There were two reasons, really. One, because it was a lengthy interview, and i do think a large number of the short interviews i see merely produce sound bite answers they don t really inform the public. And secondly though i probably shouldn t say this it s 65 years since ijoined the conservative party. I was, am, and always will be a conservative. But for in recent months a little longer than a few months there s not been a great deal i could say that i would wish to say in favour of what the previous government were doing. With that being so, i thought it betterjust stay off the air. Now, of course, the election s behind us, the party s looking again to the future and i can i can return to speaking out, hopefully in favour. Well, there s a lot to get into. Let s start with where we are as a country the country that you led for seven years. You used to say vocally, publicly that you dreamt of a nation at ease with itself. Has your dream come true? emphatically not
Start of the gaza war and we will bring you more information on both stories as that comes into us but turning back to lebanon because early in the day israel carried out air raids against what it called hezbollah s intelligence headquarters in southern beirut. Our middle east correspondence sent us this report. Another night in beirut and more israeli air strikes. War returns to this city. And this attack came with no warning. We went to inspect the damage. A residential building near the lebanese parliament. Beirut appears increasingly under threat. This is where an emergency response group linked to hezbollah operated, now gone. There were just emergency service workers. This is the truth. We only saw them helping people out, says mustafa, who lives on the tenth floor of the building hit. The damage in this building gives you a sense of the power of this attack, and they ve been cleaning up the rubble here, but we can still see some surgical masks and gloves and bandages as well. An
As chaos, with ambulances rushing to the scene through roads packed with people trying to flee. Our correspondent hugo bachega has the latest from beirut. Explosions scenes of war in beirut. Hezbollah s conflict with israel returning to its stronghold of dahieh, with a series of massive explosions and an escalation with unpredictable consequences. Explosion. An attack so powerful that it was seen and heard across the city. Lebanon now on the brink of another war. Chaos on the streets and here is what they are running from. Dahieh, in southern beirut, now looking like gaza. But amid so much destruction, jubilation. Two children rescued from the rubble alive. Hezbollah s backers, iran, say this strike marks a dangerous game changing escalation in the conflict. For israel, it s a strike targeting the heart of hezbollah s operations. Moments ago, the israel defense forces carried out a precise strike on the central headquarter of the hezbollah terror organisation that serves as the epice
A large number of the short interviews i see merely produce sound bite answers they don t really inform the public. And secondly though i probably shouldn t say this it s 65 years since ijoined the conservative party. I was, am, and always will be a conservative. But for in recent months a little longer than a few months there s not been a great deal i could say that i would wish to say in favour of what the previous government were doing. With that being so, i thought it betterjust stay off the air. Now, of course, the election s behind us, the party s looking again to the future and i can i can return to speaking out, hopefully in favour. Well, there s a lot to get into. Let s start with where we are as a country the country that you led for seven years. You used to say vocally, publicly that you dreamt of a nation at ease with itself. Has your dream come true? emphatically not indeed, quite the reverse at the moment. Wherever you look notjust in our country t
lots more on that on our website. now on bbc news, political thinking with nick robinson. hello and welcome to political thinking, a conversation with rather than an interrogation of someone who shapes our political thinking. this week, i ve been down to downing street to number 11 to speak to the chancellor, jeremy hunt, who s preparing his budget. he wanted to tell tory mps not to get ahead of themselves about the taxes that he could cut, but also to have a go at those who are saying he shouldn t cut taxes at all. all those organisations with acronyms the imf, the obr, the ifs. here now is my conversation with the chancellor. well, chancellor, thank you for having us here inside number 11 and a rather grand dining room. yes, welcome, nick, it s great to see you here. we re in 11 downing street, this is your office here, you host meetings and dinners in this particular room, but it is also your home what is it like living above the shop? well, the first thing is that i n