:00:09. > :00:12.If the Education Secretary gets his way, A-level exams are going to get
:00:12. > :00:18.more difficult. Newsnight can reveal his plans to transform
:00:18. > :00:22.English secondary education. happy! Students may celebrate
:00:22. > :00:24.getting the grades they want, but the exams are, he says,
:00:24. > :00:30.increasingly useless to universities, so he now wants
:00:30. > :00:33.universe to set them. Our political editor is here with the details.
:00:33. > :00:36.In this letter Michael Gove sets out his plans to remove the
:00:36. > :00:41.education department from exam interference, but will it be
:00:41. > :00:45.accepted. Is he trying to re- establish credibility for exams, or
:00:45. > :00:48.just doing a few universities a favour.
:00:48. > :00:51.Happy days for democracy campaigners in Burma, are they
:00:51. > :00:56.singing too soon, we have Sue Lloyd Roberts there.
:00:56. > :01:00.Is the Government penalising people with mental health problems in its
:01:00. > :01:04.zeal to deliver on one of its biggest promise, to make work pay.
:01:04. > :01:08.Basically they are playing with people's lives. You can't turn
:01:08. > :01:14.around and stop somebody's benefit after paying them for nearly six
:01:14. > :01:18.years, and say you're fit to work. Whoever thought that aquariums full
:01:18. > :01:25.of dead things were the road to fabulous wealth, Damien Hirst did,
:01:25. > :01:30.and it paid off big time. He tells us what it was all about. Great car
:01:30. > :01:37.is art, anything that takes it out of the normal world and into the
:01:37. > :01:42.magical world. Something magical is art.
:01:42. > :01:46.It will mean an end to the annual summer argument about how exams are
:01:46. > :01:50.being made easier, because the implication is that A-level, the
:01:50. > :01:54.culmination of secondary schooling, will be made harder, perhaps quite
:01:54. > :02:00.a lot harder. The he had case secretary has decided it is none of
:02:01. > :02:04.his business -- the education secretary has decided it is none of
:02:04. > :02:07.his business to decide exams and wants the job done at the country's
:02:07. > :02:12.better university N a letter seen by Newsnight, he has told the head
:02:12. > :02:15.of the body that runs exams in England, that he expects this big
:02:15. > :02:19.shake-up to be in place before the next election.
:02:19. > :02:29.Allegra Stratton reports. Here is taxing question for you,
:02:29. > :02:33.
:02:33. > :02:38.you may select only one answer, are That's a line from a letter
:02:38. > :02:42.obtained by Newsnight and written on Friday last week, by the
:02:42. > :02:45.Education Secretary, Michael Gove, to Ofqual, the exams' regulator.
:02:45. > :02:49.The a second believes A-level standards have been steadily
:02:49. > :02:51.dropping, and the only way to stop this is to get universities
:02:51. > :03:01.involved in the educating of the students heading their way. In his
:03:01. > :03:19.
:03:19. > :03:23.Universities complain about the quality of the students coming
:03:23. > :03:26.through their doors, they say they either have to put on remedial
:03:26. > :03:29.classes to help them catch up, or at the end of the course they have
:03:29. > :03:33.to lower the grades. Now the Government is saying don't complain,
:03:33. > :03:37.get involved, alter the content of these courses. With history A-level,
:03:37. > :03:42.if you want long answers, rather than short structured answers, go
:03:42. > :03:47.for it. With A-level physics, if you want to include calculus, so be
:03:47. > :03:53.it. The Oxford and Cambridge board is the only university-owned Exam
:03:53. > :03:57.Board in existence, they are chomping at the bit. What was it
:03:57. > :04:01.like before, universities moaning about the quality? We have quite a
:04:01. > :04:06.few complaints, people complain about predict pblt, about MoD dwu
:04:06. > :04:11.laterisation, that makes it too easy for students to gain results.
:04:11. > :04:16.They complain about the academic schools, to think independently,
:04:16. > :04:19.write critically in essays, we think it will help us to focus on
:04:20. > :04:23.those skills. The Government thinks that for the past 20 years the
:04:23. > :04:28.state has elbowed universities out, it is the state that is responsible
:04:28. > :04:35.for the exam results now. Now they are pushing the first domino that
:04:35. > :04:40.will be felt all the way down the he had case system. Short, these
:04:40. > :04:44.reforms will be felt on students of -- shortly these reforms will be by
:04:44. > :04:48.students of all ages. As well as these slower-burn trends, the
:04:48. > :04:54.Government has been partly spurred into action by a scandal revealed
:04:54. > :04:59.by the Mail Newspaper last year. are cheating and telling you the
:04:59. > :05:03.cycle, probably the regulator will tell us off. Then they revealed
:05:03. > :05:08.through undercover filming of Exam Board seminars, teachers appearing
:05:08. > :05:15.to be given unfair information. Every year the Exam Boards and
:05:15. > :05:18.Ofqual decide with great care and extreme diligence what mark
:05:18. > :05:23.constitutes grade A. That has shifted up over the years. There
:05:23. > :05:27.are other ways of maintaining standards, the top 10% get an A,
:05:27. > :05:31.you link it to another test you know about. You give the marks out
:05:31. > :05:34.there. There are other ways to do this, the mechanism used at the
:05:34. > :05:37.moment hasn't quite cracked it, and just involving universities
:05:37. > :05:42.wouldn't crack it either. This policy is from the Michael Gove
:05:42. > :05:45.school of hard knocks, it will be painful, but Britain's skills must
:05:45. > :05:50.improve if we are to compete in the future. There will be similar
:05:50. > :05:54.policies in the next few months, aimed at bringing up the standards
:05:54. > :05:59.of GCSEs, just like at the have with A-levels, for some it is the
:05:59. > :06:03.pursuit ofics lens, for others it is eliteism. -- of excellence, for
:06:03. > :06:07.others it is eliteism. Some people will feel out in the cold, and some
:06:07. > :06:12.ways of working that might suit more average students, may not be
:06:12. > :06:16.privileged in the A-level system. It is possible you will get an A-
:06:16. > :06:23.level that doesn't cater for the full spectrum of those coming to do
:06:23. > :06:25.A-level in the first place. You have to see how that pans out.
:06:25. > :06:31.Government believe there are changes afoot they have to track,
:06:31. > :06:36.or else Britain will be left behind. At the extreme end of experiments
:06:36. > :06:40.in education, American academic, the Professor of Artificial
:06:40. > :06:44.Intelligence at Stanford, recently opened up his course for anyone to
:06:44. > :06:47.take, no matter they were in the world. Thousands took up his offer.
:06:47. > :06:52.Many pupils may decide, Government sources wonder, that such courses
:06:52. > :06:56.offer them far more than state- controlled exams in the future.
:06:56. > :07:00.There will be much flesh to add to bones in the weeks ahead, one thing
:07:00. > :07:06.is pretty certain, if you know anyone due to begin their A-levels
:07:06. > :07:11.in 2014, it will be a bit harder than they were expecting. Here to
:07:11. > :07:16.examine the proposals further, the head of the Russell Group of
:07:16. > :07:21.universities, the Oxford graduate and founder of Keystone Tutors, and
:07:21. > :07:26.the Labour MP who used to chair the Education Select Committee. Does
:07:26. > :07:31.everyone agree something has gone wrong with A-levels? We have
:07:31. > :07:37.several concerns with A-level, there isn't a crisis with A-levels,
:07:37. > :07:41.they broadly fit the market. Several concerns were mentioned on
:07:41. > :07:46.the film and in Michael Gove's letter. Including this
:07:46. > :07:49.modularisation, students can learn in chunks of knowledge, and then
:07:49. > :07:54.tested on that little chunk, and learn to forget it, someone has
:07:54. > :07:58.called it, then they can resit the chunk if they fail it. It got
:07:58. > :08:03.easier? Easier? We worry about the ability of those students to have
:08:03. > :08:09.an overall grasp of the subject. an observer, it does seem they have
:08:09. > :08:15.gotten ease yes, 24% getting A- grade -- easier, 24% getting A
:08:15. > :08:19.grades? The problem with the system in this country is narrowness. We
:08:19. > :08:23.are looking at a group of international comparisons, we are
:08:23. > :08:28.the only people who ask kids at 16 to concentrate on three subjects,
:08:28. > :08:32.then they go on to do a degree in one subject in depth. The real
:08:32. > :08:35.problem we have is the narrowness of scope in our education system.
:08:35. > :08:39.That is probably why the level of undergraduate study is higher than
:08:39. > :08:43.in other countries? There is no evidence of that. There is a great
:08:43. > :08:48.deal of anecdotal evidence? It is anecdotal. We are off the point
:08:48. > :08:54.here. I believe in evidence-based policy, Jeremy. How did you find A-
:08:54. > :08:59.levels, easy? I didn't find A- levels easy, but they were highly
:08:59. > :09:06.prescriptive, I think what Barry was saying, although true it is
:09:06. > :09:10.largely off the point. I think so too. The point about A-levels, they
:09:10. > :09:16.have been rising ever since the Government got involved in A-levels.
:09:16. > :09:20.We have seen an increase every single year for 30 years in A-level
:09:20. > :09:23.grades. The problem he is dealing with, which was referred to in the
:09:23. > :09:28.report there, is that the suggestion from the universities
:09:28. > :09:33.seems to be, they don't teach you how to think properly? There is an
:09:34. > :09:38.element of that. That some of the subjects don't foster that ability
:09:38. > :09:42.to analyse critically, to step back from a text and look at it
:09:42. > :09:50.objectively, rather than emtheyically, which tends to be the
:09:50. > :09:55.trend in subjects like English and history. We have problems in
:09:55. > :10:00.subjects like maths, where some of the moduals are not challenging
:10:00. > :10:05.enough, not only to go on to a maths degree, but engineering and
:10:05. > :10:08.physics. You think that is a problem? I do, but it is not only a
:10:08. > :10:12.problem in the science subjects and maths, it is a problem we have
:10:12. > :10:19.faced for a long time, that A-level is not just for university entrants,
:10:19. > :10:21.if we think it is only about university entrance, we get boxed
:10:21. > :10:25.in. It should be a group of qualifications that fit people for
:10:25. > :10:30.life. One of the problems about the A-level, and the research, Jeremy,
:10:30. > :10:35.shows this, is there is no applied nature of the A-level, it is too
:10:35. > :10:38.theoretical, applied knowledge is very important in young people of
:10:38. > :10:42.this age. If these proposals of Michael Gove are implemented, they
:10:42. > :10:46.will be more like that, aren't they? They will be more academic.
:10:46. > :10:49.They become the property of the elite universities? That's right.
:10:49. > :10:54.Quite right. Wendy will be very happy about that presumably, I
:10:54. > :10:57.think it is wrong, most people in this country don't go to Russell
:10:57. > :11:02.Group universities, they go to a different group of universities and
:11:02. > :11:05.do much more applied courses? completely see the case for having
:11:05. > :11:08.a diversity of different learners in this country. Children learn in
:11:08. > :11:12.different ways, they want to go on to a multitude of different jobs.
:11:12. > :11:15.We do need, this is the real challenge. Why should you get to
:11:15. > :11:21.decide what goes into A-levels? do need a range of qualifications,
:11:21. > :11:25.and we have quite a few, actually, that equips students for different
:11:25. > :11:29.schools in life. We have a right to be -- skills in life, we have a
:11:29. > :11:32.right to be concerned about A- levels that are supposedly trying
:11:32. > :11:37.to equip students to go on to our courses. It doesn't mean that I
:11:37. > :11:44.don't care about other courses and student that is won't go to Russell
:11:44. > :11:48.Group universities, I'm hone anything on a problem that we are
:11:48. > :11:52.having. Which you appear to accept, they do have a problem? The problem
:11:52. > :11:56.very often in these things is politicians coming out with their
:11:56. > :11:59.latest wheeze that they dreamt up in the shower. This is a politician
:11:59. > :12:03.getting out of the business, saying it is not his job? Very interesting
:12:03. > :12:09.you say that. I believe it when I see it. The fact of the matter,
:12:09. > :12:12.he's actually handing over to elite universities, called elite
:12:12. > :12:17.universities, that he happens to trust, rather than a broader
:12:17. > :12:24.university. So he's putting, he's also, injure me putting Ofqual in a
:12:24. > :12:29.position, that we tried to get away from, being the designer and
:12:29. > :12:31.regulator of these exams. Can I make a point about taking
:12:31. > :12:35.responsibility for A-level, I don't think universities at the moment
:12:35. > :12:40.have the resources to take over, as you say, A-levels. We have a core
:12:40. > :12:44.business of teaching undergraduates, who will be, by the way, even more
:12:44. > :12:47.demanding, when they are paying �9,000 a year. So we have a lot of
:12:47. > :12:52.prioritisation that is going on to make sure they are getting a
:12:52. > :12:59.fantastic education. Plus, we also do some research. So just to caveat
:12:59. > :13:03.here. Let this young man get a word in edgeways. You run a tutoring
:13:03. > :13:06.business. Do you have clients that come to your tutoring business, who
:13:06. > :13:10.are young people, gone to university, having done A-levels
:13:10. > :13:14.and can't cope? Absolutely. We see that not only in what the students
:13:14. > :13:18.are saying, but what the universities are doing. Quite a lot
:13:18. > :13:21.of universities now spend much of their first year teaching stuff
:13:21. > :13:25.that should have been taught at A- level. We talk about what Wendy was
:13:25. > :13:29.talking about, saving money, that seems like a huge waste of money
:13:29. > :13:32.for the taxpayer to be spending a third of a university course
:13:32. > :13:36.teaching stuff which, in some cases, should have been taught at A-level.
:13:36. > :13:41.That is a very familiar argument, I have heard that from loads of
:13:41. > :13:46.academics? It was politicians, starting with Ken Baker, who
:13:46. > :13:52.actually introduced more testing assessment, right through the lives
:13:53. > :13:58.of these students. A very onerous Ofsted inspection system, and on
:13:58. > :14:01.top of that, a system that gives teachers no ability to teach.
:14:01. > :14:04.was between both parties you have managed to really damage the
:14:04. > :14:10.education system? Politicians should keep out of education as far
:14:10. > :14:14.as possible. That is what my ten years of experience does. That is
:14:14. > :14:18.exactly what Michael Gove is doing? He says he's doing it, seeing it is
:14:18. > :14:24.believing it. He has only written a letter, that we have sight of,
:14:24. > :14:27.writing a letter to express an intention of getting out of this
:14:27. > :14:33.prescriptive business, you are criticising him? I don't believe
:14:33. > :14:36.him, I know Michael Gove, Michael now has the most centralised,
:14:36. > :14:40.powerful Department of Education this country has ever had, you can
:14:40. > :14:45.forget localism and devolution, it is the most powerful education
:14:46. > :14:49.department in the history of this country. He has got rid of Local
:14:49. > :14:52.Education Authorities. Who will lose out? Usually it is the
:14:52. > :14:56.students who lose out, when politicians get involved, yet again,
:14:56. > :14:59.with a new fashion and a new fad. Let's not argue about whether he's
:15:00. > :15:04.getting involved or getting out. What do you think will be the
:15:04. > :15:08.effect of this proposal? That is the one disadvantage I can see to
:15:08. > :15:13.this, since 2000 I was one of the first years where AS was brought in.
:15:13. > :15:17.I think there has been a new reform pretty much every single year, if
:15:17. > :15:22.it does go ahead, I would like to see it as a simplification, rather
:15:22. > :15:25.than a more complication to the A- level system. Just to go back to
:15:25. > :15:29.what Barry was just saying there I'm not a spokes plan for the
:15:30. > :15:34.Conservative Party at all, I do think his moves in the schools --
:15:34. > :15:38.spokesperson for the Conservative Party at all, I do think his moves
:15:38. > :15:43.for schools liberating them from the education authority, there is
:15:43. > :15:47.muscle in this letter. We will see what comes out. The proof of the
:15:47. > :15:51.pudding. Let's hope it works out. Hopefully students will be the
:15:51. > :15:56.winners. Everybody hopes it works out, of course they do!
:15:56. > :15:59.It was a sight see, if not all of her supporters, was confident one
:15:59. > :16:02.day she would see. Aung San Suu Kyi's victory in Burmese elections
:16:02. > :16:05.isn't the end of the story, the vote was only a by-election, and
:16:06. > :16:11.power remains in the hands of the bunch of generals and retired
:16:11. > :16:15.generals who control, and indeed, own, much of Burma. They want
:16:15. > :16:22.international sanctionss lifted, and maybe the election result will
:16:22. > :16:26.help -- sanctionss lifted, and maybe the election result will help.
:16:26. > :16:30.One of the surprising things to happen over the last few hours is
:16:30. > :16:38.the Government has used state TV to announce that Aung San Suu Kyi's
:16:38. > :16:41.party, the NLD, have won 40 seats. The NLD say they have won 436789
:16:41. > :16:46.the Government always said they would take days to confirm the
:16:46. > :16:49.result, it is as if they can no longer hide the size of heroin.
:16:49. > :16:54.Aung San Suu Kyi was mobbed when she arrived at party headquarters
:16:54. > :16:56.today, she urged calm. It is a delicate situation. She spoke of
:16:56. > :17:01.national reconciliation. We hope that this will be the beginning of
:17:01. > :17:06.a new era, where there will be more emphasis on the role of the people
:17:07. > :17:11.in the every day politics of our country. We also hope that we will
:17:12. > :17:14.be able to go further along the road towards national
:17:15. > :17:18.reconciliation. Aung San Suu Kyi there, choosing
:17:18. > :17:23.her words carefully. She has the support of the President, who she
:17:23. > :17:27.believes is a true reformer. He needs her to add respectability to
:17:27. > :17:31.his Government, in the hope that sanctions might be lifted on Burma.
:17:31. > :17:36.The unknown is the army, and how far they will go along the path
:17:36. > :17:40.towards a true democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi says everything is very
:17:40. > :17:43.fragile, and reversible, indeed, I spent the last few days in Burma,
:17:43. > :17:53.looking at the reforms which the Government claimed to have
:17:53. > :18:02.
:18:02. > :18:10.implemented so far. They really Burma has an unchanging quality.
:18:10. > :18:14.The beauty of the country, spirituality, and the misfortune of
:18:14. > :18:22.these gentle people to be bullied by a cruel military regime. But
:18:22. > :18:26.change has taken place in that last respect. And, at breathtaking speed.
:18:26. > :18:30.There have been elections, there is a parliament, and the opposition
:18:30. > :18:33.leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is about to take a seat there. But is that
:18:33. > :18:37.parliament any more than just a talking shop in a country where the
:18:37. > :18:43.army makes all the real decisions. And Aung San Suu Kyi, is she being
:18:43. > :18:52.used by the Government to gain legitimacy in the outside world?
:18:52. > :18:57.How real is change in Burma? # Let's dance together
:18:57. > :19:01.# Can you hear me Burma is definitely changing. There
:19:02. > :19:05.is a girl band recently formed, Myanmar Girls, a pun on the name
:19:05. > :19:09.for the country used by the Government.
:19:09. > :19:14.Spice Girls wannabes, who express all the frustrations of the younger
:19:14. > :19:18.generation, cut off from the rest of the world. What do you really,
:19:18. > :19:24.really want? You know, we are concerned with music, that's all.
:19:24. > :19:28.In our country music is really slow to follow, to be international,
:19:28. > :19:33.that is why everybody has to know about it, all kinds of music and
:19:33. > :19:37.have to support the music which is really cool. It is hard to say what
:19:37. > :19:41.democracy is, we have never been, we just heard about it, we have
:19:41. > :19:46.never seen it. Because we were under military Government, and we
:19:46. > :19:52.have to do what they want to do, and we can't do what they don't
:19:52. > :19:55.want. Perhaps because they don't push the
:19:55. > :20:00.barriers in a political way, the Government censorship board has
:20:00. > :20:08.been so far relaxed. They go as far as they can with the outfits, but
:20:08. > :20:11.have been warned that their shirts must not be too revealing.
:20:11. > :20:14.Things haven't been so easy for others in Burma, like those who
:20:14. > :20:21.believe it when the Government claims it wants to relax controls
:20:21. > :20:25.on the media, and promote workers' rights.
:20:25. > :20:29.Every Saturday, a messenger arrives at the Myanmar Times, a weekly
:20:29. > :20:35.published in English and Burmese. He comes for the Ministry of
:20:35. > :20:40.Information, with instructions on what can and, more worryingly,
:20:40. > :20:45.cannot be included in the paper. An article on the front page on
:20:45. > :20:50.corruption in Government has to go. So what's the matter with that
:20:50. > :20:54.article there? It is about the labour union, which is really
:20:54. > :21:02.really sensitive to-to-them. can't write about labour unions?
:21:02. > :21:07.Not every time, sometimes we can. Mostly they can't.
:21:07. > :21:11.In another office in Rangoon, a lawyer is equally confused about
:21:11. > :21:16.the new you laws, supposed to allow strikes under trade unions. He's
:21:16. > :21:20.trying to help workers from a shoe factory. They work eight-hour days,
:21:20. > :21:27.six days a week, for less than a dollar a day. They want to strike
:21:27. > :21:31.and to form a trade union. Their representative shows me how
:21:31. > :21:35.they have designed a logo, showing the boot of oppression, from which
:21:35. > :21:39.they are fighting free to form a trade union. But they won't let us,
:21:39. > :21:47.she saying, they say they can only form a workers' organisation.
:21:47. > :21:50.What's the difference? TRANSLATION: We have to have new labour laws in
:21:50. > :21:54.this country, that give rights to workers. The Government knows they
:21:54. > :22:00.have to accept this, if they are going to encourage investment from
:22:00. > :22:03.abroad. They say we can form workers' organisations, but they
:22:03. > :22:06.don't want us to form real trade unions, so workers, like these
:22:07. > :22:15.ladies, can't link up with the international trade union movement
:22:15. > :22:23.abroad. This man is not too worried that he
:22:23. > :22:27.has problems with his TV set, it just needs hitting now and then!
:22:27. > :22:31.Myanmar radio and television, the state broadcasting channel, isn't
:22:31. > :22:36.worth watching, he says, you don't hear anything about real issues,
:22:36. > :22:40.nothing about labour disputes or demonstrations.
:22:40. > :22:44.He was an undercover radio journalist for a satellite TV
:22:44. > :22:48.company operating from abroad. He was sentenced to 17 years in jail
:22:48. > :22:55.after the 2007 uprising. He was released in January, along with
:22:55. > :22:59.hundreds of others, as part of the Government reforms.
:22:59. > :23:03.TRANSLATION: When the Saffron Revolution happened, we took these
:23:03. > :23:08.pictures to show the outside world what was really happening in Burma.
:23:08. > :23:12.How the amongst led the people in revolt, and we told how hundreds of
:23:12. > :23:17.us were imprisoned or fled abroad. Nothing like this is ever on state
:23:17. > :23:20.TV. It is still forbidden to talk about the existing political
:23:20. > :23:26.prisoners. Most people don't even know there are still political
:23:26. > :23:31.prisoners, the wife of one tells me, nervous that we are being watched.
:23:31. > :23:34.When strangers visit her, men from ministry intelligence come and
:23:35. > :23:41.question her neighbours, it makes her anxious, she explains. Her son
:23:41. > :23:44.says there is someone snooping around outside, he locks the door.
:23:44. > :23:50.TRANSLATION: They always come at night when they arrest my husband,
:23:50. > :23:54.eight times in all, the last time was in 2007. We always kept his bag
:23:54. > :24:02.prepared, because we never knew when they would arrive, or where
:24:02. > :24:06.they would take him. What was your husband's crime? He was
:24:06. > :24:09.TRANSLATION: He was arrested for being involved in politics, for
:24:09. > :24:13.supporting Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the NLD, and working for human
:24:13. > :24:18.rights. I have no idea when I'm going to see him again, only those
:24:18. > :24:22.who arrested him know. Journalists and foreign observers
:24:22. > :24:26.were allowed into Burma for the by- elections, but in so many other
:24:26. > :24:31.respects the Government's reform programme doesn't add up to much.
:24:31. > :24:33.Senior members of her own party have questioned her decision to
:24:33. > :24:37.stand. REPORTER: Are you not worried that you are being used by
:24:37. > :24:41.the Government to give it legitimacy? I keep being asked
:24:41. > :24:45.whether I'm not afraid of being used, I have always said if I'm
:24:46. > :24:48.going to be used for the sake of the nation, that's fine by me.
:24:48. > :24:52.assured us she wants to introduce changes to the country, like the
:24:52. > :24:57.rule of law, and the eradication of poverty.
:24:57. > :25:04.Her own constituency, spread over a wide area of the Irrawaddy Delta,
:25:04. > :25:11.would be a good place to start. It was devastated by Cyclone Nargis
:25:11. > :25:15.four years ago. This man says they all have to go to the jungle and
:25:15. > :25:19.cut the bamboo to rebuild their houses.
:25:19. > :25:24.Bamboo is the only thing they have here in any quantity.
:25:24. > :25:31.The Government gave us nothing, he says, only a local businessman
:25:31. > :25:34.helped by giving us some rice. He lives in a village typical of
:25:34. > :25:38.rural Burma, with no running water or electricity. The Burmese
:25:38. > :25:44.Government spends a tiny fraction of its revenue on education and
:25:44. > :25:49.health and it shows. TRANSLATION: Life is a struggle, we
:25:49. > :25:53.only eat if we can find a day's work. We try to save money to send
:25:53. > :25:58.the children to school, if one of them gets ill, we need money to pay
:25:58. > :26:01.for a doctor. To my astonishment, in this village, in possibly the
:26:01. > :26:08.most famous constituency in the country, few people knew anything
:26:08. > :26:12.about the elections. TRANSLATION: heard something on a radio. It is
:26:12. > :26:16.as if the Government doesn't exist here. At the Government party
:26:16. > :26:22.headquarters, in the local town, they wouldn't let me in to talk, I
:26:22. > :26:30.wanted to ask them why the Government spends so little on its
:26:30. > :26:33.people. But locals here are more aware.
:26:33. > :26:38.This man says the Government gives them nothing, they are always
:26:38. > :26:42.cheating and always rigging and always lying.
:26:42. > :26:49.This woman says she voted for Aung San Suu Kyi, because she suffered
:26:49. > :26:53.and sacrificed so much, we believe she might help us.
:26:53. > :26:57.Burma's President, Thein Sein, was head of the relief team after the
:26:57. > :27:00.cyclone, that killed more than 100,000 people here. The
:27:00. > :27:05.Government's inability to cope with a disaster, was, people tell you,
:27:05. > :27:11.the wake-up call for him. Alerting him to the country's desoperate
:27:11. > :27:14.need for development. Which means putting Burma's huge wealth, in
:27:14. > :27:18.Jade, precious stones, timber, oil and gas, to a use other than just
:27:18. > :27:23.making the generals rich, and this is where the election of Aung San
:27:23. > :27:27.Suu Kyi fits in to the Government's plans.
:27:27. > :27:31.The currency here, the kyat, is being floated from today, to
:27:31. > :27:35.encourage foreign investment. Now that Aung San Suu Kyi can enter
:27:35. > :27:43.parliament, the Government hopes that sanctions will be lifted.
:27:43. > :27:46.The European Union is to debate the issue later this month.
:27:46. > :27:50.At a party in Rangoon, I'm introduced to people by name and
:27:50. > :27:54.then by the number of years they were sentenced to jail. This is the
:27:54. > :27:59.elite of the generation of 1988, the revolt that started the
:27:59. > :28:05.campaign for democracy, and which launched Aung San Suu Kyi.
:28:05. > :28:11.You were sentenced to 55 years, and this lady here? And you too, for 55
:28:11. > :28:15.years. 65. Between them they spent hundreds of years in jail, most
:28:15. > :28:25.were released only weeks ago. What do they expect of the international
:28:25. > :28:27.
:28:27. > :28:30.community now? This woman served 12 years in prison. TRANSLATION:
:28:30. > :28:32.European Union should look at the true situation here, and force the
:28:32. > :28:36.Government to implement the reform process, and bring about a better
:28:36. > :28:42.Government in the interests of the people. Jimmy spent 15 years in
:28:42. > :28:46.jail. TRANSLATION: I don't agree with
:28:46. > :28:49.lifting sanctions, partial lifting would be OK, but only after the
:28:49. > :28:52.remaining political prisoners have been released, and the ethnic
:28:52. > :28:55.conflicts have ended. Only when there is true national
:28:55. > :28:58.reconciliation in the country, and the constitution has been amended
:28:58. > :29:08.to allow full parliamentary democracy, only then should all
:29:08. > :29:13.
:29:13. > :29:17.For now, there is rejoicing in Burma, that there has been a
:29:17. > :29:23.genuine political breakthrough here. The country's opposition party and
:29:23. > :29:27.their leader now have a voice in parliament.
:29:27. > :29:34.These people now hope that the momentum will keep going, and will
:29:34. > :29:38.bring about real change. We will have more from Sue Lloyd
:29:38. > :29:41.Roberts in Burma tomorrow. We learned from George Osborne's
:29:41. > :29:45.budget, that he's planning to reduce the welfare bill by a
:29:45. > :29:48.further �10 billion, and cutting welfare is politically popular. Why
:29:48. > :29:51.should people pay taxes to support people who could earn their own
:29:51. > :29:55.living. But are people genuinely unfit to
:29:55. > :29:58.work, being treated unfairly, to please the mob?
:29:58. > :30:02.The chief executive of the mental health charity, Mind, seems to
:30:02. > :30:05.think so. He has resigned as an adviser to the Government body
:30:05. > :30:09.trying to determine how many are claiming benefit when they ought to
:30:09. > :30:19.be working. I will be talking to him shortly first, Susan Watts
:30:19. > :30:20.
:30:20. > :30:24.The world of mental illness is an uncomfortable one to enter, for
:30:24. > :30:27.those who have not experienced it directly.
:30:27. > :30:32.How a professional or sufferer sees things is likely to be very
:30:32. > :30:36.different from the way a politician might.
:30:36. > :30:43.She asked us if I go to the doctors, and so on. But then never asked
:30:43. > :30:49.anything about my mental health at all. Paul Brown is a keen
:30:49. > :30:58.photographer, he was signed off work as an IT consultant six years
:30:58. > :31:05.ago as -- but was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and
:31:05. > :31:09.tried to take his life last year. He had receiving Incapacity Benefit
:31:09. > :31:14.of �90 a week, until an assessment three week ago. It was a case if I
:31:14. > :31:19.was able bodied more than anything else. She never asked about my mood
:31:19. > :31:28.swings, about the medication I'm on, about the psychiatric care and so
:31:28. > :31:32.on. After about 10-15 minutes she said that was all. Then about two
:31:32. > :31:38.weeks, three weeks later, I received a letter saying they were
:31:38. > :31:42.terminateing my benefit, because in their opinion, I was fit to work.
:31:42. > :31:51.Paul Brown was reassessed as part of the Work Capability Assessment,
:31:51. > :31:55.introduced under Labour, a French company called ATOS, won a
:31:55. > :31:59.multimillion pound contract to reassess capability. A scrutiny
:31:59. > :32:03.panel was monitoring this, this panel included Paul Farmer, the
:32:03. > :32:07.chief executive of the mental health charity, Mind N his
:32:07. > :32:11.resignation letter, Mr Farmer said that problems are seriously
:32:11. > :32:17.underestimated, and the process does not assess people's mental
:32:17. > :32:27.health, and one in four assessments were incorrect. The res letter
:32:27. > :32:55.
:32:55. > :32:58.In his reply, the Employment The Government says that so far
:32:59. > :33:03.more than a third of people going through reassessment have been
:33:03. > :33:08.found fit for work. But at what cost? To be honest with
:33:08. > :33:16.you, I was contemplating suicide again, once I got the rejection.
:33:16. > :33:19.You just feel hopeless, you just feel inadequate. You are basically
:33:19. > :33:24.not wanted. The man who resigned today, Paul
:33:24. > :33:28.Farmer, chief executive of Mind, is here now to talk about his decision,
:33:28. > :33:31.along with Neil O'Brien, from Policy Exchange, that is the think-
:33:31. > :33:34.tank. He's broadly supportive of the Government as approach to
:33:34. > :33:38.reducing the number of welfare claimants. You don't think the
:33:38. > :33:42.Government is being intentionally cruel? No, I think the problem here
:33:42. > :33:46.is that they don't really understand the impact of this test
:33:46. > :33:51.on people. The test which just simply isn't working. 50% of people
:33:51. > :33:56.are appealing against this test, and 50% of those appeals are being
:33:56. > :34:01.upheld. So the system works? It is not working at all. If half of the
:34:01. > :34:05.appeals are upheld, it is working? No, because the appeals are against
:34:05. > :34:09.the original claims, people are being found fit for work, somebody
:34:09. > :34:14.like Paul, doesn't agree with it, and then there is an appeal. The
:34:14. > :34:19.appeals system is costing us �50 million a year, in order to be able
:34:19. > :34:23.to be implemented. We saw an advertisment just last week,
:34:23. > :34:28.advertising for 150 more judges to hear these appeals. What we really
:34:28. > :34:33.want to do is get the test right in the first place, so we don't have
:34:33. > :34:37.so many appeals. I don't quite know how you will do that since you have
:34:37. > :34:39.quit the process supposedly reviewing it? We have made a number
:34:39. > :34:42.of recommendation about how that can be changed. Those
:34:42. > :34:47.recommendations are there to be implemented. We are frustrated
:34:47. > :34:51.about the slowness of pace. What is your take on this? The Government
:34:51. > :34:55.are gradually trying to improve these tests, they have made a lot
:34:55. > :34:59.of changes after an independent review. We need to remind ourselves
:34:59. > :35:04.why we need the test. For new claimants, we are finding six out
:35:04. > :35:08.of ten people are found completely fit to work, another two out of ten
:35:08. > :35:11.people are found fit to work in the future, only two out of ten are put
:35:12. > :35:19.into the support group. If the test wasn't here, a huge number of
:35:19. > :35:22.people would be waved throughen to benefit they don't need. You spend
:35:22. > :35:26.a huge amount of money that should be on more severely handicapped
:35:26. > :35:30.people. If you park people on benefits and say you will never
:35:30. > :35:35.work again, you are not capable of anything, we are only interested in
:35:35. > :35:40.what you can do rather than you can -- cannot you do, rather than what
:35:40. > :35:45.you can do. The suicide rate is higher, and people get worse.
:35:45. > :35:48.does make a lot of sense that, Paul Farmer, presumably you believe in
:35:48. > :35:53.getting people off benefits if they can be? We know lots of people with
:35:53. > :35:57.mental health problems do want to work. Those statistics that Neil
:35:58. > :36:03.quotes are from people who are newly on to the test. As he said.
:36:03. > :36:07.Yes, a group of people,.2 million people, who have been on inxas --
:36:07. > :36:10.1.2 million people who have been Incapacity Benefit for a long
:36:10. > :36:14.period of time. They haven't had any support, they are put on to the
:36:14. > :36:18.test at a point when there is no chance of them finding work.
:36:18. > :36:22.there a difficult with people having mental as opposed to fiscal
:36:22. > :36:27.problems? I think there are three - - Physical problems? I think there
:36:27. > :36:31.are three problems, it is harder to get jobs, the stigma with mental
:36:31. > :36:35.health, the test itself doesn't understand the issues around mental
:36:35. > :36:39.health problems. The assessors are poorly trained in mental health as
:36:39. > :36:46.an issue, you are more likely to get the wrong kind of outcome, that
:36:46. > :36:50.will conversely impact on people's self-esteem. That chap we saw in
:36:50. > :36:53.the tape, he made the point, didn't he? This is not an easy thing to do
:36:53. > :36:58.at all. The Government have made a number of changes in this direction,
:36:58. > :37:02.they have brought in more people with mental health specialisms and
:37:02. > :37:06.the like, you are haggling how fast these things are going, there is
:37:06. > :37:08.talk about a gold standard about issues going forward. You don't
:37:08. > :37:13.think they are going fast enough and there is no pressure to go on.
:37:13. > :37:16.We can have a debate about how it should work. As a sensitive human
:37:16. > :37:19.being, conceding this in the previous point, you support the
:37:19. > :37:23.principle that people who are incapable of work, because they are
:37:23. > :37:27.unwell, unmit fit, have mental problems, or physical problems,
:37:27. > :37:32.they should be allowed to stay on benefits, shouldn't they? What
:37:32. > :37:38.makes this thing so tough is that you have to be clear about not
:37:38. > :37:42.taking people off this benefit who need it, who have genuine mental
:37:42. > :37:47.health problems. It is harder than physical problems, you can't people
:37:47. > :37:52.in the system saying they have a bad back, no sick tomorrows, but I
:37:52. > :37:55.just want to claim benefits. It is the main route for gaming the
:37:55. > :38:00.system, so you have to say no sometimes, it is tough. This talk
:38:00. > :38:05.George Osborne went in for, of taking another �10 billion out, is
:38:05. > :38:08.it doable? If I was trying to take out another �10 billion, the place
:38:08. > :38:12.I would concentrate is on jobseeker's allowance, people
:38:12. > :38:15.capable for work. There is so much more to be done there. I would
:38:15. > :38:20.firstly look at people's needs at the start of the claim, we don't do
:38:20. > :38:24.that well enough. And people longer term on the benefit, more demanding
:38:25. > :38:29.work requirements, something more like workfare like they have in
:38:29. > :38:33.Canada and Australia and places like that. You don't do it by
:38:33. > :38:37.making the benefits system less generous, but by moving people out
:38:37. > :38:42.of benefits all together and into work. Paul Farmer, do you have a
:38:43. > :38:46.sense that this is, in a way, an easy target, for the Government?
:38:46. > :38:49.Clearly we're all massively in doubt, everyone is paying large
:38:49. > :38:53.amounts of tax, do you think this is an easy place to look for
:38:53. > :38:57.savings? I think for too long people haven't heard that voice of
:38:57. > :39:03.people with mental health problems, who are extreme low distressed
:39:03. > :39:09.about this situation. So in some aspects of the media's eyes, people
:39:09. > :39:12.on benefits are lumped together into a single package without any
:39:12. > :39:17.recognition of the nuances around this. People are too much of an
:39:17. > :39:20.easy target, we will see the consequences of this, in terms of
:39:20. > :39:23.increased hospital additions and increased cost to the NHS. Some
:39:23. > :39:28.people, who would really like to work, just feeling, yet again, as
:39:28. > :39:32.though they haven't been treated properly.
:39:32. > :39:37.Pickled shark, a diamond-encrusted skull, rotting meat and emerging
:39:37. > :39:41.butterflies, the quick-fire summary of Damien Hirst's artistic career,
:39:41. > :39:45.or his ability to induce rich people to part with millions for a
:39:45. > :39:50.gimmick is easily told. If you have ever wondered what the fuss was
:39:50. > :39:55.about, you can decide for yourself, at the Tate Modern gallery in
:39:55. > :39:59.London, he has been given a retrospective to run through the
:39:59. > :40:02.Olympics. His most outspoken recent critic who thinks it is all a con,
:40:02. > :40:12.hadn't been allowed in when I went down this morning, luckily I was,
:40:12. > :40:33.
:40:33. > :40:39.I read an interview in which you described some of your work as
:40:39. > :40:44."shit". Shit? You used the word "shit", is there any work here that
:40:44. > :40:47.is shit? I have sent a text to Jeff Koons recently, and I said "I love
:40:47. > :40:53.your shit", and I meant it in a positive way. I have a studio where
:40:53. > :40:57.I make lots of shit, you have to be able to make shit. You know, this
:40:57. > :41:02.is definitely an edited version of what I do. You can be brutal in the
:41:02. > :41:07.way you look at it, you could say everything is shit except for four
:41:07. > :41:12.pieces or ten pieces. Do you wonder what state of mind you were in when
:41:12. > :41:16.you went through different phases? It is always the, art work is
:41:16. > :41:20.refined, it is not often you make an art work in a moment. It is a
:41:20. > :41:26.culmination of a few moments. They all, everything in here seems like
:41:26. > :41:30.me. You know what the accusation against you is? There is a few,
:41:30. > :41:34.aren't there. The main one is that you are more preoccupied with money
:41:34. > :41:38.than art? I think I have thought a lot about that. I think money is
:41:38. > :41:42.important, I think that's, as an artist, you have always got to make
:41:42. > :41:46.sure that your main preoccupation is art and not money. It gets
:41:46. > :41:50.dangerously close sometimes, that is the, the most important factor
:41:50. > :41:54.is the art survives and the money doesn't. The money, you know, I
:41:54. > :41:57.know anything in the world is worth, if two people have got a lot of
:41:57. > :42:01.money and they want to buy something, it will sell for a lot
:42:01. > :42:05.of money. Money isn't real, and art is. Money comes and goes. You have
:42:05. > :42:08.to make art to survive, money being attached to it and unattached from
:42:08. > :42:12.it. You think this will survive? hope it will. You make art for
:42:12. > :42:15.people who haven't been born yet, it is not for us to decide. I can
:42:15. > :42:19.schmooze all the big directors of all the big museums in the world
:42:19. > :42:26.and get my work in there, but if the next museum director doesn't
:42:26. > :42:33.like it, it will be dusty and stay in the loft. You google you, and
:42:33. > :42:37.what comes up is "richest living artist", richest artist in history",
:42:37. > :42:40.that suggests to people that you are more preoccupied with how the
:42:40. > :42:45.market works rather than finding new ways of seeing? I think you
:42:45. > :42:49.have to say, I always said I don't care about money, I did when I was
:42:50. > :42:53.young, I didn't have any money. sure as hell care about it now?
:42:53. > :42:56.After I did my auction, I was walking down the streets, and the
:42:56. > :43:01.businessmen were saying, that's Damien Hirst, before it was only
:43:01. > :43:06.their wives to do it. It is no bad thing. When I started off, I had a
:43:06. > :43:13.guy standing in front of the fish piece saying this is art, with a
:43:13. > :43:17.bag of chips. It is hard to survive with art without money. As long as
:43:17. > :43:22.I trust art is more important than money. I still believe art is the
:43:22. > :43:26.most powerful currency in the world. That is why people pay so much for
:43:26. > :43:30.it. When I sold something for a million pound it shocked the hell
:43:30. > :43:33.out of me, I are thinking, is it worth it, value and wealth are
:43:33. > :43:37.completely different things to money. You try to make art that can
:43:37. > :43:41.survive not being seen, not being looked at, not having any attention,
:43:41. > :43:44.and art that will also survive, big money and everything. You look at
:43:44. > :43:47.your spot paintings, there is a team of people making them, there
:43:47. > :43:51.is vast numbers of them, that is about money, isn't it? No, you have
:43:51. > :43:55.to put it on the wall. I always think with the spot paintings f I
:43:55. > :43:59.left it outside a pub at the end of the night, would it still be there
:43:59. > :44:02.the next day. If some drunk guy took it home, it is a great
:44:02. > :44:07.painting. It doesn't matter how much money it sells for. The
:44:07. > :44:11.question is, you can sell shit to people, you can't sell shit to
:44:11. > :44:16.people. Somebody said to me recently that you could sell shit
:44:16. > :44:19.to people. I think, why would I, when I can sell great things. You
:44:19. > :44:23.put the spot painting on the wall, and people go, wow, I can't think
:44:23. > :44:27.what else you would like on the wall. Art is leisure, that is the
:44:27. > :44:31.difficult thing, if you haven't got any money, you won't buy art, and
:44:31. > :44:35.you won't want it, if you haven't got food. We are not living in
:44:35. > :44:42.caves. If it is not even made by you? I mean, in the whole History
:44:42. > :44:48.of Art, artist s have I know what I want, architects don't build their
:44:48. > :44:53.own houses. I mean, nobody painted their own. Builders build houses,
:44:53. > :44:58.architects design houses, are you designer, rather than a painter?
:44:58. > :45:02.feel like an architect, really. A good architect gets 100% of what
:45:03. > :45:10.they want. I'm making a new show, where I'm having things carved in
:45:10. > :45:13.marble, the guys kafrbg them, they can -- carving them, they can carve
:45:13. > :45:17.one sculpture, it takes two years, I can't take the time to learn to
:45:17. > :45:21.carve, I know what I want it to look like, and I can make it
:45:21. > :45:24.perfect, using these guys. It has never been a problem for me in art,
:45:24. > :45:27.it is amazing we are having this conversation. You know why we are
:45:27. > :45:31.having this conversation, because there are only two questions the
:45:31. > :45:36.media ever ask about art, one, is it worth it, and two, is it art, we
:45:36. > :45:40.haven't got on to the question, is it art, we will get on to that in a
:45:40. > :45:44.second, if we may, if you have time. What is your definition of art?
:45:44. > :45:48.Somebody asked me that the other day, if it is in an art gallery, it
:45:48. > :45:53.is art. I think anything done well is art. Anything? Anything done
:45:53. > :45:58.well. I'm thinking if you can take it out, it is like a mathematical
:45:58. > :46:02.sum, one plus one equals three, a great car is art, if it is done.
:46:02. > :46:09.Anything that just takes it out of the normal world and into the
:46:09. > :46:15.magical world, something magical is art. You can say art, any child
:46:15. > :46:20.does a drawing and gives it to you, that is art. A great meal can be
:46:20. > :46:23.art. That is what I think it is, I just think it is anything done,
:46:24. > :46:27.anything where the ingredients you put into it are less than the thing
:46:27. > :46:32.that comes out of the thing the other side. Doesn't it necessarily
:46:32. > :46:36.have to show you something new, or at los a new way of looking at the
:46:36. > :46:40.familiar? -- los a new way of looking at the familiar? Art does
:46:40. > :46:46.that, a tree falling down will do that, outside your house, you will
:46:46. > :46:51.go outside, and je tus Christ, what is that, and you look at it as a
:46:51. > :46:55.different way. You wouldn't say that is art? I'm disagreeing but.
:46:55. > :46:59.Art is magic, theatrical magic as well. It has to be man made? Art is
:46:59. > :47:04.made by artists, of course, I remember once when I was younger,
:47:04. > :47:09.they don't have it any more, I put occupation on my passport, I said
:47:09. > :47:15.artist, it was great, I can prove it, I'm an artist. At the same time,
:47:15. > :47:22.when I was an art student, I went to the bank manage Tory get a loan,
:47:22. > :47:32.and I he asked what I z and I said artist, and he rolled his eyes.
:47:32. > :47:39.wouldn't do that now? I get Christmas cards off him now.
:47:39. > :47:48.have taken an enormous fly spray down to show Hirst butterflies, the
:47:48. > :47:53.physical impossibility of someone Good evening, we have a Met Office
:47:53. > :47:56.amber warning out for heavy snow across parts of Scotland into the
:47:56. > :48:00.morning. Causing disruption into central and eastern areas, that is
:48:00. > :48:05.working its way southwards, allowing dry but colder conditions
:48:05. > :48:10.in Scotland. Outbreaks of rain to the south of it. Some sleet and
:48:10. > :48:13.snow, given a covering over the tops the of the Pennines, after a
:48:13. > :48:20.largely dry start to the Midlands and southern England, we see rain
:48:20. > :48:23.develop. Very much hit and miss, staying largely dry across southern
:48:23. > :48:30.counties, a welcome sight for those areas suffering with drought. We
:48:30. > :48:33.will see the wind pick up during the day. In Wales will be going in
:48:33. > :48:36.a north-westerly direction. The colder air causing a bitter wind in
:48:36. > :48:40.Northern Ireland, clearing the morning's rain, sleet and snow. The
:48:40. > :48:45.snow clearing largely from southern parts of Scotland, further wintry
:48:45. > :48:48.showers to the north-east. Sunshine to the west, but the sunshine will
:48:48. > :48:51.not have much impact on the temperature, the wind will make it
:48:51. > :48:54.cold. Northern areas staying largely dry, temperatures
:48:54. > :48:59.struggling, given the strength of the wind after a frosty start. It
:48:59. > :49:02.is southern areas across England and Wales where we see more rain.
:49:02. > :49:05.As temperatures drop we will see sleet and snow, particularly over
:49:05. > :49:10.the higher ground, initial low, a covering of snow on the grass