government is it shows that government is concerned about having investment off the government balance sheet. we have had successful reform in the way in which government departments and bodies do their accounts and report but in terms of national accounts, used for fiscal policy and control, the treasury is concerned about making sure that a part of public investment is off balance sheet and does not count towards fiscal targets. but isn't that fair enough? if you, you would not pay upfront for a house. there is an understanding thatis house. there is an understanding that is certain expend tower happens over a period of time. is that not what the government is doing? no. it doesn't pay for things up front in that sense. it is accepted in go finances that government can borrow for public investment. so it is a

choice between the government borrowing, which is cheaper than the private sector can borrow, so the private sector can borrow, so the private sector can borrow, so the private sector has to manage the assets more effectively than the public sector to off set the higher financing costs. this report was written before the colla pse this report was written before the collapse of carillion. that is uppermost in everyone's minds it remains the case with the pfi initiatives, if it goes wrong, the government must step in? you can ta ke government must step in? you can take a different view of carillion, that in some cases too much risk has been transferred to the private sector and it has not been able to cope. one of the big problems that comes in terms with carillion is that carillion bought a lot of its competitors. so a problem for the government in #2er78s of conventional procurement or pfi is

you need healthy competition between the various parties that can build facilities for you. so one of the consequences of the collapse of carillion, there will be less private parties able to take on the contracts. the point to make is that there is an irony in the present attention to pfi as pfi since 2010 has fallen below the levels it reached under the labour government. partly as it is difficult to justify it in value for money terms because of the reduction of the interest rates. i mean once in the world of almost negative interest rates and the uk government has many other governments do, can borrow for almost zero. 0k. almost zero. ok. we will have to leave it there. professor heald, many thanks. thank you. now its time for meet the author.

a car bomb in paris. a widow returns, joined by a detective and with two women trying to work out what happened and why. and their lives are intertwined. a thriller by peter may called i'll keep you safe. a puzzle where they cling to the old ways. a puzzle and a story that twists and turns and for him, another international bestseller. welcome. a rather obvious question: what makes a good thriller, peter?‘ a rather obvious question: what makes a good thriller, peter? a good question! i have no idea! you know it when you see it? i think that's exactly right. there is no formula.

if you knew what the formula was, you would have a bestseller with every book you wrote. i think engaging the reader more than anything else. it is notjust about thrillers but any story you are telling. you set yourself a problem, as over a couple of pages of the book you have to give us a scottish gaelic glossary, otherwise no—one understands the names. a large part is set in the western isles. it is needed the guide. it is quite a thing to do, suspect it? it is. in my dares working in television, i have filmed in the western isles for five months a year for five years and got familiar with the sound of gaelic. i still don't speak it. but ican gaelic. i still don't speak it. but i can generally know how to pronounce names and words. but most don't as i think that the gaelic alphabet is 18 letters. so it is strange combinations of letters to make a single sound. two of the main characters, with the

gaelic spelling of rory and naeve but you have to get #350e78 into the sound world ? but you have to get #350e78 into the sound world? you do, yes. otherwise they are repeating in their heads a mispronounciation from the start. that bowled be unfortunate. what you wa nt to that bowled be unfortunate. what you want to do in evoking the place, its strange largely flat contours, it's bleakness but its beauty that can hold you in a trance on a fine day, which, there are not that many of on the west coast of lewis. but it's a very haunting place, isn't it? the west coast of lewis. but it's a very haunting place, isn't mm is. ifilmed very haunting place, isn't mm is. i filmed up very haunting place, isn't mm is. ifilmed up there very haunting place, isn't mm is. i filmed up there at a daily schedule, you were at the mercy of the elements the whole time. they we re the elements the whole time. they were rarely in your favour. so it was hard, hard work. it makes such an impression on you. the minute you step off the plane there,

you are struck by the wind. the wind never stops. it is there the entire time. very few trees! let's talk about the plot. as i said at the beginning, there is an explosion. a car explosion. a bomb. that's in paris. we can say that much. then we are off. what we have is a contrast between a contemporary world, with which we are familiar, strange, violent events interrunting the modern pattern of life, then we go back to a old way of life where people are clinging to making cloth in the old way, talking with a language that is shrinking in its usage, quite fast. there is a wonderful contrast between the two worlds. it was of great interest to me. i went there 30 years ago. it is like going back to the way i knew the islands when i first went and the way that they were. they had not really changed in almost centuries.

it's sad to say that in a way it has changed a bit over the last 30 yea rs. changed a bit over the last 30 years. when i first went there were no flights on a sunday, no ferries ona no flights on a sunday, no ferries on a sunday. nothing was open. you could not eat or get petrol. everything was shut. now that's all changed. ina everything was shut. now that's all changed. in a way it's a shame, the loss of the lewis sabbath. it was a special day. they held on to that in a way that nowhere else had. the contrast in the book is very much a part of it. what we have is the picture of two women, one, naeve, who has lost her man in this explosion, who has gone back and of course is grieve—stricken. and the detective, also a woman, who follows her. and of course has her in her sights. so they are opposing women but they find themselves at the end of the day drawn on to the same path.

it's a sort of classic plot device. i don't mean it is fake but one of the fundamental plot devices, isn't it? yes, two women from very, very different back grounds and experiences, arriving, ultimately, in the same landscape in the same culture. and having to function? yes, well, absolutely. naeve is suffering from grief, obviously a deeply—felt grief, obviously a deeply—felt grief, and re—examining everything. asa grief, and re—examining everything. as a writer of this kind of novel, you know, a good page—turner, one where people are involved in inexplicable events that they have to work very hard to unravel, frankly, how do you keep the tension going? it's about what makes you tense as a writer. it's a journey. when you are writing a book, it's a journey you go on yourself. if it is a boring or a dulljourney, it will not work for the reader, will it?

that's right, you have to feel some of that excitement? exactly. i was doing an interview with bbc radio scotland, doing a location radio interview on the isle of lewis, talking about the blackouts, the first book that i had set up there. we went to a slipway in a tiny harbour in the north—east coast, i had set a scene there in the book. it was a scene that i had never originally planned to do. it was a bridging scene between two scenes that i had worked out that i was going to write about. it turned into an extraordinarily emotional ebbing pyrenees for me writing it. —— emotional experience for me writing it. iwas —— emotional experience for me writing it. i was sitting there, with tears running down my face. my wife shouted dinner was ready, and asked what was wrong, i was like...

and yet when we back to the location interview, it was built around a couple of boats, and there were the same boats that were there ten years earlier. i choked up talking about it. the emotion was so real. what you are saying, it is fundamental, in writing this kind of book, in this one place, it is so important, the atmospherics, you can't fake it, and if you try you will fail. i think that is absolutely right. and because i'm not from the islands, there was always a risk, i suppose, that i was doing, what i was doing what some kind of parody of what i saw, what i experienced. i remember clearly when the black house came out, worrying how it would be received on the islands. how would the islanders going to

receive it, never mind the critics. there is a sequence that happens, involving ten men from the northern pa rt involving ten men from the northern part of the island that go out to a rock in the atlantic and fish and i had done research with them and written of the experience and literally after the book came out i gotan e—mail literally after the book came out i got an e—mail from the literally after the book came out i got an e—mailfrom the head of literally after the book came out i got an e—mail from the head of that group, isaw got an e—mail from the head of that group, i saw it was from him, dodds, mcfarlane, and i opened it up. he said that he and the boys had read the book and that they loved it. it was a big sigh of relief. and when people begin this book, they should make an effort with the gaelic glossary at the beginning as it will make all the difference. indeed. peter may, author of i'll keep you safe, thank you very much. thank you,jim.

well, it was like a weather oasis in stratford on eave on here, tranquility. like spring in the air. but there are winds here through the night into western and southern scotland. there are further accumulations building on the hills, and also to lower levels. there are icy conditions where you have had the showers through the day as the temperatures drop, so frosty as well. a cold start to friday. you can see the extent of the wintery showers, rain, hail but snow also pushing into northern ireland and scotla nd pushing into northern ireland and scotland and again giving difficult travelling conditions with the heaviest through the day. some

pushing into the pennines. a few showers of rain, maybe hail to the south—west of england. in wales, sleet and snow into the hills. fine weather in the midlands, and area and south—east england, and indeed into the north—east of scotland. few showers reaching here with lovely sunshine. where the sleet and snow showers continue in the west of the uk, you can see a bit of snow. difficult time with difficult travelling conditions. and wherever you are, you factor in the wind and it is colder than the temperature suggested. especially in the northern half of the uk. friday, and the system into the uk. friday, and the system into the south, and the same time that the south, and the same time that the wintery showers fade, there is some rain and sleet and snow affecting the south of saturday, that begins but clears south. on

saturday afternoon, cold but dry and sunny, then on sunday wet weather pushing to north—east, cold winds. keep a close eye on the forecast, don't be fool #d by the fine weather many of us will have on saturday but wet and windy weather is back on sunday with further snow in places. there are met office warnings in force for snow and ice, details as ever can be found online. that's your latest forecast. welcome to outside source. straight to the us, because president trump is saying the government is on course for a shutdown. he is blaming the democrats. anthony will take us through it all. britain and france have signed a new treaty to boost border security and tackle the migrant issue. the further investment we have agreed today will make the uk's borders

even more secure. a deadly storm caused widespread destruction across north—west europe. we will find out if it is done now with the help of bbc weather. pope francis has performed a wedding ceremony on a flight over chile. we will hear from ceremony on a flight over chile. we will hearfrom one person ceremony on a flight over chile. we will hear from one person who was on board.