:00:00. > :00:08.Tonight, join This Week for the Westminster Blame Game.
:00:09. > :00:12.Our Contestants, Prime Minister, David Cameron, Environment Agency
:00:13. > :00:19.Chairman, Chris Smith, and other leading Westminster politicians, all
:00:20. > :00:23.wearing wellies. Didn't they do well? Or did they? Magician Paul
:00:24. > :00:26.Daniels and his very lovely assistant, wife Debbie McGee, think
:00:27. > :00:34.it will take more than a pair of waders and a magic wand to fix the
:00:35. > :00:43.flood damage. Flubbed, flood, flood. Whose idea was it to live by
:00:44. > :00:48.the river? Are you blaming me? I blame you. I blame you. I blame you.
:00:49. > :00:53.Chancellor George Osborne plays the Yes or No game in Scotland. If
:00:54. > :00:56.George wins, he says Scotland can't have the pound. BBC Five Live
:00:57. > :01:06.Presenter Victoria Derbyshire looks at the scores on the doors. If Alex
:01:07. > :01:11.plays his cards right he gets an independent Scotland, but will he
:01:12. > :01:14.get tonight's big-money prize. And playing the technology game -
:01:15. > :01:25.Hollywood actor Matthew Modine. Will we all be winners in the future?
:01:26. > :01:37.Hey, Britain. Mice to see you, to see you nice.
:01:38. > :01:43.Evenin' all. Welcome to This Week, a week in which it was back to the
:01:44. > :01:46.future, after the Prime Minister told us "Money is no object". Yes,
:01:47. > :01:50.all it took was rising damp for floating voters in the Home Counties
:01:51. > :01:53.for old Auntie Austerity to be dumped overboard in favour of a
:01:54. > :01:57.return to the Loadsamoney Eighties. But what, we asked, did he mean by
:01:58. > :02:01."Money is no object"? "Money is no object", he helpfully explained, as
:02:02. > :02:10.the Treasury taps opened and unlimited dosh gurgled forth. But
:02:11. > :02:14.where's it all coming from? I can reveal tonight that the famous note
:02:15. > :02:17.left behind in 2010 by an outgoing Labour Treasury minister saying
:02:18. > :02:21.there's no money left was a cunning diversion. Sources tell me, or maybe
:02:22. > :02:24.it was on Sky News, that Labour had secretly stuffed the back of the
:02:25. > :02:27.Treasury sofa with overflowing funds for a rainy day, and that
:02:28. > :02:30.Call-Me-Dave had accidentally stumbled across this hidden treasure
:02:31. > :02:34.when he was doing a bit of housework to pass the time, waiting for his
:02:35. > :02:37.new bespoke King Canute outfit to be finished. So now he's all Aqua Man,
:02:38. > :02:41.flush with watermarked cash, and busy pointing at flood water
:02:42. > :02:45.everywhere. And what will he do for an encore? Sources tell me it's a
:02:46. > :02:48.toss up between announcing the first hosepipe ban of spring and banning
:02:49. > :02:53.smoking in dinghies carrying children. Speaking of those who turn
:02:54. > :02:56.up late and try to take all the credit, I'm joined on the sofa
:02:57. > :03:00.tonight by two ancient antiquities we refuse to send home. Think of
:03:01. > :03:06.them as the Elgin Marbles and Lost His Marbles of late night political
:03:07. > :03:14.chat. I speak, of course, of #manontheleft Alan "AJ" Johnson, and
:03:15. > :03:20.#sadmanonatrain Michael Portillo. Good evening to you both. Michael,
:03:21. > :03:26.your moment of the week. President Obama was asked which was his
:03:27. > :03:30.favourite ally, France or Britain. He said he had two daughters and he
:03:31. > :03:34.could not choose between them and could not choose between these
:03:35. > :03:37.allies. I reflected that these were the French, who were described in
:03:38. > :03:45.this Sons as the cheese eating surrender monkeys, who would not
:03:46. > :03:49.back the United States in Iraq. He could not choose between France,
:03:50. > :03:53.which admittedly has lost 86 soldiers in Afghanistan, and Britain
:03:54. > :03:57.which has lost 450. I think it is a poor deal that he cannot choose
:03:58. > :04:01.between an ally which has been loyal to the United States. I think the
:04:02. > :04:04.United States is being ungracious, ungrateful and confused about the
:04:05. > :04:09.situation in Europe, and it makes you wonder what this sucking up to
:04:10. > :04:13.the night of state has been about. You get the feeling the relationship
:04:14. > :04:18.between Washington and London is getting less and less important. I
:04:19. > :04:21.think because we did not have enough troops to do two operations
:04:22. > :04:25.simultaneously, the fact that we could not hold Basra or Helmand has
:04:26. > :04:31.led the Americans to think we are an unreliable ally, not literally, but
:04:32. > :04:36.militarily. Monday's abject performance at the dispatch box by
:04:37. > :04:40.Eric Pickles. The problem with Eric Pickles is that he has convinced
:04:41. > :04:44.himself he is a national treasure. His job, taking over from Owen
:04:45. > :04:49.Paterson, was just to keep the ship steady. Instead of that, he had this
:04:50. > :04:54.incredible music hall act. On Sunday, he tried to shift the blame
:04:55. > :04:58.and pass the buck. On Monday he was called to Parliament and with this
:04:59. > :05:03.kind of ironic self-awareness tried to do a music hall act. And the tone
:05:04. > :05:07.was wrong. When you get the tone wrong, you can't recover. He ended
:05:08. > :05:13.up by saying about the Environment Agency, might admiration for the
:05:14. > :05:19.Environment Agency exceeds no one. I looked at Hansard. He probably
:05:20. > :05:23.meant, it is exceeded by no one. No wonder one of the flood experts said
:05:24. > :05:29.he would be more use as a sandbag. I think the Prime Minister thinks
:05:30. > :05:32.that. I think I'm going to move on! Now, it's been, ooh, several weeks
:05:33. > :05:36.since we received any of your poorly composed TWelfies. So with February
:05:37. > :05:42.14th upon us and romance in the air and studio, it's surely time for a
:05:43. > :05:53.special ValenTWelfie night. See what we did there? It is wasted on you!
:05:54. > :05:55.So tweet us your photo at #TWelfie. We want a soppy display of public
:05:56. > :05:58.affection, with proof you're watching This Week in the
:05:59. > :06:03.background. Extra points for any Blue Nun in shot as usual. If we get
:06:04. > :06:06.enough, or any, we'll put them in our end credits. Remember, keep it
:06:07. > :06:11.clean folks. And if you can't be clean, be careful.
:06:12. > :06:13.Now, when waters first lapped around politicians' feet last month, a
:06:14. > :06:15.previously unknown UKIP councillor from Henley-under-Thames, David
:06:16. > :06:18.Silvester, broke ranks with the wider scientific community and
:06:19. > :06:28.blamed the heavy floods and violent storms on gay men. With even more of
:06:29. > :06:31.the country underwater and the Tories increasingly under pressure
:06:32. > :06:34.to outflank UKIP, the government now thinks Councillor Silvester was onto
:06:35. > :06:37.something and decided it was the fault of a gay man all along, and
:06:38. > :06:45.been busy trying to hang Environment Agency Chairman, Chris Smith, out to
:06:46. > :06:48.dry ever since. We decided it wasn't that straightforward and turned to
:06:49. > :06:49.river man and magician Paul Daniels and his lovely wife, Debbie McGee,
:06:50. > :07:27.for their take of the week. Hello, cuddly. Floods are not caused
:07:28. > :07:33.by rain. They are not. Floods in river areas are caused by a total
:07:34. > :07:37.lack of preparation. I just it you there is nobody in the Environment
:07:38. > :07:44.Agency has even got a boat. And when these politicians sit there and they
:07:45. > :07:51.are urban, they have not got a clue about this environment at all. I
:07:52. > :07:54.said you should trade chum and the Environment Agency representatives
:07:55. > :07:58.said, that would disturb the Environment Agency of the fish. What
:07:59. > :08:04.about the wildlife that is me? I mean, I am wild. He definitely is.
:08:05. > :08:21.To me, it is a nonsense. I wrote to Theresa May and I said,
:08:22. > :08:28.go into the kitchen, fill a bowl with water, put it in the Job, then
:08:29. > :08:34.fill the bowl half up with mud and try putting the same water back in.
:08:35. > :08:40.It is so mathematically logical that how anybody can say that dredging
:08:41. > :08:44.does not work, I don't believe it. I also believe they shouldn't allow
:08:45. > :08:49.building on the flood plain, unless they are built up high and out of
:08:50. > :08:53.it. It is just a simple truth. You build on a flood plain, the water
:08:54. > :09:08.has to go somewhere else, and look where it has gone.
:09:09. > :09:14.The best example about whether the Environment Agency are on top of
:09:15. > :09:19.this is that we got a phone call to say our house might be at risk from
:09:20. > :09:24.flooding. Four days before that, the water was up over the top of my
:09:25. > :09:28.waders. They were a bit late. So I don't think they know what they are
:09:29. > :09:34.doing and I don't think they are on top of the situation whatsoever.
:09:35. > :09:38.Well said. Come on, my lovely. At least I have taken you for a
:09:39. > :09:54.romantic stroll, not by the river, but in the river. A piggyback. What,
:09:55. > :09:57.will I give you one? Yes, please. From the wildlife of
:09:58. > :10:03.Henley-on-Thames to the wildlife of Westminster, welcome to you both.
:10:04. > :10:07.Paul, let me come to you first. Could anything have really been done
:10:08. > :10:12.to have stopped the widespread flooding? Yes, I believe it could.
:10:13. > :10:16.It is inevitable that we will get excesses of rain. Whether it is
:10:17. > :10:19.caused by global warming or whatever, you are going to get, and
:10:20. > :10:25.sometime in the history of this, excessive rain. I thought the job of
:10:26. > :10:32.the Environment Agency was to plan for that influx, and if you get it,
:10:33. > :10:36.where are we going to put it, where are we going to store it, to keep
:10:37. > :10:44.it? In 2003, there were meetings after the flood and I suggested to
:10:45. > :10:48.the chap holding their seminar that if you lower the level of the
:10:49. > :10:54.river, that is a good place for water. I was told it would upset the
:10:55. > :10:59.environment of the fish. Our hedges were full of dead fish at the time.
:11:00. > :11:03.And then I said, if you lower the level of the river at the end of
:11:04. > :11:09.September, when people stop using it for leisure, the fields would train
:11:10. > :11:14.into it chewing October-November. And everything would be ready for
:11:15. > :11:18.the rain. -- juror in October- November. Dredging is not the one
:11:19. > :11:23.solution, but it would have made a hell of a difference. People in the
:11:24. > :11:26.Somerset Levels said they had wanted dredging but it did not happen and
:11:27. > :11:30.now people in the Thames Valley are saying that the Thames has not been
:11:31. > :11:34.dredged enough. We know it is not the only solution, but is it a major
:11:35. > :11:40.fault of the Environment Agency that they seem to not want to do
:11:41. > :11:44.dredging? Yes, absolutely. If you look at the history of the River
:11:45. > :11:49.Thames particularly, when they were dredging, it did not flood as much.
:11:50. > :11:53.It will still flood a bit, but not as excessive as this time. How do
:11:54. > :11:59.you think the Environment Agency has performed? Very badly, considering
:12:00. > :12:07.how many they have working for them. 11,000. You have to wonder what they
:12:08. > :12:10.are doing. Two of them turned up at our house when I was putting a
:12:11. > :12:13.concrete pad in the garden to rest the cars on. They had just come from
:12:14. > :12:17.a straight year couple of months before and apply for a job because
:12:18. > :12:21.they saw it in the paper and were given it. I said, what do you know
:12:22. > :12:25.about the flow rate of the River Thames? I think that is another
:12:26. > :12:29.problem with the Environment Agency. It is all bundled together. You have
:12:30. > :12:34.sea defences, which is a completely different problem. Northern Rivers,
:12:35. > :12:44.Sutherlin refers, they are different. -- southern rivers. The
:12:45. > :12:48.people we meet from the Environment Agency are in offices in London and
:12:49. > :12:52.do not live or work on the river. There is a real division of opinion
:12:53. > :12:56.between a lot of the academic experts, we spoke to some on the
:12:57. > :13:01.Daily Politics this week, and people working for the quangos in London,
:13:02. > :13:05.who are quite sniffy about drainage. They tend to dismiss it as being
:13:06. > :13:09.almost irrelevant. And the drainage boards on the ground, the farmers
:13:10. > :13:12.and the people living on the ground who really think that drainage would
:13:13. > :13:19.at least make it better. It would not flood as badly as much. Well,
:13:20. > :13:23.you would not turn to me for expertise on this. Firstly, it seems
:13:24. > :13:27.that Paul has made an obvious point, that if there is more room in the
:13:28. > :13:31.river because you have taken silt out of the bottom, more water will
:13:32. > :13:36.fit in the river. Secondly, I think the Environment Agency, like a
:13:37. > :13:40.number of other public authorities, gets obsessed with a particular
:13:41. > :13:44.agenda which drives its policy in a particular direction over the long
:13:45. > :13:48.period of time. Again, Paul put his finger on it when he made reference
:13:49. > :13:52.to disturbing the fish. The balance in the Environment Agency seems to
:13:53. > :13:55.have been distorted. It is this brown bread and sandals idea, that
:13:56. > :14:00.the most important thing in the world, by far, is all wildlife. The
:14:01. > :14:05.survival of every fish, not just some fish. And all other
:14:06. > :14:11.considerations come second. That is a kind of ideology that needs to be
:14:12. > :14:16.wound back. None of us are experts but Hull was heavily flooded in
:14:17. > :14:22.2007. It was not the rivers which overflowed. It was a deluge of
:14:23. > :14:26.water. And I think we have had an exceptional deluge of water now. The
:14:27. > :14:30.Environment Agency did a lot at that time to stop it happening again.
:14:31. > :14:34.There were arguments similar to these, about whether we should be
:14:35. > :14:39.dredging the rivers. And it is very clear that bridging makes a
:14:40. > :14:43.contribution. And it might not have stopped the flooding but it would
:14:44. > :14:47.not have been as bad as it was. -- it is clear that dredging makes a
:14:48. > :14:49.difference. There was the argument when the farmers wrote to the Prime
:14:50. > :15:01.Minister last year on the Somerset Levels and said they needed to be
:15:02. > :15:04.dredging. His third reply to dredging was that. He began by
:15:05. > :15:10.saying it was marginal. Then he said, well, we could do it but it is
:15:11. > :15:15.not a magic bullet, which there is no such thing as a magic bullet. And
:15:16. > :15:23.the third time he came out he said, the Treasury would not let us do it.
:15:24. > :15:25.When you look at the documents, the directives from the Environment
:15:26. > :15:33.Agency, particularly in the Somerset Levels, it was the policy not to be
:15:34. > :15:37.dredging. Indeed, it was a policy of returning a lot of that area to
:15:38. > :15:42.wildlife. The predecessor, Baroness Young, another Labour peer, she
:15:43. > :15:50.said, if you want habitat, just add water. That was the policy. When I'm
:15:51. > :15:55.designing my business, I look at every trick and I think where can
:15:56. > :16:00.this go wrong? That is my prime problem in my head. Where can this
:16:01. > :16:04.go wrong? What do I do about it when it goes wrong? These people have sat
:16:05. > :16:10.there year in, year out, knowing this problem is coming. At some
:16:11. > :16:13.stage it would rain a lot? Of course it will. It will bucket down at some
:16:14. > :16:17.stage. Where are we going to store it? They have done nothing about it.
:16:18. > :16:21.What is it like living with this problem at the moment? It is not
:16:22. > :16:24.good. We are very lucky. We are not in the situation that I have seen a
:16:25. > :16:29.lot of people on television are. We were in that situation ten years
:16:30. > :16:34.ago, so we put precautions in place, so for us, it's just getting, in the
:16:35. > :16:38.last few days, it is access to the house because now it is so high
:16:39. > :16:42.outside it is not inside, so we are cosy indoors. But getting to it is
:16:43. > :16:48.dangerous. So most of our neighbours have moved out and gone to live with
:16:49. > :16:53.family. A lot of empty homes at the moment? If they had dredged, a lot
:16:54. > :16:57.of people who are in a much worst position than us because their homes
:16:58. > :17:01.are so badly damaged, wouldn't have been flooded and, in our case, there
:17:02. > :17:04.would be a bit of water over the garden and it wouldn't be a problem.
:17:05. > :17:10.We need to leave it there. We hope you and your neighbours get a return
:17:11. > :17:18.to normality soon. Do drop in for tea. Not tomorrow! It is never
:17:19. > :17:23.normal in our lane, though! We were hoping for something stronger than
:17:24. > :17:31.tea! Thank you. He is from Scotland, love! It never rains in Scotland, of
:17:32. > :17:34.course(!) Now, remember, only limited time
:17:35. > :17:38.left, so keep sending us your ValenTWelfies. And in the meantime,
:17:39. > :17:41.here's some forward guidance policy you can actually trust. Because
:17:42. > :17:44.waiting in the wings, Hollywood actor Mathew Modine will soon be
:17:45. > :17:51.here to talk about apps, technology, and terrifying robot armies of the
:17:52. > :17:55.future! And speaking of dystopian worlds where all hope has long gone
:17:56. > :17:59.- don't forget to bother us on The Twitter, The Fleecebook and The
:18:00. > :18:03.Skynet. Now, we're just a few minutes away
:18:04. > :18:14.from the midnight hour and for those of you who haven't twigged it yet,
:18:15. > :18:22.it's Valentine's Day! Ahhhh! Enough of that! Don't do that! I have to do
:18:23. > :18:26.my own sound effects! But the past few days have seen little love lost
:18:27. > :18:30.between our politicians. So for her roundup of the week, we asked our
:18:31. > :18:32.very own agony aunt, Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire, to host a
:18:33. > :18:44.special Westminster lonely hearts show. Come on you two, snuggle up.
:18:45. > :18:49.Yes, it is almost Valentine's Day and we want to hear from all you
:18:50. > :18:53.lonely hearts out there. Our politicians have also soft,
:18:54. > :18:58.sensitive souls who want to be loved, by you that is, even if they
:18:59. > :19:05.have little love for each other. We have Eric from Brentwood... What
:19:06. > :19:10.would you like to say? Well, hello. It's Uncle Eric. I have run into a
:19:11. > :19:13.spot of bother. I have ended up offending everybody. I mean,
:19:14. > :19:18.sometimes I feel a bit misunderstood, you know what I mean?
:19:19. > :19:23.I'm a bluff Old York shireman who wants to be loved. This week,
:19:24. > :19:26.Downing Street stand-in emergency floods Minister Eric Pickles caused
:19:27. > :19:30.a few waves himself when he hit out at the Environment Agency for their
:19:31. > :19:37.failure to dredge and then had to back pedal the next day. We perhaps
:19:38. > :19:42.have relied too much on the Environment Agency's advice. We
:19:43. > :19:46.recognise now that we should have done, we should have dredged. It is
:19:47. > :19:52.entirely wrong for the honourable lady to suggest for one moment that
:19:53. > :19:57.I have issued even the slightest criticism of the marvellous
:19:58. > :20:02.workforce of the Environment Agency. And that really broke the heart of
:20:03. > :20:05.Chris from Islington. I have been inundated with messages of support
:20:06. > :20:09.from our staff up-and-down the country who have said thank you for
:20:10. > :20:14.standing up for us because that's what a chairman has to do. Many
:20:15. > :20:18.Conservative MPs might agree with the bluff, Mr Pickles. One allegedly
:20:19. > :20:22.said about Lord Smith: I would like to stick his head down the loo and
:20:23. > :20:27.flush. But the blame game did not go down well with many of my listeners,
:20:28. > :20:31.some of whom were flood victims. They thought the politicians should
:20:32. > :20:35.be doing something to help them, listening to them instead of blaming
:20:36. > :20:45.each other. Mind you, they probably didn't think so many politicians
:20:46. > :20:50.would end up on their doorstep. Our next caller is Dave from Chipping
:20:51. > :20:55.Norton. I gather you have commitment issues? Yes, here, I'm so committed,
:20:56. > :21:00.I'm 100% committed, I'm so committed, it is so not true, money
:21:01. > :21:07.is no object, I will do whatever it takes. Nigel, you are live on the
:21:08. > :21:16.air? I get the feeling I'm looking for love in all the wrong places.
:21:17. > :21:26.That is what the polls are saying. Hi, Boris? This is a message for my
:21:27. > :21:32.bronze nemesis from Woodford Green, Bob. I'm sorry I called you a
:21:33. > :21:38.swaggering fat-necked oath. Will you be my Valentine? The floods haven't
:21:39. > :21:43.just been a human disaster, but a financial one. It could cost
:21:44. > :21:46.insurers up to ?1 billion and we all know who will end up paying for
:21:47. > :21:49.that. Could it have an effect on the growing economy? Well, it is too
:21:50. > :21:54.early to say, obviously. Don't splash out on that wallet-busting
:21:55. > :21:57.Valentine's Day treat just yet. The Bank of England's governor says we
:21:58. > :22:01.are not out of the woods and he will have to change the bank's policy
:22:02. > :22:07.again before he will consider putting up interest rates. We have
:22:08. > :22:12.taken stock. We move into a phase where we are still looking to
:22:13. > :22:18.maintain the momentum in the recovery. But where we have to make
:22:19. > :22:22.more judgment. Ed, you are on the radio? I'm also in a car on a date
:22:23. > :22:25.with Ed Balls in the back and it is not good enough. That is what I say,
:22:26. > :22:32.Britain can do better dates than this. I want to go home. Charles is
:22:33. > :22:36.in Highgrove? Hello, this is kind of you to put me on. I have been
:22:37. > :22:41.touring the studios very much this week and I am really feeling the
:22:42. > :22:45.love and I'm sorry not to have seen you there, I brought you a nice
:22:46. > :22:50.Valentine box of my posh biscuits, yeah. Hi, Alex, I know you have
:22:51. > :22:55.something to say about this? Hello, I have been listening, you are doing
:22:56. > :23:01.a smashing job. After nearly 300 years, I want to end my
:23:02. > :23:07.relationship, but my partner is being unreasonable. If I leave her,
:23:08. > :23:10.she will take me to the cleaners! Today's review said a currency union
:23:11. > :23:16.could work but that both countries would have to agree to subsidise
:23:17. > :23:21.each other's taxpayers, agree on spending. A bit like now, really.
:23:22. > :23:25.It's brought together the most unlikely romantic partners. I could
:23:26. > :23:29.not, as Chancellor, recommend that we could share the pound with an
:23:30. > :23:32.independent Scotland. Scotland cannot keep the pound and the Bank
:23:33. > :23:37.of England if it chooses independence. It is clear to me that
:23:38. > :23:40.a currency union wouldn't work for Scotland if it was independent, it
:23:41. > :23:44.wouldn't work for the rest of the UK. All three main Westminster
:23:45. > :23:47.parties have told Scotland if they vote for independence, they will
:23:48. > :23:52.lose the pound. Alex, are you still there? They may take our lives, but
:23:53. > :23:57.they'll never take our currency! We are in a campaign. It is in the
:23:58. > :24:07.interests of George Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny Alexander to talk up
:24:08. > :24:12.the uncertainty. Still, who would have thought they would be sharing a
:24:13. > :24:16.valuen Tain's day. We have one more caller tonight, Michael from Spain?
:24:17. > :24:19.I have been very much enjoying the programme tonight and as you will
:24:20. > :24:24.see when we cut to the studio, my blouse is particularly fantastic
:24:25. > :24:29.tonight and my point therefore is, Victoria, will you will be my value
:24:30. > :24:36.inTyne? I have already got a date tonight. I'm sorry.
:24:37. > :24:45.Victoria Derbyshire and of course Jon Culshaw as her lonely heart
:24:46. > :24:52.listeners. Michael, is it a sign of the panic that the Prime Minister
:24:53. > :24:58.says money is no object? Yes. The Government has been behind the curve
:24:59. > :25:01.all the way through. The common testimony of all the people affected
:25:02. > :25:05.by the floods is that relief and advice and everything else has come
:25:06. > :25:09.to them too late. By the way, this still continues to be the case. Even
:25:10. > :25:14.though the soldiers have been seen in some places, each new place tells
:25:15. > :25:19.the same stor that they feel they are on their own for the first 24
:25:20. > :25:23.hours. Yes, obviously, he is saying money is no object. That is a
:25:24. > :25:28.desperate thing to say. It cannot really be true. These are the
:25:29. > :25:34.floods, they are in the Tory heartlands? They are. They are not
:25:35. > :25:39.in the North of England? That's true. It's an horrendous problem to
:25:40. > :25:43.be dealing with. We had foot-and-mouth. Everyone has
:25:44. > :25:47.sympathy for politicians caught by these disasters. Michael is right.
:25:48. > :25:51.It is a bit like the way they stack their front bench with women this
:25:52. > :25:56.week. It was too late because the image was there last week. It is the
:25:57. > :26:00.same thing with the floods. The initial inertia is going to cost
:26:01. > :26:08.them. There is not a sign yet - this is obviously not Britain's Leeds,
:26:09. > :26:13.but very tough by the people who have been hurt by it. When these
:26:14. > :26:17.things happen and ordinary folk are being seriously inconvenienced,
:26:18. > :26:23.politicians have to be seen to give a lead, don't they? They do. I don't
:26:24. > :26:26.think that anyone, even the worst affected would blame the Government
:26:27. > :26:29.for the rain and the unusual weather conditions. There are certainly a
:26:30. > :26:34.category of events which put, they know that politicians can't control,
:26:35. > :26:38.but it is then how you cope with the uncontrollable events and it is this
:26:39. > :26:43.issue of grip. Government has to be seen to have a grip when there is a
:26:44. > :26:46.crisis and it's a number one requirement, really, of whoever is
:26:47. > :26:50.in charge of you at the time, that they can cope with an unexpected
:26:51. > :26:54.event and mitigate the problems for people, so for everyone involved in
:26:55. > :26:59.the Government, David Cameron strode to the front of the team this week,
:27:00. > :27:07.didn't he, and took over? Obviously, therefore... COBRA seems to meet in
:27:08. > :27:11.permanent sessions? Exactly. He is taking a big personal risk with his
:27:12. > :27:16.political capital. If it goes badly, it reflects on the whole Government.
:27:17. > :27:21.At the moment, I don't get the sense that this is a political hole below
:27:22. > :27:26.the waterline for the Government, do you? No. I said last week, when the
:27:27. > :27:30.waters recede, the problem will recede. It hasn't gone at all well.
:27:31. > :27:34.Indeed, in one way, I think it raises an interesting argument for
:27:35. > :27:38.the Conservatives because many Conservatives really take the view
:27:39. > :27:42.that it is an arrogance to believe that by controlling the way we
:27:43. > :27:46.consume energy, we can change the climate or change the climate back,
:27:47. > :27:50.which ever one it is. Actually, what we ought to be concentrating on is
:27:51. > :27:56.how we devote resources to coping with the consequences of what the
:27:57. > :27:59.climate is going to do to us. Actually, that is now what a lot of
:28:00. > :28:03.people on the ground are saying. We don't want wind turbines, we don't
:28:04. > :28:08.want to pay higher energy bills, we want a lot of money spent on
:28:09. > :28:11.preventing the worst consequences of flooding. It is difficult in these
:28:12. > :28:15.circumstances, particularly given it's in the Tory heartlands, what
:28:16. > :28:21.does the leader op the opposition do? He was ridiculed for walking
:28:22. > :28:24.around in his wellies in a marginal, one of the few marginal seats in
:28:25. > :28:29.that part of the world. On the other hand, if he hadn't gone, he would
:28:30. > :28:33.have been ridiculed? He had to go. He had to, which I think he did
:28:34. > :28:36.quite well at Prime Minister's Questions this week, he tried to
:28:37. > :28:39.make this look - he asked questions, they were proper questions this
:28:40. > :28:43.week. Get this idea that we have all got a political consensus about
:28:44. > :28:46.sorting this out. Eric Pickles damaged that. The Prime Minister
:28:47. > :28:55.tried to get a grip on it. I would agree with Michael about them not
:28:56. > :29:00.being holed below the waterline. People are having to pay local
:29:01. > :29:05.authorities for sandbags. Yes. That phrase, "Whatever happens in the
:29:06. > :29:09.future" - it would have been better to say, "There is not a blank cheque
:29:10. > :29:12.here, the governments can't magic Monday neat, but we will do
:29:13. > :29:17.everything we can." Instead of that, it looked more like a PR exercise
:29:18. > :29:24.than a properly thought out policy. PR from the Prime Minister(?) How
:29:25. > :29:29.did that happen. Shocking allegation. Who will be the fall
:29:30. > :29:35.guy, Mr Pickles, Mr Paterson, Chris Smith, all of the above, the Agency?
:29:36. > :29:48.I think Chris Smith is very badly damaged. He oo is leaving the
:29:49. > :29:51.Agency. He leaves in June. I don't know why Chris Smith hasn't pulled
:29:52. > :29:53.out the director-general of the agency. He is the chairman, in
:29:54. > :29:57.charge of governance and appointing members of the board and that kind
:29:58. > :30:01.of thing, so why exactly he has allowed himself to be the fall guy.
:30:02. > :30:10.I think the Environment Agency is probably a fall guy as well. I would
:30:11. > :30:15.not be surprised if it is removed. One of the things which has gone
:30:16. > :30:20.below the radar for most people was the governor of the Bank of
:30:21. > :30:27.England's press conference. He is now predicting growth of 3.4% this
:30:28. > :30:34.year. It is phenomenal, isn't it. I also thought, the interpretation of
:30:35. > :30:38.some of the papers was that it is great news for mortgage holders
:30:39. > :30:42.because interest rates are not going up. Actually, they are going up and
:30:43. > :30:45.the point at which they will is becoming visible. It will probably
:30:46. > :30:55.be just the other side of the general election. And I just
:30:56. > :30:59.wonder, there are still quite a lot of people whose level of personal
:31:00. > :31:02.debt is so critical that an increase of a percentage point or two,
:31:03. > :31:07.because they are talking about 3% in the medium term, could be very
:31:08. > :31:12.serious. The governor also said the recovery was neither balanced more
:31:13. > :31:15.sustainable, and that is clear because it is driven by consumption
:31:16. > :31:18.spending and rising house prices. That might matter for the economy,
:31:19. > :31:23.but it may not matter for the political cycle. Not being balanced
:31:24. > :31:27.or sustainable may still get the recovery through to election day.
:31:28. > :31:37.Yes, and people will not analyse what the recovery is about. I think
:31:38. > :31:41.his problem is - who was it who said an economist is like a man who knows
:31:42. > :31:52.100 sexual positions but has never met a woman? I think it was Jeffrey
:31:53. > :31:59.Howell. Disaster 9pm. Six months ago he set a medium-term policy. Six
:32:00. > :32:06.months later it has all changed. Nevertheless, in terms of how the
:32:07. > :32:09.economics plays into politics, to be able to be pretty sure that interest
:32:10. > :32:13.rates are not going to rise this side of the election, that
:32:14. > :32:18.unemployment, on the Bank of England's projections, is going to
:32:19. > :32:23.be 6% or lower by the election, and the economy is going to go over 3%,
:32:24. > :32:28.that has an impact. It is extremely good news for the government,
:32:29. > :32:31.really. But still, behind the success in the data and Mark
:32:32. > :32:36.Carney's remarks this week, there is this fear in the government, and
:32:37. > :32:41.both parties in the government fear this the Norman, what they call a
:32:42. > :32:45.recovery without votes. The idea that you do not get the credit for
:32:46. > :32:49.it, or people do not feel it enough. The point about whether a
:32:50. > :32:52.rate rises in the offing is significant. If the anxiety builds
:32:53. > :32:59.and mortgage companies start removing fixed rate deals, builds a
:33:00. > :33:04.sense of anxiety. Now is the time to get onto a fixed rate deal. I have
:33:05. > :33:07.got one, thank you. And we cross now to the Wythenshawe
:33:08. > :33:11.and Sale East by-election where the BBC's Arif Ansari is at the count.
:33:12. > :33:20.This by-election was triggered by the death in January of Labour MP
:33:21. > :33:23.Paul Goggins. There has never been any doubt that Labour would hold
:33:24. > :33:30.onto the seat, probably very comfortably. We are interested in
:33:31. > :33:38.who has come second. Do we think UKIP has come second, and is it a
:33:39. > :33:42.decent second? That is the key question, Andrew. I think you did
:33:43. > :33:46.make the right decision not to come here and retire to Annabel's
:33:47. > :33:52.instead. It has not been the most exciting by-election of all time.
:33:53. > :33:57.That is the key question, about UKIP. The indication I am getting is
:33:58. > :34:01.that UKIP has probably come second. But as you point out, that is not
:34:02. > :34:08.enough in itself. There have been a number of by-elections in which UKIP
:34:09. > :34:11.have already come second, and four out of five of those were in the
:34:12. > :34:14.North of England, so it is not unprecedented for them to come
:34:15. > :34:19.second. The question is how well they have done. If they come second,
:34:20. > :34:24.how far behind Labour are they, and how far in front of the Tories? The
:34:25. > :34:30.hint that I'm getting here is that it is probably pretty close, not a
:34:31. > :34:35.convincing second for UKIP. Thank you very much for marking our card.
:34:36. > :34:39.If it is not a convincing second, it is much ado about nothing. The
:34:40. > :34:50.difference -- be in difference behind him was almost palpable!
:34:51. > :34:54.Let's come on to Scotland. This remarkable array of a Tory
:34:55. > :34:58.Chancellor, Labour Shadow Chancellor, Lib Dem Chief Secretary
:34:59. > :35:03.to the Treasury all saying bluntly to the Scottish Nationalists, you
:35:04. > :35:09.leave the UK, you leave behind the pound, you ain't taking it with you.
:35:10. > :35:14.There is a strong economic and monetary argument for saying that.
:35:15. > :35:21.We think an SNP government of an independent Scotland would try to
:35:22. > :35:26.pursue fiscal policies of which the UK Government would not approve.
:35:27. > :35:30.There is no way the UK Government wants to bail out Scotland in that
:35:31. > :35:36.situation, and if Scotland wants independence, maybe it should take
:35:37. > :35:39.full independence. Whether it is the right political decision, maybe your
:35:40. > :35:45.opinion is more interesting than mine. It is clear that in the short
:35:46. > :35:48.term Alex Salmond can argue that the parties are ganging up against
:35:49. > :35:53.Scotland and this is bullying and intimidation. They say that, but the
:35:54. > :35:56.thing I have never understood is that it is the purpose of the
:35:57. > :36:03.Scottish Nationalists to break up the British state. So why are they
:36:04. > :36:11.so angry, or surprised, when the British state fights back?
:36:12. > :36:14.Absolutely. Fighting talk. Also, I would think the people who would be
:36:15. > :36:18.angry about this and think it is bullying would be the people who
:36:19. > :36:23.were going to vote yes anyway. At some stage, this is a big, meaty,
:36:24. > :36:28.chunky political issue, and at some stage it was going to have to be out
:36:29. > :36:36.there. I think this is probably the right time. We have run out of time.
:36:37. > :36:38.We have you frozen like that. Only another seven months to go. Plenty
:36:39. > :36:41.of time before the vote. Now, ex-Immigration Minister, Mark
:36:42. > :36:44.Harper must be happy. Sure, he was forced to resign after his
:36:45. > :36:48.department found that the women employed to iron his shirts for the
:36:49. > :36:50.past seven years and whose wages, inexplicably, were paid by
:36:51. > :36:53.hard-working taxpayers, was, in fact, an illegal whose papers had
:36:54. > :37:00.somehow gone AWOL from Mr Harper's safe-keeping. But he must be happy
:37:01. > :37:04.because as soon as his total inability to follow his own legal
:37:05. > :37:07.advice was revealed, he was roundly patted on the back for doing the
:37:08. > :37:12.decent thing and resigning, which was the very least he could do. If
:37:13. > :37:17.only he'd had a handy "Check the Immigration Status of Your Cleaner"
:37:18. > :37:20.app. Now that's a thought. And that's why we've decided to put
:37:21. > :37:35.technology and the future in this week's Spotlight.
:37:36. > :37:43.Smartphones, laptops and iPads are in almost every home. Is this deluge
:37:44. > :37:49.of devices a good thing, or could technology cause society to mouth
:37:50. > :37:56.function? Actor Matthew Modine thinks it can inform and entertain.
:37:57. > :37:59.With his full metal jacket app, using diary entries, photos and
:38:00. > :38:06.music to recreate his time making the film. But with apps, there are
:38:07. > :38:09.doubts. Ask flappy bird creator, who pulled the game, saying it was
:38:10. > :38:16.dangerously addictive and ruining his simple life. Tristram Hunt is
:38:17. > :38:20.worried, and thinks pupils need lessons in attention to combat
:38:21. > :38:24.social media distractions. With research showing parents unaware of
:38:25. > :38:32.internet dangers, are we doing enough to protect youngsters online?
:38:33. > :38:37.Never mind the drones, what about the robots? Compared to Robocop, our
:38:38. > :38:44.technology might look rusty, but the robots are coming. Should we be
:38:45. > :38:50.afraid? Whether used for entertainment, education or evil,
:38:51. > :38:57.technology is everywhere. Can we harness it, or is the techno tied
:38:58. > :39:00.beyond our control? There has not been so much violence on the
:39:01. > :39:04.programme since Diane Abbott was last here! Matthew, great to see
:39:05. > :39:09.you. You wrote a book about your experience filming full metal
:39:10. > :39:16.jacket. It was filmed in London. In the Docklands. You have released an
:39:17. > :39:21.interactive app. Is this the future, not books but apps? I don't
:39:22. > :39:26.think you can replace books. People want the experience with paper, to
:39:27. > :39:29.fall asleep reading a book on the beach. If you take an app, you fall
:39:30. > :39:35.asleep and it hits you in the face and breaks your nose. And what if
:39:36. > :39:39.there is a solar flare and all of the -- Electronics break. We want
:39:40. > :39:44.books and to be able to go to the library. There is something romantic
:39:45. > :39:50.about a book. But with the app, you can do lots of things and it is more
:39:51. > :39:57.interactive. I was approached by a real genius from Apple. He loved my
:39:58. > :40:02.book and he said, what if we took your book and made it into an app?
:40:03. > :40:06.He said, we would have you record it, create an original score, sound
:40:07. > :40:12.effects, and take all the photographs you took while making
:40:13. > :40:16.the film, notes that Stanley wrote to you, Polaroids he gave you and we
:40:17. > :40:19.will put it in and make it this deeply immersive experience for
:40:20. > :40:25.people to learn more about the making of the film, about Stanley
:40:26. > :40:28.Kubrick. I said, that's a good idea do you think we could create
:40:29. > :40:34.something Stanley Kubrick would be proud of? He said, I think we can.
:40:35. > :40:39.In 2001 a space Odyssey, when the person is flying to the moon, there
:40:40. > :40:47.is a woman carrying something in an app. That was made in 1967-68. Back
:40:48. > :40:51.when app was short for apartment. For younger people, this is the way
:40:52. > :40:56.they will get their information now. They are using them in schools.
:40:57. > :41:03.They do have their application, their uses. I am not frightened of
:41:04. > :41:08.the technology. I think it is something that can be very useful.
:41:09. > :41:11.For instance, people in Africa having the ability to have a
:41:12. > :41:16.cellphone, to communicate with the world, is very important. They say
:41:17. > :41:19.there are children in Israel communicating with kids in
:41:20. > :41:24.Palestine, being able to share ideas and say, I am a kid like you and I
:41:25. > :41:30.don't hate you, and let's get on with it, put this aside. So social
:41:31. > :41:35.media is a useful technology and could be a great way to unite us.
:41:36. > :41:38.Would it not be fair to say that when it comes to technology,
:41:39. > :41:45.politicians are always behind the curve? I certainly am always behind
:41:46. > :41:49.the curve. But I think in another five or 10-year is there will not be
:41:50. > :41:52.a single MP who, like me, is not on Twitter and is not using new
:41:53. > :42:02.technology. I don't use it very much, but I'm a fading example. What
:42:03. > :42:06.is amazing is how a new generation, if you have ever been to Tech city
:42:07. > :42:10.on Old Street in London, it is amazing how many young people. All
:42:11. > :42:14.that Google do is provide a space for youngsters to talk to each
:42:15. > :42:19.other, positions, designers, artists, technicians. They design
:42:20. > :42:26.apps and games and it is a huge part of our economy, 6% of GDP, second
:42:27. > :42:30.only to the states. Will you one day give up the quill pen? I was
:42:31. > :42:35.interested in what you said about books surviving. It seems to me like
:42:36. > :42:39.saying the horse and cart would survive. I can't see why the book
:42:40. > :42:49.will survive. Because they look nice. They are nice to touch now and
:42:50. > :42:56.then. People said radio would die out when TV came. Hollywood is a
:42:57. > :43:01.waste trying to frighten us about technology. We saw Robocop, the
:43:02. > :43:04.terminator, minority report, it is always about technology devouring
:43:05. > :43:10.us. But for most people it makes life better. Hopefully. It is
:43:11. > :43:15.opposed to make life better, to give us more time. But the technology
:43:16. > :43:19.hasn't done that. We spend more time on our cellphones. Walking through
:43:20. > :43:25.the streets of London, everybody has their face down in their apps. I am
:43:26. > :43:28.looking forward to the posters in minority report that recognise you
:43:29. > :43:34.as you go down the street and tell you the products you would like to
:43:35. > :43:39.buy. That is not far away. And cars that drive themselves behind each
:43:40. > :43:44.other. That is not far away either. It is here with us. I did a
:43:45. > :43:49.commercial last night talking about a car that parks itself. I think you
:43:50. > :43:52.will see anatomical changes. People's necks and thumbs will
:43:53. > :43:56.change. Thank you. That's your lot for tonight, folks.
:43:57. > :44:00.But not for us, because with Britain now on emergency flood alert, the
:44:01. > :44:03.army's been deployed to Lou Lou's after someone spilled their drink.
:44:04. > :44:06.And Michael's keen to help out the heroes. But we leave you tonight
:44:07. > :44:11.with proof that whilst romance might not be dead, it's certainly on life
:44:12. > :44:15.support. Nighty night - don't let the Twelfie bite.