what it's like to be a woman in a man's world. When I started in
:06:31. > :06:34.motor racing they were so I'm used to female drivers there was nowhere
:06:35. > :06:39.for me to get changed apart from the back of a truck, so I had to learn
:06:40. > :06:43.fast how to change quickly. In the beginning, I came across a huge
:06:44. > :06:48.amount of sexism. It was never sexual, more passive aggressive,
:06:49. > :06:53.because, like politics, motor sport is about psyching out the
:06:54. > :06:57.opposition. Male drivers would put their arm around my shoulder and
:06:58. > :07:06.say, don't worry, you're just a girl. I you sure you want to be out
:07:07. > :07:12.in all of this? -- are you sure? Fortunately, motor sport has changed
:07:13. > :07:15.and there are more and more women coming through, but the recent
:07:16. > :07:18.allegations of sexual harassment in the Liberal Democrat ring into
:07:19. > :07:23.question whether the world of politics is keeping up with the
:07:24. > :07:27.times. -- bring into question. When it comes to attitudes, there has
:07:28. > :07:32.been an enormous shift in society for the better. I have a degree of
:07:33. > :07:35.sympathy for older men, who find themselves living in a world they no
:07:36. > :07:40.sympathy for older men, who find longer grew up in, but that does not
:07:41. > :07:47.mean women should put up with sexual harassment at work or
:07:48. > :07:54.What makes motor racing almost unique as a sport is that once you
:07:55. > :07:58.get on the track, men and women compete against one another on a
:07:59. > :08:03.level playing field. The same should be true for politics but clearly,
:08:04. > :08:07.for now, there is a long way to go. And from the automotive laboratory
:08:08. > :08:10.at Oxford Brookes University to our own little laboratory of racing
:08:11. > :08:13.machines here in the heart of Westminster, welcome, Amanda. And
:08:14. > :08:24.we're also joined by our resident expert on all things Lib Dem,
:08:25. > :08:29.Miranda Green. You talked about casual, endemic
:08:30. > :08:34.harassment in racing when you started. Has that really changed? It
:08:35. > :08:40.still seems to me to be a testosterone driven sport. It is,
:08:41. > :08:46.unquestionably. Motor sport is very fast moving. By nature of the fact
:08:47. > :08:53.that it is a sporting platform, the people who are taking part tend to
:08:54. > :08:58.be younger. So in terms of the management the establishment, they
:08:59. > :09:01.are, if you like, men of a certain age, but when you are looking at
:09:02. > :09:06.are, if you like, men of a certain your peers and the you are on track
:09:07. > :09:09.with, you are racing against young men who have grown up in this
:09:10. > :09:17.society, who do not think in that way. So is it a generational matter?
:09:18. > :09:21.The hand on the leg, an invitation, particularly from someone who has
:09:22. > :09:27.power over you, come to my bedroom for a nightcap, there was a time
:09:28. > :09:33.when that was not appropriate but it was tolerated. It was tolerated. I
:09:34. > :09:37.think this is the key point, whether it be motor sport or politics, where
:09:38. > :09:43.we need to define what sexual harrassment actually is. It seems
:09:44. > :09:50.everybody has very vague, uncertain boundaries. Mine may be different to
:09:51. > :09:58.somebody else's. I don't know why you're gesturing at me. She has no
:09:59. > :10:08.boundaries. She's a Lib Dem woman. Only joking. You see, for some, in a
:10:09. > :10:12.generational thing, sexual harrassment can sometimes be
:10:13. > :10:17.clear-cut. Other times, it is hard to know whether it is sexual
:10:18. > :10:23.harrassment, or an inappropriate, cack-handed attempt to pick somebody
:10:24. > :10:27.up. Again, this is where the difficulty lies. We are crossing
:10:28. > :10:32.over into tradition and people's expectations. Traditionally, I would
:10:33. > :10:38.expect to be asked on a date. I have never done the asking. The
:10:39. > :10:42.difficulty comes in the workplace. Because as soon as you are
:10:43. > :10:47.discussing these matters with somebody who is in power, you are in
:10:48. > :10:52.a position where you do not know how to behave will stop that is where,
:10:53. > :10:57.when we look at these cases, it is always the man is in power and the
:10:58. > :11:04.woman who has less power. That goes to the heart of the Lib Dem problem.
:11:05. > :11:08.You can have views that what Chris Rennard was doing was more Benny
:11:09. > :11:13.Hill Van Jimmy Savile, but he was the one in power. These younger
:11:14. > :11:19.women did not really know how to react. That seems to be the crux of
:11:20. > :11:26.the matter, and why they left the organisation, which is so sad. Some
:11:27. > :11:31.are still there. That is also why they have kept up their complaints
:11:32. > :11:35.and not gone away, because they do not want to see him remain in a
:11:36. > :11:39.position of power while they are forced out. Unfortunately, in many
:11:40. > :11:43.different scenarios and industries, that is probably what happens,
:11:44. > :11:49.people who make a complaint are the ones who end up pushed out, not the
:11:50. > :11:53.person against whom the complaint is made, which is completely unjust.
:11:54. > :12:04.Why has it taken your party 11 years to work this out? Good question. It
:12:05. > :12:10.is an utter shambles. It is a shambles, isn't it? How could I say
:12:11. > :12:16.otherwise? You worked at Lib Dem headquarters. You knew the power
:12:17. > :12:23.structure. Chris Rennard was the Chief Executive. That's right. Were
:12:24. > :12:28.you ever aware that this inappropriate use of power was going
:12:29. > :12:35.on? Absolutely not, not when I worked there. I worked there quite a
:12:36. > :12:39.long time ago. But I was still very much in touch with people and it was
:12:40. > :12:45.not, at all, some sort of open secret. I think the crucial thing
:12:46. > :12:49.about this case is that it was an isolated case, and that's why it
:12:50. > :12:53.should have been dealt with clearly and firmly. It goes what you get,
:12:54. > :12:57.because of this saga as you described it, is the impression it
:12:58. > :13:01.is not only endemic and commonplace but that nobody really minded, which
:13:02. > :13:06.could not be further from the truth. That is why it is such a disaster
:13:07. > :13:14.not to deal with it firmly and appropriately and early. I have seen
:13:15. > :13:21.people saying, why did the women not just whack him. I might have, but I
:13:22. > :13:27.have always been fairly spirited and not really adhering to the norm. But
:13:28. > :13:31.then, women don't. It depends on how you have been brought up and your
:13:32. > :13:37.expectations. And if it is the boss it is a different matter. You
:13:38. > :13:43.can't. If this was my show and I was rubbing your leg and you didn't
:13:44. > :13:50.quite know how to act, would it be sexual harrassment? It would be a
:13:51. > :13:59.miracle! The rules have changed from what was tolerated. And things that
:14:00. > :14:06.were tolerated in years gone by - actually, the private sector is much
:14:07. > :14:12.better. Well, you say that but I am not convinced. I experience more
:14:13. > :14:15.instinctive sexism when I encounter business people than when I'm doing
:14:16. > :14:22.my daily job in politics and journalism. What do you think it is
:14:23. > :14:28.like for women in the city? I would suggest sexism is different from
:14:29. > :14:33.sexual harassment. Are the rules clear enough yet? They are still
:14:34. > :14:37.muddied. Like everything in Britain, it develops through case history.
:14:38. > :14:43.What is happening at the moment is changing the rules. Many people, if
:14:44. > :14:47.they are sensible, will be more wary about the way they are behaving and
:14:48. > :14:51.complainers will be more in courage to complain in future. I think the
:14:52. > :14:55.issue has become slightly more compensated since last week. There
:14:56. > :15:01.is one case where a woman says, well, he touched me. And then later
:15:02. > :15:07.in his hotel bedroom I thought... Excuse me, later in his hotel
:15:08. > :15:12.bedroom? How did this situation come about? There is a certain mutuality
:15:13. > :15:16.implied in at least one case. It is a pity that this report is not
:15:17. > :15:19.published because it leaves us pretty much in the dark, with one
:15:20. > :15:24.set of complainants making some point very clearly, and Chris
:15:25. > :15:32.Rennard mounting a pretty strong, I would say slightly hysterical, 2600
:15:33. > :15:36.words counterblast. If the rules are not as clear as some would like the
:15:37. > :15:41.fact is in all of these circumstances, the men know what
:15:42. > :15:43.they are doing and they know it is inappropriate.
:15:44. > :15:49.There is a generational thing here. I experienced it growing up through
:15:50. > :15:54.the 60s and 70s. It's clear what sexual harassment is, unwanted
:15:55. > :16:00.physical contact, advances. Vntss. Or suggestions. Pressure. The Benny
:16:01. > :16:04.Hill generation was seeing it on their telly. A younger generation of
:16:05. > :16:08.young men. The problem we have to watch here, is Michael is absolutely
:16:09. > :16:13.right, you set this case study... You set the rules as you go forward.
:16:14. > :16:17.I hope we don't go backwards here. Some of the people defending. There
:16:18. > :16:20.is a completely, I think it's a mess with the Lib Dems, we talk about the
:16:21. > :16:24.political aspects perhaps later, on with the Lib Dems, we talk about the
:16:25. > :16:27.the actual issue here, we don't want to send out different messages, this
:16:28. > :16:32.is all right. What is the problem with it? Why didn't they slap him
:16:33. > :16:37.around the face, whatever? The problem is, on the one hand, we are
:16:38. > :16:40.telling young women, go out into engineering, become scientists, go
:16:41. > :16:50.out into these fields where you are terribly under represent... Yet, on
:16:51. > :16:55.the other hand... Before we become too complacent say it's a
:16:56. > :17:00.generational thing that has taken care of itself. Younger generation
:17:01. > :17:04.of men have different attitudes. No, we are getting a different series of
:17:05. > :17:09.stories. Which is that teenage guys and teenage girls, there is
:17:10. > :17:20.bullying, victimisation. Yes. Sexualisation through texting,
:17:21. > :17:25.sexting. The availability of on pornography. Absolutely. Different
:17:26. > :17:29.problems. Do you think there is less of it in professions, for example,
:17:30. > :17:34.the law? You get into big law of it in professions, for example,
:17:35. > :17:36.companies in the city, full of women. If there are more women in
:17:37. > :17:39.companies in the city, full of top positions, is there less of it?
:17:40. > :17:43.If there are more women in top positions, yes. We come on to the
:17:44. > :17:47.whole issue of, women in the workplace. Because whether we like
:17:48. > :17:53.it or not, we are different. We have children. We have to take time off
:17:54. > :17:58.you talk about maternity benefits. That is a whole can of worms, not
:17:59. > :18:01.for now. Yes, if there are more women in the top level of
:18:02. > :18:05.management, there will be less, I think the other thing is, you know,
:18:06. > :18:09.in politics, for example, as opposed to motor sport, you don't get people
:18:10. > :18:15.moving out. They don't really retire. True. They hang around for
:18:16. > :18:20.quite a while. Shouldn't a woman be able to invite a man on a date? My
:18:21. > :18:26.mother proposed to my father in 1940. No, women should. Yes. Your
:18:27. > :18:31.mother was Scottish, was she not? She was. They have pushy Scottish
:18:32. > :18:36.women. Thank you so much for being with us. We will let you go. Miranda
:18:37. > :18:41.we will hold on. We haven't finished torturing her yet. Thought so much.
:18:42. > :18:46.You can't have too much of a good thing, you know. Absolutely. Now,
:18:47. > :18:50.it's late, so pour yourself another Blue Nun and leave the empties in an
:18:51. > :18:52.it's late, so pour yourself another underground car park in the full
:18:53. > :18:53.it's late, so pour yourself another glare of the CCTV cameras for an
:18:54. > :18:55.it's late, so pour yourself another unsuspecting cleaner to find
:18:56. > :18:57.because, waiting in the wings, comedian Russell Kane will soon
:18:58. > :19:00.because, waiting in the wings, joining us to talk about his
:19:01. > :19:04.aspirations and the poverty of ours. In case you were wondering, we're
:19:05. > :19:09.still ignoring all your complaints on the Twitter, the Fleecebook and
:19:10. > :19:14.the Interweb. Now, we know it's late, very late, too late for most
:19:15. > :19:19.of our viewers. Wake up, Mrs Cholmondley, it's midnight dear!
:19:20. > :19:23.You're watching BBC One. But even you lot can't beat Europe's Rosetta
:19:24. > :19:29.space probe, which awoke this week after more than 950 days in
:19:30. > :19:35.hibernation. That's almost as long as it takes Michael to order a drink
:19:36. > :19:40.at Annabels. So we asked the Guardian's Nick Watt to stow away on
:19:41. > :19:43.board for his round up of the week. I wondered why I hadn't seen him for
:19:44. > :20:03.a while. Wake up this week 13. You are
:20:04. > :20:08.nearing your destination. Repeat your last transmission This Week 13,
:20:09. > :20:14.what is your current status? Control, control. I'm absolutely
:20:15. > :20:19.starving. # There's a star man waiting in the
:20:20. > :20:25.sky # He'd like to come and meet us, but
:20:26. > :20:32.he thinks he'd blow our minds... #. It's been a long time in hypersleep.
:20:33. > :20:41.On Monday the European Space Agency announced it had woken up its space
:20:42. > :20:46.probe, how things have changed. Since I fell asleep. The economic
:20:47. > :20:51.storm predicted by Ed Balls around the time I laid down my head has
:20:52. > :20:54.been replaced by an upbeat IMF assessment. It says Britain is
:20:55. > :21:02.coming out of a London period of hibernation as it revised growth up
:21:03. > :21:08.from 1.9% to 2.4%. George Osborne wanted to shoot off into space with
:21:09. > :21:13.great glee, but instead he adopted a serious tone, the better to mock his
:21:14. > :21:16.opponents. We had some advice to avoid taking the difficult decisions
:21:17. > :21:21.in Britain, but we rejected that advice. We rejected the quick fixes
:21:22. > :21:25.and the easy options. By working through our plan, we are delivering
:21:26. > :21:28.economic security for the hard-working people of this country
:21:29. > :21:35.and that's reflected in the good news today. Unemployment has tumbled
:21:36. > :21:38.to 7.1%, creating the moment when Mission Control, that is the Bank of
:21:39. > :21:42.England, has to decide whether to pull the throttle and raise interest
:21:43. > :21:47.rates from their historic low of 0.5%. It's all rather left Labour
:21:48. > :21:55.looking, well, a little lost in space. He comes here every week and
:21:56. > :21:59.does his bully routine and all he shows is that he is absolutely no
:22:00. > :22:04.understanding of the lives of people up-and-down this country. For months
:22:05. > :22:08.they told us to listen to the IMF. Remember that. Five tweets in one
:22:09. > :22:13.month from the Shadow Chancellor, listen to the IMF. Now the IMF are
:22:14. > :22:26.telling us the economy is growing, stick to the plan, you unemployment
:22:27. > :22:32.is going down. Not a word. The message from Planet City is, for
:22:33. > :22:38.once, clear, these figures are exceeding expectations. Ed Miliband,
:22:39. > :22:42.who greeted the news about the fall in unemployment through gritted
:22:43. > :22:46.teeth has a tricky job on his hands, not just because Ed Balls accused
:22:47. > :22:49.the coalition of ripping up the foundations of growth at about the
:22:50. > :22:55.time I went to sleep. George Osborne is now perfecting the art of
:22:56. > :23:00.trashing Labour's weakest ideas and nicking the good ones. Most notably,
:23:01. > :23:05.Ed Miliband's signature theme of the cost of living, which the Chancellor
:23:06. > :23:15.hopes to neutralise with a 7% increase in the minimum wage.
:23:16. > :23:39.Now, our mission is to land a probe on the surface of Come et. The two
:23:40. > :23:45.leaders did exchange civil blows on Syria in contrast to the tter
:23:46. > :23:49.recriminations at the opening day of the Geneva II Conference in
:23:50. > :23:55.Montreux. There is no way possible, in the imagination, that the man has
:23:56. > :24:00.led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy
:24:01. > :24:11.to regovern. One man, those who have supported him, can no longer hold an
:24:12. > :24:18.entire nation and a region hostage. Oh, it all looks so small from up
:24:19. > :24:24.here. Wait a minute, I can see a tiny Nick Clegg returning to his
:24:25. > :24:29.home turf in the Swiss Alps. The Deputy Prime Minister headed to
:24:30. > :24:35.Davos for the world economic forum, whose modest tight this will year is
:24:36. > :24:40.Reshaping the World. There are signs there is growth. There are a lot of
:24:41. > :24:44.risks out there. I've recently spent some time in Europe meeting with
:24:45. > :24:48.some of my counterparts. I very much think it would be in you were 'S for
:24:49. > :24:51.there to be policies that really drove investment and demand and
:24:52. > :24:55.countries that are surplus countries. Mind you, the alpine
:24:56. > :25:00.chill is nothing compared with the coldness we have to put up with in
:25:01. > :25:10.space. There are solar storms and the odd passing meteorite. Must be
:25:11. > :25:14.those gay marriage reforms. If the UKIP councillor, David Sylvester is
:25:15. > :25:18.to be believed. He is not the party Chairman, he is not the party
:25:19. > :25:22.leader. I have never met him, heard of him, he is one member who
:25:23. > :25:27.recently joined the councillor who is a town councillor in a small town
:25:28. > :25:34.in Oxford. Get a sense of perspective. Sometimes, it seems
:25:35. > :25:48.falls our politicians live on a different planet. This week, we have
:25:49. > :25:55.a problem. Hey, there's Sandra Bullock. Wee! He lives in a fantasy
:25:56. > :26:00.world. He was at the National Space Centre, which is in Leicester, you
:26:01. > :26:06.know. We thank them for letting us use the facilities there. Michael,
:26:07. > :26:09.these appalling pictures coming out of Syria, about what has been
:26:10. > :26:16.happening in the Syrian prisons, some of them looking more like from
:26:17. > :26:20.Belsen than a prison, or Dhakar. Our decision not to intervene means
:26:21. > :26:24.there is nothing we can do about that, right? That I think is
:26:25. > :26:29.probably right. Indeed, this is a very difficult moment to say this,
:26:30. > :26:34.clearly the regime has been caught performing the most appalling
:26:35. > :26:38.atrocities. I must say, I'm still unconvinced at the western foreign
:26:39. > :26:43.policy position, which is to support opposition to Assad rather than
:26:44. > :26:46.Assad. Opposition now being a very broad front of organisations,
:26:47. > :26:53.including many which are extremist and many of which are hostile to us.
:26:54. > :26:58.After a series of policy decisions by the West, which seem to me to
:26:59. > :27:06.have removed regimes that were almost always very nasty, but nearly
:27:07. > :27:10.always western supporting western orientated and against the very
:27:11. > :27:15.extremists who threaten our survival. I am puzzling as to what
:27:16. > :27:20.western foreign policy is about. Don't we feel a little uncomfortable
:27:21. > :27:29.though seeing this going on and we don't... We don't or we can't do
:27:30. > :27:35.anything? We do. Tony Blair said that said to a waiter, aren't you
:27:36. > :27:38.concerned about Syria, the point he is making, to intervene, not to
:27:39. > :27:43.intervene, what do you do? Michael is right, it's an uncomfortable
:27:44. > :27:47.time. I tell you what, I thought we might get something out of this,
:27:48. > :27:52.just something until I heard John Kerry say, Assad has to go. The
:27:53. > :28:00.alwhites will be massacred. He knows that. It's just not realistic to try
:28:01. > :28:05.to get... If you are Assad, why would you agree? Yes. Set an
:28:06. > :28:12.impossible condition. In Britain we, on the Daily Politics Today we had a
:28:13. > :28:14.young Labour Shadow Minister on, this argument which Mr Miliband
:28:15. > :28:21.brought up at Prime Minister's Questions, we should take 500
:28:22. > :28:25.refugees. Good for the 500, but when you look at the scale of a country
:28:26. > :28:30.with four million, you would think you are arguing on the head of a pin
:28:31. > :28:32.here. If we are going to do is something, let us do something
:28:33. > :28:35.here. If we are going to do is not argue about 500? It's a small,
:28:36. > :28:39.it would be a small gesture, it would be one worth making, but also
:28:40. > :28:43.it's very late. I mean, per narnogical, I found it very
:28:44. > :28:48.upsetting that the September, you know, events where the West pulled
:28:49. > :28:52.back from any sort of military strikes, the whole sort of Syria
:28:53. > :28:56.issue disappeared off the front pages. It was sort of parked. There
:28:57. > :28:59.was a terrible sense, well, that's Syria dealt with because of the
:29:00. > :29:04.Russian deal on chemical weapons. It wasn't dealt with at all. Over
:29:05. > :29:08.Christmas the situation for the refugees became worse and worse.
:29:09. > :29:11.There is this sense we've actually balked our responsibilities and
:29:12. > :29:17.failed because we forgot about it for too long. It could be the Middle
:29:18. > :29:21.East is in the grip of forces way beyond our control? That what you
:29:22. > :29:26.are seeing is ready really the Middle East 30 years war. It's a
:29:27. > :29:31.battle of Sunni, Shia, religious battle which there is very little we
:29:32. > :29:36.can do about. You see it in Lebanon. You see it in Iraq today. You see it
:29:37. > :29:44.in Syria and the standoff between Iran and the Gulf states. It's
:29:45. > :29:48.horrible, but it's huge? It has always been an element of what is
:29:49. > :29:52.happening there but it is a counsel of despair to say there is nothing
:29:53. > :29:59.we can do. We can exert influence. Russia is very important. The effort
:30:00. > :30:03.to get talks going was great. To try it with such impossible condition at
:30:04. > :30:08.the outset and to do it to failure was a big diplomatic error, not by
:30:09. > :30:16.those you are talking about but by the West. I agree that possibly we
:30:17. > :30:19.are at the threshold of a big civil war engulfing the whole area.
:30:20. > :30:25.However, another story this week, apart from the atrocities, is that
:30:26. > :30:28.hundreds of Britons who are going to Syria are being trained as
:30:29. > :30:31.terrorists and sent back to Britain in order to commit terrorist
:30:32. > :30:35.atrocities here. We have to have some sense of our own interest. Our
:30:36. > :30:42.first responsibility is to protect ourselves. Therefore, these are
:30:43. > :30:46.areas of instability are greatly to the disadvantage of our country. It
:30:47. > :30:50.seems we have added to the instability of Libya, Egypt, of
:30:51. > :30:55.Syria throughout foreign policy, and that is one of the reasons I cannot
:30:56. > :31:02.comprehend what we are up to. Economic news gets better and
:31:03. > :31:07.better, the unemployment figures are actually quite remarkable in many
:31:08. > :31:13.ways. But when did the Tories start to get the credit? Because it is not
:31:14. > :31:17.clear at the moment that they are. I have said several times that I
:31:18. > :31:22.doubted living standards would rise in time for the 2015 election. But
:31:23. > :31:26.George Osborne has cottoned on to the point that the massive increase
:31:27. > :31:31.he proposes in the minimum wage is obviously important. The fact that
:31:32. > :31:35.the rate of inflation has fallen back to 2% and will fall further is
:31:36. > :31:39.important. Degrees from the Treasury in the last couple of days,
:31:40. > :31:43.suggesting that if you take into account tax reductions at the lower
:31:44. > :31:50.end, because the threshold went up to ?10,000, that people's living
:31:51. > :31:58.standards may have increased up to 4.8%... I have my doubts about these
:31:59. > :32:03.figures. Not as bad as Labour has made out but I am not sure the
:32:04. > :32:07.Treasury figures are right. Whereas three weeks ago I would have thought
:32:08. > :32:13.the prospect of living standards rising by 2015 for most people would
:32:14. > :32:18.have been poor, they are now a bit better than they were. There is also
:32:19. > :32:22.the intervention from Mark Carney to say they will probably not look at
:32:23. > :32:30.raising interest rates, even though unemployment is down. So much for
:32:31. > :32:36.his formal guidance. And so much for the OBE are saying we would not hit
:32:37. > :32:42.7%. And so much for the IMF. Giving a monkey a set of darts and the
:32:43. > :32:49.board would be more accurate than the IMF. If this news continues, the
:32:50. > :32:55.sense of an economy on the way back, growing, Labour needs to find a
:32:56. > :32:59.position from which it can still attack the coalition. It has been
:33:00. > :33:05.doing so successfully. British people are not stupid. They know
:33:06. > :33:10.George Osborne said the deficit would be eradicated by next year and
:33:11. > :33:14.now he needs another five. He said investment and exports would be our
:33:15. > :33:21.next big push. In terms of investment, we are 159th. The worst
:33:22. > :33:27.record ever. Exports has not worked. And unemployment has been a huge
:33:28. > :33:32.boost for them. It is much bigger in the North than the south. What
:33:33. > :33:38.happens if investment does not start to grow this year? There is no
:33:39. > :33:44.reason why it should not. But if George Osborne had said in 2010,
:33:45. > :33:48.this is how I will handle the fiscal deficit, it would be different. He
:33:49. > :33:55.has met none of his targets. But no one has. Look at France. Let's not
:33:56. > :33:59.put him on a pedestal in Trafalgar Square and say he is an economic
:34:00. > :34:07.genius. Could we do that if we had ox is of tomatoes? Just before we
:34:08. > :34:12.finish this, what is the political significance of the Rennard and now
:34:13. > :34:20.the Hancock business for the Lib Dems, because it seems to be death
:34:21. > :34:24.by 1000 cuts at the moment. I think the Lib Dems think that, certainly
:34:25. > :34:28.on the Rennard affair, that both sides in this dispute, who have
:34:29. > :34:33.become increasingly polarised, have looked death in the face and
:34:34. > :34:40.realised they were going to destroy the party if they carried on, so
:34:41. > :34:42.peace has not totally broken out but there is mediation going on. They
:34:43. > :34:48.peace has not totally broken out but pulled back from the brink. There is
:34:49. > :34:54.a way through on that. Nick Clegg has been holed below the water line
:34:55. > :34:58.on this. I do not think it looks marvellous to be trying to fix lane
:34:59. > :35:03.you're a labyrinth at it processes when people expect you to act. --
:35:04. > :35:15.trying to explain your elaborate aquatic processes. -- democratic
:35:16. > :35:19.processes. You do have democratic processes, and he does not have
:35:20. > :35:24.absolute authority. He looked so weak, but I realised there were
:35:25. > :35:30.fundamental reasons why he looked so weak. Michael is feeling sorry for
:35:31. > :35:36.him. He is finished! That is really bad. Thank you.
:35:37. > :35:41.Now, you don't kick a man when he's down, but no-one seems to have told
:35:42. > :35:44.Miriam Gonzalez, who spoke this week to pupils at an Essex comprehensive
:35:45. > :35:46.as part of a project to raise teenage girls' ambition, telling
:35:47. > :35:52.them not to be overawed by the over-confidence of the expensively
:35:53. > :35:57.educated. "You are going to have to take my word for this", said Miriam,
:35:58. > :36:01."there are lots of people from these top schools who are unimpressive".
:36:02. > :36:04.That's no way to talk about our Westminster educated - fees ?30,000
:36:05. > :36:12.a year - Deputy Prime Minister, Miriam. But it got us thinking,
:36:13. > :36:13.which doesn't happen a lot, and that's why we've decided to put
:36:14. > :36:34.aspiration in this week's Spotlight. As the global elite gather in
:36:35. > :36:38.Davos, we ask, what's the point of being a world leader if you end up
:36:39. > :36:43.stuck up a mountain with George Osborne. Should we all aspire to
:36:44. > :36:47.more? Many young people do but record numbers cannot afford to
:36:48. > :36:52.leave home, let alone buy property. Esther McVey thinks they should
:36:53. > :36:58.lower their expectations, focus on working in a coffee shop, rather
:36:59. > :37:03.than being a barrister. So, are our aspirations unrealistic. Stephen
:37:04. > :37:08.McGann fears that council estate kids are finding it harder to become
:37:09. > :37:14.screen stars, van posher, private school thespians. And although the
:37:15. > :37:19.residence on Benefit Street are a long way from the Swiss mountain
:37:20. > :37:27.chalet, they still have hopes of a better life. I am not too old to
:37:28. > :37:31.have dreams. How easy is it to turn those dreams into reality? And do
:37:32. > :37:37.politicians understand how to turn hard work and ambition into the good
:37:38. > :37:43.life and success? Let us in this hall, this government, this country,
:37:44. > :37:49.make this pledge. Let us build an aspiration nation.
:37:50. > :37:56.Russell, welcome to the programme. Hello. As a working-class lad
:37:57. > :38:01.growing up in Essex, what did aspiration mean to you? I think it
:38:02. > :38:07.is complex. Very broadly, aspiration is ending up with more than you
:38:08. > :38:12.started off with - nicer house, more money, better future for your kids
:38:13. > :38:16.and more security and maybe the job you want. People say it is hard for
:38:17. > :38:22.poor people to describe their dreams. I think that is nonsense.
:38:23. > :38:26.Unless you read too much philosophy at Oxford and you are a mechanic out
:38:27. > :38:31.of some weird philosophical irony, you want to end up with more than
:38:32. > :38:33.you started with. For most people, that represent a better economic
:38:34. > :38:42.state of affairs, living longer, good health and education. Is that a
:38:43. > :38:46.boring answer? Do you think we have an inverted snobbery? If people are
:38:47. > :38:52.seen to aspire to something and want to get on, to think big about that,
:38:53. > :38:57.is there a kind of, a put down in Britain is, he tries too hard.
:38:58. > :39:02.Without meaning to plug my show, it is called smallness. Jumping point
:39:03. > :39:08.is about this odd relationship we have with success. You can be
:39:09. > :39:14.successful, but not too famous, too loud, too good-looking. We prefer
:39:15. > :39:18.the chipped teacup. It is one of the few countries where I play in the
:39:19. > :39:22.world where I will say, please don't mention any of the awards that I
:39:23. > :39:27.have one because I want a good gig. In America, he has won this award,
:39:28. > :39:32.he must be great. Here, he has won an award, so let's not laugh. We
:39:33. > :39:38.have this weird relationship, but it is different to the notion of
:39:39. > :39:41.aspiration and dreams. I think the cards are stacked against
:39:42. > :39:47.working-class kids these days more than they were a while back. Do you
:39:48. > :39:51.think the education system does not do enough with working-class kids to
:39:52. > :39:56.encourage aspiration, to say, the world is your oyster if you work
:39:57. > :40:00.hard and get a good education and get on? Nothing should hold you
:40:01. > :40:04.back. These are the sentiments of people that wished children were
:40:05. > :40:09.things you could programme. However, having just come through the system,
:40:10. > :40:15.and also having two parents who failed the 11th us and were tipped
:40:16. > :40:20.into secondary modern, , what happens when you get to compensate,
:40:21. > :40:26.regardless of how bright you are, the law of the jungle kicks in. I
:40:27. > :40:28.was in the pack of nerds that wanted to study and do well, and you get
:40:29. > :40:32.was in the pack of nerds that wanted slightly bullied and picked out for
:40:33. > :40:36.it. In the playground, that is where the law of the jungle kicks in. I
:40:37. > :40:39.don't understand why it is considered right-wing to want to
:40:40. > :40:43.celebrate the success, the brightness, the intelligence of
:40:44. > :40:48.working-class children. What does that have to do with right or left
:40:49. > :40:54.wing, apart from the historic position of parties in the 1960s.
:40:55. > :40:58.You can draw a bell curve from the education act and the grammar school
:40:59. > :41:02.system kicking in, social mobility goes like that, and comes down again
:41:03. > :41:08.as my generation get tipped into the melting pot of competency of this.
:41:09. > :41:14.You do not get equal education, you get more grade C. If your mum is a
:41:15. > :41:16.single parent, if you come from an Afro-Caribbean background, you are
:41:17. > :41:21.less likely to go to Oxbridge now than you were in the 1960s. How can
:41:22. > :41:24.that be right? At my school, there were musical prodigies who were
:41:25. > :41:29.taken off for a special musical education. No one said, that is not
:41:30. > :41:34.fair, the same violin lessons for everyone. Absurd. But if they had
:41:35. > :41:39.been good at maths. It is unfair. Why do people struggle with two
:41:40. > :41:44.different concepts, equality and fairness? They are totally
:41:45. > :41:48.different. Sometimes equality is the way to go, but sometimes fairness is
:41:49. > :41:57.the right way. Visit different from equality? Of course. Good stuff. At
:41:58. > :42:06.grammar schools, kids got picked on as well. I think there is a
:42:07. > :42:12.political issue about a kid doing well, getting on, being Brighton
:42:13. > :42:18.being skimmed off. There is no difference. The man arrested in that
:42:19. > :42:23.restaurant under citizens arrest would agree with everything you
:42:24. > :42:26.said. That was one of the things he tried to change, because there was
:42:27. > :42:32.this feeling that Labour wanted everyone to be on the same level.
:42:33. > :42:38.Your definition of aspiration was right, you want to do better and get
:42:39. > :42:41.on. The problem now is still the problem it always was. If a kid from
:42:42. > :42:46.a working-class estate wants to be a surgeon, a neurosurgeon, very little
:42:47. > :42:50.chance. If he wants to be a top judge, very little chance, Army
:42:51. > :42:55.General, very little chance. Breaking down the barriers to those
:42:56. > :42:58.professions and at the same time seeing the things that working-class
:42:59. > :43:04.kids used to go into, music, even foot ball now, actually becoming
:43:05. > :43:11.more elitist. You have two be picked up when you are young. And there is
:43:12. > :43:14.international competition. The can I step back from education systems and
:43:15. > :43:17.international competition. The can I put the question to both of you,
:43:18. > :43:21.because you are in a good position to answer. I have read your book and
:43:22. > :43:24.I think your mother was highly aspirational for you, thinking you
:43:25. > :43:28.must go to the grammar school. She thought the way out of your
:43:29. > :43:33.predicament of poverty was education. Are there enough parents
:43:34. > :43:36.who believe the way out of their predicament, for their children, is
:43:37. > :43:43.education? There seems to be a disconnect. It is an important
:43:44. > :43:45.question and I will let you give a quick answer. There is a science
:43:46. > :43:47.test where you look at the quick answer. There is a science
:43:48. > :43:52.importance of environment versus education. In the UK, family is
:43:53. > :43:58.equally as important as education. Shorter school holidays would help.
:43:59. > :44:03.I am on tour at the moment. I am much funnier on tour. Funny and wise
:44:04. > :44:07.tonight. That's your lot for tonight, folks.
:44:08. > :44:10.But not for us, because it's Citizen's Arrest Night at Lou Lou's.
:44:11. > :44:14.And Michael's looking for someone to Citizen's Arrest Night at Lou Lou's.
:44:15. > :44:18.put him in handcuffs and punish him for being such a naughty, naughty
:44:19. > :44:21.boy. I suspect they'll be forming queue. But we leave you tonight with
:44:22. > :44:23.boy. I suspect they'll be forming conclusive proof that UKIP
:44:24. > :44:25.weatherman David Silvester was right to blame recent flooding on a
:44:26. > :44:44.homosexual warm front. Nighty night, don't let the Village People bite.
:44:45. > :45:08.Join me on Room 101 to hear what grinds the gears
:45:09. > :45:13.of my guests Richard Osman, Joan Bakewell and Roisin Conaty.