:00:11. > :00:14.The examination system in England and Wales is supposed to be an
:00:14. > :00:18.independent measure of what our young people have learned in school.
:00:18. > :00:23.What credibility does it still have?
:00:23. > :00:27.In Cardiff, the Welsh Education Minister says he wants GCSE exam
:00:27. > :00:31.results regraded. The chair of the Education Select
:00:31. > :00:34.Committee in London says he just wants to find out what's happened,
:00:34. > :00:39.and meanwhile, the victims, or survivors of the exams, want to
:00:39. > :00:46.know they have been treated fairly. The havoc causeded in Italy by
:00:46. > :00:49.London banks, we reveal the way they sold almost incomprehensible
:00:49. > :00:53.financial products to Italian local authorities, and sank them further
:00:53. > :00:57.into debt. TRANSLATION: People need to wake up to what is going on or
:00:57. > :01:00.nothing will change. Banks threaten to take their capital out of
:01:00. > :01:05.countries if regulation comes in, but we need regulation, because
:01:05. > :01:09.these banks are plundering society. Reader, I divorced him, is it time
:01:09. > :01:17.the law was changed to limit the settlements when marriages fall
:01:17. > :01:23.apart? It has been 50 years, but at last The Weirdstone of Brisingamen
:01:23. > :01:28.of fantasy fiction is complete. What took the author, Robert Garner
:01:28. > :01:32.so long. I had enough of the two main character, I loathed their
:01:32. > :01:42.guts, because I had lived with them for eight years, and they hadn't
:01:42. > :01:44.
:01:44. > :01:50.moved on and I had. The secondary school examination
:01:50. > :01:54.system is a shambles, discuss. For various politicians and officials
:01:54. > :01:59.invited to answer this question gave different answers today. The
:02:00. > :02:04.Welsh Education Minister has ordered a regrading of the GCSE
:02:04. > :02:07.papers, the English being the case in point. His counterpart in
:02:07. > :02:11.England refuses to do so. The issues raised in fairness, about
:02:11. > :02:13.the rising standards, the vested interest in teacher unions, the
:02:13. > :02:17.regulation of the examination boards, about the nature of
:02:17. > :02:22.Government in a devolved system, are of post-graduate level
:02:22. > :02:26.complexity. I'm going in for my test now, it
:02:26. > :02:34.will be my eighth time, I'm not going to say I'm going to pass, I'm
:02:34. > :02:39.just going to say to myself I will try. Since Maureen shot to fame in
:02:39. > :02:43.Driving School, the national pass rate for driving tests has rarely
:02:43. > :02:48.changed, confidence in the system is high. Very different from GCSEs,
:02:48. > :02:52.where it seems this year examers without telling students or
:02:52. > :02:56.instructors, suddenly made the test harder to pass. Today the Education
:02:56. > :03:00.Select Committee was trying to find out how and why. Basically you
:03:00. > :03:03.should have had enough data and information to do this. You were
:03:03. > :03:07.already alert to the problems. Some how, we still find ourselves
:03:07. > :03:10.sitting here today. That must mean that you have failed somewhere to
:03:10. > :03:14.do what you should do in order to anticipate it. That's the
:03:14. > :03:18.allegation. I understand, the position is, as ever, a little bit
:03:18. > :03:25.more complicated than it first appears. So the foundation teir
:03:25. > :03:30.paper, of course it is an examination paper, an examination s
:03:30. > :03:36.is, by their very nature, different. A GCSE is not a driving test, but
:03:36. > :03:42.it is also testing basic skills, some would argue, the use of
:03:42. > :03:47.language. The paper, which on the face of it seem pretty straight
:03:47. > :03:54.forward, the marking has become complicated. Partly because of the
:03:54. > :03:59.new exam, but also because Ofqual has demanded comparable results,
:04:00. > :04:04.those that are on a par with previous years. It appears Ofqual
:04:04. > :04:07.intervened this summer, telling examers where to draw the lines.
:04:08. > :04:14.Ofqual's director of standards wrote to the Exam Board, worried
:04:14. > :04:19.the proportion of pupils awarded a C grade, would be 8% higher than
:04:19. > :04:24.predicted. They said it may require them to move grading boundaries
:04:24. > :04:27.more than required. The Exam Board fought back with their own analysis.
:04:27. > :04:31.They believed it to be compelling evidence that their award was fair.
:04:31. > :04:35.They didn't believe a further revision of the grade boundaries
:04:35. > :04:39.was justified. They did move their boundaries, though, as did the
:04:39. > :04:47.other boards. Many thousands of students got D were their teachers
:04:47. > :04:53.had predicted a C. We are, I think, in an uncomfortable position, in
:04:53. > :04:57.fairness terms. To cut you off, we have limited time left. I'm sure
:04:57. > :05:02.you are in an uncomfortable position, but this is about young
:05:02. > :05:06.people who sat this exam last year, who might not have achieved the A
:05:06. > :05:10.they received for future university prospects, or the C they needed in
:05:10. > :05:14.order to go forward and change their next studies. So, you
:05:14. > :05:18.actually acknowledge that it is not fair, some people got lucky, and it
:05:18. > :05:24.was tough on the rest. I'm not saying it was tough on the rest. We
:05:24. > :05:29.had a very careful look at June aid warding, June awarding of right.
:05:29. > :05:33.Michael Gove has often said he wants exams to be tougher, Glenys
:05:33. > :05:38.Stacey, whom he appointed, has denied any political interference.
:05:38. > :05:42.In Wales everything's different, the Education Minister's ordered
:05:42. > :05:47.GCSEs, set by the Welsh boards, to be regraded. Many in England sat
:05:47. > :05:52.those tests too, nothing will change for them. The academic, most
:05:52. > :05:57.critical of grade inflation, says this is dangerous deadlock. Most
:05:57. > :06:01.people's intertation of what a GCSE grade tells you about a person,
:06:01. > :06:06.whether they are qualified to go on to further study, or other things
:06:06. > :06:09.that employers might interpret from those grades, are just not
:06:09. > :06:12.consistent. You get one grade if you happen to live in England and a
:06:12. > :06:15.different grade if you happen to live in Wales, even though you did
:06:15. > :06:20.exactly the same exam, and it was marked the same way, and everything
:06:20. > :06:24.else about it was the same. I just can't see it surviving that.
:06:24. > :06:30.driving test has an absolute standard, there are no limits on
:06:30. > :06:37.how many people can get through each year, using limits, through
:06:37. > :06:41.comparable GCSE outcomes, is at the heart of the problems. Some say if
:06:41. > :06:46.you want to limit achievement, raise the standard, don't limit how
:06:46. > :06:50.many have passed. I'm sorry you have been unsuccessful. I will be
:06:50. > :06:55.speaking to two students who took the GCSE English exam in a moment.
:06:55. > :06:59.First, let as talk to the Welsh Education Minister, Leighton
:06:59. > :07:03.Andrews. You have asked for a regrading. How many students do you
:07:03. > :07:09.believe were unfairly treated? don't know the exact figures, but
:07:09. > :07:13.we suspect it will reach into hundreds in Wales. So, in order to
:07:14. > :07:22.make thatle kalation, you know where you suspect the boundary --
:07:22. > :07:25.calculation, you know where you suspect the boundary was. We had a
:07:25. > :07:29.thorough report from officials that looked at comparative performance,
:07:29. > :07:33.year on year, in Wales. There has been less change in terms of the
:07:33. > :07:39.exam specifications in Wales, than perhaps there has been in England.
:07:39. > :07:45.We think the boundary was, will have to move, we suspect it will
:07:45. > :07:51.result in a regrading, which will lift grades by, maybe, 2.5%,
:07:51. > :07:59.compared to what we had. How should it move, from what to what? What we
:07:59. > :08:02.are looking at, really, is the question of what levels the
:08:02. > :08:06.different grades should be set at. There has been too much focus on
:08:06. > :08:11.what happened in January and what happened in June. The real issue is
:08:11. > :08:15.what's going on around what is known in regulatory jargon, as
:08:15. > :08:20.comparable outcomes. The idea is, if you change exam specifications
:08:20. > :08:25.in a year, there should not be significant shift in the overall
:08:25. > :08:34.outcomes. Now, we don't believe that this year's results have seen
:08:34. > :08:37.that happen in Wales. We believe we have had something rather different
:08:37. > :08:40.from that. You know perfectly what is being said, it is that you are
:08:40. > :08:44.demanding this regrading, because, particularly under your regime, but
:08:44. > :08:49.for several years now, education in Wales has been getting worse and
:08:49. > :08:53.worse and worse and that is shown up in international surveys. What
:08:53. > :08:59.you're trying to do, is to massage the figures? You could argue that,
:08:59. > :09:02.Jeremy, if I was asking for a regrading in every Sue subject, in
:09:03. > :09:06.every GCSE. I'm focusing on one area where there is a problem. It
:09:06. > :09:10.is widely acknowledged there is a problem in GCSE English language.
:09:10. > :09:14.Michael Gove says the results are probably unfair. Head teachers
:09:14. > :09:18.throughout England and Wales say they are unfair. The Northern
:09:18. > :09:21.Ireland Education Minister has also asked for an inquiry into what has
:09:21. > :09:26.happened in one part of the exam system there. I think there is
:09:26. > :09:29.general recognition, there is a specific problem with relation to
:09:30. > :09:35.English language. But you accept that there may be other subjects in
:09:35. > :09:41.which it may be necessary, at some point, to demand a regrading?
:09:42. > :09:46.in this year. We think these are exceptional circumstances, it is
:09:46. > :09:51.not just us saying this. As I said, Michael Gove has said he thinks the
:09:51. > :09:54.results may have been unfair. But we have got head teachers in the
:09:54. > :10:00.state sector, we have head teachers in the private sector, all saying
:10:00. > :10:06.there is a problem with English language this year.
:10:06. > :10:10.If the outcome at the end of all of this is separate systems in England
:10:10. > :10:14.and Wales is that a good or bad thing? There is a separate system
:10:14. > :10:18.in Scotland, of course. The GCSE and A-levels are a three-country
:10:18. > :10:22.system, Northern Ireland, England and Wales much the Northern Ireland
:10:22. > :10:26.Education Minister, and I, have written jointly to Michael Gove,
:10:26. > :10:32.expressing our concerns about the number of statements he has made
:10:32. > :10:35.about GCSEs and A-levels. So, my question was, is it a
:10:35. > :10:40.desirable outcome if the end point of all of this is separate systems
:10:40. > :10:43.in England and Wales, the implication of your answer is, no,
:10:43. > :10:47.not necessarily? We have a proper qualifications review under way in
:10:47. > :10:51.Wales, which we start some months ago. That will report later this
:10:51. > :10:54.autumn. It has taken evidence from a wide variety of people throughout
:10:54. > :10:59.the United Kingdom, including the university sector. We are building
:10:59. > :11:04.up an evidence base, we will look at what they say. Thank you. We are
:11:04. > :11:11.joined now about two student who is find themselves either side of the
:11:11. > :11:19.great schism, Dakota Clarke who sat a GCSE in January, and Jack Coates
:11:19. > :11:26.who sat in the summer, and didn't. With them is the head of the
:11:26. > :11:32.Education Select Committee. Tell me what happened, then? We had been on
:11:32. > :11:37.task for our Cs, we had all worked very hard, we had put a lot of
:11:37. > :11:45.effort in, and when we opened our piece of paper and we saw we had
:11:45. > :11:50.got a D. Were you shocked? Very shocked and disappointed. You,
:11:50. > :11:53.sounds a bit rude, you scraped a C, effectively? Yeah. Were you
:11:53. > :11:57.pleased? I was very pleased. what do you think would have
:11:57. > :12:05.happened had you had to sit, that was in January, had you had to sit
:12:06. > :12:10.this summer, what would have happened? D. Probably and D or an E.
:12:10. > :12:14.You are a pretty lucky guy? Yes. you think you have been unfairly
:12:15. > :12:18.treated? Definitely. What has been the effect of not getting the C you
:12:18. > :12:23.wanted? I'm now set back a year, I have to go back to college just to
:12:23. > :12:26.retake my English so I can get my apprenticeship. You were going to
:12:26. > :12:30.get an apprenticeship, dependant on getting a C in English. You didn't
:12:30. > :12:35.get it, so you have to wait a year and retake the exam and get it then,
:12:35. > :12:39.we hope. That is a serious consequence, isn't it? Yeah.
:12:39. > :12:43.anyone explained to you, your teachers, about what might have
:12:43. > :12:49.happened? The teachers said I should have had a C as well. There
:12:49. > :12:54.was 19 kids in our school that didn't get the Cs. Your teachers
:12:54. > :12:59.might not have known, but they were wrong. What do you feel about the
:12:59. > :13:05.exam system now? I think it is wrong they have changed them from
:13:05. > :13:07.January to June, I think they should have starteded it from the
:13:07. > :13:13.beginning of this year, then it would have been fair for all the
:13:13. > :13:16.kids in year 11, last year. You are not disputing that they had a right
:13:16. > :13:21.to change the standards? No, I don't think they had the right to
:13:21. > :13:28.change it. You don't? No. But you have just said the argument was
:13:28. > :13:36.about timing? Yes. What do you make of all of this, you are having this
:13:36. > :13:40.big inquiry? It is a good thing to bring in those at the centre of it,
:13:40. > :13:43.young people, working hard, feeling disappointed. Trying to get to the
:13:43. > :13:48.bottom of it, a whole series of things has come together. The
:13:48. > :13:57.design of this exam, all the English exams this year were new,
:13:57. > :14:02.they were designed on this modual later basis, so you could take them
:14:02. > :14:08.in the year rather than linear events. Certain amounts of marks
:14:08. > :14:12.were allocated by the teachers to the pupils. Because of the nature
:14:12. > :14:16.of it, teachers thought they knew where the grade boundaries were,
:14:16. > :14:19.the exam bodies say there was a boosting of that marking,
:14:19. > :14:22.overmarking, perhaps informed by teachers who thought they knew
:14:22. > :14:27.where the boundary was. They were tending to offer higher marks. You
:14:27. > :14:30.have all this complexity. And within a system that's described
:14:30. > :14:34.that way, you have bigger variability than normal. Some
:14:34. > :14:39.schools have done much, much better than expected, others have done a
:14:39. > :14:43.lot worse, and no-one this morning, we had head teachers, the
:14:43. > :14:46.professional bodies, and the regulator coming in, nobody could
:14:46. > :14:51.explain why there is huge turbulence and vairyabs in the
:14:51. > :14:57.system, which has -- variables in the system, which has left young
:14:57. > :15:01.people, still in schools, suddenly out of favour. You said your
:15:01. > :15:06.teachers predicted a C, I said to you it is possible the teachers
:15:06. > :15:09.were wrong. Clearly they were wrong in many cases, because of the day
:15:09. > :15:14.of reckoning? In the end they were wrong, they were right until it was
:15:14. > :15:24.changed at the last minute. I see, you think the teachers were
:15:24. > :15:29.predicting on the basis of what they knew, not on what happened? Is
:15:29. > :15:39.that possible? Ofqual said typically schools overpredict. Last
:15:39. > :15:39.
:15:39. > :15:43.year they thought that 77% of people would get an English GCSE C
:15:43. > :15:47.or above. It is not unheard of. It is just the number of schools and
:15:47. > :15:51.the extent to which they were out from their expectation seems to be
:15:51. > :15:55.higher. There is work going on to try to understand that. Overall, if
:15:55. > :15:59.you control who took the exam this year, they do this comparable
:15:59. > :16:04.performance stuff. If you look at who took it, and previous
:16:04. > :16:11.achievements, actually, Ofqual, say, people on average, did better this
:16:11. > :16:15.year than last year. Throw that into the mix and it is complicated
:16:15. > :16:19.to work out the result. Meanwhile, you have lot of confidence in the
:16:19. > :16:25.general public and amongst schools, and young people wondering
:16:25. > :16:32.whether...Do You have faith in the examination system? I would not
:16:32. > :16:35.allow this very poorly-constructed exam, which, as it happens, was
:16:35. > :16:39.instigated by the last Government. There was warnings about the MoD
:16:39. > :16:47.later nature of it, and warnings about the controlled assessment of
:16:47. > :16:51.it. They preed ahead of it anyone, when the then minister was pressed
:16:51. > :16:55.repeatedly by the current schools minister, she said Ofqual will have
:16:55. > :16:58.to deal with it. Ofqual and the young people find themselves in the
:16:58. > :17:08.middle of a predictable car crash, and we're trying to find out what's
:17:08. > :17:10.
:17:10. > :17:14.really gone on. Jack could be regraded if he was in Wales, yes or
:17:14. > :17:18.no, should Michael Gove argue for regrading in England? We need a
:17:18. > :17:22.better understanding, first, and secondly, I would caution the
:17:22. > :17:28.minister in Wales and elsewhere. You do not do young people a
:17:28. > :17:33.service by allowing the careless devaluation of the currency
:17:33. > :17:38.overtime. That is neither a yes nor a no. Now the euro crisis chapter
:17:38. > :17:43.73. Its causes had nothing to do with us, say faintly smug-sounding
:17:43. > :17:46.Britains. Not so fast, the Italian legal system is pouring over claims
:17:46. > :17:50.that local authorities there were sold financial products, by banks
:17:50. > :17:53.based in London, which they didn't, couldn't have, understood.
:17:53. > :17:58.Newsnight has discovered that whistleblowers within those banks,
:17:58. > :18:08.who highlight what had they felt when mis-selling, were fired. Their
:18:08. > :18:11.
:18:11. > :18:15.complaints that the FSA routinely ignored them. This is a tragedy of
:18:15. > :18:18.operatic proportions, of London- based banks making massive profits
:18:18. > :18:22.on inappropriate deals in Italy. With a cast of characters speaking
:18:22. > :18:28.exclusively to Newsnight. We reveal the role the City of London has
:18:28. > :18:38.played in pushing Italy to the brink. On the surface it was a
:18:38. > :18:41.great deal. The Italians thought they would get money for free.
:18:41. > :18:47.Whistleblowers are telling Newsnight about the culture of
:18:47. > :18:51.greed in London banks, and an Italian hero speaking in his first
:18:51. > :18:57.TV interview, bought the British banks without any intervention from
:18:57. > :19:01.the regulator. TRANSLATION: I saw no intervention into banks. As the
:19:01. > :19:06.euro zone limps from crisis to crisis, the consequences of this
:19:06. > :19:16.scandal may be more than financial for all of Europe. We will have a
:19:16. > :19:28.
:19:28. > :19:35.The home of opera, and gel lat toe, is turning sour, its debt levels
:19:35. > :19:45.are as high as Greece, GDP is shrinking, and a bail out looms. It
:19:45. > :19:51.may be straut that breaks the federal back. Apart from inventing
:19:51. > :19:57.banking, the Italians invented opera, the most famous one is here
:19:57. > :20:02.in Milan. It needed extensive renovations about ten years a it
:20:02. > :20:05.was funded from London investment banks. There were very good deals
:20:05. > :20:10.to be had, too good to be true, in fact.
:20:10. > :20:18.Investment banks invented something far more creative and profitable
:20:18. > :20:25.than opera, called, "derivatives", these perfectly formed financial
:20:25. > :20:28.policies were a great way to borrow. Some of them sought less well
:20:28. > :20:33.protected customers, being banned from selling to the British
:20:33. > :20:37.customer. Here is how it worked, the region would issue a bond and
:20:37. > :20:42.borrow money, which would be bought by the investment bank, who would,
:20:42. > :20:47.in turn, sell it on to other banks. That is the easy bit. Banks offered
:20:47. > :20:53.to manage the repayments of that bond, by selling a derivative,
:20:53. > :20:59.called a swap. Built into the fine print was clause that is put tax-
:20:59. > :21:03.payers on the hook for complicated failures by the banks in London.
:21:03. > :21:08.The banks would say customers were aware. In one case an Italian
:21:08. > :21:12.region had been unwittingly sold a swap, the fine print would mean
:21:12. > :21:18.that it, not the bank, would have to pay out if Greece ever defaulted
:21:18. > :21:21.on its debts. Something that has come to pass. It wasn't just Milan,
:21:21. > :21:29.the financial engineering spread to every corner of Italy, even
:21:29. > :21:35.universities and hospitals. On the surface it was great deal. The
:21:35. > :21:43.Italians thought they would get money for free. They would get
:21:43. > :21:48.advance money to be repaid in decades to come. They didn't have
:21:48. > :21:52.the technical capacity to analyse those deals. Often times they
:21:52. > :21:58.depended on expert and financial advisers, who were, in fact, paid
:21:58. > :22:03.by the banks so. Their counterparts. Who had no incentive to protect the
:22:03. > :22:11.interests of the Italian authorities. They ended up taking
:22:11. > :22:18.on risks that are much higher than what was appropriate for them, and
:22:18. > :22:22.taking risk that later on, you know, could lead to even bankruptcy.
:22:22. > :22:26.irony is, that the federal Government in Rome actively
:22:26. > :22:30.encouraged its cities and regions to borrow directly from London-
:22:30. > :22:36.based investment banks. Idea was to get the borrowing figure for Rome
:22:36. > :22:46.down, in order to join the euro. Between 1997 and 2007, borrowing
:22:46. > :22:47.
:22:47. > :22:50.from regional Italian Governments, went from zero to 111 billion euros.
:22:50. > :22:56.The banks didn't bet on the land specialist, Alfredo Robledo. In his
:22:56. > :23:00.first television interview, he told how he realised his city was liable
:23:00. > :23:07.for billions to London banks, and doggedly pursued them, despite
:23:08. > :23:11.their secretive ways. TRANSLATION: Their behaviour wasn't honest or
:23:11. > :23:14.transparent T allowed them to make profits that orderly would never
:23:14. > :23:18.have been possible. Afterwards, they refused to show us their
:23:18. > :23:23.records, or what they had earned. Politicianings across Europe need
:23:23. > :23:26.to face this challenge, and people need to wake up to -- politicians
:23:26. > :23:30.across Europe need to face up to this challenge and people need to
:23:30. > :23:34.wake up or it won't change. Banks threaten to take capital out of
:23:34. > :23:38.countries if regulation comes in, but we need regulation, these
:23:39. > :23:45.companies are plundering society. Having, at first, ignored him, the
:23:45. > :23:48.investment banks, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and JP Morgan, changed tack,
:23:48. > :23:53.when Robledo's team raided offices and locked staff out of buildings
:23:53. > :23:58.they were working in. After two years of stone walling, they paid
:23:58. > :24:04.Milan a settlement of half a billion euro, and Tory up the
:24:04. > :24:10.contracts without -- tore up the contracts without affirming guilt.
:24:10. > :24:15.If Milan, the most wealthy part of the country, can have these land
:24:15. > :24:25.mines in the small print. What about the poorest part of Italy,
:24:25. > :24:27.
:24:27. > :24:32.like kal labia and Sicily. -- Calabria and Sicily. Parts here are
:24:32. > :24:35.like a different country, just a few metres in the main road in
:24:36. > :24:42.Palermo, people sell their belongings, in a makeshift market
:24:42. > :24:48.to get a few extra euros. Sicily borrowed 2.5 billion euros from
:24:48. > :24:53.Nomura, using a risky swap to manage the repayments. Now these
:24:53. > :24:57.derivatives have helped bankrupt the region, which needed a 400
:24:57. > :25:02.million euro bail out in July. Unemployment in places like this is
:25:02. > :25:06.can reach as high as 90%. The vast majority of people are dependant on
:25:06. > :25:12.the region and the city and the state for their living. But all are
:25:12. > :25:16.broke. It isn't helped by the fact that they unwittingly signed
:25:16. > :25:23.contracts with London-based banks, which put tax-payers and citizens
:25:23. > :25:29.on the hook for hundreds of millions of euros. Five miles and a
:25:29. > :25:34.world away from the slums, the new Mayor of Palermo says he's cleaning
:25:34. > :25:38.up after a decade of corruption, including some deals followed with
:25:38. > :25:48.foreign banks. We are speaking of the same banks, who are responsible
:25:48. > :25:49.
:25:49. > :25:53.for the world international crisis. They destroyed with street crime
:25:53. > :25:58.many of the financial systems in the world. One of these street
:25:58. > :26:08.crimes was in Sicily. The mayor doesn't hold back with criticism
:26:08. > :26:08.
:26:08. > :26:13.over one previous officials. One is in jail for his ties with the Cosa
:26:13. > :26:19.Nostra. He also had ties to offshore bank accounts, and
:26:19. > :26:24.millions in "facilitation fees" were paid by Nomura bank.
:26:24. > :26:29.Supposedly to make Italy sign these lucrative contracts. Politicians
:26:29. > :26:33.and middlemen and bankers, could, in Italy, according to mayor
:26:34. > :26:40.Orlando, have far-reaching consequences. If we don't counter
:26:40. > :26:48.with a real strong activity, with a great intervention of the national
:26:48. > :26:58.Government, there is a risk we will have a social revolt, and the civil
:26:58. > :27:06.
:27:06. > :27:12.# Why didn't anyone do something in the face of what appears to go
:27:12. > :27:22.obvious mis-selling. Some people did put their heads above the
:27:22. > :27:38.
:27:38. > :27:42.parapet, one senior banker told Hes are also informed the FSA,
:27:42. > :27:49.after he was forced out of his job. But the bank and employment
:27:50. > :27:55.tribunal refused to rk him as a -- recognise him as a whistleblower,
:27:55. > :28:00.which would have been recognised under UK law. Despite the laws to
:28:01. > :28:04.protect whistleblowers, Newsnight has revealed a startling fact, not
:28:04. > :28:08.saiingle bank has been published for forcing out individuals for
:28:08. > :28:13.highlighting concerns within his or her bank. The FSA has form, this
:28:13. > :28:18.man, John, also blew the whistle on a London investment bank on a
:28:18. > :28:24.different matter, he too was fired. Speaking exclusively to Newsnight,
:28:24. > :28:31.he was portrayed as a malcontent by his bank for highing problems with
:28:31. > :28:35.them. You got hired for blowing the whistle, what kind of modus opprand
:28:35. > :28:42.da do banks have with a whistleblower? Nobody wants to
:28:43. > :28:50.admit they didn't do their job, an unholy alliance will kick in, want
:28:50. > :28:54.to go bad mouth the whistleblower as a poor perform former.
:28:54. > :28:59.John wrote to the FSA and the watchdog wrote back saying they
:28:59. > :29:03.wouldn't act on the information and saying never contact again. The FSA
:29:03. > :29:08.say inaction has been the central theme of the financial crisis, many
:29:08. > :29:11.accuse it of being too close to banks a watchdog who slumbered,
:29:11. > :29:15.instead of barking or biting. TRANSLATION: The role of the FSA
:29:15. > :29:20.has been very much in the spotlight, I think the banks, if they were
:29:20. > :29:29.able to, would reduce the FSA's powers. In terms of the
:29:29. > :29:33.surveillance of the FSA of London banks, I saw no evidence of them.
:29:33. > :29:43.The FSA conceded that no bank had been ever sanctioned for firing a
:29:43. > :29:48.whistleblower, and they couldn't comment on individual cases.
:29:48. > :29:51.Back in Italy, the banks at the centre of the derivative story face
:29:51. > :29:54.civil and criminal action against them from several cities and
:29:54. > :29:59.regions. Some of these regions have stopped repaying the banks until
:29:59. > :30:02.the cases are settled. All the banks approached by Newsnight
:30:02. > :30:07.refused to answer any of our questions, many didn't wish to
:30:07. > :30:12.comment in light of on going criminal proceedings. All deny
:30:12. > :30:16.wrongdoing. There can be few more painful
:30:16. > :30:19.experiences than divorce and the acceptance of failure. The American
:30:19. > :30:24.actor Robin Williams once remarked that the word comes from the Latin
:30:24. > :30:30.for "to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet". But who is
:30:30. > :30:34.entitled to expect from it? What are they entitled to it. The body
:30:34. > :30:37.who is supposed to keep the law up- to-date is wondering whether there
:30:37. > :30:42.might not be better ways of dealing with the financial aspects of the
:30:42. > :30:47.end of a marriage. There was a time when the happy
:30:47. > :30:51.couple said "till death do us part" on their wedding day and meant it.
:30:51. > :30:58.The stigma of divorce ensured there was little option. But the number
:30:58. > :31:03.of divorces really began to rise in the early 1970, and by the mid-
:31:03. > :31:07.1990s, a third of couples were untying the knot before their 15th
:31:07. > :31:15.anniversary. The latest figures show there were 120,000 divorces in
:31:15. > :31:18.2010. It is only recently the divorce
:31:19. > :31:22.settlements of the superrich and stars making the headlines. Former
:31:22. > :31:27.spouses have a legal responsibility to each other's financial needs. It
:31:27. > :31:31.is not clear what on earth that means. The Law Commission for
:31:31. > :31:35.England and Wales compares divorce judges to, a bus driver who has
:31:35. > :31:41.been told how to drive the bus, but has not been told where to go, nor
:31:41. > :31:45.why he's to go there. The commission proposes three main
:31:45. > :31:48.options for reform. Compensating people until they reach the kind of
:31:49. > :31:58.standard of living they would have been enjoyed had they not made the
:31:59. > :32:03.
:32:03. > :32:07.career and childcare decisions The commission says it doesn't like
:32:07. > :32:11.the Scottish system, where support after divorce only lasts for three
:32:11. > :32:16.years. To discuss the whys and where fors
:32:16. > :32:19.of divorce law, I'm joined by Baroness Ruth Deech, chair of the
:32:19. > :32:25.bar standards board, and Jeremy Levison a practising divorce lawyer,
:32:25. > :32:29.who has acted in many high-profile divorce cases. What has gone wrong?
:32:29. > :32:35.I have been writing about this for 35 years, the message has finally
:32:35. > :32:41.got through. The current law is unfair, unjust, uncertain,
:32:41. > :32:45.expensive, and causes enormous bitterness. It has no principled
:32:45. > :32:50.basis to it at all. Ever since divorce was changed to be, in
:32:50. > :32:53.theory, without fault, and men and women are equal, tough ask yourself
:32:53. > :32:57.why should one support the other when it has broken down. Every time
:32:57. > :33:02.I have lectured on this, I have had hundreds of letters from members of
:33:02. > :33:05.the public, pouring out their hearts, and protesting on how their
:33:05. > :33:10.life savings have been taken away and the bitterness that has
:33:10. > :33:14.accompanied what is a very easy divorce law. Is it unfair to one
:33:14. > :33:20.gender rather than another? theory the law is equal, but the
:33:20. > :33:23.courts bend over backwards to favour women, to such an extent
:33:23. > :33:28.that arguably it undermines women's independence in the world of work.
:33:28. > :33:33.Because the judges, they are trying to be helpful, they see women as
:33:33. > :33:35.housewifes who have sacrificed an awful lot, and couldn't possibly --
:33:35. > :33:38.housewives who have sacrificed an awful lot and couldn't fend for
:33:39. > :33:42.themselves. When you look at the proposal, I suppose you are against
:33:42. > :33:45.them because it is bad for business? I don't think they are of
:33:45. > :33:49.any great relevance at all in the context of what we are talking
:33:49. > :33:55.about. I thought I might start by reading you two-and-a-half very
:33:55. > :34:01.short passages from this report, which extends to 131 pages. "this
:34:01. > :34:06.project is not a full review of this area of the law. Our task now,
:34:06. > :34:11.in addition to our work on marital property agreements" the Law
:34:11. > :34:15.Commission has been looking at prenups in the venacular for some
:34:15. > :34:20.time now. "it is therefore to consider needs in the law and
:34:20. > :34:24.financially generally, and to consider also of the status of the
:34:24. > :34:29.non-mat moanal property". Is there much more? "whether there is
:34:29. > :34:33.widespread dissatisfaction with outcomes is unclear." So the report
:34:33. > :34:37.itself, quoting from it, really, already, raises doubts as to
:34:37. > :34:42.whether we have a problem to deal with. You wouldn't deny we have
:34:42. > :34:47.become the divorce tourism capital of the world? I would deny that. We
:34:47. > :34:51.have of a divorce law that in its present form, more or less. Is it
:34:51. > :34:55.true? Women come here because they know they will get much, much more
:34:55. > :34:59.here than elsewhere. By and large, until very recently, they have been
:34:59. > :35:03.able to rip up the prenups. What is going on is really bad. People are
:35:03. > :35:06.very unhappy. My main fear now is the Law Commission will shy away
:35:06. > :35:11.from it. Governments don't like to touch this, because it brings up
:35:11. > :35:14.all the moral arguments. They are making very heavy weather of it, we
:35:14. > :35:18.could easily move to the Scottish model, quickly, which isn't bad at
:35:18. > :35:27.all. Main thing is to avoid expense, there is lots of cases where the
:35:27. > :35:31.assets are worth, say, �1 million, half of that is spent on legal fees.
:35:31. > :35:35.The formula in the report today is working it out on the Internet and
:35:35. > :35:39.get an idea of what you might get. Saving fees. Putting people out of
:35:39. > :35:44.business? Too bad. The Government might like it, because Legal Aid is
:35:44. > :35:50.being removed, and the courts will be clogged up with self-
:35:50. > :35:54.representing litigants if we don't sort the law out.
:35:54. > :36:00.That is not what the report is doing, it is very, very narrowly
:36:00. > :36:05.based. It suggests there might possibly be a formula to calculate
:36:05. > :36:10.how needs can be assessed on an on going basis. It is worth trying,
:36:10. > :36:19.isn't it? The problem with any formula is if has tried before and
:36:19. > :36:22.failed. It doesn't work. Take Germany, for example, they codified
:36:22. > :36:26.their law, they thought 100% in the civil code. They then had to
:36:26. > :36:32.provide exception after exception, now they rely on case law to sort
:36:32. > :36:37.out the gaps. In Canada it work, in America it has been proposed and
:36:37. > :36:41.all over continent nepbl Europe, they have a straight forward --
:36:41. > :36:45.continental Europe, it they have a straight forward way of dividing
:36:45. > :36:50.assets. It wouldn't matter if you had a brilliant lawyer like Mr
:36:50. > :36:54.Levison here, or a less brilliant lawyer, it wouldn't depend on that,
:36:54. > :36:59.it would be a straight forward form la, saying you were married for X
:36:59. > :37:04.number of years. That is one of the -- formula, saying you were married
:37:04. > :37:10.for X number of years. I would love if he was on my said, point is you
:37:10. > :37:13.would get certainty, you wouldn't wait tens of thousands fighting
:37:14. > :37:19.over assets that aren't worth that much. This report isn't dealing
:37:19. > :37:23.with assets, but on going needs. For the most part it is dealing
:37:23. > :37:27.with maintenance requirements, after a divorce breaks down. Why
:37:27. > :37:32.should a woman who divorces someone be supported for the rest of her
:37:32. > :37:38.natural life in figures of hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds?
:37:38. > :37:42.The present law, it says in section 25 of the 1973 act, it says a wife
:37:42. > :37:45.is entitled to receive maintenance for as long as she needs it. Until
:37:45. > :37:54.she can adjust to having her maintenance removed from her,
:37:54. > :37:59.without suffering undue hardship. Within the whole thrust of the
:37:59. > :38:03.divorce law it is fairness, that can take a million different forms
:38:03. > :38:11.and circumstances. It is as argued by lawyers like? No, let me read
:38:11. > :38:14.you another small bit. No, don't, please. The report says itself, we
:38:14. > :38:20.cannot guarantee that the provision of a formula would work in practice.
:38:20. > :38:24.It says that. But it is the average woman who goes to work, will wonder
:38:24. > :38:33.why, as in one case, after three years of a childless marriage, a
:38:33. > :38:40.woman walks away with �5 million, or Heather Mills McCartney �28
:38:40. > :38:43.million, after very few years, another lady left her marriage with
:38:44. > :38:47.�48 million. The average woman doesn't earn that in a lifetime. If
:38:47. > :38:51.you marry banker you are quids in for the rest of your life. If you
:38:51. > :38:57.marry a poor man, you get next to nothing.
:38:57. > :39:05.We have all heard of writers block, but a 50-year hiatus is something
:39:05. > :39:12.else, the third part of the Weirdstone, trilogy, has just been
:39:12. > :39:19.published. The first part was in 1960, JK Rowling hadn't been born.
:39:19. > :39:29.The author is described by another children's writer as better an
:39:29. > :39:30.
:39:30. > :39:37.Toilken. -- better than Toilken.
:39:37. > :39:47.Caspeo. A flame hissed upwards filling the room with light, shape
:39:47. > :39:48.
:39:48. > :39:57.shifter opened the book and began to read. What's she up to, said
:39:57. > :40:02.Susan, it's giving me goose flesh. I remember as a child scrambling up
:40:02. > :40:08.the slopes, and thinking, why don't I live in an interesting place,
:40:08. > :40:14.nothing ever happens here. I read a lot of books and I like
:40:14. > :40:18.fantasy. I thought this was just normality. As I grew older I
:40:18. > :40:25.realised it was not normality. It was very strange, and I was so
:40:25. > :40:30.amazed by this place, that I inherited it. Newsnight tracked
:40:30. > :40:35.writer Robert Garner down to a secluded corner of the Cheshire
:40:35. > :40:42.countryside, where archaeologists are digging up part of an 18th
:40:42. > :40:46.century barn, right beside his house.
:40:46. > :40:52.In Garner's books too, what is ancient and underground is never
:40:52. > :41:02.far away. Wizards, dwarves, tunnels under hills, children with magical
:41:02. > :41:04.
:41:04. > :41:11.bracelets. Grimia unhooked a pouch from his brace belt, and from it
:41:11. > :41:15.drew her bracelet, the drops hidden beneath a milky veil. The Morigan
:41:15. > :41:20.took the bracelet and placed it in the middle of the circle on the
:41:20. > :41:28.floor. She pulled the curtains over the windows and dors, and went to
:41:28. > :41:32.stand -- doors, and went to standby the brazier, who couldn't push back
:41:32. > :41:36.the darkness. The medieval buildings behind us, and the one
:41:36. > :41:41.that's been excavated, they are only the newcomers. Because the
:41:41. > :41:47.site has been occupied since the end of the last Ice Age. Which is
:41:47. > :41:53.10,000 years of people sitting on top of that little hill.
:41:53. > :41:59.I said it was secluded here, but Garner's storyed home, is
:41:59. > :42:03.overlooked by the telescope, of which, more later.
:42:04. > :42:11.Robert Garner is a writer of fantasy, but like Hardy, Orly Lee,
:42:11. > :42:16.he's also a writer of place. A very specific place, Alderley Edge, and
:42:16. > :42:24.that place alone. It is what I knew when I was growing up. It is where
:42:24. > :42:29.I learned what grass was, what rocks were. The trees in of tree.
:42:29. > :42:33.Wilmslow is over there that is out of bounds, you have never felt
:42:33. > :42:38.compelled to write the great Wilmslow novel? It is only half an
:42:38. > :42:46.hour away and I loathe it. I always have. They are God folk with tea
:42:46. > :42:56.shops and nice hedges? I knew it before then. What have you got
:42:56. > :42:57.
:42:57. > :43:02.against Wilmslow? It is not here! In the rock above, up there, there
:43:03. > :43:08.is a face, and that is the face of the which is standard of the legend
:43:08. > :43:13.of alderlee. It was carved by my great -- Alderly, it was carved by
:43:13. > :43:23.my great, great, great, great grandfather. That is almost as
:43:23. > :43:23.
:43:23. > :43:30.fantastical as your story? It is more fantastic, it is true. Is your
:43:30. > :43:33.story true, is the wizard true? but not in the little sense, would
:43:33. > :43:41.you never photograph him. believe in him, if that is the
:43:41. > :43:45.phrase I want? He's there. Robert Garner has continued to
:43:45. > :43:50.write, including for television. This was an adaptation of his book,
:43:50. > :43:58.The Owl Service. Which didn't exactly lack for backstory. Keeping
:43:58. > :44:03.the house for him are Nancy and her son, Gwn, and the gardener, Huw
:44:03. > :44:08.Halfbacon. She as furious when she finds that she has discovered a
:44:08. > :44:13.dinner service hidden in the roof of the house. Alison has traceded
:44:13. > :44:23.the pattern and rearranged it to make paper owls. She grows obsessed
:44:23. > :44:23.
:44:23. > :44:28.by the need to make them. Now, 50 years on, there have been
:44:28. > :44:32.fresh sightings of the characters in Garner's first children's book,
:44:32. > :44:36.Colin and his sister. Alan, good toe talk to you this way. It is
:44:36. > :44:42.very good to speak and listen to you this way, it means I don't have
:44:42. > :44:47.to look at you. Bless you for that, a lot of people feel that way. Why
:44:47. > :44:53.have you put these whispering dishes into your new novel. They
:44:53. > :44:57.work on the same principle as the radio telescope does, collecting
:44:58. > :45:02.information from the gam galaxies. The character who works here -- the
:45:02. > :45:07.galaxies. The character who works here in the novel, is an
:45:07. > :45:16.astrophysicist rb, who may or may not be going mad when you are using
:45:16. > :45:24.them. It is very close to a sigh otic voice inside the head. -- a
:45:24. > :45:31.psyche cotic voice inside the head. In Boneland a woman is reading a
:45:31. > :45:36.story about a witch to a child in a doctor's surgery. Young man, do not
:45:36. > :45:46.go into the witch's house, and whatever you do, do not go upstairs,
:45:46. > :45:46.
:45:46. > :45:50.you must not go upstairs. The receptionist came from her desk,
:45:51. > :45:56.Professor Worchesterfield. You must not geo. Professor whister field, I
:45:56. > :46:06.have been upstairs, they are not hens' legs, they are not the legs
:46:06. > :46:11.
:46:11. > :46:18.of hens. They are not gallos domesticus. "the man is funny, he
:46:18. > :46:23.makes me laugh. Why has Ganna left it so long to complete -- Garner
:46:23. > :46:26.left it so long to complete the trilogy. I had enough of the two
:46:26. > :46:31.main character, I loathed their guts, I lived with them for eight
:46:31. > :46:35.years, and they hadn't moved on, and I had.
:46:35. > :46:40.The thought of spending any more time with them, I couldn't abide.
:46:40. > :46:45.Also, I had more ideas in my head. So it wasn't a publishers phone
:46:45. > :46:53.call, I suspect you wouldn't respond too kindly to that? I say
:46:53. > :47:03.in all humility, publishers should learn not to make phone call. I
:47:03. > :47:05.
:47:05. > :47:08.can't do it if it isn't there. If it is there, I can't stop it.
:47:08. > :47:18.You only have to wait until tomorrow for Newsnight when Kirsty
:47:18. > :47:42.
:47:42. > :47:46.will be here, until then, good Good evening, we had a bit of
:47:46. > :47:50.sunshine today. But for tomorrow a bit of change, a lot more cloud
:47:50. > :47:55.around. Some early brightness to the south and eastk but cloudier
:47:55. > :47:58.skies arriving for the afternoon -- easily, but cloudier skies arriving
:47:58. > :48:02.in the afternoon. Brighter across the North West England, still the
:48:02. > :48:06.risk of showers, plenty of showers for the Midlands, East Anglia and
:48:07. > :48:10.the south-east corner rb temperatures are 13 degrees, a cool
:48:10. > :48:14.afternoon. The south west corner, slightly milder, 16, with some
:48:14. > :48:17.brightness for the afternoon. Not a completely dry picture, with a
:48:17. > :48:20.scattering of showers, and a similar story across Wales. We are
:48:21. > :48:24.keeping the cool and blustery north-westerly breeze across much
:48:24. > :48:30.of the country. Noticable for Northern Ireland, despite it being
:48:31. > :48:34.fine and dry with sunny spells. Temperatures on the north coast 13.
:48:34. > :48:39.In Scotland, the occasional brightness and showers scattered
:48:39. > :48:43.across the north-east corner. That should increase in brightness as we
:48:43. > :48:47.go through the afternoon. Edinburgh seeing something brighter, but more
:48:47. > :48:51.cloud around through the day on Thursday. The winds strengthening