billy kay i declined a message over mcalpine this is how a veteran commentator special saw things at the start of the year well i mean i think the general consensus with which i agree alex is that there will be no referrer in them in 2020 apart from anything else we learned this week from the institute for government for one to happen just in terms of the logistics and there would have to be an agreement on a $1630.00 order by april and they're going to happen so there's not going to be one this year the 2021 scottish general election is effectively the referendum the next referendum on independence but the problem with 30 is that even if they win and win big the scottish government you still have the not inconsiderable problem of boris seeing new right of politics is an art not a science then what a bike the art of politics 2 of our most popular show a speech at the work of artists burns and through the lens of later to photographer heidi benson the man who's 40 got every american president since dwight eisenhower when asked you know why the saltire. well i mean that painting i woul

eight years ago, deep editorial failures over coverage ofjimmy savile and lord mcalpine led to the resignationys. chris patten, then chairman of the bbc, sent for tony hall, a former director of bbc news, who directed a creative turnaround at the royal opera house. i'm standing on the edge. after steadying the ship, hall's big challenge was to negotiate a new charter for the bbc. central to his deal was the bbc taking on a welfare payment for free tv licenses for the over 75s. hall considered this nuclear. did you threaten to resign over that? i thought about resigning, but at that moment i thought you have got to get in there and try to stop this or ameliorate what they're proposing to do. did you make it clear to them that this is a welfare payment and that's what governments do and not broadcasters? yes, we made all of those arguments. it was one of the most difficult and tense sets of negotiations or discussions i've ever had. the bbc has now said it will only pay for those on pension credit, a level the government decides on. at the end of that negotiation, which you led for the bbc, the

eight years ago, deep editorial failures over coverage ofjimmy savile and lord mcalpine led to the resignationing on the edge. after steadying the ship, hall's big challenge was to negotiate a new charter for the bbc. central to his deal was the bbc taking on a welfare payment for free tv licenses for the over 755. hall considered this nuclear. did you threaten to resign over that? i thought about resigning, but at that moment i thought you have got to get in there and try to stop this or ameliorate what they're proposing to do. did you make it clear to them that this is a welfare payment and that's what governments do and not broadcasters? yes, we made all of those arguments. it was one of the most difficult and tense sets of negotiations or discussions i've ever had. the bbc has now said it will only pay for free tv licenses for those on pension credit, a level the government decides on. at the end of that negotiation, which you led for the bbc, the bbc had a time bomb placed underneath it, and that time bomb is going off just as you are leaving. you call it a time bomb, i say we've come to