19/04/2016 Victoria Derbyshire

Hello, it's 9am, I'm Joanna Gosling, welcome to the programme.

Michael Gove - one of the most senior politicians

campaigning to leave the EU - accuses Vote Remain of treating

voters like children who can be "frightened into obedience".

Are girls being sexually harassed at school?

Concern about growing sexualised behaviour amongst pupils has

We'll be discussing the scale of the problem.

And the extraordinary story of how a woman with 41 brothers and sisters

escaped her abusive life in a polygamous sect in Mexico.

I am my mother's fourth child and my father's 39. He had 42 kids, just a

few months apart. I grew up in a colony in a polygamist town in

northern Mexico. Hello, welcome to the programme,

we're live until 11am this morning. A powerful account of how

one young woman coped with the shock of losing her hair

because of alopecia. We'll hear from her a little later,

but do get in touch if you have We'd also like to hear

from you if your child missed out on your first choice

of primary school. If you text, you will be charged

at the standard network rate. And don't forget if you've

got a story you think we should be covering,

do send it to us. Some of our best stories come

from you, our viewers. The Justice Secretary, Michael Gove,

the Cabinet's leading campaigner for Britain to leave

the European Union, is accusing the Vote Remain side of patronising

voters with their arguments. Yesterday a report by the Treasury

claimed that leaving the EU would cost every UK household

?4300 a year by 2030. Mr Gove will say in a speech this

morning that they are treating people like "children, capable

of being frightened into obedience". With us now is our Political

Guru, Norman Smith. Tell us more about what he is

saying. It is all kicking off, yesterday we

had George Osborne setting out his big case about why we should stay in

the EU. Today it is his close friend, Michael Gove, setting out

exactly the opposite case of why we should get out. Yesterday the

Chancellor warning about the risks to our wallet, to the economy, if we

left. Today Michael Gove saying, no, no, the real risk is staying in,

because if we stay in, he says, EU countries will basically think, that

is it, we can do what we want with Britain, take more power, more money

from them. But what I find striking about Mr Gove's speech is some of

the language he is using. Michael Gove is one of the more, shall we

say, polite members of the cabinet, you doesn't really get involved in

the argy-bargy rough-and-tumble. Today he accuses David Cameron and

George Osborne of treating the electorate like children, trying to

frighten them into a obedience by conjuring up bogeyman. He will say

they want people to think Britain is beaten and broken, and he

specifically attacks them over immigration, because he says in

yesterday's Treasury report Mr Osborne, in effect, conceded the

Government had failed and would continue to fail over immigration,

that it would keep going up by hundreds and thousands every year

despite the Government's promise to get it down to the tens of

thousands. He was on the wireless this morning as well as the boot boy

stuff, he was trying to put on a more positive image about what

Brexit could mean. We would have a relationship of free

trade and friendly cooperation, we would be able to demonstrate that

democratic self-government, the model of Government we have that in

the past, like countries like Australia and Canada used to their

advantage, can be deployed by us to spend money on our authorities and

in order to negotiate new trade deals with other countries.

What we won't get today, which we got yesterday, is any sort of

dossier or document spelling out the details of what Brexit would

actually mean. Yesterday we had Mr Osborne's Magnum Opus, that 200 page

what of analysis, equations. The League sides said they will not

produce one because they do not have the people to do that sort of thing

and they are not sure how worthwhile it is, but expect them to come under

pressure today to spell out in a lot more detail what Brexit will

actually mean. You talk about the argy-bargy

rough-and-tumble of the campaign, is it starting to look like civil War

in the Tory party? I think it is, yes. I'm here today,

Cabinet going on behind me, I wonder what is going on in the Cabinet

room, you can imagine them sitting around the table, maybe kicking each

other under the table, flicking pellets at each other! What is the

mood like in the Cabinet? Arrival charge and countercharge, it is

spreading beyond Europe -- the rightful charge. Michael Gove was

attacking immigration, yesterday pretty but tell at acting the

Government over its education policy, the day before that the

culture Secretary John Whittingdale attacking the Government over the

national living wage, then remember Iain Duncan Smith. It is spreading

and deepening the conflict within the Tory party, and you are left

wondering how on earth do they put the party back together once this

referendum is over? Thank you, Norman.

Annita McVeigh is in the BBC Newsroom.

Reports from Afghanistan suggest more than 20 people have been killed

and more than 200 wounded in a suicide attack

The bombing happened in a residential neighbourhood close

to the Ministry of Defence and intelligence service offices

The Taliban has claimed responsibility, a week after it said

it was launching a 'spring offensive'.

413 people are now known to have died in Ecuador's worst

But, two days on, emergency workers are still attempting

to locate survivors, with some success stories.

This man was working in a hotel when it collapsed.

Firefighters said they discovered the bodies of seven other

people at the site before finding him alive.

But despite some positive moments, people in the hardest hit

towns are now beginning to bury their dead.

Our correspondent Katy Watson has travelled to the disaster zone.

While many families are still searching for loved ones,

others are already having to bury theirs.

Three members of the same family were killed in

While the family grieved, the community of El Carmen

Football fanatic Joselo was the fourth victim.

His pallbearers wearing his football strip in honour of

A few hundred metres down the road we find his house,

He was trying to get his car out when the roof collapsed on him.

It was a three-storey building, now it's just rubble.

There are no survivors, just a clean-up operation.

Neighbours have returned to sort through their belongings,

TRANSLATION: Luckily we were not in the apartment,

Down the road, we see several other collapsed buildings,

Most of those who were killed lived near coastal towns.

Among the dead, Sister Claire Theresa Crockett,

She was killed with five others when a stairwell collapsed

Rescue workers told me this town is more than 80% flattened,

and the death toll will be far higher than what authorities

Time is running out for those still trapped.

Cancer researchers say a fifth of people diagnosed

with advanced melanoma who were treated with a combination

of two immunotherapy drugs in a trial survived

British doctors leading the trial said the results were

The scale of sexual violence and intimidation in schools is to be

The Women and Equalities Committee commissioned research

before the investigation, which suggested that many

assaults went unreported, and sex education was failing

to tackle a culture in which boys felt entitled to inappropriate

The research that we have done would suggest that six-year-old

harassment, even six-year-old assaults, are pretty commonplace,

but we don't have a real insight into the scale of this problem. We

want to encourage young people, teachers, anybody who has an

interest in this, to come forward and give evidence as part of our

inquiry -- sexual harassment and sexual assaults.

And coming up on the programme, we'll be discussing this and talking

to a woman who was sexually assaulted at school when she was 15.

Survivors of a boat carrying migrants which capsized

in the Mediterranean Sea have told the BBC that up to 500

people drowned, although there is no official confirmation.

The group said they were travelling from Libya to Italy,

and joined a larger boat already packed with

Numbers of migrants making the dangerous sea crossing

New research suggests that dinosaur numbers may already

have been in decline 50 million years before an asteroid

That's the finding of a study by researchers at Reading

The new analysis challenges the current view that dinosaurs had

been flourishing right up until the asteroid hit the Earth

Our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh has more.

They dominated the earth for 165 million years.

A giant asteroid sent up clouds of dust that blotted out the sun.

The mighty creatures that had once reigned supreme were wiped out.

The fantastic vertebral column shows you the sort of size

Now a new study of their fossil remains shows that dinosaurs

were dying out 50 million years before the asteroid struck.

We found, in fact, unexpectedly, that many dinosaur groups

were declining to a certain extent towards the end,

so not that this decline caused the final extinction,

that still was the asteroid impact, but a fair number of groups

of dinosaurs had lost their evolutionary vim.

Up until now, many scientists believed that dinosaurs

were still going strong right up to the moment that the asteroid

But the new research indicates that they were actually in decline,

because they simply couldn't cope with the way that the

There are lots of things going on in the world prior

to the asteroid hitting, including changes in sea level,

for example, changes in the amount of land area,

changes in the plants that are living on the land,

So lots of different environmental variables that might have been

affecting the success of dinosaurs long before the catastrophe that

Many wonder whether humans would exist at all were it not

for the chance impact of an asteroid 66 million years ago.

But the new study suggests that dinosaurs may have been on their way

out and our very early evolutionary ancestors could well have

established a foothold even if the asteroid had never hit.

A replica of an ancient arch destroyed by the so-called

Islamic State group in the Syrian city of Palmyra will be unveiled

The copy of the 2000-year-old Arch of Triumph has been built using 3D

printing techniques, and marble donated by the Egyptian government.

He's normally a critics' favourite, but Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has

been panned by Australia's deputy prime minister for his

Depp made the video with his partner, Amber Heard,

after she was convicted of bringing their two pet dogs

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who last year threatened

to have the dogs put down if they were not taken back

to America, described the apology as "atrocious" and said Depp

was unlikely to win an Oscar for his performance.

A duck which lost both feet to frostbite has been fitted

with a new pair made on a 3D printer.

Philip the duck was rescued in the US state of Wisconsin,

He was going to be put down until a high school technology

teacher agreed to try making a new pair with his class.

Philip is now practising walking on his new limbs

Doing a pretty good job of it, I think!

That's a summary of the latest BBC News - more at 9.30.

In a moment we'll be discussing sexual harassment

We would love to hear your thoughts on this.

We'd also love to hear from you if you've suffered from alopecia,

Do get in touch with us throughout the morning -

If you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate.

Will Perry has the sport now and Tottenham keep the pressure

on Leicester at the top of the Premier League.

"Leicester City, we're coming for you" - that was the song

from the Tottenham fans at the Britannia Stadium last night

as Spurs came away 4-0 winners over Stoke to close the gap

on Claudio Ranieri's side at the top of the Premier League to five points

This curling finish from Harry Kane, his 23rd League goal of the season,

Dele Alli doubled the lead before he hit a post

Kane then rolled in the third before Alli's volley wrapped up Tottenham's

ninth away league win of the season and three points which has them

Leicester had a tough game yesterday, dropped a couple of

points, we were ready to put the pressure on. I do think there is

much point being involved if you are not ready to do it. Leicester are in

the driving seat, still five points ahead, but four games left so we

have closed the gap, that is all we could have done tonight.

Leicester may be without their top scorer Jamie Vardy

for potentially two of their four games in the title run-in.

Vardy, who's scored 22 goals this season, could well see his initial

one game ban for a red card extended after being charged

Vardy remonstrated with referee Jon Moss after he was dismissed

with two yellows in Sunday's draw with West Ham.

The troubles continue to mount up for already-relegated Aston Villa.

Just days after they went down to the Championship, two members

of the board set up to turn the club around have walked out.

Former FA Chairman David Bernstein and the ex-Governor of the Bank

of England Lord King have reportedly clashed with owner Randy Lerner.

Newcastle are doing their best to avoid joining Villa

They won 3-0 at home to Swansea on Saturday,

but they're still three points from safety and face an in-form

We cannot control the other teams, we have to control what we can, our

team, the mentality, the focus, the fans, the staff, everyone here, so

we have to stick together, work hard, try to get three points in

this game. All the build up and full

commentary from St James' Park And finally, with the

Formula E Championship - for electric cars coming

to Paris this weekend, to publicise it, renowned stuntman,

free-runner and gymnast, Damien Walters, became the first

person to carry out a blind car-dodge over an approaching

Formula E Car travelling at 60mph. Look at this, with his back

to the car, he flips over it Walters has worked as a stunt double

for the likes of Daniel Craig We have the car heading down to

London for you to try it out. I cannot think why he thought that he

would do that! It is astonishing. Ridiculous. Hats off to Damien!

Yeah, it is impressive. Don't try it at home.

The idea that girls are suffering from sexual harassment -

and even sexual violence - at school will shock most parents.

We assume schools provide a safe environment for all pupils,

but concern that this is not always the case has prompted MPs to launch

They are worried about increasing levels of sexualised behaviour

and believe schools may not be taking the problem seriously enough.

We can speak now to Shannon Rooney, who was sexually attacked at school

when she was 15, that was four years ago.

Let's also bring in the Children's Commissioner for England,

Anne Longfield, as well as Vicky Jenkinson, who acts as an advocate

for Girl Guiding, and Kiri Tunks, a secondary school

Ann, is this something you have been concerned about, the sexualisation

of schoolchildren? Young people have been telling me their concerns

around sexual relationships, relationships more Jenny, and their

ability to manage those. What sort of concerns? They're concerned about

relationships that they feel are out of control. There is notes in the

report about a laddism culture and that's something that comes through

from some young people. When there are difficulties, children have been

abused or exploited, often say that they don't feel they were prepared

for understanding those relationships, consent a big issue

for them and they don't feel that they have the guidance often to be

able to make those decisions. Now, often that will have come from a

whole range of children, different situations, but the thing they have

in common, they get a lot of their information online and that's

confusing and some downright dangerous as well. So lots to pick

through there. When you say downright dangerous, what are you

referring to? The children who are finding themselves falling over

pornography without looking for it. Some of that will will be upsetting

and dangerous as it can lead to... There is a lot of talk about how

much kids are looking at porn. I have got research coming out soon,

so I'll know more in a little while, but it seems to be, at the age of

11, that actually, a good number, especially of boys, are seeing

pornography. Boys and girls? Especially boys. How is that

impacting on behaviour? You have a range of influences which are seen

as the norm and what we hear young people talking about and indeed in

this report from conversations with young people, are that the norms

seem to be all over the place. You have especially boys, who feel they

have an entitlement to girls bodies and relationships. You have a

stereotype of girls which isn't in anyway the reality that most girls

live in and an experience of relationships which is very fast and

indeed the children call it random. What's that random? They are saying,

it is not a relationship built out of knowing someone for sometime and

getting to know them and having a relationship, it is random in that

it is quick, it is easily available and it is easily disposable with

that. Does this all sound familiar to you as a teacher? Is this on your

radar? There is a culture which Ann describes and I don't think it is in

schools, I think it is in society and certainly, there is a culture in

which girls, I think, are under pressure, they will talk about being

judged all the time and they have to always be behaving in a certain way,

conforming to a certain stereotype and I think a lot of the abuse they

suffer, they don't report, they just put up because they think it is part

of what it means to be a girl or a woman which I think is really

troubling. How would a school handle it, you

know, if, is there an awareness in your school that kids are looking at

porn and what should the school be doing? There is an awareness. A lot

of this stuff does go under the radar because it happens in social

groups and corridors and playgrounds, if the school becomes

aware of it, in my experience, there is action taken and I have had

experience of the school dealing with these things properly. I know

that isn't necessarily the case all the time. In terms of what the

school should be doing, I think it needs to be tackling that culture

because those individual assaults, those stories you hear, they are

worrying and they are really problematic, but we are ignoring the

day-to-day general sexual harassment of young people in school. Do you

see a difference in the demeanour of kids these days compared with

previous generations? I mean, I think, we've lived for a long time

within stereotypes about what it means to be a boy and a girl. I

don't think that's changed, but I do think social media played an impact

in terms of kind of making it all this stuff more available much

quicker. I think boys are trapped as well by these stereotypes and I

think that's something schools should be doing something to tackle

just this whole notion of there is one way to be a girl, a boy and

there is one normal relationship, I think we have to open the discussion

out to all kinds of relationships, you know and I know a lot of young

LGBT people feel unable to talk about their feelings and their

experiences and that's worrying. Vicky, you work as an advocate for

girl guiding. Is this something you're coming up against?

Absolutely, it is a concern that's been raised by a lot of our young

members. Recently, from a survey we have come up with a lot of

statistics that are horrifying. Give me some examples. Well, girls are

definitely embarrassed by situations they find themselves in at school.

And... What sort of situations? There is situations such as well,

defining sexual harassment is a really key issue and it is anything

from jokes about body image of girls and boys from inappropriate, jokes

to inap appropriate touching. There is a wide spectrum. It needs to be

clearly denined so people know when to stop. Let's bring in Shannon.

Shannon, you were sexually attacked at school when you were 15, that was

four years ago. I mean, it is a particularly extreme thing that

happened to you, but tell us what it was that happened and how you felt,

not just about the fact that it had happened at all, but that it

happened in school where, you know, kids should be safe and protected?

Well, what happened when I was in school, I just a run down version

was I got pulled into a cupboard and sexually assaulted. I don't want to

go into too much detail about it. But it was an extremely bad

experience. I didn't get the right support for it and the school didn't

know how to deal with it. You don't expect to be violated like that in

school so it was an extremely traumatic experience. Part of the

conversation today arising from the fact that MPs are looking into the

culture and sexualisation of children is this sense that boys

feel an entitlement to inappropriate behaviour with girls. More broadly,

is that something that you had seen and experienced? After I had talked

about it, I had found out that it wasn't just myself that had it

happened to in school. So I guess that is more of an issue with guys

feeling like it is more of their, like it is all right to do that. So

nobody really told them wrong. When you are a child, it is

obviously very difficult to know how to handle a situation. I mean, how

did you feel about dealing with things said or done that were

inappropriate? I didn't deal with it well at all. I

had to stop going to school because I was getting bullied a lot and I

ended up getting a stomach issue because I was getting bullied and it

was not something that I dealt with quite well, but it is coming through

the other side that is most important. What would you say to

kids who find themselves in difficult situations and don't know

how to respond? Just, they didn't do anything wrong. That was a major

issue that I had and that previous people that I know have had that

just to be brave and not to be afraid. Vicky, when you talk to kids

that are in situations that are making them uncomfortable, what do

you say, how do you build resilience in a child when there are issues

that we have been talking about, about what is the norm? What is

acceptable. What is unacceptable? It is really important that this is an

issue that's addressed with both boys and girls and when we speak to

our young members it is definitely a concern and they don't know how to

deal with it. It should be something that's addressed universally by

schools. It should be something that people, young people in particular,

are taught to deal with so it doesn't spiral out of control when

people get older and it could be dealt with so easily at this primary

level and it is not being at the moment and it is really important

that not only do people know what it is, that also people know when to

stop and two, how to deal with it as well so it is important for Victim

Support and also for those who are committing these types of offences.

Steph on twith irsays, "Harassment in school is common. I was groped

multiple times. Teenage grirles are girls are not objects." Grace on

e-mail, "Schools should look at stereotyping in textbooks. There is

too much sexual content online." Ann what do you think is the best way to

tackle it? Well, the schools I have seen tackle this best are the ones,

I think that, that deal with it from the whole school. So it is not

something, you have not got a lesson it happens 4pm, it is part of the

school purpose and culture. It is about respecting each other and it

is very clear to everyone, within the school, that if there are

issues, they will be dealt with. That's partly around having good

education and good opportunities for all the young people to learn, but

also discuss together, partly about having people there, maybe school

counsellors to turn to when there are worries and that's another thing

that comes through, really strongly, but I think also there is something

the school can do to help parents talk about this. A lot of the

conversation at the moment is about what schools can do, but what about

parents? Schools are in a great position and a really important

position, with responsibility to be able to really get up to speed and

help prevent some of this, but ultimately as well, parents need to

be the ones who understand what's going on, who feel confident and

able to talk with their own children and help and guide them through. And

what's the best advice on that because obviously a lot of time

children won't be letting their parents know what is going on? I

think be determined as a parent about talking about some of these

things 6789 as a -- as a parent myself, you would be rebuffed.

Engage in it from an early age around respect and the like. The

guidance is essential. In schools, we have been calling for statutory

sex he had case for a long, long time. And we've got, you know, there

is a lot of people that agree with us, parents, lots of organisations

and so on and the Government doesn't seem to be very keen on doing this.

They want to leave it to the schools and they say the schools know their

communities. I understand that, but what that means is young people are

getting a very hit and miss education on these absolutely

essential things and the result is what we're talking about today,

where you've got young people who don't have access to the right

information, don't feel kft dent about talking about these things,

don't feel can have didn't about asserting their rights and I think

we're really letting our young people down. I think a lot of

schools want to do this, it is finding the space on the curriculum,

it is making sure the teachers are trained properly to deal with it and

there is proper resources and funding. What about the parents as

well? I think parents have certainly indicated, a lot of parents don't

feel comfortable about this stuff. About talking to their own kids

about it? We want to talk to parents about and I think we do need,

especially as children go into teenage years, maybe a lot of

conversations shutdown and parents stop asking their kids things and

the kids hide away and you have to find ways to keep the channels of

communication open, but equally, I think sometimes people want another

adult who they can trust and who they can speak to, like a teacher or

someone in school. But kids will often say to adults,

you don't understand it. Things are so different now, social media. You

are younger, talking to younger people, what is the best way to get

through and say, actually, that is not normal, this is normal, this is

what you should be aspiring to, whatever the message is, how would

you say is the best way to get through? It can be approached from a

wide variety of different ways. A key way that we can do it is through

school. That is the key avenue that we need to use. It is just talking

to them about it in a casual way so that people, when they do report

things like this, don't feel embarrassed about it, and think,

maybe I shouldn't say anything, I know it is not normal but maybe I

shouldn't say anything because it is embarrassing and maybe people will

judge me for having reported it. It needs to be taken seriously,

absolutely, but I think it needs to be talked about in a more casual way

where people think, I can talk to people about it. As we have said,

your situation was an extreme one, but what are your thoughts on the

best way to get through to kids what is and isn't acceptable behaviour?

Just learning more in school about what the line is not to cross. I

don't think it is very clear, sexual education at school it is not made

completely clear what you should and shouldn't be doing. I think there is

a bit of confusion between children in that sense. I think having more

education sexually at school to learn what is right and wrong, what

is seen as being taken too far and how things can have an effect on

people, would be a great start. Who would you have listened to when you

were younger? Who would I listen to? Yes, often children will say to

their parents, you don't understand, things are different now. Who would

be the people to get through to you? I would always talk to teachers at

school, that was my best place, at school, to talk to people. If I

needed ad buys I would talk to somebody at school, like a teacher

that I got along with. It is more difficult to talk to your parents

than it is somebody at school, out of the home. Widely you think that

is? Just because of how embarrassing and awkward it can get talking to

your parents about sexual, anything sexual, it can get awkward and

embarrassing, and most kids just want to talk to their teacher or a

fellow pupil about it. There is something, as well, about young

people learning this as a group, with peers, so it becomes a shared

knowledge learned at the same time, and what we find at the moment is

where sexual education does come into school it is often quite

mechanistic or a small part of a biology lesson, and actually this is

what you are talking about, being much broader, more casual, in a way,

I suppose. Where I see it best is where you have got people who engage

with children first and foremost, young people understand them, and

they are introducing some of the information and knowledge as part of

that, rather than starting with a rigid set of information and

checklists. With everything out there, all being so accessible

online, is it easy to put the genie back into the bottle? The online

part of it will remain, online is with us, it is part of life, there

are fantastic opportunities that come from that but there are also

clear downfalls. We have to be robust about how we talk about

things in schools as well, we have not had that conversation, but there

is the potential to look at how we limit screens in schools. But also

as part of the understanding that online is now with us, it can have

ways to empower children. I have a task force looking at how we can

give children more rights, the right to take down images they don't like,

the right to get better digital literacy, they need to be part of

life going forward. Thank you all very much, let us know what you

think about the conversation we have just been having.

Ruth Wariner was brought up in a polygamous cult

in northern Mexico - she had 41 brothers and sisters,

a makeshift home with no electricity and an abusive stepfather.

She tells us what living that life was like.

"When I lost my hair, I felt like I lost my feminity."

We hear from two young women who have alopecia - that's coming up

Here's Annita in the BBC Newsroom with a summary of today's news.

The Justice Secretary, Michael Gove - the Cabinet's leading

campaigner for Britain to leave the European Union -

is accusing the Vote Remain side of patronising voters

Yesterday a report by the Treasury claimed that leaving the EU

would cost every UK household ?4300 a year by 2030.

Mr Gove will say in a speech this morning that they are treating

people like "mere children, capable of being frightened

We would have a relationship of free trade and friendly cooperation. We

would be able to demonstrate that democratic self-government, the

model of Government we have had in the past and other countries like

Australia and Canada used the advantage, can be deployed by others

in order to spend money on our priorities and in order to negotiate

new trade deals with other countries.

Officials in Afghanistan say there've been more than 300

casualties in a suicide attack in the capital, Kabul.

Reports from Kabul suggest at least seven are dead.

Three armed men reportedly entered a government building

used by the country's special protection unit,

The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

Harun Najafizada has been to the scene.

This building is the target of the suicide bombers. Some of their early

attack by a car bomb and then some did break into this building. This

is the unit for protection of dignitaries of Afghan government.

Right opposite to this strategy plays is the Defence Ministry and

over there is the Afghan presidential palace. As we speak,

there is no more fighting going on, there is no firing here, the

security forces are here in full force in order to contain the

attackers. The Afghan president has said that this attack shows the

weaknesses of insurgents in the real battlefield.

The scale of sexual violence and intimidation in schools is to be

The Women and Equalities Committee commissioned research

before the investigation, which suggested that many

assaults went unreported, and sex education was failing

to tackle a culture in which boys felt entitled to inappropriate

The first funerals are taking place in Ecuador for the victims of

Saturday's at quake, which is now known to have killed more than 400

people. Two days on, emergency workers

are still attempting to locate survivors,

with some success stories. This man was working

in a hotel when it collapsed. He managed to call a relative on his

mobile phone, who alerted firefighters.

That's a summary of the latest BBC News - more at 10am.

Here's Will Perry now with this morning's sport headlines.

Tottenham are right on Leicester City's tales in the title race after

a 4-0 win at Stoke last night, Harry Kane and Dele Alli both scoring

twice. They have closed the gap to five points with four to play.

Leicester's top scorer Jamie Vardy could well see his his initial one

game ban for a red card extended after being charged

Vardy remonstrated with referee Jon Moss after he was dismissed

with two yellows in Sunday's draw with West Ham.

Vincent Kompany and Raheem Sterling are poised to return

for Manchester City in tonight's game at Newcastle.

Captain Kompany has had a month on the sidelines with a calf injury.

Sterling has missed five games with a groin injury.

Ronnie O'Sullivan faces disciplinary action from snooker's

world governing body following his World

The five-time champion beat Dave Gilbert to reach the second

round but he refused to attend the oblig-atory post-match press

-- round but he refused to attend the obligatory post-match press

41 siblings, constant beatings and a house with no

This was what life was like in the polygamous cult in Mexico

But when she turned 15, she managed to escape with three

of her younger siblings and, after rebuilding her life,

has now written a book about her harrowing story.

Describe the family you were born into?

I am my mother's fourth child and my father's 39th.

All my same age, just a few months apart.

I grew up in a colony, a polygamous town

The town was founded by my grandfather in the 1940s.

And my memoir, The Sound Of Gravel, is the story of my life growing up

there actually after my father was assassinated.

I was three months old when he was killed by his brother,

or his brother had him killed, actually, in order

My mother remarried another polygamist man and had

And that's what the beginning of my life was like.

So the conditions in Mexico were a pioneer lifestyle -

we didn't have electricity, and had an outhouse.

And that was the beginning of my life.

Tell us more about the cult, what the ideals were behind

the founding of it, what the beliefs were and what you were brought up

Well, I was brought up, I never knew my father,

but I was brought up believing that he was the prophet

of our community, and he definitely was the self-proclaimed prophet.

He started our church, and he claimed to have authority,

to have received his authority, and had visions about his priesthood

stemming all the way back from Joseph Smith,

who was the original founder of Mormonism in the 1830s.

And the early Mormons practised polygamy.

The way that Joseph Smith taught it was that men needed to have more

than one wife in order to have enough children to populate

So in his opinion, the way my dad taught it, was that a man wasn't

really a man until he had at least two wives, and that it was a woman's

responsibility to marry a man with several wives and have as many

children as her body would allow her to.

In the 1890s, polygamy became illegal in the United States.

But there were several fundamentalists who still believed

in the original early Mormon teachings, and my dad's family

And my grandfather moved south of the border in the 1920s,

How were those views indoctrinated in you growing up?

Church on Sunday, and my mom talked about it all the time,

how important it was for her to have kids.

She struggled having so many children.

She had ten, including two miscarriages and three

So, in spite of how hard it was for her, in her belief system

she felt like it was her obligation to serve God in the way

It gave her a sense of purpose, and that's what all the women

in the colony believed, and that's what the men believed, too.

So what was it like being part of a family like that

Well, in the beginning I didn't really know the difference.

I started the first grade in a Mexican public school,

and then I realised that, you know, my family was an American colony,

so we grew up speaking English, so going to a Spanish-speaking

But that started to introduce me, I was six years old,

And when I was six years old, my stepfather at that time

became pretty abusive, and so we moved to the United States

And immediately when we started living with them in California

in a small town there, I could see that life,

my living conditions, were way worse.

In a way it was a shock to me because I hadn't been used to living

that kind of comfortable lifestyle, we didn't have central

And I walked inside my grandparents' house, and it even smelled warm.

It was just pretty amazing to have running water and warmth all around

and showers and a bath, and an indoor toilet.

And then my mother decided to go back to my stepfather

You had had a taste of a very different life.

What was it like going back then in that quite closed community,

although, as you say, you did get schooling outside of it?

Yeah, you know, it was really hard, when I was younger I didn't

It was fun, I played with my little brothers and sisters,

and I didn't realise how poor we were.

But having to go back to a cold house, we had a barrel

which heated the house, we put wood in it and it burned

in the living room and that's the way we kept warm in one room.

Going back to that lifestyle was really hard.

It was really hard because I realised how poor we actually were.

You talked more about the poverty than the abuse you suffered

What was your perspective on that, and how that part

When that started, my stepfather had been abusive physically

towards my mother, but he started to sexually abuse me

And at that point I always had conflict with my stepfather,

because I knew he wasn't my father, and just because of the way

And he had four wives of his own, so he wasn't around a lot.

But when that started, it was obviously devastating.

And I knew it was wrong, it was hard for me to tell my mom,

but I told my mum about it right away.

And he apologised and said it wouldn't happen again,

Add my mom, because he kept apologising,

she stayed for several years after that.

You know, my mom was the kind of person who always made life fun

for us, and she was a loving, caring person.

And so for me, by the time she made that choice, it was...

It created a tremendous amount of conflict in me,

and frustration, because I had known the good side of her and I couldn't

So, yeah, it created a tremendous amount of conflict in me.

And as I grew into adolescence and became a teenager,

I was incredibly angry with her for staying.

And it got to a point where he finally stopped abusing me,

but I found out that he had been abusing stepsisters as well.

And actually several other children in the colony,

and everybody turned a blind eye to it.

There wasn't really anything I could do about it.

And from that point, you took matters into your own hands

- you effectively assumed the role of being a protective mother

to the other siblings that you talked about

What happened within you, and what did you decide to do?

When she passed, my youngest sister was five months old.

I had a two-year-old sister who we were still potty training,

I had a five-year old brother, and a ten-year-old brother,

and my special-needs brother, Luke, who was 18 months older than me,

He came back from a trip he had taken with my stepfather,

and I sat down and I could see that he was feeling uncomfortable

and confused, and he had always had trouble communicating,

and he sat down at the table one night, and I asked him

what was wrong, and he started to describe the same kind

of abuse that I had been going through in my early childhood.

So at that point, we were living with one of my stepfather's other

wives, his fourth wife, and because the colony

and the people there hadn't done anything to protect me,

I knew that they wouldn't do anything to protect my sisters

I had an older brother in California, in San Diego,

I called him and I said, look, this is what happened,

this is what has been going on, and this is what is going to happen

So I said, you need to come and get us, basically.

When you walked away, could you easily walk

So, it was hard to adjust. It was a lonely time for me.

But, you know, I finished, I got my GED, which is

the equivalent of getting a high school diploma here.

I stayed at home and took care of my sisters.

You speak without any trace of self-pity, or even

it sounds like regret for a lost childhood,

a sense that you were cheated, perhaps.

How do you feel about that childhood you had, and how it has shaped

you and the impact that it has had on the woman you have become?

You know, there was a lot of good that came out

I did learn, I learned my mom's work ethic, I learned, I think having,

I took care of my brothers and sisters for almost 18 years.

Having that purpose outside myself was incredibly healing.

Also, just realising that I knew that my mom deserved better

than what she had in the colony where we grew up, and I knew that

So I made choices accordingly, for myself and my family,

Ruth, thank you very much for talking to us.

You can read more of Ruth Wariner's story in her memoir,

Coming up, brutally stabbed to death on the streets of London.

We speak to Myron Isaac Yarde's sister Chantelle who was her

"I couldn't even cry, I was in that much shock."

The words of one 24-year-old woman when she started to lose her hair.

A growing number of young people are seeking treatment

for the condition, known as alopecia.

Stress, depression and anxiety are often the cause.

Student Imogen Proctor first noticed her hair falling

I was in the shower, and I noticed that the plug

was getting a little bit too full of hair too fast, and there was hair

down my back and things and there was head being left

I thought maybe I was dreaming or it wasn't a reality.

I tried to brush it under the carpet in my mind.

And then one day a little bit more came out than normal in my towel

when I was driving my hair, and I went and I sat down

and I sifted through my hair because I knew it wasn't

feeling great, it felt thin and something was wrong.

There was no way it was going to be happening without it

So I sifted through both sides of my head, and on the right side

I found a patch about the size of my first.

And I just sat there, I remember it now, I was sat

there on the end of my bed in my dressing gown looking

in the mirror thinking, this isn't real, this isn't happening.

I couldn't even cried, I was in that much shock.

And for while I felt I'd lost my femininity.

I went to the shop one day, and I was just wearing a hat rather

than wearing a wig, and like I said, I was full of cold and I had

a really heavy shopping basket and I dumped the trolley down

in front of me in the queue and I was just, I let out a big sigh

because I was just feeling rubbish and very sorry for myself,

and the chap in front of me, and he said to me,

And in that moment I was shocked, surprised, and I said, no,

I have got a hair loss condition called alopecia which means

And then he said to me, oh, well why?

You know, if you can tell me then great,

In January 2014, I went to a kick boxing competition.

And I said to myself, right, I've lost all my hair,

I'm feeling really strong, I'm going to win this competition,

and when I win this competition I'm going to stand

And I sort of thought, oh, and I felt really

rubbish and I thought, I'm not going to do it,

I can't do it, I told myself I was only going to go on the podium

And in kick-boxing we all know each other quite well,

you know, we all fight a lot of the same people.

And I went and I was speaking to the girl Stevie

who had won the final, and I told her what was going on,

I said, look, Stevie, I've lost my hair and I think I came

And she was like, do you know what, who cares?

You have come to a kick boxing competition,

you are still doing kick boxing, and you have lost your

You know, why aren't you proud of yourself?

I've come here to be brave, and I did it anyway.

So I had a photo on the podium without my wig on.

At that point, I was completely bald.

It was just me and Stevie on the podium, she had her arm

around me and we had our trophies, I had a big smile on my face.

And that was my platform for coming out with the alopecia.

And I think from then I've had quite positive experiences,

and it has really changed me for the better.

Victoria Short was just 22 when she started to lose

She joins us via webcam from Gloucester.

Thank you so much for joining us Victoria. Tell us what happened?

When did you first start to lose your hair? So I was about 22. I had

just finished university. I was on top of the world. I was really

enjoying life and I was at work one day and I ran my fingers through my

hair and at the back, the left-back of high head I found a small patch

of hair that had gone, about this size of a five pence piece and I

showed it to my mum later and we agreed that we'd keep an eye on it

and it wasn't too bad, it was tiny and I thought I might have caught it

or whatever. And then slowly over the following months I started to

get a few more patches and those patches started to join up and I

started to lose more and more of my hair and I went and saw the doctor

who diagnosed alpiecia and referred me to a dermatologist and basically

they said there wasn't very much they could do, there wasn't a way

they could help me. And so over the nine months, that was in the April

of 2011, and over the course of about nine months I lost all the

hair on my head. And then I thought oh, OK, I'm through this, you know,

it is rubbish, but I'm OK, you know, fine and then for the four months

after that, I started losing all the hair on my body as well, I lost my

eyelashes, my eyebrows, my body hair from top to bottom. They weren't

really sure why and they still aren't sure why and it hasn't come

back since. How have you felt as you have gone through that? We were

hearing Imogen sce he describing the -- describing the conflicts and the

struggles? It was really hard and everyone handles it in a different

way. For me, I went through everything. I grieved as if someone

had died which sounds terrible, but I was losing a part of my identity

and I had no control and that was the bit I found the most difficult

was not having control. I couldn't, it wasn't that I was too stressed,

it wasn't that I was eating the wrong things or anything and I could

go right, I will change that and it will be fine. I was just stuck with

something over which I had no control. And for me, I went through

all of the emotions and the one I found was the most difficult was

actually guilt. I just felt really incredibly guilty that I was upset

about what was effectively just hair. You know, and people always

say it is just hair and it isn't just hair, it is a huge part of your

identity. It is a huge part of who you are and so I felt guilty being

upset about something that was trivial when I wasn't dying of

cancer, I didn't have leukaemia, I wasn't having a kidney out, it was

none of those things, it was just my hair and that was what I found the

most difficult was shifting the guilt actually. Victoria, we are

going to talk to Glen. How common is this, dmRen? It is thought to be

about 4% of the population, but there are different situations, you

can just get a sij patch. It maybe people aren't actually attending a

clinic. But it is about roughly about 4%. What are the causes? We

were hearing Victoria saying she was in a really good place when it was

happening. It doesn't sound like there was stress involved? Victoria

is fairly unique, in my experience and I have been qualified since

1968, 90% in my experience are stress related. So Victoria, it is

unique she was in a happy place. But it's thought to be an auto immune

condition, it is not related to ill-health. Victoria brought up good

points about guilt and so on, of not having cancer. The hair is a very

emotive appendage, it affects confidence and morale and Victoria

mentioned her identity and people's personalities are identified by

their hair. Fortunately, I mean, there is a lot more support now.

Another situation is that, you know, people can think they are undergoing

chemotherapy, so it is what they perceive other people maybe

thinking. What about treatment and whether it can be reversed? Yeah, in

Victoria's case it is the whole body. Now, even in those situations,

it can grow back spontaneously. So you might wake up one day and it has

changed? There is not really a panacea. There is not something

that's a miracle treatment in this situation. From patches, we get

fairly good results on the treatment we give at Philip Kingsley trying to

centre ta advertise the scalp and waking up the immune system that's

responsible and you have got dermatological approaches. I don't

think a topical applied steroid has any use. But in a lot of cases,

there is spontaneous growth. There is spontaneous growth in a lot of

cases. Glen, thank you. Thank you very much Victoria for joining us.

Thank you. Good morning, we have got a

beautiful day ahead across much of the UK, a lot of sunshine, as you

can see on the satellite picture. Some cloud in the south and west,

courtesy of the weak weather front, but through the date further holes

will develop in that and further sunshine developing as a result. On

the east coast, some sea breeze is developing, taking the edge of the

temperatures in the east, but generally temperatures today not too

bad at all, between ten and 16, possibly 17 somewhere in the

south-east. Through the evening and overnight, once again the cloud will

continue to melt away, in all areas it will be a cold night,

temperatures down to freezing or just below, so some frost around.

Cloud across northern Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland which

could produce the odd shower. Also some patchy fog forming as well.

That will lift readily tomorrow morning and then tomorrow, for most

of the UK, we are looking at blue skies, a bit more cloud in the

North, with the odd shower, breezy here and in the south, with the wind

strengthening later, but tomorrow temperatures could be a touch on

today, mid-teens, possibly a little bit more.

Hello, it's 10am, I'm Joanna Gosling, welcome to the programme

Michael Gove - one of the most senior politicians

campaigning to leave the EU - accuses Vote Remain of treating

voters like children who can be "frightened into obedience"

but remain campaigners accuse him of making "simplistic statements".

Did you miss out on your first choice primary school

If you live in Reading your chances are much lower

Myron Yarde was a 17-year-old music student and grime artist

who was killed on the streets of London just a few weeks ago.

His sister tells us she warned him constantly about the

Just trying to show him basic first aid and just to be dangers of it,

and constantly checking up on him to make sure that he is not getting

involved in any of those things. Here's Annita in the BBC Newsroom

with a summary of today's news. The Justice Secretary,

Michael Gove - the Cabinet's leading campaigner for Britain to leave

the European Union - is accusing the Vote Remain side

of patronising voters Yesterday a report by the Treasury

claimed that leaving the EU would cost every UK household ?4300

a year by 2030. Mr Gove will say in a speech shortly

that remain campaigners are treating people like children,

and that leaving the EU would instead be an act

of liberation and The Remain camps said his statements

do not bear proper scrutiny. And we're expecting Michael Gove

to deliver that speech at 11.30am and we'll be taking that live

on the News Channel. Some news just come again, a man in

his 30s has been arrested over the murder of a schoolboy in

Peterborough more than 20 years ago. Six-year-old Rikki Neave was found

strangled near his home and his mother was accused of killing him.

An investigation into his murder was reopened in June last year and fresh

appeal launched. Officials in Afghanistan say

there've been more than 300 casualties in a suicide attack

in the capital, Kabul. Reports from Kabul suggest

at least seven are dead. Three armed men reportedly entered

a Government building used by the country's

special protection unit, The Taliban has claimed

responsibility. The first funerals are taking place

in Ecuador for the victims of Saturday's earthquake,

which is now known to have killed But, two days on, emergency workers

are still searching for survivors. This man was trapped underneath the

hotel where he worked and called for help on his mobile phone.

Firefighters said they discovered the bodies of seven other people

at the site before finding him alive.

The scale of sexual violence and intimidation in schools is to be

The Women and Equalities Committee commissioned research

before the investigation, which suggested that many

assaults went unreported, and sex education was failing

to tackle a culture in which boys felt entitled to inappropriate

Cancer researchers say a fifth of people with advanced melanoma had

no sign of tumours in their body after treatment with a pair

The study of more than 140 patients also found that two thirds

of people treated with the drugs survived for at least two years.

British doctors leading the trial said the results

Survivors of a boat carrying migrants, which capsized

in the Mediterranean Sea, have told the BBC that up to 500

people drowned, although there is no official confirmation.

The group said they were travelling from Libya to Italy,

and joined a larger boat already packed with people, which then sank.

Numbers of migrants making the dangerous sea crossing

A replica of an ancient arch destroyed by the so-called

Islamic State group in the Syrian city of Palmyra will be unveiled

The copy of the 2000-year-old Arch of Triumph has been built using 3D

printing techniques, and marble donated by the Egyptian government.

A duck which lost both feet to frostbite has been fitted

with a new pair made on a 3D printer.

Philip the duck was rescued in the US state of Wisconsin,

He was going to be put down until a high school technology

teacher agreed to try making a new pair with his class.

Philip is now practising walking again at an animal sanctuary.

That's a summary of the latest BBC News - more at 10.30am.

Thanks for all your comments on sexual harassment in schools.

Lots of you getting in touch on this one.

Tracy says, "Parents have to be telling both boys and girls

what is and is not acceptable from a young age.

Abdel says, "Girls should unite in a movement to stand up

against sexual abuse and harassment and decent boys should

Do get in touch with us throughout the morning -

If you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate.

Will Perry has the sport now and Tottenham keep the pressure

on Leicester at the top of the Premier League.

"Leicester City, we're coming for you!"

That was the song from the Tottenham fans at the Britannia Stadium last

night as Spurs came away 4-0 winners over Stoke to close the gap

on Claudio Ranieri's side at the the top of the Premier League

to five points with four games to play.

Former Spurs forward Clive Allen joins me now.

Such a confident display last night, a really strong message to

Leicester? Yes, without a doubt. The last two victories, 3-0 Manchester

United and 4-0 array last night, send out a strong message. The group

is full of confidence and trying to chase Leicester down. There has been

so much focus on Leicester, everyone talking about it being the fairy

tale if they can pull it off, do you think it has helped Spurs to come

without the magnifying glass, the spotlight on them? Maybe, think it

has. They have had a sensational season themselves, probably the aim

at the start of the season was to try to break into the top four, they

have been in amongst it all season and it is a group that is growing,

getting stronger, and certainly the confidence they showed last night

was amazing. The attention on Leicester has probably helped this

young team. When you look at Spurs' last ball games, West Brom, Chelsea,

Southampton, Newcastle, they need Leicester to slip up twice, can you

see that happening? I think it is unlikely, all of a sudden there is

just that little bit of doubt, the Jamie Vardy situation, how they will

cope without him, one, too, maybe three games, and all of a sudden

that gives birds the impetus to keep going. All they can do is win those

games, they have to win them all, I think, if they are going to have a

chance. As a Tottenham man, Clive, we mentioned that their retail for

Leicester City, it would be a first league title. None since 1961, just

as much a fairy tale as Leicester? Absolutely, my father won the double

with Spurs in 61 so I grew up listening to how fantastic that team

was. Every Spurs team since has tried to live up to that magnificent

team. It is an incredible situation they find themselves in. I think it

would be the stepping stone for the club to move forward in a big way.

We have seen pictures of Harry Kane and Dele Alli's goals last night,

those two superb in particular but the team, average age of 24,

Pochettino has built up a young, exciting team? He has, the team has

the best defensive record, they are young, very athletic, and have

scored a lot of goals, so they are getting it right throughout the

team. Players are switching positions, Eric Dier is a great

example of that and had a fantastic season. It is all coming together

well with this group and I just hope, I would love to see them win

the Premier League this season. Thanks for joining us, Clive. Clive

Allen, former Spurs forward who scored 49 goals in one season back

in 86, 87, before I was born! And increasing war of words amongst

those who are staying -- who want to stay in the EU and those who want to

leave. Today it is the turn of the Justice Secretary Michael Gove, one

of the leading Cabinet campaigners for an exit from the European Union.

Norman Smith can tell us more. It is all kicking off, happy

families it is not! This campaign has been dominated by acrimony and

argy-bargy in the Tory party. Yesterday, George Osborne and his

200 page dossier, complete with algebraic equations, warning about

the risks of leaving the EU, hitting us in the wallet. Today, we get

Michael Gove saying, no, the risk is staying in the EU. He will talk

about how, if we stay, it will be like being taken hostage in a car,

his words, and driven off to ever closer union. Also he will pick up

in particular on what he says is an admission in this document that

immigration, if we stay in the EU, will keep going up by hundreds of

thousands every year despite the Government's promised to get it down

to the tens of thousands, in other words the Government, of which he is

a member, has failed. He will also dismissed the deal that David

Cameron managed to negotiate before this whole referendum kicked off,

saying it has proved useless in terms of curbing the desire of the

EU to take more of our money and more of our power, and then he will

go on to say that if we stay we risk losing control over our security

services, over prisons policy, asylum policy. This is a very, very

broad and intense attack on the Prime Minister and the Chancellor,

his colleagues. Michael Gove is friends with both of these men. This

morning they had Cabinet, so you wonder what was going on around the

Cabinet table as they were all sitting there trying to be polite

towards each other. I suppose some of the Brexit Cabinet ministers, as

they went in, we managed to get a few words with them. If Michael Gove

right that the Remain campaign is treating voters like children? It is

a lively debate this morning, the Cabinet meeting is about the rest of

things in Government. There is a lot of scaremongering going on. Whatever

Michael said is right, absolutely. Let me give you some of the language

which Michael Gove is going to use in his speech today, because that, I

think, tells its own story. The way that fellow Tories are talking about

each other. Michael Gove will accuse the Prime Minister, in his words, of

treating voters like children, to be frightened into obedience, he will

say, I conjuring up a new bogeyman every day. And he will also say that

Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne want voters to believe that Britain is

broken and beaten. That is the sort of language he is using, which

follows on from Boris Johnson comparing Mr Cameron to Gerald

Ratner, we had people accusing Mr Osborne of being part of some sort

of conspiracy, it is getting increasingly heated. What tells its

own story in a way is even quite mild-mannered polite members of the

Tory party are wading into each other. Have a listen to Dominic

Grieve, former Attorney General. Normally very, very respectable old

Etonian type. This is what he had to say about Michael Gove this morning.

He has had a fairly consistent pattern since the start of this

referendum campaign with coming out with statements which simply don't

bear proper scrutiny. He alleged, for example, that the Prime

Minister's Brussels agreement that he secured was not worth the paper

it is written on, and no international lawyer has agreed with

him. I don't think its own department would agree with him on

that. I am always willing to look carefully at what he says, and of

course it is absolutely right that in this debate we are having on our

future within the EU we should try to look at all sides of the

argument, but simplistic statements which are not backed by any credible

evidence are not helpful to that discussion.

I am left wondering how on earth Mr Cameron puts his party back together

again after this referendum, and I guess when they all come out of

Cabinet today we will have to be looking for any bruises and woes

they might have suffered in the Cabinet room as they got stuck into

each other. And the BBC's Reality Check team has

been going through the claims made by the Chancellor in more detail

on our Reality Check pages. Lots of you getting in touch on

alopecia after we heard from Victoria and Imogen. A viewer says,

"Only people who suffers from this complaint can understand the trauma.

Doctors are not interested in the mental anguish. I am compelled to

wear a hat, even though the disguise fails to take away the shame." Clare

says, "I have suffered from alopecia for 14 years. It is a daily struggle

to attempt to make my hair look nice. I get disheartened early time

I wash my hair and find a new patch. Surely there must be ways of dealing

with this." Poppy says, "I had alopecia when I was 32. One little

patch. Ended up with no hair at all. I dreaded brushing, combing or

washing my people. The stares of people when the wig moved was

awful." ." Another viewer says "It is a change that is dramatic and

happened quickly." Scott says, "I had alopecia when diagnosed with

arthritis, it left a bald patch on my head. My GP told me to use

ointment, not only did it clear tup, but it got rid of my grey hairs

too." If you have got children you'll

appreciate the sense of relief of finding out that your child has

got into their first choice school, Well, yesterday, hundreds

of thousands of parents across England found out

what primary school their children But the likelihood of getting your

child into their preferred school varies dramatically

across the country. 90% are expected to get

their first choice overall, in some areas one in six didn't get

any of their choices. London was the worst

affected region. In the Borough of Kensington

and Chelsea just 69% of families got Just under 79% of children

were offered their first Whereas in Redcar 98%

got their first choice. A national average for England

will not be available Joining me now is our education

correspondent Sean Coughlan. Sean, we hear about this every year

when the school places get allocated. Is it a changing picture?

Is the situation getting worse? Well, I suppose the story behind the

story is the rising population. And as there are more young people,

there is more pressure on places. We often hear the long lists of

percentages. In fact, every one of these is a family with a big story

and there is a lot of anxiety in every family waiting for the

results. In some parts of the country, it is a real, real problem.

In some ways, it is a local story, but it is a national political

argument. Should we spend more on just putting up more buildings and

should we spend more on prioritising certain types of buildings, and

certain types of school? The Labour Party criticised the Government for

focussing on free schools, they say rather than just building schools

where councils want them, they are building schools which are driven by

political agenda. The Government rejects that and says we are

building lots and lots of schools everywhere and we are keeping up

with demand, but it is a race, there is lots more young people looking

for places and there are a finite number of building spaces and

schools can only expand so much. We can talk to some parents

and teachers, and to Samantha Hale, who is a solicitor who helps

parents appeal decisions. I want to go to Dawn Foster, Dawn,

you did not get your son into the school that you wanted. Tell us what

happened. We had three choices for my son this year and unfortunately,

we were unsuccessful with each one of those choices so we have been

awarded an alternative school for him. Where is the alternative

school? Is it far away from where you are? It is about three miles

from where we are at the minute, yes. But it is in the opposite

direction to which we travel for my other son's nursery and school.

So how do you feel about that? It's very, very it is appointing, I mean

we went through it last year with my older son and it is upsetting, it is

very, very stressful. And it is not a nice thing to go through. What

will you do? Will you take what you have been offered or will you try to

appeal it? We will try to appeal the decision, but we did go through the

appeals process last year and it is harrowing and unfortunately last

year, we were unsuccessful so we will go through the appeal process,

but we are prepared if our appeals are unsuccessful again. Ed, I know

you have been through it. Tell us what happened with you? Well,

fortunately, I was successful in applying, but in my case, I was

applying for my second son so he qualified under a sibling rule which

will generally get priority over first-born children. What was it

like the first time around? First time, it was much more stressful. We

live in London and in many areas, in many, many schools, you need to live

incredibly close to the school in order to stand a good chance of

getting in. In fact, I mean, one of the issues is actually knowing in

advance working out your chances of actually get a place at the school.

It varies a lot from school to school and from local authority to

local authority, different schools use different admission criteria to

work out how places will be allocated. And partly as a result of

going through the exercise of my own research into this, I ended

upsetting up a website to try and help other parents better understand

school admissions. So I have spent a lot of time looking into this. And

trying to help other people. Let's talk to Caroline Williams, you are

an ex-deputy head. You actually gave up last year. That job to look after

your children. Your daughter has got into your first choice school. Was

the fact that you knew the system helpful? In a way, it was helpful.

We are very fortunate that we live in sort of quite a small village and

my daughter has got into the local village school and of course, when

the letter came through initially to give the allocated school, it was my

local school, but of course, the letter does state that you are not

guaranteed to get that place. I know in the past though with the school

that my daughter has got into, because there is a sibling rule,

that for a class of 30, there were 29 siblings. So in the village, some

parents didn't get their children in, but fortunately, we have done

this year. So in a year like that, when there are that many siblings

and one place for non sibling, what hope is there for anybody who is

obviously not going to qualify? Well, not a lot which is one of the

reasons why parents need to know that they should look around and

they should look at other schools and go into those schools because,

you know, it is never ever guaranteed. We got the e-mail

through at quarter past midnight and I hadn't realised how worried I was

until I got the news and you know, I was very, very happy, but that's the

importance of looking around other schools as well just in case you

don't get that choice. Samantha, you are a solicitor that helps parents

appeal against deses. That was a -- decisions. That was a stark example,

where it was 99% siblings, if you don't get your child into a school

and the fact is the other places are taken up, what hope can you give to

a parent because the school can't magic up a place, can it? No, the

difficulty is that there is a huge demand on school places as we've

already heard and if a parent hasn't been successful in getting one of

their preferences the only route that they can try is an appeal to

the independent appeal panel. Now, that stacks show that there is a bit

of a postcode Lottery depending on where peoplely and depending on what

chances they might have with appeal. We would encourage parents to try

the appeal route because if you have a particular preference to try and

get a place. How does a school manage it, Lynn? You are a

headteacher of a primary school in Oxford, rated outstanding by Ofsted.

If a school has given out its places and someone comes through and

appeals, and is successful, how can a school accommodate what happens?

Largely because of the threshold of 30 in a class, most of the appeals

don't go through, if they go through the local authority, all of our

places because we are still a local authority school get allocated via

the local authority. So we are not dealing directly with our own

admissions. If parents choose to go to appeal then it is down to this

independent authority and because we are legally not able to go over 30,

actually there is very little that people can do. There was one

instance where the local authority made an error and we got 31

children, we take 90, so we are a big school, but in that instance,

there is a loophole in the law which says that as long as you don't go

over your 30 in a class for a year, then actually, you don't need to

appoint a new teacher. So we were able to rely on somebody leaving and

that place becoming safe. To go back too that statistical reality, what

makes a successful appeal? Well, there is certain criteria that the

panel would be considering. They would be considering whether infant

class size is an inIrish you. Presumably the places have been

allocated if kids are being turned away? They should have been. That's

one thing they will be taking into consideration, there is two-ways

which primary appeals can be dealt with. They can be dealt with infant

class size appeals and that's where the published admissions number

breaks down so it is 30 per class, but some schools will work that they

won't have 30 per class and their published admissions number will be

25. So they might not have to actually deal with the issues of the

infant class size prejudice. So that's something they will take into

consideration. They will also have to look at whether or not the

schools admission arrangements are lawful. Whether or not they have

been applied correctly in the individual's kasz and if they

haven't, if it would have actually led to the place being offered. Then

the other thing they can take into consideration is whether or not

another admission authority would have reasonably refuse that had

application as well. So as long as you are able to show that one of

those is applicable then you have a potential chance of success at

appeal. How much are parents spending on something like that? It

depends on the individual cases and it depends how much assistance they

want with it. It is not cheap? It depends. We can offer support to

help parents with basic advice, if they just want to come in and have a

little bit of advice with a solicitor or we can help them with a

full appeals package, but we also have a full and comprehensive

admissions pack on our website that gives lots of free advice so if

parents want to go through this process by themselves, they can do

and they don't have to have legal representation, but we would

encourage it. Paul says, "It is important you don't perpetuate the

myth that parents have a choice, they don't. As an admissions panel

chair I see many people coming thinking the panel can help them.

They can go away disappointed." Another viewer, "My daughter has

been given a place a 30 minutes walk away." Sorry Nicky Morgan and

Michael Gove, your plans are flawed. Caroline, you were talking about

there about the importance of parents being aware of the choices,

but parents do get very, look into it carefully and pick the school

they want and then really put a lot by their hopes of actually getting

into that school, particularly if they are looking at things like

Ofsted ratings and league tables? Yeah. Obviously, Ofsted ratings and

league tables are important. But I would strongly say for people to go

in to look at a school. There has been a lot in the news about weaker

schools in more deprived areas for want of a better expression. And I

think, judging by league tables and Ofsted, you can't do that. You have

to go into these schools to see what is happening in there because the

talk of sending super teachers into weaker schools, it is ridiculous in

my experience. Schools are full of super teachers. Every teacher is a

super teacher. I could go on about this, but you know, talking about

going into a school, that is Ofsted good or less, you might have

children in there who don't speak English, you know, a teacher going

into a class where 97% of the children don't speak English, it is

difficult to get those children to reach the same levels as a school

where the children enter a school with full understanding of English

gral arand spoken English, if we look at league tables and Ofsted

reports, they are based on the results. Whereas if you go into a

school and see what goes on in the schools and see the care and the

attention and the social education that children get, I think parents

would actually get a very different view as to some of these schools.

Ed, going back to that e-mail from Paul talking about a myth that

parents have a choice. Do you think parents do really have a choice? It

depends entirely on where you live. In some areas, it depends on whether

the schools are at capacity in large chunks of London, you have little

choice. There is lots of schools around you, but you can't get into

them. Most, a high proportion of schools in primary schools in London

are now over subscribed, much higher than the national average. And it

means that you need to live either very close or meet particular faith

criteria in order to get into a particular school, but in effect,

what ends up happening is that you end up going back to the old regime

which is you go to your local school, if you don't get into your

local school then you are in trouble because you don't get into the next

nearest school, you end up being shipped half-way across the borough

to go to a different school. This isn't just London, it is happening

in a lot of other places around the country. Thank you all. Thank you

for your thoughts on that and thank you for getting in touch and letting

us know what you think about it as well.

Still to come: Myron Yarde was a 17-year-old music student

and grime artist who was killed on the streets of London

His sister tells us she worried about him constantly.

Scientists say that a combination of two different drugs can help

dramatically in the fight against skin cancer.

We'll be speaking to the medical director

of the Royal Marsden Hospital, where part of the trial was carried

out, and to a skin cancer patient and an expert from

The Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, will argue that leaving

the EU would be an act of patriotic renewal, with long-term

In a speech this morning, Mr Gove will attack claims

made by the Remain side, accusing them of treating

Yesterday a report by the Treasury said that leaving the EU would cost

every UK household ?4300 a year by 2030.

We would have a relationship of free trade and friendly cooperation.

We would be able to demonstrate that democratic self-government,

the model of government we have had in the past and other

countries like Australia and Canada use to their advantage,

can be deployed by us in order to spend money on our priorities

and in order to negotiate new trade deals with other countries.

And we're expecting Michael Gove to deliver that speech in an hour

at 11.30am and we'll be taking that live on the BBC News channel.

A man in his 30s has been arrested over the murder of a schoolboy

in Peterborough more than 20 years ago.

Six-year-old Rikki Neave was found strangled near his home, and his

She was found not guilty by a jury and has campaigned for his murder

Police in Afghanistan say that more than two dozen people,

most of them civilians, have been killed in

The suicide bomber and a gunman, who was shot dead by security forces

targeted a building used by the country's special protection

unit, which guards senior politicians.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

The scale of sexual violence and intimidation in schools is to be

The Women and Equalities Committee commissioned research

before the investigation, which suggested that many

assaults went unreported, and sex education was failing

to tackle a culture in which boys felt entitled to inappropriate

The number of people known to have died in the earthquake which struck

a good on Saturday has risen to 413. Rescue teams searching through the

rubble of collapsed buildings have pulled out a number of survivors.

This man was trapped under the rubble of a hotel where he worked

and managed to call a relative on his mobile phone.

That's a summary of the latest news, join me for BBC

Here's Will Perry now with this morning's sport headlines.

Tottenham are right on Leicester City's tails

in the title race after a 4-0 win at Stoke in the Premier League

Harry Kane and Dele Alli both scored twice

at the Britannia Stadium as Spurs closed the gap on Leicester to five

Leicester's top scorer Jamie Vardy could well see his his initial one

game ban for a red card extended after being charged

Vardy remonstrated with referee Jon Moss after he was dismissed

with two yellows in Sunday's draw with West Ham.

Captain Vincent Kompany and Raheem Sterling

are poised to return for Manchester City in tonight's

Kompany has had a month on the sidelines with a calf injury.

Sterling has missed five games with a groin injury.

Ronnie O'Sullivan faces disciplinary action from snooker's

world governing body following his World

The five-time champion beat Dave Gilbert to reach the second

round, but he refused to attend the obligatory post-match press

I will have more sport on the BBC News Channel throughout the day.

You may have heard about the 17-year-old up-and-coming

musician Myron Isaac Yarde, who a couple of weeks back

was stabbed and killed after a fight broke out among a group of young

Earlier today I spoke to his sister, Chantelle Gray.

She was his legal guardian after their mum died from cancer

This is her first public interview since her brother's passing.

I just feel that all the positive talk about Myron as a person,

especially the fact that my mum is not around, I was his Guardian, I

just wanted to let people know what sort of person he was, from the

response of the public and everything, friends, family, how

they spoke of Myron was true to who he was. He was such a lovely

brother, and, like said, he was like a son to me, it is a great loss to

us as a family. Like a son to you because you were 19 when he was born

and you chose his name, didn't you? It was almost like you were a mother

to him from the moment he arrived? Yes, he used to come to my house

when I was married, I used to take into church, on holidays. He was

just... Part of me, we had a special bond, a very special bond. What was

he like? He was quite sarcastic at times. He was very friendly, loved

by the community. He was always smiling, never upset, even when our

mum passed away, he went to school the next day. I told him he didn't

have to go to school but he still wanted to go. He finished his exams,

he was very popular at school, I used to go to his parents evenings

and they would always say good things about him. He started to go

to college to do music, I went with him to enrol and it was quite far so

I wanted to see what his journey would be like, so I had a picture in

my mind where he was going. He was doing really, really well. If he

enjoyed something, he would stick at it. When he was younger he used to

skateboard and then roller-skate, and once he had a passion for

something he would just continuously do that, and that is what happened

with the music as well. He volunteered in the youth centre

three days a week. No one was allowed in the studio unless he was

there. The youth club, all the youth workers there, they always had good

things to say about him. A talented boy, a boy described by those who

knew him, including his teachers, as someone who was positive, smiley,

and had this talent. Growing up in quite a, is it better say, difficult

environment? I grew up there as well, and parts of it is quite a

close-knit community, everyone knows each other, but there are parts of

it when people get into trouble, because of the local schools. How

did he navigate that? Through doing activities like the skateboarding,

roller-skating, being given the studio, it kept him away from that

sort of way of life. That evening, when he went out, he was part of a

group, and he was stabbed. Friends of his previously had been stabbed.

Were knives something you were very aware of? I constantly worried, even