28/04/2014 Newsnight

A teacher is stabbed to death in school and the country gasps in

shock. An awful tragedy for sure, but does it tell us anything about

violence in schools? Should it be the cue for moral panic over the

state of our worst classrooms. As pro-Russians attack Ukrainian

protests in Donetsk, we talk to the journalist who was beaten up and

kidnapped by pro-Moscow settlers, if anyone can tell us who they are, he

can. For once, the man who spoke and spun for a living is silent. I have

been told by my lawyers to say nothing at all. Does the conviction

of Max Clifford vindicate the pursuit of old men for the sex

crimes of their middle-age and youth. And the American Vietnam War

veterans who left children behind them when they fled go back there to

find them. Guy it was late this morning when the police were called

to a Catholic school in Leeds and arrested a 15-year-old, an

experienced female teacher had been stabbed to death. By most accounts

the school was popular and pupils horrified by what happened. Was it a

shocking abhoration, or a sobering reminder of the threat of violence

teachers can face in the classroom. In memory of a much loved teacher,

tonight corpus Corpus Christer, Catholic Church rembering a woman

who had taught at the school for 30 years. She had taught Spanish and

religious education. They say you always remember a good teacher, as

the news spread, students past and present came back to pay tribute.

She was always a teacher you could approach, even if you weren't with

her, she made herself available for you. She was that sort of lady. Why

did you want to be here today? To pay my respects to somebody who is

just truly amazing, she deserves every bit of respect. It wasn't like

finding out a teacher had died, it was like a relative or auntie. What

sort of a person was she? Lovely. No teacher should turn up at school in

the morning and not go home. That is what happened at Corp are yous

Christi Catholic school in Leeds this morning. A 15-year-old is in

custody and the police recovered a knife. This afternoon the police

told me that Mrs McGuire was stabbed many times, in front of her students

during the lesson after morning break. Originally they said other

classes were told there was a leak and they should stay put, as

teachers began to break the news, many were in tears. Family liaison

officers have been on stand by all day. This is clearly a shocking

event for everybody. Indeed this is clearly an unprecedented event here

in Leeds. And a shocking incident, the likes of I have not seen in over

25 years of Police Service. The reason for that is that schools in

Leeds are generally very safe places to work, to visit and to study.

Philip Lawrence is thought to have been the last teacher fatally

stabbed, that was 1995 when the headteacher tried to break up a

fight outside his London school. Mrs McGuire was killed on school

promises, her death will -- premises, her dead will lead to

questions about whether classrooms are more dangerous. It is an awful

thing that has happened, we have to wait for the investigation to see

what happened and what lessons can be learned. Recent figures show the

number of pupils caught with weapons in school is going down. From 365 in

2011 to 250 last year. Unfortunately young people sometimes do stupid

things, and they have to live with the consequences. Sometimes the

consequences are not what they would have foreseen. Tonight this

community is finding solace where it can. Chris Dunn has spent 41 years

working and ultimately running London schools before retiring last

September, and the check executive of the teacher support network,

providing counselling and support for teachers suffering with

work-related emotional problems. I can almost smell the moral panic

beginning but this is very rare? It is incredibly rare. I said to your

researcher when they rang up, I honestly couldn't believe and I

heard it on the news tonight when the last time a teacher who was

attacked in this way. We heard a headteacher in 1995, that was again

a quite different circumstance where he was defending some of his pupils

out on the street against attack. What is your experience from your

contact with teachers? Teachers seldom report that they have been

viciously attacked, what they do say is they get intimidated, sometimes,

certainly in secondary schools by older pupils, and that can be a

problem. They also recognise they have powers to search pupils, but

many of them don't want to do that, they were trained to teach. You have

just used that phrase "many of them" don't want to do that and teachers

report being intimidated. How many, how common is it? We take 26,500

calls a year, there are a whole many and range of problems. How many

contact but this sort of thing? We have had about 100 calls over the

last two years, it is relatively low level, and I think what it says is

most of our schools are safe places to be. As you said, we don't want to

start a moral panic. I hesitate to describe you as a veteran, you are

probably younger than I. After 41 years in schools did you think

things were getting better or worse? I'm convinced they are getting

better. I have worked, as you say, four # years, the last 21 as a

headteacher and all of those years in Inner London. I'm absolutely

clear that things are better, right across the board in schools,

relationships, not just between pupils and their teachers, but

between pupils and other pupils. Let as address one other things likely

to come up in the next few days, the question of whether or not there

should be metal detectors or security devices installed in

schools. What would you think about that? Most teachers would prefer not

to have those kinds of systems in place, you know, schools are open

places for communities and I don't think teachers want that. I don't

think the statistics merit it. And it would be really sad if we end up

with that kind of level of security. I think engaging the police,

parents, communities and using this tragedy to discuss the issues around

violence and around knives and so on, that's worth doing. But actually

we mustn't overrespond and overreact. It is one of the things

of course that every Ofsted inspection team asks the pupils, and

they take them away from the teachers and they talk to them in

confidence, they ask them about bullying, violence, they ask them if

they feel safe, and read the report up and down the country, the vast

majority say they do feel safe in their schools. Is there a danger of

a negative consequence of an overreaction such as installing

metal detectors? I think so, because what I believe so many of my

colleagues have been trying to do over the years to regard this as an

issue about education. It is about creating an atmosphere of respect.

Not just top-down respect, or top-up respect if you like, pupils

respecting their teachers, but everybody in the community

respecting each other. In my school we wrote a school code that said

exactly. That everybody has the right to be treated with respect. We

made it clear that this code applied to me the headteacher, as much as

every single child in the school. You had to respect the pupils? And

all my staff and the pupils had to respect each other and the teachers.

You are nodding? I think teachers are far more preoccupied with the

stresses and strains of teaching and working long hours and so on than

with issues about violence. Most teachers say to us the things that

bother them are low-level disruption that they get on a daily basis. We

shouldn't lose sight in the broader picture which you say is not so bad

that a terrible strategy has happened? Appalling. Every sympathy

for the school, the family and so on. Now the crisis in Ukraine shows

no sign of yielding to western concern and pressure, another town

fell to the Russian rebels in the east of the country today. They

still refuse to release seven unarmed monitors from the

Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. In a few

minutes I will be talking to a man who was himself held hostage by the

sa rebels. First let's catch up with our diplomatic editor. It is going

on, Donetsk today? Yes, this seems to have entered a new phase, this

crisis. The immediate threat of a large scale Russian invasion seems

to have stayed, now it is a battle for the streets. In Donetsk there

was a demonstration early this evening. People demonstrating in

favour of the Kiev authorities of national unity. Now they were set

upon, about 1,000 of them, by people wielding steel bars, badly beaten,

you can see a pro-Ukrainian supporter there being carried away.

They complained the police did little. Also today the mayor of the

biggest city in the east, Kharkiv was shot and seriously wounded.

Where is this going? One Russian news agency reporting that shooting

said how can you possibly have elections under these circumstances,

this seems to be the agenda of those stirring this up. As far as

sanctions or the threatened sanctions? Well we had more

sanctions today, actually the fourth installment from the United States,

a few individuals, but 17 companies. They are now moving against the oil

and gas sector in Russia. Individuals closely associated with

Putin, but I have been told also attempts to get at Mr Putin's money

in some of these corporate entities by the Americans. This type of

approach has not been adopted by the EU. They are expected to name 15

additional individuals who will be subject to travel bans and asset

freezes tomorrow. They don't yet go for what they call the sectoral

sanction on the oil and gas, as explained this afternoon by William

Hague. We are in further discussions in the EU about future steps,

including preparations for a third tier of sanctions involving

far-reaching economic and trade measures. These preparations are

well advanced and the European Commission has sent proposals to

each member-state. Now what about these hostages, the OSCE hostages

taken by the pro-Russian forces? They are among dozens, the

Ukrainians say there are 40 people being held against their will in

these eastern towns. You have the three members of their own

Intelligence Service, the SBU, we can see them here, clearly they have

been roughed up, they have been held. Who are these guys? They are

members of the Ukrainian Intelligence Service, the SBU. Then

we have these gentlemen, the OSC monitors you were talking about,

mostly Germans, in fact, not great time to hold them and put them on

display with the EU discussing these possible sanctions. Then you have

Ukrainian journalists but also the case of the American reporter who

was working for Advice News, one of the things he was looking at, just

before he was lifted, was this question of who are the figures? We

have reported on this before, some of these men, were they members of

Russian Special Forces operating in their acclaim and counter claim, he

caught up with a specific one, who showed his Russian passport but

denied he was in Georgia in 2008 as some have alleged. And also denied

he was there as part of a GIU unit. It is a deniable force, so I guess

he couldn't admit it. Then Simon asked him why he had come there?

The person who secured that piece of interview there is the Vice Media

reporter, he was kidnapped and held by Russian seperatists in Ukraine,

he joins us now for his first British broadcast interview? Can you

tell us how you came to be taken? I was actually taken an hour after we

filmed that video you just watched. We were driving through a number of

checkpoints and on the last checkpoint before our hotel some

armed men who had my picture, recognised me and pulled me and some

of my colleagues out of the car, that is how my detention began. We

were taken to the SBU Security Services building that has been

taken over by Russian gunmen now. I was separated from my other

colleagues and taken into the basement, blindfolded. I had my

hands tied behind my back. I was thrown on the floor and beaten up

and held there for the next three days. Did these men who took you say

who they were? Some of them were clearly locals, my

caretakers, the people who brought me food. And there was a sort of

another echelon of gunmen who were also seeming to be local in terms of

being from the same city, they were kind of Morag tag. And then there

were those guys who we called the special ops GIESHGS they looked a

lot more professional, had more modern guns and uniforms that

matched. And they could very well have been from Ukraine and I wasn't

able to get any evidence from those guys in particular that they came

from Russia. They sounded like they had southern accents to me, so they

could have been from Ukraine and southern Russia, I think there are a

lot of local Ukrainians involved in this pro-Russia uprising. But you

know as I showed in that other video, there are definitely Russian

citizens down there as well? Why did they release you? It is hard for me

to say, but I think maybe self-declared Mayor of The area, who

I think is the person calling the shots and who ordered my release was

eventually tired of all of the pressure he was getting from

journalists asking after me. The problem now is there are local

journalists and activists, Ukrainian people who are still being held by

him for no apparent reason. There has not been a lot of attention put

on their cases because they are not foreign. And they have been down in

that same cellar that I spent three days in for weeks now. And I think

that there should be a lot more attention brought to their cases.

Did you see any evidence of any kind that the Russian state was involved

in what was going on there? In the place where I was actually being

held I was blindfolded the entire time, and when I was being

entergated I wasn't ever allowed to look at the faces of the people

interrogating me. So I wasn't asking them for their business cards

either. So I don't know whether they were or weren't from Russia, I can't

say for sure. Did you get any evidence that they were organised as

opposed to being some group of irregulars? They were a group of

irregulars who were organised, in my view! I think they communicate with

the other pro-Russia cities that have been, well the pro-Russia

forces that have taken over administration buildings in other

parts of Ukraine and I think they are pretty co-ordinated in what they

are doing. Thank you for joining us, thank you. You can see more of

Simon's reporting at vice.com. Once upon a time Max Clifford was a short

and noisy publicist who could break or break careers. He liked to boast

he hated hypocrisy. Now the author of such tabloid treasures as

"Freddie Starr ate my hamster", has been convicted of sex offences.

There is some veinedtation of Operation Utree. Operation Yewtree.

I have been told by my lawyers to say nothing at all. Max Clifford

stood in silence today after being convicted of a string of sex attacks

on girls as young as 15. For a man well paid to keep some of his

clients out of the headlines, this is a spectacular fall from grace.

Through his six-week trial he called his young victims fantasists and

opportunists. Today the jury disagreed, he was found guilty on

eight of the 11 counts. Today's verdicts provide a long denied

justice to the victims of serious sexual offences. I would like to

thank these victims for having had the courage to come forward and give

evidence. The victims of sexual abuse, whenever it may have taken

place should know that police and prosecutors will listen. Max

Clifford represented some of the best known tabloid names of the last

decade, from Westlife and Jade Goodie, to Simon Cowell. There is

always the fear 9.00 Sunday night you will get a call from a reporter

saying we are doing this, you have to have someone to phone in a

situation like that. But Clifford was perhaps best known as the king

of the kiss and tell. The man behind many of the juicyist scoops of the

past 30 years, from Antonia Sanchez and David Mellor, to many others. He

arranged 15 front page slashes in 18 months. He invented celebrity

publicity and PR in the 1970s and 1980s. For a long time no-one was

able to sur plant him. And the other interesting fact is plenty of people

have tried to imitate him but haven't managed to do it. On the

other hand his other major problem is he became the story very often,

where as other PRs have been much more discreet. The court heard how

Clifford abused his powerful position in the industry, how he

preyed on star struck girls at his offices in New Bond Street, and bars

and clubs nearby. In the mid-1980s this doorway in Picadilly led to a

nightclub, it was in places like this that Max Clifford held court.

Here he approached one of his victims, an 18-year-old dancer and

asked she if she wanted to be a bond girl. She was taken to a toilet,

locked inside and sexually assaulted. He told the victim there

was no point in going to the police as no-one would believe her. A

second girl, 15 at the time of the astack, said decades later she wrote

a handwritten note found by police in his bedside cabinet. It was read

out in court, Today she told the BBC how Clifford

was a cynical opportunist. It had huge implications for me as a young

person. And to see him then go on to become very high-profile, to speak

openly about other paedophiles and damn them and create a persona of a

respectable, high-profile man, who was lauded by the media was

sickening. This conviction will also be a huge relief for police and

prosecutors, Clifford will soon be the first person sentenced as part

of the much criticised Operation Yewtree, an investigation into

historical sex offences sparked by the case of Jimmy Savile. It is

landmark case because demonstrates cases can be brought successful,

despite the status of the suspect or accused. For many years there was a

perception that a case would rarely, if ever, succeed against a

celebrity. And this case shows that with the evidence, with

determination, cases can be brought. That is very important for victims,

it is very important for the criminal justice system. It is not

fun standing there being accused of being a fantasist or a liar.

As for the man himself, at times it felt he almost didn't take the trial

seriously, at one point coming out of court to play games with

reporters on the steps outside. But the man once called "the king of

spin", "the darling of Fleet Street", leaves court with his

reputation in tatters. Max Clifford has been released on bail and will

be sentenced on Friday. With us now are our guests. How

important do you think today's verdict was? It is very important,

it gives real vindication to the work that Operation Yewtree has

done, it shows it was not a celebrity issue, it shows victims

who come forward years after can convince a jury and achieve

conviction. It demonstrates no-one is above the law? It certainly does.

Absolutely and a I think one of the important things, the watershed

moments here is that what it also signifies is a real sea change about

the way women behave. I'm really genuinely thinking that most of the

young women I know, my children, my daughter, wouldn't put up with that

kind of behaviour, so it is, when we heard some of those victims'

stories, I didn't know what to do, and I felt like I had to do that,

most women now, this is not that many years on would think absolutely

I'm not going to do that, don't be ridiculous. It is not just the kiss

and tell culture, it is the I'm not kissing and I am telling, that is

what today signified and that is very significant. Is it applying the

standards of today to the behaviour of 20 or 30 years ago? No, because

what I'm saying is there has been a big change. 20 or OK years ago most

-- 30 years ago most women that age wouldn't have the confidence to say

hang on, he has locked me in an office or toilet, what do I do, and

I went along with it... I don't think that most women, of course we

can't generalise, but most women these days would think you have to

put up with something like that. An assault is an assault isn't it? What

do you think this argument, is still occasionally being made, that we are

applying today's standards to the behaviour of a different age? I

don't agree with that, these were very serious sexual assaults on

young girls, 15, who were giving evidence that their lives had been

ruined. And it was just as serious then in the 60s and 70s as it is

now. I don't think we are applying today's standards. These were very,

very serious assaults, even then. And yet behaviour was different

wasn't it? It was, the fact that even today there is a little smile

on Max Clifford's face, at the time he's quite jokey about the whole

thing, but I really wonder... Was there anything you heard in the

testimony given that surprised you? I suppose I'm cynical, so I'm not

easily surprised, I think it did surprise me that some of those

girls, and as I said earlier, I can't imagine them saying this

today, our daughters' age group to say they didn't have the confidence

to say no, or awent along with it. I find that really difficult to

believe now. But man taking his penis out and expecting to be

masterbated, this is not normal behaviour? Clearly and most

15-year-olds would get up and leave. Why didn't they? Was it normal in

those days, or was it less unusual? I think it is completely abnormal

and the fact that he can be jokey and this was the normal climate

shows again this whole question of power and absolute power. I don't

think some men will be behave any differently in the future. I think

that will carry on, the difference is how girls, I don't know if you

agree. This is still going on? Absolutely, why do we think it is

not. Because it is so unexpected? Is it? It is in my world? You are not a

girl. That is true, I'm not. Do you think this sort of behaviour is

still going on? I would like to think that it is nowhere near as

extreme as it was, and I would like to agree with Sue that people of our

children's generation wouldn't tolerate that now. But you were

aware of it happening when you were a young woman around Fleet Street?

Yes and I think it still does now. I think probably not in the completely

overt way that he behaved, but actually probably, even the other

day we had stories and I know we haven't uncovered really what's been

going on but stories about behaviour towards research assistants and so

called minor staff in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Of

course it is going on. Power for people, they will abuse that power,

they always will. What's the big lesson of this case? Well there are

some very important lessons to be learned, firstly that it is never

too late to come forward and give evidence, that you can achieve a

conviction many years afterwards, that the evidence is still cogent

and vital. This isn't about a celebrity witch-hunt. And those

bravado statements he made at the beginning about these women being

fantasists and opportunists, lesser victims would have shied away from

the courts. And what is absolutely vital is this will give other people

confidence to come forward and see their cases through in the courts

and that's what's absolutely important. It still requires quite a

bit of courage doesn't it? Incredible courage. They have, the

jury has been out for eight days considering its verdict. But this

will give other victims the confidence that a conviction can be

achieved. Thank you, it is 40 years since the Vietnam War ended and a

humiliating defeat for America, the more than half a million GIs who

served in Vietnam are in their late 60s and early 70s, a stage in life

when one might reflect on the fast. A few of the GIs who fathered

children during the war are going back to look for them. Sue Lloyd

Roberts joined one American veteran on his search. Saigon April 1975.

American personnel rush to get on the last helicopters to take off.

They leave behind girlfriends and tens and thousands of children,

fathered by American soldiers. Gerry Quinn was one of those soldiers, 62

years old and currently a missionary in Taiwan, he's back in Saigon for

the first time in 40 years to look for his son. It is not the same, now

you have got fancy cars and motorcycles and the bicycles are

gone. The real irony for me is that the war was all about bringing

communism here and getting rid of capitalism. And yet when you look

around, when you look everywhere you see capitalism. At the Museum of the

American War in Saigon, now renamed Ho Chi Min City, the guides tell of

the barbaric acts committed by the Americans during the war. Gerry who

worked in communications and didn't see combat, didn't expect to be

accused of the same when he got home. To brand me as a baby killer

when I felt like I was serving my country, mum, apple pie, Chevrolet,

I come back and I'm a baby killer. No wonder it took four decades for

Gerry to come back. One of the things I admired about Brandy is she

was dignified. He has a photo of his former girlfriend, whom he only

knows by the name Brandy. And of the baby born after he left. He would

now be about 40. His family back home told him to forget them.

Actually Brandy sent this photo to my mother, when my mother saw the

photo she said you don't want to marry a Vietnamese, a "gook", part

of it is that guilt of thinking I could have done something different.

With an interpreter who has helped veterans find their children before,

Gerry heads for the area where he shared a house with Brandy. How long

has she been in this area? He has the address and a photo of the

house, but can't find it. 30 A, we can't find the house with the

numbers. That's a problem. All the street names were changed and even

the numbers explains this man. Others suggest that they talk to the

family of another GI who are visiting Saigon and staying just

around the corner. Midas is the oldest of five children of an

American soldier stationed in Saigon for ten years. He now lives in

America. Do you remember any American-Asian children that had red

air. There is quite a few over here. Really? Yeah. That sent to school

with you or something? Yes, I only went to third grade in Vietnam.

Midas doesn't remember Gerry's son, although he would like to help him

in his search, not least because of what happened to him when he made

contact with his father in America. When I talked to him he seemed

through the conversation trying to deny the reality. So I'm just like

OK, if that is what you want then I didn't want to be a bother so. His

mother remembers vividly what happened after the Vietnamese

entered Saigon. When there was an opportunity to

take the family to America, she grabbed it and they all moved to New

York. In the early 1980s the children of the American GIs were

found to be living in a dreadful state here, discriminated against

and living in poverty. The American Government felt compelled to start a

programme of immigration. And in all, some 30,000 children went to

live in America with their immediate families. But the programme came to

an end after only eight years. Meanwhile Gerry is still looking,

and getting increasingly dispondent of ever finding his son. Then comes

the breakthrough that Gerry has been praying for. I'm looking for anybody

around the age of my son. The owner of a noodle bar recognises the woman

in a white uniform in a photo standing next to Gerry's girlfriend

Brandy. She says that the midwife had a

daughter who now lives in California. Who happens to be in

Saigon for a visit. She had popped into the noodle bar the day before.

Though contacts the midwife's daughter who is called Kim and

arranges her to come and meet Gerry. This is Brandy and the baby. Oh my

goodness I remember her, you know why, I talked to her a lot. So did

you help deliver my baby. Yes I did. So you held my baby in your hands.

Yes. So Kim I have a question, may I hold your hands. Of course. Because

these hands held my baby. That's just so much emotion in my heart

right now. I may never see him or touch him, this is as close as I

will get. Right here. Over here is your home. One of these places here?

Gerry and Kim go to her mother's old house, around the corner from where

he was searching a few days ago. The house where his son was born. It is

really amazing after 40 years to be able to look in this place. It turns

out that Brandy lived here for some time after the baby was born. The

photos come out again for the neighbours. One woman, who

recognises the photo of Brandy comes up with a vital bit of information.

Brandy's Vietnamese name and then a shattering bit of news.

If what she says is correct, Gerry's son could also be in America. But at

least guerrey now has the name of his son. The next day he leaves

Saigon and using social media he puts his photos on Facebook, but he

isn't hopeful. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, only 3% of the

children have made contact with their fathers. Two weeks later a

41-year-old male in New Mexico recognises the photos on-line. The

same pictures had been given to him by his mother. We arrange for Gerry

to go to Alba Alberqurqe. He heard that Brandy was targeted and like so

many mothers she abandoned her son. Here he is, they are jumping up and

down. There he is. Wow. Grandpa! Hello. Hello, how are you guys. How

are you doing. Love you. Love you too. A hug to make up for the last

40 years. Wow! So is it real. Yes sir, now it is real Sir. Now it is

real. It turns out Gary arrived in America when he was eight, thanks to

the Government programme in the 1980s. Gary explains what it was

like for the children growing up in Vietnam. We were away from Saigon,

we were nowhere near Saigon, we were out in the middle pretty much in the

jungle to start a new life out there, built a house out of clay or

mud or whatever you call it, it is not hut but hard and dried, there is

no food. You eat off of whatever you have out there. It was pretty tough

growing up back home, being half white and half Vietnamese, it is not

fun. So people making fun of you, your momma is this and that, you

come out like this, you don't belong here, you need to go, this is not

your country. Gerry is racked by guilt. I never knew you were a

complete orphan. In my mind you would have been with your mother.

When I first landed in New York, I didn't know, that was, all I know

was the Statue of Liberty means freedom. I didn't even know I landed

in the states that had the statue. I landed in New York and I told my

foster family, oh my God, I saw the statue, I was like I need to go out

there, and climb all the way on the top, that way I let people know I'm

in America and I'm free. So I made it, you know. From now on neither

intends to let the other go. And you can watch a longer version of the

film this Saturday on Our World at 21. 30 on the news channel. Now the

House of Commons has voted tonight, we don't have the result yet, but it

is pretty much a foregone conclusion that it will decide to spend vast

amounts of public money on a new railway line known as HS two, ?42.

Five billion, although ministers hope it will come in cheaper. The go

ahead for the first stage of the line was more or less assured by

cross-party support. Though a number of Tory ministers with seats where

the line will run through claim to have unavoidable commitments in

Estonia and elsewhere this evening. They ducked out of voting. Many

argue that plans for the HS2 are unique any way, and predate the days

when people could work while travelling. Anything to get David

Grossman out of the office and on to the trains.

Like the trolley service on the London to Birmingham line, HS2 is,

we are told, laden with goodies. Much of the benefit, according to

the official figures, comes from shorter journey times, particularly

for business travellers. We are promised millions of fewer wasted

hours. As critics of HS2 have pointed out repeatedly, plenty of

people do lots and lots of work on the train.

It may be unnecessary, but to prove the point we decided if we could

record and edit our enti film whilst on the train. What's next? The first

guy is a critic of HS2, and he should be over there. Since you

mention it we were asked to move into the less busy first class

carriage by Virgin, it is a would be less disruptive to passengers trying

to work! Why do you think so many people still remain unconvinced by

the economic case for HS2? One of the big problems is the Government's

rationale keeps changing, initially they said it was all about reducing

the time people took to get to Birminghan and the northern cities

and it would enable them to work more. When that was debunked they

have moved on to talking about regeneration of the whole of the

north of England, there is no evidence to suggest this will occur

as a result of HS2. It hasn't had significant economic affects in east

Kent or certain areas of Sinn Fein that have significant high-speed

rail networks. One. 20 later we are in Birmingham, HS2 will take about

50 minutes for the journey, the cost for this section of the line ?24

billion, it includes a pretty Younge contingency. Is the saving worth the

cost. In Birmingham I met a supporter who thought that was

entirely the wrong question to ask? Our railway line is full, we can't

upgrade the existing line, once that was concluded we concluded we need

to build the best we can, the high-speed line. Birmingham's growth

and potential, integral to that is having great connectivity, and we

can't allow the railway to freeze up, which is what will happen. Do

you think the case for HS2 has been helped by the rather formal way the

business case is presented, talked about time saved? No, there is a

general acknowledgement in the industry that the modelling for

transport schemes is out of date. You get forced into a narrow set of

parameters around time saved. The country's system of assessing

transport needs upgrading. Back on the train the Chamber of Commerce

point is supported by chocker full carriages. Hang on say HS2, look at

the space in first class, a bit of configuration and you could achieve

more capacity at a fraction of the cost. Critics fear politicians are

in no mood to listen. A huge amount of capital has been invested and the

governing parties have committed to do it, arguing this will regenerate

the north of England. I don't think that is the case. Because of the

sunk costs because of that political capital, I think it is very unlikely

the major parties will change their stance now.

Well we're in Euston, we haven't finished editing the piece, we could

have done with ten more minutes, that is not something that HS2 could

have helped us with. Just to let you know MPs have rejected an amendment

opposing the HS2 bill by 451 votes to 50, which is a Government

majority of 401, so it has the go ahead. Time for the papers. If you

have been paying attention you will know most of tomorrow's front pages

already. But the sudden availability of seven-and-a-half million digital

newspaper pages, dating back centuries at the British Library's

new archive in central London, opens up all sorts of other possibilities.

On April 29th 1914 for example the Birmingham gas stet reports that at

the instigation of Mr Churchill some of the Irish counties are being

offered a temporary opt-out of the Home Rule bill, that should settle

things out forever then. April 29th 1918 it talks about -- 1819 talk

about Napoleon recovering from a disposition, which we know now to be

a suicide attempt. And the Paris Gazette from 1718 reports the death

of the daughter of the countess of Derby from small pocks. And sea

stocks were doing well so nip out and buy a few of those. That is

almost it. The 450th anniversary of what is traditionally regarded as

Shakespeare's birthday as all well informed people know occurred last

week, we will continue to mark it, tomorrow Harriet Walter will be our

guest. Tonight we leave you with sonnet 129 and Ralph Fiennes. The

expense of spirit in a waste of shame is lust in action.

And still action lust is purged, murderous, bloody, full of blame,

savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust, enjoyed no sooner but

despise'd straight. Past reason, hunted and no sooner had past reason

hated as a swallowed bait on purpose laid to make the taker mad. Mad in

pursuit, and in possession so. Had, having and in quest to have extreme.

A bliss in proof and proved a very woe before a joy proposed behind a

dream. All this the world well knows. Yet none knows well to shun

the heaven that leads men to this hell.

Hello there, there is going to be more mist and fog around,