Browse content similar to 13/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Tonight, join This Week for the Westminster Blame Game. | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
Our Contestants, Prime Minister, David Cameron, Environment Agency | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
Chairman, Chris Smith, and other leading Westminster politicians, all | :00:13. | :00:19. | |
wearing wellies. Didn't they do well? Or did they? Magician Paul | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
Daniels and his very lovely assistant, wife Debbie McGee, think | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
it will take more than a pair of waders and a magic wand to fix the | :00:27. | :00:34. | |
flood damage. Flubbed, flood, flood. Whose idea was it to live by | :00:35. | :00:43. | |
the river? Are you blaming me? I blame you. I blame you. I blame you. | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
Chancellor George Osborne plays the Yes or No game in Scotland. If | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
George wins, he says Scotland can't have the pound. BBC Five Live | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
Presenter Victoria Derbyshire looks at the scores on the doors. If Alex | :00:57. | :01:06. | |
plays his cards right he gets an independent Scotland, but will he | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
get tonight's big-money prize. And playing the technology game - | :01:12. | :01:14. | |
Hollywood actor Matthew Modine. Will we all be winners in the future? | :01:15. | :01:25. | |
Hey, Britain. Mice to see you, to see you nice. | :01:26. | :01:37. | |
Evenin' all. Welcome to This Week, a week in which it was back to the | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
future, after the Prime Minister told us "Money is no object". Yes, | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
all it took was rising damp for floating voters in the Home Counties | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
for old Auntie Austerity to be dumped overboard in favour of a | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
return to the Loadsamoney Eighties. But what, we asked, did he mean by | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
"Money is no object"? "Money is no object", he helpfully explained, as | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
the Treasury taps opened and unlimited dosh gurgled forth. But | :02:02. | :02:10. | |
where's it all coming from? I can reveal tonight that the famous note | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
left behind in 2010 by an outgoing Labour Treasury minister saying | :02:15. | :02:17. | |
there's no money left was a cunning diversion. Sources tell me, or maybe | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
it was on Sky News, that Labour had secretly stuffed the back of the | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
Treasury sofa with overflowing funds for a rainy day, and that | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
Call-Me-Dave had accidentally stumbled across this hidden treasure | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
when he was doing a bit of housework to pass the time, waiting for his | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
new bespoke King Canute outfit to be finished. So now he's all Aqua Man, | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
flush with watermarked cash, and busy pointing at flood water | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
everywhere. And what will he do for an encore? Sources tell me it's a | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
toss up between announcing the first hosepipe ban of spring and banning | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
smoking in dinghies carrying children. Speaking of those who turn | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
up late and try to take all the credit, I'm joined on the sofa | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
tonight by two ancient antiquities we refuse to send home. Think of | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
them as the Elgin Marbles and Lost His Marbles of late night political | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
chat. I speak, of course, of #manontheleft Alan "AJ" Johnson, and | :03:07. | :03:14. | |
#sadmanonatrain Michael Portillo. Good evening to you both. Michael, | :03:15. | :03:20. | |
your moment of the week. President Obama was asked which was his | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
favourite ally, France or Britain. He said he had two daughters and he | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
could not choose between them and could not choose between these | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
allies. I reflected that these were the French, who were described in | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
this Sons as the cheese eating surrender monkeys, who would not | :03:38. | :03:45. | |
back the United States in Iraq. He could not choose between France, | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
which admittedly has lost 86 soldiers in Afghanistan, and Britain | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
which has lost 450. I think it is a poor deal that he cannot choose | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
between an ally which has been loyal to the United States. I think the | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
United States is being ungracious, ungrateful and confused about the | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
situation in Europe, and it makes you wonder what this sucking up to | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
the night of state has been about. You get the feeling the relationship | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
between Washington and London is getting less and less important. I | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
think because we did not have enough troops to do two operations | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
simultaneously, the fact that we could not hold Basra or Helmand has | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
led the Americans to think we are an unreliable ally, not literally, but | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
militarily. Monday's abject performance at the dispatch box by | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
Eric Pickles. The problem with Eric Pickles is that he has convinced | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
himself he is a national treasure. His job, taking over from Owen | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
Paterson, was just to keep the ship steady. Instead of that, he had this | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
incredible music hall act. On Sunday, he tried to shift the blame | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
and pass the buck. On Monday he was called to Parliament and with this | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
kind of ironic self-awareness tried to do a music hall act. And the tone | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
was wrong. When you get the tone wrong, you can't recover. He ended | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
up by saying about the Environment Agency, might admiration for the | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
Environment Agency exceeds no one. I looked at Hansard. He probably | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
meant, it is exceeded by no one. No wonder one of the flood experts said | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
he would be more use as a sandbag. I think the Prime Minister thinks | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
that. I think I'm going to move on! Now, it's been, ooh, several weeks | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
since we received any of your poorly composed TWelfies. So with February | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
14th upon us and romance in the air and studio, it's surely time for a | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
special ValenTWelfie night. See what we did there? It is wasted on you! | :05:43. | :05:53. | |
So tweet us your photo at #TWelfie. We want a soppy display of public | :05:54. | :05:55. | |
affection, with proof you're watching This Week in the | :05:56. | :05:58. | |
background. Extra points for any Blue Nun in shot as usual. If we get | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
enough, or any, we'll put them in our end credits. Remember, keep it | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
clean folks. And if you can't be clean, be careful. | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
Now, when waters first lapped around politicians' feet last month, a | :06:12. | :06:13. | |
previously unknown UKIP councillor from Henley-under-Thames, David | :06:14. | :06:15. | |
Silvester, broke ranks with the wider scientific community and | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
blamed the heavy floods and violent storms on gay men. With even more of | :06:19. | :06:28. | |
the country underwater and the Tories increasingly under pressure | :06:29. | :06:31. | |
to outflank UKIP, the government now thinks Councillor Silvester was onto | :06:32. | :06:34. | |
something and decided it was the fault of a gay man all along, and | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
been busy trying to hang Environment Agency Chairman, Chris Smith, out to | :06:38. | :06:45. | |
dry ever since. We decided it wasn't that straightforward and turned to | :06:46. | :06:48. | |
river man and magician Paul Daniels and his lovely wife, Debbie McGee, | :06:49. | :06:49. | |
for their take of the week. Hello, cuddly. Floods are not caused | :06:50. | :07:27. | |
by rain. They are not. Floods in river areas are caused by a total | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
lack of preparation. I just it you there is nobody in the Environment | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
Agency has even got a boat. And when these politicians sit there and they | :07:38. | :07:44. | |
are urban, they have not got a clue about this environment at all. I | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
said you should trade chum and the Environment Agency representatives | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
said, that would disturb the Environment Agency of the fish. What | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
about the wildlife that is me? I mean, I am wild. He definitely is. | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
To me, it is a nonsense. I wrote to Theresa May and I said, | :08:05. | :08:21. | |
go into the kitchen, fill a bowl with water, put it in the Job, then | :08:22. | :08:28. | |
fill the bowl half up with mud and try putting the same water back in. | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
It is so mathematically logical that how anybody can say that dredging | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
does not work, I don't believe it. I also believe they shouldn't allow | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
building on the flood plain, unless they are built up high and out of | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
it. It is just a simple truth. You build on a flood plain, the water | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
has to go somewhere else, and look where it has gone. | :08:54. | :09:08. | |
The best example about whether the Environment Agency are on top of | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
this is that we got a phone call to say our house might be at risk from | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
flooding. Four days before that, the water was up over the top of my | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
waders. They were a bit late. So I don't think they know what they are | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
doing and I don't think they are on top of the situation whatsoever. | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
Well said. Come on, my lovely. At least I have taken you for a | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
romantic stroll, not by the river, but in the river. A piggyback. What, | :09:39. | :09:54. | |
will I give you one? Yes, please. From the wildlife of | :09:55. | :09:57. | |
Henley-on-Thames to the wildlife of Westminster, welcome to you both. | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
Paul, let me come to you first. Could anything have really been done | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
to have stopped the widespread flooding? Yes, I believe it could. | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
It is inevitable that we will get excesses of rain. Whether it is | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
caused by global warming or whatever, you are going to get, and | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
sometime in the history of this, excessive rain. I thought the job of | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
the Environment Agency was to plan for that influx, and if you get it, | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
where are we going to put it, where are we going to store it, to keep | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
it? In 2003, there were meetings after the flood and I suggested to | :10:37. | :10:44. | |
the chap holding their seminar that if you lower the level of the | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
river, that is a good place for water. I was told it would upset the | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
environment of the fish. Our hedges were full of dead fish at the time. | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
And then I said, if you lower the level of the river at the end of | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
September, when people stop using it for leisure, the fields would train | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
into it chewing October-November. And everything would be ready for | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
the rain. -- juror in October- November. Dredging is not the one | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
solution, but it would have made a hell of a difference. People in the | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
Somerset Levels said they had wanted dredging but it did not happen and | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
now people in the Thames Valley are saying that the Thames has not been | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
dredged enough. We know it is not the only solution, but is it a major | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
fault of the Environment Agency that they seem to not want to do | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
dredging? Yes, absolutely. If you look at the history of the River | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
Thames particularly, when they were dredging, it did not flood as much. | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
It will still flood a bit, but not as excessive as this time. How do | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
you think the Environment Agency has performed? Very badly, considering | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
how many they have working for them. 11,000. You have to wonder what they | :12:00. | :12:07. | |
are doing. Two of them turned up at our house when I was putting a | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
concrete pad in the garden to rest the cars on. They had just come from | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
a straight year couple of months before and apply for a job because | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
they saw it in the paper and were given it. I said, what do you know | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
about the flow rate of the River Thames? I think that is another | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
problem with the Environment Agency. It is all bundled together. You have | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
sea defences, which is a completely different problem. Northern Rivers, | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
Sutherlin refers, they are different. -- southern rivers. The | :12:35. | :12:44. | |
people we meet from the Environment Agency are in offices in London and | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
do not live or work on the river. There is a real division of opinion | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
between a lot of the academic experts, we spoke to some on the | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
Daily Politics this week, and people working for the quangos in London, | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
who are quite sniffy about drainage. They tend to dismiss it as being | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
almost irrelevant. And the drainage boards on the ground, the farmers | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
and the people living on the ground who really think that drainage would | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
at least make it better. It would not flood as badly as much. Well, | :13:13. | :13:19. | |
you would not turn to me for expertise on this. Firstly, it seems | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
that Paul has made an obvious point, that if there is more room in the | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
river because you have taken silt out of the bottom, more water will | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
fit in the river. Secondly, I think the Environment Agency, like a | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
number of other public authorities, gets obsessed with a particular | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
agenda which drives its policy in a particular direction over the long | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
period of time. Again, Paul put his finger on it when he made reference | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
to disturbing the fish. The balance in the Environment Agency seems to | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
have been distorted. It is this brown bread and sandals idea, that | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
the most important thing in the world, by far, is all wildlife. The | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
survival of every fish, not just some fish. And all other | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
considerations come second. That is a kind of ideology that needs to be | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
wound back. None of us are experts but Hull was heavily flooded in | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
2007. It was not the rivers which overflowed. It was a deluge of | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
water. And I think we have had an exceptional deluge of water now. The | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
Environment Agency did a lot at that time to stop it happening again. | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
There were arguments similar to these, about whether we should be | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
dredging the rivers. And it is very clear that bridging makes a | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
contribution. And it might not have stopped the flooding but it would | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
not have been as bad as it was. -- it is clear that dredging makes a | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
difference. There was the argument when the farmers wrote to the Prime | :14:48. | :14:49. | |
Minister last year on the Somerset Levels and said they needed to be | :14:50. | :15:01. | |
dredging. His third reply to dredging was that. He began by | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
saying it was marginal. Then he said, well, we could do it but it is | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
not a magic bullet, which there is no such thing as a magic bullet. And | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
the third time he came out he said, the Treasury would not let us do it. | :15:16. | :15:23. | |
When you look at the documents, the directives from the Environment | :15:24. | :15:25. | |
Agency, particularly in the Somerset Levels, it was the policy not to be | :15:26. | :15:33. | |
dredging. Indeed, it was a policy of returning a lot of that area to | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
wildlife. The predecessor, Baroness Young, another Labour peer, she | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
said, if you want habitat, just add water. That was the policy. When I'm | :15:43. | :15:50. | |
designing my business, I look at every trick and I think where can | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
this go wrong? That is my prime problem in my head. Where can this | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
go wrong? What do I do about it when it goes wrong? These people have sat | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
there year in, year out, knowing this problem is coming. At some | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
stage it would rain a lot? Of course it will. It will bucket down at some | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
stage. Where are we going to store it? They have done nothing about it. | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
What is it like living with this problem at the moment? It is not | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
good. We are very lucky. We are not in the situation that I have seen a | :16:22. | :16:24. | |
lot of people on television are. We were in that situation ten years | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
ago, so we put precautions in place, so for us, it's just getting, in the | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
last few days, it is access to the house because now it is so high | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
outside it is not inside, so we are cosy indoors. But getting to it is | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
dangerous. So most of our neighbours have moved out and gone to live with | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
family. A lot of empty homes at the moment? If they had dredged, a lot | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
of people who are in a much worst position than us because their homes | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
are so badly damaged, wouldn't have been flooded and, in our case, there | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
would be a bit of water over the garden and it wouldn't be a problem. | :17:02. | :17:04. | |
We need to leave it there. We hope you and your neighbours get a return | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
to normality soon. Do drop in for tea. Not tomorrow! It is never | :17:11. | :17:18. | |
normal in our lane, though! We were hoping for something stronger than | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
tea! Thank you. He is from Scotland, love! It never rains in Scotland, of | :17:24. | :17:31. | |
course(!) Now, remember, only limited time | :17:32. | :17:34. | |
left, so keep sending us your ValenTWelfies. And in the meantime, | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
here's some forward guidance policy you can actually trust. Because | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
waiting in the wings, Hollywood actor Mathew Modine will soon be | :17:42. | :17:44. | |
here to talk about apps, technology, and terrifying robot armies of the | :17:45. | :17:51. | |
future! And speaking of dystopian worlds where all hope has long gone | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
- don't forget to bother us on The Twitter, The Fleecebook and The | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
Skynet. Now, we're just a few minutes away | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
from the midnight hour and for those of you who haven't twigged it yet, | :18:04. | :18:14. | |
it's Valentine's Day! Ahhhh! Enough of that! Don't do that! I have to do | :18:15. | :18:22. | |
my own sound effects! But the past few days have seen little love lost | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
between our politicians. So for her roundup of the week, we asked our | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
very own agony aunt, Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire, to host a | :18:31. | :18:32. | |
special Westminster lonely hearts show. Come on you two, snuggle up. | :18:33. | :18:44. | |
Yes, it is almost Valentine's Day and we want to hear from all you | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
lonely hearts out there. Our politicians have also soft, | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
sensitive souls who want to be loved, by you that is, even if they | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
have little love for each other. We have Eric from Brentwood... What | :18:59. | :19:05. | |
would you like to say? Well, hello. It's Uncle Eric. I have run into a | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
spot of bother. I have ended up offending everybody. I mean, | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
sometimes I feel a bit misunderstood, you know what I mean? | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
I'm a bluff Old York shireman who wants to be loved. This week, | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
Downing Street stand-in emergency floods Minister Eric Pickles caused | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
a few waves himself when he hit out at the Environment Agency for their | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
failure to dredge and then had to back pedal the next day. We perhaps | :19:31. | :19:37. | |
have relied too much on the Environment Agency's advice. We | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
recognise now that we should have done, we should have dredged. It is | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
entirely wrong for the honourable lady to suggest for one moment that | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
I have issued even the slightest criticism of the marvellous | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
workforce of the Environment Agency. And that really broke the heart of | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
Chris from Islington. I have been inundated with messages of support | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
from our staff up-and-down the country who have said thank you for | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
standing up for us because that's what a chairman has to do. Many | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
Conservative MPs might agree with the bluff, Mr Pickles. One allegedly | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
said about Lord Smith: I would like to stick his head down the loo and | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
flush. But the blame game did not go down well with many of my listeners, | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
some of whom were flood victims. They thought the politicians should | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
be doing something to help them, listening to them instead of blaming | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
each other. Mind you, they probably didn't think so many politicians | :20:36. | :20:45. | |
would end up on their doorstep. Our next caller is Dave from Chipping | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
Norton. I gather you have commitment issues? Yes, here, I'm so committed, | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
I'm 100% committed, I'm so committed, it is so not true, money | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
is no object, I will do whatever it takes. Nigel, you are live on the | :21:01. | :21:07. | |
air? I get the feeling I'm looking for love in all the wrong places. | :21:08. | :21:16. | |
That is what the polls are saying. Hi, Boris? This is a message for my | :21:17. | :21:26. | |
bronze nemesis from Woodford Green, Bob. I'm sorry I called you a | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
swaggering fat-necked oath. Will you be my Valentine? The floods haven't | :21:33. | :21:38. | |
just been a human disaster, but a financial one. It could cost | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
insurers up to ?1 billion and we all know who will end up paying for | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
that. Could it have an effect on the growing economy? Well, it is too | :21:47. | :21:49. | |
early to say, obviously. Don't splash out on that wallet-busting | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
Valentine's Day treat just yet. The Bank of England's governor says we | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
are not out of the woods and he will have to change the bank's policy | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
again before he will consider putting up interest rates. We have | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
taken stock. We move into a phase where we are still looking to | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
maintain the momentum in the recovery. But where we have to make | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
more judgment. Ed, you are on the radio? I'm also in a car on a date | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
with Ed Balls in the back and it is not good enough. That is what I say, | :22:23. | :22:25. | |
Britain can do better dates than this. I want to go home. Charles is | :22:26. | :22:32. | |
in Highgrove? Hello, this is kind of you to put me on. I have been | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
touring the studios very much this week and I am really feeling the | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
love and I'm sorry not to have seen you there, I brought you a nice | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
Valentine box of my posh biscuits, yeah. Hi, Alex, I know you have | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
something to say about this? Hello, I have been listening, you are doing | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
a smashing job. After nearly 300 years, I want to end my | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
relationship, but my partner is being unreasonable. If I leave her, | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
she will take me to the cleaners! Today's review said a currency union | :23:08. | :23:10. | |
could work but that both countries would have to agree to subsidise | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
each other's taxpayers, agree on spending. A bit like now, really. | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
It's brought together the most unlikely romantic partners. I could | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
not, as Chancellor, recommend that we could share the pound with an | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
independent Scotland. Scotland cannot keep the pound and the Bank | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
of England if it chooses independence. It is clear to me that | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
a currency union wouldn't work for Scotland if it was independent, it | :23:38. | :23:40. | |
wouldn't work for the rest of the UK. All three main Westminster | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
parties have told Scotland if they vote for independence, they will | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
lose the pound. Alex, are you still there? They may take our lives, but | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
they'll never take our currency! We are in a campaign. It is in the | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
interests of George Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny Alexander to talk up | :23:58. | :24:07. | |
the uncertainty. Still, who would have thought they would be sharing a | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
valuen Tain's day. We have one more caller tonight, Michael from Spain? | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
I have been very much enjoying the programme tonight and as you will | :24:17. | :24:19. | |
see when we cut to the studio, my blouse is particularly fantastic | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
tonight and my point therefore is, Victoria, will you will be my value | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
inTyne? I have already got a date tonight. I'm sorry. | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
Victoria Derbyshire and of course Jon Culshaw as her lonely heart | :24:37. | :24:45. | |
listeners. Michael, is it a sign of the panic that the Prime Minister | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
says money is no object? Yes. The Government has been behind the curve | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
all the way through. The common testimony of all the people affected | :24:59. | :25:01. | |
by the floods is that relief and advice and everything else has come | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
to them too late. By the way, this still continues to be the case. Even | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
though the soldiers have been seen in some places, each new place tells | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
the same stor that they feel they are on their own for the first 24 | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
hours. Yes, obviously, he is saying money is no object. That is a | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
desperate thing to say. It cannot really be true. These are the | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
floods, they are in the Tory heartlands? They are. They are not | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
in the North of England? That's true. It's an horrendous problem to | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
be dealing with. We had foot-and-mouth. Everyone has | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
sympathy for politicians caught by these disasters. Michael is right. | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
It is a bit like the way they stack their front bench with women this | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
week. It was too late because the image was there last week. It is the | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
same thing with the floods. The initial inertia is going to cost | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
them. There is not a sign yet - this is obviously not Britain's Leeds, | :26:01. | :26:08. | |
but very tough by the people who have been hurt by it. When these | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
things happen and ordinary folk are being seriously inconvenienced, | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
politicians have to be seen to give a lead, don't they? They do. I don't | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
think that anyone, even the worst affected would blame the Government | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
for the rain and the unusual weather conditions. There are certainly a | :26:27. | :26:29. | |
category of events which put, they know that politicians can't control, | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
but it is then how you cope with the uncontrollable events and it is this | :26:35. | :26:38. | |
issue of grip. Government has to be seen to have a grip when there is a | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
crisis and it's a number one requirement, really, of whoever is | :26:44. | :26:46. | |
in charge of you at the time, that they can cope with an unexpected | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
event and mitigate the problems for people, so for everyone involved in | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
the Government, David Cameron strode to the front of the team this week, | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
didn't he, and took over? Obviously, therefore... COBRA seems to meet in | :27:00. | :27:07. | |
permanent sessions? Exactly. He is taking a big personal risk with his | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
political capital. If it goes badly, it reflects on the whole Government. | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
At the moment, I don't get the sense that this is a political hole below | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
the waterline for the Government, do you? No. I said last week, when the | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
waters recede, the problem will recede. It hasn't gone at all well. | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
Indeed, in one way, I think it raises an interesting argument for | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
the Conservatives because many Conservatives really take the view | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
that it is an arrogance to believe that by controlling the way we | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
consume energy, we can change the climate or change the climate back, | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
which ever one it is. Actually, what we ought to be concentrating on is | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
how we devote resources to coping with the consequences of what the | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
climate is going to do to us. Actually, that is now what a lot of | :27:57. | :27:59. | |
people on the ground are saying. We don't want wind turbines, we don't | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
want to pay higher energy bills, we want a lot of money spent on | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
preventing the worst consequences of flooding. It is difficult in these | :28:09. | :28:11. | |
circumstances, particularly given it's in the Tory heartlands, what | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
does the leader op the opposition do? He was ridiculed for walking | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
around in his wellies in a marginal, one of the few marginal seats in | :28:22. | :28:24. | |
that part of the world. On the other hand, if he hadn't gone, he would | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
have been ridiculed? He had to go. He had to, which I think he did | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
quite well at Prime Minister's Questions this week, he tried to | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
make this look - he asked questions, they were proper questions this | :28:37. | :28:39. | |
week. Get this idea that we have all got a political consensus about | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
sorting this out. Eric Pickles damaged that. The Prime Minister | :28:44. | :28:46. | |
tried to get a grip on it. I would agree with Michael about them not | :28:47. | :28:55. | |
being holed below the waterline. People are having to pay local | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
authorities for sandbags. Yes. That phrase, "Whatever happens in the | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
future" - it would have been better to say, "There is not a blank cheque | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
here, the governments can't magic Monday neat, but we will do | :29:10. | :29:12. | |
everything we can." Instead of that, it looked more like a PR exercise | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
than a properly thought out policy. PR from the Prime Minister(?) How | :29:18. | :29:24. | |
did that happen. Shocking allegation. Who will be the fall | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
guy, Mr Pickles, Mr Paterson, Chris Smith, all of the above, the Agency? | :29:30. | :29:35. | |
I think Chris Smith is very badly damaged. He oo is leaving the | :29:36. | :29:48. | |
Agency. He leaves in June. I don't know why Chris Smith hasn't pulled | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
out the director-general of the agency. He is the chairman, in | :29:52. | :29:53. | |
charge of governance and appointing members of the board and that kind | :29:54. | :29:57. | |
of thing, so why exactly he has allowed himself to be the fall guy. | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
I think the Environment Agency is probably a fall guy as well. I would | :30:02. | :30:10. | |
not be surprised if it is removed. One of the things which has gone | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
below the radar for most people was the governor of the Bank of | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
England's press conference. He is now predicting growth of 3.4% this | :30:21. | :30:27. | |
year. It is phenomenal, isn't it. I also thought, the interpretation of | :30:28. | :30:34. | |
some of the papers was that it is great news for mortgage holders | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
because interest rates are not going up. Actually, they are going up and | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
the point at which they will is becoming visible. It will probably | :30:43. | :30:45. | |
be just the other side of the general election. And I just | :30:46. | :30:55. | |
wonder, there are still quite a lot of people whose level of personal | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
debt is so critical that an increase of a percentage point or two, | :31:00. | :31:02. | |
because they are talking about 3% in the medium term, could be very | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
serious. The governor also said the recovery was neither balanced more | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
sustainable, and that is clear because it is driven by consumption | :31:13. | :31:15. | |
spending and rising house prices. That might matter for the economy, | :31:16. | :31:18. | |
but it may not matter for the political cycle. Not being balanced | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
or sustainable may still get the recovery through to election day. | :31:24. | :31:27. | |
Yes, and people will not analyse what the recovery is about. I think | :31:28. | :31:37. | |
his problem is - who was it who said an economist is like a man who knows | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
100 sexual positions but has never met a woman? I think it was Jeffrey | :31:42. | :31:52. | |
Howell. Disaster 9pm. Six months ago he set a medium-term policy. Six | :31:53. | :31:59. | |
months later it has all changed. Nevertheless, in terms of how the | :32:00. | :32:06. | |
economics plays into politics, to be able to be pretty sure that interest | :32:07. | :32:09. | |
rates are not going to rise this side of the election, that | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
unemployment, on the Bank of England's projections, is going to | :32:14. | :32:18. | |
be 6% or lower by the election, and the economy is going to go over 3%, | :32:19. | :32:23. | |
that has an impact. It is extremely good news for the government, | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
really. But still, behind the success in the data and Mark | :32:29. | :32:31. | |
Carney's remarks this week, there is this fear in the government, and | :32:32. | :32:36. | |
both parties in the government fear this the Norman, what they call a | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
recovery without votes. The idea that you do not get the credit for | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
it, or people do not feel it enough. The point about whether a | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
rate rises in the offing is significant. If the anxiety builds | :32:50. | :32:52. | |
and mortgage companies start removing fixed rate deals, builds a | :32:53. | :32:59. | |
sense of anxiety. Now is the time to get onto a fixed rate deal. I have | :33:00. | :33:04. | |
got one, thank you. And we cross now to the Wythenshawe | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
and Sale East by-election where the BBC's Arif Ansari is at the count. | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
This by-election was triggered by the death in January of Labour MP | :33:12. | :33:20. | |
Paul Goggins. There has never been any doubt that Labour would hold | :33:21. | :33:23. | |
onto the seat, probably very comfortably. We are interested in | :33:24. | :33:30. | |
who has come second. Do we think UKIP has come second, and is it a | :33:31. | :33:38. | |
decent second? That is the key question, Andrew. I think you did | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
make the right decision not to come here and retire to Annabel's | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
instead. It has not been the most exciting by-election of all time. | :33:47. | :33:52. | |
That is the key question, about UKIP. The indication I am getting is | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
that UKIP has probably come second. But as you point out, that is not | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
enough in itself. There have been a number of by-elections in which UKIP | :34:02. | :34:08. | |
have already come second, and four out of five of those were in the | :34:09. | :34:11. | |
North of England, so it is not unprecedented for them to come | :34:12. | :34:14. | |
second. The question is how well they have done. If they come second, | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
how far behind Labour are they, and how far in front of the Tories? The | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
hint that I'm getting here is that it is probably pretty close, not a | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
convincing second for UKIP. Thank you very much for marking our card. | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
If it is not a convincing second, it is much ado about nothing. The | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
difference -- be in difference behind him was almost palpable! | :34:40. | :34:50. | |
Let's come on to Scotland. This remarkable array of a Tory | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
Chancellor, Labour Shadow Chancellor, Lib Dem Chief Secretary | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
to the Treasury all saying bluntly to the Scottish Nationalists, you | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
leave the UK, you leave behind the pound, you ain't taking it with you. | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
There is a strong economic and monetary argument for saying that. | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
We think an SNP government of an independent Scotland would try to | :35:15. | :35:21. | |
pursue fiscal policies of which the UK Government would not approve. | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
There is no way the UK Government wants to bail out Scotland in that | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
situation, and if Scotland wants independence, maybe it should take | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
full independence. Whether it is the right political decision, maybe your | :35:37. | :35:39. | |
opinion is more interesting than mine. It is clear that in the short | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
term Alex Salmond can argue that the parties are ganging up against | :35:46. | :35:48. | |
Scotland and this is bullying and intimidation. They say that, but the | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
thing I have never understood is that it is the purpose of the | :35:54. | :35:56. | |
Scottish Nationalists to break up the British state. So why are they | :35:57. | :36:03. | |
so angry, or surprised, when the British state fights back? | :36:04. | :36:11. | |
Absolutely. Fighting talk. Also, I would think the people who would be | :36:12. | :36:14. | |
angry about this and think it is bullying would be the people who | :36:15. | :36:18. | |
were going to vote yes anyway. At some stage, this is a big, meaty, | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
chunky political issue, and at some stage it was going to have to be out | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
there. I think this is probably the right time. We have run out of time. | :36:29. | :36:36. | |
We have you frozen like that. Only another seven months to go. Plenty | :36:37. | :36:38. | |
of time before the vote. Now, ex-Immigration Minister, Mark | :36:39. | :36:41. | |
Harper must be happy. Sure, he was forced to resign after his | :36:42. | :36:44. | |
department found that the women employed to iron his shirts for the | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
past seven years and whose wages, inexplicably, were paid by | :36:49. | :36:50. | |
hard-working taxpayers, was, in fact, an illegal whose papers had | :36:51. | :36:53. | |
somehow gone AWOL from Mr Harper's safe-keeping. But he must be happy | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
because as soon as his total inability to follow his own legal | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
advice was revealed, he was roundly patted on the back for doing the | :37:05. | :37:07. | |
decent thing and resigning, which was the very least he could do. If | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
only he'd had a handy "Check the Immigration Status of Your Cleaner" | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
app. Now that's a thought. And that's why we've decided to put | :37:18. | :37:20. | |
technology and the future in this week's Spotlight. | :37:21. | :37:35. | |
Smartphones, laptops and iPads are in almost every home. Is this deluge | :37:36. | :37:43. | |
of devices a good thing, or could technology cause society to mouth | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
function? Actor Matthew Modine thinks it can inform and entertain. | :37:50. | :37:56. | |
With his full metal jacket app, using diary entries, photos and | :37:57. | :37:59. | |
music to recreate his time making the film. But with apps, there are | :38:00. | :38:06. | |
doubts. Ask flappy bird creator, who pulled the game, saying it was | :38:07. | :38:09. | |
dangerously addictive and ruining his simple life. Tristram Hunt is | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
worried, and thinks pupils need lessons in attention to combat | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
social media distractions. With research showing parents unaware of | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
internet dangers, are we doing enough to protect youngsters online? | :38:25. | :38:32. | |
Never mind the drones, what about the robots? Compared to Robocop, our | :38:33. | :38:37. | |
technology might look rusty, but the robots are coming. Should we be | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
afraid? Whether used for entertainment, education or evil, | :38:45. | :38:50. | |
technology is everywhere. Can we harness it, or is the techno tied | :38:51. | :38:57. | |
beyond our control? There has not been so much violence on the | :38:58. | :39:00. | |
programme since Diane Abbott was last here! Matthew, great to see | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
you. You wrote a book about your experience filming full metal | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
jacket. It was filmed in London. In the Docklands. You have released an | :39:10. | :39:16. | |
interactive app. Is this the future, not books but apps? I don't | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
think you can replace books. People want the experience with paper, to | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
fall asleep reading a book on the beach. If you take an app, you fall | :39:27. | :39:29. | |
asleep and it hits you in the face and breaks your nose. And what if | :39:30. | :39:35. | |
there is a solar flare and all of the -- Electronics break. We want | :39:36. | :39:39. | |
books and to be able to go to the library. There is something romantic | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
about a book. But with the app, you can do lots of things and it is more | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
interactive. I was approached by a real genius from Apple. He loved my | :39:51. | :39:57. | |
book and he said, what if we took your book and made it into an app? | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
He said, we would have you record it, create an original score, sound | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
effects, and take all the photographs you took while making | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
the film, notes that Stanley wrote to you, Polaroids he gave you and we | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
will put it in and make it this deeply immersive experience for | :40:17. | :40:19. | |
people to learn more about the making of the film, about Stanley | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
Kubrick. I said, that's a good idea do you think we could create | :40:26. | :40:28. | |
something Stanley Kubrick would be proud of? He said, I think we can. | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
In 2001 a space Odyssey, when the person is flying to the moon, there | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
is a woman carrying something in an app. That was made in 1967-68. Back | :40:40. | :40:47. | |
when app was short for apartment. For younger people, this is the way | :40:48. | :40:51. | |
they will get their information now. They are using them in schools. | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
They do have their application, their uses. I am not frightened of | :40:57. | :41:03. | |
the technology. I think it is something that can be very useful. | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
For instance, people in Africa having the ability to have a | :41:09. | :41:11. | |
cellphone, to communicate with the world, is very important. They say | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
there are children in Israel communicating with kids in | :41:17. | :41:19. | |
Palestine, being able to share ideas and say, I am a kid like you and I | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
don't hate you, and let's get on with it, put this aside. So social | :41:25. | :41:30. | |
media is a useful technology and could be a great way to unite us. | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
Would it not be fair to say that when it comes to technology, | :41:36. | :41:38. | |
politicians are always behind the curve? I certainly am always behind | :41:39. | :41:45. | |
the curve. But I think in another five or 10-year is there will not be | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
a single MP who, like me, is not on Twitter and is not using new | :41:50. | :41:52. | |
technology. I don't use it very much, but I'm a fading example. What | :41:53. | :42:02. | |
is amazing is how a new generation, if you have ever been to Tech city | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
on Old Street in London, it is amazing how many young people. All | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
that Google do is provide a space for youngsters to talk to each | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
other, positions, designers, artists, technicians. They design | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
apps and games and it is a huge part of our economy, 6% of GDP, second | :42:20. | :42:26. | |
only to the states. Will you one day give up the quill pen? I was | :42:27. | :42:30. | |
interested in what you said about books surviving. It seems to me like | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
saying the horse and cart would survive. I can't see why the book | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
will survive. Because they look nice. They are nice to touch now and | :42:40. | :42:49. | |
then. People said radio would die out when TV came. Hollywood is a | :42:50. | :42:56. | |
waste trying to frighten us about technology. We saw Robocop, the | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
terminator, minority report, it is always about technology devouring | :43:02. | :43:04. | |
us. But for most people it makes life better. Hopefully. It is | :43:05. | :43:10. | |
opposed to make life better, to give us more time. But the technology | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
hasn't done that. We spend more time on our cellphones. Walking through | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
the streets of London, everybody has their face down in their apps. I am | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
looking forward to the posters in minority report that recognise you | :43:26. | :43:28. | |
as you go down the street and tell you the products you would like to | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
buy. That is not far away. And cars that drive themselves behind each | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
other. That is not far away either. It is here with us. I did a | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
commercial last night talking about a car that parks itself. I think you | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
will see anatomical changes. People's necks and thumbs will | :43:50. | :43:52. | |
change. Thank you. That's your lot for tonight, folks. | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
But not for us, because with Britain now on emergency flood alert, the | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
army's been deployed to Lou Lou's after someone spilled their drink. | :44:01. | :44:03. | |
And Michael's keen to help out the heroes. But we leave you tonight | :44:04. | :44:06. | |
with proof that whilst romance might not be dead, it's certainly on life | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
support. Nighty night - don't let the Twelfie bite. | :44:12. | :44:15. |