Browse content similar to 14/06/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
A year ago they knew exactly how to mend the health service, today they | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
accepted a better idea. Their photocall got up the nose of | :00:14. | :00:21. | |
one part of the medical profession. Why are we told to walk about like | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
this, I'm not having it, get out. Today Cameron and Clegg each | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
claimed credit for listening and backing off. I have been asking the | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
Health Secretary whether he hasn't made an awful mess of the | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
legislation. We get a second opinion or several from our | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
political panel. Following a postal ballot, the unions vote for the | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
biggest national teachers' strike in 25 years. Is this the opening | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
engagement in a protracted war in the public services. Citizen Smith | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
wakes up in a country without a Government. Welcome to Belgium. But | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
what's the President of Europe doing with a Rubik's cube. I hope | :00:57. | :01:07. | |
:01:07. | :01:10. | ||
you enjoy your cube, many hours of private fiddling there. | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
Shrugering the pill, watering down the dose, choose your own metaphor | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
to describe what the Government did to its plans to reform the health | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
service in England today. The Health Secretary, of course, | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
maintains that the course of treatment he prescribed, remains | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
largely unchanged, but it is certainly a new approach to | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
introduce a bill in parliament and then rewrite it when you see how | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
much opposition there is. Labour called it a humiliation, and the | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
Liberal Democrats immediately took credit, they said, for improving | :01:38. | :01:46. | |
the bill. # The road is long | :01:46. | :01:55. | |
# With many a winding turn It has been quite a journey, since | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
these three ministers first agreed the health wide paper almost a year | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
ago. Andrew Lansley's NHS reforms were stress tested twice within | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
Whitehall, then presented to parliament. Then suddenly put on | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
hold last April. When Mr Cameron's coalition brothers, the Liberal | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
Democrats, publicly, and George Osborne privately, expressed strong | :02:17. | :02:24. | |
doubts. Today, after the wide ranging Field | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
Review, ministers announced big reforms to their reforms. | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
You wanted us to make clear that competition is not there for its | :02:33. | :02:39. | |
own sake, but to make life better for patients, done. You wanted us | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
to get specialists and nurse, not just GPs, on to commissioning | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
groups, done. You wanted us to join up the different parts of the NHS, | :02:48. | :02:56. | |
to put integration right at the heart of our reforms, again, done. | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
The first big change is that GPs will no longer be solely in charge | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
of the new groups that will commission most NHS health care. | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
The renamed Clinical Commissioning Groups, will now include other | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
experts, such as hospital doctors and nurses and lay people. Though | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
GPs will still dominate their make up. The significance of clinical | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
commissioning is the Government's response to the concern by hospital | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
doctors and nurses that they were being excluded and GPs were having | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
their place in the sunlight at the expense of other medical groups. | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
That has changed and also there will be patient and public | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
involvement, so a real move towards proper governance of the | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
arrangements. Will it make a huge amount of difference in practice? | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
It won't, devolution of budgets away from the Primary Care Trusts | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
to clinicians at the frontline of care. The second big change is in | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
the speed of the reforms. The new commissioning groups will now | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
assume their role, when they are ready, instead of the original | :03:57. | :04:04. | |
deadline of April 2013. Also relaxed, is the April 2014 deadline | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
for all hospitals to achieve greater independence as foundation | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
Trusts. That is a good thing in many ways, we don't want to see | :04:11. | :04:18. | |
that rushed or bad decisions taken, at the moment we have the problem | :04:18. | :04:20. | |
of Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities, | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
tending to almost implode, and we don't want a vacuum there, we don't | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
want to lose all the good-quality managers we will still need to help | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
run the NHS in the future. Perhaps the most controversial change | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
concerns competition. Competition will still be extended, but firmly | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
on quality, not price, and not as an end in itself. There will be | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
stricter rules against a market free-for-all, and cherry-picking by | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
private providers. And the new health regulator, Monitor, won't be | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
able to push competition so much. Such as compelling hospitals to | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
make operating theatres available to private firms. We need to be a | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
little more robust in arguing the case for competition, I think it is | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
a respectable case, and it is about providing more choice and more | :05:09. | :05:17. | |
effective use of resources. I think we do need to be a less on the | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
fence, competition is not a disease. There will be more competition as a | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
result of this bill amended? Eventually, yes. Significantly | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
there were hardly any complaints from the coalition benches in the | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
Commons today. Frankly, the politics of this bill now, | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
reasonably settled, the big question is whether it will make a | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
difference. Perhaps the only real note of dissent from the | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
Conservative side came from Edward Leigh, who asked how watering down | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
competition would help the NHS deliver efficiency savings of 4% a | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
year, in order to stick within its budget and cope with growing | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
demands. We would be surprised if it is possible to achieve a - an | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
improvement in the health service and financial control over a | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
difficult period, and implement the reforms at the same time. That is | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
massive ask when the organisation has been turned upside down and | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
management costs are being put back, the health service will do | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
incredibly well to get anywhere near that. | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
So now ministers and Treasury ministers especially, will be | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
waiting anxiously to see if this bill makes any difference. Whether | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
it achieves the substantial gains which Cameron, Clegg and Lansley | :06:34. | :06:40. | |
originally trumpets. Earlier I went to the Department of Health to | :06:40. | :06:47. | |
speak to its Secretary of State. Andrew Lansley, after these changes | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
take effect, will there be more or less competition in the NHS than | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
previously? The decision about that essentially will be for the NHS | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
commissioners, the local commissioning groups and so on. | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
What drives it is, in order to deliver the best care for patients, | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
how much patient choice they want. That is the essence of this. The | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
competition, the extent of competition is directly the result | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
of how much patient choice you want to give in the service. That's an | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
opaque answer to a pretty straight forward question. You said | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
previously that competition was the way to improve efficiency, correct? | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
Competition is way to increase quality. I think there are various | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
ways of delivering greater efficiency, through redesign of | :07:32. | :07:37. | |
services and developing the pricing system in the NHS. There may be | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
more competition after this rewrite? It is fair to say that we | :07:41. | :07:48. | |
are clear that patients, over time, will get access to more choice than | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
they have at the moment, for example choice for when they go for | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
planned surgery. We are looking for that. It will be phased over time. | :07:55. | :08:01. | |
By comparison in the draft of the legislation, will there be more or | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
less choice? The result of the changes we are making will actually | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
mean that competition and choice will be extended, but will be | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
extended probably over a more phased timetable. What about the | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
involvement of the private sector, it is about what one pound in | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
twenty NHS money spent in the private sector. What do you think | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
it ought to be in ten years time? have no plan for that. What about | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
an ambition? I have no ambition. Would you like it above a pound? | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
ambition is to deliver the best possible care for patients. If that | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
involves the NHS having an opportunity to provide services | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
rather than the private sector, that is fine too. You really | :08:40. | :08:47. | |
literally, honestly do not have a view? I have no plan. It could be | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
less than one pound in twenty? or more. It won't be decisions made | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
by me. Why would I want to have an ambition of a kind like that, if | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
I'm not intending to make the decisions that will result in that | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
outcome. Because you presumably have a vision for how the NHS can | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
be made to work better? Absolutely, it is not about transfering | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
services to the private sector, it is about giving everybody in the | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
NHS, through reform, the opportunity to deliver improving | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
services for patients. What about these commissioning groups of GPs, | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
they were supposed to be formed by 2013, by when do you hope | :09:22. | :09:28. | |
commissioning groups now to be formed? They will be established in | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
2013, but they will only take on the commissioning responsibility, | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
the actual bugetry responsibility when they are ready to do so. | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
is that? Some may want to do so before then, we will help and | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
support them to do. That many will be ready in 2013, if they are not | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
ready and not willing and able to do that job at that point. The NHS | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
comiinging board will step in and take the - Commissiong Board will | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
step in and take the responsibility. Why did you previously have a | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
deadline? We had deadline on the basis we knew we had to transfer | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
the responsibility into the hands of clinicians. We were always clear | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
if they weren't actually able to do so we wouldn't authorise them to do | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
so. Why didn't you ask them before the White Paper? We did. The | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
messages that came back is they did want to set up the GP commissioning | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
groups, but one of the message that is came back, once the Pathfinders | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
started to establish themselves this year, one of the message some | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
of them sent was we want to do this, but we don't think we will be ready | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
in 2013. Is this pat rn of producing White Papers and | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
legislations and then withdrawing and rewriting it one you will | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
continue with? I personally don't intend to. Of course you're not | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
really the one who counts in this, this is David Cameron who says he | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
can be held personally responsible, where does that leave you? | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
issue is, you asked the question, setting out in the White Paper what | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
the principles are, is what you do in a White Paper, the vision and | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
principle also support it. When we have introduced the legislation | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
this year, when you actually produce the legislation t actually | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
brings forward a lot of questions and concerns. What would you do, | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
would you say under those circumstances, well, look, the | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
implementation of this, people have concerns about this, we will just | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
ignore those, or do you say, well, OK f people have concerns, let's | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
stop, let's listen, and if we k let as improve. Some people might say, | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
if the rewriting, the redrafting, the recommendation, the | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
consultation can be accomplished in two months, what on earth were you | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
doing during the seven years you have held this brief? I have been | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
actually arriving at the point where we know we can reform the NHS | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
and make it much better. brought this duff piece of | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
legislation? To be fair the NHS Future Forum didn't say that, they | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
said they can improve it. didn't get it right first time, you | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
had seven years? Even you Jeremy are capable of improvement. We are | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
all capable of improvement? Legislation is capable of | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
improvement. The improvement takes place before you introduce it into | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
parliament? It doesn't actually there are many, most pieces of | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
legislation are improved in the process of scrutiny in parliament. | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
What I think was particularly important here, however, is it | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
wasn't parliamentarians that simply should engage, many of them did | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
with the legislation. There was an awful lot in the legislation that I | :12:21. | :12:29. | |
know, to be frank, was to basically to create a permissive structure, | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
saying to the GP Consortia, you will have to set out how you will | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
structure your patient-public involvement, and how you will | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
structure your relationship with other professionals locally, how | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
you will do these things A lot of people said we don't want to leave | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
it until then but want it set out now. Are you saying you took a | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
piece of legislation through parliament that you knew to be | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
defective? I'm not saying that. Thank heaven force the Liberal | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
Democrats then? I'm not saying that. I'm saying, what is clear is people | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
had concerns, some of them were on the basis of people who were makes | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
misrepresentations or misunderstanding. Some of them were | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
genuine. People who were come together, Pathfinder consortia, | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
around the country, local authorities, people who in | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
foundation trusts saying actually we think we can improve the | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
legislation, and put more clarity into how we will do these things in | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
future, if you engage with us now and spoened respond to this, and we | :13:26. | :13:32. | |
did. - and respond to this, and we did. If there was this was a | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
majority Conservative Government this would not have been changed? | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
We are not in that position. This was a good process Government. I | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
happen to think good Government is about listening to people and | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
coming together. When Paddy Ashdown says this is an occasion for the | :13:45. | :13:50. | |
Liberal Democrats to celebrate, an achievement in getting this | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
legislation rewritten, he's right, isn't he? It is not about anybody | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
winning or losing or celebrating or otherwise, it is about the | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
Government, the coalition Government, getting plans for the | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
NHS, modernisation of the NHS that delivers improving services for | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
patients. It is all about delivering quality for patients. | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
wonder why you didn't plan like that in the first place? If I can | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
do anything to deliver better care for patients I will do it. I will | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
take on my shoulders Mr Were things we could have done and changed | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
earlier. - there were things we could have done and changed earlier. | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
But what is important is getting the strategy ready for | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
implementation for the NHS. That moves us from the place where the | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
NHS was at risk for the future. Everyone knows the pressure ones | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
the NHS, to do nothing was not an option. To modernise the NHS in | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
this way, by engaging the staff and increasing the effectiveness of | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
their work, and putting them at the heart of the decision making, that | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
is critical to make that happen. Thank you. | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
This appetite for getting the Government to change its mind, | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
seems to be growing. Many of the men and women who teach our | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
children in England and Wales, won't be turning up for work in a | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
couple of weeks time. They are angry, or most of the minority of | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
them who bothered to vote in the ballot are angry about changes to | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
their pensions. Remarkably the normally easy going Association of | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
Teachers and Lecturers are striking for the first time in their history. | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
Other union leaders say it presses a summer of discontent. Why are | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
they striking? It is, as you say, all about pensions. The | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
Government's plans to reform public sector pensions generally, means | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
that teachers specifically argue that they are going to be seeing a | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
huge rise in, or drop in their retirement income. They will need | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
to work an awful lot longer to get t they say they will have to pay | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
for more the privilege. Teachers already in the second year of a pay | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
freeze, they say that higher contributions are not affordable, | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
and the Government is about to announce what those increases are. | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
I think what you are seeing is the teachers, if you like, get anything | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
their retaliation early. One leader says it is a shot across the | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
Government bough, they say they have already got a pension | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
agreement that insurance them against greater longevity, what the | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
Government's proposing amounts to nothing more than a tax on teachers. | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
What happened in the ballot? It was interesting, it involved the NUT, | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
and the normal low, moderate, mild- mannered ATL, who have never ever | :16:31. | :16:37. | |
voted for a strike before. They balloted between them 300,000 | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
people, the overwhelming majority of those voted to strike, but, and | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
the Government will make something of this, on a very low turnout. | :16:45. | :16:55. | |
:16:55. | :17:03. | ||
The strikes are pencilled in for June 30th. They are going to | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
involve independent schools as well. As things stand, if they go ahead, | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
thousands of schools will be hit across England and Wales, endless | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
parents as well. The Government tonight, someone in the education | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
department told me there is no silver bullet, they do not have | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
contingency plans to keep schools open, it will all come down to | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
individual head teachers on the day, thinking have they got enough staff | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
to teach the kids. Is the feeling this is an outrider | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
for a series of public sector strikes? It has all come about | :17:35. | :17:41. | |
because of the review by Lord Hutton, already reported, | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
recommending sweeping changes to public sector pension arrangements | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
to make them more affordable going forward. Talks are on going between | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
the Cabinet Office, the Treasury and public sector unions. Even | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
before they resume later on this month, just before the teachers go | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
on strike, already unions are talking about further ballots, more | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
strike action possibly affecting much of the six million members of | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
the public sector work force. the Government doesn't change | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
course the risk is that the whole of the public sector, all of the | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
unions in the public sector, will be engaged in co-ordinated strike | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
action. Which nobody wants, and which really won't do anybody any | :18:24. | :18:31. | |
good in the short-term. What's the Government planning? | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister says the strike by | :18:34. | :18:36. | |
teachers is completely irresponsible, given that talks in | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
theory are still in play. But you can expect to hear a lot more about | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
legislation to stop the country grind to go a halt. | :18:43. | :18:49. | |
With us now, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
Lecturers, who you have just heard voted to strike today, Bousted bou, | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
the Conservative chairman of the Education Select Committee, Graham | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
Stuart. How does harming children's education do any good for your | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
members? I have met hundreds of members up and down the country | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
over the last four week, and they don't want to strike, the last | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
thing they want to do is take this action. They believe, and I have | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
heard this from teachers who have been in the profession for years | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
and years. Who joined ATL because they didn't want a strike. They | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
believe the current proposals will be so damaging to the profession, | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
that they are far more damage to go children's education than a one-day | :19:25. | :19:31. | |
strike. So children's education will be damaged if they don't | :19:31. | :19:37. | |
strike? Absolutely. It will be less damaged if they do strike? We have | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
tried everything to get our case across to the Government without a | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
strike. Yes, what our members are saying, yes, if if we don't strike | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
there will be more damage. This has nothing to do with education, it is | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
all about money? Money is important to teachers. What this is about is | :19:51. | :19:57. | |
the future of the profession. Let's just go three years in advance. We | :19:57. | :20:04. | |
have new teachers starting to teach, who have debts of �40,000 or over, | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
who will be expected pay 10% of their salary into a pension, they | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
won't be able to afford to do so. You accept the public finances are | :20:12. | :20:19. | |
in a real mess? Yes they are. Clearly it is as plain as a pike | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
staff, what are you suggesting, teachers lose jobs? This isn't | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
about the public finances. It is? The Teachers' Pension Scheme, at | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
the last valuation was not in deficit. And in 2007, we negotiated | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
changes which meant that new teachers worked longer and we paid | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
more. If the teachers' scheme was in deficit, the only people who | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
would pay would be the teachers. These reforms are not about the | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
public deficit. The reason that unions like this are emboldened, | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
because they have seen the Government bend the knee already to | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
the BMA and other vests interests in the health service, that was a | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
mistake, wasn't it? I wouldn't necessarily say that. The key point | :21:00. | :21:05. | |
here is the one you put to Mary at first, who will we look after, the | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
interests of teachers and their pensions, or the children. I think | :21:09. | :21:15. | |
many of your viewers tonight will wonder why formerly moderate unions, | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
why the negotiations are still going on, it hasn't ended. Why | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
aren't they sitting down with Government looking for solution, | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
not putting shots across the Government's bough in this | :21:28. | :21:34. | |
situation. I know Mary and my goals are to do the best for the children | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
of this country, do you set the example of throwing your toys out | :21:38. | :21:44. | |
of the pram and march out of the classroom for stay and sort this | :21:44. | :21:50. | |
out. People know the Government is in a mess because of what we have | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
inherited. Is public opinion on their side? I think the public will | :21:53. | :21:59. | |
have a lot of sympathy. People are being asked to pay for more less | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
for longer. That is pretty tough, except the big picture is a quarter | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
of us will live to be 100, most of us will live into our 80s. The | :22:08. | :22:14. | |
numbers don't add up. Mary knows that. We negotiated in 2007, as a | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
result of those negotiations teachers will work to 65, our | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
pension contributions increased, if there is any more to pay for | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
longevity, we have agreed to pay it, not the employers, out of teachers' | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
salaries, the Government hasn't done an evaluation of the scheme, | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
it is overdue by a year. This business of walking out of | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
negotiations. We have been in negotiations with the Treasury | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
since February, it took five months to cup up with a paper. We have | :22:41. | :22:47. | |
asked eight questions about the paper and how they have done the | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
calculations and they can't tell us that. The reason is it is badly | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
written and worked out. Any expert will tell you that. We want actual | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
figure about where the fund is, in deficit. You sound angry? We have | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
never voted for strike action in 127 years, with 83% yes in state | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
sector and 83% in the independent sector. Remind us what proportion | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
of your members voted at all? voted. Many MPs will be glad for | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
the 36%. They are not that angry? Many of those didn't vote really | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
don't want to take action, but they are angry. 64%, two-thirds of them, | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
effectively, didn't even bother to vote? The ballot laws in this | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
country say it is a majority, it is a big majority, many Members of | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
Parliament will be very glad stkwhr. It is a big majority of a maul | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
amount of your numbers? For ATL that is a significant result. | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
is an obvious solution to this, change the law as proposed by some | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
of your own members? I hope we don't go down that line. I believe | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
in the professionalism of teachers. I believe it is a fantastic | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
profession, the impact of teaching has reprecussions on the lives of | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
children. You don't see doctors, lawyers and professionals going out | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
on strike, and Mary's union has never done it before, to do it now | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
when we are in the state we are, rather than sitting down, as | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
passionately as Mary does, with the Government, arguing the points, in | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
the studio like this. We have either got to put the pensions of | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
teachers first or the education of children, I hope Mary would join me | :24:26. | :24:33. | |
in always putting the education of children first, not the individual | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
pensioner. I have offered Michael Gove any time. This can be solved | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
simply, take the 3% pensions' tax, which won't be going into the | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
pension. It is a tax on public sector workers, beyond a two-year | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
pay freeze, at a time when the wages haven't gone up at all. Take | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
it off the table and we will go to the proper negotiations Ts not our | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
position there needs to be no changes. We want to know is the | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
scheme in deficit, and a paper about the rational of the changes. | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
We don't want to wait five months for it. We want the figures and | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
facts, if you won't give them to us. She's arguing sympathetically, | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
these are reasonable requests? are, and they need to be made over | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
the table and publicly. We don't want to see professionals going out | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
on strike and putting at risk the welfare of our children. | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
To forecast how heavy the political weather is going to be after | :25:26. | :25:32. | |
today's news of strikes, and desperate NHS reassurances, we turn | :25:32. | :25:42. | |
to our sun lit panel of Danny "wrap up warm" Finkelstein of the Times. | :25:42. | :25:49. | |
And Peter Hyman. Time for what the anyoney's in the Met Office call a | :25:49. | :25:59. | |
:25:59. | :25:59. | ||
significant weather moment. It almost dig fis to say the | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
Liberal Democrats stepped in. Both parties were involved in reversing | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
it in the House of Commons. It was a good thing to do. There is a | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
general view never do a u-turn, because that is what Margaret | :26:11. | :26:19. | |
Thatcher said. That is she didn't want to turn from a bad policy to a | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
worse one. This is a good policy. You are saying come back the way | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
you came, a slight deviation as from Lansley later? To put | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
legislation to the House of Commons and then realise you have to change | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
it is inevitably a u-turn and not dignified. It is still the right | :26:36. | :26:43. | |
thing to do. The Tories have come into line with your policy. | :26:43. | :26:49. | |
neutralised the NHS to have a "hug a nurse" policy. I think this is a | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
question of Cameron's judgment, why did Cameron let Lansley run away | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
with a policy that no-one thought was the correct strategy. What has | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
happened now, which I think is very damaging for the health service, is | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
the politics have caught up with the policy. People have realise | :27:08. | :27:15. | |
thasd no-win policy, and have - realised that it is a no-win policy. | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
The commissioning idea they have doesn't work. Before we go on with | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
the legacy, Olly Grender, marvellous achievement for the | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
Liberal Democrats you would say! That is the line you would like me | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
to pursue. That is the line of Paddy Ashdown and various other | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
Liberal Democrats. Bearing in mind they voted for this legislation? | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
And kicked up a big force in March. Why did they do, that didn't they | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
know what they were doing? As you know a lot of people tend to go | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
through the lobbies not having seen the detail. They agreed with the | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
broad principle but didn't read the detail. They vote for things they | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
don't know about about? They agreed with the principle of what it was | :27:59. | :28:05. | |
about, when it came to the detail, particularly about competition in | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
the NHS they listened to the party conference in March. The biggest | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
problem we have not discussed, there is �20 billion of savings in | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
the National Health Service, and now that these have been so | :28:16. | :28:23. | |
publicly discussed, the reforms so publicly discussed, people will | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
attribute closure that is will happen, happening for savings | :28:27. | :28:34. | |
reasons for these reforms. That is really bad news for the coalition | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
Government. The NHS is a serious problem for the Government. | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
Certainly for the Conservative Party, because it is linked so much | :28:42. | :28:51. | |
to the changed image. There is more political fall-out, I thought he | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
was broken, nah an unsustainable position? A golden opportunity for | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
the Labour Party. It should be a golden opportunity for the Labour | :28:57. | :29:02. | |
Party. I fear as yet they haven't been in the health service debate | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
at the moment? It has been an extraordinary week, last week the | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
Conservative Party, they did fear what would happen when they did | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
this pause. Really the Labour Party managed to drown it out with a | :29:13. | :29:20. | |
story about Ed Balls's new box and Ed Miliband's speech, it was an | :29:20. | :29:22. | |
extraordinary performance. I agree. They have had a lot of open goals | :29:22. | :29:27. | |
this week. It does back to the sense of Ed's strategy and | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
performance. I think they are the fundamental question is what is | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
this leadership for. At the moment we can say he's not hitting hard | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
enough as opposition leader. He would be on the front foot for if | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
he was on the other stuff as well. To be fair for Ed Miliband, | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
allowing him a certain period of being leader, it is typical of the | :29:48. | :29:54. | |
Labour Party, to kick so quickly after they have elected. No-one is | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
kicking, they are asking what he's doing. They have set an exemplary | :29:58. | :30:03. | |
record in looking after useless leaders? The difficulty is there is | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
an expectation of him. Being the third party in terms of interest to | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
people is a very difficult position to be in. What is your reading | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
collectively, we were talking earlier about teachers' strikes. | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
There is a whole wave of public sector strikes, threatened, in one | :30:19. | :30:26. | |
way or another. What is your reading of the public mood on these. | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
Teachers do vote, and those being asked to pay more money into the | :30:30. | :30:35. | |
pensions won't be very happy. You start losing, however people are | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
not very sympathetic to other people's pension rights to start | :30:39. | :30:44. | |
off with. Particularly when they are paid through tax-payers' money | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
and they don't like strikes. I suspect the politics won't work out | :30:48. | :30:53. | |
for the public sector unions who go on strike. We will work out | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
actually, Governments are always lucky if they get to fight fights | :30:58. | :31:06. | |
rather than the other side. It is not a fight the Government want at | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
the moment but it could end up better. What goes on in some | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
aspects of the private rather than public sector, I'm sympathetic | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
enough as a teacher saying we didn't cause the financial mess, | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
why are the public sector taking the pain of that. It was left to | :31:24. | :31:29. | |
this Government when they came into office. It is the fault of the | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
banking industry and then the crash. It is obviously ridiculous to say | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
public servants created the mess, it is certainly the case that | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
increased public spending on things we ultimately turned out not to be | :31:41. | :31:49. | |
able to afford. Something has to be done about it. It is a bit of a red | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
herring to links this to the long- term deficit. Lord Hutton was | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
brought in to solve it, it was identified as a problem by Labour | :31:58. | :32:03. | |
well before the structural deficit. Your reading of the public mood is | :32:03. | :32:06. | |
what? Of course this will be issues, particularly when you look at | :32:06. | :32:12. | |
inflation and cost of living for key workers, thats where it comes | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
into play. That is why it is critically important that the | :32:17. | :32:25. | |
coalition Government looks at ways of taxing people looking at tax | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
threshold. Solving long-term public sector pensions is something that | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
the last Government was attempting to do. It has to be done, doesn't | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
it. Which way do you think Labour will go on the strikes, Lord Hutton | :32:37. | :32:44. | |
is proet moing the reforms, Labour can't really oppose promoting the | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
reforms, Labour didn't oppose them or support them. Again I go back to | :32:48. | :32:54. | |
the big picture, the trouble is there is a picking at overall | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
rather than a specific strategy. Labour's credibility on the economy | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
is the fundamental task over the next four or five years. The Tories | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
have successfully rubbished them, they have to rebuild. That isn't | :33:06. | :33:11. | |
having individual policies. It was the fact that is rubbished them, to | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
be honest. We can debate that, they haven't a strategy on this. We saw | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
in the David Miliband's speech, the beginnings of a strategy emerging, | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
which I think Ed Balls would do well to learn from. If you have | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
that overarching framework, then these other things fit into it, | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
otherwise you don't have the credibility. I think from | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
yesterday's speech, you get a sense that Ed Miliband has the potential | :33:35. | :33:42. | |
to recognise that, but held to hostage by Ed Balls. He's still | :33:42. | :33:48. | |
carrying a torch over there! Are we in for a summer of | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
discontent? When you are reducing real incomes of real people, there | :33:52. | :33:57. | |
will be industrial action I don't think the Government can win that | :33:57. | :34:02. | |
battle, and I think they - I think the Government can win the battle | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
and win the argument, people see the need for reform for pensions. | :34:06. | :34:09. | |
Prior to the general election, all three of us said, very tough times | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
ahead, for whoever gets into power. That would have involved industrial | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
action, and I think that would have been the case whether it had been | :34:17. | :34:22. | |
Labour, majority, Conservative majority whatever. I would make a | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
different point, there is a whole series of issues where the quality | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
of policy making and decision making in this Government is under | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
question. Cameron, partly because of the weakness of the opposition | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
is getting away with murder, he's floating above the Government, | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
letting others like Lansley and Ken Clarke get into trouble with this. | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
Cameron isn't abreast with the detail. Law and order and | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
immigration they are running into trouble on that? They need to get a | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
grip on how policies are made and Cameron's involvement. A lot of the | :34:53. | :34:56. | |
u-turns are having got a grip realising they didn't have a strong | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
enough centre and getting a stronger centre. These produce u | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
turns, but better outcomes. I like a scenario, where even mistakes are | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
made and people are left in their job to put those mistakes right. I | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
think that is very different, that is good thing, that is something we | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
would do in normal working practice, we would make somebody put it right. | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
Come back again soon. In a better world, the clearing up | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
of rubbish wouldn't be something we expected councils to do, because | :35:26. | :35:31. | |
the citizens wouldn't leave rubbish lying about. In David Cameron's Big | :35:31. | :35:37. | |
Society, we would all organise ourselves to such task. We have | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
delegate the it to Stephen Smith, who is supposed to be investigating | :35:43. | :35:49. | |
how other countries do it. To Belgium, if you can look at that | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
country where they have managed well without a Government, they | :35:52. | :35:58. | |
have just had volunteering day. Previously on Citizen Smith: | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
In Gloucester we had a royal weteding street party, I helped | :36:03. | :36:08. | |
arranged, or didn't prevent. Thanks to a course on organising in David | :36:08. | :36:16. | |
Cameron's Big Society. What a swell party it was. | :36:16. | :36:22. | |
I said there was too much eggnog in that punch. WTF, hang about, I know | :36:22. | :36:32. | |
:36:32. | :36:37. | ||
where this is, I'm at mini-Europe in BEEP Belgium. | :36:37. | :36:47. | |
:36:47. | :37:21. | ||
# We must all stick together It's a special day in Brussels. A | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
day when people are encouraged to volunteer to cloon up their city. | :37:25. | :37:31. | |
Now that sounds like the big "big society", some say - the Big | :37:31. | :37:37. | |
Society, some say Grandad, I wanted to find out, - La Grande Societe, I | :37:37. | :37:42. | |
wanted to find out are they on to something, and would a day like | :37:42. | :37:49. | |
this work back home. The Mannequin Pis wears the proud uniform of the | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
city sweepers, how do we know? There was a leak! | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
Shiny new stop cocks are curtesy of the city fathers. Soiled frontages | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
are a thing of the past. If you look at our pavement, we have | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
cobble stones, they are very beautiful but not very smooth. They | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
are difficult to clean just with the broom. You need to have water | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
under pressure to make sure you can take the cigarette butts away. | :38:16. | :38:24. | |
Unfortunately a lot of the dog owners let their dogs pee on the | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
flower spots. Even human doss that from time to time. It is your own | :38:27. | :38:31. | |
fault, you have a statue of a young boy relieving himself? That's right, | :38:31. | :38:36. | |
that is what my Russian guests said yesterday. He said when he saw | :38:36. | :38:43. | |
someone doing, that he said he must imitate your most famous site. | :38:43. | :38:52. | |
Citizen Smith, moderate or good, becoming poor. | :38:52. | :38:59. | |
On Volunteer Day in Brussels, all types take part. Lending a full | :38:59. | :39:05. | |
majesty of the Belgian crown to the occasion is Princess Astrid, she's | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
meeting charity workers at these stalls, but not meeting journalists. | :39:10. | :39:17. | |
You probably thought like me they had bicycling royalty here or | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
segwaying, but we can't interview Princess Astrid to get her views on | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
litter collecting and that kind of thing, it is shame, I have been | :39:25. | :39:32. | |
working hard on my conversational waloon. Would they have treated | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
Belgium's favourite soon, Tintin in the same way, he was a reporter you | :39:36. | :39:42. | |
know. There is plenty to see and do in Brussels, still. | :39:42. | :39:50. | |
It also happens to be open day at the European Council building. | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
Isn't that monsieur Monsieur Van Rompuy, do you like interesting | :39:53. | :40:00. | |
facts about TV, he has never given an interview to Newsnight, up until | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
now. What is your best time on that Mr President, your best time for | :40:05. | :40:11. | |
the Rubik's cub? It is as complicated as the eurozone. It is, | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
we're from BBC television. That's nice, lovely, could we have | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
a quick word for the BBC? Not on the news. Not on the news, just | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
about Volunteer Day, Volunteer Day here in Brussels? Yeah, yeah. | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
is all I wanted to ask you about, is it a good thing, everybody | :40:28. | :40:33. | |
voched in picking up litter, keep - involved in picking up litter and | :40:33. | :40:39. | |
keeping the streets clear. can't have a society without | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
volunteers, people depend only on the public authorities. The free | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
choice and engagement and enthusiasm of people is key for | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
having a sound society. Do you think you have the Big Society in | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
Europe, I don't know if you have heard of the phrase of Mr | :40:54. | :40:59. | |
Cameron's? It is a long-term project. I hope you enjoy your cube, | :40:59. | :41:05. | |
many eyes of private fiddling there. Thank you. | :41:05. | :41:15. | |
There is even a build-your-own- scare crow competition. We toured | :41:15. | :41:22. | |
the tattered termillions with MP Emma McClarkin. Are Belgians better | :41:22. | :41:26. | |
at being citizens than we are, or the same? It is not for me to cast | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
about saying who is the best citizen in the European Union, | :41:30. | :41:36. | |
whether Belgian or Britain. We as British people like to take | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
responsibility for our actions and we foster that spirit. We are | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
better? I would say we are fantastic. There is nothing we can | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
learn from our friends over here? There is lots we can learn in lots | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
of different areas, the Big Society is one of those areas to grow and | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
learn from other people. They have a secret weapon here, reserved for | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
people who make a mess of the place, or allow their pets to. Here he | :42:00. | :42:07. | |
comes now. Any second now. # Like a bat out of hell | :42:07. | :42:14. | |
# When the morning comesle It is a motorbike with a vacuum | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
cleaner attached. This baby can go from nought to slurry in the blink | :42:18. | :42:26. | |
of an eye. Have you any special power can you use a Taser on dog | :42:26. | :42:32. | |
owners if they foul the streets? TRANSLATION: Absolutely no power. | :42:32. | :42:34. | |
People are sometimes gobsmacked, some of them think about what they | :42:34. | :42:44. | |
are doing. Others not at all. But I have no power to apprehend people. | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
You're like the Mad Max of dog poo in this country, there is no other | :42:49. | :42:55. | |
way of putling it? Not really, in a certain way I suppose so. My | :42:55. | :43:05. | |
:43:05. | :43:07. | ||
friends respect me too much to give me a nickname. | :43:07. | :43:12. | |
It's all very well laying on an anti-litter train, what if people | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
don't want to get on board. I can't say I have seen too many volunteers | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
cleaning the streets today. I expected to see people picking up | :43:21. | :43:27. | |
rubbish, but I haven't seen that much? TRANSLATION: In some parts of | :43:27. | :43:34. | |
town, there were locals, along with 300 of our cleanliness ambassadors | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
cleaning pavements. Not so much in the centre of town, but lots of | :43:37. | :43:41. | |
shopkeepers joined in, it was a success. Do you think people in | :43:41. | :43:46. | |
this country are more interested in helping the society than perhaps | :43:46. | :43:54. | |
British people? No. I don't think so. Really? TRANSLATION: It is very | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
difficult to change people's mentalties, Belgians and people | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
living in Brussels often have anti- social reflexes, what we are trying | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
to do with this day is change people's mentalties to respect | :44:06. | :44:15. | |
their environment. David Cameron may be tempted to try | :44:15. | :44:20. | |
a Volunteer Day at home, if so he might also like to borrow an old | :44:20. | :44:30. | |
:44:30. | :44:36. | ||
Belgian adage about making a A movie by Newsnight. | :44:36. | :44:46. | |
:44:46. | :45:17. | ||
The end. That's all tonight. We have had | :45:17. | :45:21. | |
enough cautionary tales about the perils of who you can trust in | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
cyberspace. But now the Ministry of Defence is warning its servicemen | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
and women to be careful what they disclose to their friends and | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
family when they whroing or tweet. In the war on terror d when they | :45:32. | :45:38. | |
blog or tweet, in the war on terror, careless talk can cost lives. | :45:38. | :45:48. | |
:45:48. | :46:15. | ||
careless talk can cost lives. we are. | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
I hope you enjoy Tuesday's sunshine, the weather is on the slide. A | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
scattering of showers moving in from the west during the course of | :46:23. | :46:27. | |
the day. Pretty hit and miss, brighter spells inbetween. The | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
ever-present risk of the odd shower. A lot of cloud around, certainly | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
more than there was on Tuesday. Any brighter spells, temperatures doing | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
pretty well. High teens, possibly low 20s, to be aware that the rain | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
will never be too far away. A few brighter glimpses, difficult to | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
nail down exactly where, the hope that most of us will see as useful | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
dryer and brighter spells, the cloud will thicken again and bring | :46:50. | :46:53. | |
the threat of further showers. For Northern Ireland, after a rather | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
cloudy start, things should improve here, with some of the best of the | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
sunshine through the afternoon, lifting those temperatures up to 16 | :47:01. | :47:04. | |
or 17. For Scotland most of the showers staying to the west of the | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
hills have had a chance of saying largely dry further east. Looking | :47:09. | :47:13. | |
into Thursday, more of the same, a scattering of showers, decent | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
brighter spells across the more northern parts of the UK, perhaps | :47:17. | :47:21. | |
some heavier showers for a time further south. Temperatures easing | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
down, that is trend continuing through to the end of the week. | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
Thursday's picture again is a messy one, isn't it, one area of shower | :47:29. | :47:33. |