but because the communist party does not like spontaneity at big moments, many things have been banned including kites, balloons and pigeons. at 70, there is much for the people's republic to celebrate. under xijinping, it has outlived and outperformed the predictions of many and now looks more united and invincible than at any point in its history. or does it? diane? 70 years. it has been a long journey for china. i would take it into two parts, the first 30 years, and that is very much under mao, and then the last a0 years. the first 30, china was one of the poorest

countries in the world. when i was about five or six, i spent my childhood with my parents in a labourcamp childhood with my parents in a labour camp when china was going through all these political struggles. so this is the 1960s? the 19605, struggles. so this is the 1960s? the 1960s, cultural revolution, we had nothing to eat, people have nojobs, my parents had to give up their city jobs to go to a remote area in south—west china to work on construction, building military facilities that were not even up to scratch for anything. and even back in beijing, we again had nothing to eat, and every winter we had chinese cabbages and you queue for them, a0 kilos, that is all you have every winter. and then we were given meat,

one kilo per family winter. and then we were given meat, one kilo perfamily of winter. and then we were given meat, one kilo per family of four. winter. and then we were given meat, one kilo perfamily of four. and you have a coupon at the beginning of the month, you are —— the butchers, i don't remember ever finding the month, you are —— the butchers, i don't remember everfinding meat in the butchers. so that was then, angie divided china of the first 30 yea rs of its angie divided china of the first 30 years of its 70 of the people's republic of china, and then a subsequent a0. so bring it up—to—date, what is it now for someone up—to—date, what is it now for someone like you who live throughout early experience, how's it look to look at china now? china now is not the china i grew up in. china now, means more millionaires, billionaires than any other country every year. it builds the longest railways, the fastest this and that.

china's gdp has 137 fold in those 70 yea rs. china's gdp has 137 fold in those 70 years. and life expectancy is in china, in shanghai it is higher than new york city. so now we have the world's second largest economy, and this is what china has achieved in 70 years. in fact, in 40 years. so ina way, 70 years. in fact, in 40 years. so in a way, very legitimate cause for celebration. absolutely. and there will be the largest military parade prayer there were planned. and it is to celebrate its achievement. what is interesting is to see whether all the other leaders during these times will be honoured. china didn't get here just because of xi jinping. it had gone through different generations of leaders, different

generations of leaders, different generations of leaders, different generations of chinese... establishing china and working and chasing this dream. and that is something that i think all chinese people would agree is worth celebrating. john, you also have a long personal experience of china as a reporterfor the new york long personal experience of china as a reporter for the new york times, in fact won an unpleasant experience when you are kicked out in the mid—805. you were there in the 70s, again in the 805, mid—805. you were there in the 705, again in the 805, you were back last year, what you make of the trajectory? it's probably appropriate to quote the premier of china during my first five years in china, who whilst attending the celebrations in paris for the french revolution in 1989, 200 years after the french revolution, was asked what he may of the french revolution. he said, it is too early tojudge. so i think the verdicts

are not yet in. it is a story of light and dark. my own personal experience before i left, knowing very little of china, speaking very little chinese, one of the most eminent psychologists in the us at one of the ivy league universities cautioned me not tojudge china by my own standards but by the standards of china and by the cultural revolution. and i remember those words ringing in my years, the cultural revolution was a great and noble human experiment. and when i crossed into china in 71, at the midpoint of the cultural revolution, where some of the worst abuses were over, i went for a walk with my guide and interpreter along the river on the first night and there was a body floating in the river. it was a body floating in the river. it was quite plain that whoever this

was quite plain that whoever this was had been struck a severe blow to the back of the head. and i was pretty shocked by this, and went to ta ke pretty shocked by this, and went to take a closer look, and my guide assured me there was nothing to worry about because he had probably falle n worry about because he had probably fallen in the river. and i said, look at the wound on his head, and he said, perhaps when he fell backwards into the river he hit a stone. and that was the beginning of my own reckoning of the cultural revolution. and there has been a good deal of credulous nurse on the pa rt of good deal of credulous nurse on the part of the world in assessing these things. in the modern era as there was for example. yes, china has its achieved extraordinary things, i have seen them for myself for the first time last autumn, and i watched the reporting from beijing very closely over a number of years. i was astonished, nothing prepared me for what china has accomplished.

but there are still at least a million perhaps 2 million people in china in camps, particularly that aduu china in camps, particularly that adult the human rights record of china remains absently grim. sol retreated to the formula of saying it is too early to tell. i just want to bring in vincent and david. vincent, you have less experience with china but you have an interesting parallel experience or dimensions of your own on china. firstly, you lived in the soviet union while it still existed for a decade as a student, and thereafter doing a phd, and then you have that experience of seeing china in africa, china going out again. which of course it did in the 19505 under mao and it is out again. give us your sense of the verdict right now on the 70th anniversary of the people's republic. of course, my earliest remembrance of what china was was when i used to hear about china, this great power that was the

best friend of africa during the colonial times. if there is any other country, perhaps the soviet union, but china supported the liberation struggles in africa, helped our people, they did not necessarily come to fight with us but they supported us very seriously. the next near experience was when i was in the soviet union. that was a communist country, so is china. i could understand when i came here about 20 years ago, i did not understand why people were surprised that china was emerging as a superpower. for goodness' sake, the soviet union, communist china they invested heavily in things like education, training, building infrastructure, technical production and so on. so that by the time you

have the soviet union collapsing and you have the communist party in china becoming, remaining are pretending to be communist but it is actually one of the biggest capitalist enterprises in the world, they are ready to move forward. now, they are ready to move forward. now, the only thing as an african, is today they have come back and they are really coming back very, very... when i say aggressively, i don't mean as aggressive as the west, coming with guns and colonising us and enslaving us and so on, taking out and enslaving us and so on, taking our slaves to that place. but they are coming with the same motives, they want to take our resources, they want to take our resources, they want to exploit africa for themselves. now, because of that history of the 50s when they helped us, african people are very blinded by that. we now see china as our best friends, and when we compare them with the west who exploited us, who took us as slaves, we think

china is very innocent. ijust want to say one example of where as a ugandan i find china completely reprehensible. i was reading the other day about an article in the wall street journal other day about an article in the wall streetjournal in other day about an article in the wall street journal in the us, detailing how her huawei has been providing technicians to the uganda police to intelligence services, this company was helping zambian but also ugandan security services to tap into e—mails, all types of social media, of people like us, i

am one of this campaign is for socialjustice. china is building infrastructure, helping us to advance, but at the same time it doesn't mind if the people it is dealing with, governments like uganda, are killing us, torturing us... uganda, are killing us, torturing us... but who am i to ask a country that has no democracy, that violates human rights every day, china, to ask it to respect human rights when dealing with uganda or africa? my parents were communist, so when i was a child there was a lot of talk about soviet union and china, and i rememberarguments about soviet union and china, and i remember arguments going on in the kitchen when the soviets and the chinese split about who was right about that. in one of the funny things about the 70th anniversary is what are you actually celebrating on the 70th anniversary of the communist takeover? why that

anniversary? the country palpably is not communist, not in any sense that anyone would recognise back in the day of marxism and leninism. so you can imagine why they celebrate the chinese republic... that is what they are celebrating. 70 years of they are celebrating. 70 years of the founding of the people's republic of china. exactly, ie of communist china, not as china as a republic. and it is also the 30th anniversary of 30 and square this year. so it's a bizarre situation where what you have is aspects of the communist system which relate to a lack of liberty, and aspects of the capitalist system which relate to huge levels of economic growth and inequality. and yet we find ourselves in the position of going to shanghai and marvelling at a situation whereby chinese people are not eating cabbage for the whole

winter and so not eating cabbage for the whole winterand so on, not eating cabbage for the whole winter and so on, and where they are actually, my daughter was in canada, vancouver, three weeks ago, and almost all the tourist in that area are chinese. a situation unimaginable 40 years ago. but this is exactly what the celebration was interesting, and china is an interesting, and china is an interesting case. china became china today by embracing capitalism, the paramount leader after mao tapped into the individual entrepreneurship spirit of the chinese, that is how china has become so powerful economically. so now what xi jinping is trying to celebrate is what he calls the china model, and that is pa rt calls the china model, and that is part of capitalism, part of communism, it is the way that it is

pa rt controlled communism, it is the way that it is part controlled and yet economic development model, and he is trying to also sell this to the rest of the world. we only have a couple of minutes left to talk about the celebration or marking of the adversary, so we need to look at the competing narrative, and you will get a few seconds to tell me the competing narratives. we all know there will be protest marches in hong kong on the 1st of october, they will be wearing black, we may see tear gas. we have many hundreds of thousands if not more muslims incarcerated in camps in changing, there is a us china trade war, there isa there is a us china trade war, there is a fast flowing economy in china, how much does the competing narrative of china plus back problems undermine the celebrations? diane, how much does it undermine the celebrations for people inside china? nothing is going to undermine the celebrations. it is very much

controlled, very much planned, everything will go according to plan. it will be beg, it will be glamorous, and tremendous. but not to say china does not face challenges. challenges are immense. the challenges china is facing now that xijinping are a the challenges china is facing now that xi jinping are a lot more difficult than bigger than for the previous leaders. and we are talking not just about these things you mention, but also for china it is very much where china is going to go in terms of the international stage now. it is the challenge for china, a challenge for the rest of the world. i think it is worth remembering their speech at the beginning of the open door policy, the secret speech the central committee, where he said, and i am brutalising somewhat, he said, don't get me wrong here, i don't like

these barbarians much more than you do, but we can exploit them, develop them, develop our economy, but the last—minute objective is notjust to get rich, it is to get powerful and returned china to the place it occupied at the end of the ming dynasty, which is to say the first place. so before we reach any verdict we will have to see how china uses its military as well as its economic power and in the end the verdict will not rest with us but with the chinese people who will have their say as they have had with every dynasty that has ruled china, every dynasty that has ruled china, every dynasty that has ruled china, every dynasty has ultimately been overthrown... then sent, very briefly, . .. just overthrown... then sent, very briefly,... just last overthrown... then sent, very briefly, . .. just last week we were trying to research china, and one thing you discover about china in africa, one thing we can celebrate

as they celebrate is helping us to build this infrastructure, they have really helped us move forward. but i think the biggest lesson africa can ta ke think the biggest lesson africa can take from china is, i wish our leaders were that enthusiastic to make africa great, you cannot take that away from the chinese leadership. david? i defer to my colleagues because i know you want to move on. you are allowed to speak on the next subject for your good behaviour! brexit made british constitutional history again last week. the country's top court ruled unanimously against the government to declare the suspension of parliament unlawful. the prime minister returned home from the united nations to face the fury of the commons, but gave as good as he got. and while this bitter war of words was underway, a new brexit deal was not. the clock ticks on — it's now less than five weeks till the government's brexit deadline. david, what did you think about the

events of last week, how constitutionally important was the supreme court ruling? very. it is true that as the supreme court said, what the government had done was test our system up to its limits and beyond, and after they declared the issue justiciable, in other words they said it is something they could rule upon, the more important of what they said was, and parliament is sovereign and you can'tjust muck around with it in the way the government did. knocking up to bow moral on a dodgy basis because the prorogation of parliament was not on the basis that the government formally gave but as part of its brexit negotiation. that is part one. something has been established in the british constitution which probably was already established but the government it was. and it's now back. the second part is the continuing crisis of firstly whether

anyone actually thinks the government is seriously trying to get a new withdrawal deal agreement out of europe, my understanding is as farasi out of europe, my understanding is as far as i can see from the people involved, is that they are not really, there isn't one, europe doesn't think there is one. that brings them back to what parliament said which was, you can't crash out without a deal, which means you must ask for an extension. the government position is still formally we will not ask for an extension because we are going to get a deal. we will be out by the 31st. the problem is, if they don't get a deal, which people think they won't, they are faced with the dilemma, do we break the law in which case the prime minister goes to prison, probably they won't, so goes to prison, probably they won't, so probably they will have to ask foran so probably they will have to ask for an extension and that means there will probably be a general election after the extension is agreed and when they try to get into agreed and when they try to get into a new period of discussion. so we are still in the position of not

knowing precisely what will happen. what we have had is a gigantic push by the government in a bit of game theory, which is a huge great bluff freely, which is yes, we are going for no—deal so you better give us what we want otherwise we will shoot ourselves in the head and shoot you a little bit in the foot while we do it. if people don't believe that, then we will get to the extension. and then what happens after that, what would happen in a general election in this country, absolutely nobody knows! take no notice of anyone who tells you they think they do. does anyone disagree around the table with that summing up of events ? table with that summing up of events? i think something very fundamental happen in the supreme court this week, and i would say to the opposition parties be wary of what you wish for. because the principle established this week could very well come back to haunt a radical reformist labour led

government, and i can't see how we can have on the one hand parliamentary sovereignty and on the other a supreme court which has given itself the right of... the main point! given itself the right of... the main point i would like to make, as they say in the national football league in america, time out. it seems to me there is one thing we could all agree on in a sea of uncertainty, this is a country fundamentally divided. 0ur political parties are divided notjust between themselves but within themselves, and we need a mechanism of some kind to belay this issue until we are no longer a country divided and i think that's not impossible because at the start of this process we have, even if borisjohnson start of this process we have, even if boris johnson gets start of this process we have, even if borisjohnson gets an agreement, he has another perhaps ten years of negotiating to shape the future form of our relationship with europe. and it seems to me that is a period of time in which the country could

rethink and turn back and rejoin, and it shouldn't be beyond the wit of the constitutional experts to fashion something which leaves this issue open. i am seriously amazed that somebody from a western country, africa look up to you people in the west,... big mistake. if you were living in my country where the highest court in the land is determining, for example, during elections, the government has rigged elections, the government has rigged elections, and then the supreme court says here is what the president wants to do and does it, you would be happier. for you to question the independence of the judiciary in any country... just to be clear, you are amazed by what john said, not by what you saw the supreme court decide? john said, not by what you saw the supreme court decide ?|j john said, not by what you saw the supreme court decide? i am happy with what the court decided, because

who isjohnson, for god sake? he is just a citizen of britain. who is he to think he can be above the law just for his political interests, he wants to be prime minister and then continue abusing everybody else but also making sure the laws that are taken all the judgments of the supreme court are irrelevant. i think i love what i am seeing right now in britain because it teaches us a lot of lessons. what john said about this country being divided, it is very interesting. in my view, i don't see the healing process, what i see is actually borisjohnson for example, he is very much utilising the divisiveness of the country, he is enticing more divided nurse... his party point out there has been a lot of strong language on all sides. but in an effort of pushing for an

election, this is how he hopes he will win the election, we have seen this in america with donald trump, this in america with donald trump, this is to appeal to the base of his own supporters. brexit in itself, u nless own supporters. brexit in itself, unless it can be resolved, it will just divide the country further because there will be a general election and from what i can tell the tory party is going to bank on the tory party is going to bank on the divided nurse to win this election. so brexit is a tool in a way and no—deal is a tool. election. so brexit is a tool in a way and no-deal is a tool. and in the last minute we have left, what you did not say earlier was and we will have a vote of no confidence next week. so just to touch on that, is that a possible outcome? next week. so just to touch on that, is that a possible outcome7m next week. so just to touch on that, is that a possible outcome? it is. the government has no majority. it is quite interesting because it is

true parliament as a whole does not have confidence in borisjohnson. that is true. it is also true that parliament has a whole does not want an election and actually can't have one before october 31 by my understanding. so it is conceivable a vote of no confidence will pass. the problem is, gaming the timing of a general election, because i go back to it, if you look at almost any set of polls which you have going at the moment, because of the way in which third and fourth parties are coming up through and the way the first past the post syste m the way the first past the post system becomes at a certain point highly geared, we have no idea what the result would be. well, that is the result would be. well, that is the point on which we have to end. a brilliant panel. that's it for dateline london for this week — we're back next week at the same time. goodbye.

hello. whilst there is some sunshine in the forecast this weekend, there is also further wet and windy weather, particularly across england and wales, through this evening, overnight and into tomorrow. some heavy rain falling onto already saturated ground, so we could see some flooding in places. gales too, so the potential for some travel disruption. and it's all tied in with this bank of cloud in the atlantic, heading its way towards us. that's associated with an area of low pressure and its frontal systems. and we have another area of low pressure to the north—east of the uk, pulling away through this morning, still bringing some outbreaks of rain across the eastern side of scotland and northern england. that will slowly start to pull away, and behind it most of us will see some spells of sunshine. still a scattering of showers, they could become a little bit more frequent through the day across northern parts of wales, into the midlands, the far south of northern england, ahead of our heavy rain arriving

into the south—west approaches later on this afternoon. the winds will be strengthening here as well, becoming quite gusty. elsewhere, a fairly breezy day, lighter winds across scotland and northern ireland. and temperatures generally in the mid to high teens, locally up to 20 celsius across east anglia and south—east england. turning wet and windy initially across south—west england and wales through this evening and overnight, that then extends its way north and eastwards, perhaps as far north as southern scotland by the time we get to the early hours. the strongest of the winds will be across central southern england and wales, where you could see those gusts touching 50 mph in places. it's a very mild night across much of england and wales — temperatures here not much lower than 13 or 1a celsius. a little bit cooler across scotland and northern ireland. still quite wet through tomorrow across northern england and the midlands, that rain slowly starting to pull away north and eastwards. to the north and south of this, some spells of sunshine, a scattering of showers, particularly across england and wales, but not too bad a day for much of scotland and northern ireland. but a cooler feeling day here and starting to feel colder too across northern england, particularly where that

rain is slow to clear. that rain does pull away north and eastwards through tomorrow evening, but notice the squeeze in the isobars — so once again some windy conditions, particularly across central and southern england, where those gusts still touching 50 mph for a time. that system pulls away into the north sea as we go through monday. behind it, something drier and brighter for many before our next atlantic system approaches as we go through monday afternoon. so still unsettled to start next week. things looking drier but colder through the middle part of the week. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines at 12pm... downing street reacts angrily as borisjohnson is referred to the police watchdog due to his links to an american businesswoman while he was mayor of london. meanwhile, the opposition are considering a challenge to the government. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn is promising to replace universal credit if they get into power. renewed pressure on the trump administration over its dealings with ukraine — the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, is ordered by democrats to turn over documents connected to the impeachment investigation.