:00:00. > :00:08.One storm follows another. After gales of 90mph earlier today,
:00:09. > :00:14.tonight, there are more high winds and more flooding.
:00:15. > :00:28.From Cornwall to Scotland, coastal communities have been hit by gales
:00:29. > :00:32.and high tides. Terrible. The waves are horrendous. It is pretty awful,
:00:33. > :00:34.certainly not within my experience. Homes and businesses have been
:00:35. > :00:38.flooded as rivers burst their banks. And this was the scene a short time
:00:39. > :00:40.ago in Aberystwyth where some people tonight were asked to leave homes
:00:41. > :00:43.and businesses. The head of the Environment Agency
:00:44. > :00:47.admits a funding squeeze and job cuts will affect how they handle
:00:48. > :00:53.floods in future. A sharp rise in house prices, up on
:00:54. > :00:55.average by 8.4%. Newly released documents show what
:00:56. > :01:00.Margaret Thatcher's cabinet really thought about the miners' strike.
:01:01. > :01:04.India's multi-billion pound brick industry, and the bonded labourers
:01:05. > :01:09.earning little more than ?1 a day in appalling conditions.
:01:10. > :01:11.The British director tipped for an Oscar for his film on slavery in the
:01:12. > :01:25.American south. Coming up, England face and Ashes
:01:26. > :01:56.whitewash. Good evening and welcome to the BBC
:01:57. > :01:59.News at Ten. Eight severe flood warnings are
:02:00. > :02:02.still in place tonight after the entire west coast of Britain, from
:02:03. > :02:05.Cornwall to Scotland, was battered by a storm. Ahead of another wave of
:02:06. > :02:08.high tides this evening, people in at least one area are being
:02:09. > :02:13.evacuated from their homes. Gales and high tides caused considerable
:02:14. > :02:15.flooding. Newquay in Cornwall was one of the communities affected
:02:16. > :02:19.first this morning, quickly followed by villages and towns in
:02:20. > :02:23.Gloucestershire. One group of homes in Dorset was evacuated for the
:02:24. > :02:26.second time in eight days. The weather then moved northwards along
:02:27. > :02:29.the Welsh coast. People were asked to evacuate their homes in
:02:30. > :02:33.Aberystwyth earlier tonight ahead of another high tide. The coasts of
:02:34. > :02:38.Northern Ireland and Scotland were also hit. Jon Kay is in Cornwall,
:02:39. > :02:48.where it all started, with the latest for us now.
:02:49. > :02:54.How is it looking? It has felt utterly relentless over the last few
:02:55. > :02:58.days. Storm after storm, high tide after high tide, and it keeps coming
:02:59. > :03:03.for much of the western part of the UK. This place flooded this morning
:03:04. > :03:12.and very nearly flooded again this evening. And now they are wondering
:03:13. > :03:16.what tomorrow will bring. It started before dawn, and early
:03:17. > :03:22.morning wake-up call for Newquay. It might be a world-famous surf resort,
:03:23. > :03:30.but they rarely see waves quite like this. Spectacular, isn't it,
:03:31. > :03:36.fantastic. Have you seen it this high before? I have lived here all
:03:37. > :03:40.my life and never seen it like that. It is an awesome sight. You would
:03:41. > :03:47.not want to be in the sea or too close to it. Really frightening. The
:03:48. > :03:52.early high tide passed quickly, but it certainly left its mark. There
:03:53. > :03:57.was flooding in many coastal communities, like the Cornish
:03:58. > :04:02.harbour town of Looe. Just three days ago they were celebrating New
:04:03. > :04:08.Year in this pub. Now they wish to thousand and 14 had stayed well
:04:09. > :04:12.away. Despite the official warnings to keep away from the edge of the
:04:13. > :04:18.water, this young family were hit by a huge wave at a cove. They were
:04:19. > :04:23.lucky to escape with just a soaking. Others were not so fortunate. Much
:04:24. > :04:28.of western Britain has felt under attack today. This was Aberystwyth,
:04:29. > :04:32.where rocks rained down on the Victorian promenade, and where this
:04:33. > :04:38.coastal road was ripped apart by the tide. Western Scotland has also
:04:39. > :04:44.taken a pasting. A potentially deadly combination of high wind
:04:45. > :04:48.whipping up already high tides. I have never seen it as bad as that.
:04:49. > :04:56.It was terrible. The waves are rendered as. Near Barmouth, four
:04:57. > :05:00.people had to be rescued from a flooded farm. In Gloucestershire,
:05:01. > :05:06.the River Severn is being closely monitored after bursting it angst in
:05:07. > :05:09.several places. This was Tewkesbury this afternoon. In Northern
:05:10. > :05:15.Ireland, a large tidal surge at mid-day meant this was no time to be
:05:16. > :05:20.taking a seaside snapped. Back in Cornwall this evening, they were
:05:21. > :05:24.preparing for the next high tide. Over 100 volunteers turned out on
:05:25. > :05:29.Perranporth beach to fill bags with Sam, hoping they could protect their
:05:30. > :05:33.homes. This morning it was lashing over the wall into the car park.
:05:34. > :05:39.There is extensive anticipation at what is going to happen, so we are
:05:40. > :05:44.doing what we can. It could be anyone of us, so any help we can
:05:45. > :05:50.give, we will give gladly. Just after dark, the second onslaught of
:05:51. > :05:54.the day. This cafe is 50 yards from the beach and this morning it
:05:55. > :06:00.flooded. Tonight, they are working to make sure it does not happen a
:06:01. > :06:06.second time. I am a bit numb. I have been here since 5am. I am cold and
:06:07. > :06:12.numb and hungry. I do not know what tomorrow will bring. In the end,
:06:13. > :06:17.tonight was not as bad as many had feared, but other communities are
:06:18. > :06:21.facing another anxious night. In Aberystwyth, more emergency
:06:22. > :06:29.evacuations this evening. I have not seen it like this. People on the
:06:30. > :06:34.seafront must be scared. Someone came saying they wanted to evacuate
:06:35. > :06:39.and move stuff upstairs. This battering is far from over.
:06:40. > :06:44.In Cornwall, it looks like people have escaped more serious damage to
:06:45. > :06:49.night. How is it looking for the weekend? I will give you one guess.
:06:50. > :06:53.There is more bad weather to come. The Met office have said there is
:06:54. > :06:58.more heavy rain, high winds and high tides over the next couple of days,
:06:59. > :07:01.Saturday and Sunday. Bubbly not as strong as the last couple of days,
:07:02. > :07:07.but because the ground is saturated in so many places, right across the
:07:08. > :07:13.country, it will not take much to cause additional flooding problems.
:07:14. > :07:17.-- probably. The warnings are still there. Still eight severe flood
:07:18. > :07:21.warnings tonight, the most serious that the Environment Agency can
:07:22. > :07:25.issue, meaning there is potentially an imminent danger to life. There is
:07:26. > :07:29.one right here in Cornwall where I am talking to you from. It is a
:07:30. > :07:34.reminder of the dangers of the tide. This evening, coastguard teams
:07:35. > :07:38.have been searching for a teenage student who was apparently lost when
:07:39. > :07:43.taking pictures of the tide near Plymouth yesterday. I was talking to
:07:44. > :07:47.a man in Perranporth this afternoon and he said, if this is what three
:07:48. > :07:51.days of the New Year can bring, I would like to press pause and end it
:07:52. > :07:55.right now. Attention is turning to how well the
:07:56. > :07:57.UK is prepared for this kind of extreme weather. The Environment
:07:58. > :08:01.Agency has confirmed that it's cutting 1500 jobs, and its head has
:08:02. > :08:03.warned that cuts will affect the organisation's ability to deal with
:08:04. > :08:06.floods. But today the government says it's spending more than ?2.3
:08:07. > :08:17.billion on flood defences, and that efficiency savings are essential.
:08:18. > :08:22.David Shukman has more. The latest onslaught in a winter of
:08:23. > :08:26.flooding. Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, repeatedly hit in
:08:27. > :08:31.recent years, now underwater again. The rivers are swollen. Storm after
:08:32. > :08:36.storm has soaked the land and the tides are dangerously high. In the
:08:37. > :08:39.face of a continuing threat, the Thames Barrier was raised to defend
:08:40. > :08:44.London. This is the process speeded up, one example of the pressure
:08:45. > :08:49.faced inland and along coastlines around the country. What is
:08:50. > :08:52.happening here tells you a lot about the exceptional nature of the
:08:53. > :08:58.weather. Since it was built 30 years ago it has been raised 130 times.
:08:59. > :09:01.With so many storms and tidal surges, the plan is to raise it ten
:09:02. > :09:06.times in the first week of this year alone. No wonder there are questions
:09:07. > :09:11.about whether enough is being done to keep the country safe. Some
:09:12. > :09:15.places were overwhelmed. This was south Wales this morning. All of
:09:16. > :09:20.this comes at a sensitive time for the government. The Environment
:09:21. > :09:23.Agency which handles flood defence confirmed today that with budget
:09:24. > :09:30.cuts it will lose more than one tenth of its staff, 1500 jobs. The
:09:31. > :09:35.unions say the timing could not be worse. I would say these jobs are
:09:36. > :09:39.involved in a vital public service. I am sure people being rescued and
:09:40. > :09:43.warned will agree that that is the case. We are not talking about jobs
:09:44. > :09:48.that are unimportant. Look at your TV screens and you can see how
:09:49. > :09:53.important the work on flood defences is at the moment. The government
:09:54. > :09:57.points to new defences like this one at Teignmouth in Devon to say it is
:09:58. > :10:01.taking flooding seriously and front line work will not be affected by
:10:02. > :10:05.any cuts. But money to fight flooding is always controversial. In
:10:06. > :10:09.the last year of the Labour government spending was ?628
:10:10. > :10:13.million. It went up in the first year of the coalition and then fell
:10:14. > :10:17.to ?560 million in the last financial year and is now set to
:10:18. > :10:24.rise again up to ?613 million next year. This department had to make
:10:25. > :10:27.efficiencies, given the dire financial position we inherited
:10:28. > :10:31.Brummie came to power. I met this morning with the Chief Executive of
:10:32. > :10:34.the Environment Agency who will also have two make efficiencies, but he
:10:35. > :10:40.assured me he has every intention of protecting front -- front line
:10:41. > :10:43.services concerned with floods. For months we have been battling waves
:10:44. > :10:48.of bad weather and another is on the way this weekend. Each time, the
:10:49. > :10:50.country's ability to protect itself is tested.
:10:51. > :10:52.For the latest on the situation go to bbc.co.uk/news or tune in to your
:10:53. > :11:04.BBC local radio station. House prices have risen by an
:11:05. > :11:08.average of 8.4% over 2013, according to the Nationwide Building Society.
:11:09. > :11:11.London is leading the boom, but prices are now rising across much of
:11:12. > :11:14.Britain. And there was more evidence today the recovery in the housing
:11:15. > :11:17.market is getting stronger, with figures from the Bank of England
:11:18. > :11:20.showing the number of mortgages approved in November was the highest
:11:21. > :11:22.for nearly six years. Hugh Pym has more details. His report contains
:11:23. > :11:34.flash photography. Whatever the weather is like, there
:11:35. > :11:38.is certainly some heat in the housing market. That is what comes
:11:39. > :11:41.across with the latest price figures from the leading mortgage lender and
:11:42. > :11:47.the Bank of England data on new mortgages being approved. Ben is an
:11:48. > :11:51.estate agent in the London Borough of Hammersmith Fulham, where
:11:52. > :11:55.prices have jumped 25% over the year, the fastest growth rate in the
:11:56. > :12:02.UK, with the average price now over ?690,000. At this office, they are
:12:03. > :12:07.as busy as ever, as the capital experiences its own property boom.
:12:08. > :12:12.The London market seems to be completely separate to the rest of
:12:13. > :12:15.the country, and even if you are not central and on, we are still seeing
:12:16. > :12:19.massive price rises and huge activity, as if everybody wants to
:12:20. > :12:24.get into London and buy somewhere. There is just not enough to go
:12:25. > :12:30.round. There are variations in house rise growth around the UK. The
:12:31. > :12:34.increase in London was nearly 15%. The figure for Northern Ireland was
:12:35. > :12:41.less than half that, with Wales just behind. In Scotland, house prices
:12:42. > :12:44.were up 3.7% over the same period. Mark is the branch manager of an
:12:45. > :12:49.estate agent in Coventry where there has been annual growth of just 2%,
:12:50. > :12:54.and the average price is now just over ?170,000. The message here is
:12:55. > :13:01.that it is a mixed pic jerk, depending on which area the property
:13:02. > :13:04.is located. There are somewhere we are seeing house price increases,
:13:05. > :13:10.not dramatic at close to the levels of the peak at 2007-2008, but there
:13:11. > :13:14.are other areas where we are seeing no increase at all. So what has been
:13:15. > :13:20.the impact of government assistance for mortgage borrowers? This week,
:13:21. > :13:24.David Cameron visited a home-buyer who has taken advantage of the Help
:13:25. > :13:28.to Buy scheme. Looking at the numbers of people who have taken up
:13:29. > :13:32.Help to Buy, it is difficult to say it has had a direct major impact on
:13:33. > :13:39.either lending or housing turnover. But what it has done, coming with
:13:40. > :13:42.the good news in the economy and improved confidence, is to further
:13:43. > :13:47.boost that confidence. It is a sensitive issue. The Bank of England
:13:48. > :13:51.says it may restrain mortgage lending if expansion is too rapid,
:13:52. > :13:55.and the government knows it will face criticism if its scheme to help
:13:56. > :14:02.home-buyers starts to stoke what becomes an overheated market. Newly
:14:03. > :14:07.released governments from 30 years ago are shedding new light on how
:14:08. > :14:11.Margaret Thatcher dealt with difficult issues she faced when in
:14:12. > :14:17.office. The papers show during the miners' strike, Arthur Scargill may
:14:18. > :14:22.have been right to claim there was a hit-list of pits marked for closure.
:14:23. > :14:32.Also that the Government considered calling out the Troons. Libyan
:14:33. > :14:36.officials warned of potential violence when Yvonne Fletcher was
:14:37. > :14:41.murdered outside the country's embassy.
:14:42. > :14:45.It was one of the most violent and confrontational industrial disputes
:14:46. > :14:48.in English history. Throughout the miners' strike there were pitched
:14:49. > :14:53.battles between police and picketing mine workers outside pits and power
:14:54. > :14:56.stations. Go away. Arrest him. The mine workers leader, Arthur
:14:57. > :15:01.Scargill, was himself arrested. There was, he claimed, a secret
:15:02. > :15:06.Government plan to butcher the coal industry. We do not want to see pit
:15:07. > :15:11.closures and the run down in man power levels, bearing in mind they
:15:12. > :15:15.have a hit-list of 70 pits and a reduction in man power by 70,000.
:15:16. > :15:19.Thatcher and the coal board always denied that. A further reduction of
:15:20. > :15:24.70,000 jobs in the next two years, can you deny that? I know no place
:15:25. > :15:27.where that has ever been discussed. We have nothing like that on our
:15:28. > :15:30.agenda. But they did. Files released today
:15:31. > :15:35.shows ministers met six months before the strike. The Minutes of
:15:36. > :15:38.the meeting are marked, not to be photo copied or circulated outside
:15:39. > :15:43.the private office. They were seen by just seven people and the typist,
:15:44. > :15:52.Lilian. George Gregan, ministers were -- Ian McMacGregor was told
:15:53. > :15:55.that 75 pits would be closed. Nick Jones covered the strike as the
:15:56. > :15:59.BBC's industrial correspondent. This document, for the first time, it
:16:00. > :16:04.shows that six months before the start of the strike, MacGregor
:16:05. > :16:09.informs the Energy Secretary and then Mrs Thatcher that yes, he wants
:16:10. > :16:13.to close 75 pits. He wants to shut two thirds of the pits in Wales. He
:16:14. > :16:18.wants to shut half of them in South Yorkshire, a third of them in
:16:19. > :16:22.Scotland. If this document had ever emerged during the strike, it would
:16:23. > :16:25.have been devastating for the credibility of Margaret Thatcher.
:16:26. > :16:29.The files reveal that in July, the Government had a serious wobble,
:16:30. > :16:34.faced not only with a miners' strike but also with a national dog strike.
:16:35. > :16:38.They -- dock strike. They considered a state of emergency and getting
:16:39. > :16:41.troops to deliver coal. Mrs Thatcher's copy of the briefing
:16:42. > :16:48.document is covered in her scribbled notes. She was clearly taking a very
:16:49. > :16:50.keen interest. But the miners' strike wasn't the only crisis the
:16:51. > :16:54.Government had to deal with that year. In April, a police woman,
:16:55. > :16:57.Yvonne Fletcher, was murdered and 11 demonstrators injured by a gunman
:16:58. > :17:03.firing from inside the Libyan embassy in London. The files
:17:04. > :17:07.contained previously unpublished details of two midnight warnings
:17:08. > :17:11.received the night before, one from Libyan diplomats in London and the
:17:12. > :17:16.other by Britain's ambassador to Tripoli. Relaying. Details he jokily
:17:17. > :17:19.suggested he didn't think such a thing would happen. I took it
:17:20. > :17:24.seriously, but I didn't believe it, no, I didn't. The 30 Libyan
:17:25. > :17:28.diplomats in the London embassy were eventually freed and sent home, even
:17:29. > :17:38.though one was almost certainly a murderer. The files show that was
:17:39. > :17:43.authorised by Mrs Thatcher. Now, there are crucial -- they're a
:17:44. > :17:47.crucial part of India's growing economy, the brick kilns that supply
:17:48. > :17:50.the building sector used for buildings owned not only by Indian
:17:51. > :17:54.companies, but also by British ones and multinationals. Campaigners are
:17:55. > :17:58.calling for more to be done about the appalling human cost of India's
:17:59. > :18:02.brick industry. There are more than two million brickworkers in India.
:18:03. > :18:08.Many kilns use bonded labourerers, working conditions of near slavery,
:18:09. > :18:13.earning at best 1. .50 for a 12-hour day. Many suffer ill health from the
:18:14. > :18:17.acrid smoke from the kilns and harsh working conditions, leading
:18:18. > :18:25.campaigners to call the bricks they make "blood bricks".
:18:26. > :18:33.Their homes are hundreds of miles away. The bricks they're straining
:18:34. > :18:39.to carry go into building modern India. The architecture and city
:18:40. > :18:47.skylines that are the bench marks of its new, glittering wealth. Whole
:18:48. > :18:51.families travel to these kilns near Hydrerabad because they need the
:18:52. > :18:56.work. Smoke hangs in the air from the burning coal. Campaigners say a
:18:57. > :19:04.raft of laws from low wages to child labour are being broken. This is a
:19:05. > :19:11.community of India's very poorest. TRANSLATION: I have come here with
:19:12. > :19:15.my family to work. Every day we make 1500 bricks. India's economic boom
:19:16. > :19:20.is fuelling the demand for bricks, but British companies also operate
:19:21. > :19:26.here, setting up factories, officers and call centres. How many of those
:19:27. > :19:33.are built with bricks like this? New buildings are going up all the time.
:19:34. > :19:39.This is due to be a shop with bricks from a nearby kiln. They're forced
:19:40. > :19:42.to lead subhuman lives. I don't think such work conditions should
:19:43. > :19:45.prevail anywhere in the world. It's a condition that the entire world
:19:46. > :19:49.should condemn. The multinationals are buying into that? The
:19:50. > :19:57.multinationals are buying into this. Then we found this little girl.
:19:58. > :20:03.She's five years old. He says she's sick because of smoke from the
:20:04. > :20:08.kilns. Lung diseases are affecting her. There are many like her and
:20:09. > :20:12.there's no sign of childhood in her eyes. Although the government
:20:13. > :20:18.reassures that it's across the problem and takes measures to look
:20:19. > :20:22.after families We have taken action against the brick kiln owners who
:20:23. > :20:25.try to exploit them. Now there's no such thing. They are given
:20:26. > :20:29.registers. Our officials make visit. We have provided them living
:20:30. > :20:34.conditions, decent living conditions. For years, campaigners
:20:35. > :20:39.have been recording these lives and last month, an horrific punishment
:20:40. > :20:46.came to light. This man's hand was severed because he refused to go to
:20:47. > :20:51.work. But Britain now has new guidelines on doing business abroad,
:20:52. > :20:55.no longer can this type of work be ignored. Companies have to check on
:20:56. > :21:00.the working conditions of everyone connected to their supply chains,
:21:01. > :21:04.whatever governments or local owners say. Should you pay these people
:21:05. > :21:08.more money? TRANSLATION: I can't pay them any
:21:09. > :21:15.more. Business is down and it is all I can afford. Here are the people
:21:16. > :21:17.building India's economic miracle. Now activists are calling their work
:21:18. > :21:32.a trade in blood bricks. The BNP leader, Nick Griffin, has
:21:33. > :21:36.been declared bankrupt. The order was made at Welshpool County Council
:21:37. > :21:40.yesterday. It doesn't -- County Court yesterday. It doesn't prevent
:21:41. > :21:44.his sitting as an MEP in the European Parliament. His bankruptcy
:21:45. > :21:48.followed debt from outstanding legal fees.
:21:49. > :21:51.England's hopes of avoiding a 5-0 Ashes were delivered a blow in the
:21:52. > :21:56.first day of the final Test in Sydney. At one point Australia, put
:21:57. > :22:02.into bat, were struggling on 97-5. But they recovered to leave England
:22:03. > :22:04.chasing 326 runs and by close of play, England had already lost a
:22:05. > :22:10.wicket. Play is due to resume again shortly.
:22:11. > :22:14.There are few better places to make a fresh start and in a city
:22:15. > :22:18.synonymous with new year, English cricket had made a resolution to
:22:19. > :22:23.turn the tide. The tourists had seen enough, a treee -- trio of players
:22:24. > :22:26.handed debuts. Having wielded the axe, England won the toss, for the
:22:27. > :22:32.first time this series. The decision to bowl on a grassy pitch quickly
:22:33. > :22:37.vindicated. Australia were reduced to 97-5 shortly after lunch. The
:22:38. > :22:41.tourists finally get it all off their chests. As sure as night
:22:42. > :22:44.follows day, Brad Haddin will come to the rescue. Sure enough, he was
:22:45. > :22:49.full of his usual wash and buckle, as the -- swash and buckle as the
:22:50. > :22:53.hosts recovered. These are not the debuts that two players had hoped
:22:54. > :22:56.for. Boyd Rankin, hamstring and Steve Borthwick hammered as Haddin
:22:57. > :23:01.took the game away from them. The wicket keeper was eventually out for
:23:02. > :23:06.75, but what he started, accomplice Steve Smith continued. The batsman
:23:07. > :23:11.bringing up a sparkling century in grand style. But just as a weary
:23:12. > :23:17.England sank to new levels of depondency, came late solace, Ben
:23:18. > :23:23.Stokes, the one ray of light on a gloomy tour, bra -- wrapped up three
:23:24. > :23:26.victims in an over. He gave his team something to celebrate, Australia
:23:27. > :23:31.all out for 326. By then, the damage was done. Under a ferocious evening
:23:32. > :23:36.assault from Mitchell Johnson, Michael Carberry was out for a duck,
:23:37. > :23:42.England limping off on 8-1, left to wonder what might have been again.
:23:43. > :23:46.A new year, some new faces but the same old story then for England,
:23:47. > :23:50.failing to capitalise after a good start. Day two of this fifth and
:23:51. > :23:54.final Test Match here in Sydney will begin in around an hour's time.
:23:55. > :24:02.England simply have to bat and bat very well indeed, if they don't,
:24:03. > :24:04.then the prospect of a humiliating 5-0 whitewash becomes very real
:24:05. > :24:09.indeed. Now, he was a black musician, living
:24:10. > :24:13.as a free man in New York during the middle of the 19th century, when
:24:14. > :24:17.Soloman Northup accepted the offer of a job, he was tricked and sold
:24:18. > :24:22.into slavery in the American South. Now his story has been made into a
:24:23. > :24:25.film and its British director, the Turner Prize-winning artist, Steve
:24:26. > :24:31.McQueen, is being tipped for an Oscar. Will Gompertz went to meet
:24:32. > :24:37.him. America 1841. I was born a free man,
:24:38. > :24:44.lived with my family in New York, until the day I was dereceived,
:24:45. > :24:49.kidnapped. Boy, how you feel now? You no free man. You're nothing but
:24:50. > :24:53.a Georgia runaway. 12iers a slave has been widely praised for it's
:24:54. > :24:57.unsentimental and intense portrayal of the brutality of the slavery in
:24:58. > :25:01.the American South. Soloman Northup is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. I
:25:02. > :25:06.felt that in the sequences that are the more complicated, the physically
:25:07. > :25:15.uncomfortable, you know, what I felt was a deeper connection to Soloman
:25:16. > :25:19.and what he went through. Certainly on the plantations you feel and have
:25:20. > :25:25.a real sense that you're dancing with ghosts and that everything is
:25:26. > :25:31.still very much alive and present, right in the soil. This is an
:25:32. > :25:39.American story told by a British director who feels Hollywood has
:25:40. > :25:42.overlooked the subject. Slavery lasted 400 years and how many movies
:25:43. > :25:45.made about slavery are there? I think there's more movies about
:25:46. > :25:51.Spartacus than there is about slavery. I just wanted to address
:25:52. > :25:55.that subject. And yet, oddly, in the last 24 months, we've seen quite a
:25:56. > :25:59.lot of movies tackling this. Why do you think suddenly there's this
:26:00. > :26:05.engagement with the subject which has been hitherto broughtly ignored?
:26:06. > :26:12.No-one could underestimate the impact of President Barack Obama. I
:26:13. > :26:18.think that people possibly felt that they had the authority or they had
:26:19. > :26:22.the possibility of making that kind of story and maybe financiers
:26:23. > :26:26.thought, yes, we could make a bucket out of this now. The condition of
:26:27. > :26:31.your labour is all wrong. My property. You say that with pride. I
:26:32. > :26:36.say it as fact. Brad Pitt said it took an Englishman to tell this
:26:37. > :26:42.story. An Englishman, for sure, but I'm part of that diaspora. My
:26:43. > :26:47.parents came from the West Indies. The only difference between myself
:26:48. > :26:51.and African Americans is their best went left and mine went right. This
:26:52. > :26:55.could do well during the awards season, creating the possibility
:26:56. > :27:02.that Steve McQueen could be the first person in history to win both
:27:03. > :27:04.the Turner Prize and Oscar. That's all from us. Now on BBC One,
:27:05. > :27:05.we join