:00:14. > :00:19.They are known as payway loans, gained at a matter -- payday loans
:00:19. > :00:23.gained in minutes, agony to repay. The Office of Fair Trading today
:00:23. > :00:26.puts them on warning, and sides with the customers. You have been
:00:26. > :00:30.kidnapped and you are so believing that they are helping you, but they
:00:30. > :00:33.are not, they are living off your misery and low financial status.
:00:33. > :00:37.Tonight we hear from the industry and the minister.
:00:37. > :00:41.The Israelis warn the people of Gaza to evacuate their suburbs as a
:00:41. > :00:45.ceasefire was meant to be imminent. After hours in which Egypt and
:00:45. > :00:50.Hamas said a truce would come in tonight, it manifestly didn't. So
:00:50. > :00:53.why did they talk it up in the first place? Is an apprenticeship
:00:53. > :00:58.like this one, better than a university degree? The Government
:00:58. > :01:01.wants us to forget snobbery and broaden our mind. I'm already
:01:01. > :01:06.looking at by the time I'm 25, I can probably have a nice car, a
:01:06. > :01:11.flashy house and stuff like that. Is Burma open for business? As the
:01:11. > :01:16.country attempts to reform, the Muslim minority experience a very
:01:16. > :01:18.unZen attitude from local Buddhist amongst. TRANSLATION: Around the
:01:18. > :01:21.world there are many Muslim countries, the Muslim countries
:01:21. > :01:31.should take care of them, they should go to a country with the
:01:31. > :01:35.same religion. Hello, good evening, it can take
:01:35. > :01:39.less than 20 minutes for the loan to arrive in your bank account, and
:01:39. > :01:42.it take a lifetime to pay it back. The payday loan business is one of
:01:42. > :01:45.the few growth successes in this struggling economy, for reason that
:01:45. > :01:48.is are not all together to be celebrated. Fuelled by shrinking
:01:48. > :01:53.incomes, at a time when banks are reluctant to lend, they have become
:01:53. > :01:57.the lender of last resort, often for those who have no other stream
:01:57. > :02:07.of credit. Today the Office of Fair Trading has written to all 240
:02:07. > :02:09.
:02:09. > :02:14.lenders to express concerns about how some of the sector operate.
:02:14. > :02:20.Young, struggling for money, but still having a good time. This
:02:20. > :02:23.generation is finding its own way of dealing with the downturn.
:02:23. > :02:26.My first loan I took out about a month a I used it to pay for going
:02:26. > :02:31.out and seeing my friends, without that I wouldn't be able to see them
:02:31. > :02:34.or anything. Keira is celebrating her 21st
:02:34. > :02:38.birthday, she wouldn't dream of taking out a credit card to pay the
:02:38. > :02:43.bills, the temptation would be too great. But, like many of her
:02:43. > :02:48.friends, she is more than comfortable with a new and even
:02:48. > :02:52.more expensive form of credit. go on to their website and you get
:02:52. > :02:57.two little slides, telling you how much you want to borrow and how
:02:57. > :03:01.long for. No filling out forms or meeting the bank manager, all you
:03:01. > :03:07.need is a smartphone and an internet connection. About an hour
:03:07. > :03:11.ago I took out a loan for �100, trt on it was just under �18, because I
:03:11. > :03:15.took it out for 12 days. I clicked apply, it was my bank within 20
:03:15. > :03:18.minutes. It is like another payday and you
:03:18. > :03:26.are paying it back and take another one out if you need to. As long as
:03:26. > :03:30.you are not, you know, using it for ridiculous things.
:03:30. > :03:35.The payday loan industry first grew out of the cash chequing stores of
:03:35. > :03:38.small town America, from nowhere, ten years ago, loan shops now seem
:03:38. > :03:41.to be everywhere on the British high street. And, legitimate
:03:42. > :03:46.demands for convenient credit, particularly among young consumers
:03:46. > :03:51.growing, at exactly the time when traditional lenders, like high
:03:51. > :03:54.street banks, find themselves with less and less to lend.
:03:54. > :03:58.The payday boom has been fuelled by something else as well, in much of
:03:58. > :04:02.Europe and some US states, these types of loans have now been
:04:02. > :04:06.effectively banned. In Japan the rate of interest charged by some
:04:06. > :04:11.payday lenders could get you ten years in prison. In this country,
:04:11. > :04:15.regulation is much more relaxed. A large number of competing loan
:04:15. > :04:20.sites are now operating on the Internet. Tarting a new type of
:04:20. > :04:26.cuss -- targeting a new type of customer. Internet borrows tend to
:04:26. > :04:31.be much younger, 65% under the age of 35. Most are single, two thirds
:04:31. > :04:35.don't have any children. It is a new business that is growing at a
:04:35. > :04:39.phenomenal speed. A quarter of all under 25s say they are planning to
:04:39. > :04:42.take out a payday loan in the next six months. Three-times the rate of
:04:42. > :04:48.the rest of the population. I'm very surprised at how quickly
:04:48. > :04:51.it has grown. But then, that has come on the back of banks slashing
:04:51. > :04:56.overdrafts, reducing their lending criteria to people, and the sheer
:04:56. > :05:01.fact that it is a convience of being able to go on-line via your
:05:01. > :05:06.computer on your desk, or, phone, to apply for a loan. There is one
:05:06. > :05:10.name, and one company, that's the driving force behind the on-line
:05:10. > :05:14.loan industry. Run, not out of a call centre on the edge of an
:05:14. > :05:19.industrial estate, but out of this Georgian town house on the edge of
:05:20. > :05:23.Regent's Park. This is the headquarters of what is
:05:23. > :05:28.fast becoming a household name in finance. The people in the
:05:28. > :05:31.buildings behind me work for the on-line loan site Wonga, six years
:05:31. > :05:38.ago this company didn't even exist. Now it is worth hundreds of
:05:38. > :05:42.millions of pounds. Wonga moments. We all have them. Those times you
:05:42. > :05:47.need a fast little loan. Much of that growth is thanks to
:05:47. > :05:54.some very clever marketing. The firm is spending �20 million a year
:05:54. > :05:58.on quirky daytime TV adverts, aimed at that young, tech-savvy audience.
:05:58. > :06:03.# Want my holiday to be a bit longer
:06:03. > :06:07.All that seems to be paying off, profits trebled last year to �46
:06:07. > :06:13.million. The founders of Wonga hope that one day it will be the UK's
:06:13. > :06:18.answer to Facebook or Google. The company says 90% of its customers
:06:18. > :06:21.would recommend its service, it charges at 1% interest per day are
:06:21. > :06:26.clear and responsible. Its critic, and there are many, say the whole
:06:26. > :06:36.on-line loan industry is making it far too easy to borrow money at a
:06:36. > :06:38.
:06:38. > :06:42.rate that many young customer also struggle toll pay back.
:06:42. > :06:48.This is Plymouth. Unemployment here is running well above the national
:06:48. > :06:56.average. Half of all under-25s say they have
:06:56. > :07:00.money worries, one in five has used a payday loan to make ends meet.
:07:00. > :07:06.The local Citizens Advice Bureau has just won lottery fund, to teach
:07:06. > :07:09.social tenants about the risks of payday loans. Payday loans, I'm
:07:09. > :07:17.absolutely horrified by the vast increase in them. It is an
:07:17. > :07:21.imbalance of arms, if you will. Those people are relatively
:07:21. > :07:31.inexperienced, they are weak, if you will, or innocent, and like
:07:31. > :07:32.
:07:32. > :07:35.most of us we can give way to temptation. In the last few
:07:35. > :07:41.days...27-year-old Seth is one of those customer, he borrowed last
:07:41. > :07:45.year from on-line loan firms, not from Wonga, or Inant Loans Direct,
:07:45. > :07:49.soon he found himself bombarded with other loan offers and deep in
:07:49. > :07:54.debt. Once you start doing it you are in a vicious circle. Say you
:07:54. > :07:58.borrow �100 and you pay �150 back, that is �50 less you will have the
:07:59. > :08:06.next month, you have to borrow again. That is what they rely on,
:08:06. > :08:10.the repeat business of it, you they they are doing you a favour, it is
:08:10. > :08:13.like Stockholm Syndrome, when you are kidnapped, you so believe they
:08:13. > :08:17.are helping you, but they are not. Some think the situation is so
:08:17. > :08:22.serious that the Government and the regulators need to take decisive
:08:22. > :08:25.action. I would ban them outright. They are so dangerous and toxic,
:08:25. > :08:29.and create so much detriment for the people who take them and
:08:29. > :08:35.society at large, I would do away with them. I drew the analogy with
:08:35. > :08:42.drug dealing, and I do it purposefully, we take a view as a
:08:42. > :08:46.society that actually, freedom of choice should be trammelled as far
:08:46. > :08:50.as serious Class A drugs are concerned. I don't see a great deal
:08:50. > :08:55.of difference between that situation and payday loans.
:08:55. > :09:00.Regulation in this country is unlikely to go that far. Today the
:09:00. > :09:04.OFT didn't directly criticise Wonga, or Instant Loans Direct, and it
:09:04. > :09:07.said there is a role for payday loans in the market. But the
:09:07. > :09:11.regulator is still very concerned about the practices of some lenders
:09:11. > :09:15.in the industry. In today's report, it said it
:09:15. > :09:19.doubts the extent to which some lenders check the affordability of
:09:19. > :09:22.loans. And it is concerned that borrowers may not always be given
:09:22. > :09:28.balanced information about the costs and risks involved.
:09:28. > :09:32.What we would not want to do is paint a single picture of the pay
:09:32. > :09:39.day centre in saying everybody is equally bad. Not at all, you have
:09:39. > :09:43.quite a broad spectrum of practice. As I say, from the worst, where we
:09:43. > :09:46.are taking immediate action, to other areas, where we have real
:09:46. > :09:51.concerns, but we think it appropriate to give the businesses
:09:51. > :09:56.an opportunity to put them right, but if they don't put them right,
:09:57. > :10:00.then they risk enforcement action. Back in the bar, these young
:10:00. > :10:04.consumers don't look too worried. For many, payday loans are just a
:10:04. > :10:07.quick, simple way to get hold of cash, when banks just aren't
:10:07. > :10:11.lending. Some say a crackdown could put the
:10:11. > :10:15.whole industry out of business, and push some borrowers into the arms
:10:15. > :10:19.of illegal lenders. But, given the level of concern about the industry,
:10:19. > :10:24.it is likely that at the very least, this new form of credit will soon
:10:24. > :10:28.have to carry a significant health warning.
:10:28. > :10:32.I have been speaking to Russell Hamblin-Boone, the chief executive
:10:32. > :10:36.of the Consumer Finance Association, which represents around 70% of all
:10:36. > :10:39.payday loans companies. I began by asking him whether he recognised
:10:39. > :10:46.the criticisms made by the Office of Fair Trading? I think what the
:10:46. > :10:49.report is highlighting is that there are some, a small number, of
:10:49. > :10:54.lenders acting irresponsibly. I represent those who want to be
:10:54. > :10:58.responsible lenders, they want to introduce self-regulation, on top
:10:58. > :11:01.of the consumer credit regulation that already exists. The Office of
:11:01. > :11:06.Fair Trading has written to companies across the board, looking
:11:06. > :11:09.at lenders across the sector, 240 letters, and they say that they are
:11:09. > :11:13.concerned that the loans are extended too often, that lend
:11:13. > :11:18.remembers too aggressive, that they are not checking if borrowers can
:11:18. > :11:23.afford it pay back the money, that is serious? And our own practice is
:11:23. > :11:26.that we don't extend loans beyond three-times. We do robust
:11:26. > :11:31.affordability checks to make sure we are lending to people who can
:11:31. > :11:34.afford to pay back. We are making sure people aren't getting into
:11:34. > :11:37.financial difficulty. There is no point in lending to someone...You
:11:37. > :11:42.Are saying no company who you represents falls the wrong side of
:11:42. > :11:44.any of the things that the OFT says are across the industry? Our self-
:11:44. > :11:47.regulation and Code of Practise, that comes into effect next week,
:11:47. > :11:51.makes sure that sort of thing doesn't happen, absolutely.
:11:51. > :11:56.Code of Practise, which is the fourth Code of Practise we have
:11:56. > :12:01.seen for your industry, which makes minute changes from the Code of
:12:01. > :12:03.Practise that was introduced last year, which made minute changes to
:12:03. > :12:07.the Code of Practise the year before? It is a young industry and
:12:07. > :12:12.is evolving and growing. Where we identify issues that need to be
:12:12. > :12:15.resolved, then we tackle them. This is part of the industry as it
:12:15. > :12:19.mature, we will start to become more mainstream. In these early
:12:19. > :12:22.days, of course we are going to come across areas that need to be
:12:22. > :12:27.addressed. We are absolutely committed to sorting those out.
:12:27. > :12:32.is not just areas, a Which? Survey found half of users took out loans
:12:32. > :12:36.they couldn't afford to pay. 70% of users regret taking out the loans.
:12:36. > :12:39.That is not just a corner of the industry, is it? I don't
:12:39. > :12:44.acknowledge the Which? Survey of a couple of hundred people. What we
:12:44. > :12:49.have done is surveyed our customer, 100 people, and found that 85% of
:12:49. > :12:54.them didn't have any difficulty in paying back the loan. In fact, 71%
:12:54. > :12:59.of people pay back in full on time. The other 29% extend their loans,
:12:59. > :13:03.but they can now only do that three times. You are suggesting there is
:13:03. > :13:08.no problem with your industry, the companies you represent. You can't
:13:08. > :13:11.accept that self-regulation has demonstrably failed? I didn't say
:13:11. > :13:15.that I didn't accept there were problems that needed to be resolved.
:13:15. > :13:19.What I'm saying is the larger lenders I represent are absolutely
:13:19. > :13:25.committed to solving those through self-regulation and statutory
:13:25. > :13:29.regulation, if if that is required. Why not put a cap on the amount
:13:29. > :13:32.lent, most countries have done that? And it has failed in most
:13:32. > :13:36.countries, you have reduced the availability of credit. That is not
:13:36. > :13:41.what happened in Japan. Japan introduced measures like that six
:13:41. > :13:44.years ago and they have cut down the amount of indetectedness that
:13:44. > :13:48.Japan has? Japan has a very different credit market to ours. We
:13:48. > :13:52.are a credit-based society, whether credit cards, overdrafts, personal
:13:52. > :13:55.loans, that is the way we operate. Many people have been cut out of
:13:55. > :13:59.all of those different options. There isn't another country in the
:13:59. > :14:04.west that doesn't have some kind of measures, some kind of cap in place.
:14:04. > :14:08.Are you saying we are fine, we are just a soft target, aren't we?
:14:08. > :14:11.cap is a blunt instrument, if you set the cap too high, you are not
:14:11. > :14:17.achieving anything, if you set it too low you are reducing the number,
:14:17. > :14:21.the amount of lenders there are able to provide to people reducing
:14:21. > :14:25.the level of competition. I'm going to go back to Steve, who
:14:25. > :14:31.you heard in the film, Seth, Steve says they are so dangerous I would
:14:31. > :14:35.ban them outright. So toxic, he used the analogy, with drug dealer,
:14:35. > :14:39.and he does that purposefully. Your industry is being compared to that
:14:39. > :14:42.of drug dealing? It is the very emotive issue, I absolutely
:14:42. > :14:48.understand that. We have to focus. It is emotive because people are
:14:48. > :14:53.left in dire straits, unable to pay things, getting 60 messages a day
:14:53. > :15:00.from phones, from people asking do they want to borrow more money?
:15:00. > :15:04.average salary of one using a payday loan is �17,000, that is
:15:04. > :15:09.much higher than the minimum wage. People who use payday loans
:15:09. > :15:12.understand what they are getting into it, because it is a simple and
:15:13. > :15:16.transparent project. They rely on repeat business, because you think
:15:16. > :15:21.they are doing you a favour, and you feel like you have been
:15:21. > :15:24.kidnapped. You end coming back to your kidnapper for more, that was
:15:24. > :15:30.what one man said? If you are putting a cap on the product, you
:15:30. > :15:33.are demonstrating this isn't about trying to get people into perpetual
:15:33. > :15:37.debt. We are not a credit card company. You are not putting a cap
:15:37. > :15:41.on it, you said you wouldn't? cap the amount of times to extend
:15:41. > :15:44.the loan. We don't lend to people who can't pay back. It doesn't make
:15:44. > :15:47.good business sense. There is a cost to collect the debt if you
:15:47. > :15:53.don't get it back. That have the industry spokesman.
:15:53. > :15:56.We speak to the minister in a second. We have our economic
:15:57. > :16:00.editor's take on this. Paul Mason, how significant is this to our
:16:00. > :16:03.economy? Some of the data we know about this sector, for a sector
:16:03. > :16:06.that is causing so much angst, is patchy, the OFT doesn't seem to
:16:06. > :16:10.have many of the details toened happen. What we do know, or we
:16:10. > :16:17.think we know, is it has doubled in size over the past three years of
:16:17. > :16:21.the crisis. From about �900 million to �1.8 billion. That is the payday
:16:21. > :16:25.loan sector specifically. If we put it into the context of the whole
:16:25. > :16:29.consumer lending situation. This is unsecured lending, not credit cards,
:16:29. > :16:34.mortgages, but loans. You can see at the height of the boom it peaked
:16:34. > :16:38.at around �200 billion, it fell back to �150 billion, leaving a �50
:16:38. > :16:42.billion gap, at the very least. What do we think is happening? If
:16:42. > :16:47.we extrapolate some of the OFT's figures, it is possible that about
:16:47. > :16:49.�14 billion a year of lending is coming from the whole high-cost
:16:49. > :16:53.lending sector, of which this is just part. We talk about the
:16:53. > :16:58.doorstep lenders, the shops on the high street where you can pay 300%
:16:58. > :17:02.interest for a fridge. It is beginning to fill a bit of a gap.
:17:02. > :17:05.How dangerous do you think it could be to the economy? I have to say,
:17:05. > :17:09.the first problem is, you look at that film, it is like the boom is
:17:09. > :17:14.over, but nobody wants to tell the poor. That's what it seems. Why do
:17:15. > :17:20.we know that's a problem? Because if we study what happened before
:17:20. > :17:25.the Lehman Brothers crash, sub- prime lending, the OFT keeps asking,
:17:25. > :17:28.how much demand is there for this kind of loan,? What the regulators
:17:28. > :17:33.asked in hindsight about the crash we went through, is did these
:17:33. > :17:37.lenders create their own demand. Are there, in fact, a million in
:17:37. > :17:41.2009, maybe two million now, we don't know the numbers, two million
:17:41. > :17:45.people, or is it the same million borrowing double the amount. It is
:17:45. > :17:49.still quite startling that we don't seem to know some of the answers.
:17:49. > :17:53.Thank you very much. Jo Swinson, the consumer affairs minister joins
:17:53. > :17:57.me now. One of the points that Paul is getting at there, is the grim
:17:57. > :18:02.truth that the majority of people who use these services are the
:18:02. > :18:05.hardest hit. They are hit by your Government's welfare cuts, this is
:18:05. > :18:08.essentially privatisation, if you like, of the welfare state? I think
:18:08. > :18:12.it is important just to recognise that most people who are using
:18:12. > :18:19.payday lenders are working, although not necessarily on very
:18:19. > :18:22.high income, less than the average. They are on �17,500, on average?
:18:22. > :18:25.These are people who are it is important that they are looked
:18:25. > :18:29.after. The Government has already taken action on this issue. We have
:18:29. > :18:33.a revised and improved Code of Conduct that comes into place next
:18:33. > :18:38.Monday. It is fair to say that the OFT's interim report today is
:18:38. > :18:41.pretty damning. Let's get back that-to-that point, your Chancellor
:18:41. > :18:45.has spent two-and-a-half years saying debt is the problem. The
:18:45. > :18:49.last crisis was fuelled by debt, and this is making people more
:18:49. > :18:54.indebted. This is just laying the foundations for another crisis?
:18:54. > :18:58.Payday loans can work for some people. You saw some of the people
:18:58. > :19:01.in the film where that was the case. There are concerns when a report
:19:01. > :19:06.says that the majority of the investigations of companies they
:19:06. > :19:09.looked into it, they downed practices where customers weren't
:19:09. > :19:13.treated properly that is raising alarm bells. There is circumstances
:19:13. > :19:16.where it is a week before payday and the washing machine is on the
:19:16. > :19:21.blink, and the car needs to be fixed, there is some circumstances
:19:21. > :19:25.where it is an appropriate form of credit. And it is always working
:19:25. > :19:28.for some people. Wonga, the one that most people recognise, the
:19:28. > :19:32.poster child, would you say this is a big British success story, and
:19:32. > :19:37.you would like to see more of it? don't think it is an area where we
:19:37. > :19:41.need to see particular loor more of, it plays a particular role --
:19:41. > :19:44.particularly more of. It plays a particular role in the market.
:19:44. > :19:49.business has doubled in the last few years s that a good thing?
:19:49. > :19:51.Where it is used for the purposes of short-term credit and it is
:19:51. > :19:56.helpful. The short-term credit, where it is filling the gap that
:19:56. > :20:01.the banks who aren't lending as much? That is fine? There is a
:20:01. > :20:04.variety of different customers will end up in a situation where they
:20:04. > :20:08.suddenly need access to �200, for some people that is an earnings
:20:08. > :20:12.tension to an overdraft or cred -- extension to their overdraft or
:20:12. > :20:17.credit car, and some people don't have access to those things and it
:20:17. > :20:21.provides an answer. The issues the OFT outlines are very important,
:20:21. > :20:26.the lenders shouldn't be lending to those irresponsibly to people who
:20:26. > :20:29.can't afford it pay it back and will need to role over the loan
:20:29. > :20:35.multiple times. The cuts are introduced because the households
:20:35. > :20:40.are massively in debt? The personal debt crisis has been one that
:20:41. > :20:44.happened many years ago. It is something which my colleague Vince
:20:44. > :20:48.Cable warned about and asked for previous action from the Government.
:20:48. > :20:55.These are the figures we have from the last two or three years, since
:20:55. > :20:57.the cuts have been introduce, since your Government has been banging on
:20:57. > :21:00.about austerity, and sending people to these loans because they haven't
:21:01. > :21:05.a feasible stream of income? Government is working hard to make
:21:05. > :21:09.life easier for those on low and middle incomes. We are giving more
:21:09. > :21:14.than 20 million people a significant tax cut each year and
:21:14. > :21:17.that will help. We need to make sure when people go to the lenders,
:21:17. > :21:20.because they have a general financial sustainability problem,
:21:20. > :21:23.instead of being offered a payday loan, they are advised to seek
:21:23. > :21:27.advice about their debt situation, through organisations like the
:21:27. > :21:30.Citizens Advice, the Money Advice Service, if people seek advice
:21:30. > :21:34.quickly they can get a grip of the situation. What would you do, the
:21:34. > :21:39.OFT is confronting the problem now, would you like to see a cap now,
:21:39. > :21:41.like many other countries do? issue around the cap is not clear
:21:41. > :21:45.cut. We have issued evidence on this from Bristol University, which
:21:45. > :21:48.we expect by the end of the year. There is a superficial thing where
:21:48. > :21:53.you say that is the answer. commissioned it a year-and-a-half
:21:53. > :21:56.ago, why is it taking so long to answer one question? Primary
:21:56. > :22:00.research and hundreds of pages of evidence. There is a draft report
:22:00. > :22:04.put forward, we want to make sure the analysis...What Do you
:22:04. > :22:07.understand of it now? There is analysis of a cap and a full report
:22:07. > :22:11.by the end of the year. There are issues where if you set a cap too
:22:11. > :22:15.low, you could end up with a perverse consequence that you end
:22:15. > :22:18.up pushing people into the arms of illegal lenders, nobody wants that
:22:19. > :22:22.to happen. That hasn't happened. The other point to make about the
:22:22. > :22:29.total cap on credit, is it doesn't address those other issues that we
:22:29. > :22:33.saw around affordability, and people being lent to where it
:22:33. > :22:38.shouldn't be happening. The problem is, we have four different codes of
:22:38. > :22:40.practice, you told parliament there will be a review in 2013 this is an
:22:40. > :22:44.industry exploding before our eyes, five million people looking at
:22:44. > :22:50.taking out a loan, and a third won't be able to pay it back?
:22:50. > :22:53.is a clear shot across the boughs at the industry from the OFT. I
:22:53. > :22:56.felt frustrated with the response from the industry in your interview,
:22:56. > :22:59.I don't think there is room for complacency in that industry. The
:22:59. > :23:03.OFT is taking action today. They said they are starting
:23:03. > :23:06.investigations into some of the companies who they think could have
:23:06. > :23:10.to have their credit licenses revoked. We have given additional
:23:11. > :23:12.powers in next year to suspend credit licenses. We are keen to
:23:12. > :23:16.make sure vulnerable consumers are protected.
:23:16. > :23:19.Thank you. There was much anticipation today
:23:19. > :23:23.that a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas could be realised
:23:23. > :23:26.this evening. As it is, shelling and rocket attacks between the two
:23:26. > :23:30.sides continue unabated. The appeals for a diplomatic solution
:23:30. > :23:32.are being urged in their usual way by the international community.
:23:32. > :23:36.Just before coming on air strikes the US Secretary of State, Hillary
:23:36. > :23:42.Clinton, arrived for talks in Jerusalem. President Obama asked me
:23:42. > :23:48.to come to Israel with a very clear message. America's commitment to
:23:48. > :23:52.Israel's security is rock solid, and unwaviering. That is why we --
:23:52. > :23:55.unwavering, that is why we believe it is essential to deescalate the
:23:55. > :24:00.situation in Gaza. The rocket attacks from terrorist
:24:00. > :24:04.organisations inside Gaza, on Israeli cities and towns, must end.
:24:04. > :24:08.And a broader calm restored. Hillary Clinton, in Jerusalem. Mark
:24:08. > :24:13.Urban's here now. After all the toing and froing, and one comment
:24:13. > :24:18.from one side and contradictions from the other. Why do we think it
:24:18. > :24:21.didn't happen? Indeed President Morsi from Egypt said it will
:24:21. > :24:24.happen tonight. Hamas was giving out similar signal, there were
:24:24. > :24:29.suggestions that a press conference would happen at a certain time. Who
:24:29. > :24:33.would be on the platform. It hasn't happened for a number of reasons. I
:24:33. > :24:36.think, in essence, because all that was agreed was ceasefire light, if
:24:37. > :24:41.you like, stop shooting at one another. Where as we know full well,
:24:41. > :24:46.that both sides are actually after something more substantial than
:24:46. > :24:49.that. In the case of Hamas, of an easing of the blockade of the Gaza
:24:50. > :24:52.strip, more access for their economy. From the Israeli side, of
:24:52. > :24:56.course, something that deals with more fundamental security issues,
:24:57. > :25:00.people moving in and out of the Gaza strip to the Sinai Peninsula,
:25:00. > :25:03.causing them problems there now, the supply of missiles, all these
:25:03. > :25:09.other factors. There clearly isn't agreement on those things. And the
:25:09. > :25:12.Middle East is always a place that is full of theories, but I think it
:25:12. > :25:15.is reasonable to suspect, that the flagging up of the possible truce
:25:15. > :25:19.by Egypt and Hamas, was designed to put pressure on the Israelis to
:25:19. > :25:25.agree today something they didn't Right, because at the weekend there
:25:25. > :25:29.was the threat, it seemed, of a ground war, and an incursion, has
:25:29. > :25:34.that been averted? I don't think it has. The Israelis have been
:25:34. > :25:39.threatening it, since early on in this military x a, as you say. In
:25:39. > :25:42.some -- military action. As you say. In some cases it is patently
:25:42. > :25:44.incredible, it would be so against what they are trying to achieve
:25:44. > :25:47.diplomat closed circuit everyone is warning them off, from Hillary
:25:48. > :25:55.Clinton, who has arrived tonight, the US, the EU, all sorts of people
:25:55. > :25:58.are saying don't do it. They know from the experience of 2009, that
:25:58. > :26:02.casualties among civilians and damage to infrastructure could be
:26:02. > :26:06.heavy if they went in. They risk having soldiers kidnapped, all the
:26:06. > :26:10.risks there are doing it. So much so the head of Hamas said in Cairo
:26:10. > :26:13.yesterday, he taunted the Israelis, saying he didn't really believe
:26:13. > :26:16.they were serious, and come and have a go if you think you are hard
:26:16. > :26:21.enough, more or less. They do have to make it credible. This is where
:26:21. > :26:25.I think the crisis has its own dangers and possible momentum.
:26:25. > :26:28.Today we heard about leaflets being dropped to warn citizens to move
:26:28. > :26:33.away from certain areas where the Israeli army would, we imagine,
:26:33. > :26:36.punch in to the Gaza strip. There is an attempt to make it more
:26:36. > :26:41.credible. It is only fair to say, if there isn't agreement on a
:26:41. > :26:48.broader peace package, in the next 48 hours, then it may well become
:26:48. > :26:55.an inevitability. The image of the apprentice tends
:26:55. > :26:59.to lie at two ends of the spectrum, Alan Sugar's chosen fewer, or the
:26:59. > :27:04.Dickensian blacksmith. But the Government wants us to believe that
:27:04. > :27:07.an apprenticeship is the lead to a prosperous career and a cheaper
:27:07. > :27:12.alternative to university. Will we as a country ever buy into. That
:27:12. > :27:16.The world of work, and the choices we make to get there? It is a
:27:16. > :27:19.thorny and emotive set of decisions. Difficult decisions, crystalised by
:27:19. > :27:23.a civil servant recently speaking to Newsnight. How would a Prime
:27:23. > :27:27.Minister react if their son or daughter turned around to them and
:27:27. > :27:30.said that instead of going to university, they wanted to be an
:27:30. > :27:35.apprentice. What would our Prime Minister, imaginary or otherwise
:27:35. > :27:39.say, right now, the mandarin predicts, their face would fall.
:27:39. > :27:44.Out by Heathrow, their attitude at British Airways has already changed.
:27:44. > :27:50.For the first time in this country, they are training up management
:27:50. > :27:56.apprentices. I can start planning ahead in life more now, I I'm
:27:56. > :28:00.already looking at by the Who I Am' 25 I can have a nice -- by the time
:28:00. > :28:03.I'm 25 I can have a nice car and flashy house. What do you think?
:28:03. > :28:08.is the same, with money, they will be in debt, where as we are working
:28:08. > :28:13.for our money and go what we learn. The Business Secretary, Vince Cable,
:28:13. > :28:16.thinks our chaps, have got the right idea, in a speech tomorrow he
:28:16. > :28:21.will say by the end of this parliament, he wants an
:28:21. > :28:25.apprenticeship to be as good a bet as university. Vince Cable has
:28:25. > :28:35.always already put �1.2 billion into supporting firms taking on
:28:35. > :28:48.
:28:48. > :28:53.apprentices. Tomorrow he goes Cordell, he's 18, two A-levels and
:28:53. > :28:56.a B-Tech. This is Tim, he's 19 and has three A-levels. They both have
:28:56. > :29:01.more drive than a jumbo jet, which is just as well, because though
:29:01. > :29:04.they are young, their roles see them dragooning their elders in
:29:04. > :29:07.meetings. What skills could you possibly have got from university
:29:07. > :29:12.you might be missing, there must be something, otherwise why have
:29:12. > :29:15.people been going to university for years? They get all the theory
:29:15. > :29:20.behind it, I suppose we get both, we get the theory and use what we
:29:20. > :29:25.have just learned in the working environment. I think there is sort
:29:25. > :29:29.of a thing, I know for me, in my college, it was a lot of, there was
:29:29. > :29:34.a lot of push behind universities, there wasn't this whole
:29:34. > :29:37.apprenticeship idea I did on my own, I went out and searched for it, I
:29:37. > :29:43.researched what project management was, I didn't have the backing.
:29:43. > :29:46.Down the road, quite a lot of road, to the accounting and management
:29:46. > :29:53.consultancy firm, PWC, they have been taking non-university recruits
:29:53. > :29:56.for some time. This year sees the first formal apprentice management
:29:57. > :30:03.consultant. They believe they can train a young person up in the
:30:03. > :30:08.skills that are required, as well as any university could.
:30:08. > :30:14.Cirsity has three A-levels, one of them an A*, they are older brother
:30:14. > :30:17.became an apprenticeship, and she thought it wasn't for her. I think
:30:17. > :30:23.traditionally apprenticeships are more vocational, electricity,
:30:23. > :30:27.plumbing, I didn't realise there were apprenticeships in more
:30:27. > :30:32.professional services. Especially a higher apprenticeship you can only
:30:32. > :30:36.do when you leave school. Typically an apprenticeship is for a school
:30:36. > :30:40.lever at 16, you work for an electrical company and move up.
:30:40. > :30:46.This is for school leavers who have A-levels. Why was university not
:30:46. > :30:50.attractive to you? I think the tuition fees put me off. Here in
:30:50. > :30:54.the City, the aspiration doesn't appear to be that far off. This
:30:54. > :30:58.month PWC launched the first management consultancy
:30:58. > :31:01.apprenticeship, and many of their high-flyers don't have degrees at
:31:01. > :31:04.all. But the problem is one of whether you can roll it out on a
:31:04. > :31:07.national scale. The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove,
:31:07. > :31:11.is known to love apprenticeship, but his fears are about the scale.
:31:11. > :31:16.The difference between him and the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, is
:31:16. > :31:20.not that the aim isn't laudible, it is whether it is plausible.
:31:20. > :31:24.The Government has struggled in the past with ensuring that all
:31:24. > :31:28.apprenticeships are of quality, and they do not exploit workers. They
:31:28. > :31:31.have introduced this, as I have said, this minimum duration of a
:31:31. > :31:35.year, which is fantastic. We have yet to see that play out. That is
:31:35. > :31:39.the most important thing, we need to see that is working. As I say,
:31:39. > :31:44.it is really important that it is real work, that we have employed
:31:44. > :31:47.people doing apprentices. I think it was a big surprise for many that
:31:47. > :31:51.some aren't employed. That is the most important thing, it is about
:31:51. > :31:57.work and training, we hope that is where we are going with this.
:31:57. > :32:00.Linford points out if measured as an apprenticeship rather than lump
:32:00. > :32:03.sum, it is set to go down 2%. Recently parliament's business
:32:03. > :32:06.Select Committee said it could not ignore the perception that quality
:32:06. > :32:10.may have been damaged, and there must not be a trade off between
:32:10. > :32:14.number, quality and brand. So back to that offspring of a
:32:14. > :32:19.future Prime Minister, will they listen to the aspiration to be laid
:32:19. > :32:21.out tomorrow by the Business Secretary, Vince Cable. The demand
:32:21. > :32:28.for apprenticeships is there already, the Government still has
:32:28. > :32:35.to work out how to meet that demand. The most difficult time in any
:32:35. > :32:39.transition is when we think success is in sight. The words of
:32:39. > :32:44.opposition lead, Gary Mackay, who has seen her fair -- Aung San Suu
:32:44. > :32:49.Kyi, who has seen her fair share of disappointments. Burma's problems
:32:49. > :32:52.as well as progress resurface, one of the biggest challenges facing
:32:52. > :33:02.the leadership, are the long held ethnic tensions between Buddhists
:33:02. > :33:05.
:33:05. > :33:10.and Muslims, which are a by-product of reform.
:33:10. > :33:15.Generations of Muslims worshiped here at the mosque. It took just a
:33:15. > :33:25.few hours to ensure they would never use it again. But at least
:33:25. > :33:26.
:33:26. > :33:32.here, there is some trace of the uprooted people. A mile away, the
:33:32. > :33:35.mosque at Nasri, all the houses around it have been levelled. The
:33:35. > :33:43.Muslim presence has been erased. Several thousand people lived here,
:33:43. > :33:48.until last June, when sectarian violence erupted. Buddhist mobs
:33:48. > :33:52.descended on the area, killing and burning. The destruction here is a
:33:52. > :33:56.direct consequence of Burma's own history. But it has a universal
:33:56. > :34:01.resonance. The kind of language that I hear people using, reminds
:34:01. > :34:05.me of things I have heard in Northern Ireland, in the Balkan, in
:34:05. > :34:10.central Africa. At its heart, the idea that for one group of people
:34:10. > :34:16.to survive the others must be driven out.
:34:16. > :34:21.The refugees from Nasri fled to the another by Muslim neighbourhood.
:34:21. > :34:25.Close Tory the city centre, it is protected by the army and police.
:34:25. > :34:34.-- closer to the city centre it is protected by army and police. It
:34:34. > :34:40.feels like a ghetto. In the mosque, refugees mix with
:34:40. > :34:47.the older population. Outside, they have begun to use the garden as a
:34:47. > :34:50.makeshift cemetery. These are the graves of people who have become
:34:50. > :34:53.sick and died in the past few months, orderly they would be taken
:34:54. > :34:58.to a cemetery, but the people here tell me they are too afraid to
:34:58. > :35:02.leave this area, fearing they would be attacked.
:35:02. > :35:07.A few moments ago a man came out of the crowd and handed me this piece
:35:07. > :35:14.of paper, it says "good afternoon Sir, please rescue us from the
:35:14. > :35:18.tyranny of our Government and Rakine, please help us", there is a
:35:18. > :35:25.sense of isolation and fear here. What would happen if you go
:35:25. > :35:31.outside? They will kill them and they will beat them, they mean the
:35:31. > :35:35.Buddhists will kill them and beat them if they go outside.
:35:35. > :35:41.refugee camps are appearing across the plains outside the city. The
:35:41. > :35:46.buddists have suffered too, but most of the 100,000-plus displaced
:35:46. > :35:50.are Muslims. Everywhere we heard testimony of violent attacks.
:35:50. > :35:54.TRANSLATION: The Rakine surrounded the village, they burned the mosque
:35:54. > :35:57.and the houses, we tried to put the flames out and they shot, my son
:35:57. > :35:59.was shot in the neck, he was brought to the hospital. As we were
:35:59. > :36:06.leaving the hospital they surrounded us, they were killing
:36:06. > :36:09.Muslims, they killed my husband. The police were just looking on.
:36:09. > :36:15.TRANSLATION: When they burned the house, my mother was inside, she
:36:15. > :36:25.was sick and I couldn't lift her. I heard the sound of shooting and ran
:36:25. > :36:29.away. My mother was burned. On the other side of the barricades,
:36:29. > :36:34.the buddists have their own narrative of victimhood. They
:36:34. > :36:43.regard the Muslims as illegal migrants, who really belong in
:36:43. > :36:46.neighbouring Bangladesh. The buddists themselves are an ethnic
:36:46. > :36:54.minority in Burma, and see themselves being trapped between
:36:54. > :37:02.Islam and the majority Burmese population to the south. We are
:37:02. > :37:11.between the Islamisations and Burmaiesations, so even our own
:37:11. > :37:16.Government, they are ignore our needs. The people you call Bengali,
:37:16. > :37:19.where should they go now, should they go back? They are Bengali,
:37:19. > :37:23.they are not from our own country, they are from Bangladesh, they
:37:24. > :37:28.should go to their own country, their nations. If somebody is born
:37:28. > :37:31.here, are they still an illegal immigrant? Their fathers and
:37:31. > :37:37.forefathers are only illegal immigrants. We can't accept them.
:37:37. > :37:40.They have to go? Yeah. In this border region, there is unDowning
:37:40. > :37:46.Streetedly been illegal migration. But there has been a sizeable
:37:46. > :37:50.Muslim presence here for centuries. Conflict between the two groups has
:37:50. > :37:55.deep historical roots, but under military rule, divisions were
:37:55. > :38:02.deepened. The state striped most of these Muslims of citizenship. It
:38:02. > :38:08.was the politics of discrimination that sowed the seeds of tragedy.
:38:08. > :38:13.Like here. In the eyes of their Buddhist neighbours the Muslims
:38:13. > :38:18.were turned into a non-people, when the regime took away their rights
:38:18. > :38:23.30 years ago. Today the Rakine pick through the ruins of a Muslim
:38:23. > :38:30.village, which was, until a few weeks ago, home to 1,000 people.
:38:30. > :38:34.Desperate poverty has exacerbated the divisions between the two.
:38:34. > :38:39.It is not as if the spiritual leaders of this devoutly Buddhist
:38:39. > :38:45.community have tried to calm the crisis. Far from it. Across the
:38:45. > :38:50.troubled areas, Buddhist Clergy have been to the fore, in demanding
:38:50. > :38:54.the exclusion of the Muslims. TRANSLATION: Around the world there
:38:54. > :38:58.are many Muslim countries, they should go there. The Muslim
:38:58. > :39:03.countries should take care of them. They should go to a country with
:39:03. > :39:10.the same religion. You don't believe that they have the right to
:39:10. > :39:14.call themselves Burmese? TRANSLATION: No, I do not.
:39:14. > :39:18.The state has belatedly deployed troops to protect the refugees, it
:39:18. > :39:21.has promised it will address the crisis over their civil right. In
:39:21. > :39:26.this overwhelmingly Buddhist country, there is little support
:39:26. > :39:28.for ending their eggs collision. Even the human rights icon, Aung
:39:28. > :39:32.San Suu Kyi, has refused to champion their cause.
:39:32. > :39:36.Last June, as the violence was unfolding here, and thousands of
:39:36. > :39:40.people were being driven from their homes, Aung San Suu Kyi was in
:39:40. > :39:44.Europe, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, there were many of her
:39:44. > :39:48.western supporters who hoped then that she would make a forceful
:39:48. > :39:53.intervention. A strong statement, condemning the violence against the
:39:53. > :39:58.Muslim community. But it never came. She has called for respect for the
:39:58. > :40:01.rule of law, and in recent week, called the violence an
:40:01. > :40:08.international tragedy. But the most powerful statement by any public
:40:08. > :40:15.figure came this week from the President of the United States.
:40:15. > :40:20.APPLAUSE For too long the people of this
:40:20. > :40:23.state, including ethnic Rakine have faced crushing poverty and
:40:23. > :40:31.persecution. But there is no excuse for violence against innocent
:40:31. > :40:40.people. The Rojinga hold themselves, hold within themselves the same
:40:40. > :40:44.dignity as you do and I do. Obama framed the Rohinja crisis has
:40:44. > :40:47.central to Burma's future. Your country will be stronger because of
:40:47. > :40:51.many different culture, but you have to seize that opportunity,
:40:51. > :40:54.recognise that strength. Under growing international pressure,
:40:54. > :41:02.Burma's leaders, Government and opposition, talk of a political
:41:03. > :41:10.solution. This man, a key ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, listened to the
:41:10. > :41:13.President's speech. In the past he has denied the Rohinja were a
:41:13. > :41:18.Burmese group. He seems to be softening. What was the main
:41:18. > :41:22.message you got from the speech today? The most important point is
:41:22. > :41:26.the national reconciliation for our country, the different ethnic
:41:26. > :41:33.groups and religions, we need to maintain the freedom of speech or
:41:33. > :41:37.worship, so that is the most valuable things today.
:41:37. > :41:42.There is a change in rhetoric, but the hatred between the groups is so
:41:42. > :41:47.deep, any big political moves would be met with fierce resistance.
:41:47. > :41:51.Nobody here believes the crisis is over. And as Burma approaches
:41:51. > :41:55.elections in 2015, the uncertainty will only increase.
:41:55. > :42:02.It is the great irony that growing freedom on a national level is
:42:02. > :42:05.turning this state into a prison for the Rohinja.
:42:05. > :42:10.From Washington I'm joined by Priscilla Clapp, a former US
:42:10. > :42:14.diplomat who served in Rangoon, with me in the studio is Zoya Phan,
:42:14. > :42:22.from buerm had a campaign UK. We heard -- Burma Campaign UK. We
:42:22. > :42:28.heard in the report there that Obama really framed the Rojihga
:42:28. > :42:32.crisis as central to Burma's future, do you see that, is any democratic
:42:32. > :42:37.reform impossible without resolving the ethnic tensions? It won't be a
:42:37. > :42:42.stable democracy without solving the ethnic tensions. It is not just
:42:42. > :42:47.the Rohinja but all the other ethnic groups. During 50 years of
:42:47. > :42:51.military rule, a lot of these differences and problems were
:42:51. > :42:55.suppressed a. The people have never learned how -- and the people have
:42:55. > :43:00.never learned how to mitigate and mediate their differences. It is
:43:00. > :43:05.happening now, and it is happening very dramatically. We saw it in the
:43:05. > :43:08.Balkans and the caucuses, when dictatorial rule is removed from a
:43:08. > :43:13.society, very often some of these terrible problems come out. And
:43:13. > :43:18.this is what they are working through now. Do you see this as a
:43:18. > :43:22.potential Yugoslavia situation, then? I don't think there will be
:43:22. > :43:26."ethnic cleansing" and fighting on the scale that we saw in Yugoslavia,
:43:26. > :43:36.these are not armed groups. The fighting that is going on is with
:43:36. > :43:41.fire and spears and knives. The military and the police will
:43:41. > :43:44.prevent a wide scale violence of the sort that we saw in Yugoslavia.
:43:44. > :43:49.Zoya Phan, when you reflect on what your country has been through, a
:43:49. > :43:55.country you left when you were 14, and haven't really been able to
:43:55. > :43:59.revisit openly. Do you see this as a country now properly on the road
:44:00. > :44:06.to democratic, economic reform, are you confident? I'm not confident at
:44:06. > :44:11.all. Given the situations on the ground. So far the reforms that we
:44:11. > :44:17.have seen in Burma are skin deep and top down. Of course these
:44:17. > :44:21.positive reforms are welcome, and there have been some civil liberty
:44:21. > :44:26.in certain parts of Burma. But look at the situations in ethnic areas,
:44:26. > :44:30.the result is the Government troops are taking civilians and raping
:44:30. > :44:34.women, including gang rapes, and then displaysing thousands and
:44:34. > :44:39.thousands of people from their homes. Can Aung San Suu Kyi be the
:44:39. > :44:43.answer to this, there are critics who say Obama did more in one visit
:44:43. > :44:50.than she was able to do about this problem? Well, Aung San Suu Kyi is
:44:50. > :44:56.trying her best, and she is willing to take the risk and then push for
:44:56. > :45:01.further reforms within the dictatorship system. But she has a
:45:01. > :45:08.really limited capacity to do that, given human rights and humanitarian
:45:08. > :45:13.crisis in Burma. Basicically, the Government is dominated by military
:45:13. > :45:17.person -- basically, the Government is dominated by the military powers.
:45:17. > :45:21.This is clear, Priscilla Clapp, the photos of Obama and Aung San Suu
:45:21. > :45:25.Kyi, which go around the world and make everyone feel fuzzy inside,
:45:25. > :45:28.belie the reality, which is this is a country that is still run by the
:45:28. > :45:33.military. Is it a country that America is ready to do business
:45:33. > :45:38.with, do economic business with? don't agree completely with the
:45:38. > :45:45.statement you just made. The country is run by ex-military, not
:45:45. > :45:53."the" military as a force. The uniformed military is, has already
:45:53. > :45:55.taken a couple of steps back into the barracks. The people in charge
:45:56. > :46:01.are ex-generals, not sitting generals. They are trying to move
:46:01. > :46:04.to civilian governance. That is important. And Zoya Phan, when you
:46:04. > :46:09.see that now, would you like America to be in, would you like it
:46:09. > :46:13.to be a trade partner and an economic resurgence to begin?
:46:13. > :46:19.welcome the step up in diplomatic approach from the US Government.
:46:19. > :46:22.But we think that based in the experience we have in the past,
:46:22. > :46:28.diplomatic approaches alone doesn't work. Without pressure, we won't
:46:28. > :46:30.see the reforms that have been taking place so far. Because the
:46:30. > :46:34.Government knows exactly how to deal with the international
:46:34. > :46:40.community, and what they care about is trade and investment, but not
:46:40. > :46:50.about human rights and democracy. Thank you both very much indeed.
:46:50. > :46:52.
:46:52. > :46:59.As of today, the ZX Spectrum, the Atari and Betamax have gained an
:46:59. > :47:09.unexpected ally, the last typewriter came off the production
:47:09. > :47:33.
:47:33. > :47:37.line and went to the mu seem. Good evening, more heavy rain to
:47:37. > :47:41.come. The Met Office have issued an amber warning, due to the heavy
:47:41. > :47:45.rain across many southern counties, the risk of localised flooding, and
:47:45. > :47:48.the rain throughout the day, only slowly clearing eastwards. It is
:47:48. > :47:52.looking dryer and brighter, in the North West, the North West of
:47:52. > :47:57.England later on in the afternoon. It is staying cloudy, down towards
:47:57. > :48:01.the south-east corner with rain still at 3.00 pm. Better prospects
:48:01. > :48:04.throughout the afternoon, sunshine for south-west England,
:48:04. > :48:08.temperatures 10, 11 degrees, not as high as they have been so far this
:48:08. > :48:11.week. A bright finish to the day across Wales, patchy cloud here and
:48:11. > :48:15.still breezy around the coast. For Northern Ireland much of the day
:48:15. > :48:20.should be dry, fine and bright, one or two showers scattered around,
:48:20. > :48:24.highs of eight or nine. For the North West of Scotland, more cloud,
:48:24. > :48:29.increasing later on in the day. For mainland Scotland after a chilly
:48:29. > :48:33.start to the day, fine with sunny spells. Sunshine in Edinburgh and
:48:33. > :48:37.temperatures at nine degrees, down on what we had on Tuesday's value,
:48:37. > :48:41.you will notice the forecast for Thursday going down hill with heavy
:48:41. > :48:45.rain around. Throughout much of the day, London is looking cloudy and