:00:10. > :00:15.Of James Murdoch quits as chairman of BSkyB, the latest twist in the
:00:15. > :00:19.phone hacking scandal. He says he wants to protect the satellite
:00:19. > :00:24.broadcaster from the controversy surrounding him. It comes just
:00:24. > :00:29.weeks before MPs report back on the scandal. Now the succession from
:00:30. > :00:33.father to son could be in doubt. Rupert's fondest wish, to be
:00:33. > :00:38.succeeded by one of his children, and James was the heir apparent,
:00:38. > :00:43.that is even less likely now than yesterday. We will ask where this
:00:43. > :00:47.leaves the future of BSkyB. Also tonight: plans to give the
:00:47. > :00:51.security services greater access to online activity - he is the
:00:51. > :00:56.Government backing off? We will not simply ram some
:00:56. > :01:00.legislation through Parliament. We will make sure our proposals are
:01:00. > :01:04.published so that people can debate them.
:01:04. > :01:09.Trailers tossed into the air and homes destroyed - a tornado rips
:01:09. > :01:13.through Texas tonight. The crisis in Syria - now the
:01:13. > :01:18.president's uncle tells the BBC that Bashar al-Assad will not be
:01:18. > :01:22.able to hold on to power. Winter returns to Aberdeenshire, or
:01:22. > :01:30.with six inches of snow just days after record high temperatures -
:01:30. > :01:33.what is happening to our weather? And in Sportsday on the BBC News
:01:33. > :01:43.Channel, Champions League, as Milan and Marseille face uphill struggles
:01:43. > :01:57.
:01:57. > :02:01.Good evening. James Murdoch has resigned as chairman of BSkyB as
:02:01. > :02:05.the phone hacking scandal continues to take its toll on the media
:02:05. > :02:09.empire built up by his father, Rupert. James Murdoch, who faces
:02:09. > :02:14.questions about what he knew and when, said he did not want the
:02:14. > :02:17.fall-out from the phone hacking affair to tarnish BSkyB. The
:02:17. > :02:22.broadcaster's future is being considered by the media watchdog of
:02:22. > :02:26.cob. -- Ofcom.
:02:26. > :02:31.It is a long running saga about James Murdoch, phone hacking and
:02:31. > :02:35.the conduct of newspapers owned by his family's media empire. MPs have
:02:35. > :02:39.questioned him. He resigned as chairman of News International,
:02:39. > :02:45.which runs the newspapers, and is now stepping down as chairman of
:02:45. > :02:49.BSkyB, part owned by the Murdochs' News Corporation. All that follows
:02:49. > :02:52.phone hacking allegations at the News Of The World. The former
:02:52. > :02:56.editor Rebekah Brooks was questioned by police and the
:02:56. > :03:00.parliamentary inquiry took place. This is the most humble day of my
:03:00. > :03:04.life. The committee which quizzed Rupert Murdoch and his son heard
:03:04. > :03:09.claims that James Murdoch was warned about phone hacking in an e-
:03:09. > :03:13.mail in 2008. He says he did not properly read it. With the benefit
:03:13. > :03:17.of hindsight, we can look at all these things. If I knew then what
:03:17. > :03:20.we know now, we would have taken more action around that and moved
:03:21. > :03:30.faster to get to the bottom of these allegations. Today in a
:03:31. > :03:36.
:03:36. > :03:40.letter to the board, Mr Murdoch Today's boardroom change will not
:03:40. > :03:44.make any difference to Sky viewers. The same executive management team
:03:44. > :03:47.is still in place. But it is highly significant that James Murdoch
:03:47. > :03:52.personally, and his position in the media industry and the Murdoch
:03:52. > :03:57.empire. When he resigned from being head of the press interests in the
:03:57. > :04:02.UK, it was said by News Corp that James Murdoch would then focus on
:04:02. > :04:05.pay-TV interests in the company. The fact that he is leaving the
:04:05. > :04:12.crown jewel of News Corp's pay-TV interests does mean that he is
:04:12. > :04:15.unlikely to have a consistent job in the pay-TV area. The protesters
:04:15. > :04:19.outside the reason BSkyB shareholder meeting criticised what
:04:19. > :04:24.they called the Murdoch Mafia. There are questions now are about
:04:24. > :04:27.where James stands in the family pecking order. For James Murdoch
:04:27. > :04:32.and his prospects of succeeding his father at the top of News
:04:32. > :04:35.Corporation, which remember, is Rupert's fondest wish, to be
:04:35. > :04:40.succeeded by one of his children, and James was the heir apparent,
:04:40. > :04:45.that seems even less likely now than yesterday. Before the long-
:04:45. > :04:48.term succession is resolved, James Murdoch has the shorter term issue
:04:48. > :04:54.of what a parliamentary committee concludes about his knowledge of
:04:54. > :04:59.the phone hacking scandal. Cue, the timing of this resignation
:04:59. > :05:04.is crucial, isn't it? Absolutely crucial. The Department of Culture,
:05:04. > :05:10.Media and Sport committee will come up with its report in a few weeks'
:05:10. > :05:14.time. What it says will be critical, what it finds about James Murdoch's
:05:14. > :05:17.evidence about what he knew and when about phone hacking. Then you
:05:17. > :05:21.have the strong probability that James Murdoch and his father Rupert
:05:22. > :05:24.will appear at the Leveson inquiry at the end of this month, again.
:05:24. > :05:30.There was a huge amount of attention when they appeared before
:05:30. > :05:34.MPs. There will be a lot more attention this time. Then there is
:05:34. > :05:38.the investigation by the broadcasting regulator Ofcom into
:05:38. > :05:42.whether BSkyB is fit and proper to hold broadcasting licences. They
:05:42. > :05:47.are looking at the role of the majority shareholder. That has not
:05:47. > :05:52.changed today. They are also looking at the controlling director.
:05:52. > :05:57.James Murdoch moving aside from chairman to being just a director,
:05:57. > :06:02.could be seen in that context. Maybe he has tried to create space
:06:02. > :06:06.for BSkyB in that inquiry so that the heat is off a bit in that sense.
:06:06. > :06:12.But we do not know what they will come up with. But the pressure is
:06:12. > :06:16.still very much on James Murdoch tonight, even after he has stood
:06:16. > :06:19.down as the executive chairman of BSkyB, and on his family's media
:06:19. > :06:23.business as well for us stop the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg
:06:23. > :06:26.appeared to signal a retreat to date over controversial plans for a
:06:26. > :06:30.greater surveillance of e-mails on the internet use.
:06:30. > :06:34.Mr Clegg said more consultation was needed and the legislation would
:06:34. > :06:36.not be rammed through Parliament. Earlier today, the Home Office had
:06:37. > :06:43.indicated that the proposals, which critics have labelled a "snooper's
:06:43. > :06:47.charter", would be pushed through Parliament as soon as possible.
:06:47. > :06:51.The way the world communicates has changed. The way serious criminals
:06:51. > :06:56.and terrorists communicate has changed. So the Government wants to
:06:56. > :07:00.update the law, but the plan has proved controversial and now the
:07:00. > :07:04.Prime Minister is on the back foot, forced to defend his proposals.
:07:04. > :07:08.This is not about extending the reach of the state into people's
:07:08. > :07:12.data, it is about trying to keep up with modern technology. But we
:07:12. > :07:18.should remember that this sort of data, used at the moment through
:07:18. > :07:21.the proper processes, is vital in stopping serious crime and some of
:07:21. > :07:25.the most serious terrorist incidents that could kill people in
:07:25. > :07:28.our country. The police and security services are increasingly
:07:28. > :07:33.interested in social media and Internet conversations. The
:07:33. > :07:37.Government wants to let them access information on that at will. None
:07:37. > :07:41.detailed content, just details of websites visited. But the idea of
:07:41. > :07:46.more intrusion has been roundly criticised. It is unclear what it
:07:46. > :07:50.means for people. It is always going to lead to fears about the
:07:50. > :07:55.general browsing of people's e- mails unless they are clear about
:07:55. > :07:58.what the proposals would mean and about how they are changing the law.
:07:58. > :08:02.The Prime Minister has to get a grip on this government. It is
:08:02. > :08:06.clear that there were different views on this inside the government.
:08:06. > :08:10.The Home Secretary Theresa May used a piece in a tabloid newspaper to
:08:11. > :08:14.try to justify the changes. She claimed it could prevent another
:08:14. > :08:19.7/7-style a pack and maybe another paedophile murderer like Ian
:08:19. > :08:23.Huntley. But some Liberal Democrats within the coalition led by the
:08:23. > :08:27.Deputy Prime Minister saw an attack on civil liberties, and they do not
:08:27. > :08:30.want to rush the charges through Parliament. On the local election
:08:30. > :08:34.campaign trail, Nick Clegg was keen to intervene. The Home Office has
:08:34. > :08:37.maintained that the plan will not be delayed, but with talk of a
:08:37. > :08:41.draft bills and scrutiny before it goes to parliament, it looks like
:08:41. > :08:45.the brakes are on. We are not going to ram legislation through
:08:45. > :08:50.Parliament. We will make sure our proposals are published in draft so
:08:50. > :08:54.that people can debate them. There is a debate to be had. The critics
:08:54. > :09:00.were not just from the Liberal Democrat side. High-profile Tories
:09:00. > :09:05.who jumped on the plan sensed signs of a victory. The agencies should
:09:05. > :09:10.not be able to intrude on your private information or mine without
:09:10. > :09:14.a magistrate's approval, a warrant. If we get that, we will have made
:09:14. > :09:17.progress. Without that, the battle will go on. The Home Office can now
:09:17. > :09:21.add its name to the list of departments who have struggled over
:09:21. > :09:24.the past two weeks to communicate what this Government wants to do.
:09:24. > :09:28.The BBC understands that the changes will feature in next
:09:28. > :09:31.month's Queen's speech, but ministers have made a mess of it
:09:31. > :09:35.along the way. The exile uncle of the Syrian
:09:35. > :09:39.President Bashar al-Assad has said he does not think the regime can
:09:39. > :09:42.hold on to power for much longer. Rifaat al-Assad, who has lived in
:09:42. > :09:46.Paris since he unsuccessfully tried to seize power from his brother in
:09:46. > :09:53.the 1980s, has told BBC that the level of violence on the streets of
:09:53. > :09:57.Syria was too high for his nephew to survive.
:09:57. > :10:04.30 years ago, Rifaat al-Assad was the second most powerful man in
:10:04. > :10:09.Syria. The army commander at the right hand of his brother, who was
:10:09. > :10:12.the first president of Syria, and the father of the current leader.
:10:12. > :10:15.But since he led a failed coup, Rifaat al-Assad has mostly been in
:10:16. > :10:19.exile. At the moment in a grand house in Paris, perhaps dreaming of
:10:19. > :10:24.a return to power. It is not surprising that he is pessimistic
:10:24. > :10:27.about the chances of the son of the man he tried to overthrow. Do you
:10:27. > :10:32.think that President Assad's regime will survive what is happening at
:10:32. > :10:37.the moment in Syria? TRANSLATION: It will be difficult
:10:37. > :10:41.for him to stay in power. The problems are now general to all
:10:41. > :10:46.parts of Syria. There are no places that have escaped violence, so I
:10:46. > :10:51.don't think he can stay in power. Running Syria is still a family
:10:51. > :10:55.affair. President Bashar al-Assad nominated his brother to lead
:10:55. > :11:03.operations against armed insurgents. Here in Homs, which the president
:11:03. > :11:05.visited last week and elsewhere. Today's events echoed the past. In
:11:05. > :11:11.1982, Rifaat al-Assad and his brother crashed a revolt by the
:11:11. > :11:16.Muslim Brotherhood in the fourth biggest town in Syria. Estimates of
:11:16. > :11:20.the dead in backstreets like this started at 10,000. But now, Rifaat
:11:20. > :11:24.al-Assad denies it happened like that, and prefers to talk about the
:11:24. > :11:28.latest peace initiative. Kofi Annan is trying to get a political deal
:11:28. > :11:33.going at the moment. Do you think that is possible, or do you think
:11:33. > :11:40.the future for Syria is perhaps a much more serious civil war?
:11:40. > :11:45.TRANSLATION: Kofi Annan's initiative is week. There have been
:11:45. > :11:49.stronger initiatives before. Nevertheless, the point of staying
:11:49. > :11:52.in this initiative comes with international consensus. And do you
:11:52. > :12:02.think the initiative might work, or could there be a future involving
:12:02. > :12:08.civil war? If he is serious about co-operating with those responsible
:12:08. > :12:14.to an act change, we can make this initiative succeed. Without
:12:14. > :12:18.international consensus, we may reach a civil war. The Syrian
:12:18. > :12:23.government's tanks are still in and around rebellious turn up -- towns
:12:23. > :12:27.like this and parts of the capital, Damascus. The Kofi Annan peace
:12:27. > :12:32.plans say they must pull back by a week from now and there should be a
:12:32. > :12:35.two hour truce. But their arguments over which side should stop
:12:35. > :12:39.shooting first and scepticism over whether the deadline will be met.
:12:39. > :12:44.Britain's top policeman has said his shot over allegations of racism
:12:44. > :12:47.and assault by officers during last summer's riots. In an internal
:12:47. > :12:50.statement to his staff, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner
:12:50. > :12:54.Bernard Hogan-Howe said he would not stand for any racism in his
:12:54. > :13:03.force. He spoke after footage emerged of one officer apparently
:13:04. > :13:08.Police in the United States say that the man suspected of shooting
:13:08. > :13:13.seven people dead in Oakland had been teased over his poor English.
:13:13. > :13:18.One Goh, 43, felt disrespected and isolated after being expelled from
:13:18. > :13:21.the school. He later surrendered at a supermarket in Alameda. He was a
:13:21. > :13:25.former student. An emergency has been declared in
:13:25. > :13:30.parts of Texas tonight after a series of tornados struck, causing
:13:30. > :13:40.widespread damage. Footage showed drugs being tossed hundreds of feet
:13:40. > :13:48.
:13:48. > :13:51.into the air. The -- traps. There Emergency warnings crackle on the
:13:51. > :14:01.airwaves as a huge tornado tears through one of the largest
:14:01. > :14:05.metropolitan air -- areas in the country. The storm picks up huge
:14:05. > :14:10.lorries and spins them around a parking lot. In the aftermath,
:14:10. > :14:14.graphic evidence of the tornado's power. No detailed account of the
:14:14. > :14:20.damage yet, but this area is home to 6 million people and countless
:14:20. > :14:25.businesses. With emergency calls flooding in, police and fire crews
:14:25. > :14:29.arrived in the worst affected areas. Suburban homes ripped open. Trees
:14:29. > :14:38.and power lines down. Amid the chaos, reports of survivors trapped
:14:38. > :14:43.in buildings and in vehicles. Texas is used to extreme weather, sitting
:14:43. > :14:47.at one end of what is known as tornado alley. After a lengthy
:14:47. > :14:54.drought, local Myers had to introduce partial hosepipe bans
:14:54. > :14:59.later this week. -- Mayors. But the last two years has brought a series
:14:59. > :15:04.of devastating storms. Tornados now affect more of the country than
:15:04. > :15:08.ever and scenes like this are increasingly familiar.
:15:08. > :15:13.Coming up on the programme: Plans to make A-levels harder to help
:15:13. > :15:16.students cope with the move from school to university. They teach
:15:16. > :15:19.you a dumbed down version at A- level and when you get to
:15:19. > :15:22.university you find out what you have been told has nothing to do
:15:22. > :15:30.with what you will be taught in your first year and it is very
:15:30. > :15:34.scary. Research by the BBC shows that up
:15:34. > :15:37.to 20,000 small businesses may have bought complex financial products
:15:37. > :15:41.from banks without properly understanding the risks. The BBC
:15:41. > :15:44.has also learned that the Financial Services Authority is close to
:15:44. > :15:52.completing its initial probe into whether banks systematically mis-
:15:52. > :15:56.sold these products, known as swaps, and whether they are now at risk of
:15:56. > :16:00.paying hundreds of millions of pounds of compensation.
:16:00. > :16:04.On the trail of what some see as the next great misselling scandal
:16:04. > :16:09.involving British banks. The sale of bets on the direction of
:16:09. > :16:15.interest rates, known as swaps, to small businesses, here in sunny
:16:15. > :16:21.East Anglia. I am in a small market town in Norfolk, about as far from
:16:21. > :16:25.the financial sophistication of the City of London as you could
:16:25. > :16:30.possibly get. Except a few years ago Barclays Capital, one of the
:16:30. > :16:36.most powerful investment banks in the world, turned up and sold a
:16:36. > :16:40.complicated interest product to this family firm, Adcocks. In 2007,
:16:40. > :16:46.Paul Adcock was sold what is called an asymmetric cap and collar. He
:16:46. > :16:49.now admits he did not understand it. He thought he was putting a ceiling
:16:49. > :16:54.on the rate you would pay if interest rates went up. What he did
:16:54. > :16:59.not realise is that he was also making a big bet that interest
:16:59. > :17:05.rates would not fall, because ASBOs rates fell, the interest he paid
:17:05. > :17:10.rose. -- as rates fell. He is now paying a crippling interest rate on
:17:10. > :17:13.9% on a commercial mortgage of �900,000. Given that you patently
:17:13. > :17:19.did not understand the financial product you are being sold, why on
:17:19. > :17:24.earth did you agree to take it? would not have believed that a bank
:17:24. > :17:27.that has supported our business for the last 100 years could
:17:27. > :17:33.potentially ever dream of selling as a product that has done such
:17:33. > :17:38.irreparable damage to our business. It has torn the sort out of our
:17:38. > :17:45.business basically. We have to cut costs. The softest target his staff,
:17:45. > :17:51.cut the staff. But most of our staff are members of the family. It
:17:51. > :17:57.is very difficult and a very hard thing to do. Sorry. Some of these
:17:57. > :18:02.are so complex... Abhishek Sachdev sold swaps like these when he was
:18:02. > :18:09.at Lord's. Now he is showing small companies how to get out of them. -
:18:09. > :18:14.- at Lloyds. Several thousand companies may have been involved in
:18:14. > :18:19.these deals with Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC and RBS. Do you think there
:18:19. > :18:23.was pressure put on the junior managers to sell? Undoubtedly.
:18:23. > :18:27.These products have been and will continue to be very, very
:18:27. > :18:31.profitable for the banks. Several benefits would be shown to the
:18:31. > :18:34.client around the complex structured products. Those benefits
:18:34. > :18:38.are fine and they are valid, but you cannot show the benefits
:18:38. > :18:43.without the risks at the same time. That is where the banks are at
:18:43. > :18:49.fault, I think. The banks insist that swaps can be good for clients
:18:49. > :18:53.and Barclays says they stuck to the rules when dealing with Adcocks.
:18:53. > :18:57.That is small comfort for a firm now managed by a 4th generation of
:18:57. > :19:05.the founding family, fearful that the business will not still be
:19:05. > :19:08.alive for the next generation. Planned strike by ground staff at
:19:09. > :19:12.Stansted airport over Easter have been called off after talks.
:19:12. > :19:17.Members of the GMB union had been due to walk out for four hours on
:19:17. > :19:21.Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Monday, in a dispute over pay.
:19:21. > :19:25.A-level exams could get much tougher if the Education Secretary
:19:25. > :19:30.has his way. Michael Gove says the current exams, which students sit
:19:30. > :19:34.in England, and in some schools in Wales and Northern Ireland, do not
:19:34. > :19:38.prepare them for the rigour of university education. He wants
:19:38. > :19:42.universities to have a say over what goes into the papers. The
:19:42. > :19:48.watchdog has welcomed the proposal but some teachers say it is a quick
:19:48. > :19:52.fix gimmick. Securing a place in university is a
:19:52. > :19:56.major achievement. But the Education Secretary is concerned
:19:56. > :20:00.that success at A-level does not necessarily mean you are ready to
:20:00. > :20:10.start studying for a degree. In a letter sent to the exams regulator
:20:10. > :20:15.
:20:16. > :20:18.Ofqual and obtained by Newsnight, The coalition's answer is to give
:20:18. > :20:23.universities a say in helping to decide A-level courses and how they
:20:23. > :20:28.are assessed. It is very often a stepping-stone into university and
:20:28. > :20:31.that is why it is a good thing to make sure that universities are
:20:31. > :20:34.involved in having the highest possible standards at A-level.
:20:34. > :20:38.There are students that admit that going from school to university can
:20:38. > :20:41.be quite the lead. I thought A- levels were quite straight forward
:20:41. > :20:46.and then you come to university and it is all theorists and stuff and
:20:46. > :20:50.it is confusing at first. I think in science subjects especially they
:20:50. > :20:54.teach you a dumbed down version at O-level. Many of them may never
:20:54. > :20:57.even have taken an exam. For decades the number of people
:20:57. > :21:02.studying at university has grown, as have the claims that A-levels
:21:02. > :21:07.are getting easier. The pass rate has certainly been rising. In the
:21:07. > :21:11.mid- 1990s, 85% of candidates in England were awarded a grade
:21:11. > :21:18.between grade A and grade E. That has been steadily increasing and
:21:18. > :21:21.last year 98.5% of students passed. Teaching unions are angry that they
:21:21. > :21:26.have not been consulted about these proposals and they do have some
:21:26. > :21:30.concerns. The Russell Group, made up of some of the leading
:21:30. > :21:35.universities in the UK, so there should be changes about the way A-
:21:35. > :21:40.levels are taught. -- say that there should be changes. We would
:21:40. > :21:45.like to change A-levels to reduce the number of resits, to reduce the
:21:45. > :21:50.marginalisation of A-levels, and to beef up some of the components. --
:21:50. > :21:53.modularisation. Scotland has a different education system and
:21:53. > :21:57.Highers are generally used as a qualification for entering
:21:57. > :22:02.university. There are other examining boards in Wales and
:22:02. > :22:06.Northern Ireland, but some students do sit papers set by English boards.
:22:06. > :22:13.For many future students, this is a clear sign that exams could become
:22:13. > :22:17.harder and getting into university could become rather more difficult.
:22:17. > :22:20.England's cricketers have had a mixed first day in the second Test
:22:20. > :22:23.match against Sri Lanka. They need to win in Colombo to keep their
:22:23. > :22:28.position as the world's best Test team, but Sri Lanka recovered from
:22:28. > :22:34.an early slump with a century from the captain, Mahela Jayawardene,
:22:34. > :22:38.which helped the hosts to 238 for six at the close of play.
:22:38. > :22:44.In football, Barcelona are through to the semi-finals of the Champions
:22:44. > :22:50.League after defeating AC Milan 3-1. Barcelona were helped with this
:22:50. > :22:54.penalty by Lionel Messi. He scores! The player of the year went on to
:22:54. > :22:59.score another, matching the record of 14 goals in one season of the
:22:59. > :23:03.competition. Wintery weather has returned to
:23:03. > :23:08.much of Scotland with six inches of snow falling in Aberdeenshire. It
:23:08. > :23:12.is just a week since people were basking in temperatures of just
:23:12. > :23:17.over 20 degrees. In England it remains dry, with March recording
:23:17. > :23:23.the warmest and sunniest conditions on record. These dramatic weather
:23:23. > :23:27.changes are now affecting our landscape and farming patterns.
:23:27. > :23:33.Springtime in Aberdeenshire. After last week's record-breaking high
:23:33. > :23:41.temperatures, you could say that normal service has been resumed.
:23:41. > :23:46.Basking in the unseasonal heat several days ago, Aboyne is now
:23:46. > :23:50.under snow. Thousands of homes have no electricity and drama on the
:23:50. > :23:57.mountains. A helicopter evacuation for nine Belgian tourists from the
:23:57. > :24:01.slopes of Ben that do we, Britain's second highest peak. -- Ben Macdui.
:24:01. > :24:06.They were brought in from the cold, safe and well. They did have
:24:06. > :24:11.camping gear with them and they made camp when the weather started
:24:11. > :24:16.to deteriorate. They managed that before they got cold. In town, snow
:24:16. > :24:20.shovels that had been packed away by back in service. Last week we
:24:20. > :24:24.have customers on the deck and it was 24 degrees in the shade and 32
:24:24. > :24:32.degrees in the sunshine. We knew that it was not going to last that
:24:32. > :24:34.long. Down South, a different picture. At the Royal Horticultural
:24:34. > :24:39.Society's Gardens, there were plenty of tips on making things
:24:39. > :24:43.grow, even in the drought. Spring is in full bloom, but the dramatic
:24:43. > :24:47.shift in our weather patterns are presenting big challenges to the
:24:47. > :24:52.gardeners. On a bigger scale, our farmers are having to adapt to the
:24:52. > :24:59.changing weather conditions. The soil for many is starting to look
:24:59. > :25:06.like dust. We have had two Super dry winters in a row. Official
:25:06. > :25:10.figures for March so that it was the warmest since 1967. -- say that.
:25:10. > :25:14.It was also the driest for more than a decade. The official advice
:25:15. > :25:18.for farmers, expect the unexpected. The first thing to say is that I
:25:18. > :25:22.don't think farmers, as climate change is developing, will be able
:25:22. > :25:26.to rely on the average temperature and rainfall as they have done for
:25:26. > :25:31.many years. There has to be an expectation that that will change
:25:31. > :25:34.and they need to ponder how they adapt to that. In the East of
:25:34. > :25:38.England, the lack of rain is bringing trouble on the roads.
:25:38. > :25:44.Cracks are appearing as the earth beneath the carriageway tries and
:25:44. > :25:48.shrinks. Big repair bills. And of course in much of England, the
:25:48. > :25:53.hosepipe ban comes into force on Thursday this week and is likely to
:25:53. > :25:57.remain in place for the entire summer.