27/02/2017 Inside Out West

Tonight, an extraordinary peek into the hidden

It's just like a normal relationship except I get

I don't see it as exploitative because for the students there is no

anticipated sexual relationship. I've never opened it until today, I

am now ready to find out about Grandad. Shall we open the box?

How far would you go to raise a few extra quid?

For many students, debt has become a way of life and more and more

of them are turning to sex work like pole dancing and stripping

And now there's something new, sugar dating.

We've used it for years to sweeten the unpalatable.

The language implies it's something sweet and lovely, fluffy.

The world of sugar dating has arrived in the West.

It's a world where women are called Sugar Babies and men Sugar Daddies.

I think at one end of the scale it's bordering on prostitution

at the other it can be genuinely philanthropic.

It started in America as a way for students to pay off their debt.

You don't want to be in debt for life, this is the Greek Cilic

quickest and easiest way for most people.

prostitution bad for students' health?

When I was at university I didn't know of anyone who worked

But go online now and it's very different.

There are a number of websites where students advertise

They's a type of online dating site with one big difference.

The man pays the woman for her company.

If I'm to find a student who does this, it seems a good place

I contact more than 300 people by e-mail.

Finally someone agrees to go on camera.

Coco lives in a bedsit in Gloucester.

She dropped out of her college course last year because she

She now works two jobs as well as sugar dating

and is saving up to go back to her studies.

I work as a carer as well as a stripper and then

It's quite fun, it's all different things in one go.

It seems a world away from her student life and I wonder

We're going back to her old college, it's a chance to find out more.

How long have you been a sugar baby for?

Yeah, I do sometimes, but sometimes I can't be bothered.

You know when you're like in a mood when you don't want to see anyone,

trying to like, make someone happy even if you're not happy.

So what does being a sugar baby actually involve?

I see it more of a relationship slash arrangement

where you get a certain amount of money involved and you get it

like weekly or monthly and it depends on the arrangements and also

And what about your sugar daddy, tell me about him.

I don't really know much when it comes to his personal life

but other things like his job and what he likes and what he

doesn't like, that I know, I just try not to get involved

When I don't get to see him I get ?500 a month,

or when I do see him I get ?1,000 a month and maybe treats too.

It's for being with him really, spending time

Coco is one of a growing number of young people

who are funding their education in this way.

A recent study by Swansea University found that 4.8% of UK students

So who would pay someone for a sugar relationship and why?

For months now I've been trawling the internet,

contacting dozens of men who advertise online

Finally one of them has agreed to meet me

on condition we protect his identity.

This is "Darren", that's not his real name and this

Something along the lines of '40 something businessman

with his own hair and teeth would like to meet

female for sugar daddy friendship and relationship.

If there is money changing hands and sex did you see it

Is that not innocents exploiting women who are really in need?

I wouldn't know where else to go other than sitting night

I would not know how to meet these people otherwise.

I don't see it as exploitative because for the students there's no

How would you feel if one of your daughters wanted to be a sugar baby

when they were at university to help support them through their studies?

I would be distraught, because that should be my role, not as a sugar

daddy, it should be my role to support them through university.

Darren's left me with more questions.

He maintains not every sugar relationship involves sex,

Is there an expectation that you will have sex at some point

Yeah I mean for me it's just like a normal relationship, the only

And it is guaranteed that I get money, you can't say no to me when

it comes to money. Maybe I want to go on holiday once in a while, I

need to pay my bills, if they say no, I'll keep searching, that's not

what I want. Is it dangerous to make them

think they're in control It's very dangerous, trust me,

you've no idea some things It's very dangerous,

they think you're their slave, you're their pet, so they can

do whatever they want. The leading website for sugar

dating claims to have more 160,000 of these, it says,

are students in the UK. With average student debt now

running at ?44,000 it's easy to see why some turn to sugar dating

as a way to earn money. But what psychological effect

could that have on them? I'm meeting a psychologist

who's been researching the effect of student debt

for the last 20 years. How have things changed over

that period of time? Well, certainly, as debt

has mushroomed so has the proportion of people who now

openly admit to working What do you think of websites

that may entice students Clearly they're preying

on a vulnerable population and like throughout the whole

history of the world, the rich and powerful prey on the weak,

the poor and the vulnerable and this Language implies that it is

something sweet and lovely, language has a great ability to disguise what

is going on, it is exchanging services for money.

And what's the response been by universities to that?

It's been really, I would even go as far as to say,

ignore it, to try and brush it under the carpet, take no notice of it,

But there's good reason to think enough exposure to the sex industry

is generally not good for people's mental health at that

level alone there should be at the very least,

advice, guidance, help, sources of support sexual

We contacted all five universities in the West Country to find out

if they offered any help or advice for students involved in this.

Only one acknowledged that students are working in the sex industry

and none had any support available for those that are.

Tuition fees are set to rise this year, and so the temptation of sugar

dating, with its promise of easy money, may be hard for some

As Coco gets ready to go out and spend some

of her hard earned cash, she reveals there is a price.

It does make me feel really down sometimes,

being a sugar baby gives you like a stigma.

People call you names, people look at you differently,

its selling yourself but for more people it's more like prostitution.

David Garmston knew his grandfather fought in the First World War

but the details are sketchy and he has few memories

Then the time came to find out more and it all started

Frederick West collapsed in the dock as the murder charges were read.

Born and bred in Bristol David Garmston has reported on the biggest

stories in the West for more than 30 years. Having made several TV pieces

marking the centenary of the First World War David wanted to learn more

about wartime experiences of his grandfather, George dear bold. War

has affected hundreds of thousands of families, I knew that my

grandfather went to war and my dad did but my grandfather died when I

was a teenager so I only knew him as an elderly man. He didn't talk about

the war and now sadly they are gone, perhaps it's time to look back, to

find out about the sacrifices they have made. David's anti-choice

remembers George well. They are meeting to look at a collection of

artefacts from George's life. Anti-choice, we are going on an

adventure today, looking through grandpa's stuff. This is the tin, I

got it just after mum died and I didn't want to do any memories, I've

never opened it until today. I'm ready now to find out about grandpa.

Shall we open the box? Yes. Right, Shall we open the box? Yes. Right,

in uniform? Smart, wasn't he? He was in uniform? Smart, wasn't he? He was

a nice chap. I remember he always had a dent in his chin. That's where

he was shot. This picture somewhere he was shot. This picture somewhere

of him with a bandage. At the Somme? Another inch and I would not have

been here! True. He never said a word. A very unassuming type of

person. Also limiting is George's birth certificate which has thrown

up intriguing facts. His dad was Jacob, and he's got, rancour or

profession of father, street musician. Did you know that? Ask --

rank or profession. I am rather proud of that. Next time I pass a

busker I've got to give some money! That's not the only revelation about

David 's ancestry. I'm told that his dad was German. And 2-mac you kept

that quiet, anti-choice. So his dad was German and grandpa was fighting

the Germans. It happens. Wow. I didn't know that. David 's

grandfather was a part-time soldier in one of the two Bristol

territorial units, the Fourth Gloucesters. This archive footage

which probably features George, shows the unit at Temple Meads

station the day before war was declared. And early the following

year he was posted to Belgium where David is beginning his journey. This

is Lancashire cottage Cemetery in Flood Street and we are probably 400

metres behind the front line services where your grandfather

to June. A long way from Bristol. to June. A long way from Bristol.

Very different. And here we have some folk Gloucester Regiment. These

are men from the same battalion as a grandfather. So he knew them. I want

to talk about this young man, you can see he's young, 17. I have a

battalion war diary, each unit kept a diary of what happened day-to-day.

Two rifle grenades fell in A company's trenches. Private badman

died in the night. I would say that your grandfather would have

certainly known him. He lived in Alma Street, 200 yards from where

your grandfather lived. He might have seen this young lad playing in

the road as a kid. Bristol is a small place now so a hundred years

ago it was much smaller. Sure. He may well even have attended his

funeral. Sobering, isn't it? Poor Oliver. So having been a Saturday

soldier at home this is where it goes from being the game to being

reality. After this introduction to the front line, over the next three

years, George and the Gloucesters would be in some of the bloodiest

battles of the conflict. David and Jeremy are following the trail south

into France. Jeremy, you've found the most does

little that of France. This is luxury compared to how it was a

hundred years ago! Where are we? We are about 15 miles east of the

battlefield of the Somme, the main battlefield. Jeremy, describe how

this might have looked in April 1917? In many ways, pretty similar.

I have an error still taken from a couple of months later, just one

line of trenches, -- and aerial picture. All of these fields are

pretty much blood soaked with British loss, something you couldn't

imagine. In the heart of the Somme battlefield is the memorial. This

commemorates over 72,000 men, the missing of the Somme with no known

grave. Jeremy is showing David the panels of the Gloucestershire

Regiment, which includes a familiar surname. Theobald. A. Bunker this is

George's brother, Arthur. He was killed close to the spot where David

just visited, he was 23 and his body was never found. He's one of the

missing of the Somme. Sergeant Major. You should be proud. Clearly

a leader of men who pretty much passed through where we are

standing. I wonder what impact that would have had on my grandad. He

talked about his loathing of the Germans,. Well he was fighting them

and also they killed his younger brother, so it's no wonder, really.

He never said. And you had no idea? I had absolutely no idea he'd lost

younger brother. Poor devil. I do feel quite emotional, a great uncle

of mine is one of the ones unlucky enough to get killed, unlucky enough

not to have a proper burial, out there somewhere. I do feel proud

that at 23 he'd reached the rank that he did, Company Sergeant Major.

Not an officer, nothing posh, but somebody who would have been

respected. Although his brother did not survive the war, George made it

home and returned to civilian life in Bristol. David is finishing his

journey at the gate in Ypres close to where his grandfather fought to

reflect on his family's Second World War experiences- First World War

experiences. I think what hits you sure it is just the scale of it, it

has been fascinating following in the footsteps of my grandpa on his

wartime journey. But this is for people, the names on the wall here,

55,000 of them, boys who didn't get home like my great uncle, Arthur,

who didn't become fathers and grandfathers. And these people are

saying, don't forget what we went through, don't make the same

mistakes again. Remember our sacrifice.

If David's inspired you to trace your own ancestors' war stories,

Jeremy Banning's top tips to getting started

Jeremy Banning's top tips to getting started are on our Facebook page.

Bats, how is it they can fly in the pitch dark,

at ridiculous speeds, and never collide?

Well, if we can find the answer to that

it could have huge implications for the future of robotics.

I'm in Long Ashton just outside Bristol on a lovely warm summer's

evening. I've been told to look for a pond a bit further down this path

and I've been told to get there just before it gets dark. I'm meeting

Professor Mark Holder Reid, a biologist at the University of

Bristol. Hi mark-up. Wow, look at all this. It's a perfect evening for

bats tonight, lots of insects out already. Mark is carrying out a

unique survey of bad behaviour, studying them while they are on the

wing, hunting for insects. This research will then be used to

programme robots. To capture this mark has placed super-sensitive

recording equipment around the pond which will locate the bats as they

navigate their way in the dark. And I am hoping to film it. As the light

comes down, insects begin to congregate over the surface of the

water, perfect conditions for bats. Listen to this, beautiful. What we

are hearing other pulses of noise which bats emit by listening to the

echo of these sounds, they build up a map of their own surroundings.

That was almost following a rhythm. You can see when it speeds up, it's

approaching an insect. I don't think we've heard a capture yet. The

rhythm is the wing beat. The pauses between the calls of the time it

takes for this Arteta to produce one wing beat. -- for this bat. To

capture the best bat action I am switching my camera to infrared. Now

I look like that! And with high-powered infrared floodlights I

can now see the pond quite clearly. There it is! Right in front of us.

Starting just above the surface of the water, a Daubenton's bat looking

for a midday meal. What Mark is hoping for our two bats flying close

together, following the same flight path. We are here tonight because

the activity of bats is really high and that allows us to understand

their swarm movement rules come innocence, their traffic rules, how

they avoid crashing into each other. Like bats all animals that move

together in flocks, Hertz, or shoals, use something called swarm

intelligence. And whether it is ants or fish, its behaviour follows some

sort of pattern. But unlike these animals the swarm intelligence of

bats is much harder to read. One has to keep in mind that that is not the

standard flock of birds that flies from capital a to B and just needs

to avoid visions. They forage, they look for insects on the water

surface, they all do it at the same time but in a very different search

pattern. Then we see it. Two bats following each other in close

formation at high speed. So has Mark's that listening equipment

managed to record the same action I've seen on camera? The results are

fascinating. Bear in mind this is just four seconds of bat flights

slowed down. There's one here and another flying in parallel, the

steep turn, the other one copied that with the delay of about one

fifth of the second. The one following, in this case the light

blue bat, this one is in front, this one will respond to and over this

guy is doing by copying it. Sometimes they swap leader. In this

sequence, at that point, the blue one turns first and then the pink

one follows, so somewhere in this midsection they swap roles, leader-

follow what roles. These findings are completely new. The idea of

follow my leader, swarm intelligence. Eight months later I'm

at the Bristol Robotics lab, a partnership between the city's two

universities, to see Mark's research programmed into robots. Professor

Alan Winfield, a specialist in swarm intelligence, explains how it works.

The work that Mark and I are planning to do is essentially to

programme the rules that he's discovered in these robots, see if

we can make and model of bad behaviour with these robots. -- of

bat behaviour. These robots programmed with simple rules, one is

obstacle avoidance and the other is try to follow the leader. What

happens if I put hand in? The robot would probably avoid your hand. If

you make a little cave it can probably come out of the cave.

That's the obstacle avoidance behaviour. But if you look at the

tail lights at the back of the robot, another robot will try to see

the tail light, and if it does, it will move towards that robot and try

to follow it. Research like this is already being put to use in the

development of driverless cars. Will we see bat behaviour taking that

technology forward? There is no doubt that driverless cars will need

rules just in the same way that you and I have to obey the rules of the

road. But when you have a lot of driverless cars perhaps in the

further future interacting with each other, then there will have to be

rules that decide how they do that safely and effectively, perhaps

buoyant. And maybe, just maybe, we can help to find those rules with

this kind of experimental work. So what started out as a study of

bats and is being developed with the help of cupcake robots could soon be

transforming our lives. Not bad for a creature that weighs just 11

grams. Don't forget to check out Facebook

and Twitter for more Next week, Chloe on her first ever

night out with her mates. I feel like a kid at Christmas, I've

been skydiving and competed in International archery but

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

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