22/09/2012 BBC Weekend News

Nick Clegg defends the Liberal Democrats' record in Government,

but says there are further difficulties ahead. He told the

party conference that they will only support further cuts in

exchange for a wealth tax. Britain will be a fairer, greener better

place because of what we have done and what we will do.

Outrage from teaching unions as the chief inspector of schools in

England says teachers should work harder to get a pay rise.

And what was it that lit up the night skies? A natural wonder or

Good evening. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has warned the Liberal

Democrats of further scars ahead in Government, but has insisted that

Coalition is the only way forward for the party. Mr Clegg said the

Liberal Democrats would agree to extend joint spending plans with

the Conservatives for an extra year after the next election, but

insisted the wealthy must pay more tax in return. Our political

correspondent Vicki Young reports from Brighton.

Nick Clegg's a man with a dilemma. He's come to Brighton to tell

Liberal Democrats to fight their corner, but he knows they'll also

have to show that coalition Government is working. His message

couldn't be clearer: he has no intention of walking away before

the next election. Nick Clegg, shame on you! That's a tough

message for a party that's on the receiving end of voters' anger over

cuts, and now Mr Clegg signed up for an extra year of joint spending

plans with the Tories, but when he took to the stage tonight, he made

it clear what his priority would be. Lower taxes on work and more tax on

our earned wealth. I want to reward people who put in a proper shift,

not those who sit on a fortune. Nick Clegg said it was no secret

that the Lib Dems had different priorities to their coalition

partners and Le Warneed disgruntled Conservative MPs that they couldn't

call the shots. My message to those Conservative backbench MPs who

seemed to think that they've got the right to force a turbo-charged

right-wing agenda on our country is this: you didn't win the election.

APPLAUSE You don't have a majority. And the

British people have not given you the right to act like you do.

Clegg urged activists to shout about their achievements - extra

money for disadvantaged pupils, income tax cuts for low and middle

earners, but after his recent apology over tuition fees, he

conceded not everything had gone to plan. So it's half-time in this

Parliament. There were times in the first half when we as a party made

errors. We've learned some hard lessons, when the second half is

over, we'll no doubt emerge with a few more scars, but we'll be able

to tell people about the things we've achieved. In the week ahead,

Nick Clegg has a tricky task - he wants to project the Lib Dems'

distinct identity, but after friction with the Tories over the

summer, he needs to make it plain that the coalition is stable. And

Vicki is in Brighton now. Obviously Nick Clegg looking ahead to what

could be a pretty tricky week. lot of this week for Nick Clegg

will be about reassuring his party who are pretty nervous about where

all of this is going. I think they do believe that if they can turn

the economy around then things could all go OK for them in the end.

On that note there has been an unwelcome intervention by Richard

Reeves, who until the summer was one of Nick Clegg's closest

advisors. He's going to be issuing a pamphlet tomorrow where he talks

about some of the mistakes he thinks they have made in the early

months over the economy. He says he thinks the coalition tightened more

than necessary in the first two years, relied a bit too much on

spending cuts rather than tax rises and he thinks they could have

borrowed more to invest. Of course you won't be surprised to hear that

Labour have seized on this as a vindication of the views they have.

They're waking up in Brighton with not great reading with opinion

polls putting them close to UKIP in system of those polls. The Liberal

Democrats point out in those are a lot of undecided voters. They say

there are still two-and-a-half years to go where they can change

people's minds. Thank you very much. The Tory Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell

is resisting calls to stand down after claims he swore at Downing

Street police officers and called them plebs. Mr Minuteel has denied

using the alleged word, but has apologised for his behaviour.

Carole Walker joins me in the studio. Opposition, again, calling

on him to clarify what he said. He's still under pressure, isn't

he? That's right. Labour are saying Downing Street should review all

the evidence - the closed-circuit television, the accounts from the

police officers' own notebooks to see exactly what has happened.

Andrew Mitchell, of course, has denied he swore. He's denied he

used the word "pleb", but the Police Federation say the accounts

from the police officers themselves show that he did. Now, today, Tim

Farron, the Lib Dem president, didn't help his case by saying if

it was true he'd used these words, then that would be beyond

unacceptable, but the Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, a very

senior politician, has said that he believes Andrew Mitchell is a

reasonable and courteous man and that matters should be simply left

to rest. Well, I think tonight Andrew Mitchell will certainly be

hoping that he's right anding he -- he can hang on to his job. Thank

you. The Chief Inspector of Schools in

England, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has infuriated teaching unions by

suggesting that teachers should work harder to get a pay rise. His

comments come as around half a million teaching staff in England

and Wales prepare to stage a work to rule this week in protest over

pay and conditions. This report from Sophie Hutchinson.

Schools are being told to do better. Overall, 40% of lessons were not

good enough according to Ofsted's last full report. Now the Chief

Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has warned teachers they'll be marked

down if they're not seen to be going the extra mile and that

schools will be marked down if they reward staff who underperform. In a

statement, the school watchdog I think what we have to look at

with Mr Wilshaw's comments today, he's talking about teachers working

longer to get extra pay when teachers, all the surveys show, are

working more than 50 hours a week. Do you know that 50% of newly

qualified teachers leave the job within the first five years because

of the long working hours and the stress? Ofsted says going the extra

mile isn't just about working longer hours by undertaking

breakfast and after-school clubs, but also about improving lessons.

The Chief Inspector's comments have come at a particularly sensitive

time. Teachers have had their pay frozen, and in the past year,

they've taken part in walk-outs and protests here in Westminster about

changes to their pensions. Now, being told that they have to work

harder is not going down well. The NUT says more than 80% of its

members have voted in favour of walk-outs like this one in May.

Next week, thousands of teachers will begin a programme of

industrial action which is just short of a strike. Today's row

certainly won't be the last clash over the future of our schools.

An Islamist militia which was accused of killing the American

ambassador to Libya earlier this month has been driven out of the

city of Benghazi. At least ten people were killed when protesters

and police stormed the headquarters of the group following mass

demonstrations against militias. A Pakistani government Minister has

offered a reward of $100,000, over �60,000, for the death of the maker

of an anti-Islam film produced in America. The Railways Minister

called on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to take part in what he called "a

noble deed". A government spokesman has condemned the remarks. This

report from our correspondent Orla Funeral prayers today for one of

those killed in Friday's demonstrations. The Government had

sanctioned a day of protest, but called for it to be peaceful.

Instead, there was rage on the streets against the film and

against the United States, which is seen by many here as the enemy. And

after the mayhem and destruction, now an extraordinary statement from

a Government Minister soliciting the murder of the film-maker. -- to

applause from local journalists in the city of Peshawar.

TRANSLATION: I invite Taliban and Al-Qaeda to take part in this noble

cause. I will give $100,000 to whoever succeeds. The fee is handed

over to me - I will do it myself. The Minister may have been playing

to the gallery, but he was speaking for himself, not the government of

Pakistan. Tonight, it has completely disassociated itself

from his remarks. A spokesman didn't rule out action against him,

but said for now, he would remain in his post.

The Free Syrian Army, the main rebel group fighting the forces of

President Bashar al Assad,- claim to have moved their command

headquarters from neighbouring Turkey into Syria itself. They say

the move is in preparation for an eventual assault on the capital

Damascus. Today rebels claimed to have brought down a government

fighter jet near the northern city of Idlib.

The Ministry of Defence has named a soldier who died yesterday in

Afghanistan. Sergeant Jonathan Eric Kups served with the Royal

Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and died while at Camp Bastion in

Helmand province. Now to sport and for a full roundup of all of

today's action, here's Karthi at the BBC Sports Centre.

Good evening. Thank you very much. We start with the Premier League.

Match of the Day follows the news, so if you don't want to know what

happened yet, please leave the room for a moment.

Roberto Di Matteo's Chelsea remain top of the table following their 1-

0 win against Stoke at Stamford Bridge. Ashley Cole scoring his

first goal in over two years to secure the win for Chelsea in the

85th minute. Everton are in second place just

three points behind Chelsea after continuing their promising start to

the season with an emphatic 3-0 win over ten man Swansea.

Elsewhere, Southampton came from West Brom are in third place after

beating bottom-of-the-table Reading 1-0. Sunderland drew one all at

West Ham and Fulham beat Wigan 2-1. In the Scottish Premier League,

Celtic recorded their first victory this month by beating Dundee 2-0.

Hibernian could have gone top of the table, but they squandered a

two-goal lead to share the points with Inverness Calley Thistle.

League leaders Motherwell face 18-year-old Laura Robson was

bidding to become the first British woman since 1988 to win a tour

singles title today. She faced Hsieh Su-wei, ranked 21 places

higher at 53 in the world. Although Robson took her to a deciding set,

the youngest player in the top 100 couldn't quite complete the victory

with Shay taking the third set 6-4 and the Guangzhou Open title

England's men's cricket team continue the defence of their world

Twenty/20 title against India tomorrow, but their female

counterparts are also in action in Sri Lanka. Charlotte Edwards' side

begin their World Twenty/20 campaign later this week and warmed

up for it by thrashing South Africa. Joe Wilson reports.

In Columbo on Saturday, one of the outstanding sporting teams in

Britain had come to practise, England's female Tbenty20

cricketers. They have lost just two match, but they warmed up here by

making 180 against South Africa, impressing anyone who happened to

be passing. The captain got past 50 then retired to let someone else

have aba. It won't be straight forward in the tournament. Amongst

Asian women cricket is catching on. When things go to plan, England

will be back in Colombo for the final next month. That match will

be played just before the final in the men's competition, but whilst

the male winners will collect $1 million, first prize in the women's

tournament, $60,000. If we could get more, I am not complaining - if

someone wants to give me a million pounds to win it. You deserve more,

don't you? That's for other people to talk about outside our group.

Our group is fully focused on doing well, and money doesn't play a part

of us. For the record, chasing 180, South Africa were all out for 59 -

a good day, even by England's standards.

Lewis Hamilton produced a stunning drive in qualifying today to take

pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix. The McLaren driver has

won two of the last three Formula One races and has now secured a

24th career pole position. World champion Sebastian Vettel starts on

the second row. Olympic Champion Marion Vos has won

the road race world title to become only the second woman to complete

cycling's double in the same year. Vos won after avoiding a

spectacular pile-up that took out half of the field. The crash held

up Britain's Emma Pooley, who finished in 15th place.

That's all from the BBC Sport Centre. Thanks, Karthi.

Now, if you happened to look up at the stars last night, you may have

witnessed a bright object racing across the sky. It was spotted by

thousands of people across the UK. Many assumed it was a meteor shower,

but astronomers say it may have had more earthly origins, as Simon

Cleminson reports. Scorching the night sky, not a view

from a telescope, just a close reminder that we sit on a planet in

a universe. Suddenly, we have bright colours - initially you

think it's very blanch fireworks, and it became self-evident it was

something large breaking up in the atmosphere. There was hardly a

corner of the country where someone didn't look up and catch a glimpse.

It was like Independence Day. There must have been 10 or 15 huge pieces.

I thought it was a plane at first. It was low on the horizon and

moving much slower than exld expect to see a shooting star. It was

amazing. Space walk, though the speed suggests a different

explannatesation. It may have started its life here on earth, a

piece of manmade space debris making a return journey. A chunk of

this size comes in at 18,000mph. There is a luge amount of energy,

that sort of thing, crashes into the atmosphere, starts to fall

apart, starts to burn up and leaves this spectacular trail. Small

fragments disintegrating are not going to keep anyone awake at night

to worry, but the spectacle they create has been well worth staying

up for. That's all from the newsroom