Transcripts For BBCNEWS Beyond 100 Days 20240713

This is a really hard time of year to be homeless which is why one high street bank says its stepping in to help. Hello and welcome. Im katty kay in washington and Christian Fraser is in london. There is an evergreen quality to the title of this programme. Particularly when leaders keep promising to get things done within 100 days. And so it was this morning. The british Prime Minister at his first Cabinet Meeting since re election promised to work flat out to deliver on the promises he has had made to the british people. Among a number of commitments the tories have made is a new one that will prevent parliament from extending the brexit transition period beyond dec 31st next year. The Prime Minister says the deadline will focus minds in westminster as well as in brussels. The eu has dismissed it as sabre rattling and said it was expected as part of the Prime Ministers political positioning. The withdrawal bill itself will be brought back to the house on friday. Today was about, swearing in the speaker and the new mps and an opportunity for mrjohnson to bask in his new found majority. I think that this parliament is a vast improvement on its predecessor. And, indeed, mr speaker, i would say its one of the best parliaments that weve ever produced. With more female members than ever before, with more black and minority ethnic members than ever before. And it is also, mr speaker, and i incarnate it in your person, mr speaker, a vastly more democratic parliament. Because this parliament is not going to waste the time of the nation in deadlock and division and delay. On friday of this week, this parliament is going to put the Withdrawal Agreement in the popty ping, as we say in wales. And then this new democratic parliament, this Peoples Parliament is going to do something, mr speaker i wonder if you can guess what it is, this parliament is going to do . What are they going to do, mr speaker, youre not paying attention . I wonder if you can guess what this parliament is going to do once we have put the Withdrawal Agreement back . All we are going to get brexit done. It was a rather subdued performance from Jeremy Corbyn as might be expected. Tonight for the First Time Since the election he was meeting colleagues from the parliamentary labour party. And there is of course deep anger at the scale of the defeat. But in the commons mr corbyn, reminded the Prime Minister that he must live up to his word, espcially in those northern constituencies he took from the labour party. Mr speaker, i would like to offer my congratulations to the Prime Minister on winning the election and being returned to office. And i want to pay tribute to those members from my party, particularly, who sadly lost their seats in the election and therefore will not be here in particular, although many of you remember but obviously, Dennis Skinner is somebody that comes very much to mind on this occasion. And the Prime Minister in the campaign made many, many promises and therefore has tremendous responsibilities to live up to. Hell be judged on whether he keeps those promises or not by the communities that hes made them to. 0urjob in the labour party will be to hold this government to account and stand up for the communities that we represent. And for the more than ten Million People that voted for our party in the general election, because that is what parliamentary democracy is about, Holding Government to account and representing the people that have sent us here on their behalf. The conservatives made a series of gains last week in the West Midlands. Among the seats the tories took from labour were two in wolverhampton, two in west bromwich, one in dudley north and one in northfield, birmingham. The conservative mayor for the West Midlands is andy street who today visited downing street to set out what the government needs to do to ensure that the region stays blue. I spoke to the mayor a little earlier. Ive seen in the local newspapers in the West Midlands, youve set out a list of ten demands you would like from this government, can you spell out what those are . Yes, the point here is very simple, voters across the West Midlands gave their vote to the conservative party in unprecedented numbers, so weve really got to demonstrate as a party that we are now going to deliver for them. And they probably fall into two categories the things. The first things would be about Infrastructure Investments that actually give people hear the opportunity to take advantage of the jobs that are coming. And then the second thing would be around support for the Public Services. Maybe i could sayjust a little bit about each of them . If you take the infrastructure pieces, its about investment in our local metro system so that people can actually travel across the region to get those jobs. And if you think about Public Services, the issues that kept coming up on the doorstep were around crime, so lets get on and get those Police Numbers up and around making sure the investments that have been promised in our hospitals actually happen. Jake berry, the ministerfor the Northern Powerhouse says he expects mps to start hunting in a pack, nice analogy. But i wonder what that packet will want when it comes to brexit . I think the West Midlands mps, they will also be lobbying collectively. The most important thing is they will want a quick conclusion. That is what we heard on the doorstep and if you listen to the doorstep and if you listen to the Business Community across the West Midlands, they are saying, please move through this and get a certainty. It is good to have the proposal before christmas, but then we recognise the difficult stuff of the negotiating around the new trade deal will happen next year and that is very important to the manufacturing heartland of the country. Andy burnham and Greater Manchester says he agrees with this idea that we need new infrastructure and anybody from the north would agree with that. Replacing the victorian infrastructure with something new, but he says what Greater Manchester needs is something for the here and now. understand where hes coming from, but i dont agree with the detail in the way you put it across. Some of the way you put it across. Some of the infrastructure products, one of the infrastructure products, one of the biggest of them all, hs2, potentially the biggest in europe, we wa nt potentially the biggest in europe, we want the final go ahead on that very quickly. Even though trains probably wont be running for eight yea rs, probably wont be running for eight years, the decision to go ahead will create jobs in construction and will also give certainty for the Property Market to invest here. But some of the project, reopening of Railway Lines locally, that will generate new connections very quickly, certainly in the lifetime of this parliament. We have schemes that are ready to go and will be open in one oi ready to go and will be open in one or two years. Andy street, thank you for your time. So who will replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader. We are told labours Ruling National Executive Committee will meet in the first week of january, to decide the timetable. There are already a number of familiar names in the fray. Rebecca long bailey, keir starmer, and Angela Rayner, whove all held senior positions on corbyns front bench. Theres also lisa nandy the mp from wigan, and jess phillips, the mp for Birmingham Yardley both backbench mps and then Emily Thornberry whos been the shadow foreign secretary since 2016. There are other labour mps david lammy and clive lewis who are circling but it is early days. Lets speak now to sienna rodgers, editor of the labourlist website. We have just put out some of the names, how are you handicapping this . It looks at the moment if keir starmer, the shadow brexit secretary and rebecca long bailey are definitely the front runners. We ran a survey definitely the front runners. We ran a survey that is not totally scientific but it did predictJeremy Corbyns rise in 2015, before anybody expected that. It showed keir starmer was at the stop and so was rebecca long bailey and so was Angela Rayner. But it seems Angela Rayner is going to pull out from the leadership race and go for the deputy and allow her flatmate in london and good friend, rebecca long bailey to take the lead and go for the topjob. So you have got the debate within the party of having some warm who is more of a centrist, can expand the partys appeal, some warm who is more likely to appeal to those labour constituencies that have just been lost to the party. But then you have to add in the other pressure, which is the demand to have a candidate who is a woman and from the north . Everyone finds it quite embarrassing in the labour party that we havent had a female leader yet. I think it is something people will be talking about. Ultimately, labour members are predominantly from the south, from University Towns and cities and keir starmer is popular among those members for that reason. He is the one who pushed the pro remain stance, certainly the pro 2nd referendum stance. A lot of this leadership election, about the analysis of why labour lost the last election so badly. 0bviously analysis of why labour lost the last election so badly. Obviously it lost a lot of leave seats and if you think, that is because the position was a bit too remain heavy, maybe lisa nandy is your candidate, because she has been the one talking about towns for so long and the growing divide and also opposed another referendum. So it is about brexit as much as anything else. Front page of the times, mary creagh, 1a years the mp for wakefield, there she is clearing out her desk. What does she see coming out of the commons, wasJeremy Corbyn taking selfies. There will be many people asking why is he still in office . I havejust many people asking why is he still in office . I have just come from that meeting and it didnt seem like there was lots of shouting, in the first half certainly. Jeremy corbyn has said he is sorry, he has apologised. He said he takes responsibility and that is what people criticised him for. It seems like he wasnt taking full responsibility for that result. He said he would oppose borisjohnsons brexit deal on friday and lead his mps to do that, so he is trying to show some leadership. What worries some people in some parts of the party, he is more about the club and is of the labour party than he ever was about becoming Prime Minister. Ultimately, he is going, maybe not as quickly as a lot of labour mps would like him too, some of them wa nt would like him too, some of them want him to leave immediately. But there are some new labour mps, we just gained one seat but there are a lot of new faces and they are very left wing and very cold at night. Thats just rebecca long bailey, left wing and very cold at night. Thatsjust rebecca long bailey, in terms of nominations from mps and they will have to get 10 of the Parliamentary Party to nominate them in order to be on the ballot paper, she would do very well on that basis. 0k, thank you very much. A lot of pressure within the party to try to find the right person. When you try to satisfy lots of different parts of the party, it is a tricky task for one person to do . A lot of people will be looking at the timetable because jennie a lot of people will be looking at the timetable becausejennie formby, who of course heads the National Executive committee has set the timetable starting at the beginning of january. A lot of people would have liked that to have been brought forward to before christmas. The one thing the more centrist, moderate members want is the membership reopen. Those who want to say in where the labour party goes next, not just those momentum where the labour party goes next, notjust those momentum members, that they get some say in who was chosen next on the fears they will try and break this that the membership is not reopened, or not reopened for a significant time. After two fatal crashes, boeing will suspend production of its best selling plane the 737 max. It has been grounded since march after crashes in indonesia and ethiopia killed 346 people. Production will now stop injanuary and its not clear when or even if it will resume. The impact of the decision will be felt far beyond the company itself. Boeing plays a big role in the us economy its the largest Us Manufacturing exporter and one of the nation s top private employers. The plane maker employs around 12,000 workers at its 737 Assembly Plant in renton, washington. Production of the max also supports thousands ofjobs across a network of over 600 suppliers and hundreds of other smaller firms in the Global Supply chain. There are 2,500 people involved in that supply chain here in the uk. Economists see the rate of us growth for the First Quarter will be hit by around 0. 6 as a result. A short time ago we spoke to democratic congressman committees. Just wanted to start by getting a reaction to news that boeing, after all of these deciding to suspend production of the 737 max . All of these deciding to suspend production of the 737 mafim all of these deciding to suspend production of the 737 max . It is a huge blow to the company and it is a cautionary tale. Boeing spent many yea rs cautionary tale. Boeing spent many years lobbying in washington for wea ker safety years lobbying in washington for weaker safety regulations and the result is, people died and now the company itself is taking a huge economic hit. I think it is a lesson to multinational corporations, that sometimes it does not pay to get the government off your back. We think you are going to make things easier for yourself, you end up making things much harder. You have sat in on all of the hearings with the faa and the company itself, have you come to the conclusion that boeing acted in bad faith, that they knew they had a problem and didnt address it . There are certainly people at boeing who thought there was a problem and we are still investigating this. The faa is investigating, the Usjustice Department is investigating it. We havent come to ultimate conclusions, but it certainly looks as though there were decisions made at boeing and the faa that made accidents like this more likely. Congressmen, no manufacturer likes to suspend the production line, do you think the 737 max does have a future . I think it can have a future, it is not up to me, it is up to the faa here in the united states. You know, i can tell you the young grounding process, the process of approving an aeroplane after it has been grounded is extremely rigorous. So if the faa concludes that boeing has taken the necessary steps, which i think are technically feasible, based on what i have heard, i think that is a decision we can have great confidence in. Heard, i think that is a decision we can have great confidence inm heard, i think that is a decision we can have great confidence in. It is interesting you have made that point, because of the regulators will have looked on with horror in recent months, particularly through these hearings when it would appear boeing was in bed with the federal Aviation Authority . It had lobbied over the years for rules that allowed the decision to certify certain parts of the aircraft to be made basically in house. I think thatis made basically in house. I think that is at the heart of the problem, we will have to look at that certification system and make it more rigorous. The big picture is, Airline Travel has been getting safer over the last 20, 30 years. There is no question about that. I wouldnt say the system is com pletely wouldnt say the system is completely broken, it has succeeded in many respects. But here we have identified a serious flaw that has to be fixed. Until it is, these planes will appropriately not fly. If the faa tells us it has been fixed, but the young grounding process is much more rigorous but i think at that point we can have that confidence. Congressmen, it is good to get your insight, thank you for being with us. The congressmen feeling some people in boeing acted in bad faith. They knew some people are not being trained and that means a lot of people will face Economic Hardship because it is not the company itself, it is the little companies that supply parts to make the 737 max, they will lose theirjobs because of the decision to ground this plane and also the people who lost their lives because of the crashes. 0ther lost their lives because of the crashes. Other news now. A Pakistani Court has sentenced the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to death in abenstia on charges of treason. It dates back to 2007 when he suspended the constitution in an attempt to extend his rule. General musharraf has been living in dubai since 2016. The military has reacted angrily to the sentence, saying the Legal Process seems to have been ignored. Authorities in australia have issued fresh warnings about a mega blaze in north south wales. Firefighters are working to prevent the fire from reaching a power station, which generates 10 of the states electricity. Crews are currently battling over 100 fires, and are bracing for further extreme temperatures this week. The owners of 0xycontin maker, Purdue Pharma, started taking far more money out of the company after it was fined for misleading marketing of the powerful prescription painkiller. Court documents reveal the Sackler Family transferred about 10. 7 billion out of Purdue Pharma from 2008 to 2017. The sacklers own the firm, which is accused of fuelling the us opiod crisis through drugs like 0xycontin. Serie a, and italian football league, has used images of monkeys in an anti Racism Campaign less than three weeks after its clubs pledged to tackle the problem in italian football. The no to racism posters show three monkeys with painted faces and will be displayed at the serie a headquarters. Ac milan said they strongly disagree with the posters and as roma said they did not believe it was the right way to tackle racism in the sport. In the week before christmas theres been some sobering new stats out from the uk charity, shelter, revealing that one in 200 people across england are without a home. Either they are sleeping rough or they are in temporary accommodation. Things get even worse in london, where one in 50 are now homeless. And of course it is a vicious circle, particularly for rough sleepers, if you are without a fixed address how do you return to some normality. But theres some hope at least on that front, because hsbc and shelter have launched a new bank account for those with no fixed abode. Its a big step, it means people have an account to call their own, somewhere to put their money and somewhere to receive money electronically. Anna fawcett is from birmingham and solihull women s aid and shes in our birmingham studio. It is good to have you with us. Explain how difficult it is when you are on the street and you dont have are on the street and you dont have a bank account . Its not necessarily about being on the street, if you are in temporary accommodation, there is a wide variety of issues with homelessness. We take it for granted, when you go to prove your address, often the first thing you asked for is a bank statement. Women we see on a daily basis are finding it as we see on a daily basis are finding itasa we see on a daily basis are finding it as a boundary to getting them back to useful employment and things like that, because they are not able to get something as simple as a bank account. I can imagine economic control is one of the most common but overlooked factors of domestic and sexual abuse . It is, in the year so and sexual abuse . It is, in the year so far we have seen, out of the women we have seen so far we have seen, out of the women we have seen in our services, 38 have experienced some sort of physical abuse. But a perpetrator often uses financial control, whether that is restricting money or restricting access to someones bank account is one of their modus operandi. It is a nasty side of what women can experience and certainly, it is something we dont often think about. It is the hidden side of domestic abuse. There has been a big campaign in the states to improve Financial Literacy amongst people who are either homeless or in temporary accommodation, or victims of abuse, as you suggest. What is hsbc going to be doing, talk us through the programme . Until recently, women would go into a bank and explain their situation. They might have found helpful member of staff who went above and beyond and try to circumvent some of the rules to support them. Hsbc have championed the fact there is an understanding that women wont be able to provide the same information and give an address, for lots of different reasons. So they have given the flexibility to this project, which is the no fixed abode account, so project, which is the no fixed abode account, so women are project, which is the no fixed abode account, so women are much more able to go about, what is a very straightforward process. So they have circumvented some of what would normally be the challenge is to getting a bank account. There is obviously no quick fix for any of these problems, but what impact do you think it might have in practical terms . Can you envisage what impact it will have on the lives of these women and Homeless People . When you have been in an abusive relationship, you might feel like going into a bank and opening an account is another door slammed in your face account is another door slammed in yourface and account is another door slammed in your face and you cannot break the cycle you have been embroiled in. So to be able to open a bank account, psychologically that will be a huge relief, a huge weight off your mind and that empowers you amateur feel, may be the next hurdle or challenge will be quite so difficult. 0k, thank you very much forjoining us. So difficult for so many of these people to be able to have some sense of normality, something that helps them get the trigger back to normality. It isa normality. It is a great initiative. Lets hope other banks follow suit and diving as well. I would like to see that happening here too. So christmas is just over a week away and for those of you having the family over, cooking for that number of people in a regular oven can be a bit of a nightmare. We have all encountered that. Kinda like a game of tetris, slotting it all in, timing it all. But if you happen to live in australia, we might have a solution for you. Yes, how about you cook the meat in your car . Thats what stu pengelly from perth did he successfully cooked a pork roast in a red datsun sunny in which temperatures hit 39 degrees on friday. His technique . Stick the pork on a baking tray on a car seat facing west for around 10 hours. The result . A beautifully cooked pork roast. Jamie oliver eat your heart out. Do you know how hot it got in the car . 81 celsius, 177 fahrenheit. Do not leave your dogs, cats or your children in a hot car. Is that like 170 in the oven, is it the same thing . Yes, it is the same thing. Shows how often i go to the oven. This is beyond 100 days from the bbc. Coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news major strikes cause travel chaos across france for a 13th consecutive day as labour unions show no sign of backing down over president macron s planned pension reforms. And well check in with democratic members of congress from districts that voted for donald trump, as they consider whether or not thats still to come. Hello there. It is expected to turn dry. 0ne hello there. It is expected to turn dry. One or two showers around the south coast and we lose most of the showers in scotland as well as this ridge built in. It is short lived, low pressure will take over later on wednesday. 0vernight, likely to see mr fogg developing again with light winds under clear skies and those temperatures will take a tumble. Likely to see a widespread frost through central and Northern Areas. Less cold across the south west because we will see increasing cloud and it will be breezy by the end of the night. It is a cold start, frost around but sunshine and we will have these areas of dense fog through central and Northern Areas. As the breeze picks up it will lift the fog into low cloud and drift northwards. But it will feel chilly as the breeze picks up. Further south and west it is turning wetter and windier. Those temperatures slowly rising as well. Wednesday night looks particularly windy, but on the irish sea coast it is gales here and heavy rain spreading north with some transient snow over scotland, over the hills of scotland. As the colder air moves north, we start to see them out there taking over and it is likely to revert back to rain. Be mild on thursday, quite a breezy, blustery day and those winds coming in from the south or south west. The best of any sunshine across the north, plenty of showers and longer spells of rain further south, some of them heavy and thundery, double figure values for most and 13 degrees across the south of the country. It stays blustery through thursday night into friday, further pulses of rain, heavy at times, particularly across southern, south eastern portions of england by friday and those rainfall totals mounting up. Could be issues with localised flooding as the ground is pretty saturated. Sunshine on friday and double figure values in the south. Single figure values across the north and it will turn fresher. We end the week on an unsettled note thanks to this area of low pressure. It will bring rain and milder conditions to our shores. Into the weekend, further sunshine and showers and it looks like it will turn fresher, particularly across Northern Areas as we move through the weekend. Across Northern Areas in particular as we move through the weekend. This is beyond one hundred days with me katty kay in washington, Christian Fraser is in london. Our top stories. Boris johnson returns to the dispatch box he says therell be a new law to finish brexit talks by the end of next year. Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn faces his backbench labour colleagues many furious at the scale of the partys defeat. Also on the programme. Hundreds of thousands of people protest in cities across france against the governments plans for pension reform. Plus in a bbc exclusive supreme Courtjustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stresses the importance of senators being impartial in the upcoming impeachment trial. In britain the electoral map has been turned on its head. Those safe seats that were once red have turned blue for the first time in their history. In my own town burnley they went conservative for the First Time Since 1910. And to achieve that kind of swing in many of the constituencies the conservatives had to reach a demographic they have never reached before. Yougovs post Election Study of 40,000 voters has found that 45 of those on the lowest salaries earning less than £20,000 a year voted conservative last thursday. Thats a higher proportion than among families who take home more than £70,000 a year the wealthiest income bracket. And on this side of the Atlantic Steve bannon, president trumps former chief strategist claimed just today in an interview that the Republican Party has been turned into a working class party, drawing parallels with the story in britain. Joining us from westmister is guy miscampbell a Research Fellow at 0nward think tank, and here with me in the studio is lydia saad, us director of social research at gallup. Let me start with you lydia, how many parallels are there between what happened in the uk during this election especially in the north of england and labour voters and what happened here in 2016 with donald trump taking working class voters in places like wisconsin, the rust it certainly seems like a parallel, in the us what happened with the Republican Party is not so much that it has changed, but it has not changed with the country as a whole especially in some Socio Economic things like education and income. So the country as a whole has become more College Educated, the Republican Party has not and is losing those photos to democrats. Guy, the challenge for the labour party is at borisjohnson expands Public Services and limits immigration in other words adopts the policies that traditionally parties of labour have adopted in the past, what options does that leave the labour party with . the past, what options does that leave the labour party with . I think it leaves them with a very limited set of options and that is why there isa set of options and that is why there is a lot of thinking and consternation going on in the labour party now. I think the bell challenge they have is that they are split between having a lot of policy but on the one hand is about identity politics, very principled and that appears in the urban core and that appears in the urban core and then there Economic Policy does not appeal to the common sense of the working class and that is why theyve been going to the fourth on things like brexit and the conservatives have managed to appeal through being decisive and actually saying that they would respect what those people voted for and by saying that because they care about things like Public Services, crime and law and order that is a legitimate thing and order that is a legitimate thing and they will take action. Those vote rs and they will take action. Those voters are sick of being taken for granted. Guy, i had a piece one american newspaper today and it really concluded that in wisconsin democrat voters would be able to make big gains among suburban and more educated white voters but the problem is that donald trump can still prevail by electrifying the turnout in Rural Communities and getting that vote out and i wonder if that is what weve seen here in the uk, we have seen that really it is the metropolitan areas versus the periphery. I mean in the uk the electoral districts are smaller than entire states are some effects are different but one of the biggest predictors of whether or not the swing to the conservatives was large was whether or not there was a concentration of graduates. The more graduates in an area the more highly educated it is and the rest of votes. And the converse is true, the more skilled workers and more apprentices there are than the than the higher the appeal of the conservative party. So there is a dynamic going on so far and the labour party is becoming the party of the highly educated and well off graduates. And divorced from its roots and that is why the red wall fell. And lydia we are seeing some of that here in the states, where the Democratic Party were identified with urban, more higher educated areas more politically correct areas. Yet not managing to which those people feel that democrats should have stood up for them. Is it the demise of labour unions, i do not know but party on the left are not know but party on the left are no longer in the world to date representing working class voters. There are so many trends conspiring at once but of course the Republican Party is staying more white, holding on the white vote so that could offset some of the other trend is helping the democrats with more educated and liberal voters. And then the ageing of the public, the public is getting older but the Republican Party is getting elder at a much faster clip because it is not appealing to those younger and more urban and more diverse photos aged 18 to 29. Do you think when there is a crossover here in the shape of the politicians that people are asked to vote for, sell in a way politics has become so professional and we have these identikit politicians and one reason i think the labour party has gone more and university educated, is because weve had women only lists and i just wonder is because weve had women only lists and ijust wonder if is because weve had women only lists and i just wonder if that is because weve had women only lists and ijust wonder if that is what has happened in politics particularly on the left. What has happened in politics particularly on the leftlj what has happened in politics particularly on the left. I think a lot of it boils down as well to education, the more educated and liberal you are, so those groups that are not College Educated remain highly conservative and more religious, more recently we seen men a bit more in that category than women and so we are by forgetting as a population. There is political polarisation but also reflecting these other divergences. Polarisation but also reflecting these other divergenceslj polarisation but also reflecting these other divergences. I read something in the labour list today and this will not sit well if you wa nt to and this will not sit well if you want to call them with the islington set but that kind of university educated labour politician you are talking about and the person writing the article said you know when you look at the party today devotees are people who read the Sun Newspaper and they read the daily mail and they are not poor and they own their own homes and there are more middle class. So some of the m essa 9 es middle class. So some of the messagesjeremy middle class. So some of the messages Jeremy Corbyn middle class. So some of the messagesJeremy Corbyn is targeting at them are falling flat. MessagesJeremy Corbyn is targeting at them are falling flatlj messagesJeremy Corbyn is targeting at them are falling flat. I think thatis at them are falling flat. I think that is true, we just hosted an event downstairs with a bunch of mps looking at what had happened and many of them said the labour party was obsessed with things like free broadband but people in my constituency want potholes fixed. The labour party is obsessed with making a big tech giant pay such and such amount but people in my area just want good jobs and to get on with their lives and have pride in their own place. Sol with their lives and have pride in their own place. So i think there is extent to which the labour party have become kind of obsessed with abstract political policy debates and less focused on actually the needs of the people. And when expressed express does quite clearly and will not listen to it was only natural they would look elsewhere. Thank you both very much forjoining us. There is so much interesting going on on both sides of the atla ntic going on on both sides of the atlantic that incorporates issues around immigration, education, the future of work. Can borisjohnson actually delivered to those northern constituencies where there was one source constituencies where there was one source of work and another, can you do that or is the train moving towards automation in a different direction. Politicians have a lot to wrestle with at the moment, particularly the democrats and the labour party, how they reach those photos that they have relied on the past and now perhaps cannot. Those voters. Some quite extraordinary statistics to get to grips with in time for the next election. Because it is not what you expect when you look at a british election. And of course similar debates are happening in france. Tens of thousands of protestors hit the streets of france again today the latest in two weeks of demonstrations against plans to raise the age of retirement. Travel was disrupted most trains werent running, electricity was cut to thousands of homes, some domestic flights were cancelled and the eiffel tower was shut. The timing of these strikes is critical trade unions are trying to up pressure on the government ahead of the christmas holiday. They want president macron to back down from reforming the Pension System in a way that would push people to work until they are 64, instead of the current retirement age of 62. We can talk now to the journalist and commentator Anne Elisabeth moutet, whos in paris. Some fairly violent scenes tonight in paris as police tried to clear up the protest but i suppose that is to be expected in the context. What about this level, 60 44 pensions to become a pensioner, a lot of people in western europe would say we would love to retire at 64. This is true. It isa love to retire at 64. This is true. It is a combination of things to be honest because the reform has been badly sold by the president. He named a negotiated two years ago who was supposed to give a report and then start a discussion and consultation on the contents of that report and none of this was known to the public but everything was leaked and trickle down and ministries were trotted out to go and say Different Things at different times. Eventually people became fixated on the extra two years from 62 to 64. And also because unlike the uk france does not have full employment and the first to be fired from companies and people aged over 50 and then they cannot find jobs. The idea that someone aged 50 is not employable and so the idea that you would be eligible for a pension at 64 just would be eligible for a pension at 64just meant would be eligible for a pension at 64 just meant that this is would be eligible for a pension at 64just meant that this is two more yea rs of 64just meant that this is two more years of a horrible time. And that was something that had great influence on the country where people do worry about theirjobs. Influence on the country where people do worry about theirjobslj was in paris when these protests began and the Agricultural Workers we re began and the Agricultural Workers were blockading paris and causing huge amounts of trafficjams and i spoke to a couple of people on the streets and i was surprised by how much sympathy that there was, people whose commutes had been very disrupted still sympathised with the Agricultural Workers after two weeks of the strikes, what does Public Opinion look like . Public opinion is divided but in the beginning you had a feeling that Emmanuel Macron who is part of the reform wanted to do away with 42 different benefits that people had for a single pension and normally does special schemes are better than the normal national scheme. He hoped he could say to people why should you put out 52 if you are a train driver, you have a pension calculated on the last six months of your Career Centre 25 yea rs, months of your Career Centre 25 yea rs , we months of your Career Centre 25 years, we want the quality and a system. But as i said there was com plete system. But as i said there was complete confusion about what you would find in the reform and at the same time people felt there was no understanding of the terror of the job market and what that was doing to them. It took about agricultural farmers and farm are different, france is a Country Farmers and even though are now very few actual farmers in the workforce, perhaps 4x, farmers in the workforce, perhaps 4 , at the same time we feel a link to the countryside and we know that they have horrible lives. We talk about people who cannot find women to marry them because they work 70 hours a week and get up at five oclock, theres nothing to be done because a large Supermarket Chain would pay less than production costs ofa would pay less than production costs of a pig or would pay less than production costs ofa pig ora would pay less than production costs of a pig or a litre of milk. And thatis of a pig or a litre of milk. And that is a different think about the sympathy for the farmers is one thing but i think the sympathy for the general strike right now is different. With people telling the president theyre not happy. And what about the sympathy for Emmanuel Macron, he does not seem to have handled this very well and his pensions minister had a lot ofjobs on the site . Manual macron made the mistake to leave him hanging for a week thinking that things could be forced through but he ought to have been fired straightaway or told to fall on his sword and that did not happen. That is one of the many m ista kes happen. That is one of the many mistakes of this reform. And Emmanuel Macron, he won the presidency too and have years ago and he is discovering it is a difficult country and there is a feeling that he does not understand the lives of ordinary people. And he has retired early . Finally. But a week is a long time in politics and in this case i think it is irreparable. Tomorrow the house of representatives here in washington will vote to impeach donald trump. We expect he will become only the third american president to have faced such a sanction. It will forever be be attached to his record. A stain he was desperate to avoid. And yet, his Republican Party believes there is something to gain from the vote. And impeachment is certainly putting the pressure on some democrats. There are democratic members of congress who come from districts that voted for donald trump who face a tough choice tomorrow. Do they vote break party ranks and vote against impeaching the president or do they vote with the majority and alienate some of their more conservative constituents . Its a call that one democrat in michigan only resolved this week. Heres our north america editorjon sopel. 0h say does that star. In america even a bog standard town hall meeting like this one in michigan comes wrapped in the stars stripes. For the land of the free. But over the impeachment of donald trump, it is a disunited states. And the congressmen and women who will vote tomorrow on this, like Elisa Slotkin, are under acute pressure from their voters. She is a democrat who won her seat from the republicans last year in a wealthy district 30 miles north of detroit. Applause. Thank you, guys. And she was struggling to make her voice heard. Ok, so im just going to continue because ive got the microphone. Folks, these are the questions you are shouting at me, so you may want to just listen for one second to the answer. One of the hecklers is bill raodink. He has come with a group of republicans to stir things up. I spoke to him in the cafeteria afterwards. You were there calling her out. What do you think the political consequences are . Well, i think her self awareness, self perception, is very good. She said this vote may end my short lived political career. I think that is a really good self assessment. But the congresswoman says she is doing what is right. The president s attempt to strong arm ukraine to investigate joe biden went too far. When it comes to Something Like asking foreigners to intervene in getting engaged here at home, that to me requires a response. It cannot become normal. To just reach out to foreigners. I know it sounds different but there just has to be some decisions that are beyond the political calculus. And it may be that Voters Decide in 2020 they do not want me as their representative. Jingle bells, jingle bells. There are other preoccupations at this time of year, though. Like present buying and wondering who is paying the towns electricity bill. But impeachment, too. What do you think of the move to impeach him . I think it is ridiculous. Wasting all the taxpayers money. At this point, leave it to the voters. It is close enough. The economy is doing phenomenally well. He is the most corrupt man who has ever served in that office. He is exactly what the Founding Fathers intended when they came up with the idea of impeachment. He is not fit for office. He is embarrassing. America is so polarised on this, isnt it . Yes. It is all or nothing. It is going to be an interesting christmas. Forget white christmas, here in rochester they go in for a bright christmas. And the one thing that Elisa Slotkin is dreaming of is that it should be a backlash free christmas. Because it is perfectly possible that the biggest casualties of this impeachment process could be the Democratic Party itself. Jon sopel, bbc news, michigan. It is going to be a key swing state in 2020. Meanwhile here in washington the president has sent a six page letter to nancy pelosi protesting the impeachment process. He says in one paragraph by proceeding with your inbound impeachment you are violating your oath of office, breaking your allegiance to the constitution and declaring open war on american democracy yet your spiteful actions display animated content for americas Founding Fathers. He is not filled, lets put it like that. Are not thrilled. And we will have full coverage of this oak because the bbc tomorrow, the third time an american president is likely to be impeached for the but the opinion polls have not moved much during these two months of hearings. 49 improve impeaching and removing donald trump, 46 oppose the whole process. It has barely shifted from when all this began. And that is why the likes of mrs slotkin in that piece has been weighing this up all this time. We had run the programme backin this time. We had run the programme back in september in fact, she spoke to us then on the day that nancy pelosi the House Speaker began the impeachment enquiry. Have a listen. 0ne impeachment enquiry. Have a listen. One thing that has been important to me because we have to bring the country along with us, this cannot be just country along with us, this cannot bejust an country along with us, this cannot be just an insider base conversation among washington elites, we have to explain to the American People while waiting lists and what it means. We have not done a good job of that. So thatis have not done a good job of that. So that is the thing, have they done a betterjob of explaining this to the American People . This is beyond one hundred days. Still to come. Forget the glamour of television well find out why casting directors in new zealand have sent out a call for people who look a bit like this. A groundbreaking trial is underway using mri scans, which could transform screening for Prostate Cancer. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh was given exclusive access to the trial in london. Mri scanning could herald a revolution in Prostate Cancer screening. I am at londons University College hospital to have my prostate imaged. 300 men aged 50 plus will be invited here to have an mri as part of a Ground Breaking clinical trial. The prostate is a walnut sized gland which sits below the bladder. The older men get, the more likely they are to develop abnormal prostate cells, but its only those cancers which are likely to spread that need early diagnosis. The greatest advantage of the mri is that it selectively shows the more regressive and larger cancers. Those smaller cancers which we would only monitor are invisible on mri. The hope is mri could provide greater clarity. My scan and psa test were both normal, so my risk is low. But one in six men with Prostate Cancer in the uk, likejohn swain, are diagnosed once their disease has spread and is incurable. John, whos 56 and from leicestershire, was told in may and has been given another three to seven years to live. A massive shock to have Prostate Cancer. Itjust came totally out of the blue, and they can control it for a period of time through hormone treatment and chemotherapy, but i think, eventually, the cancer wins. If the mri trial is successful, it could lead to the First National Screening Programme for the most common cancer in men. Fergus walsh, bbc news