24/11/2016 This Week


24/11/2016

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Hello, everybody. Is there an event on? Tonight, on the This Week grand

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tour, speed, adrenaline, fast cars and political punch. Commentator Dan

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Hodges goes on a journey to spreadsheet Phil's routes. This

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motor purrs, a proper Brexit beauty. And the best thing, now you can get

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her on HP, because borrowing is back in fashion. Tim Shipman from the

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Sunday Times rounds up an old banger of a political week. Frankly, with

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the Autumn Statement, Brexit and Trump, it's been a car crash. Road

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rage gets the better of Michael and Liz. And comedian Stewart Lee tells

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us to mind our manners. Our travelling tent is ready. We are all

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insured, I think, so let's hit the gas, because I travel in the fast

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lane, and prepare for the most expensive piece of television ever

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made, the This Week grand tour. And we begin with a financial update

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from our owners, This Week Incorporated,

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headquartered at PO Box 37,452, And, let me say, if you're ever

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in the BVIs, please come visit. You'll be surprised to discover

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that our HQ is an empty PO Box with a "Gone Fishing"

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sign hanging from it, which only illustrates our

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commitment to keeping corporate overheads down

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AND the work-life balance right. Our chief accountant,

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Spreadsheet Phil, has this week explained, when he said way back

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in 2010, that we'd bring revenue and spending into balance by 2015,

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what he clearly meant was that he'd increase our total debt from under

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?1 trillion to over ?1.6 trillion - and to hell with any of this

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balanced budget nonsense. And when last year he said

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that it was now company policy to balance the budget by 2020,

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that obviously implied raising our outstanding

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liabilities to ?2 trillion, which is a nice round figure too big

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for anybody really to understand. As he explained yesterday,

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circumstances have changed. Michael's Brazilian shirts are more

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expensive with the fall in the pound, the BBC cut our budget

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to make the new Top Gear such a success, we now have two dogs

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rather than one to look after - and there's a new producer's

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expensive drug habit To those of you who bought shares

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in This Week Inc in the belief that balancing the budget

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and reducing our debts were legally-binding fiduciary

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promises rather than just vague aspirations to ramp

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up the stock market, Spreadsheet Phil has

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two words for you. Which I guess is some kind of arcane

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financial instrument accountants Anyway, for those of you who think

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our corporate position somewhat precarious I can assure

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you there are those who regard us There are rumours of a takeover

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bid in the works from McDonnell-Corbyn Ltd,

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a Mega-Marxist conglomerate Apparently their business plan

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involves borrowing another half trillion on the sound basis that,

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since we're already two trillion in the red, who's going

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to notice? Speaking of those who owe a debt

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to public life that is likely never to be repaid, I'm joined on the sofa

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tonight by the South Sea Bubbles Liz #fourpercent Kendall,

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and Michael #choochoo Portillo. Your moment of the week, Michael?

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Let me clear my throat. President-elect Trump's latest

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humiliation of the British government by proposing nodule

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Farage should be the British ambassador to Washington. It was

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thought Donald Trump was very pro-British, and I think he is, and

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pro-Brexit, but this does not imply that he is pro-British government,

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because the British government is another establishment, and he is the

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antiestablishment figure. There is not a person in the Foreign Office,

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I don't suppose, who wanted to see victorious. Trump Our Prime Minister

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was pro-Remain, the Chancellor was heavily pro-Remain. The Chancellor

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was pro-Brexit but he is very anti-Trump, with a list of things he

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said about him. So there has been this error in believing that Donald

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Trump being pro-British would help the British government. He has no

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interest in helping the British government. That jacket has put life

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into you. You should wear it more often. Warn us, and we can put on

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sunglasses. Very different. It is the victory in the first primary

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round for the French presidential election. Unfortunately, with the

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Socialists doing so badly in the polls, whoever wins the nomination

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is likely to be up against Marine Le Pen. That is a hugely important

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election, not just for France but for the rest of Europe. It is, and

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it is not quite clear yet. It is clear the Socialists will probably

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get knocked out, and then it is on to the National front against the

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times. Now, Spreadsheet Phil wasn't

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always chained to his desk meticulously colour coding Excel

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rows and columns. A long time ago, back when you,

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dear viewers, were just a twinkle in your father's eye,

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our Phil was out wheeling and dealing, not in triple locks

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or OBR forecasts, but motors. The wheels of our

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economy, you might say. Think of him as the Arthur Daley

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of his day. Young Phil knew his Ford

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Fiesta from his Bugatti. One was a clapped out British car,

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he explained, the other Clearly Spreadsheet wasn't cut

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out for the motor trade The Mail On Sunday's Dan Hodges

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was determined to try some method acting to really get

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into Spreadsheet's head and understand the Autumn Statement

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in the context of his personal MUSIC: Theme from Minder

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by Dennis Waterman. About 2 trillion on the clock,

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but you don't need And you know what she's really

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great at? The audit of the Government books

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saw Philip Hammond accelerating away from a commitment to balancing them

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by 2020 and putting in place The 2015 election was defined

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by one issue. But now the deficit isn't even

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on the forecourt. When Ed Miliband forgot to mention

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it at his conference speech, he was accused of being

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entirely unfit for office. To an extent, this

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U-turn is being driven That's why Philip Hammond's decided

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to release the handbrake. He thinks our exit from

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the European Union is going to slow A half decent political opposition

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would have made a fortune But like a clapped-out old banger,

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Labour just keeps spluttering along. So a new dividing

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line has opened up. With the Labour Party now

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an irrelevance, it's Theresa May and George Osborne that sit

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on opposite sides of the political and fiscal dividing line that

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will define the next decade. If Theresa May successfully steers

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us through the Brexit storm, then it's likely that Osbornomics

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will be permanently erased But if she falters, then it's just

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possible George Osborne could again find himself

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in the driving seat. Come on, let's take

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it for a test drive. Thank you to our new friends

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at Harringtons of Fulham for allowing us to film

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at their car dealership. We'd like to point out

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they certainly do not sell old bangers, nor do they share

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Arthur Daley's moral compass! Dan Hodges joins us. Welcome to the

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programme. Michael, can this be said to be an Autumn Statement that

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prepares Britain for Brexit? It is... It shows a great deal of

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caution. The Chancellor has chosen to follow the logic of the forecasts

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that have been published by the OBR. And that has led him to spend money

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on infrastructure but also to completely revise, and I'm highly

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agree with Dan, completely revise the deficit profile. But what we had

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after June 23 was as great a change, or as great a change as we normally

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have when the government changes between one party and another. The

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change to David Cameron from Theresa May, from George Osborne to Phillip

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Hammond, has been a complete change of government and we now have an

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absolutely different policy. I sympathise a lot with what you said

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in the film. I have felt the frustration myself. The fact is that

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governments are allowed to do almost whatever they want because as soon

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as they do it it is kind of believable. Whereas oppositions are

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always struggling to say, we would like to borrow a bit more and people

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say, you can't possibly do that, but the government always has the

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permission to do it. So the frustration that you feel that the

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opposition must feel is actually one that all oppositions feel because

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the government can get away with virtually anything. Actually, the

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Autumn Statement has been well received by the markets and the

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press. Now that the Tories are converted to borrow to invest, where

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does that leave Labour? I think the Autumn Statement has failed to deal

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with the two long-term underlying problems in the economy. First, that

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growth is not fairly spread across the country, and second that many

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people's wages have been stagnating and they are set to stagnate even

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more. Then you have the triple whammy, what's happening on Brexit.

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Forecasts are notoriously difficult to make, but even if they are in the

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ballpark of what the OBR has said, an additional ?58 billion of

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borrowing to pay for Brexit is a huge hit to the economy. So I don't

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think he took the long term decisions. Let me come back to my

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question, now that the Tories have converted to borrow to invest, what

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does Labour do? It is right that they want to borrow to invest in

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capital and infrastructure, but they are not investing in the Emperor

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structure I believe in the right parts of the country, or in the

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right way, and many of their decisions will hit the just about

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managing group that Theresa May says she wants to help. That is the real

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problem. Where does it leave Labour? Labour is still where it always is,

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absolutely nowhere. That should have been the statement that cost the

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Tories the next election. That should have been Theresa May's Black

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Wednesday. Absolutely staggering fiscal and political U-turn. But

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again, Labour is not in a position to exploit it. The reason Labour is

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not in a position to exploit it actually is the same reason why Ed

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Miliband and Ed Balls were not in a position to exploit the previous

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government's difficulties, because whatever the government says it is

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going to spend, Labour cannot get out of the mindset of saying,

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whatever you spend, we will spend billions more. I think John

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McDonnell's current figure is 500 million more that Labour is going to

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spend. That is why Labour cannot exploit what should be the

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fundamental weakness of the Government, fiscal incompetence.

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Have we got this right, the way of doing Autumn Statement 's and

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budgets? Does it make sense to base a whole fiscal strategy for the next

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five years on forecasts that are no more than guesses, with so much

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uncertainty around that even the OBR says there may only be a 50% chance

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of them being right? Is this a sensible way to proceed? When I was

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in the Treasury, a bright spark said to me, all Treasury forecasts are

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50% wrong. I said you are really onto something. Are they 50% too

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high, or too low? He fell silent because we know they are wrong but

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we do not know how they are wrong. The situation may be much better

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than set out, but it is also possible it could be much worse.

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What does the Chancellor do? Since we have established the independence

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of the OBR and the reports published, I think being a new

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Chancellor he would be pretty full Hardeep to ignore the forecasts and

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to say, I will take a rosier view. -- he would be pretty full Hardeep.

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I suppose going for the forecast is as rational a position as any other.

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If the forecasts are right, this Conservative government, by 2021,

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will have presided over a decade of no wage growth in real terms, no

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wage growth higher than inflation. Which is remarkable, unprecedented

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in modern times, and not good for the people Theresa May keeps talking

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about. And yet it looks like it pays no political price for that. Labour

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needs them to pay a political price for it. You say you can't trust the

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forecast but you can trust experience. We know that the Tories

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have failed to hit the borrowing and debt targets, we know that we've

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already seen wages stagnate actually since before the financial crash. We

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know that the only two regions in the country whose GDP has got back

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to pre-crisis levels is London and the south-east so we need a big push

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out to the other regions. They say they'll invest in infrastructure, it

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doesn't come on board, they cancel many of the railway and other

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infrastructure projects and house-building. So why are they

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paying no price? Over the last five years they were more trusted on the

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economy than Labour was. That's why over this Parliament we have to make

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sure that they do pay the price of their past failures but also this

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cost of Brexit, this ?60 billion cost of Brexit and I think that is

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the most important thing. Actually where the divide in the Tory is, you

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are already seeing reports of the Tories who voted Remain really in

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fury over the forecasts. Really? Who is? Reports tonight of people like

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Nicky Morgan. She's will always in fury. Rightly so. Who else? People

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like Anna Soubry. She's always in fury. Why does that make it any less

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relevant. I'm looking for new names, rather than the same ones? If the

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Government went three-and-a-half years with no increase in real

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wages, I think there would be a danger that it would pay a political

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price, particularly since the Prime Minister's committed herself to help

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the people who're just about managing. Therefore, of course, the

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temptation to have a general election earlier than that is

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enormous. Mrs May's made a lot about these just about managing. She

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talked about the steps of Downing Street, the Tory conference, the

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CBI, but you look at the Autumn Statement, there's next to nothing

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for the just about managings? No, and that is the thing. If you look

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at what the IFS said today, they were very specific that actually

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where there is the increase in spending in this ?10 billion, a

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significant amount, it's going into infrastructure and not sort of

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alleviating the pressure on the JAMs. I think that's because people

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learnt something else from this Autumn Statement. There's been a

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debate about post-war Brexit about whether people were being too

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pessimistic, about whether the figures were too pessimistic. Philip

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Hammond thinks Brexit will be an albatross around the neck of the

:17:27.:17:30.

British economy. That is why he is going for the significant capital

:17:31.:17:33.

investment boost because he thinks he needs to put that floor under the

:17:34.:17:40.

British economy. But if inflation rises, if mortgage rates follow and

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living standards are squeezed in the way we've talked about, maybe Labour

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has a bigger chance than you think? Well, we'll have to see, but there

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is no evidence yet - I mean obviously we have had the

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post-Brexit scenario - Theresa May's just out of sight in terms of the

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opinion poll ratings. As I said, Labour cannot get itself into a

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position where it can exploit the difficulties on this because Labour

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simply does not have any credibility itself on the economy.

:18:15.:18:17.

We are using forecasts from the sort of people who told us we'd be in

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medium term recession if we voted to leave, collapse in house prices

:18:25.:18:30.

500,000 lost jobs, the OBR forecast shows lower growth, no recession, no

:18:31.:18:35.

collapse in house prices, no 500,000 lost jobs? We have covered that

:18:36.:18:40.

already, the forecast is incredible but we don't exactly know how it

:18:41.:18:44.

will be incredible. But I think there is some political danger over

:18:45.:18:49.

a three-and-a-half year period if Theresa May doesn't find a way of

:18:50.:18:53.

helping the JAMs and we have a budget in the spring and that may

:18:54.:18:58.

look very differently. Meanwhile, the Labour voter is being, you know,

:18:59.:19:03.

the rag that's being waved at the Labour voter is immigration and I

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think there is great peril that Labour voters will be going over to

:19:08.:19:10.

the Conservatives in northern seats and if she can keep immigration in

:19:11.:19:13.

front of their faces, perhaps they won't think too much about the

:19:14.:19:15.

economy. We shall see as the months go on.

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Thank you for being with us. Now it's late, sherry and a cheeky

:19:19.:19:22.

snog with Phil Hammond late. But if, like us, you find

:19:23.:19:27.

all this kiss and tell a bit But if, like us, you find all this

:19:28.:19:31.

kiss and tell a bit Comedian and columnist Stewart Lee

:19:32.:19:34.

is waiting in the salubrious This Week waiting room to set us

:19:35.:19:40.

all straight, as he puts This Week waiting room

:19:41.:19:42.

to set us all straight, An ironic choice perhaps,

:19:43.:19:44.

considering his recent incendiary and inappropriate comments

:19:45.:19:54.

about Molly the Dog. If you were wondering what all those

:19:55.:19:59.

Labour MPs could have possibly been doing on their phones

:20:00.:20:02.

during John McDonnell's reply to the Autumn Statement, truth is,

:20:03.:20:05.

they were all racing to poor Like them, we encourage

:20:06.:20:08.

you to join our hacktivism, start the snap-chatter,

:20:09.:20:12.

fire up fiercebook, let's get a twittornado going,

:20:13.:20:14.

we're using #Mollydarity. Now, Liz, Michael

:20:15.:20:17.

and I have some news. I know, it's amazing

:20:18.:20:20.

we've lasted so long. But it came to head when producer

:20:21.:20:24.

told Porty he couldn't order the Blue Nun special reserve

:20:25.:20:26.

with his late-night steak and the whole thing resulted

:20:27.:20:29.

in an unfortunate fracas. But mercifully, we've been given

:20:30.:20:31.

a lucrative online contract so this programme will be bigger

:20:32.:20:33.

and blander than ever. A dramatic development that got

:20:34.:20:35.

political petrolhead Tim Shipman Here's his political

:20:36.:20:38.

round up of the week. # I can see clearly now

:20:39.:20:50.

th rain has gone #. Welcome to this grand tour

:20:51.:20:53.

of the week in Westminster. There'll be plenty of high octane

:20:54.:20:55.

May and Hammond but sadly the BBC can't afford Jeremy Clarkson any

:20:56.:20:58.

more so they found another overweight white middle aged man

:20:59.:21:01.

to do the job instead. It's not just the BBC that's

:21:02.:21:04.

short of money either, the country is struggling too

:21:05.:21:20.

according to spreadsheet Phil whose figures were rather depressing

:21:21.:21:24.

in the Autumn Statement. Today's OBR forecast

:21:25.:21:28.

is for growth to be 2.1% in 2016, In 2017, the OBR forecast

:21:29.:21:36.

growth to slow to 1.4%. Turns out the Chancellor may be

:21:37.:21:41.

more of an adrenaline He was quickly able to swerve around

:21:42.:21:49.

George Osborne's commitment In view of the uncertainty facing

:21:50.:21:54.

the economy and in the face of slower growth forecasts,

:21:55.:21:58.

we no longer seek to deliver Even that was too much austerity

:21:59.:22:01.

for big spending John McDonnell. We've had a month of briefing

:22:02.:22:07.

from the party opposite on those people who're called just

:22:08.:22:14.

about managing, the JAMs. It's the results of Tories imposing

:22:15.:22:17.

austerity on an economy that At least Britain can

:22:18.:22:21.

get by with a little The President Elect

:22:22.:22:28.

of the United States spent more time on the phone with Piers Morgan

:22:29.:22:54.

than with Theresa May. The next stop in the political week

:22:55.:22:57.

saw Theresa May cranking up Brexit speculation by another gear

:22:58.:23:09.

at the CBI. She gave a speech putting

:23:10.:23:12.

into reverse her claims that she wouldn't tell us anything

:23:13.:23:16.

about Brexit and gently suggested that there might be

:23:17.:23:20.

an interim deal first. They want to know with some

:23:21.:23:22.

certainty how things That will be part of the work we do

:23:23.:23:27.

in terms of the negotiation that we are undertaking

:23:28.:23:33.

with the European Union. Despite all this talk

:23:34.:23:40.

about Brexit meaning Brexit, we are still stuck on the starting

:23:41.:23:45.

grid waiting for the green light With the Speedo stuck on zero,

:23:46.:23:49.

what better time for Brexit secretary David Davis to head

:23:50.:23:59.

to Brussels to thaw out the frozen windscreen of our relations

:24:00.:24:04.

with our European Parliament? He races British classic cars

:24:05.:24:07.

and we got on very well. It was a very useful,

:24:08.:24:22.

constructive conversation, Moderate Labour MPs are desperate

:24:23.:24:24.

to get more mileage out of their time in Parliament

:24:25.:24:56.

that their constituency associations are filling up with Corbynistas

:24:57.:25:00.

who want to deselect them. Labour Leadership doesn't involve

:25:01.:25:05.

itself in local selections. I think Hilary Benn's got

:25:06.:25:09.

a fantastic role to play. He's a friend of mine and I hope

:25:10.:25:17.

he continues to play a role That's as far as you're

:25:18.:25:21.

going to go on it? We can't interfere in local

:25:22.:25:24.

democracy, we are Not much comradely solidarity

:25:25.:25:26.

from John McDonnell, The one direction of travel

:25:27.:25:30.

we did get this week was from Prime Minister's Questions

:25:31.:25:44.

where Jeremy Corbyn criticised the Government for telling

:25:45.:25:46.

patients that they need to show their passports

:25:47.:25:49.

before getting treatment. The last census showed us that

:25:50.:25:53.

9.5 million people in this country Rather than distracting people

:25:54.:25:57.

with divisive and impractical policies, could the Prime Minister

:25:58.:26:02.

provide the NHS and social care with the money that it needs to care

:26:03.:26:06.

for the people who need the support? But Mrs May was not knocked

:26:07.:26:12.

from her saddle. We want to make sure that those

:26:13.:26:17.

who are entitled to use the services are indeed able to see those free

:26:18.:26:24.

at the point of delivery but that we deal with health tourism

:26:25.:26:27.

and those who should be paying Another thrilling exchange

:26:28.:26:30.

there between the Prime Minister The perfect steed for the last

:26:31.:26:36.

leg of our grand tour. One person who's definitely

:26:37.:26:49.

on the starting grid is Nigel Farage whose love affair

:26:50.:26:55.

with the Donald hit new heights when the President Elect said

:26:56.:26:58.

he should be the new I was surprised by it,

:26:59.:27:00.

it was a bolt out of the blue, It shows he's got some

:27:01.:27:11.

confidence in me. # I think I can make it now

:27:12.:27:16.

the pain has gone #. So if he's not going to Washington,

:27:17.:27:20.

what do we do with naughty Nigel? He loves his country casual clothes,

:27:21.:27:23.

he's occasionally rude to foreigners, perhaps a job on Top

:27:24.:27:25.

Gear or The Grand Tour beckons? We're joined in the studio

:27:26.:27:30.

by a young go getter who is the dark horse in the race to become

:27:31.:27:43.

Britain's next ambassador to the US. Extraordinary, plenipotentiary

:27:44.:27:49.

and the man who is single handedly responsible for the skyrocketing

:27:50.:27:54.

Irn Bru sales in Parliament, SNP superstar and Nicola Sturgeon's

:27:55.:27:58.

biggest threat, John Nicolson. Welcome back to the programme.

:27:59.:28:12.

Hello, Andrew. An extra ?800 million for Scotland in this Autumn

:28:13.:28:14.

Statement. How are you going to spend it all? I don't know the

:28:15.:28:18.

answer to that question, I'm afraid. I don't have my hands on the purse

:28:19.:28:24.

strings of the Scottish government so that, of course, will be for our

:28:25.:28:29.

Finance Secretary to unveil. You will need it now that this ?10

:28:30.:28:34.

billion trade deal with China has unravelled, the Chinese calling it a

:28:35.:28:38.

Scottish shambles? Some Chinese people are calling it a Scottish

:28:39.:28:43.

shambles. The ones who're involved. Some are calling it a Chinese

:28:44.:28:48.

shambles. Who needed it more? ! Well... I think you have answered

:28:49.:28:53.

the question. Well, of course, it didn't end quite as we would have

:28:54.:28:57.

liked. Nicola Sturgeon talks about the

:28:58.:29:00.

uncertainty caused by Brexit and so on but I suggest the biggest

:29:01.:29:03.

uncertainty is not Brexit in Scotland, it's the prospect of a

:29:04.:29:09.

second referendum? Which of course the Conservative Leader talks about

:29:10.:29:13.

every day incessantly. The people who talk about the second referendum

:29:14.:29:18.

all the time are the Scottish Tories because they've got a battle plan

:29:19.:29:21.

which is to peel away the unionist right from the Labour Party and to

:29:22.:29:26.

get them to vote Tory. They are quite successful. I can't remember

:29:27.:29:31.

the last time I talked about a second referendum. I'm asked about

:29:32.:29:35.

it by journalists and hear Ruth Davidson talking about it all the

:29:36.:29:38.

time. Nicola Sturgeon talks about it? A bit. A bit. At her Party

:29:39.:29:44.

Conference. There is no secret the SNP's committed... That's what she

:29:45.:29:55.

said. Draft legislation. It will come as no surprise that we want to

:29:56.:29:59.

see Scottish independence and the manifesto, as you know, said that...

:30:00.:30:03.

But you lost. Said if there was a material change in circumstances

:30:04.:30:06.

which there clearly has been, they reserve the right to hold another

:30:07.:30:11.

one. But if you are a business in Scotland, only 17% of your exports

:30:12.:30:19.

go to Europe. 65% come south of the border. So the prospect of a second

:30:20.:30:25.

referendum is much more unsetenling than Brexit?

:30:26.:30:29.

foolhardy unless we take Mrs May at her word and she is going to get

:30:30.:30:36.

this cracking deal with the European Union, and Scotland as a member of

:30:37.:30:39.

the European Union would have the best of both worlds, as we were

:30:40.:30:43.

promised, independence, plus trade with the European Union as a

:30:44.:30:48.

European member with the UK, or the rest of the UK.

:30:49.:30:55.

So hardly a material change in circumstances after all? It depends

:30:56.:31:00.

how it all pans out. Is the triple lock on pensions, given the

:31:01.:31:06.

Chancellor's references to it, are its days numbered? Yes, I imagine

:31:07.:31:12.

they are. One of the things we have seen is the redistribution of wealth

:31:13.:31:17.

towards older people, and the further impoverishment of the young

:31:18.:31:21.

people. There has been an absolute guarantee for older people, and that

:31:22.:31:25.

guarantee will not be appropriate in our new economic circumstances, or

:31:26.:31:29.

even in our old economic circumstances. The IFS chart today,

:31:30.:31:38.

where the average wages in real terms do not rise at all until the

:31:39.:31:41.

beginning of the next decade, if they're in, if you break it down by

:31:42.:31:46.

age, if you are over 60 they have risen pretty strongly. If you are

:31:47.:31:50.

between 18 and 30, they have not just stayed flat, they have actually

:31:51.:31:54.

gone down. But who will have the guts to do this? I think the

:31:55.:32:01.

Chancellor is right to look at this. The very first OBR report said

:32:02.:32:05.

unless we look at the impact of all of us living for longer, not just

:32:06.:32:09.

pensions but health and social, too, it will mean public finances are not

:32:10.:32:13.

sustainable over the long term. I think he is right to look at it. We

:32:14.:32:18.

know that those who have benefited most over recent years have

:32:19.:32:22.

predominantly been those over 60 who owned properties in London and the

:32:23.:32:26.

south-east. It is not fair to see the working age population carry

:32:27.:32:30.

this burden, but it is politically toxic, very difficult indeed. And

:32:31.:32:37.

young people say, you baby boomers voted for Brexit and have landed us

:32:38.:32:40.

with this economic chaos, and now you want us to deal with the

:32:41.:32:43.

economic chaos and guarantee your pensions. I am not saying that is a

:32:44.:32:49.

fair charge but it is what some people say. I do not think that is

:32:50.:32:56.

how families are. If I think of my parents, classic baby boomers,

:32:57.:32:58.

benefited from free education, they own their own home, they are as

:32:59.:33:03.

worried about my brother and his kids, whether he can afford the

:33:04.:33:06.

house to send the kids to university. My brother is worried

:33:07.:33:10.

about them if they get old and frail and need help and support. We do not

:33:11.:33:15.

need to see this as a war of the generations because families want to

:33:16.:33:19.

help one another, but it is the politics that is difficult. Going

:33:20.:33:23.

back to the borrowing, scarcely anyone mentions that all the extra

:33:24.:33:27.

borrowing is simply a burden being passed down to future generations.

:33:28.:33:32.

That means when interest rates have risen again, servicing the debt will

:33:33.:33:36.

be expensive and there will be less to spend on health, welfare and so

:33:37.:33:43.

on. Nigel Farage. Christmas comes every day for him. Absolutely

:33:44.:33:48.

astonishing. You have to acknowledge that the man plays his hand

:33:49.:33:52.

brilliantly. He has a major part in British history. He spooked the last

:33:53.:33:57.

Prime Minister into holding a referendum. He called it right on

:33:58.:34:03.

Trump when the British government called it wrong, and he is reaping

:34:04.:34:07.

the rewards. It is so delicious, that he will end this year possibly

:34:08.:34:11.

as an economic migrant, moving to the United States. You could not

:34:12.:34:17.

make it up. He has described it as nonsense. I think he knows he is not

:34:18.:34:20.

going to the British ambassador in Washington. Maybe Kazakhstan. Was it

:34:21.:34:28.

definitely a snub by Trump? He is so unsophisticated that he might just

:34:29.:34:33.

think that every time there is an election, the administration

:34:34.:34:40.

changes. Even so, he understands different parties, having just

:34:41.:34:44.

fought an election. He would understand that this fellow is not

:34:45.:34:48.

in the Conservative Party. So you have just lost a 10 billion

:34:49.:34:52.

free-trade deal with China, you have now called unsophisticated this

:34:53.:34:56.

massive investor in two Scottish golf courses. Let's go for a

:34:57.:35:00.

hat-trick. Who else do you want to insult to night? I think John has

:35:01.:35:06.

forgotten that he has won the election. He is going to be the

:35:07.:35:10.

President of the United States. Time to bow down. We can all Google what

:35:11.:35:16.

was said before. We can't backtracking on our views, can we?

:35:17.:35:23.

Why'd you think Sammy Brexit supporters are over the moon at Tony

:35:24.:35:27.

Blair take that -- making a comeback? He is a polarising person,

:35:28.:35:35.

definitely marmite. He is always worthless and into and I think he is

:35:36.:35:38.

asking the right questions about Brexit. He is saying the way we deal

:35:39.:35:43.

with the problem is globalisation is creating is not to be shy and

:35:44.:35:48.

pretend we can be isolationist. Is he a help or a hindrance? For the

:35:49.:35:54.

people who like him, for those who want someone standing up for the

:35:55.:35:58.

48%, he will help. For those who hate him, they will carry on. The

:35:59.:36:03.

initial reaction is to say, bring it on, we would love him to come along

:36:04.:36:09.

because he is so unpopular. But actually one has to remember he is a

:36:10.:36:14.

formidable politician. For ten years he was Prime Minister and no one

:36:15.:36:18.

could lay a glove on him, so I don't want to be quite as glib as to say

:36:19.:36:24.

that. He is fantastically articulate, quite toxic, great for

:36:25.:36:26.

the Scottish National Party because he killed the Labour Party in

:36:27.:36:32.

Scotland. There we are, we got a hat-trick. Thank you.

:36:33.:36:35.

It's been a week of rather bad manners folks.

:36:36.:36:37.

Some actors were rude to Mike Pence, Tony Blair threatened a comeback

:36:38.:36:40.

and Labour MPs completely ignored their own shadow chancellor.

:36:41.:36:51.

To top it all off Potry was thrown out of LouLou's for trying to pardon

:36:52.:36:55.

a turkey in the middle of the restaurant.

:36:56.:37:01.

But, thankfully, Nigel Farage is the gift that keeps on giving.

:37:02.:37:03.

He showed us that it's not actually rude for a US President

:37:04.:37:06.

to tell us what to do, especially if he gets a job from it.

:37:07.:37:10.

Which is why Stewart Lee is putting our Ps and Qs

:37:11.:37:13.

I want to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.

:37:14.:37:23.

It's that time of year when the President politely grants

:37:24.:37:27.

a turkey reprieve from the heat of the White House oven.

:37:28.:37:31.

Tot, I hereby pardon you from the Thanksgiving table

:37:32.:37:37.

and we hope you have a wonderful time in Gobbler's Rest.

:37:38.:37:44.

Mike Pence wasn't spared a roasting on Friday night.

:37:45.:37:48.

Your new administration will not protect us...

:37:49.:37:53.

Was it bad manners for cast members of the musical Hamilton to single

:37:54.:37:56.

out the incoming Vice-President after their performance?

:37:57.:37:59.

I'll leave to others whether it was the appropriate venue to say it.

:38:00.:38:04.

Were the American music awards a really an appropriate place

:38:05.:38:06.

for model Gigi Hadid to lampoon the future First Lady this week?

:38:07.:38:11.

In more salacious news on the eve of his Autumn Statement,

:38:12.:38:27.

we learned about spreadsheet Phil's teenage kicks.

:38:28.:38:29.

We ended up having a bit of a cheeky snog.

:38:30.:38:32.

That's the little bit I like to call when polite conversation goes wrong.

:38:33.:38:41.

Stewart Lee's made a successful career out of poking fun at people.

:38:42.:38:45.

So are manners really that important?

:38:46.:38:48.

Welcome back to the programme. In a recent article you were very polite

:38:49.:39:04.

about this programme. I was. I will come back to Molly the dog in a

:39:05.:39:08.

minute, whose friend is a pit bull terrier waiting outside the door.

:39:09.:39:12.

You said you would rather not be polite to particular politicians.

:39:13.:39:18.

Why? I had just come off being backstage in the greenroom at Robert

:39:19.:39:23.

Peston's show, and inferior copy of this. I like him already. I was

:39:24.:39:30.

sitting with Suzanne Evans from Ukip. I am a stereotype member of

:39:31.:39:35.

the metropolitan Liberal elite, so I felt I ought to disagree with her.

:39:36.:39:39.

On the other hand, I thought, we are backstage in this place where we

:39:40.:39:43.

have been taken to do a job. I could not work out the ethics. With that

:39:44.:39:47.

little bit of film you played there, with the cast of that musical

:39:48.:39:51.

addressing Mike Pence directly, there seem to be all sorts of

:39:52.:39:54.

problems where people feel very polarised about what is happening in

:39:55.:39:57.

the world and we don't know the rules of engagement. You said you

:39:58.:40:02.

wanted to stop doing shows like this so that you stop meeting people you

:40:03.:40:06.

think you should despise but felt friendly towards. Actually, I do not

:40:07.:40:12.

like Dan Hann and because he or its likes me off in the paper, but I sat

:40:13.:40:16.

there listening to what he was talking about and he said a

:40:17.:40:19.

brilliant sentence, that Matthew Parris lives in the Spanish cave. If

:40:20.:40:23.

I had got into an argument with him I would not have heard that

:40:24.:40:27.

sentence. That is the value of politeness. He has a Spain at -- a

:40:28.:40:34.

cave in Spain that he lives in, Matthew Parris. Next to Michael. And

:40:35.:40:41.

then the SNP bloke said they are all living in caves now. The caves have

:40:42.:40:45.

been gentrified. I now know that as a result of politeness. The danger

:40:46.:40:51.

of what you are saying is that you end up only speaking to people you

:40:52.:40:55.

are broadly in agreement with, or listening to people you are broadly

:40:56.:40:59.

in agreement with. You end up, very much like America, if you are right

:41:00.:41:02.

when you watch Fox News and if you are left you watch... Radio stations

:41:03.:41:10.

cater, it is an echo chamber. This is a problem and something I will

:41:11.:41:14.

write about in the new show. Our next destination on the internet is

:41:15.:41:18.

generated by our grip is. If you like this, see this. People go down

:41:19.:41:23.

wormholes where they only follow their own views. The days when you

:41:24.:41:26.

would read a newspaper and accidentally come across a story

:41:27.:41:30.

that was about someone you did not already know about are on the way

:41:31.:41:34.

out. The polarised results in the Brexit vote and in the Trump vote

:41:35.:41:39.

are partly about this. Before I came out tonight to do my show at 5:30pm

:41:40.:41:43.

I always look at the internet to see if anyone I am doing a joke about as

:41:44.:41:48.

lost their job suddenly. The trending story on Twitter was that

:41:49.:41:51.

Clint Eastwood has refused an honour from Obama and said, he is not my

:41:52.:41:57.

President. Three minutes later, I searched it and it was a fake news

:41:58.:42:02.

story. The problem now is that this is out there everywhere and people

:42:03.:42:08.

can follow fake news stories. There is no filter. Let me come back to

:42:09.:42:15.

politeness. You always struck me as polite. Do you think you have been

:42:16.:42:19.

too polite over the years? Possibly a little too polite. But I do value

:42:20.:42:26.

politeness. And I have always been amazed how much politeness I have

:42:27.:42:30.

received. When I was a politician I was quite unpopular and yet people I

:42:31.:42:34.

met in the street, on the whole, either decided not to speak to me,

:42:35.:42:38.

or they would speak to me very politely. I have only had two or

:42:39.:42:42.

three instances of people being really foul in the street, which

:42:43.:42:45.

considering I was quite high profile is quite surprising. You are quite

:42:46.:42:51.

polite, too, Liz, but people were not always polite to you in that

:42:52.:42:58.

campaign. No, they were not. But I think you can be angry about an

:42:59.:43:01.

issue but polite to the person. You remember during the referendum

:43:02.:43:05.

campaign I was in one of your debates with Dan Hun An and Nigel

:43:06.:43:12.

Farage on the other side. And you have to see them backstage and you

:43:13.:43:15.

want to be polite. You're not going to get into a big chat, but you have

:43:16.:43:19.

to talk to people who don't agree with you. I have to knock on any

:43:20.:43:23.

door, find out what people think, and some of them are deeply angry

:43:24.:43:28.

and completely against my party, but you can hopefully do it in a polite

:43:29.:43:34.

way. What are you up to now? I have a new show called Content Provider

:43:35.:43:40.

and then I will be on the road for a year and a half, as long as the news

:43:41.:43:45.

still has some relationship with the story I originally wrote. Everybody

:43:46.:43:47.

is being polite about it. Come back. But not for us because we're heading

:43:48.:43:54.

to LouLou's where Bear Grylls has set up a Ukip leadership survival

:43:55.:43:59.

course complete with hand-to-hand combat and a step by step guide

:44:00.:44:01.

on how to apply for a US Green Card. Nigel Farage sadly can't attend

:44:02.:44:05.

as he's too busy helping Donald Trump pick Theresa

:44:06.:44:09.

May's next cabinet. Nighty night, don't let

:44:10.:44:11.

the ambassador's chocolates bite. The ambassador's receptions

:44:12.:44:13.

are noted in Society for their host's exquisite taste,

:44:14.:44:15.

that captivates his guests. Well, I have to say, you're not

:44:16.:44:21.

laughing now, are you. I know that virtually none

:44:22.:44:27.

of you have ever done a proper job You, as a political

:44:28.:44:31.

project, are in denial. Do enjoy the tenth birthday

:44:32.:44:39.

of the euro, because I very much doubt you'll be

:44:40.:44:42.

celebrating the 20th. Obama and all those ghastly people

:44:43.:44:46.

are out and the Trump people Monsieur, with these Rocher

:44:47.:44:49.

you're really spoiling us. Give yourself a huge round

:44:50.:45:00.

of applause.

:45:01.:45:04.

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