05/01/2016 Victoria Derbyshire

Hello, welcome to the programme, we're on BBC 2 and the BBC

Coming up, a 32-year-old dad of four who used to sell bouncy castles

in London is believed to be the British man who appears

in the latest propaganda video by so-called Islamic State.

We'll tell you what's known so far about Siddhartha Dhar who spoke

When I look to Britain and can speak as an ex-Muslim on issues like

smoking, music and a society which is largely based on unity,

pornography, it's not something any practising Muslim would enjoy living

under. Also today, can drugs really make

you smarter, more productive, Compare it to a camera that's in

focus and a camera that's not. Right now everything feels sharp and

before it was blurry. And later, the moment a blind woman

sees for the first time in 16 years Hello, welcome to the programme,

we're on BBC 2 and the BBC Throughout the programme we'll bring

you the latest breaking news and developing stories

and as always we're keen to hear from you on all the stories we're

covering this morning. You can watch the programme online

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bbc.co.uk/Victoria and you can also subscribe to all our features

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Victoria Derbyshire. It seems so simple, a drug that

can make you smarter, improve your memory,

your concentration or motivation and generally help you perform

better at work or when preparing Smart drugs are growing

in popularity but leading experts are warning that there are no

long-term safety studies The Home Office have told us

they don't plan on including them in an upcoming bill banning drugs

with "psychoactive effect" - Our reporter Benjamin Zand

has been investigating. These are smart drugs. They look to

extend our cognitive ability to the reactions we have. A series of drugs

that people in homes, offices and universities across the United

Kingdom are using to apparently make their brain better. Many are drugs

you might have heard of before with conventional uses, things like

Ritalin, usually used for ADHD and narcolepsy. Others you might not

have, a banned performance enhancer for example. One of the most talked

about is a drug used traditionally for narcolepsy, being used as a

cognitive enhancer, a drug being used to make your brain work like no

other. It's a cognitive enhancer so it shows there were improvements in

so-called higher cognitive functionions like planning and

decision-making. It's been labelled the world's first safe smart drug

with some studies suggesting it's nonaddictive, has few side effects

and that it works. But can all this really be true? I am trying to find

out. At this point, smart drugs just seem like miracle pills. I've been

reading reviews and some are ridiculous, people saying they have

written full university disitations in a matter of days, they have

managed to do work that would usually take them a week in one day

and that their overall concentration levels have sky-rocketed. To be

entirely honest, I struggle to believe this, it sounds too good to

be true. So what I'm currently doing is ordering some of the drug off the

Internet, it's one of the main drugs people take. Modafanil. I'm going to

take some of the drug to see if it works. I met up with an old friend

to find out more about Modafanil while I waited for my supply to

arrive. Jason is an athlete and entrepreneur. It turns out, he's

been taking the drug I was about to take for years.

What happened? You didn't swallow it? I didn't swallow it. I can feel

it working. You actually can? Yes. What does it feel like? When I was

talking to you there, I found myself getting quicker and quicker. No? ! I

felt like I was talking too quick, trying to get too much in. Describe

it? Without sounding weird, it sounded a bit warmer, like I feel a

bit warmer, so I feel like my body temperature's increased. You feel

sharper. I could probably compare to it a camera that's in focus and a

camera that's out of focus. Normally everything is softer, right now

everything feels sharp. When you first took it, was it an

instant effect? Yes. I found the effect straightaway. My productivity

increased massively. I knew that I wanted to keep taking it.

OK, after a week of waiting, my parcel has arrived from the

undisclosed address in India to my desk in London. I don't usually take

drugs like this. I consulted a doctor and was taking a huge risk by

taking the pills. I was heading to Cambridge university to try and find

out how and if Modafanil actually worked. They'd agreed to also test

me to see if it had any effect on my cognitive abilities. Tell me exactly

how it works do we know how it works? We know a lot about its

actions in the brain and that it affects a lot of different nerve

transmitter, but what we don't know is that which one of the effects has

to do with the improvements we see in people's cognitions, we know it

acts on dopamine and adrenaline, but another transmitter, Glutomade.

Professor Barbara's been studying Modafanil for years but says we

still don't really know how it works as a cognitive enhancer, but she's

certain it does work. Do they actually make you more intelligent?

Depends what you mean. They certainly might improve your ability

to problem-solve and plan. If you can problem-solve better, are you

getting smarter? If we are talking about IQ, working memory is very

related to IQ. We know that we can improve working memory through the

use of drugs like Modafanil. Professor Barbara says the main

issue is we don't know the long-term effects of Modafanil and she wants

the Government to carry out studies so see if there are any. Should

there be no major issues, she sees a potential use for the drug

worldwide. I was taken into a room after taking the drug to do a test.

I'm going to do one test without taking the drug and then one with

it. And then comparing the performance on each task.

OK over lunch I took my first ever hit of Modafanil. And I don't really

feel that much different. It's been about an hour now or an

hour-and-a-half and I feel pretty much the same, although I do feel

slightly more awake but I have just walked in the cold for a bit so

maybe that's why. I'll keep you posted.

This is basically Mario Kart. Your score on the attention task you

performed better than 99% of the population, whereas when you weren't

on Modafanil you scored better than 85% of people. 95%, does that make

me a genius? Yes. Better than 95% of people my age? Yes, your age. That

is unbelievable. And gender, yes, 80-85 before. So it's gone up by

10%. The tests must be taken with a pinch of salt. There are other

factors that could have contributed to my results and it's a very

specific scenario so I still needed to see how it worked in real life.

If you are based in the UK, there's only one place you can order

Modafanil and that's through secretive websites on the Internet.

This causes quite a few issues. Besides the fact that you have to

enter your credit card details into a website that has virtually no

info, you also have no idea of knowing whether what you are getting

is legitimate. It's not always safe to buy them

online. You never know what you are going to buy and what product is

going to land on your door mat. I bought mine from a website in

India that came with tracking information. I called up the

pharmaceutical company that made it and they said as long as it had

their branding it should be theirs but they said they don't sell items

online. There are those that sell it illegally in the UK. Recently, we

seized over 20,000 units containing 13 different types of medicine in

one operation. That was valued at over ?200,000 and one of the drugs

that was seized hadn't even been tested on humans yet. The MHRA are

trying to crack down on this. In 2015 during one operation, we seized

over 46,000 of these types of drugs in a period of four weeks. One

retailer who didn't want to be identified told me they get around

the restrictions by labelling the products as "not for human

consumption" and selling in bags, as opposed to pills. As it currently

stands, this makes life difficult for the MHRA. It seems like you can

get around the laws by making it seem as if it's for laboratory use,

not packaging them in pills and saying it's not for human

consumption. They are clearly being sold to people for human

consumption, so is that an issue in your eyes? Yes, it is. Weapon we

come across these issues, we have other parts of the agency who make

determinations on that -- when we come across these issues. As well as

the large number of websites, there is a huge number of forums dedicated

to speaking about so-called smart drugs. Nootropics has 64,000

members. One issue that keeps popping up is the UK's psychoactive

substance Bill that looks set to pass in 2016 that will put a blanket

ban on any drug with psychoactive ever February and potentially a host

of so-called smart drugs. So, after taking another Modafanil pill, I

travel to Nottingham to meet the co-owner of a company that sells on

Nootropics so see what he thinks about the Bill. This is my treatment

and therapy room where I do rehab, Cairo practition and nutritional

counselling and things like that. Is your head going to explode now

because you have take an lot? No, that is the beauty of genuine

Nootropics, because they are not prescription strength, it's very

hard to overdose on them. Am I worried, no, because I don't tend to

worry about things. I mean, what is the purpose of worrying? We are

reform lating neuro-still, the product, to be more in line with the

guidelines if and when the Bill comes into line. The Bill is short

sighted and disturbing a little bit. But, you know, the powers-that-be

will operate in how they see fit, not necessarily to the best

advantage of the man in the street, but for their own agenda. It makes

things harder. After the interview, I contacted the Home Office. They

told me that, as many smart drugs can be used for medicines, they had

likely be exempt and will continue to be regulated by the MHRA.

But, as the Bill is so broad, some experts have told me that many

so-called smart drugs could be implicated.

OK, so earlier, I was quite unsure as to whether the Modafanil was

really doing anything and whether it had any effect on me whatsoever but

now I'm quite sure it probably is because I've been lying in bed for

about an hour and I just can't get to sleep because my brain is just

completely switched on. Modafanil is something often

associated with students. But, there are some in another less reported

community that are taking them as well.

The world of text start-ups. -- tech start-ups. Marcus is an app

developer and started taking Modafanil to get ahead of the game.

It wasn't like I was taking a drug and it was giving me a high and

making me happier, but the feeling that I was getting a lot done was

very exciting. Tell me what your frame of mind was like? Frame of

mind is very, very important. My frame of mind was, I need to create

the next start-up and make it work. I just experience add big failure

and wanted to make a success instead.

So you started taking Modafanil at the same time you stopped working at

the other place? Yes, and that is an interesting point. When my start-up

kind of bombed, this is interesting to think about, when it bombed, I

was feeling very, very low and I'm a very poss-minded person so I

instantly looked for something to improve my life and circumstances --

positive-minded. My theory is, I took the drug for the first time, I

may have subconsciously exaggerated to myself how much it was helping me

because I knew it would help me feel better. You are taking this to get

better and be more productive and more successful in essence? Yes. Has

it shown any sign of doing that yet? In terms of my life in general, no,

I suddenly haven't gone from being a lose tore Mr Successful.

OK. It is my final day taking these so-called smart drugs. Not only do I

look and feel horribly rough because I have hardly slept. I also have to

spend a full day editing this film, which needs to be done in two days,

which is not a lot of time. Editing is something I find notoriously

difficult to stay focused on. I figure if there was one day the

pills would help it was this. But it did not quite help as I expected.

The only real effect was a lack of hunger. Still no tangible

improvement in my concentration levels. It has definitely taken away

my appetite. It is 2pm and I still not have eaten. As well as this I

got headaches and a strange lump on my arm. I have got like a weird spot

on my arm. This happened on the first day on the back of my leg. As

the day progressed they seemed to kick in. At the end of it all I met

Jason who said he never had side effects like mine. You took the same

pills from the same company. You seemed to have an enjoyable

experience? Yes. I got a weird spot on my arm and my leg. Have you heard

anything like that. --? No. I was told there was a chemical in my

blood released by your liver when you're body is try to take something

into its system. I body did not like what I was taking. I was

disappointed others did not have -- I did not have the experience others

others had had. It means I will never be tempted to try them again.

And if you want to share that film just go to our programme

We'll talk some more about smart drugs with people who use them

Still to come: What led a bouncy castle salesman to become

We'll have all the details on the Londoner in the latest

IS video and will be speaking to one man who knew him.

Seeing again for the first time in 16 years, the moment a bionic eye

A Muslim convert from east London is the main focus of investigations

into the identity of a masked man with a British accent featured

in the latest video released by the Islamic State group.

Siddhartha Dhar travelled to Syria with his family in 2014,

a day after being released on bail, while being investigated

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is expected to unveil details

of a reshuffle of his front bench team today.

Late-night talks with key members of the shadow cabinet ended

Two of those whose positions are rumoured to be in doubt

are the shadow foreign secretary, Hilary Benn, and the shadow defence

President Obama has announced a series of gun control measures.

They'll be introduced by executive order, meaning they'll by-pass

Congress which has so far resisted calls to make it harder

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has invited junior doctors to carry

on talking about pay and conditions, rather

The doctors' union the BMA has called its members out on strike

Mr Hunt said very good progress had been made in the talks that had been

The BMA has said several disagreements remain.

Police have reissued their appeal for information about the missing

former East Enders actors -- actress Sian Blake as homicide investigators

take over the investigation. She went missing from Kent with her two

children. Police are also concerned for the welfare of her partner and

the children's father, Arthur Simpson Kent. Robert Stig would, who

managed the Bee Gees at the height of their fame, has died. He also

worked with Eric Clapton and produced the film, Saturday night

Fever, as well as Tommy. Now the sport.

Good morning. We have got some live sport. The second test in Cape Town.

The fourth day has resumed. England desperately need a South African

wicket. England scored lots of runs in their first innings. South Africa

are eating that. No wickets down after about an hour this morning.

Staying with cricket, you may have seen these comments made by Chris

Gayle in the -- in the Big Bash Twenty20 Ligue one Australia. It was

during a live TV interview yesterday. He started flirting with

a female reporter. Astor ad for a drink, told her not to blush. He has

been fined about ?5,000 for inappropriate behaviour. He has

apologised today saying it was just a joke. A lot of debate has come out

of this. Many seeing this as a joke, many not. Chris Rogers, the

Australian batsman who spend a lot of time with Chris Gayle, is

disappointed in his behaviour and attitude and would try to distance

himself from him socially. More on that. Real Madrid has shown a

remarkable lack of patients with Rafa Benitez. Only seven months in

charge and three matches last, he was sacked yesterday. He has been

replaced by Zinedine Zidane. More details at ten.

What do we know about the British man who's appeared in the latest

propaganda video from so-called Islamic State?

An official source has told the BBC that Siddhartha Dhar is the main

focus of the attention of security and intelligence officers,

as they study the video, in which five men are murdered.

Dhar is a 32-year-old former bouncy castle salesman from East London.

He was arrested for allegedly encouraging terrorism and released

on bail and ordered to hand in his passport.

But he disappeared in September 2014, and later published pictures

Our reporter, Catrin Nye, spoke to him 18 months ago.

At the time he was calling himself Saif Ui Islam.

Why would you want to live under a caliphate? When I look to Britain

and I can speak as a former non-Muslims, issues like smoking,

free mixing, music and the society largely based on unity, pornography,

it is not something any practical Muslims enjoy living under. Whether

I Cisse or any other state implements the caliphate, -- Isis,

any Muslim would flock to that state. What happens to people who do

not want to live under your version of Islam? What happens to those

people who do not want to obey the law of Britain?

The documentary maker, Mojtaba Ali, also interviewed Siddhartha Dhar

I interviewed him a month before he went to Syria. He said he supports

Isis and what they do. He would like to go live there if he had the

opportunity. Just propagating the Isis narrative. He seemed to enjoy

the media attention. He did at a few interviews the month before he fled.

I believe it was because he wanted to raise his profile before he left.

What kind of specific things was he saying to you? He was saying that

Isis do not persecute young Muslims. They are fighting people who are

attacking them. This is a Western propaganda. It is quite bizarre.

Isis are releasing these videos, glorifying in them, and he was

saying some absurd things like, this is the West making us look bad. We

are trying to implement Islam based on his understanding of it. When you

pushed him to condemn the killings that Isis have been carrying out,

what did he say? He refused to condemn anything to do with ISAs. He

was saying, we are just being attacked. Everybody is being unfair

with us. We are going to spread Isis throughout the global world. He was

very calm. He had the zeal. That is why I would not be surprised if it

was him who took up the position to become the star of Isis. The new

Jihadi John, so-called. When you saw the video did you think this is the

man I interviewed? I would be surprised if it was not him. Hearing

the voice, my cameraman called me and said, that is him. You look at

the shape of his eyes. It seems to be him. He is one of those

charismatic recruiters that Isis used to spread this message. And he

likes the media attention. Some of them do not. I would not be

surprised if it was him. As a result of those interviews he did back in

2014, including the one with you, he was arrested by police and released

on bail, which is when he escaped to Syria. That is the issue. Him to be

arrested on terror charges, released on bail and then fleeing the country

is either a blunder by the security services or because they wanted him

out of the country. We do not know. It would be a concern if they were

not aware that this person was going to join Isis. This is what

Siddhartha Dhar said in that documentary.

There are a lot of lies being pushed out by the Western media. One of the

biggest rises that they are persecuting non-Muslims. The forced

conversions, for example? The forced conversions I do not agree with. You

have to convince people to become Muslims. If they want to become

Muslim woman they become Muslims through their free will. There are a

lot of lies being pushed out by the Western media?

How likely is it that Batman is the marksman in the video recently

released by Isis? Frank Gardner is here. What is the thinking? I would

be surprised if it was not but it is not 100%. We will not get an

official comment, if ever, from the security services because it is an

ongoing investigation. I would be amazed if, by now, they have not

established to it was. They can use voice technology, they can enlarge

what you can see of his eyes. There are ways with computers you can

measure the distance and match it up. It is not difficult. It is

pretty easy. What would they do with that information? It is up to the

Government. That information goes to the national Security Council and

senior members of it, probably including the Prime Minister, will

decide if this man is a threat to UK Cisse -- security. Arrese just a

narcissistic coward? If they decide he is a threat and is encouraging

other people to carry out attacks here, it is likely the attorney

general would be asked to sign off on putting him on a kill list and he

would meet the same fate as Mohammed Emwazi and generate Husein and

others. Because they cannot go in there and arrest them. Is it your

view that this latest video is in response to Britain taking part in

the air strikes on IS in Syria? There are indications. He says, how

dare you, Kamran, send in your planes with your little country? --

Cameroon. British planes have sent in few planes to Syria. They are

hurting from those strikes, definitely. Isis lost 14% of its

territory last year. They have lost Ron Maddy and must overhaul of the

northern Syrian border Turkey. -- Ramadi. The pipeline of British

jihadists going out to join Islamic State has really narrowed. It peaked

in 2013. There are still several hundred out of their, probably about

400 to 500 out of there, including about 50 children. Obviously there

is a little boy in the latest video. Photographs of him appear to be all

over the Internet and British newspapers. We have taken a decision

not to name him because he is a little boy. What do we know about

him now? A man saying he is his grandfather, he has been named in

the press. He recognises him. He says it is his grandson. He knows

him really well. When asked by the reporter if he had been in touch

with him, he said he does not like it out there at all. This is a child

of about four or five who has been dressed in fake military fatigues

with a bandanna on it with the Islamic State logo, saying, let's

kill the unbelievers. It is not the first time that they have used

children in videos. There was a far more sickening video a few weeks ago

which sold -- showed a chilled and's game, the ruins of a castle in

Syria, where a man handed a gun 25 or six children and they went

running through the ruins and found a bound prisoner with a shot in the

head. These are children. They want them to grow up calling them lion

cubs. This is the next generation. It is a generational thing. We are

bigger than you. Governments, Grant go, we are here forever. We're going

to talk in a moment about what IS might do next in terms of 2016.

Let's have a quick look back at what they did in 2015.

So what will the self-styled Islamic State's priorities be over

Let's talk to Dr Erin Saltman from the Institute

for Strategic Dialogue, an organisation that looks

And Dr Lina Khatib, a senior research associate at the think tank

Welcome to both of you. What do you expect from IS this year? They have

been strong reaching out to lots of different parts of the world through

in-house centralised videos that they have been propagating, also

through decentralised messenger so allowing Jihad is and the women

within their constituencies to actually openly be on social media

so that they can reach different people in a range of different

languages. This will be more important as well as we see perhaps

when they are losing territory on the ground the idea of branding

themselves so that actually people can attach themselves to that brand

from abroad. So when Paris attacks were carried out, things like that,

when we see different areas of the world where people can just take on

that brand as a way of empowering themselves, that's been crucial to

the strategy. So even though they might be losing Tikrit, Ramadi and

Mosul... They haven't lost Mosul, sorry. Apologies. Ramadi in Syria

and Sinjar. Those kind of freelance Jihadis can use the umbrella name,

if you like of IS wherever they are? Yes, and we saw this happen with

Al-Qaeda post-9/11, the fact that they can create afilliate structures

to take on the idea of empowerment. It gives an illusion of strength

that you don't actually have on the ground or mill tarristically if you

are being damaged by on the Ground Forces or by air strikes, this is a

way of maintaining strength, a-symmetrical warfare approaches

whereby distributing this idea online you are seeming to maintain

strength and continuing recruitment pathways.

OK, so in terms of other territories where they might expand, what would

you expect? I think the group has reached the limit of its

geographical expajs pangs. Already, it's lost territory in Iraq, as we

have seen. It's recently lost Ramadi. The next big battle will be

Mosul in the coming year. This is the stronghold for IS in Iraq. But I

think they'll continue to hold territory in Syria. That is because

the Syrian regime seems to be indirectly and sometimes directly

facilitating this through sometimes withdrawing Syrian troops from

certain areas that the regime does not consider to be essential.

Handing these areas to IS in a way because the regime thinks it's

better to have IS control of these territories, rather than the Syrian

opposition. Also, I expect that IS will continue to hold its territory

in Syria because the Syrian conflict is ongoing and, as long as there is

no resolution to the conflict, IS is benefitting. Also the fact that

relations have broken down between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the more

disagreement there is between countries like that, the more it

helps IS? Absolutely. IS is really threatened by a political process in

Syria that will get rid of the regime and bring in a transitional

government. Then you could unify the Syrian Army, have a state recognised

by the international community like you do in Iraq now, and then you can

have real international intervention to root out IS. As long as the

conflict continues, IS is benefitting, and you cannot have a

resolution to the conflict without the external stakeholders being on

board. Iran and Saudi Arabia are major stakeholders, so when they

disagree, the path towards a resolution in Syria is blocked.

Geographically, we are seeing fringe movements that are recruiting

Westerners in through Libya, so actually on top of male foreign

terrorist fighters which we'd see as militancy, we have actually see

Western females that have, because border routes going from the West

into Syria and Iraq, have been maintain add little bit more, we

have seen Western females go straight to Libya and start

maintaining camps there. So we will see some different fringe movements

as territory within other areas are closed down. Just backing up what Dr

Lina was saying there, talking to Whitehall, it seems the entire

British Government long-term strategy for dealing with IS is

predicated on finding an acceptable future government in Damascus which

at the moment doesn't seem like happen. With the Saudi Arabia spat,

it's going to be harder to find. The idea is that six, 12 months or 18

months down the line, there'll be some future Government, a coalition

Government that's acceptable to all parties in Syria and that government

will invite in the international community, including British and

American forces to deploy on the ground with government permission an

encouragement and join together with this mythical force of 70,000 rebels

to defeat Isis. That's the idea but I think there's an awful lot of thes

in there and so far, there is no sign of President Assad going. The

Iranians certainly don't want him to go, the Russians don't particularly

want him to go, and in a way, it's understandable because, if Assad

left in a hurry, what would happen? You would have a complete collapse

of the state and the next thing you would have the black flag of Isis

flying above the Palace in Damascus. What about more attacks in Europe? I

think it's likely. When I was doing field work on IS, I found out from

IS sources that the new strategy for them, and this was as far back as

last summer, was to try to distract the West into focussing on domestic

security so that they would pay less attention to external security and

to politics, so the more countries are distracted by security, the less

attention they pay to politics and these attacks in Europe are meant to

do exactly that which means unfortunately, highly likely that

we'll see attacks similar to Paris. Do you agree? The calls to attacks

are vigilante, a lot are not even dictated from centralised

headquarters of IS. We are seeing a call to arms, we have seen this

previously with other Jihadist organisations, and this sort of

a-symmetrical warfare tactic as was mentioned. It makes the general

public question whether or not we should be going in and helping in

the region, so it's a way of forcing the general public to question their

own government's motives. That's exactly what they are trying to do.

Thank you both very much and thank you Frank.

Coming up, we speak to the twin brother of David Rathband -

the police officer shot and blinded by gunman Raoul Moat -

who's taking police to court on his brother's behalf

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is expected to unveil details

of a reshuffle of his front bench team today.

Late-night talks with key members of the shadow cabinet ended

Two of those whose positions are rumoured to be in doubt

are the shadow foreign secretary, Hilary Benn, and the shadow defence

We can't have a men-only party. Women in this country expect to see

men and women working together on equal terms. That's what the Labour

Party believes in, and we can't have an all-male leadership again and

therefore we'll have to change the rules. You would like to see the

rules changed? To stop there being an all-male leadership. In terms of

your advice or hope for the women in the Shadow Cabinet, we shouldn't

overlook the fact that we have 50/50 in the Shadow Cabinet, what do you

want to see them do? The truth is that women's rights are never going

to be taken forward by men in the party, whether they are on the left,

the central or on the right. The truth is, it's women in the party,

Labour women that will take forward women's rights and, even though we

haven't got any women in the top leadership, that makes it even more

important for them to put themselves forward. What I think is more

worrying about the culture in the Labour Party is very left-wing

feminists they are pulling up -- feminists, they are putting up with

a lot more than any other man would say because Jeremy Corbyn is saying

it. Would those who were given a job by Tony Blair have been saying this.

It's sort of like some in the Labour Party are accepting low-level

nonviolent misogyny because it's Jeremy doing it.

Liam Byrne was Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the last

LabourGovernment and left a note saying "there's no money left"

famously, I'm sure you are sick of hearing that, but first of all, does

Jeremy Corbyn have a problem with women? He needs to get a better

balance. Labour is blessed with some outstanding female Labour

politicians and if you are the leader of the Labour Party, you are

a bit like a football manager and it's your job to put the best team

on the pitch and right now I think most in the party want to see more

women playing in stronger positions. So he does have a problem with

women? He's got work to do to make sure Labour's fielding the best

possible team because there's only one test for Jeremy Corbyn this year

and that is about winning elections. We have some big elections in May.

It's crucial to win back City Hall and Scotland and we need to hold on

to Wales and make progress in Town Halls across the country. The Labour

Party wants to see that Jeremy Corbyn is a kind of an Arsene

Wenger-like manager and not a Jose Mourinho-like manager, because in

our business, it's all about winning elections, it's the results that

matter at the end of the day. Arsenal haven't won anything for

ages actually, but OK, I'm taking the point.

The time it's taking to sort this reshuffle out, the naval-gazing and

in-fighting, as it's described, is really damaging to Labour?

Maddening. It must be the longest reshuffle in history. And Labour

supporters think, shouldn't you be fighting the Government? Totally. At

the moment the Conservative Government is getting away scott

free on all sorts of things. We have a junior doctors strike looming.

Over in the Middle East, David Cameron's got a war to win, actually

there's many that don't think his fight against extremism going

particularly well. He's got the European referendum where no-one is

terribly clear about what deal he's actually going to get out of the

European colleagues and it's not clear what the pathway for the

economy looks like this year either. Interest rates looming on the

horizon, the economy slowing down in China, so there are big challenges

the Government's got to get sorted. It's not clear they are going about

it in the right way and our job should be to expose where they are

going wrong and propose better alternatives, not, as you say,

indulge in the longest reshuffle/naval-gazing exercise in

political history. Some of the issues you mentioned, immigration,

health, the economy, most important to voters. Does Labour have a policy

that you could tell our audience right now about? We have a policy

review, there are reviews under way, but the process by which that policy

is being reviewed isn't terrifically clear. That is why we come back to

the point that rather than spend months and months and months

figuring out what is the beforeconfiguration of the team, get

the reshuffle done and get back to the business of, you know, coming up

with better alternatives to the Government and get the campaign in

gear to win the elections in May. Is it accurate that Hilary Benn will

stay? I've no idea but I personally hope so. Hilary has shown he's one

of the great figures in the House of Commons. He's one of the great

figures in the Labour Party and one of the best players and he deserves

to be in the key position he's in right now.

Thank you very much. Still to come, we'll have all the

latest news and in sport, Chris Gayle is fined ?5,000 for asking a

reporter out on a date during a live TV interview. Now the weather with

Carol. Happy New Year. There is a lot going on with the

weather. In eastern Europe it has been exceptionally cold. Look at all

of that snow in Croatia. You can see all of this ice. The ocean is often

referred to as a heat source. It shows how cold it is. A picture from

Poland. This is the water. Look how it has frozen. You can see Turkey.

Some deep snow. It is not unusual to have really cold conditions in

eastern Europe. These are exceptional. We have got cold air

dominating in the north. A bigger area of high pressure in eastern

Europe. Another in north-western parts of the Atlantic. You can see

the blue. The darkest blue in the East. Our temperatures have gone

down. You have probably put the heating back on again. Our

temperatures are nothing like we have seen. The average overnight

temperature in Moscow was minus nine. These conditions are similar

to what he would experience in the Antarctic. If you were out in -26

you would be bonkers without appropriate protection. You could

lose a finger in this kind of heat without the right preparations. The

big high pressure across eastern Europe has changed the orientation

of the jet stream, which is posted further south. All of the warm

tropical moist air that we had last week and we had in December as well,

has now gone across the Mediterranean. We will see further

snow. Lots going on. But here? We have not got those kind of

temperatures, thank goodness. Here we have issues with flooding. For

most of us today it will be quiet. What we are looking at today is a

day of showers, some of which will be heavy and sundry. Some

brightness. Some sunshine. The Met Office still has in force and amber

be prepared warning for heavy rain. The areas affected Perth and

Kinross, Stirling and Angus. The rain falling on body stature rated

ground. -- already falling on saturated ground. Snow in the

Grampians. Heavy rain across north-east England in particular.

For the rest of us, showers. Some of those will merge and some will be

thundery. In the afternoon rain in eastern Scotland. Brighter in the

West. Some showers. North-east England seeing the rain. The rain

carrying into parts of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and East Anglia. South

of that, through the Midlands and the Isle of Wight, some showers.

Some sunny spells. Across south-west England we have a mixture of bright

spells, sunshine and showers, as we have across Wales. If you are stuck

under the showers, it will be quite chilly. For Northern Ireland, a

mixture of bright spells, sunshine and showers. Low pressure dominates

the weather. Everything rotates around it. We continue with the

onshore wind today and tonight. It will feel cold. The showers in the

West tends to be more about the coast. Central southern and

south-eastern England will have dense fog tonight. If you're

travelling tomorrow morning, worth checking the forecast. You might

find some disruption to travel. You can go the BBC travel pages or your

local radio station. You can see her through the morning the fog will be

slow to lift. Eventually some of it will become low cloud. A dry day.

Some showers. We lose the heavy rain from Scotland. Still snow from the

Grampians. You can see out towards the West we have got our next band

of wet and windy weather. That is good to continue to push steadily

northwards and eastwards. It will deposit more snow at lower levels in

the far north of Scotland. I'm Victoria Derbyshire,

good morning. Coming up, a 32-year-old father

of four who used to sell bouncy castles in London, is believed to be

the British man who appears in the latest propaganda video

by the terror group Islamic State. Also today, can certain kinds

of drugs really make you smarter, I would probably compared to a

camera that is in focus and a camera that is out of focus. Right now

everything feels very sharp. And we speak to the twin

brother of David Rathband - the police officer shot and blinded

by gunman Raoul Moat - who's taking police to court

on his brother's behalf A Muslim convert from east London

is the main suspect as security agencies work to confirm

the identity of a masked extremist in a video released

by the Islamic State terror group. Siddhartha Dhar travelled to Syria

with his family in 2014. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn,

is expected to finalise the reshuffle to his front bench

by the time the shadow cabinet It is thought the changes will not

be as substantial as some had predicted. Hilary Benn may stay on

as shadow foreign secretary. President Obama's laying

out his plan to push through tougher gun control without

going through Congress. He'll introduce measures

on background checks and firearms sales by what's called

an executive order. Although we have to be very clear

that this will not sell -- sold every violent crime in this country,

it will not prevent every mass shooting, it will not keep every gun

out of the hands of a criminal, it will potentially save lives in this

country. And spare families the pain and the extraordinary loss they have

suffered. The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt,

has invited junior doctors to carry on talking about pay

and conditions instead The doctors' union, the BMA,

has called industrial action Mr Hunt said very good progress

had been made in talks, but the BMA says

disagreements remain. Police have reissued their appeal

for information about missing former EastEnders actress Sian Blake

as homicide detectives take Police are also concerned

for the welfare of her partner and the children's father,

Arthur Simpson-Kent. Let's talk to Richard Lister. What

do we know? Sian Blake became famous for playing Frankie in East Enders

in the late 1990s. More than 50 episodes. She has not been seen

since the 13th of December, when she went on a family visit to East

London with her two sons, Zachary, eighth, and Amos, four. Police are

also looking for her partner, Arthur Simpson Kent. They have not seen him

since three days after that disappearance, on December 16, when

they went to the family. They are looking for the whole family. They

have no information about where they have been. On Sunday they found the

car belonging to Ms Blake in East London. They do not know how it got

there. They are appealing for information. They have also

confirmed that they have now signed the homicide major command, murder

detectives, to lead this investigation, which clearly

underlines the depth of their concern. They say they are very

concerned about the family. They are keeping an open mind. They are

particularly concerned about Ms Blake, who they say suffers from a

life-threatening disease, it is believed to be motor neuron disease.

They do not know if she is receiving treatment or medication. They have

particular concerns about her. Clearly three weeks on, they are

very concerned about the whole family and are appealing for

information. Thank you, Richard. Back to Jeremy

Corbyn's reshuffle. Michael Duguid MP, who was the shadow culture

secretary, has just tweeted, just been sacked by Jeremy Corbyn. I

wished him a happily that -- happy New Year. -- Michael Doer. --

Michael Duque. Let's talk to John Pienaar. You have got some breaking

news about the EU referendum? That is right. The other big story at

Westminster away from the fight club that is the Labour Party is

Britain's renegotiation of its membership terms in Europe. David

Cameron will confirm later that government ministers, Cabinet

ministers and other ministers, will be free to campaign both for and

against continued British membership of the European Union when a deal is

reached. That goes along with the assurances he has been giving to

senior colleagues for a while. He is now about to go public with all of

that. It is rarely about forestalling potential trouble

ahead. There is trouble ahead in Europe whatever happens for the

Conservative Party. This was a rift waiting to happen. They could've

been resignations if ministers were not given the freedom to campaign.

David Cameron is trying to forestall that at least. There are bigger

apples on the table as well. If this referendum goes the way of Britain

leaving the European Union, they are talking about whether David Cameron

himself can survive as Prime Minister. So no collective

responsibility? Only until the deal is reached. Until then, ministers

are required to stick together in the normal way by the normal rules.

When the deal is reached, there are such diverging points of view in the

Cabinet, it would have been futile, frankly, for the Prime Minister to

keep that line or a raise it in the any away. He has given them the

freedom they were looking for. There was no other choice. John, can I ask

you why you think the shadow culture secretary has been sacked by Jeremy

Corbyn? He knew he was for the chop. He has known that for some time. We

are getting ready for the blow to fall. He has made no secret of his

differences with Jeremy Corbyn. We have had him attacking some of those

who support Jeremy Corbyn. While we expect the likes of higher up the

tree, of Hilary Benn to carry on in that post of Shadow Foreign

Secretary, and Maria Eagle, Michael Dugher is the lower hanging fruit

and he has been duly plug. I have been looking at his tweet. Nice to

know the spirit of fraternity is not entirely dead in the Labour Party.

Thank you, John. Now the sport. Hello again. The second test has

resumed in Cape Town. England trying not to waste Ben Stokes's heroics at

the weekend. But South Africa are eating into their first innings

total. England took just one wicket all day yesterday. South African

captain Hashim Amla resumed on 157. He is closing in on a double

century. Faf Du Plessis is going along very well. Approaching a

century. No wickets so far. South Africa 414-3.

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has been fined around ?5,000 for making

inappropriate comments to a female cricket presenter in a live TV

interview during a match in Australia. He is playing for

Melbourne Renegades in the big bass. He asked Mel MacLachlan for a date.

He said to see her eyes for the first time was nice. He told her not

to blush. Returning from the match in Hobart, he spoke to the media and

said it was a simple joke but he has apologised.

It wasn't meant to be disrespectful or offensive to Mel. If she felt

that way, I'm really sorry for that. There was not any harm meant in that

particular way like that. It was a simple joke. The game was going on.

Entertainment, things get out of proportion. There was no harm done.

I will leave it at that. I am sorry for that.

We have to move on. I was going about my business and doing my job.

Definitely a good thing that people are talking. We want equality. I

have always felt in my career and nothing but respect. He did issue an

apology and I accept that. You do not expect to get that kind of

answer. It is a little disappointing. Rafa

Benitez is looking for work again only seven months after landing his

dream job. This work -- is Real Madrid side only lost three times

but Benitez has been sacked and replaced by the reserve team coach,

Zinedine Zidane. He was one of the original star players. He must try

to get the best out of the current crop of stars.

I will be back at half past ten. A British Hindu man from East London

who converted to Islam, is the chief suspect

in the investigation to identify a masked man with an English accent

who appears in the latest video 32-year-old Siddhartha Dhar

travelled to Syria with his wife and four children in 2014,

a day after being released on bail for terrorism offences,

while being investigated by Scotland What have you been told? His sister

paints a picture of a man being influenced And he gets radicalised

by a group after his father died. He becomes a strict pop possibility of

what then becomes Islamic state. He, as we have been hearing, had been a

guest on the BBC, on other networks, talking about how much he thought

the Islamic state was something that he admired.

2014, he is arrested, escapes, finds his way to Paris, then over to the

Islamic state where he spends about a year as this propaganda person

putting up pictures of himself and children, talking about how the

Islamic state was this cosmopolitan heaven. I've got to tell you,

Victoria, he's been regarded as a little bit of a joke, a loud mouth,

very naive, but very keen to be in the Spotlight. We had a guest saying

the same thing a few minutes ago. His sister said she was so shocked

that she saw this, if this is indeed him because she said she hadn't

heard from him for about a year. We have been talking over the past six

months or so and she said she feared he had died. She said she was

shocked when she saw this video. Obviously I have mixed emotions at

the moment. I think initially my first feeling in regards to the

latest video which was I believe released yesterday was shock and

horror. Just because of the audio and yes, I would probably say shock

and horror would be the first feeling. I think the thing she

really wanted to make clear was because this man had a family. Her

point was that she has nieces and nephews that are there. The big

difference between this guy and Mohammed Emwazi was that, although

he had children, his were here. She spoke to me about this, she was

worried and said should there be a drone attack, that her young nieces

and nephews could be hurt in such an attacking. They never made the

choice to go out there. It's important for the government and my

brother and other people to look at the lives they are affecting. I

think we should give them an option too because it's not fair on them

either. So when you think about the possible repercussions and the fact

that he has a family that could be affected, how does that make you

feel? A mixture of feelings, sad, powerless, disheartened. I wish

there was something in place to perhaps, I don't know, enable the

children to have a better life. If he was here now, what would you say?

What are you doing and do you even care to know how I feel about this

and, you know, God, you're supposed to be my older brother here and I've

got so much love and respect for you but what are you doing? What would

your message be for the Government as they prepare possibly a reaction

to what they have seen? I would like for them to consider sort of the

families that the children who're also involved, I would like for them

to consider that most - I can't speak for everyone - but people like

my brother are British still, not that that should have any sort of

prominence into who should be killed or not, but they're still British

nationals. I think it would be very sort of wrong of the Government to

issue further air strikes on this. I think if it is possible for

alternatives to be considered, I would like for them to be considered

and if there's anything that I or anyone else can do to help prevent

further atrocities, we need to be well informed. I also think that

families that are left behind sort of, it's really heartbreaking to

watch this as it is to accept. I just can't imagine him wanting to do

this. He's the most amicable, friendly, light-hearted person that

I'll remember and I'll always remember that being my brother. You

have given me a lot of how you are thinking, but you have not told me

how you're feeling? I feel helpless. I don't know what I can do and I

feel devastated and powerless. That sums up how I feel. There was a

sense that she's sad and in denial too about whether this could be her

brother which, we should say, we still don't know 100%, we have had a

suggestion that it's the government's main suspect, but we

haven't had confirmation. Breaking news to bring you: This about HSBC

customers. Millions of customers having problems with online banking

for the second day running. The online service failed after HSBC

said it was back up and running. Customers are being directed, and

you will know this if you are a customer, being directed to the app

for smartphones but this is a lot slower than normal. They don't know

yet what the fault is but they are working on it. This bit of breaking

news about the weather and the rainfall in December, this perhaps

won't surprise you. December 2015 was the wettest month in the UK

since records began back in 1910, those are provisional figures from

the Met Office. The wettest month in Britain since records began back in

1910. Let us nip back to Westminster. And our Political

Editor Norman Smith is there. Mr Dugher sacked. What do you know

about this? This is the first sacking by Jeremy Corbyn. At long

last, there is movement. Michael Dugher was the Shadow Culture

Secretary, he is out. He's been one of the most critical of the Shadow

Cabinet about Mr Corbyn both in public and in private. In public

just a couple of days ago he was warning about the whole idea of a

cull of Mr Corbyn's critics saying the Shadow Cabinet would be reduced

to a polit bureau. He came up with the original description of the

so-called revenge reshuffle. Mr Corbyn told him a short time ago, I

don't like what you have been writing about me and Mr Dugher's

response was, I felt I needed to stick up for colleagues. He wished

him a happy New Year, but that is it, he is gone. The interesting

thing is, will anyone else go? At the moment, all the signs are this

could yet be the damp squib reshuffle because the indications

are Hilary Benn, the Shadow Foreign Secretary will keep his job, he's

not going to be booted out even though he clashed with Mr Corbyn

over Syria. Likewise, Maria eagle who disagrees with him over Trident

will remain in the Shadow Cabinet but no longer in the defence port

polio. And even prominent Blairites like Lord Falconer look set to keep

their job. So after all this hype about the big shake-up, the radical

restructuring, the indications are actually it could be a pretty

modest, pretty restrained, pretty minor reshuffle.

Thank you very much. Norman will be back should there be

more promotions or demotions, if we can put it like that!

The family of David Rathband - the police officer shot and blinded

by gunman Raoul Moat - are suing Northumbria Police

They claim the force were negligent in not warning officers that Moat

had threatened to kill a police officer just minutes before

he attacked David Rathband, who was sitting in his patrol car

Here's a reminder of the events of early July 2010.

One night in the summer of 2010, two people were shot in the quiet town

of Wrothbury. S Samantha was injured and her partner was killed. Good

evening, armed police in Northumbria are searching for a man suspected of

double shooting... Police sooned looked for a middle aged man

released from Durham Prison. Moat was stock Bart's ex-boyfriend and

held a grudge against the police. Innocent people have been hurt. This

must stop now. After the first shooting, Moat went on the run.

Locals were told to stay indoors. Nothing prepares you for see a

picture postcard town like this one patrolled by heavily armed police

marksmen. The team have promised to post police officers outside every

school. In the small hours of July 4th, Moat phoned the police to tell

them he was on the lookout for officers. Minutes after that call,

he approached a parked police car and shot into the front windscreen.

The man sitting inside, David Wrathband was taken to hospital, in

a critical condition -- Rathband. Moat called the police again.

After seven days on the run, Moat was cornered in a field to the north

of the village lying down on the grass, he held a gun against his own

head. After six hours of negotiations, he pulled the trigger.

He was later pronounced dead at Newcastle General Hospital.

The police officer who was shot, David Rathband was blinded in both

eyes. Unable to cope, he took his own life in 2012. His brother and

sister are now continuing the legal case he started and taking

Northumbria Police to the High Court saying they were negligent for not

quickly warning officers of the threat to their own lives.

David Rathband told me in an interview in October 2010,

three months after the atttack, about its devastating impact on him.

The hardest thing is knowing that it's only because I'm determined

that I go out the house, you know, to actually pick up a white stick

and walk out of a house with no vision at all... It's extremely

hard. But erm... But I do it. And I do it with 100%

commitment because I want to achieve some level of normality and I want

to get back to being what I was before I was shot. Me out walking

with a cane, to do that is just the level of concentration that's

required, my thought process is why I'm doing it in relation to things

happening to me while I'm out and about and I don't foresee a time

where I'll be able to do that on my own which is a big loss to me.

When you are out and about, do you feel pretty vulnerable? You know,

when I joined the police, I used to struggle with people's fear of crime

and I think a lot of that was because I used to try to do my best

to do something to remove the issue, whether it was arresting people or

what not, but it's gone full circle for me now. Every time that I've

been out with a mobility trainer or my wife, I feel vulnerable. It's not

a very nice place to be. We can speak exclusively now

to David Rathband's twin brother, Darren Rathband, in his first TV

interview, on why he and his sister are still pursuing the legal action

that David started before he died Darren, thank you very much for

talking to us. Why is it important to you that you continue this legal

action? Hello and thanks for giving us the opportunity to speak to you.

I suppose the main reason is David started it. David was quite adamant

that he was let down by his Police Service and having been told by his

Chief Constable and obviously I was present that that happened, that

they could have done more and that he should sue them, he's commenced

the legal proceedings, sought advice and the advice was that there was a

claim there or certainly the legal team thought that there was a claim

there and that he had been let down and put into a position of danger

that could have been avoided. Effectively, what you are saying, is

that the gunman had actually phoned 999 to say he was hunting for police

officers and that the Northumbria force was negligent in not passing

that warning on to all those working who were on patrol that night, like

your brother? I think that's obviously one of the issues that the

legal team have identified and obviously that led to the ultimate

incident where David was shot and left fighting for his life at the

side of the road. The strange thing is, David was single crewed that

evening which ultimately saved his partner but was against their own

policy. Northumbria police aren't the only Police Service in the UK

that have a single crew policy. They breached their own policy, as well

as other Police Services do, across the UK.

But had he been alongside a colleague in that car, he might

still have been snot? Yes, look, I'm fully aware that it may have been

somebody else but the issue is, they may not have been there and I think

if we go back to the warning, if that warning would have been given

out by their control room that was in chaos at the time, then David may

not have been shot, probably wouldn't have been shot and no other

officers would have been put at risk. And it's strange actually

Victoria because, prior to David being shot, I think it was stated

that Moat and that vehicle he was driving in was actually following

another patrol car so it could have been more than one person that was

shot that was serving for Northumbria Police.

What do you want from the force? I want Northumbria police to

acknowledge that they let David down. It is too late for David but

it is not too late for other officers. It is not unique to

Northumbria police. It is across the whole country. If you are injured on

duty, and having served as a police officer in the UK, you have to fight

for everything. David had to fight to get counselling after being

blasted in the face by a maniac. He had to fight for psychological

treatment. He was told he could only have minimum sessions. That is the

sort of thing that officers across the country have to go through on a

day-to-day basis. They give everything and they get nothing back

in return when they are injured. I know that your brother was hoping

for a financial pay-out to help pay for his medical care and to support

his children. Is that something you want as well? The first thing David

was hoping for was that his left eye was repairable. He was hoping more

than anything, he was not interested in the money, he was interested in

trying to get some sort of normality, like what was said in the

piece you played before. David just wanted some sort of vision. Losing

his eyesight, he knew that he had to fight to be supported after the

police service or going forward as a blind 44-year-old, or 42-year-old

male. Money would not have given him what he wanted back. His family now,

I am left to fight my brother's battle for his children. They

benefit from any litigation. They are the sole beneficiaries of

David's estate. Nobody gets any money apart from the kids. I am

determined to see it through the end and hopefully the judgment will come

down in our favour and vindicate what David said from the day he was

shot. Thank you for talking to us. The twin brother of PC David

Rathband. That case begins next week. Darren in Adelaide in

Australia. We asked Northumbria Police

for a statement to respond They told us: "It would be

inappropriate for us to make any We'll take a look at Barack Obama's

plans to widen background checks on buyers of firearms,

in a series of measures And later, the moment a blind woman

sees for the first time in 16 years Government ministers will be free to

campaign for either side in the EU referendum. That will only come

after the Prime Minister has reached a deal on reforming the UK's

relationship with the European Union.

A referendum has been promised next year. There is trouble ahead on

Europe whatever happens for the Conservative Party. This was a rift

waiting to happen. There could have been cabinet and other resignations

if ministers had not been given this freedom to campaign. David Cameron

is trying to forestall this at least. There are bigger apples on

the table as well. If this referendum goes the way of Britain

leaving the European Union, they are talking about whether David Cameron

can survive as leader. Michael Dugher, until this morning

Shadow culture secretary, has been sacked as part of the Labour

reshuffle. Apparently he was told the Labour Party leader did not like

the things he was writing. Liam Byrne told us Jeremy Corbyn should

appoint more women. Labour is blessed with some

outstanding female politicians. If you are the leader of the Labour

Party, you are a bit like a football manager. It is your job to put the

best team on the pitch. Right now most of us want to see more women

playing in stronger positions. A Muslim convert from east London

is the main suspect as security agencies work to confirm

the identity of a masked extremist in a video released

by the Islamic State terror group. Siddhartha Dhar travelled to Syria

with his family in 2014. Millions of HSBC customers are

having problems with online banking for a second day. The bank has not

worked out what the fault is but insists it is not an attack from

outside. The Met Office says December was the

wettest month in Britain since records began in 1910. Swathes of

the country have seen floods. The average temperature is the highest

at 7.9 Celsius since 1984. Now the sport. Still no wickets for

England in the second test in Cape Town. Any chance of victory seems to

be slipping away, with South Africa on 420 8003. Captain Hashim Amla has

brought up his double century before lunch.

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has been fined around ?5,000 for making

inappropriate comments to a female cricket presenter in a live TV

interview during a match in Australia.

He is playing for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash.

Naomi Broady has claimed the best win of her career. She beat second

seed and former world number one and Ivanovic in straight sets at the

Auckland classic. And Zinedine Zidane says he feels more emotional

now than when he joined the club as a player. He has taken over from

Rafa Benitez as Real Madrid manager. The Spaniard was sacked after only

seven months in charge. It seems so simple -

a drug that can make you smarter, improve your memory,

your concentration or motivation, and generally help you perform

better at work or when preparing Could it be that simple? Susan says

they will not enhance your intelligence. Helen says she has had

some on prescription. For heard a side were awful. She said whatever

came into airhead. She also had insomnia. She finds it really

worrying that they can be obtained by some naive people. Leading

experts tell us there are no long-term safety studies into the

damaged so-called smart drugs may do.

The Home Office have told us they don't plan on including them

in an upcoming bill banning drugs with "psychoactive effect"

Benjamin Zand has been investigating.

After a week of waiting my parcel has arrived from the undisclosed

location in India to my desk in London. I am slightly nervous for a

number of reasons. Mainly because I do not usually take prescription

drugs. I held off taking the drugs until the following day. I also

consulted a doctor. I was taking a huge risk. I was heading to

Cambridge University to try and find out how and if modafinil actually

worked. They had agreed to test me to see if it had any effect on my

cognitive abilities. Can you tell me how it works? We know about its

actions in the brain and we know it affects neurotransmitters but we do

not know which one of these effects is to do with the improvements we

have seen in people's cognition. We know it acts on dopamine and low

adrenaline. We think all of these are important for cognitive

functions. The professor has been studying modafinil for years. She

says we still do not really know how it works as a cognitive enhancer.

But she says it does work. Depends what you mean by, do they make you

more smart? They might improve your ability to plan and problem solve.

Does that mean you are getting smarter? After the interview I was

taken into a room to do the test. The idea is I am going to do a test

without taking modafinil and one taking modafinil and comparing the

performance. Over lunch I took my first ever hit

modafinil. I don't really feel that much different. It has been about an

hour and a half. I feel pretty much the same. I do feel slightly more

awake. I have just walked in the cold for a while so maybe that is

why. I will keep you posted. You performed better than 95% of the

population. When you were not on modafinil you scored better than

85%. Does that make me a genius? Yes! Three hours flew by in a matter

of seconds. And I feel so much more awake, so much more focused and

quite amazed. These tests must be taken with a pinch of salt. There

are other factors that could have contributed to my results. It is is

busy vixen. At this point I needed to see how it worked in real life.

It was not going to be plain sailing.

To watch the full film, headed to our programme page. Let's talk to

Marcus Ball, who has been taking smart drugs for six months, and the

professor you saw in the film. Markers, once a month for six months

you have been taking modafinil, why? I do not want to take it too often.

The long-term studies are almost nonexistent. The first time I tried

it the effects for me were so strong and it felt so effective and helped

me so much, it kind of made me feel that anything that good cannot be

good for you in the long term. What were you like before you took it and

when you started taking it what difference did you see? I have

always been focused and hard-working. I have always

considered myself to be very focused, as I said. When I took the

drug for the first time it gave me better perspective. Just to be clear

I am not better perspective. Just to be clear

for me personally it helped me. I realised how lazy I was previously.

I would never have considered myself to be lazy. The way I would describe

the sensation is when you are doing work that is quite stressful, you

have several different emotions. Self-doubt, the desire to be

distracted, procrastination etc. When I first took it I did not feel

those sensations. I felt this is my work, I have to get it done. And yes

I did. And it was fantastic. It felt fantastic, yes. Board was the

quality of the work all right? I hope so. I think so, personally. Is

the effect similar to drinking ten cups of Coffey in a day? You do have

to take a lot of caffeine as Coffey did get a similar effect. That is

usually 100 mg or 200 milligrams. Usually when you take that much

caffeine, a lot of people will notice they get tremors or

palpitations. The other side effects usually come on with the higher

doses of caffeine. That is one reason we did some studies. I love

that sleep deprived surgeons to see if it would improve their surgery.

You do not want any tremor in a surgeon. There might be better

alerting agents which do not have those side-effects. What was the

outcome of that? We found the surgeons under modafinil were less

impulsive and better at problem solving. It did help them. They did

not experience side-effects. The issue is long-term? The issue is

long-term because we have no long-term safety studies and we need

those. Any chance of that happening soon? Is quite difficult because the

FDA and Fee MA are usually looking at treatments for disorders or

diseases. They do not look at the regulation of drugs for healthy

people. Now that we have this expanding lifestyle use of these

cognitive enhancing smart drugs it is important these studies are done.

Any negative side-effects? None at all. I went off it. Very thirsty.

Having to drink a lot of water. That is basically it. Dehydration, is

that something you have come across? With any of these drugs, especially

if you're working a lot, you have to remember to take fluids. One thing

Marcus has brought out it is not just the cognitive enhancement, it

is the task related motivation, which we have seen. For these tasks

were you have to get down and do them, the drugs help people. They

find the task more pleasurable. You said you were a focussed

individual? It magnifies it. If I had boring tasks to accomplish, like

e-mails over and over again, when I was on Modafanil, it was so easy, I

could breeze through it. Have you read them back the next day? Yes,

everything seemed fine, I haven't had any awful news since then. You

said you are not going to take it long-term because there are no

long-term safety issues and you have decided that anything that is that

good for you in your view maybe cannot be good for you? Maybe,

there's not that much evidence. When will you stop? I don't know. The

biggest issue is sourcing it. Buying it on the Internet, how can you

trust that, where does it come from, who is making it? I think the

Government should team up with a pharmaceutical company and create

some kind of safe supply and tie that in with research so they can

sup my it to people in the UK and test the effects. You are nodding in

agreement. I agree. I've written in my publications that the Government

should get together with the pharmaceutical industry because

people are buying the drugs over the Internet, which is an unsafe way to

get prescription only medication. To restrict harms harms it will be

better. We heard in the film that Benjamin produced, he had a 10%

improvement. The Academy of Medical Sciences showed in their report that

even a small 10% improvement in a memory score could lead to a higher

A-level grade or degree class, so there may be times when we want to

use the drugs. The military is using them. The Canadians use them for

astronauts, so they are in use and in America you can get Modafanil due

to shift work problems because they found it reduces accidents in the

work place. President Barack Obama is expected

to announce plans for tougher restrictions on gun ownership

in the United States All gun sellers will have to be

registered as dealers and must carry Officials say privacy laws will be

amended to remove legal barriers on checking the mental health

records of potential owners. Mr Obama said the measures

have the potential to save lives. Although we have to be very clear

that this is not going to solve every violent crime in this country,

it's not going to prevent every mass shooting, it's not going to keep the

gun out of every hands of a criminal. It will potentially save

lives in this country and spare families the pain and the

extraordinary loss that they suffer. Let's talk now to Jeff Mason -

he's the Reuters White House Thank you very much for joining us.

I know it's early there. Tell us what difference it will make to

those buying and selling guns, what will the sellers have to do with

customers? It will effect more people. The attorney of the United

States explained to us that this could effect people who maybe sell

one or two guns at a flea market, also people who'd be selling guns

over the Internet, at gun shows and in stores. They'll be required to be

licensed and that will trigger a requirement that gun buyers go

through background checks. It will effect a lot more people and that is

the loophole in current US law that the White House was aiming to close

with the new regulations. So if you wanted to sell me a gun, you have to

get yourself a licence. What kind of background checks do you do on me if

I wanted to buy a gun, what would you need to ask me? That's a good

question. I don't think it's that the gun dealer himself would have to

conduct the background check. There are background checks that would be

triggered through the Government, through the FBI, to look into

whether or not you are on a list or on some kind of a warning that would

suggest that you would not be capable or should not be owning a

gun. OK. How is President Obama going to get this through if he's

going to by pass congress? Well, that's a good question and that's

kind of the point. He's using his executive authority to install this

new regulation that. Means he's not creating a law that needs to be

passed by congress and that is the rub with Republicans who oppose what

he's doing, they say he's going around them instead of going through

them. The reason he's doing that is, he tried in 2013 after the school

shooting, he tried to pass new measures and failed. He did some

executive action and now, a couple of years later, he's making one last

attempt to use his executive authority to make this happen. He

made a point of saving in The Oval office yesterday that this was

consistent with the second amendment of the US Constitution with which

guarantees Americans the right to bear arms. But it will almost

certainly cause some people to think, hey, this isn't legally sound

and could lead to some challenges in court.

Thank you very much Jeff Mason. Thank you for waiting up for us.

A woman who's gradually been losing her sight for years has been

describing the joys of being able to see again after being fitted

Forty nine year old Rhian Lewis, from Cardiff, lost all her sight

in her right eye and most of the sight in her left eye 16

years ago, but as part of a trial at John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford

she was given a retinal implant, which could go on to benefit

thousands of people suffering from sight loss.

This is Rhian explaining her condition and the moment

when the implant is switched on for the first time.

It's a bit like if someone is putting a dimmer switch off ever so

gradually and it's going lower and lower and lower and the light is

going less and less. It's been maybe eight years since I've had any idea

what my children look like and I certainly don't know how I've aged.

It's a pulse and then a flash. Should I go down further...

Six and 12. Flee. -- three. I think three is longer. Oh, it is. Oh, my

God. Well done. I got it right. Well done. Honest to God, it felt like

Christmas Day. Let's talk to Alexina, one of the

nurse leaders of the trial at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

Thank you very much for talking to us, it is amazing isn't it? ! It is.

Thank you, Victoria. Yes, this is the second phase of a very exciting

programme of trials for us. We on rated on six patients over the last

six years -- operated on six patients. We have operated on three

more and will have three more lined up. For the second phase of the

study, the results so far are very promising.

So for short hand, we are calling it a bionic eye, I don't know if that

pleases or displeases you, but it's effectively a tiny electronic chip

at the back of Rhian's retina. Tell us how it worked? Well, the retina

at the back of the eye has cells which pick up the light and transmit

images to the brain to be translated. With the retina pig

meant, the photo cremes progressively lose their activity

and so the retinal implement is replacing those photo receptors. The

optic nerve has to be in good working order and we carry out a lot

of tests before we select our participants to make sure that

that's in good working order. The images are transferred through the

chip, through the optic nerve to the visual centre in the brain to

translate as images. I understand. So it's replacing the function of

the photo receptors. That's right. How tiny is it Very tiny, 3mm x 3mm.

OK. In terms of the operation, how long does it take, how complicated

is it? The operation is very complex indeed, involving a team of

surgeons, opthalmologists and ear, nose and throat surgeons. The

operation itself takes approximately eight hours. Sometimes a little

less, sometimes a little bit more, depending on anything that presents

itself during the surgery process. And after the operation, does it

take time for somebody like Rhian to sort of learn to use it, if I can

put it like that? Yes. Let's compare it perhaps with relearning a skill.

These individuals will have had vision in the early part of their

life. We prefer to select individuals who have had vision up

to approximately the age of 12 years of age so they have a good visual

memory and when we stimulate the retina again and reactivate this

process, the patients essentially have to relearn to see so it's quite

a long process and it involves quite a lot of training similar to the

training that you will have seen Rhian taking part in in the filming.

Yes. In terms of other people then who've been losing their sight, is

it as simple as saying this chip can be implanted into all sorts of

people with partial vision? No. We have to select our patients very

carefully. We have to concentrate on patients with retinitis pigmentosa

at the moment because they have a fully functioning optic nerve still.

We have to do a lot of testing before we select our patients and

that's one of the main criteria. So very careful patient selection,

especially with the individuals. We have to make sure that

psychologically they are able to take part. If you can imagine taking

part in such complex surgery, they are committing themselveses to a

long programme of a clinical trial. If for any reason we find after the

surgery and switching the retinal implant on, it's not fully

functioning, that's a big disappointment for somebody so we do

have to prepare them very carefully for dis disappointments in case the

implant doesn't work. OK, thank you very much.

Thank you for your company today, and for all your messages

which really do help to inform our conversations.

Joanna is presenting the programme tomorrow,