:00:05. > :00:11.The Government and public sector unions on a collision course over
:00:11. > :00:14.pay and pensions. The Government proposes that workers, many who've
:00:14. > :00:22.been paying into their pensions for decades, could have to work until
:00:22. > :00:26.they're 66. It makes you think about your career prospects and
:00:26. > :00:30.career path, and as a young teacher it is making me think whether I
:00:30. > :00:32.want to stay in teaching. We'll be looking at what can be
:00:32. > :00:34.done to avert a mass walkout over the summer.
:00:34. > :00:37.Also tonight: Anti-government rallies and more
:00:37. > :00:45.violence in Syria. The BBC defies a ban on foreign
:00:45. > :00:48.journalists to report from inside the country. What many people here
:00:48. > :00:53.have told us is that the Syrian army and secret police are getting
:00:53. > :00:56.closer to this point every day. We now believe they are two or three
:00:56. > :00:59.miles in that direction. London 2012 - the organisers reveal
:00:59. > :01:01.how two-thirds of people who applied for Olympic tickets didn't
:01:01. > :01:04.get any. It's the legal minimum workers are
:01:04. > :01:08.paid, but a Tory MP sparks outrage by suggesting disabled people
:01:08. > :01:18.should work for less. And a record breaking round for
:01:18. > :01:21.
:01:21. > :01:27.Later, in Sportsday, today's cricket action, where there were a
:01:27. > :01:37.few rain delays. Sri Lanka were 177 for nine when play was called off,
:01:37. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :01:52.Good evening. The Government has confirmed a
:01:52. > :01:55.major shake-up of the pensions of millions of public sector workers.
:01:55. > :02:01.People are going to have to pay more and work for longer, with
:02:01. > :02:04.their retirement age rising to 66. The announcement has outraged trade
:02:04. > :02:10.unions in the middle of talks with the Government on the issue. Some
:02:10. > :02:13.have threatened to walk out. Over their working lives, millions
:02:14. > :02:18.of public sector workers pay into pensions, hoping to retire at 60,
:02:18. > :02:24.or 65. Now the Government has confirmed that in future that will
:02:24. > :02:28.rise to 66. Good morning. Jo Letson is in the early stages of a
:02:28. > :02:31.teaching career, so she could be working in decades to come. But
:02:32. > :02:36.paying more and working longer for what could be a less generous
:02:36. > :02:40.pension is making her reconsider. It makes you think about your
:02:40. > :02:43.career prospects and your career path. It is making me think about
:02:43. > :02:47.whether or not I want to stay in teaching, or try something
:02:47. > :02:52.different. The government says on average workers will have to pay
:02:52. > :02:57.around 3% more towards retirement, but those earning less than �15,000
:02:57. > :03:03.a year will not pay any extra. Those earning up to �18,000 will
:03:03. > :03:08.have extra contributions capped at 1.5%. Above that, increases will be
:03:08. > :03:10.phased in over three years. 12 million people either rely on or
:03:10. > :03:16.pay into a public service pension, hence the importance of the current
:03:16. > :03:19.talks between the Government and trade unions on pension reform. But
:03:19. > :03:22.today there has been both surprise and anger in union circles that the
:03:22. > :03:27.Government has gone public with what appear to be firm proposals,
:03:27. > :03:31.when everything was still meant to be up for discussion. This is an
:03:31. > :03:34.inflammatory and unhelpful intervention. We are engaged in
:03:34. > :03:39.negotiations and for ministers to make pronouncements while the talks
:03:39. > :03:44.are still going on, that is deeply, deeply unhelpful and it shakes my
:03:44. > :03:48.confidence in the Government's good faith. So why did the Government
:03:48. > :03:51.risk scuppering the talks? In a week dominated by threats of strike
:03:51. > :03:55.action, the Government feels that some unions have misrepresented its
:03:55. > :04:00.position. Today it appealed directly to the wider public and
:04:00. > :04:03.lower-paid workers to say that there is no alternative to change.
:04:03. > :04:07.We have a reasonable proposition on the table that, for millions around
:04:07. > :04:12.the country, is what is happening right now. The public sector, if we
:04:12. > :04:14.want to protect good quality public sector pensions, where when you
:04:14. > :04:19.reach retirement the benefits are broadly similar to those at the
:04:19. > :04:22.moment, then we also have to move with the times. We have to move
:04:22. > :04:25.with the times in terms of retirement ages. Today, the issue
:04:26. > :04:31.led another union to announce a strike ballot, but both sides know
:04:31. > :04:34.that we are all living longer so the deal will have to be done.
:04:35. > :04:38.Our chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym is with me here. Given
:04:38. > :04:42.that talks are still going on with the unions, why has the Government
:04:42. > :04:45.come out and announced these changes? I think the Government may
:04:45. > :04:49.have been stunned by some of the headlines this week, rather bad
:04:49. > :04:53.news for them, the strike votes in the public sector for action over
:04:53. > :04:57.pensions, and they wanted to come out and get their message across. I
:04:57. > :05:00.think Mr Alexander was trying to go over the heads of the union
:05:00. > :05:04.leadership to the lower paid public sector workers and to say, your
:05:04. > :05:09.contributions will not go up if you earn up to �15,000. We had not
:05:09. > :05:11.heard that before. Also, they may feel they have been criticised more
:05:11. > :05:15.widely over watering down health service reforms, pushing back other
:05:15. > :05:20.areas of reform, and they want to show they mean business over
:05:20. > :05:23.pensions. They had a report on this issue which called for some way of
:05:24. > :05:26.bringing down the cost to the taxpayer. The TUC have not
:05:26. > :05:30.criticise the substance of the proposals. They said they were
:05:30. > :05:34.angry about how they had been sprung on them, but no comment on
:05:34. > :05:37.the substance. And Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, equally has not
:05:37. > :05:42.criticised the idea of reform of pensions, so there is scope for
:05:42. > :05:46.further talks on the issue. In Syria, government forces are
:05:46. > :05:50.reported to have shot dead 16 people at a demonstration against
:05:50. > :05:53.the rule of President Assad. Across the country, thousands joined in
:05:53. > :05:56.anti-government rallies. This is said to have been the scene in
:05:56. > :06:00.Damascus, although the pictures cannot be independently verified.
:06:00. > :06:04.10,000 people are estimated to have fled the violence, taking refuge on
:06:04. > :06:07.the border with neighbouring Turkey. Foreign journalists are banned from
:06:07. > :06:11.Syria but Matthew Price has crossed into the country and has this
:06:11. > :06:15.report. We took a route that the smugglers
:06:15. > :06:23.use. Winding through the olive groves and down the hillsides to
:06:23. > :06:29.avoid the border patrols. After an hour's hike, we were inside Syria.
:06:29. > :06:37.This is how some 10,000 now live here, stranded along the border,
:06:37. > :06:45.too scared of their own army to return home. In one tent sat this
:06:45. > :06:50.woman, elderly and frail. I came here because of the violence, she
:06:50. > :06:55.said, because of the army. We are frightened of them.
:06:55. > :07:01.Everyone here has a tale of horror. Few will tell there's on camera,
:07:01. > :07:05.too afraid of reprisals, but their stories are all similar.
:07:05. > :07:08.TRANSLATION: We were watching from a place in the city of Jisr al-
:07:08. > :07:12.Shughour, so we could tell our families what was happening. The
:07:12. > :07:17.soldiers went in with tanks and army vehicles. They brought
:07:17. > :07:20.bulldozers, and they started to attack the buildings. They entered
:07:20. > :07:24.officers and they stole whatever they wanted, and then they set fire
:07:24. > :07:28.to them. The people of Syria have been all but sealed off for three
:07:28. > :07:32.months now, as the President has tried to crush a rebellion he
:07:32. > :07:37.blames on religious extremists. What many people here have told us
:07:37. > :07:42.is that the Syrian army and secret police are getting closer to this
:07:42. > :07:44.point every day. We now believe they are just two or three miles in
:07:44. > :07:49.that direction. And on the other side of the country, we also know
:07:49. > :07:54.that army units are getting closer to centres of rebellion along the
:07:54. > :07:57.Iraqi border. The tactic seems clear. The army, the regime, is
:07:57. > :08:06.trying to assert its dominance across the country to quash the
:08:06. > :08:09.rebellion. And this, many here told us, is how the army is doing it. We
:08:10. > :08:14.cannot showed his mobile phone footage. It is of a dead man with a
:08:14. > :08:21.long, bloody wound along the top of his skull. What does this make them
:08:21. > :08:26.think of their President? The Shah, he is a traitor, this man told us.
:08:27. > :08:31.He should give us our freedom. Such open dissent was once unheard
:08:31. > :08:39.of in Syria. It is perhaps a sign that the brutality, far from
:08:39. > :08:42.crushing this rebellion, is actually fanning its flames.
:08:42. > :08:46.The Ministry of Defence has announced that two British soldiers
:08:46. > :08:49.have been killed in Afghanistan. Both died in separate incidents in
:08:49. > :08:53.Helmand province yesterday. One, a member of the Royal Electrical and
:08:53. > :08:58.Mechanical Engineers, was killed in an explosion in the Nahr-e Saraj
:08:58. > :09:02.district. The other was from the Parachute Regiment, attacked --
:09:02. > :09:06.attached to special forces. The families have been informed.
:09:06. > :09:09.If you apply for Olympic tickets and did not get any, you are not
:09:09. > :09:13.alone. The organisers of London 2012 have revealed that almost two-
:09:13. > :09:17.thirds of people who apply for tickets fails to get any, and many
:09:17. > :09:21.high-profile events were heavily oversubscribed. But if you missed
:09:21. > :09:27.out, you can have another go next week. Tickets will be available on
:09:27. > :09:29.a first-come first-served basis. David Bond has the details. Many
:09:30. > :09:33.British sports fans hoped that with the Olympics coming to London they
:09:33. > :09:37.would not have to do what they did last time, Watchet on the
:09:37. > :09:40.television. But with 2 million applications for a seat at next
:09:40. > :09:46.year's opening ceremony, that is exactly what the vast majority of
:09:47. > :09:53.us will have to do. It is not much better for the men's 100 metres
:09:53. > :10:00.final. There were 1.3 million applications to watch Usain Bolt.
:10:00. > :10:04.Just 21,000 were successful. In total, London 2012 received 21
:10:04. > :10:10.million applications in the first sales phase, from 1.9 million
:10:10. > :10:14.people. But only 700,000 were successful. For the first time,
:10:14. > :10:20.today's figures have given us a bit of clarity. But what does the man
:10:20. > :10:25.in charge of London 2012 say to those who have missed out? I will
:10:25. > :10:30.say I absolutely understand your disappointment. Massive, massive
:10:30. > :10:35.demand, unprecedented demand. we you apologise, because they do
:10:35. > :10:40.not feel, from speaking to them, that they competed in a fair
:10:40. > :10:43.process? I think they competed in an entirely fair process. Seb Coe
:10:43. > :10:48.enters London 2012 team will not admit they made any mistakes, but
:10:48. > :10:51.this sales process lacked transparency, which is why so many
:10:51. > :10:56.people have been left feeling frustrated. Now the pressure is on
:10:56. > :11:01.to ensure they get it right second time around. For disappointed fans
:11:01. > :11:04.like this, there will at least be a second chance. From next Thursday,
:11:04. > :11:10.2.3 million tickets go on sale, but the vast majority of four football,
:11:10. > :11:14.with only 600,000 for the other Olympic sports. -- they are for
:11:14. > :11:18.football. If I was going to try again, I would roll up my sleeves,
:11:18. > :11:23.do some analysis and go for it. I am not terribly optimistic. There
:11:23. > :11:27.do not seem to be that many tickets available, and my degree of
:11:27. > :11:31.confidence that I could get some is still pretty low. With such high
:11:31. > :11:36.demand for tickets, London 2012 can at least be confident they will
:11:36. > :11:39.avoid empty venues, and will raise their half a billion pounds that
:11:39. > :11:46.they need. The challenge now is to keep all those who missed out
:11:47. > :11:49.interested in the Games. After days of the instability on
:11:49. > :11:54.the financial markets and riots on the streets of Athens this week,
:11:54. > :11:58.the leaders of Germany and France have a new financial rescue package
:11:58. > :12:01.for Greece which should be agreed as soon as possible today. Angela
:12:01. > :12:05.Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy was speaking hours after a new Greek
:12:05. > :12:15.cabinet was sworn in to deal with the crisis. Gavin Hewitt reports
:12:15. > :12:19.
:12:19. > :12:23.from the Greek capital. A Cabinet reshuffle, Greek style.
:12:23. > :12:28.European leaders and the financial markets have watched as a new
:12:28. > :12:32.Cabinet was sworn in. Facing a violent unrest, Prime Minister
:12:32. > :12:36.George Papandreou dumped his Finance Minister. A desperate
:12:36. > :12:42.gamble that a new team could more easily push through austerity
:12:42. > :12:46.measures and so prevent the devastating default. Outside
:12:46. > :12:51.Parliament, the protesters remain at the gates. Late evening, they
:12:51. > :12:55.were sitting in. They had heard that the new Finance Minister might
:12:55. > :13:00.try and negotiate with his European paymasters to soften some other
:13:00. > :13:05.reforms. The protesters were sceptical. The mood here was
:13:05. > :13:08.uncompromising. No more austerity. The more austerity you have, people
:13:08. > :13:12.are more unemployed and have less to spend and the economy is
:13:12. > :13:17.collapsing. The protesters who have been camping gear for weeks are
:13:17. > :13:20.trying to make it impossible for the government to implement cuts.
:13:20. > :13:25.Away from the protests here in Greece, there have also been
:13:25. > :13:29.divisions elsewhere in Europe about how to resolve this crisis. Germany
:13:29. > :13:38.and France, the big beasts in the eurozone, have not seen eye to eye
:13:38. > :13:42.on this, and today their leaders The smiles did not disguise the
:13:42. > :13:45.tension between Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. The Germans had
:13:45. > :13:49.wanted private investors to shoulder some of the burden of a
:13:49. > :13:55.second Greek bailout, the French disagreed. Today, Angela Merkel
:13:55. > :13:59.backed down. That means more pain for the German taxpayer.
:13:59. > :14:03.TRANSLATION: Europe and the euro hang together. Our economic
:14:03. > :14:10.strength depends on a strong euro, and because of this I will do
:14:10. > :14:15.everything to ensure the euro's stability. Rhys's debt mountain
:14:15. > :14:20.stands at �298 billion. Just one year ago, it was loaned �95 billion
:14:20. > :14:25.in a bailout. It did not do the trick, and a second bail-out of
:14:25. > :14:28.around �106 billion is now being considered. This is the end game,
:14:28. > :14:32.because Europe has to make up its mind whether it is going to have
:14:32. > :14:38.the political will and the financial resources to address this
:14:38. > :14:43.finally and definitively, or whether it faces a kind of chaos.
:14:43. > :14:50.The next big test will come early next week with a confident vote in
:14:50. > :14:54.the Prime Minister's leadership. Coming up on the programme:
:14:54. > :15:02.Pioneering research into Parkinson's disease, turning skin
:15:02. > :15:05.cells in two pieces of brain. -- in two.
:15:05. > :15:09.A conservative MP suggested that disabled people should be allowed
:15:09. > :15:13.to work for less than the minimum wage has been sharply criticised.
:15:13. > :15:17.Philip Davies said employers were reluctant to take on disabled
:15:17. > :15:20.workers and might be encouraged if it was cheaper to employ them. The
:15:20. > :15:24.mental health charity Mind described his comments as
:15:25. > :15:30.preposterous. This report is from political correspondent Ben Wright.
:15:30. > :15:35.The law is clear, everyone over 21 must be paid at least �5.93 per
:15:35. > :15:38.hour, that is the minimum wage. It is less for people who are younger.
:15:38. > :15:41.But this MP says people should be allowed to work for less if they
:15:41. > :15:45.want to. He thinks it will help people with mental health problems
:15:45. > :15:49.get a job. For some of those vulnerable people, it makes it
:15:49. > :15:53.harder for them to get their first run on a ladder. We will never get
:15:53. > :15:57.anywhere trying to help them get into employment. The suggestion of
:15:57. > :16:01.low wages for vulnerable workers has outraged charities, who say the
:16:01. > :16:05.minimum wage is not the problem. His comments are preposterous and
:16:05. > :16:07.offensive to thousands of people with mental health problems whom
:16:07. > :16:11.work and want to work on an equal footing with fellow-citizens.
:16:11. > :16:14.People should not be paid less because they have a disability.
:16:14. > :16:19.They should be supported and given the chance to work alongside their
:16:19. > :16:22.colleagues. Michael Brooks from Bristol has been disabled for the
:16:22. > :16:26.last 15 years following an accident at work in which he broke his back.
:16:26. > :16:31.As much as there is equality or they try to say there is equality
:16:31. > :16:36.in the workplace, employers are going to go for an able-bodied
:16:36. > :16:39.person every time, even if you say you will work for half the wages.
:16:39. > :16:43.Politics can be a minefield, and Philip Davies has stepped on one.
:16:43. > :16:46.The Conservative Party was quick to say that neither they nor the
:16:46. > :16:50.Government's share his view and the law will not change. There is an
:16:50. > :16:53.issue of prejudice and discrimination, but the
:16:53. > :16:59.overwhelming view of people here is that paying people less is not the
:16:59. > :17:02.answer. Rebels in Libya say at least 10
:17:02. > :17:06.people have been killed and a rocket attack by Colonel Gaddafi's
:17:06. > :17:10.forces. In recent weeks, rebel numbers have been swelled by some
:17:10. > :17:14.Libyans who live abroad returning to join the fighting in his rata.
:17:14. > :17:22.Andrew Harding met one student who left behind his studies in Britain
:17:22. > :17:28.to fight on the front line. In high spirits, a very full of
:17:28. > :17:33.rebels heading for the besieged city of Misrata and the front lines
:17:33. > :17:39.that surround it. Among the reinforcements, the young
:17:39. > :17:46.maths student from Lancaster University, Siddique. In England, I
:17:46. > :17:51.could not do much for this revolution, so I decided to go and
:17:51. > :17:55.hold a gun for the first time in my life. For Siddique, this is
:17:55. > :18:00.personal. His father has come to greet him, but Gaddafi's forces
:18:00. > :18:06.have taken 16 members of their family. Within hours, a shy, Ennis
:18:06. > :18:16.student seems transformed. -- Ernest. It is a short journey to
:18:16. > :18:17.
:18:17. > :18:23.the front line. But is he ready for Those were uncomfortably close.
:18:23. > :18:33.Allahu Akbar! Gaddafi's superior firepower is a constant threat for
:18:33. > :18:34.
:18:34. > :18:38.Siddique has come right to the very front lines here, very active front
:18:38. > :18:42.lines. Colonel Gaddafi's forces are just a mile or so down the road. We
:18:42. > :18:46.can hear their missiles whistling overhead. NATO planes are
:18:46. > :18:51.patrolling the skies above. The men here are placing themselves what
:18:51. > :18:56.they believe could be an imminent Gaddafi offensive. -- brazing. In a
:18:56. > :19:02.quieter moment, Siddique's training begins. These are the rockets.
:19:02. > :19:06.hopes his maths skills will help with targeting. I do not want to
:19:06. > :19:13.kill anybody, actually, and my friends, they don't want to kill,
:19:13. > :19:17.but we have to fight. So where is the enemy now? Over there?
:19:17. > :19:26.Siddique's lack of experience is nothing new here. The rebels need
:19:26. > :19:31.training and weapons, and too many are dying. Very nice! And so, after
:19:31. > :19:41.a near how or so of training, Siddique joins the ranks. -- a mere
:19:41. > :19:42.
:19:42. > :19:44.hour or so. Either we live in peace Scientists in Oxford have made what
:19:45. > :19:47.they hope is a significant breakthrough in the fight against
:19:47. > :19:52.Parkinson's disease. They have pioneered a technique which turns
:19:52. > :19:56.pieces of skin into pieces of brain. It is part of a large-scale study
:19:56. > :20:01.to create a bag of artificially grown brain cells. Science
:20:01. > :20:06.correspondent Pallab Ghosh has this exclusive report.
:20:06. > :20:10.An X-ray of the human brain, the body's most complex organ. This is
:20:10. > :20:15.one with Parkinson's disease. The dark areas are where the cells have
:20:15. > :20:21.been ravaged. Derek Underwood is helping scientists combat the
:20:21. > :20:27.disease. He is one of the 120,000 people in Britain who have the
:20:27. > :20:32.condition. I started getting twitches in my face, like spasms. I
:20:32. > :20:37.started getting a tremor in my left hand. And sometimes I did not even
:20:37. > :20:39.notice it. People brought it to my attention. Derek is involved in a
:20:39. > :20:44.pioneering study in which researchers will grow brain cells
:20:44. > :20:49.from tiny bids of his game. Researchers chop it up into small
:20:49. > :20:54.pieces and add chemicals. Over the next few weeks, these skin cells
:20:54. > :21:00.will be turned into brain cells. By studying these artificially created
:21:00. > :21:03.brain cells, researchers will be able to see in great detail how
:21:03. > :21:08.Parkinson's disease develops. Chemicals are added to genetically
:21:08. > :21:14.reprogrammed the cells, then they are put into an incubator. Here,
:21:14. > :21:17.seen for the first time, is what happens. First, Derek's skin cells
:21:17. > :21:24.break down. The small bids clump together to form thousands of stem
:21:24. > :21:29.cells. These turn into nerve cells. They grow long strands, connections
:21:29. > :21:33.which send signals to other parts of the brain. After 16 weeks,
:21:33. > :21:37.Derek's skin sample has grown into brain cells. Because they are made
:21:37. > :21:40.from his DNA, they were gradually develop Parkinson's. That is
:21:40. > :21:45.something scientists have never been able to observe before.
:21:45. > :21:49.have never been able to study them in detail, because they are inside
:21:49. > :21:53.the brain and inaccessible. Now we can grow them in a dish, study them,
:21:53. > :21:56.cultured them for weeks and months on end to study how they live and
:21:57. > :22:01.die, and why they are different. The researchers are growing brain
:22:01. > :22:09.cells from many Parkinson's patients. With his brain bank, they
:22:10. > :22:13.hope to be able to develop new A man who blocked and tweeted the
:22:13. > :22:18.details of his wife's affair on the internet has been cleared of
:22:18. > :22:25.harassing her lover. Ian Puddick posted videos and pictures all over
:22:25. > :22:28.the night in theory at his wife's ten-year fare. After the verdict,
:22:28. > :22:32.he said his victory was won for the small man.
:22:32. > :22:35.Now, some politicians are fond of talking about the squeezed middle,
:22:35. > :22:39.people in work but none the less facing tough times as Britain
:22:39. > :22:42.struggles out of recession. Many will be affected by today's news on
:22:42. > :22:47.public sector pensions, but what other changes are on the way? How
:22:47. > :22:50.are people coping? All this week's special correspondent Richard
:22:50. > :22:54.Bilton has been gauging the mode. Today he sent this report from
:22:54. > :22:57.Derbyshire. Welcome to Middle England,
:22:57. > :23:06.Melbourne sits in the hills of south Derbyshire but agriculture
:23:06. > :23:11.does not pay the bills here any The parents of these kids at the
:23:11. > :23:15.village school are much more likely to be commuters than work the land.
:23:15. > :23:22.Sarah the dinner lady says you can feel the village tightening its
:23:22. > :23:28.belt. Well, our school dinner numbers have gone down. By about 20
:23:28. > :23:33.in his last half-term. Roast potatoes, George? So that has
:23:34. > :23:39.affected us, because that has cut all of our powers. Which one did
:23:39. > :23:42.you look out for ideas? Mrs Howell teaches the reception class. She
:23:42. > :23:49.came here after being made redundant at a Las school. Have you
:23:49. > :23:53.finished? She is happy here, but the staffroom has concerns. A
:23:53. > :23:58.national dispute over pensions looms. I will not be striking
:23:58. > :24:03.personally, because I'm here to do my job, but I am 100% behind anyone
:24:03. > :24:08.who chooses to do the strike. school sits in a village full of
:24:08. > :24:11.small businesses. So, of course, people are worried about cuts to
:24:11. > :24:21.the public sector, but here they are just as worried about the state
:24:21. > :24:25.of the economy and what might come The school's chair of governors is
:24:25. > :24:30.also one of the village's main employers. The ships spring water
:24:30. > :24:37.from Melbourne all over the country. How does he find a live in tougher
:24:37. > :24:40.economic times? The cuts have got to come, because we are
:24:40. > :24:43.overspending. I agree with it, but I think the man in the street has
:24:43. > :24:49.got less money in his pocket. Generally, the concern is about
:24:49. > :24:55.jobs. They are being very careful at the moment. All of this means
:24:55. > :25:04.little in the playground. But there are not many families here that are
:25:04. > :25:09.untouched. Job worries and budget cutbacks, a life in middle England.
:25:09. > :25:13.In golf, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy has fired a 66 to lead the
:25:13. > :25:16.US Open by six shots after the second round at the Congressional
:25:16. > :25:20.calls. If he can hold his nerve, he has put an suffered a strong
:25:20. > :25:28.position to win his first major trophy with two rounds to go. Joe
:25:28. > :25:32.This is Rory McIlroy, and what follows is extraordinary. The US
:25:32. > :25:36.Open prides itself on humbling the world's best golfers, it provides
:25:36. > :25:41.challenges to test the most experienced. Well, McIlroy is 22,
:25:41. > :25:48.and the ball obeyed his every command. It is often said that his
:25:48. > :25:54.putting is suspect. Rock solid here. By the 17th, he was out of sight,
:25:54. > :25:59.shot the other has dreamt of, he rated it as so-so. But this that
:25:59. > :26:05.made history. It left him 13 under par. No one had ever been 13 under
:26:05. > :26:09.par at the US Open before. I am bowing down to the young man!
:26:09. > :26:15.he has blazed a trail in major championships before only to fall