Transcripts For BBCNEWS Newsnight 20171124 : vimarsana.com

There have been attacks on Coptic Christians and the Security Forces and convoys, but never before a successful attack on a mosque in sinai. I would hesitate to be absolute about it but what is quite clear is that everyone regards this as a major escalation. For obvious reasons, if you are claiming a religious justification as the Islamic State group does, you have to be quite careful about targeting of this kind. Why it has happened, there is a whole complex set of reasons for that that come out of the tangled recent history of sinai. For years now north sinai has seen worsening balance. For years now north sinai has seen worsening violence. The fault lines are economic, tribal and religious. And it was that religious distinction for the people murdered today, those sufi muslims, those following a moderate form of religious life that led to the targeting. These guys are totally refusing any other ideology, any other thoughts, just the ices thought, the violence, the ideology, this village is inhabited by a too many sufi muslim people, they are peaceful, they are generous and that is why they are attacked. And the killers, a formal claim from the Islamic State affiliated groups is yet to be made. But they did publicise this crime, the beheading of two sufi elders a year ago who they are accused of sorcery, for failing to go along with the militants salafi ideology ofjihad against the government. President sisi tonight vowed to crush the jihadists but the Government Campaign against them in northern sinai over the past four years has done little to deal with the underlying issues. Cairos policy until now has been to look for a military solution. It has been clamping down harder on the several hundred thousand bedouin in northern sinai. It believes that through pummelling the population it can subdue them and until now, that hasnt really worked. In the aftermath of the attack today there is every chance that that sufi tribe that were targeted today may be radicalised against thejihadists. Those people from these tribes who kept themselves neutral, not taking the side of the army or getting involved with helping the army, will be on the side of the army after theres quite huge attack. Following the atrocity today, the egyptian Security Forces are pledged to escalate their operations. The stage in sinai is set for revenge and further violence. Mark, as you said, the military option has not worked in the last four years. President sisi said he would stamp it out with brute force, how will he escalate . Will he look for outside help . Hes already ordered air strikes this evening on targets associated with these groups. The way this has been handled up to now has been very much as an egyptian problem, i do not think there is anything on the ground that anyone else can do. He can say to the americans, we want more apache helicopters or precision munitions and the americans in the spirit of casting this as part of a global battle againstjihadism will go along with that. The one interesting regional actor in this who is giving slightly more than that is the israelis. Tonight, tel aviv town hall was lit up in egyptian colours as a gesture of solidarity. We can see it in that image there. Curious in a way, the two nations have a peace treaty but it has always been described as a cold peace, but it is known that israelis with drones and Agent Networks that they have long established in the bedouin tribes in the sinai have been giving some intelligence assistance to the egyptians, but thats about the limit of it as far as outsiders are concerned. Thank you. Im joined from montreal by the egyptian American Writer and commentator mona elta hawy. She writes on islam and covered the militant campaign by former egyptian president murbarak in the sinai. Also in the studio dr hisham hellyer. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and at the Royal Services institute and has written extensively about the region. Good evening to both of you. What do you make of this escalation and where the escalation was exactly the sinai . That part of sinai has long been the object of a Brutal Campaign by successive egyptian president s. Just to give you an example in 2004 under president mubarak, after attacks in south sinai, Egyptian Police arrested at least 3000 people, tortured many of them in north sinai and took women and children as hostages. We have had this awful pattern of atrocities committed in north sinai by the Security Forces and this delusion by egyptian regimes including this Statement Today by the president that this can be stamped out military. This is an unwinnable war, this is a part of egypt that has long been marginalised and neglected and Security Forces whether it is the police under president mubarak or the military under Mohamed Morsi and now president sisi has long designed the tribes there. We have to find another way of dealing with that. That has led to the ups well of the islamist insurgents, that is what you are saying . Rather than them saying we want to establish a caliphate for itself. What i think is happening there because it has been long marginalised and neglected and had all these atrocities committed against it, there is anger and resentment and in 1993 when i covered the then militant campaign against president mubarak we saw similar things happening in southern egypt. Dr hellyer, in a way the success of egyptian regimes only have themselves to blame, or is Something Else going on . I would not say they have themselves to blame, but the problems there go back many years, there are a number of different factors playing a role in this and certainly you have seen certain issues becoming exasperated in the past 5 10 years, but what we have seen recently is the new impact of isis within this particular part of the country which is why you had a group which goes back to 2010 and has then been taken up by isis. What do you make of this step change . With the attack . The attack is quite unprecedented. It is probably the largest attack by non state militant terrorists in modern history. And the fact that theyve targeted civilians in this way, i do not think anyone should underestimate that. They targeted a mosque, they targeted people they could not put into these boxes of being in the security establishment, these were just regular egyptians. In the same way that coptic egyptians are regular egyptians but they have created a narrative around that group and now that narrative has been expanded to include all egyptians. There is a state of emergency in sinai so we do not know exactly what is happening. What do you make of al sisi talking about brute force . For the past few years the Egyptian State has been waging a campaign in the sinai so brute force, i am not sure how different that will be. What do think about response . We know in the past that a military solution has failed, what do you think of president sisi saying, isis going with brute force, we will meet with more brute force, is that the only option he has got . There is no end to the brute force, he is going to continue. We have to remember that the Egyptian Military has far superior air power, weapons, ammunitions and heavy armour and yet they have not been able to quell this growing insurgency. Thats why i remind everyone of the 1990s and the militant campaign against president mubarak at the time. Those of us who care about Egyptian Security have long pleaded with successive reigimes in egypt to develop those areas. There has been a long standing Development Plan which is just ink on paperfor sinai. People need jobs and dignity and a reason to live. Im sorry to interrupt. Do you suggest if it feels like it has been marginalised and ignored and given that it is such a huge impact on egypt, can you end the state of emergency . Is there Something Different to be done in the sinai . North sinai has been under a state of emergency since 2014 and for many years it has been under a news blackout and we do not know the worst of the atrocities committed by the egyptian regime and its Security Forces. We know that egyptian jails are full of at least 60,000 Political Prisoners and the current regime calls anyone who opposes it a terrorist and thinks they can bomb its way against anyone who it defines as part of a terrorist group. That is not the solution, the solution is to give people a reason to live, to develop marginalised areas of egypt and the solution is to tell the bedouin in sinai, we respect you, you are egyptians and we can be allies. They are an influential tribe who have long been disdained by the egyptian regime and they could help people resist the influence of is. These are things that could work. Do you agree . One of the issues with this particular attack is that it is possible and these are some of the reports coming out, that this particular village was attacked precisely because people in that village were unwilling to cooperate with isis. Whether or not there was sufficient coordination between them and the Egyptian State, that is yet to be seen. That is a huge thing because the egyptian economy is suffering, tourism is suffering terribly, something has to happen. Sinai has been underdeveloped for quite some time. This is a large scale problem across the country that requires quite a multilayered set of Development Plans and i am not sure if we will see that at the moment. There is a very strong emphasis on a Security Solution and i am not convinced that particularly after today with such a brutal and really ugly tragedy that we are going to see that change any time soon. Thank you both very much indeed. Do cycling helmets save lives . And should they be compulsory . Thats a question thats going to be under consideration in a review of cycling safety being undertaken by the transport ministerjesse norman. Hes said that hed consider legislation if the evidence pointed in that direction. Immediately, many cycling campaigners announced they would strongly oppose any such move, including the olympic gold medallist chris boa rdman, who said that evidence shows that helmets do not make a significant difference to peoples safety. In fact, cycling uk said it could undermine levels of cycle use. Here are some cyclists views. I wear one. Its not really my business if anyone else wants to wear one, but i wear it. Ive been a cyclist a helluva long time, but yes, i agree, i think its the right thing to do. Do usually wear one . Yes, when im on a road bike i always wear one. Just not today. Not on the trike. Im not on a road bike, im on a trike. Do you always wear a helmet . Yes. Why . Because i dont want to die. Thats not a bad idea. I think we should do that, yes. But not for you . I wasnt planning to take on this bike today. Its a shortjourney. But usually you wear a helmet . I do. Absolutely i do. Thank you. So why the resistance to something that on the face of it seems like a no brainer . Im joined now by peter mccabe chief executive, of the Charity Headway and Green Party London Assembly Member caroline russell. Caroline, do you wear a bike helmet . No, i dont. I cycle from islington to city hall every day and i cycle in a fairly mellow way. What about the traffic . I worry about the traffic enormously, but there is just as much risk of having a head injury as a pedestrian on the pavement as there is while riding a bike. Its really important that people ride their bikes in ordinary everyday clothes when they are getting around. Not even high visibility . I dont wear hi vis, no, i have good bike lights, but i wear ordinary clothes and i hope people can see me. You have lights . Yes, and i use them during the day as well as at night. You have them on in the day because you are worried about people crashing into you . The number of people who have crashes and get injured, wearing helmets, who dont have head injuries. A cycle helmet when protect you from most crashes which happen to you. Is that the case . Its not. We have a close relationship with survivors of a brain injury and their families and ive met many cyclists and families who have had a loved one who has had an accident on a bicycle and i know a family well, young lad, ten years old, asked if he could go to his friends after school, went on a bike and his parents received a call saying we are about to airlift your son to hospital, if you can get here on time, we will bring you, but if not, we are going to try and save his life. That is the reality. You hear of big accidents, lorries going into cyclists, and in those circumstances, presumably at least having a helmet would save some of those injuries . In a crash with a lorry, a plastic helmet on your head is not going to help you, it will help you in a low speed collision, where you are riding your bike any come across ice and you are skidding and you come off and you hit the curb, then a helmet might help you. The majority of accidents are that kind. The collisions where someone. Where you are hit by a lorry, where your leg is run over, helmet is not going to make a blind bit of difference. It is personal freedom, and actually, there is an argument to say that if you insist people where bike helmets you will have fewer people cycling. That is not the case. Where it has been introduced, the compulsory wearing of helmets, in australia, in the united states, there are many states which have compulsion for children to wear cycle helmets, but you asked, is there evidence, there is plenty of evidence from transport Research Laboratories that people wearing helmets are at less risk of sustaining injury. If that is the case, why have successive reviews always, with evidence in both directions, of course, but why has it never been straightforward . It seems to be straightforward, you wear a seat belt in a car, but there has never been anything which says if you wear a helmet it makes you safer. The highway code advises you to wear a helmet when you are on a bike, there is evidence and i think it is overwhelming. What about your children . Do they wear helmets . They did when they were riding on the road, but if they were riding round the park, no, i would not get them to wear a helmet to climb a climbing frame. Sometimes in some cities, you have cycle superhighways and you are entirely separate, that is one thing, but in many towns and cities, especially in rush hour, i have seen people being clipped so many times. The thing is, we have got to cut the danger at source, getting people who are riding bikes to put a helmet on their head is not going to reduce the danger that they are exposed to, the thing we should do. It is like the rail industry, they took a systemic approach to cutting risk and we should be doing the same, addressing things like speed of vehicles and bad behaviour by people who are driving, talking on the mobile phone, not concentrating on causing crashes. Is it about feeling free, the winner going is it about feeling free, the wind going through your hair . It is about getting on a bike, the same as getting on your feet. But it is an engine of some sort. A mechanical thing, going faster than walking. But not very much faster. I walk quite fast, cycle slowly. But what we should be doing, if we want to save lives and stop these crashes we should make sure we fill in the potholes and make sure drivers behave properly. Rather than focusing on a plastic hat. I want to do all of that, and the cycling is great and it improves Peoples Health and improves the environment and that is what we should be encouraging, but it is not a question of either or, why cant you wear a helmet and have cycle lanes and have the safety that you would like but avoid a child of three that i met, fell off her barbie bike, how far is that . Banged the side of her head, when i met her at the age of 19 she had had 13 operations. That cost should not be burdened onto the nhs when it is avoidable. We are talking about lots of different costs to the nhs. We have a whole society that is physically inactive, we need to get more people riding bikes. It is not an either or argument. If this review comes out and the department of transport, the minister says, 0k, the evidence is overwhelming, im going to insist that people wear helmets, are you telling me that people will get off their bikes . No. I think there would be mass infuriation about this because it is focusing on one small thing that makes a small difference in some crashes. Didnt people say that about seatbelts . It wont make people safer, which is what we should be doing. You would defy the law . I will fight very hard to make sure it doesnt become the law. Thanks forjoining us. Even if you have no interest in football, the chances are that you registered the imperious gallic presence of eric cantona when he was a giant of our national game. The frenchman helped Manchester United to win four premier League Titles in five seasons and went a long way to transforming the club and the league into the huge brands they are today. Part of cantonas appeal was that he always seemed to have more to say than his fellow players, who were either over the moon or gutted for the lads. By contrast, cantona marked his return to football after an infamous foul with a gnomic reference to seagulls, trawlers and sardines. Since hanging up his no 7 shirt, cantona has made films and adverts, and written poetry, and his latest venture is a notebook of his pensees and sketches. We sent perpetual bench warmer Stephen Smith to meet him. 0k cest bon cest tres bon. Commentator james gets there just first. Cantona to Manchester United fans, he was the king, but its more than 20 years since he abdicated. At the tender age ofjust 30. Whats eric cantona been doing with his time . I sit on the terrace and i look at the people. And i take all the energy and it inspires me for Coptic Christians<\/a> and the Security Forces<\/a> and convoys, but never before a successful attack on a mosque in sinai. I would hesitate to be absolute about it but what is quite clear is that everyone regards this as a major escalation. For obvious reasons, if you are claiming a religious justification as the Islamic State<\/a> group does, you have to be quite careful about targeting of this kind. Why it has happened, there is a whole complex set of reasons for that that come out of the tangled recent history of sinai. For years now north sinai has seen worsening balance. For years now north sinai has seen worsening violence. The fault lines are economic, tribal and religious. And it was that religious distinction for the people murdered today, those sufi muslims, those following a moderate form of religious life that led to the targeting. These guys are totally refusing any other ideology, any other thoughts, just the ices thought, the violence, the ideology, this village is inhabited by a too many sufi muslim people, they are peaceful, they are generous and that is why they are attacked. And the killers, a formal claim from the Islamic State<\/a> affiliated groups is yet to be made. But they did publicise this crime, the beheading of two sufi elders a year ago who they are accused of sorcery, for failing to go along with the militants salafi ideology ofjihad against the government. President sisi tonight vowed to crush the jihadists but the Government Campaign<\/a> against them in northern sinai over the past four years has done little to deal with the underlying issues. Cairos policy until now has been to look for a military solution. It has been clamping down harder on the several hundred thousand bedouin in northern sinai. It believes that through pummelling the population it can subdue them and until now, that hasnt really worked. In the aftermath of the attack today there is every chance that that sufi tribe that were targeted today may be radicalised against thejihadists. Those people from these tribes who kept themselves neutral, not taking the side of the army or getting involved with helping the army, will be on the side of the army after theres quite huge attack. Following the atrocity today, the egyptian Security Forces<\/a> are pledged to escalate their operations. The stage in sinai is set for revenge and further violence. Mark, as you said, the military option has not worked in the last four years. President sisi said he would stamp it out with brute force, how will he escalate . Will he look for outside help . Hes already ordered air strikes this evening on targets associated with these groups. The way this has been handled up to now has been very much as an egyptian problem, i do not think there is anything on the ground that anyone else can do. He can say to the americans, we want more apache helicopters or precision munitions and the americans in the spirit of casting this as part of a global battle againstjihadism will go along with that. The one interesting regional actor in this who is giving slightly more than that is the israelis. Tonight, tel aviv town hall was lit up in egyptian colours as a gesture of solidarity. We can see it in that image there. Curious in a way, the two nations have a peace treaty but it has always been described as a cold peace, but it is known that israelis with drones and Agent Networks<\/a> that they have long established in the bedouin tribes in the sinai have been giving some intelligence assistance to the egyptians, but thats about the limit of it as far as outsiders are concerned. Thank you. Im joined from montreal by the egyptian American Writer<\/a> and commentator mona elta hawy. She writes on islam and covered the militant campaign by former egyptian president murbarak in the sinai. Also in the studio dr hisham hellyer. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council<\/a> and at the Royal Services<\/a> institute and has written extensively about the region. Good evening to both of you. What do you make of this escalation and where the escalation was exactly the sinai . That part of sinai has long been the object of a Brutal Campaign<\/a> by successive egyptian president s. Just to give you an example in 2004 under president mubarak, after attacks in south sinai, Egyptian Police<\/a> arrested at least 3000 people, tortured many of them in north sinai and took women and children as hostages. We have had this awful pattern of atrocities committed in north sinai by the Security Forces<\/a> and this delusion by egyptian regimes including this Statement Today<\/a> by the president that this can be stamped out military. This is an unwinnable war, this is a part of egypt that has long been marginalised and neglected and Security Forces<\/a> whether it is the police under president mubarak or the military under Mohamed Morsi<\/a> and now president sisi has long designed the tribes there. We have to find another way of dealing with that. That has led to the ups well of the islamist insurgents, that is what you are saying . Rather than them saying we want to establish a caliphate for itself. What i think is happening there because it has been long marginalised and neglected and had all these atrocities committed against it, there is anger and resentment and in 1993 when i covered the then militant campaign against president mubarak we saw similar things happening in southern egypt. Dr hellyer, in a way the success of egyptian regimes only have themselves to blame, or is Something Else<\/a> going on . I would not say they have themselves to blame, but the problems there go back many years, there are a number of different factors playing a role in this and certainly you have seen certain issues becoming exasperated in the past 5 10 years, but what we have seen recently is the new impact of isis within this particular part of the country which is why you had a group which goes back to 2010 and has then been taken up by isis. What do you make of this step change . With the attack . The attack is quite unprecedented. It is probably the largest attack by non state militant terrorists in modern history. And the fact that theyve targeted civilians in this way, i do not think anyone should underestimate that. They targeted a mosque, they targeted people they could not put into these boxes of being in the security establishment, these were just regular egyptians. In the same way that coptic egyptians are regular egyptians but they have created a narrative around that group and now that narrative has been expanded to include all egyptians. There is a state of emergency in sinai so we do not know exactly what is happening. What do you make of al sisi talking about brute force . For the past few years the Egyptian State<\/a> has been waging a campaign in the sinai so brute force, i am not sure how different that will be. What do think about response . We know in the past that a military solution has failed, what do you think of president sisi saying, isis going with brute force, we will meet with more brute force, is that the only option he has got . There is no end to the brute force, he is going to continue. We have to remember that the Egyptian Military<\/a> has far superior air power, weapons, ammunitions and heavy armour and yet they have not been able to quell this growing insurgency. Thats why i remind everyone of the 1990s and the militant campaign against president mubarak at the time. Those of us who care about Egyptian Security<\/a> have long pleaded with successive reigimes in egypt to develop those areas. There has been a long standing Development Plan<\/a> which is just ink on paperfor sinai. People need jobs and dignity and a reason to live. Im sorry to interrupt. Do you suggest if it feels like it has been marginalised and ignored and given that it is such a huge impact on egypt, can you end the state of emergency . Is there Something Different<\/a> to be done in the sinai . North sinai has been under a state of emergency since 2014 and for many years it has been under a news blackout and we do not know the worst of the atrocities committed by the egyptian regime and its Security Forces<\/a>. We know that egyptian jails are full of at least 60,000 Political Prisoners<\/a> and the current regime calls anyone who opposes it a terrorist and thinks they can bomb its way against anyone who it defines as part of a terrorist group. That is not the solution, the solution is to give people a reason to live, to develop marginalised areas of egypt and the solution is to tell the bedouin in sinai, we respect you, you are egyptians and we can be allies. They are an influential tribe who have long been disdained by the egyptian regime and they could help people resist the influence of is. These are things that could work. Do you agree . One of the issues with this particular attack is that it is possible and these are some of the reports coming out, that this particular village was attacked precisely because people in that village were unwilling to cooperate with isis. Whether or not there was sufficient coordination between them and the Egyptian State<\/a>, that is yet to be seen. That is a huge thing because the egyptian economy is suffering, tourism is suffering terribly, something has to happen. Sinai has been underdeveloped for quite some time. This is a large scale problem across the country that requires quite a multilayered set of Development Plan<\/a>s and i am not sure if we will see that at the moment. There is a very strong emphasis on a Security Solution<\/a> and i am not convinced that particularly after today with such a brutal and really ugly tragedy that we are going to see that change any time soon. Thank you both very much indeed. Do cycling helmets save lives . And should they be compulsory . Thats a question thats going to be under consideration in a review of cycling safety being undertaken by the transport ministerjesse norman. Hes said that hed consider legislation if the evidence pointed in that direction. Immediately, many cycling campaigners announced they would strongly oppose any such move, including the olympic gold medallist chris boa rdman, who said that evidence shows that helmets do not make a significant difference to peoples safety. In fact, cycling uk said it could undermine levels of cycle use. Here are some cyclists views. I wear one. Its not really my business if anyone else wants to wear one, but i wear it. Ive been a cyclist a helluva long time, but yes, i agree, i think its the right thing to do. Do usually wear one . Yes, when im on a road bike i always wear one. Just not today. Not on the trike. Im not on a road bike, im on a trike. Do you always wear a helmet . Yes. Why . Because i dont want to die. Thats not a bad idea. I think we should do that, yes. But not for you . I wasnt planning to take on this bike today. Its a shortjourney. But usually you wear a helmet . I do. Absolutely i do. Thank you. So why the resistance to something that on the face of it seems like a no brainer . Im joined now by peter mccabe chief executive, of the Charity Headway<\/a> and Green Party London<\/a> Assembly Member<\/a> caroline russell. Caroline, do you wear a bike helmet . No, i dont. I cycle from islington to city hall every day and i cycle in a fairly mellow way. What about the traffic . I worry about the traffic enormously, but there is just as much risk of having a head injury as a pedestrian on the pavement as there is while riding a bike. Its really important that people ride their bikes in ordinary everyday clothes when they are getting around. Not even high visibility . I dont wear hi vis, no, i have good bike lights, but i wear ordinary clothes and i hope people can see me. You have lights . Yes, and i use them during the day as well as at night. You have them on in the day because you are worried about people crashing into you . The number of people who have crashes and get injured, wearing helmets, who dont have head injuries. A cycle helmet when protect you from most crashes which happen to you. Is that the case . Its not. We have a close relationship with survivors of a brain injury and their families and ive met many cyclists and families who have had a loved one who has had an accident on a bicycle and i know a family well, young lad, ten years old, asked if he could go to his friends after school, went on a bike and his parents received a call saying we are about to airlift your son to hospital, if you can get here on time, we will bring you, but if not, we are going to try and save his life. That is the reality. You hear of big accidents, lorries going into cyclists, and in those circumstances, presumably at least having a helmet would save some of those injuries . In a crash with a lorry, a plastic helmet on your head is not going to help you, it will help you in a low speed collision, where you are riding your bike any come across ice and you are skidding and you come off and you hit the curb, then a helmet might help you. The majority of accidents are that kind. The collisions where someone. Where you are hit by a lorry, where your leg is run over, helmet is not going to make a blind bit of difference. It is personal freedom, and actually, there is an argument to say that if you insist people where bike helmets you will have fewer people cycling. That is not the case. Where it has been introduced, the compulsory wearing of helmets, in australia, in the united states, there are many states which have compulsion for children to wear cycle helmets, but you asked, is there evidence, there is plenty of evidence from transport Research Laboratories<\/a> that people wearing helmets are at less risk of sustaining injury. If that is the case, why have successive reviews always, with evidence in both directions, of course, but why has it never been straightforward . It seems to be straightforward, you wear a seat belt in a car, but there has never been anything which says if you wear a helmet it makes you safer. The highway code advises you to wear a helmet when you are on a bike, there is evidence and i think it is overwhelming. What about your children . Do they wear helmets . They did when they were riding on the road, but if they were riding round the park, no, i would not get them to wear a helmet to climb a climbing frame. Sometimes in some cities, you have cycle superhighways and you are entirely separate, that is one thing, but in many towns and cities, especially in rush hour, i have seen people being clipped so many times. The thing is, we have got to cut the danger at source, getting people who are riding bikes to put a helmet on their head is not going to reduce the danger that they are exposed to, the thing we should do. It is like the rail industry, they took a systemic approach to cutting risk and we should be doing the same, addressing things like speed of vehicles and bad behaviour by people who are driving, talking on the mobile phone, not concentrating on causing crashes. Is it about feeling free, the winner going is it about feeling free, the wind going through your hair . It is about getting on a bike, the same as getting on your feet. But it is an engine of some sort. A mechanical thing, going faster than walking. But not very much faster. I walk quite fast, cycle slowly. But what we should be doing, if we want to save lives and stop these crashes we should make sure we fill in the potholes and make sure drivers behave properly. Rather than focusing on a plastic hat. I want to do all of that, and the cycling is great and it improves Peoples Health<\/a> and improves the environment and that is what we should be encouraging, but it is not a question of either or, why cant you wear a helmet and have cycle lanes and have the safety that you would like but avoid a child of three that i met, fell off her barbie bike, how far is that . Banged the side of her head, when i met her at the age of 19 she had had 13 operations. That cost should not be burdened onto the nhs when it is avoidable. We are talking about lots of different costs to the nhs. We have a whole society that is physically inactive, we need to get more people riding bikes. It is not an either or argument. If this review comes out and the department of transport, the minister says, 0k, the evidence is overwhelming, im going to insist that people wear helmets, are you telling me that people will get off their bikes . No. I think there would be mass infuriation about this because it is focusing on one small thing that makes a small difference in some crashes. Didnt people say that about seatbelts . It wont make people safer, which is what we should be doing. You would defy the law . I will fight very hard to make sure it doesnt become the law. Thanks forjoining us. Even if you have no interest in football, the chances are that you registered the imperious gallic presence of eric cantona when he was a giant of our national game. The frenchman helped Manchester United<\/a> to win four premier League Titles<\/a> in five seasons and went a long way to transforming the club and the league into the huge brands they are today. Part of cantonas appeal was that he always seemed to have more to say than his fellow players, who were either over the moon or gutted for the lads. By contrast, cantona marked his return to football after an infamous foul with a gnomic reference to seagulls, trawlers and sardines. Since hanging up his no 7 shirt, cantona has made films and adverts, and written poetry, and his latest venture is a notebook of his pensees and sketches. We sent perpetual bench warmer Stephen Smith<\/a> to meet him. 0k cest bon cest tres bon. Commentator james gets there just first. Cantona to Manchester United<\/a> fans, he was the king, but its more than 20 years since he abdicated. At the tender age ofjust 30. Whats eric cantona been doing with his time . I sit on the terrace and i look at the people. And i take all the energy and it inspires me for Something Else<\/a>. 0r painting or writing. If i dont do that, i dont feel alive. Ijust die. I dont say im happy to do it. Ijust need to feel alive. To feel a fire inside of me, something fill me. Ca ntona keeps notebooks and fills them with his enigmatic words and doodles. This one, walking your ego. A few days ago i realised, normally they have ends along their legs. His legs, hes like measuring his sex. This one. Yeah, yeah. And i speak about the ego. The subconscious tells a lot of things. Very freudian, maybe. Very freudian, yeah. Non, rien de rien non, je ne Regrette Rien<\/a>. Cantona says he quit football when he felt his passion for the game beginning to dim. Could you see yourself playing forjose mourinho, you know, if you were a younger man . Would you like to play for him, his Manchester United<\/a> . If you play for mourinho, you will sure win something. Do you like his style . I dont really like the defensive style, not his style, its more defensive. When you see him and you see guardiola, which is the opposite. Its like a0 years ago, 30 years ago, when we saw some wonderful tennis game between mcenroe and bjorn borg. How do you think england might do at the world cup next year . Englands england. They have good players, very good players. But me, if i was the manager of england, i would not take the team a month before. Because ive seen english players in england, just meet a few hours before the game and go on the pitch and give 100 . And if they spend too much time together before the world cup, they feel. They start to be bored and they want to go back home early. Me, if im managing england, itake the team, i take the best player, and we meetjust a few hours before, or maybe the day before the game. And im sure england will do much much better. Cantonas notorious for a karate kick he aimed at a fan, matthew simmons, at crystal palace, after coming in for abuse. How do you look back on that now . I love it. You still love it . Yeah. I love it and i dont regret. Phone rings this is simmons, no . Do you regret this in any way, because there is this view that footballers are role models for young people. Yes, but im not a role model. I always say that. Im not an example. Even today, im not an example. I never wanted to be an example. I am just a human being with emotions. The frenchman returned to football after a ten month ban and a spell of community service. What he said next became one of the most famous quotes in the game. The lawyer from the club. Because a lot ofjournalists waiting for something. And why do i have to Say Something<\/a> . He said, yeah, you have to Say Something<\/a>. So, ok, i will Say Something<\/a>. Just Say Something<\/a> that comes to my mind. When the seagulls. Follow the trawler, its because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you. Laughter at the end of the day it was better than if i was to speak. We still speak about it today. I had to work hard, you know, dig deep inside. I needed something to fill me up when i was on my own, something to aim for, you know. Its funny, innit. Sometimes you forget that youre just a man. Im not a man. Iam cantona. Ca ntona played himself in ken loachs film looking for eric offering Life Coaching<\/a> to a depressed postie and united fan. Where does your confidence come from . You seem to have an extraordinary self belief in yourself. No. I need to fill the cage. You need to . I need to fill in the cage, in this room, kind of escape, you know. And then i will find a way to escape. And the feeling of freedom is unbelievable. And then i come back in the cage. To have this feeling, you know, for freedom. Its wonderful. But im not confident. Ijust do it because if i dont do it i die. Non, je ne Regrette Rien<\/a> cantonas notebook will surely appear in the christmas stockings of united fans. Beyond that, who knows . One thing is for sure, king eric will remain characteristically philosophical. If you put everything in the balance, you know, i think i did more good things than bad things. But when its good, its good, huh . Yes. And when its bad, its bad. Eric cantona. That is nearly it for tonight. But before we go. Coca cola, the big mac and baseball caps theres no doubt america has enriched our culture but when it comes to black friday weve got some catching up to do. Were back on cyber monday. Goodnight. Were shopping were shopping. Good morning. Good evening and a warm welcome to sportsday with me, john watson. A captains innings from steven smith, can England Strike<\/a> early heading into the third day in brisbane . 0ne captain to another, steph horton makes it two wins from two for englands women in world cup qualifying. And silverware of a very different kind for the former footballer michael owen in his first taste in the saddle","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia802201.us.archive.org\/18\/items\/BBCNEWS_20171124_231500_Newsnight\/BBCNEWS_20171124_231500_Newsnight.thumbs\/BBCNEWS_20171124_231500_Newsnight_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240630T12:35:10+00:00"}