so how are politicians framing their message on averting apocalypse ahead? my guests today. chinese writer diane weiliang, american broadcaster jef mcallister, stefanie bolzen of german newspaper die welt portugese writer eunice goes. thank you for coming in. for most politicians it would have been a day to hide. a former ambassador gave startling evidence against his administration and a former close adviser was convicted on counts of lying to congress, obstruction and witness tampering. but this is donald trump and instead of hiding, the us president took to twitter to undermine the former ambassador to ukraine even as she delivered her testimony in congress. so is trump still teflon with his supporters or will his enemies succeed in tarnishing ‘modern presidential‘ over the course of these impeachment hearings?

jef, start us off. i think it is useful to stand back a little bit because donald trump is so unusual. it is very easy to go right into the horse race. 80 up, down? let'sjust stand back to think about who this quy stand back to think about who this guy is. 12,000 lives since he has been president. he has had his personal lawyer go to jail. it is well acknowledged. he is the campaign —— his campaign manager went to jail, his national security adviser. long—time associates. the quy adviser. long—time associates. the guy he was conduit to the russians are getting the e—mails. wikileaks. this is who he is. now let's go to the strange thing of impeachment. if there any doubt possible left from his own transcript of the coal from the interlocking witnesses, good

american bureaucrat without an axe to grind backed up by what is coming on ukraine, clearly he tried to pressure ukraine into giving data on joe biden. with any other president anyone would say, of course it is impeachable. but that is not donald trump. you are right. he says it is all hearsay because he won't let his own people testify. that is obstruction. it becomes a big blow up obstruction. it becomes a big blow up politics. the polls show now a margin infavourof up politics. the polls show now a margin in favour of impeachment. i think the democrats hope that the humanity of the people they are asking to testify before the cameras like marie yovanovitch and the others seem like decent people and clearly have been put in an impossible situation by donald trump and being defended by republicans

with conspiracy theories and attacks don't really add up, that this will in the end ten suburban women and others into the democratic camp for the election if they can actually turn the senate into wanting to vote two thirds to impeach him. in fact i was in california which is a very strong liberal state. there people are already convinced that what he is doing is impeachable. however, if we look at the process what is interesting is not california, it is the swing states. wisconsin, arizona, pennsylvania, florida. if you look at the voters the polling are showing actually that 53% are

against impeaching donald trump. so what this process is doing is a legal issue, a political issue. the democrats are hoping the public hearing will generate evidence that people have been asking for, sway some of the voters in the election thatis some of the voters in the election that is coming up. and at the moment it doesn't seem to be working. hopefully they will bring more witnesses to testify. in a way it is very political and will come down to the swing states. so, eunice, you area the swing states. so, eunice, you are a professor of politics. we have just heard them looking at the electoral policies. there are other audiences as well. inside the us federal federation there is the state department. we heard on friday

about hijacking of us foreign policy in ukraine. how damaging is this to the morale of diplomats?” in ukraine. how damaging is this to the morale of diplomats? i think it is very damaging. she made a comment that the whole process was hollowing out the whole civil service system in the united states and there are people asking themselves, am i putting myself in danger by refusing to do things that are illegal? diplomats are not supposed to meddle with the domestic politics of their owi'i with the domestic politics of their own countries and the request to interfere, to dig dirt onjoe biden, this was clearly a breach of what a diplomat should be asked to do. they can do other things for the diplomacy of the state but to help a president, the electoral possibilities of a president, that is not within the realm of the job ofa is not within the realm of the job of a diplomat. they might feel now that they are been weaponised by the other side by being called into

these public testimonies. possibly, but they didn't have any chance given the obstruction of the trump administration in terms of providing witnesses to these hearings. in fa ct, witnesses to these hearings. in fact, the professional foreign service has been empowered by the model that has been shown by marie yovanovitch and other public servants. they feel inspired. there isa servants. they feel inspired. there is a lot of... servants. they feel inspired. there isa lot of... i servants. they feel inspired. there is a lot of... i talk to diplomat and the crowdfunding pages, because they think here is somebody standing up they think here is somebody standing upfor they think here is somebody standing up for the values of diplomacy. they think here is somebody standing up for the values of diplomacylj up for the values of diplomacy.” think the most worrying thing is that constitutionalist, diplomat and so that constitutionalist, diplomat and so 011 are that constitutionalist, diplomat and so on are looking at what the trump administration is doing in terms of undermining the different institutions that are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of democracy in the united states. but this is too niche for most voters in the united states. the election will

be roughly in one year's time so no one will remember this. so this is quite a fundamental story. a president asking diplomats to politicise themselves, to do the dirty job politicise themselves, to do the dirtyjob of politicise themselves, to do the dirty job of preparing politicise themselves, to do the dirtyjob of preparing the electoral campaign. this is something that is not part of theirjob descriptions and yet this is too technical, too niche for ordinary voters to essentially make an assessment, did the president acting a legal or constitutional manner or not? the president acting a legal or constitutional manner or nowm the president acting a legal or constitutional manner or not? it is not too technical for foreign governments. what are foreign governments. what are foreign governments going to make up what they see here and how are they going to act upon the information they here? in general it is important to have in mind that this has consequences far beyond the us. if you think about the fact that the us president is holding back military

aid to the ukraine, it is a most important literary aid that they get of1.5 important literary aid that they get of 1.5 billion us dollars of which 400 are now frozen as far as i understand. this is destabilising a region where 30,000 people have died already in a conflict and that is something that european governments look at washington, donald trump, they have now seen so many erratic decisions in syria. that makes him feel very nervous about what it means, especially in europe, because it isa means, especially in europe, because it is a centre for russia to maybe do something in ukraine because there is a vacuum created by completely... these impeachment hearings will continue so we will have the opportunity to come back to them. we are going to move on now. we are going to move on now. it's been another terrible week in hong kong. 0ne protestor was shot by police, one government sympathiser set on fire by protestors, one 70 year old bystander died

after being hit with a brick. a university campus turned into a battlefield. and...the economy went into recession. iam not i am not even finished. the chinese president warned hong kong's political arrangements were under threat. police warned law and order was on the brink of collapse. diane, your assessment? ithink diane, your assessment? i think that isa diane, your assessment? i think that is a pretty accurate assessment of what is happening in hong kong. for anybody observing hong kong for the past six months, being on the ground in hong kong or in beijing, probably the consensus is there isn't a solution in sight. what is significant is with the violence escalating in hong kong, we are seeing chinese mainland students who have been studying in hong kong packing up and going home. i have seen footage of trains going into

the packed with people and they are leaving hong kong. the chinese residents, some expats working for multinationals, they are leaving or considering leaving. so hong kong is in this particular dangerous situation and we probably are looking at violence escalating. what does that mean for hong kong? what is significant is that one country, two system is under threat. that actually means limited autonomy and freedom is that hong kong has from china. when hong kong was handed over to china that was with a agreed with the british government. back then the leader, it was that hong kong would stay for 50 years and it

all ecosystem, not being part of china. in fact there recently had been discussions revisiting that idea. that china thinks that was unnecessary. that policy was because china back then lacked the confidence as an economic power. now china believes hong kong does not need one country, two system to prosper under the... need one country, two system to prosper under the. .. you are basically saying they are saying this is no longer works, we are going to... the integration of hong kong into china will be escalated after this event, but how fast, at what pace, that is the question. lets get a other answers. eunice, we have heard over the course of the past week the protesters blaming the

excesses of the police. the police blaming the protesters. do you see any middle ground and why would it come from? there is no middle ground in hong kong. we are not seen any middle ground. on the other hand, we have beijing. and the statement two days ago. i think they signalled that mainland china is getting ready to dig some action. the only parallels i can think of is the hungarian uprising in 1956 when moscow came in with their tanks and put an end to what kind of autonomy those countries had. sol put an end to what kind of autonomy those countries had. so i think that what we have seen is a polarisation of positions. the hong kong government has been enabled to calm the situation and also to create a galvanising position of people

supporting their own government. 0n the other hand, the students have radicalised their actions. they are going to lose sympathy with the radicalisation of... there is kind ofa radicalisation of... there is kind of a vacuum and that vacuum may very well be occupied by the chinese government. very worrying analysis. the growing demand from outside government is to say, why is it not possible to have an independent investigation into... this is what the protesters have wanted for a long time. you get the impression that mainland china doesn't want it. the big question is, why don't they go down the road of reconciliation 01’ go down the road of reconciliation or trying to calm down the situation? the fear that this is actually going to deliver mac escalated deliberately. hong kong is such an important hub for the global economy. what do you see others from a business perspective doing now in the light of this kind of analysis

and the recession? big law firms and global players are keeping their people out, having them work from home. deciding it is not an attractive place to do business any more. it is a cumulative. if it becomes less prosperous because of the protest then it is no longer the golden egg from the goose and it has less importance to china in a perverse way. i think it is embarrassing for china to have to accuse troops and it is bad in terms of long—term image of china and for unification with taiwan as well. but what kind of humiliation are they going to take? people saying they are not going to pay any attention to china or the using of force? if it comes down to eight... there is another narrative here in terms of

the financial hub. ali baba, the most successful chinese tech company is... in china's ice hong kong can prosper as part of china, part of chinese financial hub. and that works. thank you on that story. now we are going to move on. now we are going to move on. fire, flood and plague. venice declared a state of emergency this week after the worst floods in half a century. eastern australia burned in bushfires. china saw plague deaths. greta thunberg boarded another sailing boat to return from the us to europe for next month's un climate conference in madrid. and in the british general election, flood response became one of the hot campaigning issues of the week. so let's look at how politicians are framing their message on climate change. take a look at the uk campaign. we have seen a lot of flooding over the

past fortnight in flood response has become a hot topic with a lot of criticism of the government. our politicians shaping this message? i think in the case of borisjohnson that wasn't a very happy week because he was seen as arriving to help with the flood is far too late. he would actually attack. it was a really bad image for him this week. to that was not a successful week. in terms of climate change, i don't see it is such a big topic in the british campaign which is surprising because the extension rebellion, which is such a successful movement, has been very popular. climate change is a top priority when the public are asked what are their urgent priorities. ifi public are asked what are their urgent priorities. if i compare public are asked what are their urgent priorities. ifi compare it to my own country where climate change is now the top priority if you asked people. the green party in germany is now topping all the polls and it is quite likely or possible

that after the next general election there will be a green party leading there will be a green party leading the german government. in the uk, coming back to the comparison, the uk hasa coming back to the comparison, the uk has a first past the post electoral system so the green party struggles to make any buy ledge at all, despite its votes. it will be very difficult in the british political system to have a purely green driven policy being really pa rt green driven policy being really part of their power in britain and i think that i don't see so far very convincing ideas, from labour or the conservatives. not that pan compared to the challenge. so the ideas we have seen, big climate change fund, tree—planting have seen, big climate change fund, tree—pla nting projects, have seen, big climate change fund, tree—planting projects, we have seen a pledge for carbon neutral by 2050. are you saying this is a less aspirational offered than you are getting in germany? it is i believe it is because it is very costly. the

german government has adopted this week a new law or climate package and they had to very clearly say, this is going to cost each consumer more for their heating, flying, the further you fly, the more you have to pay. that is something in a election campaign that you don't wa nt to election campaign that you don't want to say. i think labour has announced a green new deal and their plans have been attacked on the grounds of being very ambitious, extremely radical, they will involve massive public investment in renewable energies. it is tied up with universal basic income proposals and so on which is part of other green new deals that have been proposed elsewhere. in the united states and even the green party in the uk, they are tying up, doing proposals for a universal basic income. the problem we face with the british election is that manifestos have not yet been launched but what we have seen with labour is that they are using the climate

emergency, and i think it is interesting they are using the term climate emergency, with the very ambitious public spending plans that will break the mould of the the way the british economy has been run for the british economy has been run for the past 40 years. take that thought more global. the climate emergency, the use of that term or the refusal to use ourtime, the use of that term or the refusal to use our time, because we have got bushfires in california, brazil, and yet you get an american president who questions climate science and a brazilian president who questions climate science. so this idea of a climate science. so this idea of a climate emergency is not universally accepted. no, it is not but those democratically elected positions will feel the fire of public opinion asking them to do something about it because when people are losing homes, when their businesses are being heavily affected, and there...

the agony wasn't missed by the italian president when the local government in venice had declared or denied a front to tackle the climate emergency two minutes later their offices are flooded by that largest floods in venice. sol offices are flooded by that largest floods in venice. so i think the politicians were refusing and they are trying to react to this emergency ina are trying to react to this emergency in a peaceful manner. eventually, they will have to tackle it in eventually, they will have to tackle itina eventually, they will have to tackle it in a much more comprehensive way. jef, do you see them tackling it to a mitigation way are adapting to a crisis way? you have now got time to saying the window of opportunity is now. you have economy saying the same thing, you need to spend now to avoid the crisis later. is that a message that politicians are on the boat can deliver to their voters? they have avoided doing it. the evidence about the growth of climate change and strange weather events has been increasing. but in the united states at least it is not

pa rt united states at least it is not part of the political conversation ina part of the political conversation in a serious way. i have a local wildfire. why aren't there more fire trucks here? it is not, oh, we needed to have built windbreaks and buried the electricity lines 30 yea rs buried the electricity lines 30 years ago and it wouldn't have cost us years ago and it wouldn't have cost us billions. for politicians it is very difficult to raise taxes to avoid problems that are going to happen 20 years later because they don't get to get any of that benefit from it and they get all the pain. the difficulty is, let's say, in 20 yea rs if the difficulty is, let's say, in 20 years if miami has to close down, which there is water table is getting higher. if you go outside there is water on your shoes because water is coming through the sandstone. you can build a seat wall around it. evacuating miami two...

there is so little long—term thinking going on at all and it needs a comprehensive thinking from the private sector, the government and a lot of regulation, all of which are sort of off the table in american discourse these days.” mentioned... the chinese media are muttering about how that plague is possibly related to drought in inner mongolia and the expanding population of rats brought the plate. china, can it do the long—term thinking better than a kind of electoral politics of western liberal democracies? it is dealing with climate change as an emergency? china has been dealing with environmental change but in a different way. it is by dealing with pollution because china during the past 40 years of development have become very polluted. so they are

tackling air pollution. they are tackling air pollution. they are tackling water supply pollution and they are tackling some of the animal's sanitary conditions. by doing so, china has made a lot of progress which, in fact, has brought down the carbon emission in china. the air is cleaner and they have closed on a lot of polluting factories and they are funding lots of infrastructures for renewable energy. in a way, the chinese government is less concerned with money or the voters two sentiment. it is not quite dealing with that issue of eating less meat, flying less, driving fewer cars. diana, i ama less, driving fewer cars. diana, i am a freight to get —— i am afraid i have to get you to hold that thought. have to get you to

hold that thought. and to close the programme, i'm going to ask each of you for a crisp assessment of week two in the british election campaign. the thing that surprised me is a borisjohnson has not been more impressive on the stump. he has hidden from people. he has floundered in the floods. you would think a guy he was such a good after—dinner speaker and such a good television performer could handle himself under this of pressure and i am surprised he hasn't done better. what surprised me an interest me is that the labour brought out a huge programme of nationalising lots of industries from bt to national grid to utilities and that is very radical. 0n to utilities and that is very radical. on top of that, there is a radical. on top of that, there is a radical 1.2 trillion in borrowing and infrastructure. i think we felt the fun is over because there is the anecdote of the prime minister giving a speech using a very risky

word. he took it out. he thought, with all the floods going on we should be more serious. i can't say the word on air! the end of austerity. definite. end of austerity, may be the beginning of big state intervention. there we have to leave it. we are packed a lot into day. that is it for this week. that's it for dateline london for this week — we're back next week at the same time. goodbye. for many of you a welcome window of dry weather on the way for the start of next week at least. we certainly

need it when you consider scenes like these, place across parts of england and wales. already it has broken it banks and there are a number of flood warnings in force. the heaviest of the rain is associated with a low leisure system and it has drifted southwards. we still have a weather front decaying across northern england and wales. further patchy rain and drizzle here. a future was towards cornwall. heavy showers in eastern scotland and showers edging into scotland and ireland. much of central and southern england, a welcome strike went with us. coastal counties, still some outbreaks of rain. a fairly cloudy day in northern england. whilst a future was hit in northern ireland and the western isles of scotland, much of scotland and northern ireland will stay dry this afternoon. another chilly day. damages in single figures for the

vast majority. this evening and overnight, shallot and cloud across scotla nd overnight, shallot and cloud across scotland and northern ireland. not as cold as last night. cloud will continue to keep frost at bay in northern england down into england and wales. clear sky in the south east and south—east scotland. a touch of frost. some bright weather touch of frost. some bright weather to start your sunday. shoppers will break up to allow sunny conditions to develop. english channel shoppers through parts of wales, south—west england and northern england still saying predominantly cloudy and if anything some of the showers could be heavy across north—east england tomorrow. another chilly day. damages in single figures. many showers fade away on monday. dry weather here. high pressure brings us weather here. high pressure brings us into monday on a dry no. some frost, some fog. some showers with the priest down across the eastern district of england. particularly close to the coast .. that will be

the case for many on tuesday. again, after a frosty and foggy start. the second half of the way, temperatures should start to rise a bit. goodbye panel.

this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 12pm... prince andrew speaks publicly for the first time, about his friendship with the convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. in an exclusive interview with bbc newsnight, the duke says it was wrong to stay at epstein's house, and admits he let "the side down". i admit fully that myjudgment was probably coloured by my tendency to be too honourable but that is just the way it is. prince andrew also said he had "no recollection" of meeting virginia roberts, who claims she was forced to have sex with him when she was 17 after being groomed by epstein.