Browse content similar to 31/08/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Anyone hoping for a better grade in their GCSE English this summer, | :00:13. | :00:17. | |
tough, you are stuck with your result, even though we know, six | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
months before you would have had an easier ride. The exam regulators | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
agree GCSEs were marked less generously than in January. They | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
are not about to do anything to placate students or teachers. | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
make as mock reeft league tables, they are meaningless, unless you | :00:34. | :00:43. | |
know when schools entered their students for GCSE. The Chief | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
Regulator at Ofqual will explain why it is OK for some students to | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
get lucky. The man who decided to fight his | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
domestic feud in front of a judge. Too bad she didn't see her way. | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
Today she tried to rewrite Russian history, it is not allowed by an | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
English judge in a court. Debate whether the English courts got it | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
wrong. Why is London the place for legal battles, entirely about | :01:08. | :01:16. | |
Russia. The exam regulator has dashed hopes | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
that English GCSEs from this summer might be revisited, despite a huge | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
outcry over thousands of students in England who did worse than | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
expected. Ofqual admitted today that June's exams were marked more | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
harshly than the same exam taken in January. But said today, that's | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
life, the January candidates got a lucky break. The problem is, | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
thousands of 16-year-olds are seeing their plans for the future | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
thrown into the balance. And are wishing they were in the small | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
percentage of those who had gone into the exams six months earlier. | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
In the row over GCSE grading, today was the turn of the exam regulator | :01:57. | :02:03. | |
to offer its submission. And answer question 1, what, if anything had | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
gone wrong? The job we have to do is to make sure that standards are | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
maintained and standards are right. We know that was the case in June, | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
we can see that in January there was a level of generosity, a very | :02:15. | :02:23. | |
small number of students there got a lucky break. No lucky break at | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
Burlington Danes, one of the education secretary's favourite | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
academies. Student took the exam in June, the school's senior teachers | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
saw the number of those getting five good GCSEs fall from 75% last | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
year to 64%. I'm not in a position to judge whether the grade | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
boundaries were too generous in January. All I know is it is not | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
fair. I felt sick, actually, when I got the results. I was so shocked | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
on the day the English results came in, I can really remember my | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
feeling on that day, when we just, when D after D after D came out on | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
the results. I couldn't believe it. We were in a total state of shock. | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
For the first time, since 1988, the percentage of pupils getting A*-C | :03:12. | :03:20. | |
in English language fell from 65.4% to 63.9% this summer. This year's | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
English GCSE was a new exam, part marked in schools, part by Exam | :03:25. | :03:32. | |
Boards. In March it emerged to get a C grade on the AQA foundation | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
paper, that some students sat in January, required 43 mark, teachers | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
worked on this basis, last week we learned that boundary had shifted | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
for the June exams, up to 53 marks, and boundaries were raised for | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
course work too, and other boards. We are happy with grade boundaries | :03:51. | :03:53. | |
changing between years, but not within the same year. I think | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
that's been the issue. It's been particularly with the control | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
assessments, or the work done in school, where a piece of work is | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
worth a C in January, and a D in June. That is where it seems | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
completely unfair. That's for exactly the same piece of work? | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
It is important to be clear that, as a school, we want to raise | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
standards, and we want exams to become more difficult, more | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
rigorous exam criteria, we strive for students to do better and | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
better. However, it just feels that you're differentiating between a | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
point of entry, if a child was entered in January, as many schools | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
did early entry, they will achieve better grades than students entered | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
at the end of the year. Because Ofqual wants to end grade inflation, | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
it said exam results, or outcomes, must be comparable with those of | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
previous years. That's hard to do with a new partly modular test, | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
where students have done some assessments in spring, and got | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
those grades, and then done a final exam. The whole comparable outcomes | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
approach is based on, essentially, rationing the number of top grades. | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
And you can only do that once you see the full picture of every | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
candidate's performance. And the problem is, with a modular system, | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
you don't see all that until the end, but you have already awarded | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
some of the grades on the way. So, I think it is pretty hard to do | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
that without some kind of adjustment like what we have seen, | :05:21. | :05:27. | |
you would hope it wouldn't be quite on the scale we have seen, but I | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
don't think it's really credible that you can get rid of it all | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
together. If you are a victim of this adjustment, it is hard to | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
understand. It is pretty clear that it is not us that's really the | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
problem. It is mainly because they have suddenly changed the grade | :05:45. | :05:52. | |
boundaries and marked us down. Someone could have missed a C by | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
one mark. Like you? Yes, but someone who did it in January could | :05:56. | :06:04. | |
have got a C by one mark, but they got the same marks as me. Ofqual's | :06:04. | :06:13. | |
deseffectively rewards schools that put pupils in early to -- Ofqual's | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
deseffectively rewards schools that put pupils in early for exams. | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
Ironically Michael Gove says he wants this to end, he wants all | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
students sitting an exam in summer. There is a basic issue of fairness | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
here, that calls into question the credibility of the way the system | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
is being run. It cannot be right you will have two students with | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
similar quality of work, one of who's work is put in January and | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
they get a C, another who puts it in the summer and they get a D. | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
This effects life chances, and the ability to go on to college and | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
sixth form. It makes comparisons between schools much less | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
meaningful than they normally are. Schools are judged on different | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
sets of grade boundaries. It makes a mockery of the league tables? | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
does. They become meaningless, you know when a school entered children | :07:06. | :07:12. | |
for GCSE in English. Ofqual is offering resits. Head teachers are | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
furious, and the inquiry is offer, and still threatening legal action. | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
In our Birmingham studio know is the Chief Regulator of Ofqual | :07:22. | :07:30. | |
Glenys Stacey. Why is it, whose job -- someone whose job it is to look | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
at standards, has described today as students getting a lucky break? | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
The concerns have been expressed quickly from schools and colleges. | :07:39. | :07:45. | |
There are a good number of units or moduals now underpinning GCSEs. We | :07:45. | :07:52. | |
have managed to pin it down to a handful of units, some in January | :07:52. | :07:59. | |
and some in June. We have looked closely at the grade boundary | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
settings in all of the exam boards, and looked at the professional | :08:02. | :08:09. | |
judgment of the examers there, and we can examiners in June, and we | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
can see when most sat the papers, the material was sound, examiners | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
were able to use the material to set the judgment, and they were | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
able to use a lot of data and information to make sure their | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
judgments were right. The point is the comparison between the marking | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
and the results in June, and in January. How is it acceptable that | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
luck played a part in a system in a country like our's? If I can come | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
to that. When these units were first sat in January, first of all, | :08:37. | :08:44. | |
very few students sat them. If we look at AQA, the biggest provider | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
for English, only 2 out of every 100 students sat them in January. | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
What you had there, were professional examiners, looking at | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
the material, they had precious little to go on. They were new | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
qualifications as well. So they were setting standards without | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
really a past history to go on. And we know, having spoken with the | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
expert, that is particularly difficult in English. I'm sure you | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
can find all sorts of reasons that all of this has happened, but the | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
fact of the matter, you accept the system you preside over is not fair | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
system. It has not been fair to all 16-year-olds who sat GCSE English | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
this year? Our job as a regulator is to make sure standards are right. | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
We don't just have to do it for this year. Is it a fair system for | :09:29. | :09:33. | |
everyone who sat the exam this year? We have to do it for all the | :09:33. | :09:35. | |
years. We have to make sure standards are right overall. We | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
have done that. Is it fair to everyone who sat the exam this year, | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
simple yes or no? It is as fair as it can be. If I can say that some | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
solutions are on the way. We have spoken about the complexity about | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
it, and moderate approaches. We are moving away from that. We are | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
moving to linear examinations and assessments from now on. Would you | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
like to apologise to those who sat the exam in June, and were marked | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
more harshly than counterparts six months earlier? What I would like | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
to say to those who sat the exams in June, is we have looked very | :10:10. | :10:12. | |
closely to see if there is anything wrong with your grades, and there | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
isn't. The grades are right. But, nevertheless, we think that you | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
have expierenceed quite a so the of anxiety and uncertainty, we don't | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
think that is right. We are very pleased that exam boards are | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
offering you the opportunity to resit should you wish to do so. | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
would like to apologise to them? would certainly say things could | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
have gone better for them, and they haven't been helped by the | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
complexity of the system, and also by the expectations that have been | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
set for them. They have been unlucky, then. Luck has been an | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
unfortunate part of a system that actually should be about fairness | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
right across the board? They have had proper grades awarded in June. | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
The people that were lucky were the precious few, if you like, who took | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
these units in January. So, if the ones in June, if their results are | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
correct, and if you standby those results, then if you look at the | :11:04. | :11:11. | |
fact it is the first fall in 24 years of GCSE, then those summer | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
GCSE candidates were less intelligent than any of those in | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
the previous 24 years? No, they are not. What has happened is until | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
this time, we used to have two English qualifications, there was a | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
change a couple of years ago, it is the first time the exams have come | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
to full fruition, they are completely different now, there are | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
three qualifications. The qualification has changed and the | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
candidates have changed. Some have gone to i-gcse, for example, the | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
examiners are trying to make sure the same standard is maintained | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
through change. There is a really important point for the future. | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
That when qualifications change, like this, it is very, very | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
difficult for examiners to keep standards maintained. Again, we go | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
back to this rather unfortunate situation, then, the ones this | :11:59. | :12:05. | |
summer were unlucky, that happen to be summer GCSE students in 2012? | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
is not that they were unlucky. They had been studying these | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
qualifications for two years, they came out with the right grades. The | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
issue is the way the system work when a few candidates only took the | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
units earlier, it was very difficult to get the standards | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
right. It looks like they were right at the time when the | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
professional examiners were doing it. This story isn't over, are you | :12:28. | :12:30. | |
preparing for legal action, that is the threat talked about in a | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
concrete way today? I have heard that. Of course, if that is going | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
to happen, it is going to happen. What I will say, again, we do have | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
to maintain standards for last year, this year, next year and so on. We | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
really can't waver or change, because a few students got lucky in | :12:48. | :12:55. | |
January. Thank you very much. We have the | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
master of Wellington college, and the principle of George Green | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
Comprehensive skal school, in East London. | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
What do you think of Glenys Stacey's explanation? I'm appalled, | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
I'm absolutely furious. As indeed are hundreds of head teachers up | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
and down the country. This is really not going toened here. There | :13:14. | :13:20. | |
will be legal Chancellor -- to end here. There will be legal | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
challenges. This is a human story, we have youngsters, those at the C- | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
D bordeline, those in disadvantaged communities, who have suffered here. | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
Their whole life chances. Luck has nothing to do with it, this has | :13:33. | :13:43. | |
:13:43. | :13:45. | ||
nothing to do with standards, it is about making things fit. These are | :13:45. | :13:50. | |
teething problems? That is not thes' fault, we have followed what | :13:50. | :13:56. | |
we were asked to do as schools. The nonsense about nuke and -- nonsense | :13:56. | :14:04. | |
about luck and sitting the exam in January. My students did 40% in | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
January, and then they did the listening assessment and put those | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
forward in June. You have students marked under different systems, it | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
is not right or acceptable. have been talking for years, | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
disparagingly about grade inflation, are you pleased, do you see this as | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
the system correcting itself? think it is a good thing that the | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
endless rise in grades year-on-year has come to an end, after 24 years. | :14:30. | :14:36. | |
I think it is a good thing for many reasons. I think it will restore | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
confidence to the system from universities, and from employers, | :14:41. | :14:48. | |
and the general public, that grade As really do mean what they say. My | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
school takes the international baccalaureate, it has had zero | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
grade inflation for 40 years. You can have that and maintain | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
standards. That was inevitable. But, I think it is really appalling the | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
way that it has happened. And it is terribly sad for these children. | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
Who really feel that a big injustice has been done to them. I | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
think it is very sad for the teachers in those schools, and the | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
schools themselves, who really cling on these grades. They are so | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
important to the children, for entry into the sixth form, and | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
entry into whatever jobs they might go on to do and for university, and | :15:26. | :15:32. | |
schools. The way they are judged by the Government. I think that the | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
solution of this November resit seems to be an admission that | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
Ofqual got it wrong any way. They are being offered the chance for a | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
resit? What will that help. It will be so hard. Why do you think this | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
is happening now. The comparable outcome system was a new system. | :15:50. | :15:52. | |
Michael Gove has said the Exam Boards make independent decision, | :15:52. | :15:58. | |
what do you think? Michael Gove says that and Ofqual say that, I | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
don't believe it, and no headteacher I have met believes it. | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
The Exam Boards have been indirectly affected by the talk of | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
raising standards. Can I come back to the point about resitting in | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
November. There seems to be, that neither Ofqual or the examiner | :16:14. | :16:20. | |
understand how resits work. You can't just resit it in November, | :16:20. | :16:22. | |
you have completely different controlled assessment, children | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
have to be taught, prepared and supervised, when they can be all | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
over the place. It is not possible. They don't understand how schools | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
workk and how important this is. It is clear to me that Ofqual do not | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
understand the processes, and the way children are tracked from the | :16:38. | :16:44. | |
minute they leave primary school to the end game. Raise On-line, the | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
database we are all judged on, will now be a nonsense. The head | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
teachers, as I am preparing for Ofsted in the autumn term, our data | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
is completely up the creek. It is nonsense. The point about the exam | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
boards, what do you believe about the suggestion, and it is believed | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
by many people, that there has been an element of political influence, | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
if not interference? I don't know what the answer is. I very much | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
doubt that Michael Gove, directly, had had any influence on Ofqual. I | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
think that was Ofqual, myself, my judgment is that was Ofqual | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
reaching their own decision about what was right. But, doing it in a | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
very niave and insensitive way, and the fact you have so many outraged | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
teachers who are often supportive of Government policy, supportive of | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
the whole drift, as is Kenny, who has done remarkable work in her | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
school to raise standards. People are appalled by this, and it shows | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
a lack of sensitivity and preparation. If this was a new | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
system and thatch harder to get the C grades. Or confidence, are Ofqual | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
good enough to be doing the very important job of regulating the | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
exam boards? We should have been prepared for it. Shocks should not | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
have been allowed to happen. We should have been prepared for it. | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
They have upset a lot of very decent, hard-working teacher, heads, | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
schools, and above all, the candidates, the students themselves. | :18:12. | :18:18. | |
It need not have happened. If is Ofqual up to the job? I have no | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
confidence. I really have no confidence at all, they had to be | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
forced into this investigation. The initial reaction was there was no | :18:26. | :18:32. | |
problem. It was only in response to the unions that made them do this | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
investigation. It has been very quick and it will not lie there. | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
When we go back to school on Monday, we will be gathering the views of | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
parents and the community. Who will certainly not be happy with this. | :18:42. | :18:49. | |
It don't end here. One of the most expensive court | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
battles ever heard in England came to an end today, with the final | :18:54. | :19:01. | |
bill in Abramovich versus Berezovsky estimated at �1 billion. | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
It was not a good end for Boris Berezovsky, who looks at playing | :19:05. | :19:11. | |
the bill. The judge dismissed his claims saying he was an unreliable | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
witnesses and downright dishonest. It is also seen as a verdict on | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
Vladimir Putin, Mr Berezovsky felt he thought Putin himself wrote the | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
judgment. It was a battle that consumed three | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
months of court time. Thousands of pages of evidence. And tens of | :19:30. | :19:36. | |
millions of pounds in legal fees and costs. A dual between two | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
Russian tycoons, their chosen weapon, the unveiling blade of | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
English justice. The challenger, Boris Berezovsky, once the ultimate | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
oligarch, now an angry exile, the Kremlin's implacable enemy. The | :19:51. | :19:57. | |
defendant, the man he once regarded as his son, Roman Abramovich, who | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
stayed loyal to Putin, and came to far outglitter Berezovsky in wealth. | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
At stake, the �5 billion Berezovsky said Abramovich owed him for his | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
share in one of Russia's most lucrative oil companies. Abramovich | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
said Berezovsky never had any such share. Today, the shiny new temple | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
of truth, that is the High Court's Rolls building, was besieged, as | :20:23. | :20:30. | |
inside English Jews at the, in the form of Mrs Justice Gloster, agreed | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
with Abramovich. Sensationally she dismissed Mrs Berezovsky's entire | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
suit. It took man with all his irrepressible showmanship, to face | :20:40. | :20:45. | |
down such a draining financial disaster. I'm amazed with what | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
happened today. Sometimes I had the impression that Putin himself wrote | :20:49. | :20:56. | |
this judgment. Sometimes I have this impression. Putin, supported | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
by a London court? Many will see this as a triumph, not just for Mr | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
Abramovich, but for the reputation of English justice. It has proved | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
its shiny neutrality, by humiliating the man, who most | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
believed in Britain and British institution, Boris Berezovsky. And | :21:13. | :21:20. | |
it is expressively vindicated his opponent, Roman Abramovich, but | :21:20. | :21:25. | |
also his arch enemy, Vladimir Putin, who has been so angry with Britain | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
for sheltering his critics. Berezovsky, the judge said, was | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
wrong to have accused Putin for threatening him. What does it mean | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
politically, you heard what the judge said about President Putin, | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
that he put no pressure, it was said? Again, this is one of the | :21:40. | :21:46. | |
crucial points. Today she tried to rewrite Russian his treatment it is | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
not allowed by a judge in English courts. | :21:50. | :21:56. | |
The murky world of 1990s Russia, that Mrs Justice Gloster was | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
insited to explore, was compared to court to England in the 15th | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
century. A world of intrigue and skullduggery, where a supreme fixer | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
like Berezovsky could make or unmake fortunes. You might have | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
expected her ladyship to suggest, in a judicialiously English way, | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
that all the characters were -- judiciously English way that all | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
these characters were as bad as each other, but no, her sword came | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
down unambiguously on Mr Berezovsky's head. He was a witness | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
that regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, that could be | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
moulded to suit his current circumstances. Mr Abramovich gave | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
careful and thoughtful answers, she said, he was frank making | :22:42. | :22:46. | |
concessions where they were due. As for Mr Putin, the judge accepted | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
the evidence of a Kremlin witness, that the Russian President never | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
intimidated Berezovsky into selling his stake in the TV company, ORT, a | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
judgment the plaintiff found particularly unhistorical. It is | :23:01. | :23:06. | |
common knowledge all over the world that I did not sell ORT by my will, | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
I was under pressure, and even I left Russia and granted political | :23:11. | :23:18. | |
asylum, and the crucial point was that Putin attempted to control the | :23:18. | :23:23. | |
mass media. The chief Godfather in this tale, in the court's view, was | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
apparently not Putin, but Berezovsky himself. The millions | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
Abramovich paid him to finance his luxury lifestyle, were not shares | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
in a joint business venture, they were ad hoc payments to the head of | :23:36. | :23:44. | |
a protection racket. Payments known in Russian as krysha. Although the | :23:44. | :23:50. | |
krysha is well known in Russia. It is known in the courts as well, in | :23:50. | :23:58. | |
the Russian courts. This is the first time the essence of that word | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
and the word was used in the international court. So this is a | :24:02. | :24:10. | |
very significant judgment all together. In deepest Siberia, there | :24:10. | :24:20. | |
is another tycoon, who is delighted about that. Mr Derry pass ka, the | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
billionare alluminium king, has been summoned to Russia to answer | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
for his huge fortune. One of the claims will be the claimant was a | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
protector, not a partner. But that claimant, Michael ch. Erney, won't | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
be here when the -- Cherney, won't be here when the court mites, | :24:41. | :24:49. | |
wanted on allegations of money laundering, he stays in Israel. The | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
stampede of rich Russians wanting to lig gate in London seems | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
unstoppable. The Government wants law to be an exportable product | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
from the UK. They want London to be seen as a litigation centre around | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
the globe. But on the other hand, some lawyers would argue that | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
perhaps, do we really want these oligarchs with perhaps shadey | :25:09. | :25:15. | |
backgrounds, litigating in London. It is a question of morals for us. | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
Pwher Berezovsky has learned an expensive -- Boris Berezovsky has | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
learned an expensive lesson about the blindness of English justice. | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
Some will hope our courts don't get too much of a taste for rewriting | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
other country's history. Alex Goldfarb, Boris Berezovsky's | :25:32. | :25:38. | |
close friend is with us, and volumes volumes volumes head of the | :25:38. | :25:44. | |
Russian -- Anton Volskiy, head of a Russian T vision station. Boris | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
Berezovsky chose to bring this case, how do you feel about English | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
justice today? I'm very disappointed by this ruling. It was | :25:52. | :25:59. | |
obviously a very subjective ruling by Judge Gloster, who got it all | :25:59. | :26:06. | |
wrong. I was there, I saw the events that were discussed in court. | :26:06. | :26:12. | |
I know, for a fact, that Mr Berezovsky was inTim dated by Mr | :26:12. | :26:22. | |
:26:22. | :26:26. | ||
Abramovich, on behalf of Mr Putin. By passing this judgment, the | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
implications are that the corrupt and murderous regime of Mr Putin | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
got a tremendous boost, both internationally and domestically. | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
You say Boris Berezovsky was intimidated by this setting, the | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
fact is, he didn't do himself any favour, the judge not only thought | :26:43. | :26:48. | |
he was unimpressive, but she thought he treated the truth as a | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
flexible concept, and he was entirely unreliable as a witness? | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
think the judge made a mistake, to call Mr Abramovich a reliable | :26:56. | :27:04. | |
witness, is actually laughable as a statement to anyone. That is your | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
thoughts? Anyone who is Russian knows that. There are credible | :27:09. | :27:14. | |
claims that Mr Putin's personal beneficiary of the proceeds of this | :27:14. | :27:22. | |
transaction, and that Mr Abramovich is his actual personal banker. | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
Anyone who reads the Financial Times can see the evidence of how | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
Mr Abramovich's money was laundered and used to buy Mr Putin's palace. | :27:29. | :27:34. | |
What do you make, Anton Volskiy, of that view, that this judgment was | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
entirely subjective in Alex Goldfarb's view? I cannot say that | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
it was a subjective thing, it was, as the British courts, objective. | :27:44. | :27:50. | |
In Russia, by the way, both oligarchs, they don't have a | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
credible image. They are very unpopular, both of them. Because | :27:53. | :28:03. | |
:28:03. | :28:03. | ||
everybody knows, everybody doesn't know where the money comes from. | :28:03. | :28:09. | |
When you look at the case, it is not just about the behaviour of the | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
oligarchs, the picture of your country was unflattering. It is | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
wealth being divided up ash trairly, it is Mafia money, and a legal | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
system not robust enough to hear these cases on home turf? It is | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
true and not true. We all knew what the Russian economics and politics | :28:28. | :28:34. | |
used to be in the 1990s. We knew that, cite Shah and all these | :28:34. | :28:42. | |
things. Prob -- krysha, and all those things. Probably Putin came | :28:42. | :28:46. | |
into power and said he would make the state of law. It is not | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
accurate to say Russian oligarchs set their deals here in the court. | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
Boris Berezovsky is a British resident for more than ten years | :28:55. | :29:05. | |
:29:05. | :29:06. | ||
already. The same thing with the other trial, Derripaska. These | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
cases are all about events in Russia, the content of the case has | :29:10. | :29:15. | |
nothing to do with Britain. After what you have seen happen in this | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
particular case, given the fact there are more cases on their way. | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
Would you still advise that London is the right place to hear these | :29:22. | :29:29. | |
kinds of cases? By default, yes. There is no legal system in Russia. | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
We have recently seen the case of Pussyriot, there are tens of | :29:34. | :29:39. | |
thousands of businessmen whose assets were appropriated by people | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
associated with this regime and who are languishing in Russian jails. | :29:44. | :29:53. | |
Starting with Mr Korvokovsky. What is important now, the whole | :29:54. | :30:00. | |
democracy movement now, that is actually opposing Mr Putin's | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
policies, now feels that the regime got a tremendous boost. Did the | :30:05. | :30:09. | |
regime get a boost from this, a good day for the Kremlin on the | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
back of an English judge? There was a comment from the Kremlin today. | :30:13. | :30:19. | |
They are satisfied with the case because the liar was called a liar. | :30:19. | :30:23. | |
They say that Berezovsky is a liar, and now it is confirmed by the | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
British court. I think this was a case about money. Berezovsky wanted | :30:28. | :30:37. | |
money from Abramovich, he didn't get money, let's not do from this | :30:37. | :30:39. | |
economic case, money is the biggest thing. | :30:39. | :30:44. | |
It is Friday night, which mean Review is up next. Kirsty is there. | :30:44. | :30:50. | |
What have you got for us? We have been bringing you dark | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
theatre from Edinburgh, Zadie Smith's new book, and a Turner | :30:55. | :31:02. | |
Prize's winner, weird sounds for The One Show. All that and Bob | :31:02. | :31:07. | |
Dylan's new album, Tempesst. Join me and my guests in a moment. | :31:07. | :31:12. |