Will take years to rebuild. Were hearing stories of people roaming the streets desparate for food and water in the immediate aftermath of the storm. And of boats and helicopters racing to evacuate all 1600 residents, telling people reluctant to leave, they have no choice. Just before i came on air i spoke to michaeljoseph, president of antigua barbuda red cross. He told me about the level of destruction in barbuda. It is completely devastated. We are talking about 100 rebuilding, 100 infrastructure renewal. We are talking about redeveloping livelihoods, were talking about reintegrating people back into new settings. Its literally building a country from its primitive time back up to 2017, pretty much. Has everyone left the island now . Is it completely empty . It is at this moment. The government asked for voluntary evacuation since yesterday and declared a mandatory evacuation today ahead of jose. And what do you imagine those people will do, where will they go, what will they live in . Well, many antiguans have been asked to open their doors and allow them in. That has been the case, many antiguans have opened their rooms, some who have extra homes that they rent, have offered them as temporary housing for those persons who dont. The government have put together three temporary makeshift shelters to facilitate them, primarily now dealing with hurricane jose. Then the Long Term Plan will come afterwards. You talk about barbuda starting from scratch, all over again. Were talking about a population we are talking about schools rebuilding, we are talking about hospitals, fire stations. I would estimate anywhere from three to five years before we get it even close to what it used to be. As it stands now, barbuda is uninhabitable. Do you feel that you have had the help you needed so far to evacuate people, to save lives . Is that help at hand . And, if so, from who . Antiguans on the whole have really pitched in to make it possible. Theyve done everything they can to move things from antigua. The venezuelans have supported us significantly, they have provided aircraft to evacuate people, they sent in two cargo vessels with relief supplies. So theyve been our closest humanitarian aid coming in from any countries so far. Do you think western governments have done enough to help out as well . As it stands, no. Its not being felt on the ground. All the response has been coordinated through the red cross, local officials, or the government themselves with minimal support from the external arena. Michael, i will let you get back to the vital work youre doing there, but thank you very much forjoining us. As we said earlier, it is florida that will find itself in the eye of the storm. Its governor, rick scott, told all 20 million of the States Residents they should be prepared to evacuate, with the stark warning, we are running out of time. This evening, queues of cars on the normally smooth running freeways ground to a standstill as they heeded the advice. Airports are beginning to close to International Flights as the conditions worsened. Indian river county is on the Atlantic Coast of florida just north of miami and palm beach. I spoke to sherrif, major eric flowers, if people were following the advice to leave. That is very serious, we are expecting that some time on saturday we will begin to experience Hurricane Force winds. We will close, there are Three Bridges that cross over to the island and when sustained winds reach 39 pulled in and it will not respond to calls any more. When those calls come in on 911 we will document them and check on them as the storm subsides. People in those dangerous circumstances need to leave right now because there will come a time when we cannot respond to them. What is your message to those saying they will get in some supplies and stay put . If you are in one of those evacuation zones, it is entirely too dangerous and you are taking your life in your hands. We have emergency shelters are available that are opening at 8am tomorrow. If you cannot go to your friends or a hotel or get out of the state or the county, we have shelter for you. Take advantage of it. Please do not wait until it is too late. Make that decision now. We are running out of time, it is time for folks to take shelter. The storm is getting very close, it is bearing down. I imagine when youre evacuating people, they will not return to their homes in a matter of days, it could be weeks or months. How much do they take with them . We suggest they take the necessary personal effects, medication and id and anything they would need in another state to establish additional pharmacy fill for their medications. Take all of that. Enough clothing to sustain them for at least a few days but, as you said, it could be quite some time before we allow people back into their homes. Talk me through something. When i look at the picture now, it seems very calm and blue. Is there a sense in the air that the weather is changing where you are . Can you feel it on the ground . Absolutely. People were reporting this morning hearing less birds chirping, the wind is slightly blowing here. You dont hear that. You dont hear the normal florida sounds and is that sense there is something coming. You can feel it when you go out. What would you ask First Responders to do . When the storm hits, will everybody be on duty all the time or is there a limit to what you are asking them to do . We actually evacuated the emergency plan on thursday morning and everybody went to alpha bravo, they work 12 hour shifts. Theyre on days or nights and they will work until they get the county secured and until we have everybody safe. Our thoughts are with you. Thank you forjoining us. Thank you for having me. Back in the uk, the chairs of the Commons Foreign Affairs and International Development committees, Tom Tugendhat and stephen twigg, have written a letter tonight to the foreign secretary, borisjohnson. This is from the conservative select committee and stephen twigg, and they have written a joint letter to Boris Johnson and priti patel saying that the response to these hurricanes has been found wanting and there has been a lack of forward thinking and a lack of preparation and they are comparing it with the rather impressive french response, talking about how the french had pre positioned generators in place. This evening, i spoke to Tom Tugendhat, who drafted this letter, and he has praise for the government, he says they have people on planes quickly, they moved hms 0cean pretty quickly. The point he is making is the uk has done well but it needs to do better because there is another one on the way. Right, so, the response from downing street has been what . Look, the governments view is they are dealing with an overwhelming Natural Disaster and the significance about this is it is unprecedented in both its scale and its repetition. As you were saying, there are three harvey, irma and jose. There is a big operation, they have vessels at anguilla, then it went to the British Virgin islands and did reconnaissance there and they say it is unfair to compare the uk with france because the french territories there are french soil. They are governed from paris. The uk territories are overseas territories, there is a governor and a Prime Minister, and so its a more arms length relationship. Whitehall sources say that in the long term that allows the uk to be more flexible, but it does not have Permanent Military assets there. But, in conservative circles, there is very with tom there is absolute fury with Tom Tugendhat. Sources say that this is self indulgent because he drew up the letter and even hearing from a former military office saying this is treachery. Gosh thank you very much. The author of the report into the criminaljustice system has told this programme he couldnt believe how complacent the sector was about race. Speaking to newsnight as he published findings into an 18 month study into the ethnic breakdown of Young Offenders, which showed a disproprotionate number of young white people in jail, he said he was surprised at just how indifferent the whole system is to race. He calls for radical solutions for dealing with Young Offenders, including, in some cases, deferred sentences. Well hearfrom mr lammy in a moment. First, this report from david grossman. Justice is often shown blindfolded. Shes supposed to impartially weigh the evidence, irrespective of who stands before her. Todays report from the labour mp david lammy, but commissioned by the government, says we have a long way to go until we get to such an impartial legal system. Shaun bailey is a London Assembly member, who advised the enquiry. Its well documented that black men are treated more harshly. This report and its recommendations gives the criminaljustice system a real, serious direction of travel to address that problem. Lets be clear here, nobody is asking for special treatment, just equal treatment and the recommendations are a real good look at how to do that. Mr lammys recommendations have two broad aims increasing transparency and increasing trust. For the system, it says. In twos, all facing this way. Guys, im talking, you are not listening. Bobby now runs a Football Club for youngsters in hackney, east london. He says hes turned his life around, having spent eight years in prison. He was convicted of conspiracy to rob security vans. Get your heels up. Black men like bobby are 50 more likely to plead not guilty in court than white men. Its a big reason, says todays report, that black men have on average, longer sentences. You go into court believing straight away that theyre not going to believe anything i say. I will tell the honest to god truth and they will still be against me. We believe it is us versus them at certain points. Is that why you pleaded not guilty . So originally in my first case i pleaded not guilty because i was young, i was naive and i was like, i think i can get away with this, im going to go not guilty. I dont think i was given the advice from my solicitor or lawyers to tell me, just plead guilty and youll get a lighter sentence. For individuals, the review recommends that reformed offenders should be able to apply to have their criminal records sealed so they dont have to disclose them to future employers. Young offenders should be assessed for their maturity to inform sentencing decisions. And, controversially, low level offenders should be able to defer prosecution and opt for a rehabilitation programme, even before they enter a plea, so they dont even have to admit guilt. You enable people who have taken a wrong turn to be able not to have the stigma of a criminal record for the rest of their life if they take steps to resolve the problems theyve had and rehabilitate. But, more importantly, we have that process in our system already. Two examples, conditional cautions occur. Someone has to admit guilt, but they can avoid a conviction if they take certain steps pursuant to a conditional caution. And we also have deferred prosecution in relation to organisations involved in serious fraud. Whats great about this review is it is taking contexts that are out there and trying to find interesting and innovative ways to apply them to a problem that it hasnt been applied to before. For bobby, one of the biggest problems that young black men face with the criminaljustice system is a perception of bias, rather than a reality. The jurors were an all white jury, the judge was white, funnily enough, the prosecutor was black, which was a bit of a funny one. But i was looking at the prosecutor, like, come on give me a chance, mate. You are one of us, kind of thing. But he was working for the court system. What was your experience with the outcome, the sentence you received . To be fair, the judge was pretty lenient on me. I thought i was going to get more. Everyone was scaring me saying, well, conspiracy to rob cash from transit vans, you are looking at nine years, ten. So when the judge actually gave me the four years initially, i thought, well, i got a touch there, so maybe ive now got a chance to change my life around. The ideal solution, according to bobby, is not really about reforming the criminaljustice system, its about what hes dedicating himself to now, making sure young black man, dont end up in the system in the first place. Well any talk of deferred sentences for the first or second offence asks the system to prioritise the needs of wrongdoers over those of victims of crime. So, how comfortable would daivd lammy be to see us going down that route . And how surprised was he by what he found. I didnt expect to find that the figures for Young Offenders were quite as bad as they are. I mean, if a1 of our youth prison population is from a black ethnic or minority ethnic background, that is heading to half of our prisoner state. And i think the worst thing about it is the reoffending rate. 46 reoffending means the system really isnt working because people are coming back so there are Big Questions about what is happening in our youth prisons. You raise the question in your report of maturity. Do you think our definition of the legal age of Young Offenders is wrong . I met 18 and 19 year olds sitting in adult prisons and they are clearly in adult prisons mixing with some very serious criminals indeed. These were young men that often couldnt really assess risk and risky behaviour, were compulsive, spontaneous, poor at making judgments about peer group. And all of the modern evidence on the teenage brain and the development, if you like, of the youthful brain is that you really sort of settle down at about 25. So should Young Offenders still be classified as such up to the age of 25 . What im recommending is like the german system, there is an assessment of maturity by independent psychiatrists and psychologists able to make that judgment about whether that young person ought to be in the youth or state. We all grew up in the shadow of the macpherson report. The term he used was institutionalised racism. Now, you dont call it that this time. Do you believe, at its heart, it is racism . I did find bias, evidence of bias. And i did find evidence of overt discrimination, particularly in the prison system. I wasnt asked to do an enquiry into racism in the criminaljustice system. I was asked to do a review and i said that it had to be evidence led and you are very much looking at the academic evidence, you are spending time in prisons, you are speaking to people, you are really making an assessment of the figures and the data that has not been revealed before. And my judgment was that absolutely there still is bias. But you dont use the term racism for a reason. Why . It is because it was very hard for me to get into the minds of those who are actors in a very big system. In the end, our country has tended to focus on policing. My review was everything after policing. So what im suggesting is you intervene earlier with something called deferred prosecutions. You deal right away with the person who has committed the crime and you can only do this with first and second time offences. It is very hard, isnt it, to turn around to the victim of a mugging or whatever it is and say, sorry, at this point it makes more sense to put the culprit first . The evidence from the pilot, the turning point pilot in the west midlands, is that victims like the system. Because i suspect for first and second time offences, where it isnt a very serious violent crime, what they want is action. They want that young person not smashing cars. But you are taking the punishment element out. Is that right . By deferring a prosecution you are basically turning to the person who has done it and said, its all right. We actually use deferred prosecution for serious fraud. Because the state doesnt want to do huge, big fraud trials that cost a fortune, we go to the ceo that has just mismanaged funds and we ask them to defer prosecution, to work with the system, if you like, to fess up. Where are the bodies buried . And we defer prosecution. And a lot of people find that incredibly distasteful. That is what we do in this country. I do think that if the system isnt working, if recidivism rates are 46 for black men, then something isnt working. Do you feel comfortable with saying, we may become a system which prioritises wrongdoers over victims . Do you feel comfortable saying, were not going to tell employers about criminal records . Is a fair on an employer . Is it fair on that employer who might have a duty of care to his other members of staff . How far along that road would you feel comfortable going . Well, im thinking of the scales of justice and im thinking of balance. I worry a lot about young people, particularly, trapped in a culture of criminality because they cant get employment. 50 of employers say they wouldnt employ someone with a criminal record. I might say also, my recommendations are for everyone. I was asked to look at disproportionality for black and asian and minority ethnic people but a lot of my recommendations after everyone. And we ought to think about more flexibility or im afraid were building in unemployment for large tracks of the country, notjust black and asian minority ethnic, but for White Working Class populations as well. When you look at this mistrust of systems that you have reported on, do you share some of those suspicions . I was surprised at how indifferent the system is to race. If you were in a london comprehensive, it would be impossible, frankly, not to meet head teachers and staff, the local authority, they are all over the data. The Education World is looking at the data and trying to get results. I couldnt believe how complacent the criminaljustice sector was about what is obvious. David lammy, thank you. Thank you. Tomorrow, the 9th september, is north koreas national day. There will be celebrations, military parades, wall to wall worship of their dynastic leader, kim jong un, and, all too possibly, yet another missile test. The south korean president said today he is expecting one. And just a few days ago the Us Ambassador to the un, nikki haley, said north korea is almost begging for war. Newsnights gabriel gatehouse is in the south korean capital, seoul. We have come to meet a defector. They are broadcasting into the north from this building. How are you . Thank you very much for inviting us to your radio studio. Based in seoul and funded by a church in the united states, free north korea radio wants to bring down the kim dynasty. So this is a north korean anthem and they changed the words kim jong un to god. The Radio Station is run byjung hoon choi, who defected from the north korean army a decade ago. The policy of containment hasnt worked, but military action would have consequences that are terrible to contemplate. Seoul is only 30 miles from the border. And its notjust the threat of a nuclear strike, these buildings, this whole city is well within range of north korean artillery. There are thousands and thousands of shells and rockets trained on this city and any kind of strike on the north, would inevitably lead to retaliation. And yet, some people are actively pushing for conflict. The defectors we met at the Radio Station have called a protest outside the american embassy. They are emboldened by some of the more confrontational statements coming out of the new administration. These people think that the Trump Presidency might be their chance. To underline the point, the protesters attempt a symbolic decapitation of the regime. So, whats happening is theyjust tried to slice a portrait of kim jong un with a knife and the south Korean Police swooped into their way. But the police are no match for the defectors zeal. Another kim is produced and this time, he gets it. The korean war ended in 1953, not with a peace deal, but a ceasefire. Koreans have lived with the possibility of a return to fighting ever since. And yet, away from the demos and the activists, in seoul, its pretty difficult to find anyone who is overly concerned. Despite the looming threat of nuclear apocalypse, no ones scurrying for the bomb shelters. Its almost as if the rapid escalation and tensions is a piece of theatre aimed, not at an audience of north koreans, but at westerners and americans in particular. We sit in london and people are talking about could north korean missiles reach london and everyone in the west is freaking out, but you guys are just sitting here quite happily, eating mung bean fritters. Because, kimjong un is a crazy person and we think that hes a crazy person and crazy people do crazy things everyday. And donald trump, we also think hes a crazy person too. Donald trump is more dangerous than kim jong un. Seriously . Yeah, in stakes of war, i think. But thats a really scary thought . I dont think its a scary thought, its a realistic thought. So you think there will be conflict at some point . Yeah. Caught between two angry nuclear powers, young koreans still do the kind of things young people do the world over. In the case of hong wu and his fellow students, band practice. Korean pop music, known as k pop, is serious business. Far more serious than the threat that never seems to materialise. And yet. Sometimes i think, before i go to sleep, i lie down in my bed and think, what if right now, the bomb comes right here and i disappear. Sometimes i think about that. During the cold war, Nuclear Conflict was avoided because of the principle of mutually assured destruction, or mad for short. Today, thats an adjective often applied to at least one of the protagonists in this new nuclear drama. And remember what chekhov said, if there is a gun on stage in act one, it has to go off before the end of the play. Lets quickly go through the front pages. The guardian has the world is more dangerous now than it has been for a generation. And desmond tutu speaks out against his friend. And the times has got theresa may is hopeless and weak. That was our top Tory Party Donor accusing the Prime Minister of handling brexit and alienating businesses and he is a brexiteer. Thats it for tonight. You might not have noticed, but theres been a major solar storm this week, with the most powerful solar flare to hit the earth in 11 years. One person who did notice is laplander alexander kuznetsov, who drove as far north as he could in finland to find a clear sky, and was rewarded with Northern Lights the like of which hed hardly seen before. Goodnight. Music London Grammar hey now. Letters burning by my bed for you. Hey now. I can feel my instincts here for you. Hey now. By my bed for you, hey now. Hey now. Ooh, ooh, you know it is frightening
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.