:00:41. > :00:46.Good afternoon, welcome to the Daily Politics. The waters rise, more rain
:00:47. > :00:50.is forecast as politicians try to get a grip of the flooding affecting
:00:51. > :00:55.large parts of the UK. We will bring you the latest.
:00:56. > :00:58.MPs vote to ban smoking in cars with children, but there is opposition
:00:59. > :01:01.from Cabinet ministers, and it is not clear how the ban will be
:01:02. > :01:06.implemented. News, there is lots of it, but are
:01:07. > :01:10.we equipped to take it all in? We will be talking to the author of a
:01:11. > :01:15.user's manual. And the claws are out in the latest
:01:16. > :01:23.vote rigging scandal to hit Westminster, MPs get catty over who
:01:24. > :01:26.has the best looking moggy. All the important stories, of
:01:27. > :01:30.course, any next hour! And no dispute about who is top cat in the
:01:31. > :01:34.studio today, television presenter and journalist Fiona Phillips,
:01:35. > :01:40.welcome to the programme. It is very kind of you! Let's start with
:01:41. > :01:44.smoking, because last night MPs voted in favour of a ban on smoking
:01:45. > :01:48.in cars carrying children, and amendment put down by Labour MPs,
:01:49. > :01:52.and the Government side were given a free vote on the issue. Downing
:01:53. > :01:57.Street says such a ban would come into force before the next
:01:58. > :02:01.election. Let's get a flavour of the debate. The Government is clear, and
:02:02. > :02:04.I think all members are clear, that children should not be exposed to
:02:05. > :02:08.the harm of second-hand smoke, which can be extremely harmful to young
:02:09. > :02:13.children. They have chucked no choice about being in places where
:02:14. > :02:18.they are exposed to smoke in many cases. Are we going to have smoking
:02:19. > :02:22.police weaving in and out of traffic and looking in car windows? There
:02:23. > :02:28.must be a serious answer do this, how can it be enforced? If we know
:02:29. > :02:33.beyond doubt that passive smoking in an enclosed space can do serious
:02:34. > :02:37.harm to a person's health, and that hundreds of thousands of children
:02:38. > :02:42.are being subjected to this in a Karl every single week, and if we
:02:43. > :02:46.know from experience of similar laws passed in this country and other
:02:47. > :02:52.countries that legislation can have a major impact in changing behaviour
:02:53. > :02:58.and improving public health, should we act and do something? Or do we
:02:59. > :03:01.stand by and do nothing? By that same token, would she therefore
:03:02. > :03:05.concede that we should criminalise pregnant women who smoke on the
:03:06. > :03:10.basis that their child is in an even more confined space than in a car? I
:03:11. > :03:16.have no quibble at all with the honourable lady for Liverpool way
:03:17. > :03:20.betray, she represents the smug, patronising excesses of new Labour
:03:21. > :03:26.who thinks the only reason they are in parliament is to ban things they
:03:27. > :03:29.do not like. What perturbs me are the Conservative ministers who
:03:30. > :03:33.appeared to have not grasped the concept, even though they claim to
:03:34. > :03:36.be Conservatives, that you can disapprove of something without
:03:37. > :03:43.actually banning it. This is just yet another in the long line of
:03:44. > :03:47.Tridents for the nanny state. If the honourable member had been present
:03:48. > :03:50.at the time, he would argue very strongly against compulsory seat
:03:51. > :03:55.belts in cars. Of course he would have done! Because when I was
:03:56. > :04:03.listening to him today, I heard the authentic voice of primitive
:04:04. > :04:06.Toryism. And on the note of primitive
:04:07. > :04:12.Toryism, let's speak to Ross Hawkins. People were divided over
:04:13. > :04:18.this issue, when today, right up to ministerial and Cabinet level? This
:04:19. > :04:20.is the thing, Jo, this Government is about to introduce legislation, it
:04:21. > :04:25.says by the election that is the sort of thing that affects real
:04:26. > :04:29.lives. It is understood and will stick in the memory, it could even
:04:30. > :04:32.change a little bit of the national behavioural culture. And yet large
:04:33. > :04:37.swathes of the Government did not want to do it at all. Nick Clegg did
:04:38. > :04:43.not vote, he could only persuade four to vote against. Many others
:04:44. > :04:47.were against this, Theresa May, Chris Grayling, pretty important
:04:48. > :04:51.Conservatives. And yet something that they oppose, something that was
:04:52. > :04:54.suggested and proposed by Labour in the House of Lords and the House of
:04:55. > :04:58.Commons, is now set to become law. If you have any complicated
:04:59. > :05:03.questions, like, what would the penalties beat? How would it work?
:05:04. > :05:05.How would it function? Keep them to yourself for now, because the
:05:06. > :05:10.department for health does not know. There will have to be a
:05:11. > :05:13.consultation, they will have to work out how this is going to happen.
:05:14. > :05:17.They are not pretending they have all the answers now, but it is an
:05:18. > :05:21.intriguing development that Labour have managed to get this particular
:05:22. > :05:26.changing, and I think you heard of there some Conservatives wondering,
:05:27. > :05:29.in the face of that free vote, why the Conservative front bench did not
:05:30. > :05:33.come out against an idea like that and why some of their senior
:05:34. > :05:38.colleagues seem quite enthusiastic. Ross Hawkins, thank you very much.
:05:39. > :05:42.Fiona Phillips, do you support the idea? In principle, but you can be
:05:43. > :05:46.against it without wishing for a ban, and you do not start going
:05:47. > :05:51.inside people's cars, you are talking to someone who has driven
:05:52. > :05:56.around in a white Ford Anglia. We will not condemn you for that! It
:05:57. > :06:00.was yellow because my father smoked constantly, lovely nicotine brown
:06:01. > :06:06.roof. I smoked from the age of 11, gave up about 14 years ago. But you
:06:07. > :06:10.did not have a choice, isn't the Government saying, we would have
:06:11. > :06:17.saved you from passive smoking? But how far do you go, into people's
:06:18. > :06:20.homes? Pregnant women? I mean, that is a direct hits into a feed is
:06:21. > :06:25.taking nicotine, that is when I gave up, by the way. How much more
:06:26. > :06:28.traffic police supposed to do than what they are doing already? They
:06:29. > :06:33.are not enforcing the mobile phone law very much, they are not even
:06:34. > :06:37.enforcing speeding, from what I have seen. How is it going to be
:06:38. > :06:40.enforced? It is going to be interesting to see how it unfolds,
:06:41. > :06:43.what penalties and fines there will be, maybe along similar lines to
:06:44. > :06:51.mobile phones, but they did manage to ban it in pubs. Well, this is...
:06:52. > :06:54.People never thought that would happen, but now if you go into a
:06:55. > :06:59.pub, people will think, I cannot remember when you could smoke! They
:07:00. > :07:03.are public places, we cannot smoke in the workplace, fine, but you
:07:04. > :07:08.cannot go into people's homes and cars and tell them what they should
:07:09. > :07:11.do. What about alcohol at home and children? That is far more
:07:12. > :07:20.damaging, actually, than cigarette smoke. Sorry, Jo, because of the
:07:21. > :07:22.education we have had about smoking, education always works. Only 20% of
:07:23. > :07:26.the population smoke now, so educating these people who have a
:07:27. > :07:31.fight with a car load of kids, educate them, don't ban it. Is this
:07:32. > :07:35.the nanny state? Do you agree with the Conservatives who say this is
:07:36. > :07:38.the nanny state in operation and Conservatives are allying themselves
:07:39. > :07:44.with it? I never knowingly agree with a Tory, I have to say, but
:07:45. > :07:48.yeah, I agree! You cannot go into personal spaces and tell people not
:07:49. > :07:53.to smoke. But they did with seat belts, didn't they? And now it has
:07:54. > :07:58.become part of everybody's day-to-day life, you put your seat
:07:59. > :08:03.belt on. I remember the advert, they have changed attitudes. And that is
:08:04. > :08:07.a direct life-saver, it is for everyone in the car, it makes sense
:08:08. > :08:13.for the whole population, but only 20% of the population smoke - in
:08:14. > :08:17.their own space. So will it work? I do not see how it can be forced. You
:08:18. > :08:23.mentioned the seat belt law, it is very important, we all do now, but
:08:24. > :08:27.how often is that enforced? We will leave it there. Time for the daily
:08:28. > :08:35.quiz, and the question for today, which of these roles has the owner,
:08:36. > :08:38.our guest, not been offered? -- Fiona. Chairmanship of the
:08:39. > :08:41.Environment Agency, Labour candidate for the Eastleigh by-election, or
:08:42. > :08:48.Labour peer under Gordon Brown? At the end of the show, Fiona will give
:08:49. > :08:52.us the correct answer! Water, water everywhere, well, certainly if you
:08:53. > :08:55.live on the Somerset Levels, and now flooding has spread to the Thames
:08:56. > :09:01.Valley after days and weeks of seemingly continuous rain. The map
:09:02. > :09:04.of England and Wales as seen through the eyes of the Environment Agency
:09:05. > :09:07.is a pretty scary looking place. There are 14 severe weather
:09:08. > :09:12.warnings, which indicate a threat to life, in place for Berkshire and
:09:13. > :09:18.Surrey. Two warnings remain in place in Somerset. Over the last 48
:09:19. > :09:20.hours, things have got much worse in Berkshire and Surrey, where river
:09:21. > :09:25.levels in some places are at their highest level since gauges were
:09:26. > :09:30.installed in the 1980s and 1990s. It has meant homes and businesses in
:09:31. > :09:35.Datchet in Berkshire have been flooded, with hundreds of homes
:09:36. > :09:37.further down the river, as far as Shepperton, under threat. The
:09:38. > :09:43.problems will be compounded with more rainfall over the coming days,
:09:44. > :09:47.with gusty winds and rain fall of 20 millimetres likely across the
:09:48. > :09:52.country. With more than 30 millimetres possible across parts of
:09:53. > :09:57.south Wales and south-west England. And here is is the impact that the
:09:58. > :10:00.rain has had, large sections of the Thames have burst their banks,
:10:01. > :10:04.meaning homes in places like Wraysbury, Maidenhead and Datchet,
:10:05. > :10:08.bordering the river, have been flooded. It has meant many people
:10:09. > :10:12.have had to switch their mode of transport, as residents try to get
:10:13. > :10:17.around the water, more than a couple of feet deep in places. Ed Miliband
:10:18. > :10:28.as dust and off his wellies and headed out to the small village of
:10:29. > :10:32.Purley, and he used the visit to call on the Government to invest
:10:33. > :10:38.more in flood defences. This is a wake-up call, it is an issue here
:10:39. > :10:42.and around the country. There is clearly this kind of extreme weather
:10:43. > :10:46.that is becoming more likely with climate change, and we need to make
:10:47. > :10:49.sure we put in that investment, we put in the flood defences and
:10:50. > :10:53.protection so that we prevent this kind of thing from happening as much
:10:54. > :10:58.as we possibly can. Another man wading through the water was Defence
:10:59. > :11:01.Secretary Philip Hammond, whose Runnymede constituency has been
:11:02. > :11:05.badly hit by the floods. The crisis has brought the work of the
:11:06. > :11:08.Environment Agency, and particularly chairman Lord Smith, into the
:11:09. > :11:12.spotlight, but Mr Hammond told the BBC that now is not the time to play
:11:13. > :11:19.the blame game. I don't want to spend the time now, in the middle of
:11:20. > :11:24.this crisis, recruiting and finger-pointing. Clearly, there are
:11:25. > :11:27.issues around policy, and long-term planning, around strategy that will
:11:28. > :11:32.have to be reviewed when all of this is over. And we will have to look at
:11:33. > :11:36.decisions that were made in the past, whether they were the right
:11:37. > :11:40.decisions, whether we need to change policy for the future, particularly
:11:41. > :11:43.on things like dredging. But it would be a great disservice to
:11:44. > :11:46.people who are facing floodwaters lapping around the threshold of
:11:47. > :11:52.their houses to spend our time now arguing about what he liked rather
:11:53. > :11:59.Easter Terex question is, frankly. Transport has been severely
:12:00. > :12:02.disrupted, the Prime Minister was keeping dry but out and about in
:12:03. > :12:08.Polish in South Devon, where he was assessing the damage to rail lines.
:12:09. > :12:12.We have had the wettest start to the four 250 years, some of the most
:12:13. > :12:17.extreme weather we have seen in decades, and you can see behind me
:12:18. > :12:22.the effect is as hard. It will take time before we get things back to
:12:23. > :12:25.normal, we are in for a long haul, but the Government will do
:12:26. > :12:30.everything it can to co-ordinated national sources. If money needs to
:12:31. > :12:34.be spent, it will be spent. If the military can help, they will be
:12:35. > :12:39.there. We must do everything, but it is going to take time to put things
:12:40. > :12:42.right. Our correspondent Philippa Young is by the River Thames in
:12:43. > :12:50.Marlow in Buckinghamshire. What is it like there? Amazing news, it has
:12:51. > :12:54.stopped raining finally! We have a really short weather window. I have
:12:55. > :12:58.been here since around seven o'clock this morning, it was drizzle, then
:12:59. > :13:03.pretty soon after that it was hammering down. And the wind is
:13:04. > :13:07.really whipped up, you can see now the speed of the river. It looked to
:13:08. > :13:13.be flowing pretty slowly first thing this morning. It really has whipped
:13:14. > :13:18.up. Firefighters further upriver are pumping very close to houses, which
:13:19. > :13:22.are very close to the river. You can see how far back it has come into
:13:23. > :13:27.the graveyard. If you can just about make out that Bush there, that is
:13:28. > :13:32.normally wear the river bank is, and you can stand there and look at the
:13:33. > :13:36.river. You can see how far it has come back. Residents say this has
:13:37. > :13:40.been pretty wet for a couple of weeks, but in the last 24 hours or
:13:41. > :13:43.so there has been a dramatic rise in the river. The Church earplugs tells
:13:44. > :13:49.me they have a flooded crypt, the Hotel on the other side of the river
:13:50. > :13:56.almost certainly must have flooded cellars. -- the church here. They
:13:57. > :14:00.have put sandbags on the other side of those chairs and tables, I do not
:14:01. > :14:05.think people will be fancying afternoon tea at there. Fire crews
:14:06. > :14:10.are using their own pumps, and they also have a high volume pump on loan
:14:11. > :14:16.from Staffordshire Fire Service, and that can pump 7000 litres of water a
:14:17. > :14:20.minute, they tell me, and that is in operation further up the river. The
:14:21. > :14:24.concern is, though, the Environment Agency and buy a cruise here say
:14:25. > :14:30.that the river for the time being has stabilised, but there is concern
:14:31. > :14:34.that there is more water on the way. -- Fire crews. They are dealing with
:14:35. > :14:42.tidal surges further upriver, and of course whatever the weather chucks
:14:43. > :14:45.at us for the next few days. Do people in the surrounding area feel
:14:46. > :14:53.the authorities have been doing enough? Marleau, really, does feel
:14:54. > :14:57.pretty lucky. People I've spoken to this morning and seeing what's been
:14:58. > :15:01.happening further up and down, not very far away across the river and
:15:02. > :15:04.they do feel pretty lucky. The firefighters I spoke to this morning
:15:05. > :15:09.say everything they can do with being done to keep the water away
:15:10. > :15:12.from houses. There are a couple that are pretty close with sandbags just
:15:13. > :15:17.haven't quite done the trick, nothing, though, they say alarming
:15:18. > :15:20.at the moment but they are on stand-by obviously not able to tell
:15:21. > :15:24.exactly what the weather is going to do. I'm sure anybody who has been
:15:25. > :15:28.affected would be saying the Environment Agency could be doing
:15:29. > :15:31.more. I've been speaking to people here who have been measuring the
:15:32. > :15:35.flow of the river and saying it's pretty fast. They are trying to
:15:36. > :15:38.enter is about what's going to happen but, of course, there's an
:15:39. > :15:42.element of guesswork and they are trying to do as much as they can,
:15:43. > :15:46.they tell me, for the residents in this area. Philip Ah, thank you very
:15:47. > :15:53.much. Joining me now is John Howell, Conservative MP for Henley. How is
:15:54. > :15:57.it there? Henley is suffering from flooding as is the rest of the
:15:58. > :16:01.constituency. It's basically around the Thames, but, fortunately,
:16:02. > :16:06.there's not that many properties affected. It's not the disaster area
:16:07. > :16:09.of the bits of the country. So you are seeing this as a crisis that
:16:10. > :16:16.perhaps the Government should have stepped in earlier to deal with? No,
:16:17. > :16:22.in my constituency, the flooding is not yet affecting major properties.
:16:23. > :16:28.The council are working extremely hard on this. They have issued 6000
:16:29. > :16:34.sandbags already. They are working very hard with the Fire Service to
:16:35. > :16:38.have the right pumps in place. What I'm saying is if their concentration
:16:39. > :16:43.on that which is actually helped to give the situation at bay. What
:16:44. > :16:45.difference has it made seeing Government ministers and senior
:16:46. > :16:51.politicians of all parties out and about in flood hit areas? It's a
:16:52. > :16:56.great question and a great PR opportunity, but I'm not sure we do
:16:57. > :17:03.very much by going out into the water. We can be sympathetic to
:17:04. > :17:06.people and all of that. What I have done is to have meetings with the
:17:07. > :17:11.Environment Agency in order to ensure that what I think is being
:17:12. > :17:16.done is really being done and they are doing all that they can to deal
:17:17. > :17:21.with the situation. How helpful has it been listening to and watching
:17:22. > :17:25.the name-calling and sniping between ministers and the Environment Agency
:17:26. > :17:32.over the past few weeks? I think Philip Hammond's was the best on
:17:33. > :17:36.this. There are issues with the Environment Agency over the whole
:17:37. > :17:41.policy of dredging, for example. It's a big issue in the north and my
:17:42. > :17:46.own constituency but now was not the time to have those issues. Now was
:17:47. > :17:50.not the time to have a discussion with the Environment Agency. Now is
:17:51. > :17:55.the time to provide assistance to the people flooded and then tackle
:17:56. > :18:02.it later. Who should be providing that assistance in your mind? Who in
:18:03. > :18:06.a broader sense should be providing information? People talk about great
:18:07. > :18:10.community spirit and volunteer services and the Fire Service and
:18:11. > :18:16.how marvellous they have been. Should be local initiatives to did
:18:17. > :18:20.with local crisis is? We are facing an unusual situation with people
:18:21. > :18:25.saying it's the worst rain for 250 years. Ultimately, it comes down to
:18:26. > :18:31.a draining a hell of a lot. But who'd you expect to help? The
:18:32. > :18:36.Government, centrally controlled, or local initiatives in the way you
:18:37. > :18:39.have described? A bit of both, and the Prime Minister has already set
:18:40. > :18:42.out what the central Government will provide on the way of assistance
:18:43. > :18:49.from the military, additional sandbags, flood equipment, but it
:18:50. > :18:53.also comes down to the fact that we need to be planning properly. And
:18:54. > :18:59.not building on the flood plain. We will come onto that. Just looking at
:19:00. > :19:03.it from the outside, I presume your home has not been flooded. What do
:19:04. > :19:08.you feel for these people who are now dealing with on a daily basis?
:19:09. > :19:12.What I find, cut, not their situation, but suddenly politicians
:19:13. > :19:14.going out there and being the font of all knowledge were adding to do
:19:15. > :19:17.with flooding and how it affects people in what should be done. They
:19:18. > :19:24.should have been out in the communities before this. But, well,
:19:25. > :19:29.it's awful. I have a small business near Somerset, actually, a pub which
:19:30. > :19:32.people are not able to get to the moment. There are small businesses
:19:33. > :19:38.and homes all over the place being affected. I've heard of landlords is
:19:39. > :19:43.mourning not re-homing people who are being forced out of their homes.
:19:44. > :19:47.It needs everyone to help. The HMRC needs the good businesses when their
:19:48. > :19:54.VAT quarters adieu, and not be hard on them. The banks to listen when
:19:55. > :20:00.businesses can't afford to pay their small loan payments. It reaches out
:20:01. > :20:05.further out than people in their homes, but that's really tragic. Who
:20:06. > :20:12.was going to pay fraud this? Insurers estimate it could be up to
:20:13. > :20:15.?1 billion. -- pay for this. The Prime Minister has to ?7 million
:20:16. > :20:21.front to help councils were the immediate clean-up. There will be a
:20:22. > :20:27.big call on the insurance companies. That's why people pay insurers. So
:20:28. > :20:31.people's premiums are going to go sky-high presumably as a result of
:20:32. > :20:37.this, and it could affect people outside of those flooded areas, too?
:20:38. > :20:41.I have no idea how the insurance industry will react to this, but the
:20:42. > :20:44.first call has to be on the insurance industry, because people
:20:45. > :20:48.are their premiums and they need something back for them. You talked
:20:49. > :20:53.about planning and people would say planning and perhaps more money
:20:54. > :21:00.going into Government agencies like the Environment Agency, and into
:21:01. > :21:07.desperate -- DEFRA, may have prevented the excesses of flooding.
:21:08. > :21:10.Firstly, no more money going into the Environment Agency would have
:21:11. > :21:14.affected this in the slightest. The amount of money going into the
:21:15. > :21:17.Environment Agency has continued to increase. Now, the issue of planning
:21:18. > :21:22.is an important one. We need to ensure, as the National planning
:21:23. > :21:28.poverty framework makes absolutely clear, that we do not make the
:21:29. > :21:32.situation worse on the flood plain. It's very clear about the areas in
:21:33. > :21:36.which building can take place, and if building does need to take place
:21:37. > :21:40.on the flood plain, because sometimes it does, it needs to make
:21:41. > :21:45.sure that it takes every precaution it can to overcome the problems of
:21:46. > :21:49.flooding. When it came to funding for DEFRA in flood defences in real
:21:50. > :21:58.terms, that amount has fallen since the Government has been in power
:21:59. > :22:06.from ?690 million to ?576 million. Was that correct? I think you're
:22:07. > :22:09.being selective in the figures. No, the Government has spent some
:22:10. > :22:12.amounts to the last four years of a Labour Government, but in real
:22:13. > :22:18.terms, if you count inflation, it is fallen, and that a Parliamentary
:22:19. > :22:25.figure. What do we do about things like the policy on dredging for
:22:26. > :22:29.example? More money might have paid the more dredging. It's not a
:22:30. > :22:34.question of money coming back. It's a question of policy, and we need to
:22:35. > :22:40.discuss this with the Environment Agency at a later stage but now is
:22:41. > :22:43.not the time for that. Thank you. Now, earlier this month the Labour
:22:44. > :22:45.peer Sally Morgan spoke of her unhappiness at not being
:22:46. > :22:49.re-appointed to the role of Chairman of the Education Watchdog Ofsted.
:22:50. > :22:52.Reports over the weekend suggested that Education Secretary Michael
:22:53. > :22:57.Gove might replace other members of Ofsted's board. Mr Gove was asked
:22:58. > :22:58.about the issue by Shadow Education Secretary Tristam Hunt in parliament
:22:59. > :23:10.yesterday. Mr Speaker, we will see that the
:23:11. > :23:13.Secretary of State has refused to condemn the campaign against the
:23:14. > :23:19.chief inspector and is not the truth of the matter that Ofsted is
:23:20. > :23:24.inspecting the free schools without fear or favour and he doesn't like
:23:25. > :23:27.it. The chief inspector wants to inspect Academy chains and he
:23:28. > :23:33.doesn't like it. On Friday, a secondary school closed and a new
:23:34. > :23:38.Ofsted purge on Sunday. Surely he should be focused on raising
:23:39. > :23:46.standards, not politicising our school inspectorate system. If he
:23:47. > :23:52.wants to be taken seriously, he must pay close attention to the facts.
:23:53. > :23:57.And the facts are these, that I had been zealous and making sure that we
:23:58. > :24:00.applied a typed and more rigorous inspection framework to all schools,
:24:01. > :24:06.free schools, academies, maintained schools, and I appointed Sally
:24:07. > :24:12.Morgan and I have been leading change in our schools. I have been
:24:13. > :24:14.the person in system to be held our education system to the highest
:24:15. > :24:19.standard and I'm the person demanding the honourable gentleman
:24:20. > :24:24.once again, once again, withdraws the statement he made earlier
:24:25. > :24:28.putting words into the mouths of Sir Michael will sure he did not at. If
:24:29. > :24:31.he doesn't, we will draw the appropriate conclusion that his
:24:32. > :24:41.policies, are both timid and incoherent. Michael Gove and Tristam
:24:42. > :24:50.Hunt they are engaging in lively debate. And joining us is a
:24:51. > :24:53.supporter of the government's education reforms and free school
:24:54. > :24:55.founder Toby Young. Welcome to the programme. Is this another example
:24:56. > :24:59.of Michael Gove attacking the educational establishment he wants
:25:00. > :25:05.to improve? I don't think he has been attacking it. I think Sir
:25:06. > :25:13.Michael Wilshaw misunderstood and thought that policy exchange had
:25:14. > :25:17.reports commissioned into Ofsted pondered by the Secretary of
:25:18. > :25:22.State... Think tanks, that's what was claimed against Ofsted, but is
:25:23. > :25:27.not undermined. The head of Ofsted as saying he is undermined, he feels
:25:28. > :25:29.by Michael Gove on the Government, spitting blood about those
:25:30. > :25:34.briefings. How does I improve standards in schools? Appointing Sir
:25:35. > :25:40.Michael has helped improve standards in schools in the first place. There
:25:41. > :25:44.is now timid and 50,000 children being taught in failing schools than
:25:45. > :25:47.under the last Government. The claim by Tristam Hunt is because Michael
:25:48. > :25:53.Gove is unhappy that Ofsted are infecting that inspecting free
:25:54. > :25:59.schools is clearly nonsense, because 75% of those free schools have been
:26:00. > :26:04.ranked outstanding including the free school I co-founded in 2011.
:26:05. > :26:07.That's higher than the national average, 64%, so Ofsted are giving a
:26:08. > :26:13.ringing endorsement of the free schools policy. To suggest Michael
:26:14. > :26:16.Gove wants to politicise Ofsted because they are criticising free
:26:17. > :26:20.schools is utter rubbish. Isn't this a storm in a teacup when it comes to
:26:21. > :26:26.improving standards? Isn't Michael Gove trying to push a teaching
:26:27. > :26:31.establishment which has been set in its ways for too long? He doesn't
:26:32. > :26:35.listen to teachers, he's dictator. He doesn't talk to teachers for the
:26:36. > :26:42.bid and talk to parents, pupils, he doesn't listen to anyone. He has his
:26:43. > :26:45.own agenda, even taking questions. If anybody opposes him, he puts
:26:46. > :26:51.down, doesn't want to get into discussion with anyone. He is
:26:52. > :26:56.closing very good state schools down in Boro 's all over the place and
:26:57. > :27:01.replacing them with free schools. In your area, the O'Sullivan School in
:27:02. > :27:05.Hammersmith, an outstanding primary school in the top 2% of the country,
:27:06. > :27:10.there was a council meeting last night, and the decision by the Tory
:27:11. > :27:13.council has been to go ahead and close it, despite protests by
:27:14. > :27:18.parents, they've been to Downing Street with petitions, but it's
:27:19. > :27:22.going. The closure of that school was because it was undersubscribed,
:27:23. > :27:25.they went on a pupils for though they are merging two undersubscribed
:27:26. > :27:29.schools to create a site for much-needed school places in the
:27:30. > :27:33.area. They are imposing a secondary school, free school the boys... I
:27:34. > :27:39.don't think that decision has been made yet. If you listen to Andy
:27:40. > :27:45.Slaughter, the local MP,... I don't recognise your caricature of Michael
:27:46. > :27:48.Gove as a dictator. I think everyone else does. If you look at this
:27:49. > :27:51.curriculum reforms, many changes remain to the proposed changes to
:27:52. > :27:58.the National Curriculum after teachers and other organisations
:27:59. > :28:02.have spoken. Free schools are untestable moment. Your school is
:28:03. > :28:11.every two years old. Seven and eight. And nine. No one has taken
:28:12. > :28:19.GCSE get whatever they will be under Michael Gove. People say they will
:28:20. > :28:26.be dumbed down qualifications. Free schools have taken, in some cases,
:28:27. > :28:32.taken public exams. A free school is where Michael Gove delivered a
:28:33. > :28:37.speech last week, they have got ten offers from Oxbridge, for their
:28:38. > :28:40.children, extraordinary. Have they got the same intake is you? You have
:28:41. > :28:47.a remarkably high intake of students going into your school, which have
:28:48. > :28:51.sat level for, compared to the average in your borough. How does
:28:52. > :28:58.that happen? It's not a selective school. But let me explain, there
:28:59. > :29:02.was a Freedom of information request about your school in terms of the
:29:03. > :29:05.standard already gained of pupils coming into the school and it seemed
:29:06. > :29:12.incredibly high from nonselective school. Can you explain it? 25% of
:29:13. > :29:17.the children at the West London free school are on free school meals, 40%
:29:18. > :29:23.are black and minority ethnic, it's very reflective. I think the reason
:29:24. > :29:25.we have attracted perhaps above-average children from an
:29:26. > :29:33.academic point of view is because we offer... You sort them out. Have
:29:34. > :29:38.they? Isn't a case on offer have a tap attracted those people because
:29:39. > :29:43.the standards were higher. Not the backgrounds of the children. Isn't
:29:44. > :29:47.what's on offer from some of these free schools which has attracted
:29:48. > :29:50.that kind of student? It's all a bit of a noise about nothing because it
:29:51. > :29:58.hasn't been proven yet because no exams have been taken, but how do
:29:59. > :30:03.explain at 95.4% of your intake got level four and above in English
:30:04. > :30:07.compared to the borough average of 62%? Similar figures in mathematics
:30:08. > :30:10.as well. These are children and parents who can't find the kinds of
:30:11. > :30:14.opportunities are looking for elsewhere in the borough so I think
:30:15. > :30:18.their children, who may be above average academically, have a better
:30:19. > :30:22.chance at school. Parents are discovering the school. If more
:30:23. > :30:31.state schools offer the rigorous... But they do. Michael Gove said that
:30:32. > :30:35.teachers need to teach with rigour, isn't that what teachers tried to
:30:36. > :30:44.do? He calls the educational establishment of the blog, a fairly
:30:45. > :30:50.antagonistic term, isn't it? -- the blob. Would you call it that? That
:30:51. > :30:54.is insulting to the pupils, and to call GCSE is that still two years
:30:55. > :31:02.have got today, dumbed down exams, how dare he do that? My son will be
:31:03. > :31:06.taking them, and he knows it is a dumbed down exam. He does not have
:31:07. > :31:21.to take it. Michael Gove has eliminated things like s, BTECso we
:31:22. > :31:26.are beginning to see positive changes. How does the teaching
:31:27. > :31:30.establishment response to being called the blob? Is this the way to
:31:31. > :31:35.encourage and improve standards? I think the teaching, the educational
:31:36. > :31:39.establishment, not to be confused with teachers, the establishment
:31:40. > :31:43.have always been hostile to any attempt to reform education. So you
:31:44. > :31:49.think they are Marxists, the same way as Michael Gove does! They have
:31:50. > :31:54.been saying no to reform for 50 years, whether proposed by Labour or
:31:55. > :31:58.the Tories. Isn't there some truth in the fact that they have resisted
:31:59. > :32:02.a change in order to drive up standards in state schools? But
:32:03. > :32:08.standards have been driven up in state schools. By what? According to
:32:09. > :32:12.grade inflation, you are measuring that by the number of children
:32:13. > :32:17.getting five passes at GCSE, and as we know, that is to do with grade
:32:18. > :32:20.inflation. If you look at the attainment gap between independent
:32:21. > :32:23.schools and children from comprehensives at a level under
:32:24. > :32:28.Labour, it doubled. The number of children getting good A levels at
:32:29. > :32:33.independent schools doubled compared to children at comprehensives under
:32:34. > :32:36.the last government. What to think about Michael Gove trying to bring
:32:37. > :32:41.down the so-called Berlin Wall between state and private education?
:32:42. > :32:45.That is a wall that can be smashed to pieces by getting rid of private
:32:46. > :32:54.education and having to play nonselective schools. Don't you
:32:55. > :32:59.agree with that? He is selecting! Don't you agree with that? If you
:33:00. > :33:04.got rid of private education, state schools... Everyone would go to good
:33:05. > :33:08.local schools. I am not opposed to people sending their children to
:33:09. > :33:12.good state schools, but the way to do that is to raise standards in
:33:13. > :33:16.state schools, not eliminate private schools, which isn't politically
:33:17. > :33:29.possible. By emulating private schools, longer school days? Let's
:33:30. > :33:33.emulate the best practice. At the, the top five independent schools are
:33:34. > :33:37.getting more children into Oxford and Cambridge than the worst
:33:38. > :33:43.performing 2000 state schools. That cannot be right, we have got to do
:33:44. > :33:46.something about it. There are around 800,000 people in the UK with a
:33:47. > :33:52.disease. It already costs the economy ?23 billion a year. By 2040,
:33:53. > :33:59.dementia is expected to affect twice as many people, and the costs are
:34:00. > :34:02.likely to travel. At the G8 dementia summit in December, David Cameron
:34:03. > :34:07.spoke about the global challenge of dementia. Today really is about
:34:08. > :34:13.three things. It is about realism, it is about determination, and it is
:34:14. > :34:20.about hope. Realism because no-one here is in any doubt about the scale
:34:21. > :34:25.of the dementia crisis. A new case every four microseconds, a global
:34:26. > :34:31.cost of $600 billion a year. And that is to say nothing of the human
:34:32. > :34:34.cost. Because it doesn't matter whether you are in London or Los
:34:35. > :34:42.Angeles, in rural India or urban Japan, this disease steals lives,
:34:43. > :34:48.wrecks families and breaks hearts, and that is why all of us here are
:34:49. > :34:52.so determined to beat it. David Cameron there. Fiona Phillips is an
:34:53. > :34:58.Alzheimer's Society Ambassador, Christian Guy is from the Centre for
:34:59. > :35:02.Social Justice, the think tank founded by Work and Pensions
:35:03. > :35:08.Secretary Iain Duncan Smith. That commitment made by David Cameron,
:35:09. > :35:13.did it impress you? Well... No. What is really needed, so many things are
:35:14. > :35:18.needed, I don't know where to start, but I spoke to David Cameron right
:35:19. > :35:24.after, actually, he held a round table thing at Number Ten, and he
:35:25. > :35:28.only recently clocked that dementia was not just a sign of ageing, old
:35:29. > :35:34.people saying silly things. It is only recently that he clocked that
:35:35. > :35:38.it was a disease. That is progress, but the money he has put up for...
:35:39. > :35:41.We are 30 years behind in this country because of lack of funding,
:35:42. > :35:46.and the funding that he offered and has put in, he has arranged to
:35:47. > :35:49.double it, but it is still not fit for purpose. It is good that it is
:35:50. > :35:55.being talked about and given national importance, but it is not
:35:56. > :36:02.enough. Both your parents had Alzheimer's, tell us a little bit
:36:03. > :36:07.about how it affected you . My mum started showing signs in her 50s, my
:36:08. > :36:11.dad in his 60s. I gave up my job because something had to give, I
:36:12. > :36:16.couldn't have children, ageing parents and do the whole lot, and
:36:17. > :36:20.they were living at a distance from me in Wales, I was in London, and
:36:21. > :36:27.eventually both they went into care. You looked after them... As much as
:36:28. > :36:30.I could. Is the problem here that nobody has addressed the scale of
:36:31. > :36:35.the problem that is affecting all of us with this issue? There has been a
:36:36. > :36:40.gradual awakening, but this thing has taken a long time to emerge. In
:36:41. > :36:44.relation to cancer, we have seen much more investment in research and
:36:45. > :36:52.care over the last three or four decades. By 2050, 1.7 million people
:36:53. > :36:56.will have dementia, against 800,000 now. One of the things that features
:36:57. > :36:59.is that people deal with it at crisis point, because it is
:37:00. > :37:03.difficult to plan, to have conversations about the issue, but
:37:04. > :37:07.often then people go straight to A, they feel they cannot go home
:37:08. > :37:11.because there is no support, they go into care homes. It is difficult for
:37:12. > :37:15.families to have that conversation about the future, but as much as we
:37:16. > :37:22.can plan, it is better for everyone if we can do that, to face up to it.
:37:23. > :37:28.To have a national strategy which ends in 2015, France is on to its
:37:29. > :37:31.fourth national strategy now. President Obama as a 25 year
:37:32. > :37:38.strategy for dementia. Ours ends in 2015, and we do not know what is
:37:39. > :37:40.going to follow it. A classic example of politicians wanting to
:37:41. > :37:45.pass it onto the next group, but we cannot keep taking it down the
:37:46. > :37:49.trail. But who has to actually grab all the problem? There is an endless
:37:50. > :37:52.discussion, on this programme and lots of others like it, about
:37:53. > :38:01.whether it is a social problem or a health problem. Would that change
:38:02. > :38:04.things, classifying it as a health problem? Most care homes and nursing
:38:05. > :38:07.homes are not just residential facilities, but the way we have
:38:08. > :38:13.funded nursing homes has been to keep it quite separate. We know for
:38:14. > :38:17.example that certain risk factors, we can take control of smoking,
:38:18. > :38:26.exercise and weight. There is also the planning point, can we have
:38:27. > :38:31.conversations now that so we are not reacting at crisis point. How do you
:38:32. > :38:35.pay for it, Fiona? Do people have to accept that if more people are going
:38:36. > :38:39.to get dementia or Alzheimer's, maybe they will get it earlier, they
:38:40. > :38:42.will have to use some of their own resources? Because it manifests
:38:43. > :38:48.itself eventually as a mental health problem, it is treated as the bum
:38:49. > :38:52.end of everything, if you will pardon the expression. It is classed
:38:53. > :38:56.as needing social care, rather than medical care. It is a physical
:38:57. > :39:02.disease, and if it was treated as a physical disease, the care would be
:39:03. > :39:05.funded by the NHS. So would make a big difference to reclassified in
:39:06. > :39:10.that way? Absolutely, we shouldn't even be talking about this. I was at
:39:11. > :39:13.a hospital in Portsmouth where they are making their geriatric wards
:39:14. > :39:20.dementia friendly, and the nurses were saying they keep talking about
:39:21. > :39:23.this time bomb going off. It has gone off and we are playing catch up
:39:24. > :39:26.already. How much money would have to go into the NHS, for example, or
:39:27. > :39:29.local authorities to deal with this problem in terms of providing the
:39:30. > :39:34.right sort of care and nursing at home? Already cost billions, and we
:39:35. > :39:37.are well short of what it takes to deal with the problem. When you look
:39:38. > :39:40.at the way the trends are moving in the next three or four decades, we
:39:41. > :39:47.are facing up to the fact that this will cost a lot more, and if people
:39:48. > :39:51.play their part... What you mean by that? You seem to be skating around
:39:52. > :39:56.the issue, what should people be doing, saying, we will have to sell
:39:57. > :40:00.our family home to pay for care? That is part of the realistic
:40:01. > :40:03.discussion that we have to have, because we have challenged the idea
:40:04. > :40:08.that home is something we want to pass on to our children. Our assets
:40:09. > :40:11.need to help us through, and a lot of children feel that if mum and dad
:40:12. > :40:15.need that money, they should not feel it is protected for them.
:40:16. > :40:19.Selling the home could be an important part of the discussion.
:40:20. > :40:22.And the younger generation are being disenfranchised from the property
:40:23. > :40:27.market, they cannot get on the ladder. The bigger question is not
:40:28. > :40:32.how you funded, which is a problem, but how Health and Social Care Act
:40:33. > :40:40.work together, what kind of care we want. The big debate is how we fund
:40:41. > :40:46.it, but no-one is saying that. A really good example is training. GPs
:40:47. > :40:50.and care workers often do not know how to spot the onset, so it comes
:40:51. > :40:55.to the crisis point. That is an awareness that we are slowly
:40:56. > :40:58.catching up to. If it is early-onset, in your 50s, I presume
:40:59. > :41:02.medical staff are not necessarily looking for it, because at that
:41:03. > :41:07.point it is still relatively unusual. Even if it is diagnosed,
:41:08. > :41:12.and only at the rate of about half of people who present with cognitive
:41:13. > :41:15.difficulties, about 50% now, which is a rise, are being diagnosed, but
:41:16. > :41:21.once you have been diagnosed, you are pretty much told to get home and
:41:22. > :41:32.get on with it. So there is nothing there? There is more than there ever
:41:33. > :41:34.was, and the Alzheimer's Society has done a lot to bring this to the
:41:35. > :41:37.forefront. There are schemes where people are being trained to
:41:38. > :41:39.recognise what it is like living with dementia. And there are great
:41:40. > :41:42.local projects, it is too sporadic, but some wonderful charity sane, we
:41:43. > :41:46.will come with you on the journey as families. What about carers, usually
:41:47. > :41:51.family members? What happens to them? It can go on for ten or 20
:41:52. > :41:55.years. We have looked at unpaid carers who save about ?8 billion a
:41:56. > :41:59.year for the economy, and we have looked at social prescriptions were
:42:00. > :42:02.GPs could actually help carers get some respite, but also the workforce
:42:03. > :42:08.that is official, often there are problems with very low pay, people
:42:09. > :42:11.doing a 15 minute flying visit, the training is not there. The
:42:12. > :42:15.experience of being cared for professionally as a problem. Would
:42:16. > :42:19.you like them to be paid more in those care homes? They have to be in
:42:20. > :42:23.the longer term, because what value do we place on the care going to
:42:24. > :42:27.vulnerable people if we will not pay minimum wage? There has to be a gold
:42:28. > :42:32.standard, training and qualifications in care, and
:42:33. > :42:36.commensurate salary. It has to be a professional qualification.
:42:37. > :42:40.Christian Guy, thank you very much. News, there is more of it, from all
:42:41. > :42:45.sources, and it is more accessible than ever, so do we need to be
:42:46. > :42:48.taught how to cope with it. In a moment we will talk to the author of
:42:49. > :42:55.News: A User's Manual. First, Adam has a wry look at our recent news
:42:56. > :43:02.has been reported. Water! People valiantly struggling
:43:03. > :43:06.on! We did have nice apples until the rats ate them. Politicians being
:43:07. > :43:13.shouted at quite incoherently! He says you should resign! You said
:43:14. > :43:16.dredging is not the answer but now it is! And you wonder why the news
:43:17. > :43:21.loves a flood, although it has posed a problem for West Country
:43:22. > :43:27.correspondent Jon Kay - how many ways can he say it has been raining
:43:28. > :43:31.a lot? This morning it flooded. This is something else, the whole barn
:43:32. > :43:36.has been flooded. The weekend will bring yet more rain. In fact, it has
:43:37. > :43:42.already begun. And there is more heavy rain due this weekend. There
:43:43. > :43:45.is more heavy rain coming in. While he has been doing that, I have been
:43:46. > :43:49.doing something much more to look goal of life as a journalist, trying
:43:50. > :43:54.to drum up some interest in the Wythenshawe by-election. Does anyone
:43:55. > :44:02.in Wythenshawe care about the by-election?! No! I am going to vote
:44:03. > :44:09.for what is named. Are you excited about the by-election? Oh, no
:44:10. > :44:14.interest. Why does no one care?! Meanwhile, the boffins back at base
:44:15. > :44:18.have been experimenting with this, news stories in just 15 seconds on
:44:19. > :44:23.the Instagram app. So you have seen three sides of our trade, the
:44:24. > :44:27.exciting, the mundane and the very, very new. After all that, what has
:44:28. > :44:32.been our most popular items so far this year? And now the weather for
:44:33. > :44:37.all areas of the British Isles, but definitely not Bongo Bongo Land. And
:44:38. > :44:41.the author of "News: A User's Manual", the philosopher, Alain de
:44:42. > :44:45.Botton joins us now. Why was that the most popular, the weather being
:44:46. > :44:54.done by Nigel Farage? People like that of human sapphire. -- -- people
:44:55. > :45:00.like humour and satire. People like to know the something behind the
:45:01. > :45:05.curtain. You guys are making it up, people in the studios. What do you
:45:06. > :45:10.mean? Lots of research goes into these programmes. Some news is
:45:11. > :45:15.masquerading as good news and a sound serious. The 8 billion stories
:45:16. > :45:20.happening every day. The BBC picks on a certain number and says that's
:45:21. > :45:24.what's happening. Of course, it's only very partial and at a basic
:45:25. > :45:28.point we have to keep remembering. What would you have on today's
:45:29. > :45:34.programme, what would have been your agenda on Dailyl Politics? I think a
:45:35. > :45:40.lot of it would have been how you present the information. Take a
:45:41. > :45:43.flood. The news likes to make is terrified and helpful. Wildly
:45:44. > :45:46.hopeful about politicians and what they might do to transform the
:45:47. > :45:50.country in a minute, and then totally terrified about something
:45:51. > :45:55.else, because it keeps us coming back to the screens and keep you
:45:56. > :46:02.guys on the job. I will gently say, the floods are terrible but we will
:46:03. > :46:05.survive. Humanity, we have been in such things before, and we will come
:46:06. > :46:11.out of them. The news is catastrophic. Individuals need to be
:46:12. > :46:16.resilient. We need to be resilient. The news doesn't help that. I debate
:46:17. > :46:22.the fact whether we are just reflecting what is happening and
:46:23. > :46:27.what some people feel? Cheryl in defensive as a news percent. Let's
:46:28. > :46:35.go to another news presenter. Do you think we all go for raw emotion?
:46:36. > :46:39.Anger? Love, hate, because those are the things which sell newspaper and
:46:40. > :46:44.put programmes in people's living rooms? To be fair, when they start
:46:45. > :46:48.the news bulletins, they say these are the headlines. Not, this is the
:46:49. > :46:54.news going on everywhere. They do pre-empted by saying we can only fit
:46:55. > :47:00.in the headlines in this bulletin. I agree, but there's a weird way in
:47:01. > :47:03.which despite the unbelievable technological news-gathering
:47:04. > :47:08.sophistication, the key stories sometimes don't make it or we don't
:47:09. > :47:12.quite put our finger on them. Can you give some examples of what you
:47:13. > :47:18.would think is a key story? Today, we've talked about the floods, the
:47:19. > :47:24.banning of smoking in cars, dementia. Are those issues salient
:47:25. > :47:28.issues in your mind? It is said to your viewers, what was on the show
:47:29. > :47:32.last week and how do you remember it and how are you living that
:47:33. > :47:36.information? Make it memorable something different. It's about
:47:37. > :47:42.trying to give the viewer some sense of the continuity of stories. It's
:47:43. > :47:45.an easy target the modern news leaves you overwhelmed with
:47:46. > :47:51.information so it's often hard to know what we actually care about and
:47:52. > :47:55.a genuine political story knows how to make a change. The problem is, by
:47:56. > :47:58.scattering so many causes, the population is overwhelmed and often
:47:59. > :48:01.things don't change because politicians can't get an agenda
:48:02. > :48:07.going because people are so distracted. Are you saying get rid
:48:08. > :48:12.of it? If you're going to keep it, whoever edits it, you're going to
:48:13. > :48:16.disagree with whatever is put on it because you don't agree with it. The
:48:17. > :48:19.problem with the BBC, is so worried people will disagree with that, it's
:48:20. > :48:27.so much on the one hand and not the other. You want more opinion, more
:48:28. > :48:31.politicised? More biased? I wish you the best of luck with the BBC! The
:48:32. > :48:36.BBC only once came off the fence in the last 20 years over apartheid
:48:37. > :48:40.full for the BBC thought long and hard and decided it was against
:48:41. > :48:46.apartheid. Ever since then, it's tied to a frame from expressing an
:48:47. > :48:49.opinion on anything. I was at Sky News writeback on it first started
:48:50. > :48:56.and we all had this backs to the wall mentality because everyone said
:48:57. > :48:59.it would fail. Look at it now. There's obviously an appetite for 24
:49:00. > :49:05.hours news. The issue is not should we have bias or not, but can we have
:49:06. > :49:10.good bias question isn't it a judgement you're talking about pet
:49:11. > :49:17.whose bias is good and bad? We get endless criticism for displaying
:49:18. > :49:21.bias from the tumours. There's multiple crises and if the job of
:49:22. > :49:25.the BBC to hand out the best possible bias in relation to the big
:49:26. > :49:29.questions, rather than standing back and saying you make your own mind.
:49:30. > :49:35.They do that on programmes which digests the news rather than just
:49:36. > :49:38.give you the news. There is a distinction between Di jesting and
:49:39. > :49:41.giving you the news. The news is constantly giving used up without
:49:42. > :49:45.knowing what am I supposed to do with this? What would you like
:49:46. > :49:50.people to do that? Are you saying the new should provide bigger with
:49:51. > :49:58.moral guidance? How to improve their lives? We have to get better at
:49:59. > :50:02.training people to cope with news. I wrote this book as a user manual to
:50:03. > :50:06.the news. There's a lot of debate about how the news should be
:50:07. > :50:09.structured with little thought given to the audience. Especially children
:50:10. > :50:13.today. What should we teach people about the news? We can into the
:50:14. > :50:18.world of news that thinking about it. I have this debate with a radio
:50:19. > :50:21.on all the time and I'm not monitoring back closely what they're
:50:22. > :50:26.listening to and what their absorbing. I remember when my
:50:27. > :50:30.children were affected by what they have seen on the news, actually, and
:50:31. > :50:36.you can't say, don't worry, it's not real. It is real. I remember 6pm
:50:37. > :50:42.news bulletin, I can't member the news was on, and there was rape and
:50:43. > :50:46.murder and I thought, how do I explain all this away? And how do I
:50:47. > :50:54.put it into context? Most children grow into a situation where no one
:50:55. > :50:58.sits down and says there's a weird thing called the news, collected by
:50:59. > :51:04.people under works like this. Maybe there's a GCSE class in this. On the
:51:05. > :51:09.whole, media studies is seen as a joke GCSE. It's one of the most
:51:10. > :51:13.important things out there. Have a word of Michael Gove people listen
:51:14. > :51:17.to you. Let's not go back to that. Thank you so much. There's just time
:51:18. > :51:21.before we go to find out the answer to our quiz. The question was: Which
:51:22. > :51:24.of these roles has Fiona NOT been offered? A) Chairmanship of the
:51:25. > :51:27.Environment Agency. B) Labour candidate for the Eastleigh
:51:28. > :51:34.by-election. Or c) Labour peer under Gordon Brown. Thankfully, Chris
:51:35. > :51:41.Smith was offered that. I'm very relieved. What about standing as a
:51:42. > :51:46.Labour candidate and becoming appear and Gordon Brown? I'm very
:51:47. > :51:52.interested in things which affect ordinary people, people who use
:51:53. > :51:58.hospitals, go to school, things everything that everyday people care
:51:59. > :52:01.about. But I don't think the way party politics stands the moment,
:52:02. > :52:07.people have enough respect the members of Parliament. And that's
:52:08. > :52:10.what put you off? Did you think about accepting the offer to stand
:52:11. > :52:17.as a candidate for example? No, I would rather write and campaign and
:52:18. > :52:21.actually go out and see people, go to care homes and hospitals and talk
:52:22. > :52:27.to real people and tried to do it from without rather than from within
:52:28. > :52:29.because of a healthy disregard for politicians of the moment. More than
:52:30. > :52:34.there ever has been, and I don't want to get into that thing and the
:52:35. > :52:37.press take me apart, when actually I would be in it for altruistic
:52:38. > :52:40.reasons yet you're not allowed to be. Let's leave it there. Now a
:52:41. > :52:45.vote-rigging scandal has hit Westminster this week. Oh yes. Yes,
:52:46. > :52:50.the fur is flying in the Westminster Cat of the Year competition run by
:52:51. > :52:52.Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. Organisers became suspicious when
:52:53. > :53:00.Bosun, cat to Tory MP Sheryll Murray, received 30,000 votes in
:53:01. > :53:04.just seven hours. Politicians can only dream of such a thing. A
:53:05. > :53:07.spokesperson for Sheryll Murray said there had clearly been dirty tricks
:53:08. > :53:11.but denied any wrongdoing on her part. Bosun has now withdrawn from
:53:12. > :53:14.the competition, leaving eight other felines to fight it out for top cat.
:53:15. > :53:20.The competition closes on Thursday and the vote is expected to be
:53:21. > :53:24.close. Organisers said it could come down to a whisker. One MP who
:53:25. > :53:34.withdrew his cat, Jude, from the vote in protest is Labour's Andrew
:53:35. > :53:38.Gwynne. Jude, my five-month-old kitten, who was fished out of the
:53:39. > :53:40.Manchester canal, thought he had the ideal back story to be crowned the
:53:41. > :53:48.first-ever Battersea Dogs and Cats Home cat of the year in the contest,
:53:49. > :53:56.so along with ten other cats, he put his name down, but sadly, while all
:53:57. > :54:00.the other cats were cat napping, one cat in particular seem to clock up
:54:01. > :54:07.30,000 votes overnight and then tried to claim that his victory was
:54:08. > :54:14.because of a sudden surge in Australian votes. Clearly, that was
:54:15. > :54:18.a perfect alibi. Such serious stuff. A serious matter. I'm joined now by
:54:19. > :54:21.two MPs whose moggies are still in the running for the top prize.
:54:22. > :54:26.Conservative Justin Tomlinson and Labour's Bill Esterson. Welcome to
:54:27. > :54:31.you both. Congratulations for the no cat fights on this show. Whose cat
:54:32. > :54:37.is whose? Mine is the one with a white body and the blackface and
:54:38. > :54:48.very big risk is. Mine is the black and white cat called Kevin. A
:54:49. > :54:53.brilliant name. Named after his Schumann Mum's former my friend who
:54:54. > :54:59.was a boxer. What is the point of all of this? They are supporting
:55:00. > :55:04.Battersea cats and dogs home who do such a great job, raising profile. I
:55:05. > :55:07.recently adopted a ten-year-old rescue dog, so it was something I
:55:08. > :55:13.was keen to support. It was meant to be a bit of fun. It's turned into a
:55:14. > :55:18.scandal for some how can that be? Yes, who knows? I think the
:55:19. > :55:24.important thing to remember is we entered the same reason, to support
:55:25. > :55:27.the good work that Battersea dogs and cats do, but I've also got a
:55:28. > :55:31.rescue centre in my constituency who do a fantastic job. I think it's
:55:32. > :55:37.important to support these organisations. Do you think this
:55:38. > :55:41.might ruin it for future years now? I think they will look at the voting
:55:42. > :55:47.system for next time. A single transferable vote? Who knows? It
:55:48. > :55:52.would disappointing it come to this. We are meant to be doing our bit to
:55:53. > :55:55.support Battersea and certainly, my cat is fast asleep on the keyboard
:55:56. > :56:00.as we speak at the moment, so he's quite relaxed about it. At least
:56:01. > :56:05.it's not the MP. I also am a cat from Battersea cats home. I'm not a
:56:06. > :56:09.cat lover, I have to say. I think they are selfish and on for
:56:10. > :56:17.themselves, rather like politicians. You have got to defend yourselves.
:56:18. > :56:30.My cat is very good. He welcomed Susie the rescue dog with open arms.
:56:31. > :56:36.My cat is called Monty. I like that. I think Kevin might confirm what
:56:37. > :56:39.Fiona just said, because we've had two new arrivals in the household
:56:40. > :56:45.but is determined to stay top cat. What about the mouse problem? The
:56:46. > :56:51.Houses of Parliament are in the stated. Montague would struggle. He
:56:52. > :56:57.would get excited for 30 seconds and then would have asleep. I think
:56:58. > :57:00.Kevin's mouse catching days are past for the Pier 16, disabled full so he
:57:01. > :57:13.went for operation in the summer. Are you going to be very
:57:14. > :57:18.disappointed if you don't win? Not at all. It's about championing what
:57:19. > :57:24.Battersea are doing. The cats are big coming good friends. May the
:57:25. > :57:29.best one winner. Why is Andrew Gwynne so serious about it? Was it
:57:30. > :57:34.tongue-in-cheek? I can't believe there has been vote rigging. Who
:57:35. > :57:38.would've done that? I was surprised. Cheryl is one of the nicest and
:57:39. > :57:42.least capable of cheating and IT system. I did speak to her and she
:57:43. > :57:46.was bewildered by the whole thing. She entered the genuine reasons, but
:57:47. > :57:51.I think it's all a bit silly. It's meant to be a bit of fun. Do you
:57:52. > :57:58.think this is nonsense, Fiona? Yes, I do. It was all a bit of fun but I
:57:59. > :58:06.would say, though to Kevin. When are you going to hear? Thursday is the
:58:07. > :58:10.closing date. It's longer for people do look at the potential cats and
:58:11. > :58:15.dogs to go and re-home. At apparently Apple say it alleged vote
:58:16. > :58:20.rigging. I wouldn't want to get the lawyers involved. None of you have
:58:21. > :58:35.seen or heard anything. What did you win? Do you get a prize? The cat
:58:36. > :58:42.gets to be Purr Minister. Good luck to both of you. Maybe we will read
:58:43. > :58:46.the winner when the comeback. That's all for today. Thanks to our guests.
:58:47. > :58:50.Particular to you, Fiona. The One O'Clock News is starting over on BBC
:58:51. > :58:54.One now. Andrew and I will be here at 11.30am tomorrow with Prime
:58:55. > :58:55.Minister's Questions and all the big political stories of the day. Bye
:58:56. > :59:13.bye. It's your job to keep law
:59:14. > :59:19.and order, isn't it?