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tv   The Papers  BBC News  May 31, 2020 9:30am-10:00am BST

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this is bbc news, the headlines: a fifth night of protests in minneapolis following the death of george floyd, a black man, in police custody. protesters and officers clash again despite a curfew. protests spread to at least 30 other us cities including tampa in florida — where tear gas has been fired. president trump blames looters and left—wing radicals for the unrest. after ten weeks at home, more than two million people in england who've been shielding during lockdown are told they can go outdoors. how dutch classrooms have been managing coronavirus — but governors of english primary schools say all children shouldn't have to return before summer holidays.
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hello and welcome to our look at today's front pages. with me are journalist and author shyama perera and the business journalistjohn crowley. let's look at the front pages. according to the observer — britain's top public health leaders and scientists have warned boris johnson that trust in the government has been shattered by the dominic cummings affair, and now poses a real danger to life when lockdown measures are lifted this week. it also carries a striking picture of a protester in minnesota clashing with a national guardsman following the death of george floyd, who was filmed being restrained by police officers. the mail on sunday claims that borisjohnson has issued a stern rebuke to his senior aide, dominic cummings, warning that he "will not tolerate" another media frenzy. the sunday people describe the uk's test and trace system as a "national disgrace" and says
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doctors fear a second wave if the system isn't fixed. the sunday telegraph says that according to official documents, the uk's decision to abandon testing for coronavirus back in february occurred because health systems could only cope with just five cases a week. it also features a picture of the falcon 9 rocket taking off from the kennedy space centre in florida yesterday evening. the sunday express reports that the 2.2 million vulnerable people in the uk ordered to shield in their homes for the past ten weeks will be allowed out in a limited way from monday, but experts are warning that people should act with caution and within the rules. and in an interview with the sunday times, the eu's chief negotiator has warned borisjohnson that he must keep his promises if he wants to avoid the double economic hit of a no—deal brexit and the coronavirus pandemic.
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so, let's start off, shyama, let's kick off with the observer. top scientists have said dominic cummings has broken trust in coronavirus policy. dominic cummings still much on the front pages. absolutely, this is the sage report, which says the dominic cummings incident, series of incidents, has led to such a devaluation of the authority of the guv—mac that there are genuine fears for public health as we go forward. and of course the timing couldn't be worse because we are taking up a load of measures this weekend, and the real test is going to be over the next three weeks. so it's a worrying piece, it's a damning piece but i think in
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a strange way, that's pretty much what all of the coverage this morning about covid—i9 boils down to. john, the cummings row has been rumbling on for days, borisjohnson kept saying let's draw a line under it, let's move on. do you think the country has moved on, do you think the press has moved on? well, certainly not for the guardian and the observer. since the story broke they have slashed on this story each day and in a way, this is how government accountability works, you know, it's a slugfest, like a heavyweight battle on the ropes, particularly when the government is failing to take responsibility for this and when dominic cummings has even failed to apologise. so it's not pretty and some of the public might think, why don't we move on with this, but i guess you could
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point to mp5' inboxes, we will talk about this letter, like the polling figures in which the conservatives have dropped in popularity. so this is notjust a have dropped in popularity. so this is not just a westminster bubble story but the government desperately wants it to go away but it isn't at the moment. it was interesting, shyama, at the briefing yesterday, the deputy chief medical officer was asked about this and he stressed, in my opinion, everybody should obey the rules photo he was pretty clear. absolutely, but i think what is interesting about the wayjohn has highlighted it was the observer and the guardian who have been continuing and this is of interest because the cummings story in microcosm highlights all our problems with this particular cabinet in this government, which is that we don't trust them, we think they have always got to some other story going on, and they look us in
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the eye and say one thing while doing another. it's quite hard to examine that if you are looking at brexit as a whole or if you are looking at management of covid—i9 as a whole, but if you pull out this single story and just really start tearing it to pieces, it represents all of the fears, the anxieties and the anger that the public has focused towards their management —— like the management of our country since december. john, let's go to the mail on sunday. they have got this story where they say that they reveal the witness who first alerted the police actually broke lockdown rules himself and also another so—called witness admitted he invented the story. the headline, you couldn't make it up. there are a lot of good stories in the mail on sunday today, i would urge you to go and buy it, i don't think this is the best one, this is a case of saying, the witness who flagged this
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up saying, the witness who flagged this up broke the rules allegedly himself, and somebody else apparently made this up. as you said, it doesn't alter the facts, what dominic cummings did. the real fa ct what dominic cummings did. the real fact in this story for me, according to the polling, the tory lead, which was some 19 percentage points in april, has now fallen to five percentage points and just backing up percentage points and just backing up what shyama says, this has broken through with the public, this is not a westminster bubble story, people are incredibly angry about this because they have made sacrifices. at the top of the story, apparently from borisjohnson's people, they are saying dominic is on his last chance and if you read further insight, he has been banned from blogging or making any public pronouncements. i think he would probably agree with that for now. shyama, it's a slightly confused front page. the headline is all
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about the alleged unreliability of the witnesses, but they lead off on borisjohnson the witnesses, but they lead off on boris johnson apparently saying that dominic cummings will not be tolerated if there is another media firestorm. this is his last chance, that kind of thing. i thought it was a very safe story because you couldn't make it up, you can guess thatis couldn't make it up, you can guess that is the truth even if nobody has told you it. but i thought it was interesting that they said robin lees, who was the teacher who fingered dominic for having broken cu rfew, fingered dominic for having broken curfew, broke it himself. what he actually did was go and collect an isolating teenager, she had been in self—isolation at her boyfriend's and once she got past the isolation period he went to get her, which was clearly highlighted as one of the things you could do but you needed to isolate first. the interesting point about tim matthews, who they allege doctor hurd his running app in order to make the second set of
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allegations is, why are they not gunning for him? —— doctored. he also has a light and as far as i can see, if the story is true, this would be a deception. so i'm not quite sure what they are saying here about the person who made the story up. it's very confusing. they seem angry with the person who went to collect his child, and the one who made upa collect his child, and the one who made up a totally, allegedly made up a story that was not true. —— than the one. the sunday times, emergency budget to save 2 million jobs, speculation rishi sunak could have an emergency budget in earlyjuly. to try to save 2 million jobs particularly in the pubs and restau ra nts a nd particularly in the pubs and restaurants and hospitality industry. so many people fear it is going to be on its knees after this. welcome all of these stories and this one encapsulates the problem that government has, it has a balancing act, trying to protect the
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health of the public, protect the economy, and also protect people who are isolated and alone. rishi sunak is probably the only politician in the cabinet who has emerged with only credibility during this lockdown. and it's obviously clear to him and the treasury that they are looking at figures and looking further down the line at what's going to happen, and within the story is interesting, there is a briefing from him, reported briefing, but he said up to 2 millionjobs in the hospitality industry could go buy some unless the pubs and restaurants are both stood up. there is a public debate going on about if we should open up, if we are doing it too soon, and obviously the hawks and the treasury are saying, we need to do this now because we will not have an economy to save. so a lot of criticism for the government at the moment, but they've got a really delicate balancing act to maintain. it is a
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tightrope, isn't it? are some of the scientists have been saying, it's a really dangerous moment. scientists have been saying, it's a really dangerous momentlj scientists have been saying, it's a really dangerous moment. i think so. i think actually, i am withjohn and probably most of the country, the one politician who really seems to think about what he's doing and tries to to stay several steps ahead is rishi sunak so one hopes he is getting it right with this particular plan. i think it's interesting from a grassroots level, i helped out with our local mutual aid group and it's interesting that actually a lot of the big restaurant change have been employed i believe, on government money, to make food which is going out to people in need, going out to the public service workers etc, certainly we are delivering them. the thing is, catering is so vital to every single pa rt catering is so vital to every single part of our day and our lives, you
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know, even if it's below the line catering that we are not seeing. he needs to do something and i hope he does it quickly, particularly from someone does it quickly, particularly from someone living in london where the hospitality industry is really what keeps this city alive. john, another store in the sunday times about and doubts about the new grading, suggestion is that as many as many as one in five a—level grades could be inaccurate according to the modelling for the exams regulator. quual has looked at exam result from other years and 78% of those predicted grades, some 22% of those who were predicted to get grades didn't receive it. the experts are saying these predictions do not allow for mavericks, unconventional people who pull it out of the bag at the last moment in the exam, they are on a different trajectory to arguably more scholarly pupils. they
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are going to suffer. we all know who “ someone are going to suffer. we all know who —— someone who is kind of like that, and this is a big number. it's another problem for the government to deal with. are you worried about this, shyama? i guess to be worried about it when my kids are at that stage was that i always used to say that exams are much easier now, then i saw what they did and realised it was much harder because we had learned in a very structured way, whereas they learn from a smorgasbord system so it is all over the place, learning and a modular way so it is more difficult. and i imagine that for some kids, it's just... it's not the learning that is difficult, it's the method of learning, and that impacts their results. do we need a new system? yes, we have been saying that. but i'm ancient and i believe they were seeing it when i was young and they
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got rid of all levels and brought in gcses, or cses as it was at that stage. they've been changing the system for decades and still can't get it right. no wonder the predicted grades don't work. the sunday telegraph, officials could only cope with five covid chris's a week, this was in the early days when they abandoned the test and tray system. —— covid cases. it is interesting, the sunday papers, a lot of them looking ahead but a lot of them also looking backwards to the mistakes allegedly that were made in the early days of the under—mac. made in the early days of the under-mac. well, this is potentially going to be the next albatross around the neck of the government following ppe, respirators, care homes. it is test entries. it beggars belief, this kind of number, they only had this capacity. in 2016 they only had this capacity. in 2016 they had a test run, operation signet, you have seen stories about
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that, how it was shown to not really be built for purpose and it was designed to test on an influenza epidemic, not a coronavirus epidemic. when the government stopped testing, when i gave up in march, some 400 people were testing positive for a coronavirus. yesterday, it was 8000 people, some 20 times more. so how are they government going to get its head around test and tracing? it fingers crossed. that is still a big number and it goes to the heart of this debate about, are we stopping lockdown to early? and is it frankly too early to start testing and tracing when the numbers are so high? shyama, i was tracing when the numbers are so high? shyama, iwas reading tracing when the numbers are so high? shyama, i was reading last week, the sunday times had a massive 3—page investigation, piecing together the early days, all the decisions that were made are not made by the government. it is fascinating to go back over those
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crucial early weeks. it is, and what is interesting, i think also, the sunday times has been looking about the government did and i think that was the second part of what has been a continuing, highly forensic investigation of the way we've dealt with coronavirus. but it's how much knowledge we have, and i think when we are receiving information from other countries, how china have dealt with it, singapore, we've had so much information, so why did we make the decisions that we made? and it's interesting that in the telegraph, they suggest this is the giving up on testing, that was the single reason why our numbers are so great. i'm just going back to what john was saying, i think it's the same sage report that the observer used to follow their comings line. it's interesting that the sunday
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telegraph as being so critical about the government, using the part that's looking back at what we've done. john, also in the sunday telegraph, shielded people leave their homes from for the first time in ten weeks, this is the 2.2 million people with medical conditions in england who have been shielded. for them, it conditions in england who have been shielded. forthem, it must conditions in england who have been shielded. for them, it must have been psychologically so difficult to just stay at home all the time, effectively kind of prisoners in their own homes. there is a really emotional interview with someone on bbc breakfast this morning, a man who is suffering from muscularjust for. he says, i'm getting the old me back. most of us have been living in lockdown but we have been able to go foran lockdown but we have been able to go for an hour—long walk or go out and go to the shops and so forth, but the 2.2 million people have had to stay in. so it's unimaginable what it has been like for the past few months. it does feel like this is
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being rushed out a little, this was supposed to happen towards the end ofjune, not at the start ofjune. so againi ofjune, not at the start ofjune. so again i am wondering why this has been rushed out, maybe there is other news that the government doesn't want to hear and see about. but for 2.2 million people, this is fantastic news, a great release for them. i read that scientists say the average chance of contracting the disease has gone down from one in 40 to one in 1000. but always there as with any of these things a risk. absolutely and those who are shielding still remain at the greatest risk. i understand why the government has done it, my mother is 89 and she rang me up and said, i have normalised, i've been to audi! i have been delivering shopping to her and she said, i went and queued for ten minutes and i went in. i realised then how important it was for her tojust go
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realised then how important it was for her to just go out and do something that was normal. and i think ina something that was normal. and i think in a strange way, what we should do is give them an amnesty for a week and shove them back behind closed doors, because i think the instinct of the country, the instincts have been pretty good so far, is that this is all happening too early. just looking at the situation in the united states, pictures of the writing which swept american cities on the front pages. very good picture on the front of the sunday times with a man on his skateboard in front of a burning car, that's in atlanta. what do you make of it? america burns is the headline. so, 40 million people unemployed, 100,000 dead from coronavirus, and cities across the states in guv, and during this tinderbox situation, president trump is playing with matches, issuing
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kind of incendiary racial statements... but it is deeper than trump, isn't it? this is a real divide that's been in america were arguably centuries. yes, but you are looking to your commander to kind of steady people. —— commander in chief. he is talking to his coterie for people to go out and counter demonstrate. this issue has gone on, as we all know, for decades and has reared up in other situations. you just think, this is going to keep on happening and happening, there has to bea happening and happening, there has to be a gear change in the way that people are treated. i fear this moment will come and pass, unfortunately. shyama, it's a question of how people demonstrate and protest against this, and killer
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mike is quoted in the sunday times, the hip—hop star, summoning his eloquence and moral authority to tell protesters not to resort to violence? doubt bone -- burn your house down, is what he said. —— don't burn your houston. because there are plenty of black cops and all of these forces, i'm quite sure in the chicago force and in... i say chicago because i've been watching chicago because i've been watching chicago pd! in minneapolis, there are black police officers, there are black mayors, we had a black president, but ultimately they take on the culture of the institutions that they enter. having their faces there does not actually change the experience of the black community on the streets. what you're seeing here, don't burn your own house down, it's not their house, even if it belongs to a black person, it's a black person who has bought into an
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institution and do nothing to change what's happening on the ground. this is what you're going to get, exactly whatjohn has said, i'm unemployed, —— the unemployed, they are furious because they have been locked away, getting mixed messaging, they have had for worse makes messaging than we've had. and it is hot, it is summer we've had. and it is hot, it is summerand we've had. and it is hot, it is summer and people are just angry. we've had. and it is hot, it is summer and people arejust angry. in that film, quite frankly, of floyd being killed, was horrendous. it must also be said that if you look, there are thousands of peaceful demonstrations that happened in the us overnight, it wasn'tjust writing. and this is the really important moment. john, the sunday times, we mention brexit at the beginning, this is michelle barnier, the brexit negotiator saying, keep your promises orface the brexit negotiator saying, keep your promises or face a no—deal brexit. warning that britain risks a double economic why me, you know,
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no—deal brexit plus coronavirus. yes, i experienced a frisson of excitement reading a brexit story ain! excitement reading a brexit story again! we were sick of it last year. ican, you again! we were sick of it last year. i can, you look into this, so it's a good interview with michelle barnier. what it is saying is, this is what's going to happen before the end of the year, we are in negotiating stage and its hard bargaining and the eu says the uk are not keeping to their promises and there are quotes from senior government sources saying, we and there are quotes from senior government sources saying, we are ready to go, it is the eu that is holding it up. its she said, i'm afraid. so it doesn't really take it that much forward for me. shyama, let's finish off looking at the sunday telegraph, great picture of falcon 9 lifting off from kennedy
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space center, the first manned flight space center, the first manned flight of spacex. it's sort of the privatisation of the space industry, isn't it? that's going to come under examination later, obviously false that we are up too preoccupied at the moment. elon musk has said some very strange things, do i want him in charge of this? i suppose i don't mind if he is in charge of few astronauts, i just don't want mind if he is in charge of few astronauts, ijust don't want him owning any satellites beyond what he already owns. i have to say, my daughter and i drove to hampstead heath to try and see spacex and the international space station. because for the last few days, it has been visible. but unfortunately we realised we had been given the gmt time is, not british summer time. so we sat and waited and it didn't come, and of course it went whizzing past while we were driving back. so you are blaming the bbc! nobody was
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nearest for miles. john, you are excited by this? yes, given the way the world is going, who would not wa nt the world is going, who would not want to leave the planet at 70,000 mph right now? the interesting thing is that it's the business model, nasa is kind of renting out this craft like a taxi, it's like taking an uber into space. good analogy! where just an uber into space. good analogy! wherejust admiring an uber into space. good analogy! where just admiring your backdrops once again. that is a 2000 piece jigsaw i'm just starting.|j once again. that is a 2000 piece jigsaw i'm just starting. i noticed that! you're just starting? jigsaw i'm just starting. i noticed that! you'rejust starting? well, something to do during lockdown. that! you'rejust starting? well, something to do during lockdownlj will have it done by the evening. john, lovely pictures behind you, what are those photographs?‘ john, lovely pictures behind you, what are those photographs? a couple of pictures of where we have been to in the world. we are just showing
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how well travelled we are. john and shyama, great to have you with us, many thanks indeed for reviewing the papers. that's it for the papers. my thanks tojohn and shyama. goodbye for now. hello there. it's been a very sunny spring and a pretty dry may for many. the final day of the month brings more warmth, more sunshine and more dry weather across the country. as we go through this afternoon, then, we are going to see some areas of patchy fairweather cloud developing across england and wales, perhaps some high cloud turning the sunshine hazy at times in scotland and northern ireland. you will notice the strength of this easterly breeze, just like yesterday, that will make it feel a little bit cool close to some north sea coasts. so aberdeen, 18 degrees, not bad for this time of year, but with some shelter in inverness, more like 25 degrees. warmest weather in northern ireland
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will be found across western counties — county tyrone, county fermanagh. the east coast of england on the cool side, exposed to that breeze. but come further west, through the midlands, wales, north—west england, towards the west country as well, some spots will get up to 26 or 27. strong sunshine with high uv levels and high pollen levels for most as well. through tonight, we keep clear skies overhead, except for this lump of low cloud and fog, which i think is likely to work into some coasts of eastern scotland and north—east england. temperatures between 7 and 13 degrees for most. tomorrow we could start off with some mist and murk for some of these eastern coasts. should tend to retreat back out to sea as the day wears on. then we see patchy cloud and sunny spells, but just the very small chance of an afternoon shower across scotland or northern ireland. those temperatures again, 19 to 25 degrees across most parts of the uk. things do start to change as we move out of monday into tuesday. this frontal system starts to sink in across scotland, that will bring some outbreaks
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of rain southwards. that rain could turn fairly heavy for a time, and behind the rain band, to the north of it, notice where the winds are coming from, coming down from the north. so that is going to introduce some cooler air. temperatures in the north west highlands much lower than they have been over the last few days. further south, more sunshine and more one, 27, maybe 28 degrees towards the south east. however, as we head deeper into the week, we see cooler air sweeping southwards across all parts of the uk and with that, there will be some outbreaks of rain, perhaps not an awful lot of rain down towards the south, but still there will be some. and we really could do with it.
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this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a fifth night of protests in minneapolis following the death of george floyd, a black man, in police custody. protestors and officers clash again despite a curfew. protests spread to at least 30 other us cities, including seattle, where crowds have looted a department store. president trump blames looters, and left—wing radicals for the unrest. after 10 weeks at home, more than two million people in england who've been shielding during lockdown are told they can go outdoors. the government has defended its decision to ease lockdown measures. because that we have made that progress, steadily, slowly, surely, week in, week out, we can

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