:00:13. > :00:17.Tonight, does the collapse of the Vicky Pryce trial suggest a major
:00:17. > :00:20.flaw at the very heart of the British jury system. It is now your
:00:20. > :00:24.duty to sit down and try to separate the facts from the fancy.
:00:24. > :00:27.If there is a reasonable doubt in Muir minds as to the guilt of the
:00:27. > :00:32.accused, then you must bring me a verdict of not guilty. If there is
:00:32. > :00:35.no reasonable doubt, you must, in good conscience, find the accused
:00:35. > :00:39.guilty. That is the Hollywood version. The real-life version was
:00:39. > :00:45.a jury asking a judge questions which suggested they hadn't a clue
:00:45. > :00:49.about their role, hadn't listened, or hadn't understood.
:00:49. > :00:53.Also tonight, why is it that school results are better in some of the
:00:53. > :00:56.poorest areas of London, than in more prosperous places outside the
:00:56. > :00:59.capital. I do actually want to become a Prime Minister. I want to
:00:59. > :01:03.show that it doesn't matter what race you are, what religion you
:01:03. > :01:07.come from, that you can become anything you want.
:01:07. > :01:10.England's Chief Inspector of schools, in rare interview, will
:01:10. > :01:13.tell us whether the London effect can help children become Prime
:01:13. > :01:16.Minister. Currency wars, are all the big
:01:16. > :01:21.currencies competitively devaluing to help their economies. What
:01:21. > :01:26.should the UK do about it. Paul Mason will have an exciting graph.
:01:26. > :01:30.How old is too old to have a baby. With a report demanding that the
:01:30. > :01:39.NHS should pay for IVF treatment for women over 40, where should we
:01:39. > :01:43.draw the line? Good evening. This is a trial which
:01:43. > :01:46.will go down in legal history. Not for the verdict, there wasn't one,
:01:46. > :01:50.and there will have to be a retrial. But the jury in the Vicky Pryce
:01:50. > :01:54.case asked the judge a series of questions which Mr Justice Sweenew
:01:54. > :01:57.found so extraordinary, after 30 years experience, that he said some
:01:57. > :02:04.of the questions demonstrated a fundamental deficit in
:02:04. > :02:07.understanding of the entire trial process. In less polite layman's
:02:07. > :02:11.terms, he was suggesting some of the questions were extremely stupid.
:02:11. > :02:15.You might possibly agree. We report on a truly remarkable day in court.
:02:15. > :02:19.The jury were discharged after sending the judge a note indicating
:02:19. > :02:23.it was highly unlikely they would reach even the majority verdict he
:02:23. > :02:26.had asked for. Yet this may have seemed a reasonably simple case.
:02:26. > :02:31.Vicky Pryce is accused of perverting the course of justice.
:02:31. > :02:38.She denies the chanch, saying she was coerced by her ex-- charge,
:02:38. > :02:45.says she was coerced by her ex- husband, Chris Huhne, into take
:02:45. > :02:51.iing his speeding points. Whether or not she was the victim of
:02:51. > :02:57.marital coercion was the specific issue. That is an ancient defence,
:02:57. > :03:01.back to 1925. The most appropriate thing is for me to read the words
:03:01. > :03:05.Mr Sweeney used in his summing up. He said that a not guilty verdict
:03:05. > :03:09.would require the jury to agree that she had no choice but to do as
:03:09. > :03:14.her husband order, and that she was present at the time she signed the
:03:14. > :03:17.paperwork. And she said that he was so present. So that is an issue
:03:17. > :03:22.which he has quite clearly defined for the jury. There is, of course,
:03:22. > :03:27.nothing unusual in a jury asking a judge for guidance. Yesterday the
:03:28. > :03:32.jury of eight women and four men asked the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney
:03:32. > :03:42.ten questions. They ranged from the straight forward to the curious and
:03:42. > :04:07.
:04:07. > :04:13.Those were questions that clearly shocked lawyers in the case. The
:04:13. > :04:17.prosecutor, Madelin Nistor QC, said the ir-- said that the jury seemed
:04:17. > :04:19.not to have sufficiently grasped its task, and the judge talked
:04:19. > :04:22.about his concern about the fundamental deficit in
:04:22. > :04:27.understanding that the questions demonstrated. He added that in well
:04:27. > :04:35.over 30 years of criminal trial he had never come across this, at this
:04:35. > :04:38.stage, never. The judge had told the jurors that if they couldn't
:04:38. > :04:43.understand the directions they couldn't reach a true verdict. Do
:04:43. > :04:47.jurors always understand what they are told. Some years ago a survey
:04:47. > :04:50.for the Ministry of Justice suggested two thirds couldn't. Do
:04:50. > :04:54.today's events show there is a serious problem with the jury
:04:54. > :04:58.system? This is one case where the jury have been unable to reach a
:04:58. > :05:03.verdict. Juries are, sometimes, unable to reach verdicts. I think
:05:03. > :05:07.we would all accept that we would rather any jury in any criminal
:05:07. > :05:13.case adopt a reasoned approach, at the end of which they are simply
:05:13. > :05:18.unable to reach a verdict one way or the other. Than for a jury to
:05:18. > :05:21.return in haste, with an ill- conceived, ill-considered verdict,
:05:21. > :05:26.which, don't forget, if it conflicts with the evidence, could
:05:26. > :05:29.be taken on appeal for the Court of Appeal as being a verdict that was
:05:30. > :05:34.made against the weight of the evidence. The jury has been
:05:34. > :05:37.dismissed, but the case is, of course, not over. There is to be a
:05:37. > :05:41.speedy retrial, starting next Monday.
:05:41. > :05:44.Chris Huhne won't be sentenced until the Vicky Pryce case is
:05:44. > :05:49.concluded. Let's discuss this with John Cooper
:05:49. > :05:54.QC, and the QC who appeared for a defendant in a Heathrow robbery
:05:54. > :05:57.case conducted, very unusually, without a jury, for fear of jury
:05:57. > :06:02.tampering. How surprising this that a judge is saying, however politely
:06:02. > :06:05.to a jury, that some of you are not up to the job? I'm not sure he's
:06:05. > :06:09.saying. That the fact is jurors sometimes ask questions, sometimes
:06:09. > :06:13.jurors get it right, sometimes they get it wrong. This is a system
:06:13. > :06:16.based on human beings, and they are fallible. But the alternative is
:06:16. > :06:22.more frightening. The alternative is no jury, the alternative is not
:06:22. > :06:26.being tried by our peers and a judge. The other thing is this, I
:06:26. > :06:29.98% of trials don't have jurors in them any way. It is not a major
:06:29. > :06:32.upheaval as far as the courts are concerned. It is a good system, it
:06:32. > :06:35.works, it is fallible and gets things wrong. But the alternative
:06:35. > :06:39.is frightening. The fact it is unusual, we are reporting on it,
:06:39. > :06:44.and we are paying attention to it, that points up to the fact that it
:06:44. > :06:47.is news? It points up to being news. We can talk about anecdotes we have
:06:47. > :06:53.in the past. We can all talk about for instance stories we have heard,
:06:53. > :06:59.like the jury some years Agatha consulted a wee ghee board to
:06:59. > :07:04.consult with the dead defendant -- ouija board to consult with the
:07:04. > :07:12.dead defendant. I had a jury asking could we convict on the evidence or
:07:12. > :07:16.could it be gut instinct. We have all had stories like that, but
:07:16. > :07:19.importantly they are our peers judging us. You appeared in a case,
:07:19. > :07:23.for the first time in 300 years, heard in England without a jury.
:07:23. > :07:27.Did it change the whole nature of the trial, did it feel very odd to
:07:27. > :07:33.you? It was a very strange experience, as somebody who is used
:07:33. > :07:37.to juries. We suddenly had a crown court judge who was also the jury
:07:37. > :07:41.in the case. We had to work out our own procedure, everything was
:07:41. > :07:45.different. When points of law are argued a jury goes out. This time
:07:45. > :07:49.you obviously had the judge being the judge, taking off his jury hat.
:07:49. > :07:53.It was very different. But things I did notice were, for example,
:07:53. > :07:56.because the judge also had to give his judgment, he was taking a very
:07:56. > :08:00.close note of the evidence. So therefore he couldn't always watch
:08:00. > :08:06.the witness the way that a jury sitting across is able to do. Those
:08:06. > :08:12.sort of differences really struck me. It really confirmed, in my head,
:08:12. > :08:16.I'm a big fan of juries. You both are in different ways, with
:08:16. > :08:21.criticisms. I wondered whether you felt perhaps a lay person would
:08:21. > :08:24.think, look, a jury is likely to be the softer option. It is more
:08:24. > :08:28.likely to get off in front of a jury than with a judge, because he
:08:28. > :08:36.or she will have heard it all before? I'm sure people do think
:08:36. > :08:39.that. In fact, some defendants will deliberately elect for a jury
:08:39. > :08:42.because they know statistically they have a greater chance of
:08:42. > :08:48.acquittal before a jury than a magistrate. Those are the facts.
:08:48. > :08:53.That is not necessarily a bad thing. I think the bigger picture of the
:08:53. > :08:56.jury being a barometer of society as well, in that they may consider,
:08:56. > :09:01.for example, that this is a prosecution that really should not
:09:01. > :09:04.be brought. They do not like it. Although they may feel perhaps the
:09:04. > :09:07.evidence is sufficient here for guilty, this is not a case we want
:09:07. > :09:10.to convict on. That is justice rather than the strict
:09:10. > :09:14.interpretation of the law? A jury sense of justice, that is
:09:14. > :09:19.interesting. I was going to add to this, and if jurors are not
:09:19. > :09:21.understanding a case, it is not the jurors' fault, it is the
:09:21. > :09:26.professions' fault, and the system's fault for not enabling it
:09:26. > :09:29.to be explained to them. How do you change that, because you know,
:09:29. > :09:32.we're all lay people on juries, we have all other jobs and interests,
:09:32. > :09:36.we don't spend our time in court, how do you change it to make sure
:09:36. > :09:41.that the jury, since they are just like the rest of mankind, how they
:09:41. > :09:45.really know what they are up to? lot of criminal cases are all about
:09:45. > :09:49.human life. Which is exactly what a jury is calibrated to judge, they
:09:49. > :09:53.are human beings with experience of life, as is often referred to by
:09:53. > :09:56.judges. If there are technicalties in a case, whether it be medical
:09:56. > :09:59.technicality, financial technicality, my experience is that
:09:59. > :10:04.you can boil that down into propositions and presentations
:10:04. > :10:08.which a jury can understand. Even in very complex fraud cases, that
:10:08. > :10:12.is one of the areas where some people say juries don't get the
:10:12. > :10:17.expert evidence there? I have done a number of complex fraud cases and
:10:17. > :10:19.presented it to the jury. The jury have come back with rational and
:10:19. > :10:22.important questions. We have paperless trials, it is getting
:10:22. > :10:26.less and less complicated. The profession are getting more and
:10:26. > :10:30.more used to clear presentation. My view is this, if the jury don't
:10:30. > :10:35.understand a point, let's not blame the jury, let's blame us and
:10:35. > :10:42.perhaps the judges. Is it more complicated now, just because
:10:42. > :10:47.jurors, because we all are exposed to 24-hour news, Twitter, there is
:10:47. > :10:53.so much more going on than to think about what you are only going on in
:10:53. > :10:56.the case. If you were doing the Pistorius case you would hear
:10:56. > :10:59.nothing but that? It is more complicated because there is more
:10:59. > :11:04.information from outsiefpltd those people who serve on juries and
:11:04. > :11:08.write about it, write about the real seriousness with think they
:11:08. > :11:12.approach the task. You are judging your peers, you can feel that sort
:11:12. > :11:15.of atmosphere. The court goes quiet, the jury is entering. They are very,
:11:15. > :11:20.very important. I think they can actually get around things in the
:11:20. > :11:24.press and Twitter and so on. Thank you both very much.
:11:24. > :11:29.In a moment, why are poor white children outside London falling
:11:29. > :11:38.behind in education? And, putting the biological clocks forward,
:11:38. > :11:45.should IVF treatment be offered to women in their 40s.
:11:45. > :11:51.What make as good school? What is the secret all me that turns an
:11:51. > :11:55.underperform -- alchemy that turns an underperforming pupil into a
:11:55. > :12:02.successful graduate. There are schools performing well with
:12:02. > :12:06.a first language, and those outside London, the London schools are
:12:06. > :12:12.performing much better. If there is a London Effect, what is it? How
:12:12. > :12:16.could it help schools up and down the country? Tesmoore Zulfiqar is
:12:16. > :12:21.16, in his last year of school in the East End of London. He's
:12:21. > :12:26.determined to move up in the world. We come from a humble background,
:12:26. > :12:30.the family really motivates me to do good. I have seen my cousins,
:12:30. > :12:34.they are very high achievers, they are doing medicines and accountants
:12:34. > :12:44.and stuff like that. I want to really achieve high in my life. To
:12:44. > :12:48.
:12:48. > :12:53.help out my parents as well. It is a challenge. This is one of the
:12:53. > :12:56.poorer parts of London. At his school, Little Ilford, over half
:12:56. > :13:02.the pupils are eligible for free school meals. The vast majority
:13:02. > :13:12.speak English as a second language. 15 years ago exam results were poor,
:13:12. > :13:12.
:13:12. > :13:17.and yet, this year 71% of pupils got five GCSEs at grades A*-C,
:13:17. > :13:21.including English and maths. Tesmoore Zulfiqar has already taken
:13:21. > :13:25.three GCSEs, he got A*s and an A. have been to a lot of trips to
:13:25. > :13:29.universities, and I have been to Oxford and Cambridge. I like the
:13:29. > :13:34.ethos, the way Cambridge University is. I quite want to go there. And
:13:34. > :13:37.they hold a lot of reputation in the work world. If you go to an
:13:37. > :13:46.employer and say you have been to Oxford and Cambridge, it gives you
:13:46. > :13:51.more of a chance to get a job. His family are originally from
:13:51. > :13:56.Kashmir, his mother works in accounts, and Mohammed is a driver.
:13:56. > :14:01.Neither went to university, but her keen their son should. GCSEs will
:14:01. > :14:05.be hard as well. You can't expect it to be easy. Research suggests
:14:05. > :14:09.parents' support for education can be crucial. You have to make sure
:14:09. > :14:12.you use your time constructively. Putting effort in study and you
:14:13. > :14:18.will get your results for certain. His family say the school often
:14:18. > :14:23.calls them, if he's going well, or if he needs some help. In English
:14:23. > :14:26.he was finding some of the course work difficult, and he's doing
:14:26. > :14:32.another GCSE in Urdu, where he was finding some of the work difficult,
:14:32. > :14:36.so the teacher did get in touch with us and we did speak to us.
:14:36. > :14:42.He's doing extra after school, two hours and one hours in English and
:14:42. > :14:48.fis sicks, sometimes in the Urdu G -- physics, and sometimes Urdu GCSE,
:14:48. > :14:53.the teacher arranged it for him and that is at the school. English may
:14:53. > :14:59.not be their first language at home, but at school these 11 and 12-year-
:14:59. > :15:02.olds are following Shakespeare's verse.
:15:02. > :15:06.We have seen real success with young people who have come to us,
:15:06. > :15:10.come to us with very low levels of attainment, and through the support
:15:10. > :15:13.they have received in the classroom, from the intervention sessions,
:15:13. > :15:17.they have left our school flourishing with fantastic GCSE
:15:17. > :15:23.results. As a school we have seen that young people can succeed,
:15:23. > :15:26.given the right support. I pose the "no excuse culture" means, we know
:15:26. > :15:33.with the right support, the right type of learning, any young person
:15:33. > :15:38.can achieve. That is what we strive to do.
:15:38. > :15:42.One of the most significant things they do, is to give extra teaching
:15:42. > :15:49.to any students who are behind in their reading and writing. Like
:15:49. > :15:56.these pupils in year seven. What letter is taken out of here?,
:15:56. > :16:01.not an "e" an "o". We knew for our learners it was about their writing
:16:01. > :16:04.F they weren't able to write -- if they weren't able to write fluently
:16:04. > :16:09.they couldn't access the wider programme. We have developed that
:16:09. > :16:13.with the lessons and developed it with staff in the wider school to
:16:13. > :16:17.transfer the skills into all their classes.
:16:17. > :16:25.Government policies over the last decade have helped Little Ilford
:16:25. > :16:30.climb up the league tables. Teach First brought in graduates for from
:16:31. > :16:36.universities, and the Challenge Programme, meant Little Ilford
:16:37. > :16:40.worked for closely with other schools.
:16:40. > :16:46.The dynamism of the capital inspires children too. Newham was
:16:46. > :16:53.an Olympic borough, and from their classrooms, pupils can see the
:16:53. > :16:58.London skyline changing. The shard, soaring upwards.
:16:58. > :17:01.Over the last ten years schools in London have been improving,
:17:01. > :17:03.sponsored academies have been getting best fastest, but local
:17:03. > :17:07.authority schools have been improving too. Many as describe
:17:07. > :17:11.this to London Challenge, but central Government cut the funding
:17:11. > :17:16.for that two years a and yet the momentum continues. The gap between
:17:16. > :17:22.schools in the capital, and the rest of the country is growing.
:17:22. > :17:27.When you look at GCSE results regionally. Chris Cook of the
:17:27. > :17:30.Financial Times has made the most detailed analysis yet of pupil GCSE
:17:30. > :17:34.results of pupils across England over the last ten years. London
:17:34. > :17:38.schools are now a long way ahead of the rest of the country. To the
:17:38. > :17:42.extent if you look at children looking in the very poorest few
:17:42. > :17:46.neighbourhoods in the city, the children there get GCSE results
:17:46. > :17:51.that are better, on average, than the rest of the country. It is
:17:51. > :17:54.better to be poor in London than an average kid outside London. That is
:17:54. > :18:00.how huge the capital's advantage has become. That is especially
:18:00. > :18:05.obvious when you look at children he isable for free school meals.
:18:05. > :18:08.Comparing 2003 with 2012. These scores are not based only on GCSE
:18:08. > :18:13.passes, but on exactly what grades children got.
:18:14. > :18:18.This year's results show one ethnic group is falling well behind.
:18:18. > :18:21.If you are from an ethnic minority you are more likely to be in a
:18:21. > :18:24.London school, that means the improvement of London schools has
:18:24. > :18:30.taken you with it. If you are a white person, you are more likely
:18:30. > :18:35.to be outside London. So the problems of the failing schools are
:18:35. > :18:41.weighing entirely on white children. Where as the benefits of London
:18:41. > :18:44.rise proportionally benefit black and Asian children.
:18:44. > :18:48.Researchers have sought to understand why the educational
:18:48. > :18:53.achievement of poor white British children across the country is now
:18:53. > :18:56.lower than others. They found a correlation between attainment and
:18:56. > :19:00.educational aspiration of both parents and children. As Little
:19:00. > :19:08.Ilford has shown, these attitudes can be influenced by school. And
:19:08. > :19:13.every parent wants the best for their child. Barnsley has its
:19:13. > :19:17.ambitious students. Alex is doing his GCSEs next summer. He wants to
:19:17. > :19:22.go to medical school. I wanted to be a doctor because my friend is in
:19:22. > :19:26.a wheelchair, he has spina bifida, I want to help people like him who
:19:26. > :19:30.haven't got the same life as everyone else, to make a difference,
:19:30. > :19:35.and hopefully help other people. you understand it, or do you need
:19:35. > :19:39.me to go through some of it with you. His stepfather went to
:19:39. > :19:44.university, his mother, Beverley, didn't, she would like her son to
:19:44. > :19:49.achieve his dream. When I was his age I wanted to leave school, get a
:19:49. > :19:52.job and make some money. I want him to try his best, if he wanted to be
:19:52. > :19:56.a dustman and he's happy doing that, that's fine, as long as he tried
:19:56. > :20:02.everything he wanted to do and he's happy. That is ultimately what you
:20:02. > :20:11.want your children to be happy. I know Alex wants to try his best and
:20:11. > :20:16.Barnsley isn't the bee all and end all in Alex's life.
:20:16. > :20:19.GCSE results in Barnsley as a whole are well below England's average.
:20:19. > :20:23.The authority sits close to the bottom of the National League table.
:20:23. > :20:27.The question is, whether Barnsley and other authorities can learn
:20:27. > :20:34.from the improvements in London schools, and breakthrough the
:20:34. > :20:39.legacy of the industrial past. 40 years ago, going down the pit was
:20:39. > :20:44.the only option for many, the mines closed decades ago.
:20:44. > :20:48.Alex's headteacher told me, they still affect people's outlook.
:20:48. > :20:51.won't find anyone, head teachers, or people connected with education
:20:51. > :20:55.in the council, who would stand and say they are happy with the
:20:55. > :20:58.position we are in the league tables and they are happy with our
:20:58. > :21:01.results profile. Having said, that I do think we need to be findful of
:21:01. > :21:05.the situation that towns like Barnsley have been through in
:21:05. > :21:09.recent years. In the very recent past, the mining industry was there,
:21:09. > :21:12.it was very active, there was lots of jobs for people, and those jobs
:21:12. > :21:16.aren't there any more. As a result we have got a lot more unemployment,
:21:16. > :21:21.and we have a lot more children growing up in families, where
:21:21. > :21:27.unemployment is a real issue and economic situations are a real
:21:27. > :21:30.issue. So, that has been effect, undourtedly, on the mind set of the
:21:30. > :21:34.-- undoubtedly on the mind set of young people as they come to school.
:21:34. > :21:38.It is our job to try to work on that, raise aspiration and ambition,
:21:38. > :21:44.and try to enable our young people to do really well in the future.
:21:44. > :21:49.That can now start with the very youngest children. Alex's school
:21:49. > :21:59.has been merged with two others, to create the brand new Holy Trinity,
:21:59. > :22:02.taking pupils aged 3-16. # We can make the most of our time
:22:02. > :22:06.Almost all these children speak English as a first language. Fewer
:22:06. > :22:10.than one in six are eligible for free school meals. So the school
:22:10. > :22:18.doesn't qualify for the Teach First programme, which places graduates
:22:18. > :22:25.from leading universities in schools.
:22:25. > :22:28.Last year, just 53% of pupils got five GCSEs at grades A*-C,
:22:29. > :22:31.including English and maths, that is below the national average.
:22:32. > :22:34.Because of this problem with the Greek number system...The
:22:34. > :22:39.Headteacher is determined to improve results, by monitoring
:22:39. > :22:45.standards closely, and making sure all the children have personal
:22:45. > :22:54.targets. He's getting parents more involved, he started calling them
:22:54. > :23:01.into school if their child isn't making enough progress. He wants to
:23:01. > :23:06.bring some of the energy of London into his own school. Last year he
:23:06. > :23:09.took some of his pupils to Newham, they saw the sites, and visited
:23:09. > :23:16.another school. It was really calm and controlled there, where
:23:16. > :23:19.sometimes it can be slightly different to that here. Callum and
:23:20. > :23:23.Emily said the atmosphere was quite different. You knew they were
:23:23. > :23:28.achieving higher, but on the other hand, we knew we could do it too.
:23:28. > :23:33.That is how we think of it. If you didn't look out of window and know
:23:33. > :23:36.that you were in Newham in a rough area, you wouldn't have known T
:23:36. > :23:39.they looked like really good learners, they were all smart, it
:23:39. > :23:44.looked like they were all prepared and ready to learn.
:23:44. > :23:48.These pupils wanted to go to university, to have professional
:23:48. > :23:52.careers, and ambitions shared by many in the Newham school. Where
:23:52. > :23:55.pupils see no limits for themselves. I do actually want to become a
:23:55. > :23:58.Prime Minister, I want to be the next PM for England. That's because
:23:58. > :24:02.I want to show that it doesn't matter what race you are, what
:24:02. > :24:08.religion you come from, or what ethnic or economic background you
:24:08. > :24:14.come from, that you can become anything you want. That's my goal,
:24:14. > :24:20.to be a doctor. I wouldn't mind if I become a doctor, and my back step
:24:21. > :24:23.would be a pharmacist, it is still in the field of medicine. It is not
:24:24. > :24:28.just a soaring ambition, they have the exam grades to take them
:24:29. > :24:36.forward. The question is, whether the lessons of London will travel,
:24:36. > :24:43.especially to places like Barnsley. With me is the Chief Inspector of
:24:43. > :24:46.Schools in England, Michael Wilshaw. In 200 London schools were said to
:24:46. > :24:51.be under-performing, now they are out-performing. What is the secret
:24:51. > :25:00.here? I was a London teacher and headteacher before I joined Ofsted
:25:00. > :25:03.as its Chief Inspector. I saw the good and the bad. In the 1970s, 80s
:25:03. > :25:06.and 90s standards were low in London. Now they are good F you
:25:06. > :25:11.said to me in that period that London would be achieving really
:25:11. > :25:21.well, I wouldn't believe you. What has made the difference has been
:25:21. > :25:25.political will. The programme talked about lon -- London
:25:25. > :25:30.Challenge, Government-sponsored action through that system made the
:25:30. > :25:36.difference. We all want all children to do well, what is it
:25:36. > :25:39.that concentrates it to get the job done? The chief adviser to London
:25:39. > :25:42.Challenge uses a phrase of presenting the brutal facts to head
:25:42. > :25:47.teachers and governors and schools, where there is underperformance.
:25:47. > :25:52.And the messaging of those brutal facts was done by head teachers,
:25:52. > :25:56.good and outstanding head teachers in London took responsibility for
:25:56. > :26:00.improving schools that were less effective. And that worked really
:26:01. > :26:05.well. That model of school-to- school support, engineered by
:26:05. > :26:08.London Challenge and brokered by it, is a model happening up and down
:26:08. > :26:12.the country. It is happening outside London as well. There were
:26:12. > :26:15.a couple of interesting points, literacy, saying effectively, here
:26:15. > :26:20.is a brutal truth, if you can't read you won't do well in chemistry,
:26:20. > :26:25.we have to teach you to read. That seemed to be basic isn't it? It is
:26:25. > :26:29.a basic. Good schools operate those basic. The thing about comparing
:26:29. > :26:32.London and Newham, with Barnsley is this, that children are children
:26:32. > :26:36.are children, they are not genetically different. What makes
:26:36. > :26:40.the difference is the culture of the school, the expectation levels
:26:40. > :26:44.of the school. That is determined by leadership. The way you have got
:26:44. > :26:48.a situation where youngsters are coming from homes with limited
:26:48. > :26:52.ambitions, and go to a school with limited ambitions, and supported by
:26:52. > :26:57.a local authority with limited ambitions, it doesn't work. Schools
:26:57. > :27:02.can make a difference. Clearly then, some children who are
:27:02. > :27:06.not doing so well, we heard in the report, outside London, quite often
:27:06. > :27:09.they happened to be white British, in London there is a relative
:27:09. > :27:13.disproportion of people from ethnic minorities. That is a problem isn't
:27:13. > :27:18.it. If white British kids aren't doing so well? That is a problem. I
:27:18. > :27:20.can give you examples of schools with white British populations who
:27:20. > :27:25.are doing phenomenally well. accept tough do better with this?
:27:25. > :27:29.We have to do better. We have just done some research into good
:27:29. > :27:33.performance across the country. We have compared local authorities
:27:33. > :27:38.with similar demographics, similar levels of poverty, similar levels
:27:38. > :27:42.in their populations, similar levels of children with free school
:27:42. > :27:45.meals, that are performing very, very differently. That is why we
:27:46. > :27:53.are saying, local authorities have a responsibility here to make sure
:27:53. > :27:57.they do what London Challenge did, that is to draw a line under
:27:57. > :28:01.performance. That is interesting, if relative poverty or how much
:28:02. > :28:06.money spent on the school is less sporpbt, what is important, and
:28:06. > :28:11.what is there -- important, and what is important, is that in white
:28:11. > :28:17.working-class British groups that you need to look at. For instance,
:28:17. > :28:21.is it aspiration? It is aspiration, but by teachers in the school, the
:28:21. > :28:24.headteacher in the school, culture makes a difference. Children are
:28:24. > :28:27.children are children. What makes a difference is the level of
:28:27. > :28:32.expectation of the school, and the intervention that takes place after
:28:32. > :28:36.school and at weekends and other periods. Something you have done in
:28:36. > :28:40.London which is called Teach First, to attract some of the best
:28:40. > :28:43.graduates into teaching first. Does that help because it says really
:28:43. > :28:47.bright graduates go into teaching, that is what they do, and this
:28:47. > :28:51.school is, by its nature, attracting better people, you as a
:28:51. > :28:56.pupil will do better. Teach First helps, if you go around the country
:28:56. > :28:59.and see good schools, you see head teachers who are really proactive
:28:59. > :29:04.in recruiting good people into their schools. Up and down the
:29:04. > :29:08.country, not just in London. They are very creative in the way they
:29:08. > :29:11.do recruit good teachers. Do you need to also deal with the question
:29:11. > :29:15.of some bad teachers, some teachers who are not up to it. You
:29:15. > :29:18.commissioned a report on whether some teachers fail to stretch the
:29:18. > :29:23.brightest pupils. Is it difficult to get rid of a few teachers who
:29:23. > :29:29.are not up to it? My view, and I say this as an ex-headteacher, is
:29:29. > :29:37.that where there is a will to remove consistently poor staff,
:29:37. > :29:40.head teachers can do that. It is a myth to believe that they can't.
:29:40. > :29:43.you think it should be easier or you think it is OK at the moment?
:29:43. > :29:47.think head teachers have a responsibility to root out poor
:29:47. > :29:51.practice, when they identify it. Everyone can have a bad lesson now
:29:51. > :29:55.and then. Do you think it should be easier for them to do so? Yes and
:29:55. > :29:58.the Secretary of State has brought in legislation to allow head
:29:58. > :30:00.teachers to do something about poor practice. It is at the heart of
:30:00. > :30:04.this, head teachers have a responsibility to recognise and
:30:04. > :30:08.reward good teaching, but also a responsibility to do something
:30:08. > :30:12.about people who teach ineffectively on a consistent basis.
:30:12. > :30:16.Obviously the ball is in your court, London, 10 years ago,
:30:16. > :30:19.underperforming in a short space of time, in educational terms, doing
:30:19. > :30:23.much better. What will you do to say to children in Barnsley or
:30:23. > :30:27.elsewhere, this will work for you? Lock around you. Look at not just
:30:27. > :30:32.what's happening in London, but look at outstanding practice in the
:30:32. > :30:36.same authority as your school is in. Look at what's happening in the
:30:37. > :30:40.next authority. Look at good practice elsewhere and learn from
:30:40. > :30:43.it. That final question, that question of aspiration. That's very
:30:43. > :30:49.difficult. We had a child there saying he would be Prime Minister,
:30:49. > :30:55.good luck to him. But how do you do that, how do you create the sense
:30:55. > :30:59.that you can achieve? Speaking as an ex-headteacher, you greet
:30:59. > :31:04.children at the gate of the school, and you say to them very clearly,
:31:04. > :31:08.you keep the culture of the street over there, if you come from a
:31:08. > :31:16.background where aspiration isn't high, that's fine. But, when you
:31:16. > :31:20.enter the gates of this school, the aspiration is high, we're going to
:31:20. > :31:25.make sure we do everything in our power to get you to achieve. That
:31:25. > :31:29.is what is important, leadership and culture.
:31:29. > :31:35.Now, the pound sunk to a two-and-a- half year low against the dollar
:31:35. > :31:41.today. Minutes released by the Bank of England show it was considering
:31:41. > :31:45.whether to print even more money under the quanative easing system.
:31:45. > :31:48.Talk like that tends to weaken the pound, and it is thought some
:31:48. > :31:52.currencies are having a secret currency war. Something everyone
:31:52. > :31:57.claims to be against, but might be happening despite the protestations.
:31:58. > :32:07.Here is currency war for dummies. Great qefs our time. How many
:32:07. > :32:11.arrowheads do you get for a whale bone? In the 1930s they were
:32:11. > :32:15.obsessed with funny money for a reason, the currency system had
:32:15. > :32:22.gone haywire, and now, suddenly exchange rates are a big issue
:32:22. > :32:25.again. Tiny arrowheads worth three shillings a pound. If you ask the
:32:25. > :32:35.most powerful people in the world what the biggest question in the
:32:35. > :32:37.
:32:37. > :32:47.It is a good question, we know the answer is no, because they say so.
:32:47. > :32:54.
:32:54. > :32:57.But they are being sorely tempted, and here's why. If we go back to
:32:57. > :33:01.2009, many countries in their response to the recession had plans
:33:01. > :33:04.to have large increases in exports. In fact, the increase in exports
:33:04. > :33:08.was something which couldn't be achieved which everybody at the
:33:08. > :33:11.same time unless some other planet were planning to start importing
:33:11. > :33:16.good from the earth. The consequence of that has been that
:33:16. > :33:19.over time those export plans haven't come to fruition, people
:33:19. > :33:24.have started to think they might need to double up on their export
:33:24. > :33:29.plans. They want to depreciate currencies to increase exports in
:33:29. > :33:33.the future. Here is an economist to explain why currency wars are bad.
:33:34. > :33:37.Nobody can win if it is a competitive devaluation. One
:33:37. > :33:42.country does it and drives its currency down, and another country
:33:43. > :33:47.does it, that drives the currency up on the first one. What will
:33:47. > :33:50.really happen is a lot more money being pumped into the world economy
:33:50. > :33:54.which has inflationary consequences. But some people think a currency
:33:54. > :34:00.war has kicked off. Japan, which needs to export more of these
:34:00. > :34:10.things, is accuses of manipulating its currency down to boost exports.
:34:10. > :34:12.
:34:12. > :34:18.Recently the yen has been high, now it is rapidly collapsing.
:34:18. > :34:21.Shells the oldest and most widely distributed currency. Still used in
:34:21. > :34:26.some states and tropical Africa. The problem with the currency war,
:34:26. > :34:31.is even without declaring one, by taking certain actions you can make
:34:31. > :34:35.other countries feel like they are being, well, attacked. One thing
:34:35. > :34:39.that the emerging market countries are doing is to put blockages in
:34:39. > :34:43.the way of additional currency appreciation of their exchange
:34:43. > :34:47.rates. Brazil has done that, made it a little more expensive to buy
:34:47. > :34:52.into the Brazilian currency. China intervenes in the currency market
:34:52. > :34:55.to hold the rate down. Switzerland for example, a year or so ago, put
:34:55. > :34:59.a cap effectively on its rate. They are trying to defend themselves,
:34:59. > :35:04.but each of those distortions in the market forces action somewhere
:35:04. > :35:07.else. It is a dangerous situation. Now, if we do get into a currency
:35:07. > :35:11.war, the United Kingdom has previous. In 2008 sterling fell
:35:11. > :35:16.against the rest of the world's currencies by 20%, the Bank of
:35:16. > :35:22.England was very pleased by that, because it helped us avoid absolute
:35:22. > :35:26.depression. Now, here's the thing, sterling is falling again, so why?
:35:26. > :35:30.Sterling is falling because the UK is likely to lose its triple-A
:35:30. > :35:32.rating soon, making it less attractive to hold Government bonds,
:35:32. > :35:35.which means you don't need sterling in order to buy the Government
:35:35. > :35:38.bonds. It is falling because the Bank of England is likely to print
:35:38. > :35:44.more money, likely to lead to more inflation in the long-term over the
:35:44. > :35:47.UK, that is undesirable from an international investor Percio
:35:47. > :35:51.pective, and the general economic outlook -- perspective, and the
:35:51. > :35:56.general economic outlook is poor, so people don't want to hold assets
:35:56. > :36:01.for that reason. Beads has always been used for money. That is the
:36:01. > :36:05.currency of the north American Indians. IRA assuring picture
:36:05. > :36:08.emerges, by printing money, countries are trying to boost their
:36:08. > :36:12.economy, because it tanks their currencies and boosts their exports
:36:12. > :36:15.is a pure coincidence, including here. So, there is no currency war,
:36:15. > :36:18.any reblemblans between what the Bank of England is doing and a --
:36:18. > :36:21.resemblance between what the Bank of England is doing and a currency
:36:21. > :36:25.war, is purely accidental. I hope that was clear. Before the
:36:25. > :36:28.end of the programme we will have the front pages. First, new
:36:28. > :36:33.guidelines recommend that the age limit for women to have fertility
:36:33. > :36:38.treatment in England and Wales should go up from 39 to 42. It
:36:38. > :36:42.means childless women in their early 40s could be considered for
:36:42. > :36:46.IVF on the National Health Service. With an ageing population and ever-
:36:47. > :36:51.increasing demands on the health budget, is it a sensible way of
:36:51. > :36:55.spending NHS money. Why are we leaving it later in life to become
:36:55. > :36:59.parents? They probably know it already, but for parents wanting
:36:59. > :37:02.children in their late 30s, the clock is ticking. Have a look at
:37:02. > :37:06.this graph that came with today's NHS guidelines. You will see why
:37:06. > :37:11.experts believe the best time to conceive is between 20-35. As a
:37:11. > :37:18.nation, we are having kids later. The average age a mum has her first
:37:18. > :37:22.child has gone up from just under 25 in 1981 to just under 28 in 2011.
:37:22. > :37:31.If you dig into the detail, the figures show a dramatic increase in
:37:31. > :37:36.new mothers aged between 35-39. It was nearly 22 per 1,000 in 1981 and
:37:37. > :37:44.2011 it was 112 per 1 though though for those aged 40 and over, it has
:37:44. > :37:50.doubled to 14 per 1,000. IVF is factor in this. Back in 1991 there
:37:51. > :37:55.were 6,500 IVF cycles in the UK. By 2011 it had grown to 60,000. The
:37:55. > :38:00.figures show just over half of those who use IVF are over 35. For
:38:00. > :38:04.those struggling to conceive, the experience can be incredibly
:38:04. > :38:08.traumatic. But many will question whether allowing older couples the
:38:08. > :38:11.right to fertility treatment on the NHS, is really the best use of tax-
:38:11. > :38:16.payers' money. Mariella Frostrup is a broadcaster
:38:16. > :38:20.and mother of two children who arrived after she turned 40,
:38:20. > :38:22.Katherine Baldwin is a journalist and author, also in her 40s,
:38:22. > :38:26.writing about the experience of childless women. Do you think the
:38:26. > :38:29.new rules are a good thing. They extend the choice for some women in
:38:29. > :38:35.some families? I think the new rules are a good thing. I think the
:38:35. > :38:39.women who will benefit from the new regulations is very small. As nice
:38:39. > :38:43.as said -- as NICE has said it is a small number of women. We need to
:38:43. > :38:48.look at the big picture this headline number sends out. That my
:38:48. > :38:54.concern is that women will think oh I have got until I'm 42 now. I'm
:38:54. > :38:58.concerned that too many women will think I can delay and delay and at
:38:58. > :39:03.the end of the delaying period there is IVF. The problem is, IVF
:39:03. > :39:06.doesn't always work. A lot of women end up feeling very sad about the
:39:06. > :39:10.fact that they have tried and it has failed. You can change the
:39:10. > :39:14.rules, but you can't change biology, there is always the potential for a
:39:14. > :39:18.problem the later you leave it? I think it is important that women
:39:18. > :39:25.are made aware of their fertility rates. Of the chances of IVF
:39:25. > :39:29.working over 40. IVF is marvellous, I have friend who have had children
:39:29. > :39:33.via IVF, I do think because of the way society is set up, I think more
:39:33. > :39:36.women should have access to it. But the problem is, if we think it is a
:39:36. > :39:40.safety net, and we just leave everything until the last minute,
:39:40. > :39:43.and then there is IVF. Every case is different. It does seem to be a
:39:43. > :39:47.trend that some women are leaving it later and later, more women are
:39:47. > :39:51.doing. Why do you think that is? love the way it is only women
:39:51. > :39:56.making this choice. Of course generally speaking to have children
:39:56. > :39:59.it takes two people. More frequently that happens to be a man.
:39:59. > :40:06.This is situation that's evolved because of relationships between
:40:06. > :40:09.men and women in the main, I would say changing over the last 30-40
:40:09. > :40:12.years, since the sexual revolution and the advent of the pill and so
:40:12. > :40:17.on. I don't think it is that women are leaving it later and later, I
:40:17. > :40:20.think it is becoming harder and harder to find a willing partner
:40:20. > :40:25.with whom to have children when you are younger. There aren't very many
:40:25. > :40:29.men, certainly not in my experience in their 20s and 30s saying let's
:40:29. > :40:33.go make babies. Without going into the basis of biology, that is
:40:33. > :40:39.because for men it is different and women it is different, and the
:40:39. > :40:42.biological clock ticks differently for the two sexes? Absolutely, if
:40:42. > :40:47.we want to continue to have children and the human spee sheets,
:40:47. > :40:51.it can't be down to women, -- species, it can't be down to women
:40:51. > :40:54.forcing men to have children younger. With the new
:40:54. > :40:58.recommendations from NICE, you would think it was the Apocalypse
:40:58. > :41:03.Now, all we are talking about is a recommendation that women, for a
:41:03. > :41:06.couple more years should be allowed the benefit of progress in medical
:41:06. > :41:11.science. Infertility is a condition, it is a medical condition. It is
:41:11. > :41:15.not something that someone's willed upon themselves. In any kind of
:41:15. > :41:22.defeatist way. It is actually the same as a bun I don't know, a lot
:41:22. > :41:28.worse, but you know it is a condition.
:41:28. > :41:31.-- a bunion, a lot worse but I don't know, it is a condition. You
:41:31. > :41:35.talk about your working-class background in your book, and you
:41:35. > :41:38.went to Oxford, and the women friends you have met in those two
:41:38. > :41:42.different places have made different choices? I don't know
:41:42. > :41:49.whether my background, working- class, I'm not sure if that is the
:41:49. > :41:53.wry term. Single parent mum, my parents divorced in the 70s divorce
:41:53. > :41:58.boom. I got a scholarship to a private school. Although we didn't
:41:58. > :42:06.have much funds when I was growing up. Then I ended up at Oxford. I
:42:06. > :42:10.suppose the girls that I was at school with, a lot of them got
:42:10. > :42:13.married and had children. As I moved to Oxford and to London, and
:42:13. > :42:16.the women I have since met in London, there is a city thing going
:42:16. > :42:21.on. The more you mix in big cities, the more your peer group is just
:42:21. > :42:27.getting on with their jobs, and going out, you know. We feel a lot
:42:27. > :42:35.younger, we behave a lot younger. There is the tendency to wait. But
:42:35. > :42:39.I agree with Mariella, there is a diminishing pool of men. Did you
:42:39. > :42:42.make a choice that you would wait until 40 to have kids and then get
:42:42. > :42:46.some IVF, did you ever for a second make that choice. I didn't make the
:42:46. > :42:51.choice to have my children in my early 40s, it took that long for me
:42:51. > :42:56.to find a man who I felt confident. My parents divorced in the 70s as
:42:56. > :43:00.well. That left me with a very strong sense of the impermanence of
:43:00. > :43:04.relationships. It took a very long time for me to feel confident that
:43:04. > :43:07.I had found a partner who I felt secure enough with to have children.
:43:07. > :43:11.Because I wanted my children to have the security that I didn't
:43:11. > :43:14.feel as a child. Katherine was already pointed out that perhaps
:43:14. > :43:19.very few people benefit from this. And it is all a bit all over the
:43:19. > :43:23.place. England and Wales have one rule, 42, Scotland has a different
:43:23. > :43:27.one, Northern Ireland has a different one, and it depends on
:43:27. > :43:31.what your local Health Trust is prepared to pay for? It is the
:43:31. > :43:36.signal that is important. That is incredibly important. When I went
:43:36. > :43:40.to my gynaecologist who I had been seeing for 20 years when I met my
:43:40. > :43:44.future husband, and I said I was going to try for children and I'm
:43:45. > :43:52.really excited, I was 40 at the time, he burst out laughing and
:43:52. > :43:55.said you have a.00000001% chance of conceiving. There is a sense of a
:43:55. > :44:00.woman reaching your early 40s that your chances have run out. That
:44:00. > :44:05.there is no way short of a miracle that you will conceive, and yet out
:44:05. > :44:09.of ten of my good friends, eight of them had their children in their
:44:09. > :44:15.early 40s. There should be far more message of positivity. Most women
:44:15. > :44:18.who find their lives in that situation, it is not of their
:44:18. > :44:22.choosing. I'm delighted it worked out for you and so many people. I
:44:22. > :44:29.mix in circles and speak with women who are grieving the fact that they
:44:29. > :44:34.didn't, that it didn't work out for them. What would your solution be?
:44:34. > :44:39.We need to look a bigger picture. How can we enable women and men,
:44:39. > :44:42.maybe a bit younger, not in their 20s so much, but maybe mid-30s. I
:44:42. > :44:46.know women in their mid-30s, working in the City, they just
:44:46. > :44:50.don't think they can take the time out yet. They will wait. That is a
:44:50. > :44:55.cultural thing that we need to change. It is not their choice,
:44:55. > :44:58.then actually. It is something forced on them. We all have to work
:44:58. > :45:01.for a living! Indeed, thank you very much.
:45:01. > :45:11.A quick look at tomorrow morning's front pages. Beginning with the
:45:11. > :45:11.
:45:11. > :46:09.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 58 seconds
:46:09. > :46:13.That's all tonight. If you are an art lover, you might be pleased to
:46:13. > :46:21.hear you have been left a collection of Italian Baroque
:46:21. > :46:25.masterpieces by the late Sir Dennis Marn. The �1 million gift to the
:46:25. > :46:35.nation can be seen in various galleries for free around the
:46:35. > :46:35.
:46:35. > :47:17.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 58 seconds
:47:17. > :47:20.country. Find out where in the Art Good evening, a cold, frosty and
:47:20. > :47:23.windy night and into the morning. Particularly across part of Wales
:47:23. > :47:27.and south-west England. Clear he conditions with a bit of sunshine
:47:27. > :47:33.in the morning. -- clearer conditions with a bit of sunshine
:47:33. > :47:37.in the morning. The snow flurries won't be much of a covering but
:47:37. > :47:42.plenty of cloud through Scotland and the north-east. Longer spells
:47:42. > :47:48.of sunshine in the south developing. Temperatures may be reading 2-4
:47:48. > :47:53.degrees, factor in the strong south to south-east early wind.
:47:53. > :47:56.Particularly across southern Wales and England. It will feel more like
:47:56. > :47:59.minus 2-4. Lots of sunshine across Wales and the south west. Northern
:47:59. > :48:02.Ireland not as much sunshine through the day. But best of which
:48:02. > :48:07.will be towards western areas. That south-east wind really will have a
:48:07. > :48:10.bite to it. Wind a little bit lighter in Scotland. It is that
:48:10. > :48:14.east-west split. Conditions like to the North West of Scotland, much
:48:14. > :48:18.more cloud further east. Friday probably introduces a little more
:48:18. > :48:22.cloud across areas, the winds falling a touch lighter.
:48:22. > :48:26.Temperatures dropping 2-3 Celsius as you can see. Much thicker cloud
:48:26. > :48:31.across part of central southern England and Wales, the temperatures