11/02/2016 This Week

Tonight on This Week - join us for a paranormal edition

Strange goings-on in the United States, as presidential

hopefuls Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are victorious

But are they the right people to help solve the world's problems?

Former US State Department spokesman - and Clinton confidant -

Jamie Rubin is This Week's special agent.

The world is in crisis and even aliens would have trouble believing

how desperately we need some real leaders.

Back in Blighty, the Government imposes a new contract on junior

doctors and the Labour Party is at war over the renewal of Trident.

Looking for signs of alien life, the Guardian's Rafael Behr.

Jeremy Corbyn is determined to send Labour back down the path

of unilateral disarmament, which leaves

some of his MPs wondering, what planet is he on?

And, as TV royalty Mulder and Scully return to our screens,

Singer Ronan Keating's in the This Week Zone.

So, my new album is called Time Of My Life and,

just to clarify, appearing on this show

The truth is out there, but you won't find it on This Week.

Welcome to This Week - a week in which we were told by some

that Margaret Thatcher would vote to remain in the European Union

and by others that she'd vote to leave.

The message from beyond the grave was somewhat contradictory,

which often happens when you consult different ouija boards.

We've conjured up our own spirits and can confirm that Henry VIII,

Elizabeth I and William the Conqueror are all up for staying

Cromwell is for out, and Queen Victoria's a don't-know -

she quite likes Europe but isn't too keen on her extended German family.

As for Braveheart's William Wallace, well, I knew him well.

We were born only two miles and seven centuries apart

and his position has always been consistent - Scotland in,

It's been an enervating referendum debate so far.

Not only have both sides conjured up the dead in aid of their case

but Call Me Dave has said, if we leave the EU, all of Kent

will become a massive refugee camp, while Nigel Farage has said

if we stay it won't be safe for women to walk the streets.

You can see the arguments for and against are going to put

In a late development, Lord Lawson has been dragooned

in to head up one of the 48 Vote Leave factions,

presumably because Lord Lucan is no longer available.

Nope, Lucky Lucan's just contacted me on the astral plane

Speaking of being dead wrong, I'm joined on the sofa tonight

Think of them as the Cindy Crawford and the Derek Zoolander of late

I speak of #fourpercent Liz "Miserables" Kendall

and #sadmanonatrain Michael "Blue Steel" Portillo.

Your moment of the week. David Cameron's prison reforms, two things

struck me. First, extraordinary, the Conservative Party accepted this

with scarcely a modem. Secondly, talking of Margaret Thatcher, when

the Labour Party moved the left in the 1980s, she took the opportunity

to move to the right. David Cameron has taken the opportunity to move to

the centre, which seems more durable. My moment of the week is

the same, but I actually saw the speech as a triumph, I would argue,

for the kind of centre-left progressive arguments that my party

has made over recent decades, just as the Tories are trying to claim

issues like the minimum wage and equalities issues like gay marriage

as their own. They are now trying to claim prison reform and I think

that, while we will rightly hold them to account over whether the mob

-- whether the reality matches the rhetoric, we should see it as a

triumph for progressive values. Now, while the West tried to get

Syrian peace talks off the ground in Geneva, President Assad,

backed by Russian air power, Iranian Revolutionary Guards

and Hezbollah militia launched a major assault in the region around

Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, triggering a fresh wave of refugees

to make the trek to the Turkish many will doubtless

try to head for Europe. It's hard to see why the Assad

regime or the Russians would return to the peace table when they

think they're winning. But America is in the throes of one

of the most bizarre presidential races of all times, Britain is busy

toying with leaving the EU and Germany is mired

in the migrant crisis. So from where will the leadership

come to steer us through Here's Bill Clinton's former

Adviser, James Rubin, Winston Churchill may be the world's

most famous cigar smoker but nowadays he is revered

for something else, for being a truth teller

and an inspiration during some of the lowest moments

of World War II. His kind of leadership helped create

a system that's kept us safe here in Europe and Asia

for 70 years now. We sure could use that kind

of leadership right now. The painful truth is we are facing

one catastrophe after another. After 9/11, we vowed to never again

let a group like Al-Qaeda have a home base to organise

and train for terrorist attacks. But Isis has had just that

for more than a year. We all remember

the failures of Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction,

12 years of civil war, But maybe even worse is the way

the war shattered the confidence of our leaders, who worry

when they want to do something Millions are threatened,

millions are on the move. Wave after wave of refugees just

keep coming to Europe's shores. The one world leader who does act

is Russia's Vladimir Putin. He saw the West's abdication

as an opening, and the Russian military has been working

with Bashar Assad. They have been slaughtering

the Syrian opposition Yes, we've got some

real big problems, some And we are all desperate

for some real leaders. So who are the American people

electing to the world's most important job, the one person

who could lead in a time of crisis? Yes, that's right, Bernie Sanders

and Donald Trump are going to command the most complex mix

of military, diplomatic and intelligence resources

the world has ever known. It would be funny if it

wasn't so serious. From James J Fox, cigar merchants

to Sir Winston Churchill, on St James's to lighting up

behind our little bike shed Welcome back. Your hope for US

leadership, let's be clear, if it is Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders,

America's global leadership role is over, isn't it? In their own ways,

that is right, but, remember, the last eight years under President

Obama, who came after President Bush, I think we have seen the world

paralysed from real action. I saw a report today that we are over

400,000 dead in Syria and the west is, I think there is more concerned

about some confrontation with Russia than they are about resolving the

problem. Imagine during the Cuban -- Cuban missile crisis or Poland or

solidarity or the war in Afghanistan, is the only thing be

leaders in the west were worried about was upsetting the Russians.

The world would have worried out -- ended up a lot different. If there

was to be a huge withdrawal, a lack of American leadership, it would in

a way the continuation of the last eight years? There have been many

times in foreign policy where Mr Obama has seemed disengaged, and

willing to lead. I think that is there, but I wouldn't just put it on

Obama. The entire west and almost everyone I know who, prior to the

Iraq war, would talk about what we could and couldn't do and should and

shouldn't do, has suffered from a post-Iraq syndrome. The war went so

badly, we did everything is so wrong, that people think every new

situation is in Iraq, even when it isn't. Hillary Clinton has the

experience as secretary of state. She's been around a long time. But

leaders need to inspire, and she isn't inspiring the American people,

is she? She lost the New Hampshire primary. I never quite well, I

worked for her husband. When Bill Clinton was president, the United

States was criticised for being too much a leader. We were called a

hyperpower by the French and we were involved in many activities, but

things worked out pretty well. We were able to inspire other

countries, and that is the key, not trying to do it ourselves but to

convince other countries of why it is important to do things. The

American people are angry with mainstream American politics, on the

left and the right. She is the establishment continuity candidate.

Have you heard what I just said about Donald Trump and Bernie

Sanders? I don't think we should assume that, as of now, the American

people have made good choices. She is billing herself as the chance to

be America's first woman president but, in New Hampshire, she couldn't

even get a majority of women to vote for her. She lost 55-44 among women.

Among young women, she lost out to a 74-year-old man AG-20. What she is

facing is politicians not just in the US but across Europe, to this

rise in populism on the left and be right. -- 80-20. They are tapping

into this sense of anger. The populists are coming up with a

simple analysis and simple solutions, and the challenge for

Hillary, as the moderate politicians everywhere, is to understand that

anger and frustration, which is real, but to come up with workable

solutions and somehow break free of this movement between rationalism on

the right and nostalgia on the left. It was interesting that, after the

New Hampshire primary, she said that people are angry and rightly so but

they are hungry for change and the change which works. -- nationalism

on the right. She said that at 2am London time, when it was too late to

influence the result. Mr Trump has gone from being dismissed as a flash

in the pan to being the man to beat for the Republican primaries. Mrs

Clinton is still the likely Democrat candidate but, if Mr Sanders does

well in Nevada and South Carolina, even that is not certain. You cannot

rule out a Trump versus Sanders presidential election. I think that

is what Jamie was saying. It is remarkable. Horrifying. What a

paradoxical outcome it is to be west winning the Cold War that now

Russia, because we are no longer in a situation of mutually assured

destruction, in a stand-off, that Russia can bomb citizens in Syria,

in Aleppo, can drive thousands of people into Turkey, who are then

moving into Europe, creating an enormous problem for us, and we have

nothing to say about it. Not only nothing to do about it but literally

nothing to say. It is an enormous paradox.

Vladimir Putin has filled the vacuum left by the West. It may, in Syria,

be too late to stop him. It has been five years. Whenever we have reached

a crisis point we have imagined it could not get worse, and it has

done, every time. We are now at a cataclysmic effect of the Syrian

war, not just on Europe. We don't know where these people are going to

go next. Right now, they are hungry for a shorter land on. They are not

angry yet. Wait until these millions of people are angry. There are so

many possibilities. What I would say is that it is not too late for the

world to gather together and say, we have two big problems. Isis. We said

never again will there be a home base for terrorism, we will never

allow it the way they set up 9/11, Afghanistan. It has been 18 months

and we have not done enough to fix it. If we were to really do

something about Isis and show willingness to do it, Syria would be

easier. But right now, those issues are so confused that everybody is

paralysed. You made the point that paralysis is that we do not want

another Iraq. The assumption is not correct because it might not be

another Iraq, you said. But probably, the chances are it would

be another Iraq. That probably, the chances are it would

problem. It has not just been Iraq, but also Libya was

problem. It has not just been Iraq, luckily has reversed itself.

problem. It has not just been Iraq, gone back to dictatorship. It

problem. It has not just been Iraq, not an intervention, so let's

problem. It has not just been Iraq, mix apples and oranges. But a

problem. It has not just been Iraq, rational human being might say if we

intervene in Syria, chances are it rational human being might say if we

would be another Iraq and ending catastrophe. You need to ask what

the costs catastrophe. You need to ask what

nothing. The costs are so high right now, but that does not mean we

should intervene blindly. now, but that does not mean we

learn the lessons of Iraq. Won't exaggerate the intelligence, don't

minimise the challenge of deploying for a long time, and most of all

make sure you have a lot of people around the world with you

make sure you have a lot of people than going alone. With those

principles, there is no need for us to assume it is going to be Iraq.

You would need a kind of American empire, to run the country for a

long time. This dreadful humanitarian crisis that is emerging

in Syria at the moment, each time it gets worse. But each time, we miss

an opportunity to take the right action. And actually, it was Hillary

Clinton back in 2012 who was arguing to Barack Obama that we needed to

support the anti-Assad generals. Who knows whether that could have made a

difference? I believe it might have done, and it also makes me think

about in Britain our lack of action early doors against what Assad was

doing. Obama set his red line about chemical weapons and when Putin saw

no action taken, he put that together. Secretary of State Kerry

is saying he thinks he has brokered a ceasefire with the Russians, but

what Mr Putin does, he sends his Foreign Secretary to do endless

peace talks, and meanwhile his troops continue to advance, his

aircraft continue to advance with ground support and they continue to

take more land. Secretary Kerry is working hard but he does not have a

lot of leveraged. The Russians talk to him, as you say. They do not want

to appear to be not interested in talking, but they have all of the

leveraged. The only way this will be resolved is when we apply both

diplomatic, political and military leveraged together. If Russia does

all of those things, the outcome will be in Assad's favour. That is

the way we are going, isn't it? That will not be good for any of us. And

it will not deal with the underlying issue of Isis being able to position

itself as the protector and saviour of Sunni Muslims. The two are

inextricably linked. Good to see you.

Now, it's late, black-holes-colliding late.

But don't let the gravitational wave send you to sleep.

Because waiting in the wings, a ripple of excitement

in the This Week space-time continuum has been detected.

to talk about just how underwhelming the nibbles

And, as always, we are immediately deleting all your comments

on The Twitter, the Fleecebook, SnapDrivel, InstaGranny

and Gordon Brown's intergalactic websphere.

Now, we know watching This Week often feels like entering an altered

So when one MP, following a bitter Parliamentary Labour Party

meeting on Monday night, described her party's anti-Trident

Shadow Defence Secretary, Emily Thornberry as living

in "La-La land", we took it as a compliment.

we're still waiting for our invitation from Emily to take tea

in La-La land, to pick our brains on defence policy.

So in the meantime we sent the Guardian's Rafael Behr along

to the Wigwam on top of The Queen of Hoxton in East London

This is his loved-up, spaced-out round-up of the week.

MUSIC: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane.

Welcome to the wigwam of love and understanding.

This is a place with no negative vibes.

Here, we are all groovy, mellow, like David Cameron.

Remember how before he was Prime Minister,

Cameron wanted to be a different kind of Conservative,

liberal, compassionate, hoodie hugging?

Well, on Monday, that guy was back with a

speech on prison reform and rehabilitation.

The system was letting convicts down, he said.

We need a prison system that doesn't see prisoners simply as liabilities

to be managed but instead as potential assets to be harnessed.

# One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small...#

It was all a bit of a throwback to 2006

and Cameron's eco-friendly, organic smoothie days.

And that, say Downing Street aides, is exactly the point.

The PM knows he's not going to be in Number Ten

He hasn't quite given up on that Big Society dream.

He wants to go down in history as a caring kind of Conservative.

Fat chance of that, say Labour, when the Government is slashing

The Daily Mirror reported that even David Cameron's mum had

signed a petition against cuts to her local children's services.

Then his aunt went on ITV News and pleaded for the cuts to stop.

It's just, like, one big happy family, man.

REPORTER: The council say it's David Cameron's fault.

I know. They've got to work that out.

I think the cuts are a great, great error.

At least you can rely on Jeremy Corbyn to be for peace.

The CND vice president and Labour leader hates conflict so much

he didn't even turn up to a fractious meeting of Labour

MPs, where Shadow Defence Secretary, Emily Thornberry, was setting out

An awful lot of people under 40 do ask what

What I would like to do is leave the 1980s behind.

Let's talk about what the best way of having a modern defence

Most Labour MPs think going back to a policy of unilateral

disarmament would nuke the party's chances of winning

# When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go...#

And when Thornberry said Trident might one day be as pointless

as a Spitfire, well, that went down like a Messerschmitt over Kent.

It also gave Cameron plenty of ammunition for PMQs.

Another week, another completely ludicrous Labour

I think the last word should go to the

honourable member for Bridge End, and thank you, Twitter,

who, as she came out of the PLP meeting tweeted this,

"Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, my God, oh dear, oh dear.

"Need to go to rest in a darkened room."

I expect she'll find the rest of her party will be there with her.

# And you've just had some kind of mushroom

# And your mind is moving low...#

Oh, there it is, on Jeremy Corbyn's lapel.

It's a badge that says "heart unions".

This is all part of a campaign against the Government bill that

Labour says would wreck workers' rights and

Now, some people wondered why, if solidarity was the theme

of the day, Corbyn hadn't raised the junior doctors' strike.

It was, after all, the second 24-hour walk-out in protest

against Jeremy Hunt's efforts to change staff contracts.

The definition of negotiation is a discussion where both sides

demonstrate flexibility and compromise on their

And the BMA ultimately proved unwilling to do this.

Hunt really needed this dispute over, but it's

risky for the Tories to look like they are bullying NHS staff.

Public opinion seems to be on the side of

Surveys suggests a lot of people aren't

convinced he's getting a good deal, and a couple have even showed

"Stay cool", say the in crowd, David Cameron might have a couple

more tricks up his sleeve to persuade the sceptics.

# When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead...#

By the end of next week, Cameron is going to

Brussels again and Number Ten say they are confident he's

But whatever he does bring back, it's not going to bring peace

And then he has to sell it to a sceptical

country, where a lot of people seem to be in the mood to stick two

Raphael Behr there, at the Wigwam on top of the Queen of Hoxton

and Green Party London mayoral candidate, Sian Berry.

Just before we move on, to keep you in the loop with the discussion we

had, we are now reporting that an agreement has been put in place

among the 17 nation Syria support group, meeting in Munich tonight,

that humanitarian aid will start in Syria on Saturday but the ceasefire

will not follow for another week. Lets CF that happens and what Russia

will not follow for another week. does in that week around Aleppo. --

lets see if that happens. Junior does in that week around Aleppo. --

doctors, how do you impose a contract? Well, the Government seems

to think it can and the BMA does not dispute it is possible. People are

told the terms under which they dispute it is possible. People are

working. It is highly undesirable. If they are really angry, will they

not just work-to-rule, or continue industrial action? Does it really

resolve things? I very much doubt whether they would do that over a

long period of time. It does not resolve it in that if morale is part

of the issue it is probably the worst possible outcome. I suppose it

resulted in that they know what they are working for. It is a highly

puzzling dispute, because the two sides do not appear to be miles

apart. As I understood it, the BMA the other day was talking about

juggling the money. They are being offered an 11% overall increase, and

they were saying, make it a lower overall increase and boost the

Saturday premium. It seems the sort of dispute that in any other

situation would be settled. It is a massive failure for Jeremy Hunt and

Cameron. He has the doctors against him, when he desperately needs their

support for changes in the NHS to cope with pressures in future. It is

a strategic political error because David Cameron needs the public to

trust him on the NHS. That is what he has been trying to do ever since

becoming leader. Jeremy Hunt has picked, I think, the wrong fight

with the wrong people here. There is all this talk about excess deaths at

weekends, but there is no evidence that it is June to the number of

junior doctors, who might actually look at what else needs to be done

in terms of consultants and working hours. It is a big strategic error

for them and he needs to move to get this sorted out. Do you think he is

serious about this or is it being done to concentrate minds? He is not

doing it until August. Will he get some kind of agreement?

It is a bizarre move to make when, in public opinion turns, the junior

doctors are winning. I was on the picket line with them this week.

Their social media efforts are extraordinary. They are making the

case for the fact that they are striking because of safety, not the

money. It is about the terms on which they work, patient safety. It

is everything that they are doing right. It sounds like, if they were

offered more money, they would settle. It is about the terms on

which they work over the weekend, the length of shifts. It sounds like

if they were offered overtime rates of Saturday, that would bring bistro

to an end. I don't think that is the only issue. -- it would bring the

strike to an end. It is about the length of shifts, the amount of

tiredness. They work the longest hours of anybody, junior doctors. It

is a huge mistake to impose the contract. It is a huge problem for

Jeremy Hunt and I think the writing may be on the wall for him. People

don't like the way he has spun the evidence on excess deaths at the

weekend, but we also saw today that he said all of those cheap

executives had agreed with him. Half of them have now said they don't.

That doesn't build trust. He has got massive challenges in the NHS, and

anybody needs to bring the staff with them. The Tories never win when

the NHS is in the headlines. It is not an issue that they win. It is a

political error. In the last government, they did the Andrew

Lansley reforms, and nobody really understands what he did. Now they

have a fight, whether they picked it or not, with the junior doctors in

the headlines. Strategically, not good politics. I entirely agree with

that. The Andrew Lansley reforms, in the end, none of us knew what they

were about, or whether they achieved anything. I am afraid this very

confused dispute is rather in the same territory and none of us really

understand why it is worth the candle. The idea that we didn't have

a seven-day NHS in the first place is ludicrous. If you want to get

extra operations at the weekend, the consultants, the diagnostic staff...

He would have had to do deals with all of them. There is no point just

having the junior doctors in if you don't have the consultants, the

blood test staff... Jeremy Hunt thinks he can give some sort of

slick PR story about what is happening but doctors are not stupid

and the public supports them. Were you at the parliamentary Labour

meeting when the Shadow Defence Secretary compared trying to

Spitfire? I was. What did you think? I am in favour of renewing Trident.

I think you can make a principled position that you can lead

multilateral disarmament but I also think you can make a principled case

against. What you can't do is to say that it is not a binary decision and

there is somehow a fudge like having submarines without weapons on. I

think it is important that we have this debate out, we respect each

other's different principles, but I don't believe there is a halfway

house. Mr Corbyn is against renewing Trident and Emily Thornberry is

against it, the Green Party is against it. Isn't there a danger

that Mr Corbyn's Labour Party is moving on to your territory? It is a

good thing that we have movement on renationalising the railways,

Trident, we would like them to move further on reforming electoral

rules, having more PR in Parliament. We are pushing them hard. Are you

losing members to the Labour Party? No. I think the people moving into

the Labour Party are, to some extent, there is an overlap with

people who moved into the Green Party, we are part of the same

movement of people looking for a new style of politics and leadership and

more participation. So you are happy? It is the same as with Bernie

Sanders. I want to ask you about Europe, when you hear what the Prime

Minister is saying about the case for staying in, do you think he is

getting desperate? I hope that is how it will appear. This thing about

the France camps reappearing in southern Britain, I thought it was

ludicrous, and then the Telegraph came out with a good riposte to it

the next day, building on what the French government had said. In this

referendum, I am afraid we are going to see the lowest common and are

nominated, the most, the bassist, most ludicrous arguments being made

on both sides. Is your leader going to campaign to stay in? Our party

position is, I don't know what Jeremy is planning to do... That

doesn't say much about him. We have Alan Johnson leading the campaign.

It is going to be a disaster if this is a negative campaign full of

risks. We have to make a positive case for Europe. You don't get that.

What about the Greens? Caroline Lucas this week has

What about the Greens? Caroline number of different movement around

Europe for rip-roaring Europe. We have to make a positive case for

Europe as it could be. -- for reforming Europe. We

Europe as it could be. -- for but we are not

Europe as it could be. -- for democracy in Europe at the moment,

Europe as it could be. -- for the secrecy around negotiations

Europe as it could be. -- for TT IP. Is there an appetite

Europe as it could be. -- for reform? There is

Europe as it could be. -- for austerity being imposed on Greece, a

Europe as it could be. -- for happen to their country as well. A

big appetite happen to their country as well. A

making it more democratic. It is an opaque kind of thing, the EU, how it

works is complicated. It could be more democratic.

Now, some people have the barefaced cheek to accuse This Week of living

in a "Westminster bubble", disconnected from the real world,

blind to the hardships of hard-working families,

aloof from the humdrum drudgery of modern life,

unaware of the daily grind of the struggling hoi polloi.

And that's why we're putting "the red carpet treatment"

I do the school run, of course I do, and then on Saturdays our ritual

is to go to the Pizza Hut in Windsor.

Elton claims he's just a regular stuffed crust dad but,

if you're used to the finer things in life, how easy is it

Don't bother asking Egypt's President al-Sisi whose

motorcade drove down a two and a half mile long red carpet this

week on a trip to open a social housing project in Cairo.

Why are the best things in life always free -

This year's Oscar goodie bags are worth $200,000 each so,

if you are a big deal, it turns out you get a great deal.

It was revealed this week that British civil servants have been

accepting free gifts such as Wimbledon tickets,

Austerity certainly wasn't on display on Monday night

at the Tories' black and white ball, where the party's super-rich bank

rollers received a lavish, well-fed welcome.

# Teenage nights, tickets stops, cinema lines # Catching the bus,

So, still busking it, even after 60 million album sales,

Ronan Keating says that, deep down, he's still

So how do you keep your feet on the ground if you are constantly

Ronan Keating, welcome. You probably know Elton John better

than we do. Is he a man who dines out at Pizza Hut? I get the idea you

might bring the boys out to Pizza Hut. We looked and we couldn't find

a Pizza Hut in Windsor. Maybe it was Pizza Express. He may sit in the car

but I think he would like the idea. There is a temptation for

successful, wealthy people to sort of burnish their man of the people

credentials, isn't there? I guess so, yeah. It is a two-way street,

definitely. You want to keep your street on the ground that your feet

on the ground and keep the same people around you that you always

had, your friends and family. But then you get to a situation where it

becomes fickle, people pretend to be your friends, and it is a hard place

to be. When you are successful, they are all around you. When you are

not, they are not. It is a key. You find out who your real friends are.

-- it is tricky. When you were very young, was it hard to keep your feet

on the ground? I was 16 when I joined Boyzone and we were real

mummy's boys. We loved flying back to Dublin as often as we could. We

would come to London and fly back on the next -- the last flight and the

next morning we would get up and do the same thing. You can sleep in

your own bed and see your mum and dad. That kept us grounded. 100%.

But as we got older and we travelled more, and the fame got greater,

yeah, things changed, the landscape changed. Do you remember the first

time you walked down a red carpet? I do. Did you think, oh, yeah? Lee the

first smash its cover, the first time on top of the Pops... Smash

hits! Getting free stuff never gets boring. Just wait till you see the

This Week goody bag. Bottles of blue nun everywhere. You have been famous

for 25 years. Yeah, it is crazy. Have you got used to it? I don't

know any different. We have to deal with dealers all the time on this

programme, as you can see. -- with dealers. You have never given the

impression of being high maintenance. I have never been high

maintenance. But we hear demands, one American singer has to have

white candles in the hotel lobby. I am convinced they just try this and

people do it. That's what I think it is, put on crazy riders, dressing

room riders, asked for blue M or whatever. Is that what they are

called? They call them riders. It is in the contract. I think they do it

to wind people up. Separate out the different colour M? It is like

they are not going to do the gig otherwise. You have to call their

bluff. There is a lesson for everybody, except with me. When you

sat on the ministerial limo for the first time, did you think, I needed

that? I may have done but, on the question of freebies, the Queen, I

think, twice a year, used to give us some venison, a quarter of it from

the royal parks. As a minister? Ministers get it, maybe not any

more, but we used to get that. When you got the letter telling you, it

said very pompously, on behalf of Her Majesty, I am commanded to tell

you you have been given this. If you wish to accept this, please send a

cheque for ?7 77 to cover the postage because the Queen couldn't

cover that. Do you think you are in a Westminster bubble? You can be.

But MPs, unlike journalists, you go back to your constituencies. You

have your surgeries and you have your community events and people are

never shy of telling you exactly what they think about you

personally, your profession, and I say good on them. And you are in

touch with suffering, you find out who has been dealt a bad hand. When

I first became an MP, I remember how awful and difficult the surgery

appointments were and the tragedy of peoples lives your desperation to

help people in such struggling circumstances. You have a new album,

and you have said it is quite personal. Does it encapsulate the

past 25 years, in a way? Yeah, I spent the last year writing,

recording and producing it. It is very autobiographical. I think, you

think you know it all when you are 16 or 26, but you don't. It takes

time. In my 30s, I realised who I was at a man. I guess I kind of

poured back into this album. So quite a bit to say, but positive,

all good. It is a positive record. Uplifting? I think so. Out tomorrow?

It's just came out now. It is my 10th studio album as a solo artist,

which is exciting for me. I feel proud that I am still around and

doing it. But I am still nervous. Figures crossed it does well. Is it

true that you made a complaint about the lack of Tayto crisps in the

dressing room? It is an outrage! I would like to apologise on behalf of

the BBC. It is embarrassing. Good luck with the album. Thank you for

having me on. Now that's your lot

for tonight, folks. But not for us because,

to paraphrase Madeleine Albright, for This Week pundits who don't go

to Lou Lou's. But we leave you tonight

with the outrageous attempt by the Oscars organisers to prevent

grateful winners name-checking a long list of tedious non-entities

who they feel obligated to mention. So I'd like to take this opportunity

to thank all the little people Sounds, Mr Haines. Vision mixer,

Jerry Morrison. Floor manager, Stevie walker. Location camera,

David Lawrenson. What would we do without him? Graphic design, carol

Yates. VED editors, Kevin Ramsey. Interactive producer, Adam Donald,

never heard of him. Assistant producer, James Fitzgerald, don't

thank him. Producers, Andrew Bradley and Gemma Stockwood. Director,

Claire Bellis. Where would we be without Claire? Assistant editor,

Richard Garvin. Missing in action, the editor, Vicky Flynn. Where is

she?