:00:00. > :00:11.In the next half an hour, meet the millionaire car dealer whose new
:00:12. > :00:14.mission is to keep kids out of care. What we're looking at is what is
:00:15. > :00:20.best for the child, and the mother and the family. We are trying to
:00:21. > :00:24.keep families together. Travel the route that inspired
:00:25. > :00:28.Cumbria's very own Lowry. He drew everything in sight all his
:00:29. > :00:33.life. He was compulsive. He couldn't not paint or draw.
:00:34. > :00:39.Discover how a passion for singing has given a new voice to people who
:00:40. > :00:43.were once homeless. When I sing, I'm just in my own zone. I forget all my
:00:44. > :00:46.problems, all my stresses of normal life.
:00:47. > :01:00.Stories from the heart of the North East Cumbria. This is Inside Out.
:01:01. > :01:08.He made millions selling cars. Then he built schools. Now Sir Peter
:01:09. > :01:13.Vardy wants to halve the number of children being taken into care. For
:01:14. > :01:16.the last year, I've had exclusive access to his most ambitious and
:01:17. > :01:26.potentially most controversial project to date.
:01:27. > :01:33.Gateshead. Could this be the genesis of a new movement which will
:01:34. > :01:38.transform the care system? He's child psychologist. He is not a
:01:39. > :01:43.car salesman. He is a child psychologist. Sir Peter Vardy has
:01:44. > :01:48.brought them to hear this man. Dave Anderson. Where our society is
:01:49. > :01:54.going, we need to do something around this issue of generosity and
:01:55. > :01:57.empathy. He's the founder of a Christian movement sweeping America.
:01:58. > :02:04.It's called Safe Families For Children. Together, Dave Anderson
:02:05. > :02:10.and Sir Peter plan to revolutionise the care system. And they're
:02:11. > :02:14.starting here in the North East. If you are moved by what you've
:02:15. > :02:18.heard tonight, get signed up. Don't go away and think you will do it
:02:19. > :02:28.another day. Get signed up. We will shut the door. LAUGHTER. CHEERING.
:02:29. > :02:33.It is not about judging people. It is about loving and caring for
:02:34. > :02:41.people in a practical way. Are you staking your reputation to
:02:42. > :02:46.that promise? I am. I see this as a tremendous last effort for me in my
:02:47. > :02:52.life is So what is Safe Families? It started a decade ago in Chicago. And
:02:53. > :02:56.It's a really simple idea. Church volunteers are given basic training
:02:57. > :02:59.to help families in crisis. They take in their children for a few
:03:00. > :03:01.days, or weeks, while the family sort themselves out. Early
:03:02. > :03:06.intervention before problems spiral out of control. But how might it be
:03:07. > :03:09.viewed outside the church? I think people would be suspicious
:03:10. > :03:13.understandably. I think people will perhaps wonder what people's motives
:03:14. > :03:16.are? People are sceptical. Especially when the church comes
:03:17. > :03:21.alongside and says, we want to do something. Because I think the
:03:22. > :03:25.question would be why? Why? Because there is a crisis in care. Numbers
:03:26. > :03:31.are soaring as council budgets shrink. There are nearly 70,000
:03:32. > :03:35.children in care in the UK. Up 12% in four years. But in the North
:03:36. > :03:40.East, numbers are rising even faster. There are now more than 4200
:03:41. > :03:45.looked after children here. That's up nearly a quarter in four years.
:03:46. > :03:52.In Cumbria, there's been a 30% rise over the same time.
:03:53. > :03:57.Sir Peter has wanted to fix the care system since he started projects to
:03:58. > :04:04.help ex`prisoners, like this furniture workshop in Hexham.
:04:05. > :04:08.I've got 30 odd guys in here. There are 7000 guys leaving Durham Prison
:04:09. > :04:13.every year. So, from a business perspective, you wonder the cause of
:04:14. > :04:17.this. And the cause, with a lot of it, is the breakdown of the family.
:04:18. > :04:23.Children being taken into care. So could we stop that? It's a big ask.
:04:24. > :04:27.By intervening early, before social services get involved, he reckons he
:04:28. > :04:32.can save the state millions. Especially as the volunteers don't
:04:33. > :04:44.get paid. And Sir Peter knows about the bottom line. Having left school
:04:45. > :04:46.in Durham with just one O`level, he transformed his father's car
:04:47. > :04:54.dealership into one of the most successful motor groups in Europe.
:04:55. > :04:57.Selling it in 2006 for ?506 million. I've been invited to a Safe Families
:04:58. > :05:00.training session to find out how volunteers prepared to look after
:05:01. > :05:04.someone else's child and how they are vetted. Just have a little bit
:05:05. > :05:09.of the discussion about, actually, these are some of the things that I
:05:10. > :05:15.am concerned about if I am going to embark on this volunteer process.
:05:16. > :05:19.I suppose the real question people will wonder about is are you sure
:05:20. > :05:23.you're not going to end up having a scandal on your own hands? Where
:05:24. > :05:26.something goes badly wrong? We will put sufficient checks in place and
:05:27. > :05:30.also processes in place to ensure that that doesn't happen. You would,
:05:31. > :05:36.if you felt it necessary, say to somebody this was not for you?
:05:37. > :05:39.Definitely. In fact, I'm told later that one person in the training
:05:40. > :05:42.session was barred when vetting picked up information serious enough
:05:43. > :05:49.to stop him working with families. He does not feature in this film.
:05:50. > :05:56.The project is focused on helping mums with young children, isolated
:05:57. > :05:59.with nowhere else to turn. Once my husband had gone to prison, at
:06:00. > :06:07.first, you're left grieving in a way. And you just feel like you are
:06:08. > :06:13.at the end of your tether. You don't know which way to turn. Kate was one
:06:14. > :06:16.of the first to get help. Safe Families looked after her children
:06:17. > :06:19.when she went into hospital to give birth. Before they came, I thought
:06:20. > :06:24.it was going to be really difficult. I thought I wasn't a good mum. I
:06:25. > :06:29.blamed my husband for putting us in this situation. And then, when they
:06:30. > :06:37.came, instantly I felt, you know, it was the right thing to do. They were
:06:38. > :06:42.a fantastic couple. Straightaway, my sons, both sons, just took to them
:06:43. > :06:49.instantly. And I just knew it was the right thing. Volunteers are
:06:50. > :06:53.ready. But there's a spanner in the works. Local authorities are slow to
:06:54. > :06:58.refer people to Safe Families, despite the obvious appeal.
:06:59. > :07:01.When Peter came to see me about this project, I recall it very well.
:07:02. > :07:08.Because I almost leapt across the desk and said, when do we start?
:07:09. > :07:14.Middlesbrough looks after 369 children at a cost of ?16.5million.
:07:15. > :07:20.That's ?43,000 per child per year. It's just getting the confidence of
:07:21. > :07:25.the children's services people. So that they feel confident in
:07:26. > :07:30.referring them to us. Leave that with me. Thanks very much.
:07:31. > :07:35.Middlesbrough Council has now referred 40 cases to Safe Families.
:07:36. > :07:41.Ray Mallon's a fan. But not everyone is. Sir Peter came under personal
:07:42. > :07:44.fire for setting up the Emmanuel Schools Foundation. City academies
:07:45. > :07:48.in Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Doncaster and Blyth bound by a
:07:49. > :07:51.strong Christian ethos. I suppose the suspicion might be
:07:52. > :07:55.that, by getting involved in this, in some way, you are trying to
:07:56. > :08:00.indoctrinate people? No, well, that is not the case. I mean, the
:08:01. > :08:04.children that we are working with are generally under three. So you're
:08:05. > :08:09.not doing much indoctrination with a one or two`year`old child. You know,
:08:10. > :08:13.what we are trying to do is provide the support to a broken community.
:08:14. > :08:17.Do you have families from other religious groups away from just
:08:18. > :08:22.Christianity at the moment? no, we are... I've seen the head of the
:08:23. > :08:25.Muslim Council of Great Britain. We will work with the imams in
:08:26. > :08:28.Middlesbrough, which is where we started to provide care. How open
:08:29. > :08:32.are you really to people from the gay community? From different ethnic
:08:33. > :08:37.backgrounds? Religious backgrounds? We are not barring anybody. Right.
:08:38. > :08:41.What we are looking at is what is best for the child and the mother
:08:42. > :08:45.and the family. We are trying to keep families together. We are
:08:46. > :08:49.trying to stop them going into care. Losing children to the care system
:08:50. > :08:56.when she was in the grip of heroin addiction, another mum's story. For
:08:57. > :09:00.me, it was, you know, it was like a downward spiral that happen very,
:09:01. > :09:05.very fast. And did for the children too. And it's taken six long years,
:09:06. > :09:12.you know, for me to find myself again. Now she's clean and she's got
:09:13. > :09:16.a toddler. Safe Families took him in as she fought to get custody of her
:09:17. > :09:21.two eldest boys. The stress, the emotional kind of turmoil. All that
:09:22. > :09:25.kind of stuff of six years came to a head. So, you know, I really needed
:09:26. > :09:32.to reach out and get help. And that's what's Safe Families did. My
:09:33. > :09:36.son has been looked after for nights. He's been away for two
:09:37. > :09:41.nights, three days. I'll get him back tonight. And this couple is
:09:42. > :09:49.absolutely amazing. I mean, and she's Scottish, so... LAUGHTER.
:09:50. > :09:54.She did also say you look like granny, didn't she? So that was very
:09:55. > :09:58.nice. What actually possessed you to get involved with this? Two of us
:09:59. > :10:02.knocking around in a largish house. When we heard that at church, I just
:10:03. > :10:06.thought, we've got quite a lot of time. Maybe I could do something?
:10:07. > :10:10.Maybe we could get involved in some sort of thing. I was not quite sure
:10:11. > :10:16.what it would entail. It is not a difficult thing, though. No. I mean,
:10:17. > :10:22.you are just showing normal human kindness, hopefully, to people that
:10:23. > :10:25.need it. To date, Safe Families has trained 268 volunteers, helped 70
:10:26. > :10:33.families and Sir Peter's got his foot to the floor. in Chicago, where
:10:34. > :10:39.it started, they have half the number of children going into care.
:10:40. > :10:46.Our idea is that we will be initially in about 60 cities with
:10:47. > :10:50.25,000 volunteers. And then, in ten years, numbers of 100,000 volunteers
:10:51. > :10:55.working across the UK. The problem is getting worse, not better. So
:10:56. > :11:03.there's a bigger and bigger need for this sort of action.
:11:04. > :11:07.Wordsworth, Ruskin, Wainwright. All inspired by the Cumbrian
:11:08. > :11:19.landscape. But have you heard of Percy Kelly? If not, you might soon.
:11:20. > :11:22.Jacey Normand has been following Percy's tail. A troubled and
:11:23. > :11:27.eccentric artist who only now after his death is getting wider
:11:28. > :11:31.recognition for his work. He drew everything in sight, all his
:11:32. > :11:38.life. It was compulsive he couldn't not paint or draw. An amazing man.
:11:39. > :11:43.He was a one`off. I don't know what it is. But it's something that makes
:11:44. > :11:51.people think, I want that and I like it. This is the landscape that Percy
:11:52. > :11:54.Kelly loved. So I've come to find out more about a prolific artist
:11:55. > :11:59.with an equally incredible life story. He wasn't interested in the
:12:00. > :12:04.chocolate box Lake District. But of the down to earth beauty of West
:12:05. > :12:08.Cumbria. So that's where I'm headed. I'm meeting up with Chris, a former
:12:09. > :12:14.art gallery owner. She's researched and written about Percy's life and
:12:15. > :12:21.work. So when did Percy first come to Allonby? He and his first wife
:12:22. > :12:24.Audrey moved here in 1958. They gave up the sub`post office in Great
:12:25. > :12:30.Broughton and bought Glen Cottage just round the corner. What was his
:12:31. > :12:36.early life like? The family were very poor. He was born into a family
:12:37. > :12:43.of seven in a very small house in Workington. A very religious family.
:12:44. > :12:48.And he was a twin. Really? Mm`hm. He used the back room as his studio,
:12:49. > :12:53.which is quite a tiny room. And he had a huge printing press in there.
:12:54. > :12:58.And Percy, who was always short of cash, is still remembered in the
:12:59. > :13:01.village shop today. When he used to come in, he used to want to exchange
:13:02. > :13:07.for groceries, you know, for his paintings. And did you take any of
:13:08. > :13:15.them? No, we didn't, no. But we wish we had now. But his time in Allonby
:13:16. > :13:20.came to a swift end one night, when he revealed a secret to his wife.
:13:21. > :13:24.She could see a fire flickering. And she thought, good, Percy is home.
:13:25. > :13:31.There was a strange women sitting by the fire with her back to her. ``
:13:32. > :13:34.woman. The woman turned round and it was Percy in her Jaeger dress. He
:13:35. > :13:38.was asking for help with his make`up. And she threw him out and
:13:39. > :13:42.locked him out and changed the locks. He never came and lived here
:13:43. > :13:45.again. Throughout the rest of his life, he'd alternate between being
:13:46. > :13:49.Percy and Roberta. My next stop is a short drive cross
:13:50. > :13:53.country to Isel near Cockermouth. I've come to visit an old friend of
:13:54. > :14:00.Percy's, who spotted the potential of his work. I thought it was very
:14:01. > :14:04.good. Because it was so original. And the chief thing about it was it
:14:05. > :14:07.belonged to Cumbria. And he adored Cumbria.
:14:08. > :14:12.Mary was the director of the Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal and
:14:13. > :14:16.exhibited his work in the 1960s. He was fixed on the Lake District. And
:14:17. > :14:19.I think that's been the secret of his success. It was an area he loved
:14:20. > :14:28.deeply. It wasn't only canvas Percy loved to
:14:29. > :14:35.paint on, when Mary was in hospital he sent her painted letters. He used
:14:36. > :14:40.to write to me everyday and the nurses used to rush up and say, can
:14:41. > :14:45.I have the envelopes and I'd say no, I want to keep them altogether. He
:14:46. > :14:52.had a great appeal in the hospital I can tell you.
:14:53. > :14:55.I used to think if he did not spend all this time writing letters to
:14:56. > :14:59.everyone he could have done so much more.
:15:00. > :15:02.After the break up of his marriage, Percy came here to Levens Hall near
:15:03. > :15:09.Kendal with his new partner Christine. He lived in one of these
:15:10. > :15:16.cottages a few miles from the famous topiary. Mavis Aitchison remembers
:15:17. > :15:20.visiting Percy. What was he like? He was very unusual, it was not
:15:21. > :15:24.possible not to like him, he was very focused on his own work but
:15:25. > :15:27.also conscious of what was going on around him, you'd think he was
:15:28. > :15:30.paying attention and then he would come out with something really
:15:31. > :15:37.personal and pertinent to what we were talking about. Mavis remembers
:15:38. > :15:44.a prolific artist, who refused to cash in on his work. When we came to
:15:45. > :15:48.visit them here in this cottage, we went into the hall and there was a
:15:49. > :15:51.whole stack of paintings along the hall, I think they were the ones
:15:52. > :15:55.that he had painted in Brittany they were very highly coloured and floral
:15:56. > :15:59.and very attractive and I said "are you going to sell them?" and he said
:16:00. > :16:02."No. No." He was one of those artists who believed in their own
:16:03. > :16:06.value, and want others to share their high opinion, but are not
:16:07. > :16:23.prepared to sell their work to achieve this. Percy craved
:16:24. > :16:30.recognition but couldn't part with his work. He was always sorry when a
:16:31. > :16:34.painting went, and sometimes he asked for them back, he used to
:16:35. > :16:39.write to people and put a nice illustration in and say I'm really
:16:40. > :16:49.missing it can I have it back! He changed his mind? Yes.
:16:50. > :16:56.In 1973 Percy and Christine moved to St David's in Wales and then onto
:16:57. > :17:00.Norfolk. And after years of hardship and Percy refusing to sell his work,
:17:01. > :17:08.Christine could take no more, she left him. I think she could not
:17:09. > :17:11.stand being so poor, and the frustration of knowing there was
:17:12. > :17:23.this wealth of beautiful art, really interesting paintings sitting there
:17:24. > :17:27.not doing anything. So with Percy alone and in exile in Norfolk, how
:17:28. > :17:38.did his work find it's way back to his home county? I'm heading to
:17:39. > :17:47.Kendal in search of answers. "Dear Miss David, Thank you so much for
:17:48. > :17:50.your letter which arrived today. Your very kind and appreciative
:17:51. > :17:53.words about my work really touched me. It is so rare to hear such
:17:54. > :17:57.compliments and since I am experiencing the darkest period of
:17:58. > :18:00.my life I got quite a lift. Incidentally, there is a letter box
:18:01. > :18:04.which we often use strapped to a short pole and covered in ivy. It is
:18:05. > :18:07.a quite charming way to post ones letters!". Percy was replying to
:18:08. > :18:11.Joan David, an art lover from Kendal. She'd been captivated by one
:18:12. > :18:15.of Percy's pictures and wrote to him asking to buy some of his work. It
:18:16. > :18:18.was the start of an enduring friendship. What was a tentative
:18:19. > :18:20.early beginnings of a few letters going back and forward rapidly
:18:21. > :18:24.developed into something that was almost on a daily basis, certainly
:18:25. > :18:28.as far as Percy was concerned. Did you have any idea of the number? No
:18:29. > :18:31.not until we opened the trunk after my mother's death and it tunrs out
:18:32. > :18:35.there was something like 1500 letters in the trunk, it was amazing
:18:36. > :18:44.as they only met three or four times during their lives. "Dear Mr Kelly,
:18:45. > :18:48.What an amazingly generous person you are! I have been living on air
:18:49. > :18:56.since your most beautiful painted letter arrived". There were times
:18:57. > :19:00.when Percy was very short of money and mother was doing what she could
:19:01. > :19:12.to help, the sort of things she did, she sent him stamps to keep the
:19:13. > :19:15.correspondence going. And it was his good friend Joan and Chris who
:19:16. > :19:18.rescued the artwork crammed into Percy's tiny Norfolk cottage after
:19:19. > :19:27.his death in 1993. Finally his work would get a wider audience. In 1994
:19:28. > :19:31.nobody really knew about him at all, and yet when the catalogue went out
:19:32. > :19:34.I had a queue right down the hill for those paintings and then every
:19:35. > :19:43.exhibition since then there has been a queen outside the door. Now he has
:19:44. > :19:47.hit London, he hit London three or four years ago and last December one
:19:48. > :19:50.of his pictures of Cornwall sold in Christies for ?4,000. I think he
:19:51. > :20:02.would have been very startled by that now. It's now highly prized `
:20:03. > :20:05.he's even been compared to LS Lowry. So Percy Kelly, "talented", "
:20:06. > :20:08.troubled", "a genius". All descriptions made about him ` he's
:20:09. > :20:13.certainly not been forgotten in his beloved Cumbria. Long after his
:20:14. > :20:23.death interest continues to grow in his work` but then he always knew
:20:24. > :20:27.that would be the case. "I cannot paint for monetary gain. I would
:20:28. > :20:31.rather starve than sell one piece of my work but I know when I depart
:20:32. > :20:38.this world people will stop and wonder at the beauty and truth that
:20:39. > :20:42.I have portrayed". If I say opera ` who springs to
:20:43. > :20:46.mind? Pavarotti? Glamorous divas? Probably not homeless people. Well,
:20:47. > :20:49.here in the north, a group who've known the worst of times are now
:20:50. > :20:52.staging and starring in their own ambitious productions, with the help
:20:53. > :21:18.of a charity called Streetwise. And they say it's life changing. THEY
:21:19. > :21:28.SING. We know saying I am in my own zone, I forget all my problems all
:21:29. > :21:34.my stresses. # when I sing. I feel it lifts my spirits. You are saying,
:21:35. > :21:40.this is who I am this is what I feel inside. You let it straight out. For
:21:41. > :21:43.the members of Streetwise Opera it's been an extraordinary journey ` from
:21:44. > :21:51.homelessness to opera star. The experience for many has changed
:21:52. > :21:56.their lives. They have questions themselves about their own abilities
:21:57. > :22:01.and achievements, but we are behind them always saying we believe you
:22:02. > :22:08.can do this. When they prove that to themselves, it is very often a
:22:09. > :22:12.turning point. Can we just have a re`capital the choreography? In
:22:13. > :22:15.Newcastle and Middlesborough the groups meet and practise once a
:22:16. > :22:27.week. Rehearsals today are at Changing Lives ` a homeless hostel
:22:28. > :22:29.in Newcastle. THEY SING. Before coming to Streetwise, Peter
:22:30. > :22:42.Harrison slept rough for several weeks. He then moved in to a hostel.
:22:43. > :22:48.I was, I suppose what you would call a here and that, I never went out
:22:49. > :22:53.the house. I suffered from alcohol addiction and streetwise has helped
:22:54. > :22:59.me get over that. It has given me the ability to talk to strangers,
:23:00. > :23:02.something I would never do. The North East has one of the worst
:23:03. > :23:07.homelessness problems in the country. In our towns and cities
:23:08. > :23:17.last year around 5,000 people were helped. Although Bridgette Foley was
:23:18. > :23:21.homeless for just a few months in Newcastle, she knows exactly how it
:23:22. > :23:32.feels. Her problems made worse by years of depression. It was a
:23:33. > :23:35.horrible place to be. The depression, low self`esteem, low
:23:36. > :23:47.confidence, I was panicking about everything. I would wake up in the
:23:48. > :23:51.morning and it was like Groundhog Day. I would think, I am here again.
:23:52. > :24:00.I would feel the same way. It was like being dragged into hell.
:24:01. > :24:02.SHE SINGS. Today though Bridgette says
:24:03. > :24:06.Streetwise Opera has helped transform her life. From singing in
:24:07. > :24:10.the kitchen she's now one of their rising stars. In recent performances
:24:11. > :24:32.she's even sung in German and Latin. I think it is about what you get out
:24:33. > :24:34.of it. Music can change a lot of peoples' lives in totally different
:24:35. > :24:38.ways, whether you can sing professionally or sing to a certain
:24:39. > :24:42.standard, who cares as long as you get something out of it. That's what
:24:43. > :24:46.it has done for me. It has changed my life. Without my singing, I don't
:24:47. > :24:53.think I would have been here. So the whole thing with that coy... # And
:24:54. > :24:59.all the progress we're bringing. Good. So you are kind of saying,
:25:00. > :25:12.yes, I can show you a good time. Fearlessly, heads facing that way.
:25:13. > :25:15.THEY SING. Streetwise Opera has ten centres
:25:16. > :25:18.across the country and at the Sage in Gateshead rehearsals are underway
:25:19. > :25:21.for one of their biggest productions yet. It's the opera's first regional
:25:22. > :25:34.tour and for its members in the North East opening night is just a
:25:35. > :25:36.few days away. I do a lot of performing as a musician but I
:25:37. > :25:39.always enjoy Streetwise performances a little bit more because you're
:25:40. > :25:46.working alongside extremely talented performers. But they are not so
:25:47. > :25:50.experienced on the platform so you remember that thrill of performing
:25:51. > :25:54.from the early days ` that you see in them and you can really feed on
:25:55. > :26:06.that so a lot of performing on streetwise. # So forward we go,
:26:07. > :26:09.we're firing our heart. A few days later the big night's
:26:10. > :26:15.finally here. But backstage in makeup, does Bridgette have any last
:26:16. > :26:26.minute nerves? I actually do but I hide it well. I just have a laugh
:26:27. > :26:29.with people and try to forget what I am about to do. The opera is an
:26:30. > :26:36.ambitious project that interlinks with an on screen film. It's set in
:26:37. > :26:52.the world of corporate business. SHE SINGS.
:26:53. > :27:14.EVERYONE SINGS. I am not a great opera buff, I must
:27:15. > :27:18.be honest but you can see the passion and commitment there and
:27:19. > :27:22.that's what counts. It was like nothing we've ever seen before. We
:27:23. > :27:27.did not know what to expect. It was very different. Most people do not
:27:28. > :27:35.want to join in but you have no choice. They all enjoyed it so it
:27:36. > :27:40.was fantastic. It felt amazing. Everyone did
:27:41. > :27:50.fantastic tonight and everyone said it was the best show we have done.
:27:51. > :28:04.Getting the flowers, I could not believe it, I felt like such a star.
:28:05. > :28:13.It was great. THEY SING. I just love it and I love singing
:28:14. > :28:16.and performing. Everything that I do builds my confidence and I hope that
:28:17. > :28:22.somebody, seeing somebody like me doing that, it can inspire them.
:28:23. > :28:26.Everybody is worth something and they all have a life to live, they
:28:27. > :28:41.just have to get out there and do it.
:28:42. > :28:44.That's it for tonight. Next week, we reveal the map of a
:28:45. > :28:45.WW1 battlefield that looks strangely like Teesside.
:28:46. > :29:07.See you next Monday. Good night. Hello, I'm Sam Naz with your 90
:29:08. > :29:11.second update. An independent Scotland can keep the
:29:12. > :29:14.pound. That's the message from First Minister Alex Salmond who insists
:29:15. > :29:17.it's better for UK business. He accused Westminster parties of
:29:18. > :29:21.bullying for ruling out a shared currency. Full story at Ten.
:29:22. > :29:25.Ten million pounds is being promised by the PM to help small business hit
:29:26. > :29:28.by recent storms. Severe flood warnings on the Thames have been
:29:29. > :29:31.downgraded, but experts say water levels could rise again.
:29:32. > :29:35.A co-pilot from Ethiopian Airlines has hijacked his own plane. He took
:29:36. > :29:39.control when the other pilot went to the toilet. He asked for asylum
:29:40. > :29:41.after landing in Switzerland. He's set to become Italy's
:29:42. > :29:45.youngest-ever prime minister. 39-year-old Matteo Renzi is
:29:46. > :29:48.promising many reforms. He's mayor of Florence - but has never been an
:29:49. > :29:51.MP. We've got tablets, smartphones and
:29:52. > :29:52.laptops. But nine-out-of-ten of us still prefer