06/02/2017 Inside Out London


06/02/2017

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Transcript


LineFromTo

Hello there. I'm Matthew Wright.

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You're watching Inside Out.

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Here's what's coming up on tonight's show.

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Does having a Muslim name damage your chances in the job market?

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In their minds, they have a link between Islam and terrorism.

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Maybe that's playing a role behind why they look at a Muslim name

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and think that this is somebody I don't want to employ.

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How the Brexit vote is making it tougher to find the European

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nurses the NHS needs.

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The NHS is already gravely understaffed.

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So if you take away the EU nurses, it will be mayhem.

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It will be chaos.

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And the American crayfish invading the capital's waterways.

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It was recognised that these American crayfish, that they thought

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were immune to the crayfish plague, carried it.

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And that will kill any non-American crayfish within two to three weeks.

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President Trump's travel orders against seven Muslim majority

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countries have put religious discrimination right

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at the top of the news agenda.

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Now discrimination can come in many forms, both blatant and subtle.

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And Inside Out has been investigating whether an under

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representation of British Muslims in top professional roles

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is as a result of discrimination in the jobs market.

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We've conducted on exclusive research, and Caroline

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Wyatt has the story.

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I'm in between jobs at the moment.

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It's quite clear that it's not my qualifications or skill

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set that is the issue.

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It is my religion.

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In their minds they have a link between Islamic terrorism.

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Maybe that's playing a role behind why they look at a Muslim name

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and think that this is somebody I don't want to employ.

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I am truly thinking of going down the lines of changing my name.

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Maybe changing my name will get the focus off my religion.

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Can your name or your religion hurt your search for a job?

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It's a topic of debate among many Muslims here in the UK,

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and with good reason.

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According to a report backed by MPs, Muslims are three times more likely

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to be unemployed than anyone else.

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So, assumptions are based on your race.

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This diversity coach works with hundreds of recruitment

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officers every year.

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She claims some officers who attended her previous courses

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have admitted to routinely rejecting applicants with Muslim

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or foreign sounding names.

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They've said to me, off the record, that when organisations do contact

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them, they have said, "Please don't send us

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any foreign names."

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And when I questioned them, and said, "Are you colluding

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with them in not sending names that are unusual or foreign

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names?", the recruitment consultants have said,

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"Well, we need business, and what's the point of sending them

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CVs and applications when they are just

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going to be returned?"

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Are Muslim applicants at a disadvantage?

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Are their CVs more likely to be rejected?

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To find out, we're going to undertake an experiment.

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If we're talking about managerial jobs, discrimination testing

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at a managerial level, then it's really a CV

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or an application that starts the process.

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We've teamed up with one of the UK's most renowned social scientists

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to help with the methodology of our experiment to

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ensure its accuracy.

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What we have done here is to create two CVs that

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are more or less identical, but give them two different names.

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So Adam in one case, we have here, and Muhammad, in another.

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So aside from their very different names, our two job-seekers

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are virtually indistinguishable.

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Both have obtained degrees in business from top

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ranking universities.

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And both have previously worked as training managers.

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They will each be submitting applications for exactly the same

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100 vacancies in the highly competitive field

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of advertising sales.

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Later, we'll find out how they're doing.

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I've lived here for five years.

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Like many Muslim women in Tower Hamlets, this woman attends

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classes to help improve her English.

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Lessons like this are taking place across the capital after government

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research suggested poor language skills were to blame for high levels

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of unemployment among Britain's Islamic communities.

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But even Muslims who speak impeccable English can

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struggle to find work.

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I think there are employers out there, as soon as

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they see a Muslim name.

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they could straightaway say no to that person.

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Ahmed, who doesn't want to be identified,

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is a building contractor.

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He says he is speaking from experience following a disturbing

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incident with a potential employer.

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He mentioned that he was actually recruiting someone for

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a managerial position.

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It would involve travelling to China, Japan.

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It was probably my dream job, I would say.

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He said to me he would read through the CV and get back to me.

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We exchanged numbers and that was that.

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A few days later, Ahmed received a text message from the man

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who had requested his CV.

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I was actually excited.

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Wow, this could be yes for me.

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Until I opened the text.

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"My Previous dislike of Islam has now hardened.

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into real hate.

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That false and decadent religion now threatens our on societies."

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I actually felt threatened.

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This person with so much hatred has got my address.

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He could do something to my family.

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I was scared.

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I wasn't sleeping well.

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It did really affect me.

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It wasn't until only after I got the police

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involved, I felt a bit safe.

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Muslim men such as Ahmed are 76% less likely to be

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employed than their white Christian counterparts.

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Growing numbers claim they're barred from the workforce due to prejudice.

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There is a perception of Muslim employees being considered to be

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disloyal, considered to be political.

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Their appearances sometimes are read as them being fundamentalist.

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And it's leading to a significant number of Muslim employees

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being discriminated against.

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Nabilla is a barrister who represents Muslims taking legal

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action against employers.

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She believes that prejudice against Muslims in the job market

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has escalated dramatically over the last 15 years.

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Every time that there is a terrorist incident, what you'll see

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is that there is a growth in mistreatment of employees.

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There have been a spate of these kind of cases since 7/7.

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It is two weeks since we began our experiment to discover if having

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a Muslim name harms your chances of getting work.

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Our job-seekers are applying for the same positions

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in middle management.

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They have sent out 50 applications each, and Adam has already received

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four positive responses.

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I've actually got quite a few offers at the moment,

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so if I could just have a couple of days to think about it

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and maybe get back to you?

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There have been no calls for Mohamed.

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But there are still another 50 vacancies to apply for.

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In Britain there is a well-established tradition

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of many Muslims and Asians modifying their names in order

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to improve their chances in the job market.

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Some Muslims have even been forced by their bosses to adopt more

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English sounding names.

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I had a student job where the employer looked

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at my name and said, "Oh, that won't do."

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He said, "Introduce yourself as Terry Miles",

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or some name like that.

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And I was very unhappy to do so.

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My old boss used to call me Joseph instead of Yogesh.

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And I kept saying, "No, it's Yogesh."

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And he said, "Do you have a middle name?"

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And I said, "Yeah, it's Krishan."

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But he couldn't pronounce that, so in the end he called me Chris.

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Krishan is the director for quality at a leading pharmaceutical company.

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It's taken in decades to reach this senior role.

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I entered the job market in the 80s.

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I put my CV in and was disappointed I got rejection letters.

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Someone suggested, why don't you, you know, put a very English name

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in with your CV and your name, and see who they might

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offer the job to?

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So I had my name, Yogesh Krishan.

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I had John Smith.

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John Smith got the interview.

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I got rejected for interview.

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It's three months since our job-seekers each applied

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for the same 100 vacancies.

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So, how have they done?

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Adam here got 12 positive responses and four enquiries from headhunters.

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Mohamed only got four positive responses and two

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responses from headhunters.

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What we've identified very clearly is that the Muslim sounding person's

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CV is only likely to get them an interview in one out of three

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cases, where and Anglo-Saxon name would get a response,

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a positive response.

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Our research is based on a small sample of responses,

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but it does indicate a pattern of prejudice against Muslims

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in the UK workforce.

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Some organisations are trialling name blind CDs, which stop

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recruitment officers making on fair judgments.

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--

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-- on

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-- on fair.

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But this unemployed chartered surveyor believes

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their effect is limited.

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I've seen many people who are less skilled than me,

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but have risen up into more senior management positions much

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faster and much quicker, more because their face fits

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than an application from a candidate like myself.

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At that early stage, sometimes they don't reveal

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the name of the person, but clearly when you walk

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into an interview, it's quite apparent that you're not going to be

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John Smith.

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High levels of joblessness are having a devastating effect

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on Muslim communities across the capital.

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More than half of Muslim households live in poverty,

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higher than any other social group.

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Changing this will require equal access to employment.

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Caroline Wyatt reporting.

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And if you've got a story about name discrimination you think

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we should hear about, then why not drop us a line?

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The address is:

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Don't worry, I'll give that to you again

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at the end of the programme.

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Still to come on tonight's show...

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My best customers are the otters at the zoo.

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Absolutely every single week, crayfish, we want crayfish,

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where are the crayfish?

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The crayfish is just a good way of giving them really natural food

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that they can eat in the wild and one that's getting them

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using their instincts and hunting ability as well.

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s

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While MPs have been thrashing out a bill to trigger

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out a bill to trigger

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the countdown to Brexit, there are some sectors

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where the effects of last summer's referendum are already

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being keenly felt.

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That's already the case for the NHS, which is heavily dependent on EU

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nurses, especially here the capital.

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There are now urgent calls for the government to clarify

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the status of these workers to protect front line services.

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We meet some absolutely fantastic people who are anxious,

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who come here because they do want to do a really good job

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to a very high standard.

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And what they want is clarity, like we all do.

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To sell the NHS to EU nurses is much harder than it was prior

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to the Brexit referendum.

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The NHS is already really, really gravely understaffed.

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So if you take away the EU nurses, the EU doctors, it will be

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mayhem, it will be chaos.

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Rene completed his medical training back in his native Austria.

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He's now working as a senior nurse at Great Ormond Street.

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Ashan is a six-month, long-term ventilated patient.

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He has had six surgeries already.

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He was really sick at the beginning.

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But he's smiling all the time.

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He's getting really, really good.

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I came here in December 2015 and I've been working here since then.

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I've always wanted to gain international experience

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and improve my skills.

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And for me the NHS means always excellence and high standards.

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I think your dressing has been changed also, right?

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Last summer's vote in favour of Brexit means the future

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status of nurses like Rene is currently uncertain.

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They may lose their jobs and be forced to leave the UK.

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The situation is still unclear.

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We have a lot of nurses from abroad, like from Spain

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and Italy and Portugal.

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It's a big impact for the NHS if we have to leave.

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And I do hope there will be a chance to stay here.

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Cuts to training budgets and a shortage of home-grown nurses

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wanting to work for the NHS, mean that many hospitals rely

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heavily on EU nurses like Rene.

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We haven't got enough nurses within the UK to fill our vacancies.

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And currently we do need people who want to come

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and work and live in the UK.

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And when you look at the figures, which are incredibly high,

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it's 13% of the nurses working in London have been

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recruited from Europe.

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That is a lot.

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That is 7000 individuals that are currently supporting our

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families and our people with their care.

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Obviously that is a big impact if they were not to be here.

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So we are going to listen from here.

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I grew up in a world in the European Union,

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in which there was no question about, will I be welcome

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in another state?

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I just go.

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I can.

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It's my right.

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Italian nurse Serena is in her final year of training

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at London South Bank University.

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She may also be forced to leave the UK after Brexit.

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I was quite shocked by the Brexit vote.

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I never expected a result like this.

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I felt a bit betrayed, because these are people that we look after,

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so they can see the level of care they provide.

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They can see how we work, and to think that they actually

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prefer not us to be there, it was a bit of a shock.

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Serena believes that Brexit is going to throw up numerous

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obstacles for EU nurses wanting to work here.

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I think there is going to be, first of all, a psychological impact

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on nurses wanting to come here, and then there's the practicalities.

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Would they need a visa?

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They might say no, you can't stay here unless you have

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a certain minimal income.

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What if they lose their job for whatever reason?

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Do they - I don't know, do they need to be deported?

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Currently recruiting nurses from the EU is

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relatively straightforward, because a European Directive ensures

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that training standards are the same across all the member states.

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Post-Brexit, though, this is likely to change.

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If we no longer have free movement of workers,

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if we do have to treat those coming from Spain, Italy France,

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on the same footing as those coming from Canada, the States,

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the Philippines, they will probably have to apply for a visa.

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They will probably need to demonstrate to us

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that their standards of qualification are as required

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here, and they will probably need to take a test.

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That means it's probably going to take longer.

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The pipeline may well slow down after Brexit,

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but for the companies who have been recruiting European

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nurses for the NHS, it's already started to dry up.

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At TFS we have seen approximately a 20% reduction of placements.

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To sell the NHS to EU nurses, it's much harder than it was prior

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to the Brexit referendum.

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They're scared of giving up everything within their homes,

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effectively, moving across to the UK, and not feeling

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valued, and feeling like it might not be a permanent

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opportunity any more.

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Last time I was in Spain, I was approached by a nurse that

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said, well, would I be even welcome in England?

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Which is such a shame.

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In fact, new figures have revealed while over 1,300 nurses from the EU

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registered to work in Britain last July, in December that figure had

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fallen to just over 100.

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Among the EU nurses already employed here, only those who have worked

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long enough to qualify for residency have been able to achieve

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a degree of job security.

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I apply for a permanent residence, and I got the results in December

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last year and for now, until - now I can actually work,

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work here and stay in the UK.

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So did the doctor see you today?

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Ishmalia completed her degree in Portugal in 2009.

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Since then, she's worked for a London Hospital Trust,

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supervising stroke patients.

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That's why you're having problems your right hand,

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because the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body.

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If I would stay in Portugal I wouldn't be a clinical nurse

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specialist seven years after I qualified.

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I think that the NHS invests in their staff,

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in health care professionals, in a way my country doesn't.

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So we think your stroke is on the left side of the brain.

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But there are many EU nurses working here who,

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unlike Ishmalia, might not have the option of staying.

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Concerns about the potential damage Brexit could do to the nursing

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pipeline are being put to the Government by

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the Cavendish Coalition.

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An umbrella group of 33 different health organisations,

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including NHS employers.

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What the Cavendish Coalition is asking for for EU nationals

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who are working in health and social care now, is they are granted

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indefinite leave to remain, so they are clear that they have

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a real commitment from this country to them being part of our population

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and part of our social care and health provision, beyond us

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leaving the European Union.

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We contacted the Department of Health, who told us that:

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The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status

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of EU nationals already living here.

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This will be a key objective in our negotiations,

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in terms of leaving the EU.

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For London's 7,000 EU nurses, official assurances

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can't come soon enough.

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I'd certainly want to see the Government clarifying

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the position of EU workers.

0:20:020:20:04

They know perfectly the NHS cannot cope without us.

0:20:040:20:06

They have to do it, because without us the NHS

0:20:060:20:08

would just collapse.

0:20:080:20:18

It's great so many of our rivers and canals here in the capital

0:20:190:20:22

are a lot cleaner than they used to be, and that wildlife

0:20:220:20:25

is thriving once again.

0:20:250:20:26

However, there is one resident of our waterways that's been making

0:20:260:20:29

itself very unwelcome indeed.

0:20:290:20:33

We sent Nigel Barden to find out more about the invasion

0:20:330:20:35

of the American crayfish.

0:20:350:20:45

This could be the Mississippi Delta, but it's only 20 miles

0:20:450:20:47

from the centre of London.

0:20:470:20:49

Dusk is the perfect time to set your crayfish trap.

0:20:490:20:51

Here on this lake near Ware, fisherman Tony Vessey is looking

0:20:510:20:54

forward to a good catch.

0:20:540:21:01

We use a bait, preferably mackerel anything that's a fishy, oily smell,

0:21:010:21:04

and we just place that out in the water, make sure the zip's

0:21:040:21:07

closed and we leave them in there for approximately 24-48-hours.

0:21:070:21:14

And they clamber in and can't get out.

0:21:140:21:16

Yes, they can go in but they can't get back out.

0:21:160:21:21

On a good catch that would be something between 120 and 150 kilos.

0:21:210:21:24

Wow.

0:21:240:21:25

That's a lot of crayfish.

0:21:250:21:29

Crayfish are very tasty, and crayfish gumbo's a fantastic dish.

0:21:290:21:31

Our rivers, canals and water ways in London are chock full of them.

0:21:310:21:35

But this isn't a great story about food right on our doorsteps.

0:21:350:21:37

It's bad news, because these are invaders, and they've nearly

0:21:370:21:40

killed off all our native species.

0:21:400:21:41

But howd did they get here in the first place?

0:21:410:21:47

They were introduced.

0:21:470:21:57

They were introduced for fishery business,

0:21:570:21:58

to export to Scandinavia, back in 1976, and they were put

0:21:580:22:01

into various quarries

0:22:010:22:02

and fisheries around, generally just outside of London

0:22:020:22:06

and further, and of course they breed and they've got legs

0:22:060:22:10

and they can get out of the lakes and things like that,

0:22:100:22:13

which they did, and spread around.

0:22:130:22:19

Very soon after they were introduced, it was recognised

0:22:190:22:21

at last these American crayfish that they thought were immune

0:22:210:22:24

to the crayfish plague carried it, and that will kill any non-American

0:22:240:22:27

crayfish within about two or three weeks.

0:22:270:22:34

And kill them it did.

0:22:340:22:35

Our waterways are now full of these invaders.

0:22:350:22:37

the River Lea is teeming with them, and they have become a big

0:22:370:22:40

environment problem, as local fishermen have witnessed.

0:22:400:22:44

They can damage the environment, they can burrow into the banks,

0:22:440:22:46

they can clear natural vegetation which is on the water,

0:22:460:22:49

which fish and other water invertebrates rely on.

0:22:490:22:58

They will eat fish eggs, which stops further populations

0:22:580:23:00

of fish coming through, and occasionally they can actually

0:23:000:23:02

catch and eat small fish as well.

0:23:020:23:08

Bob Ring believes the answer is to trap them and eat them.

0:23:080:23:11

So he started an organisation called Crayaway, where he buys them

0:23:110:23:13

from trappers and sells them on.

0:23:130:23:19

Crayaway I set up as the sort of pest control side

0:23:190:23:22

of things initially, with the idea of trying to get rid

0:23:220:23:25

of as many crayfish as possible.

0:23:250:23:29

It seemed not much was being done about it.

0:23:290:23:32

I will do my various events, so if I do a crawfish boil,

0:23:320:23:35

it's a great party and everything, but we'll get through over

0:23:350:23:37

100 kilo in an evening for one of those events.

0:23:370:23:41

So we do a few of those a year, they add up.

0:23:410:23:44

Glastonbury Festival, get through probably getting

0:23:440:23:46

on for quarter of a tonne.

0:23:460:23:47

My best customers are the otters at the zoo.

0:23:470:23:49

Absolutely every single week "Crayfish, we want crayfish,

0:23:490:23:51

where's our crayfish?"

0:23:510:23:59

You're feeding them live, of course, so they can go out, and then there's

0:23:590:24:03

an element of predator.

0:24:030:24:04

Yes, exactly, so they go in live.

0:24:040:24:05

You probably see them crawling down the bottom of the pond,

0:24:050:24:08

so just to give that added challenge to them, obviously they are

0:24:080:24:11

invertebrates so it's fine do that.

0:24:110:24:15

invertebrates so it's fine to do that.

0:24:150:24:17

They go down into the pond, they have to use the muscles,

0:24:170:24:20

the senses they would do out in the wild to be

0:24:200:24:22

able to catch them.

0:24:220:24:23

The crayfish just are really a good way of giving them a natural food

0:24:230:24:27

they would eat in the wild and one that is getting them

0:24:270:24:29

using the their instincts and hunting ability as well.

0:24:290:24:32

The crayfish you supply to the otters at London Zoo,

0:24:320:24:34

where are they from?

0:24:340:24:35

There is a lot of crayfish in the Oxfordshire, Berkshire area,

0:24:350:24:38

Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire.

0:24:380:24:39

I've got boats up on the Thames up in Oxfordshire.

0:24:390:24:41

Quite a lot within the M25 but I'm not allowed to get

0:24:410:24:44

anywhere near them.

0:24:440:24:45

Trapping these pests seems to be a piece of cake.

0:24:450:24:51

So if we have so many of them in London, why can Bob

0:24:560:25:00

trap them in the shires, but he's not allowed

0:25:000:25:03

anywhere near them here?

0:25:030:25:05

Many of the capitals waterways And although they put the non-native

0:25:050:25:13

crayfish right near the top of their rogues' gallery,

0:25:130:25:16

they almost always refuse to let people trap them commercially.

0:25:160:25:20

From the evidence there is on trials so far,

0:25:200:25:24

intensive trapping actually doesn't help reduce the species,

0:25:240:25:27

the problem can get worse.

0:25:270:25:29

Crayfish are quite interesting and they actually do cannibalise,

0:25:290:25:34

so older large crayfish will eat younger crayfish as well.

0:25:340:25:36

If you put down traps, even on a quite intensive basis,

0:25:360:25:39

you're more likely to get the older crayfish within the population,

0:25:390:25:41

and it really just means they won't be there to keep

0:25:410:25:44

the numbers down on the younger ones, and the actual

0:25:440:25:46

population can just explode.

0:25:460:25:52

When you have a network that's all linked up,

0:25:520:25:54

like the canal and river one is, it's very hard to make sure,

0:25:540:25:57

even if we were successful in clearing crayfish out

0:25:570:26:00

of a stretch such as this, they could just easily just move

0:26:000:26:02

back in, into the vacated area.

0:26:020:26:07

The other thing is the methods used for trapping crayfish,

0:26:070:26:09

so we have these what are called pots, the little crayfish traps,

0:26:090:26:12

but they will catch other things as well, and we have had a number

0:26:120:26:15

of incidents on our network over recent years, where otters and birds

0:26:150:26:18

have got caught in that.

0:26:180:26:24

You find a lot of illegal traps and this is one we found literally

0:26:240:26:31

You find a lot of illegal traps and this is one we found literally

0:26:340:26:37

just a few hundred yards from where we're standing now.

0:26:370:26:42

What you can find is creatures, specifically otters,

0:26:420:26:44

would be able to enter into the trap, looking

0:26:440:26:47

for the bait which is placed there to attract the crayfish,

0:26:470:26:54

but once an otter would get into it, it would find it extremely difficult

0:26:540:26:57

to get out and of course this is submerged under the water

0:26:570:27:00

and therefore the otter is going to drown.

0:27:000:27:07

The canal and river trust are aware most commercial trappers use

0:27:070:27:09

safe and legal nets, and they really do want both

0:27:090:27:12

the crayfish and the illegal trappers out of our waterways.

0:27:120:27:14

So they haven't closed the door forever on allowing

0:27:140:27:16

mass trapping in London.

0:27:160:27:23

The trials going on on intensive trapping, to try its effectiveness,

0:27:230:27:25

are being carried on at the moment.

0:27:250:27:27

If the results show it can be done, we would certainly look into working

0:27:270:27:31

with them on the problem, because we have several

0:27:310:27:33

reasons for not doing it, but so far we've found very little

0:27:330:27:36

else that actually does work, so we've got to find some way

0:27:360:27:39

to tackle invasive species and help the native crayfish.

0:27:390:27:49

Maybe one way of helping the native crayfish back could be to stop

0:27:550:27:59

thinking of these American invaders as pests, but like the otters,

0:27:590:28:03

think of them as a delicious meal.

0:28:030:28:05

These are really tasty, and you can't help but thinking

0:28:050:28:08

with a move towards eating locally, that it's a great shame to eat these

0:28:080:28:11

in London you have to bring them in from elsewhere.

0:28:110:28:13

Surely monitoring, catching and eating, this is a great

0:28:130:28:15

long-term solution to keep these numbers down.

0:28:150:28:20

I have to say, the crayfish look really tasty, and the otters

0:28:200:28:23

certainly seem to agree.

0:28:230:28:30

But that's all for this week's Inside Out.

0:28:300:28:32

If you've missed any of tonight's show that you'd like to catch up

0:28:320:28:35

on the iPlayer then head to our website.

0:28:350:28:37

The address is bbc.co.uk/insideout and then just click on London.

0:28:370:28:44

And if you have a story about name discriminination you think

0:28:440:28:47

we should know about, drop us a line.

0:28:470:28:49

Thanks very much for watching.

0:28:490:28:50

See you again soon.

0:28:500:28:57

Hello, I'm Riz Lateef with your 90-second update.

0:29:050:29:07

Overcrowded - the number of patients on wards in England have been

0:29:070:29:11

at unsafe levels in nine out of ten hospitals this winter.

0:29:110:29:14

That's according to BBC analysis.

0:29:140:29:16

NHS bosses said there were problems discharging frail patients.

0:29:160:29:19

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