:00:07. > :00:08.Nouri al-Maliki steps down as Prime Minister of Iraq.
:00:09. > :00:11.Can functional government now be restored to Iraq?
:00:12. > :00:19.And can the insurgency there be squashed?
:00:20. > :00:25.We broke the siege on Mount Sinjar, we helped more and more people reach
:00:26. > :00:27.safety and we helped save many innocent lives.
:00:28. > :00:30.And as America congratulates itself on a job well done, what exactly is
:00:31. > :00:33.the humanitarian situation facing the Yazidis in Iraq now?
:00:34. > :00:39.The pass rate falls, university admissions are up,
:00:40. > :00:45.Why do so many more women get to university, and should we care?
:00:46. > :00:47.We'll ask the head of UCAS and President of the
:00:48. > :00:54.The shooting of a black teenager, a police force accused of racism,
:00:55. > :01:05.And do you feel like a slave to your devices?
:01:06. > :01:19.We start tonight with the news from Baghdad that Nouri al-Maliki
:01:20. > :01:22.has agreed to step aside as Iraq's prime minister.
:01:23. > :01:25.In a televised national address, he pledged support for his
:01:26. > :01:28.replacement Haider al-Abadi, who has already been asked by the country's
:01:29. > :01:33.Frank Gardner, the BBC's security correspondent,
:01:34. > :01:46.This is deeply significant, isn't it? This really is. This is
:01:47. > :01:50.potentially a turning point in Iraq's very sad fortunes it has had
:01:51. > :01:55.recently. Nouri al-Maliki has been running the place for the last eight
:01:56. > :02:04.years and increasingly he has been at queues of sectarianism and
:02:05. > :02:08.favouring Shias over Sunnis. All those people thought, well, actually
:02:09. > :02:11.we would rather have ISIS in charge of our interests than him. The
:02:12. > :02:15.question now is whether his replacement can bridge that gap and
:02:16. > :02:21.walk that very delicate tightrope between giving enough to the Sunnis
:02:22. > :02:25.that they feel part of Iraq and not alienate it, but not giving so much
:02:26. > :02:31.that the Shia feel, well, hang on, he has let us down. Are there any
:02:32. > :02:35.signs of that change happening? Well, something very significant
:02:36. > :02:42.happened in the last 24-hour in Iraq. The Governor of Anbar
:02:43. > :02:46.province, a very Sunni-dominated province, Al-Qaeda territory, a lot
:02:47. > :02:51.of it, he has reportedly asked the US military support defeat ISIS or
:02:52. > :02:57.Islamic state, so what we're seeing is potentially just the beginning is
:02:58. > :03:02.here of the repeat of what happened in 2006-2007, where the Sunni tribes
:03:03. > :03:07.were so third up with the extreme brutality of Al-Qaeda that they
:03:08. > :03:12.asked for help and drove out Al-Qaeda. -- so fed up.
:03:13. > :03:18.Unfortunately, last time Nouri al-Maliki did not have advice and he
:03:19. > :03:25.squandered the opportunity. This time the Sunnis will be very nervous
:03:26. > :03:30.about trusting them. This could be a never say for Iraq. But also with
:03:31. > :03:34.President Obama saying the country is going in the right direction, is
:03:35. > :03:40.there A-level of optimism underneath where we should be wary? We should
:03:41. > :03:46.still be very wary. Three months ago, nobody talked about Iraq in the
:03:47. > :03:48.cabinet. In Washington, it was largely ignored. America had not
:03:49. > :03:53.exactly washed its hands because they were still people in the Green
:03:54. > :04:01.zone, but it was space to be about Afghanistan and they were moving on
:04:02. > :04:04.from Iraq. But unseen and unnoticed by most people with hardly any
:04:05. > :04:09.intelligence presence, they had moved on, and during this time, the
:04:10. > :04:12.Islamic state has taken over the entire valley, so now they realise
:04:13. > :04:20.they have to do something about it. You is going to deal with it? It has
:04:21. > :04:21.to be local Sunnis. -- who is? For the moment, thank you very much
:04:22. > :04:24.indeed. Suhair al-Nahar is a spokesman for
:04:25. > :04:33.Nouri al- Maliki's Dawa party. It has to be said his legacy is
:04:34. > :04:41.shocking. He has mutilated the country of Iraq, has he not? The
:04:42. > :04:44.former Prime Minister had a very difficult task and many, many
:04:45. > :04:50.different problems on many different levels to deal with. I believe he
:04:51. > :04:56.did the best he could in the circumstances. However, the
:04:57. > :05:04.replacement now, who is also from the Dawa party, there is a lot of
:05:05. > :05:08.optimism regarding his ability. If anybody can heal the rifts between
:05:09. > :05:14.the various Iraqi divides, he can. Can I just pick you up on one thing,
:05:15. > :05:18.and we can look forward to that in that optimism if you wish. But
:05:19. > :05:23.surely you have to recognise that Nouri al-Maliki, it was not just
:05:24. > :05:26.that he acted under difficult circumstances. Some of those
:05:27. > :05:30.circumstances he created himself. There were levels of corruption and
:05:31. > :05:33.he was not providing the sort of inclusivity which he promised at
:05:34. > :05:38.first. Those things are of his own making. It is not a situation he
:05:39. > :05:43.just found himself in. Yes, you did have a role to play in that, and I
:05:44. > :05:49.think everyone has learned from that. -- he did. Everybody is
:05:50. > :05:53.learning from that, including the new Prime Minister. I think it is
:05:54. > :05:58.time to move on. It is time to heal the rifts between the Iraqi
:05:59. > :06:01.political divides and it is time for national reconciliation. And it is
:06:02. > :06:06.time to fight the terrorists who have done so much damage to Iraq.
:06:07. > :06:10.Exactly. So it is not just a question of politics and of what we
:06:11. > :06:14.in the West might understand to be the need for a stable state. You
:06:15. > :06:19.have this vicious force that needs to be fought and you do have to have
:06:20. > :06:23.an incredibly inclusive, strong government in order to be able to
:06:24. > :06:28.fight that. The legacy of Nouri al-Maliki, it is there in all the
:06:29. > :06:33.ways the state works. It is there in the Army, the councils. What do you
:06:34. > :06:38.do about that? Can one man really come along and change all of that?
:06:39. > :06:43.Believe that, as I said, lessons have been learned and lessons will
:06:44. > :06:49.be. -- I believe. He has the ability to make the difference, he has the
:06:50. > :06:53.ability to make the turnaround. What is that ability? What is it about
:06:54. > :07:00.him that makes you think you can do that? The ability is firstly that he
:07:01. > :07:05.is a very listening person. He is very inclusive, very thoughtful. He
:07:06. > :07:10.also has technocratic abilities, so he will build institutions and
:07:11. > :07:17.systems and will fight corruption. In addition, he believes that he was
:07:18. > :07:21.a leader of the Parliamentary committee on economics, so he has a
:07:22. > :07:28.very deep understanding on how Iraq can improve economically and improve
:07:29. > :07:34.in terms of services for ordinary Iraqis. Does he have that steel will
:07:35. > :07:40.and resolve? And, in a sense, you need aggression, doesn't he, to
:07:41. > :07:43.fight ISIS? -- he needs. ISIS is not a group that will respond to all of
:07:44. > :07:48.those things you have talked about. They do not want to come and sit
:07:49. > :07:52.around a Cabinet table and discuss the economic future of the country.
:07:53. > :07:57.They want something completely different. Exactly. And one of his
:07:58. > :08:01.main aim is that he has promised to carry out as soon as he took office
:08:02. > :08:07.is to defeat the terrorists, ISIS. He will do this firstly through
:08:08. > :08:11.national reconciliation, as I have said. Bring on board the moderate
:08:12. > :08:18.Sunnis to fight the terrorists on their own areas. Secondly, he needs
:08:19. > :08:23.and will reform the Army and security forces. Thirdly, he will
:08:24. > :08:28.need the help of the world community, and this is where he also
:08:29. > :08:33.excels, because he has communication skills and his relations and
:08:34. > :08:36.contacts... The backline to America, that will certainly help. Thank you
:08:37. > :08:46.very much for your time this evening.
:08:47. > :08:49.And so Iraq finds itself on the brink of another chapter
:08:50. > :08:52.With different views from every perspective, although President
:08:53. > :08:55.Obama may say that today the country heads in the right direction.
:08:56. > :08:56.Set this optimism against the picture painted
:08:57. > :09:00.The UN has declared its highest state of emergency
:09:01. > :09:03.for the country, and in a moment, we'll hear from one of its men
:09:04. > :09:06.First, here's our security correspondent, Frank Gardner.
:09:07. > :09:10.Thousands have been rescued in recent days, fleeing murder
:09:11. > :09:12.by the militants of ISIS, the so-called Islamic state, or from
:09:13. > :09:19.But now they face a deeply uncertain future.
:09:20. > :09:22.The humanitarian situation in Northern Iraq can be described
:09:23. > :09:29.Those terrible biblical pictures that we saw of people being helped
:09:30. > :09:34.off Mount Sinjar here are only one small part of a much wider picture.
:09:35. > :09:38.Across the region as a whole, around 300,000 refugees have arrived
:09:39. > :09:44.in the last ten days and they all need help.
:09:45. > :09:48.According to the Kurdish government figures, 250,000 refugees have
:09:49. > :09:56.arrived in Dohuk, plus another 50,000 Christians.
:09:57. > :09:58.In the Kurdish capital Irbil there are nearly 60,000 Christian
:09:59. > :10:00.refugees and the numbers are growing.
:10:01. > :10:27.We have, in the last ten days, had between 200,000 and 2550,000 people
:10:28. > :10:31.With each displacement, they are able to bring with them
:10:32. > :10:34.less and less of the key household items they need to survive,
:10:35. > :10:37.The scenes from the mountain are what helped galvanise
:10:38. > :10:40.the international community into rushing aid to Iraqi Kurdistan.
:10:41. > :10:44.At one point it looked like tens of thousands could perish
:10:45. > :11:00.Kurdish troops have since managed to escort most to safety.
:11:01. > :11:03.The US Special Forces team flew in aircraft like these and assessed
:11:04. > :11:06.there was no longer an immediate need for a rescue operation.
:11:07. > :11:11.I have also heard President Obama say that a rescue mission is not
:11:12. > :11:14.Frankly, I myself don't understand that.
:11:15. > :11:18.These are people who have fled for their lives with nothing.
:11:19. > :11:22.They are not mountaineers who are ready to climb up a mountain.
:11:23. > :11:26.These are ordinary men, women and children, don't forget
:11:27. > :11:36.that, and children can be very fragile in this kind of situation.
:11:37. > :11:42.The biggest refugee crisis is now in Dohuk, a Kurdish city overwhelmed by
:11:43. > :11:52.Aid is reaching them but not enough.
:11:53. > :11:55.Most are from the displaced from the Yazidi community.
:11:56. > :11:56.They've been driven out by the militants
:11:57. > :12:01.ISIS as part of its sectarian cleansing really
:12:02. > :12:05.has it in for the Yazidis, and very clearly wants to destroy
:12:06. > :12:12.Sorry, in the province with a combination
:12:13. > :12:17.of driving them out, a combination of taking them captive, and women
:12:18. > :12:22.they consider to be property, like houses, like land, and they are
:12:23. > :12:36.Then there is the wider fear of winter.
:12:37. > :12:38.How will Kurdistan shelter such vast numbers of refugees
:12:39. > :12:44.Homes will have to be found for the thousands now sleeping rough
:12:45. > :12:51.And just over the horizon, the militants of ISIS bent
:12:52. > :12:58.Unless they are dislodged, the refugees have no chance of ever
:12:59. > :13:06.A little earlier I spoke to Kieran Dwyer from the
:13:07. > :13:09.United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian
:13:10. > :13:12.Affairs about the situation on the ground in the Kurdish city
:13:13. > :13:26.I wonder whether you can start where you -- by telling us where you have
:13:27. > :13:33.been today and what you have seen? We went to the border crossing at an
:13:34. > :13:39.area where the large numbers of people coming in from the mountain,
:13:40. > :13:46.the Saint John mounting crisis, had been flowing through in the last few
:13:47. > :13:49.days in large numbers. -- Mount Sinjar crisis. So people are still
:13:50. > :13:54.coming over today. More a steady flow than the large numbers in
:13:55. > :13:59.previous days. And then to a transit camp, which is where many people who
:14:00. > :14:03.have come across the bridge are being stabilised and spending some
:14:04. > :14:07.time before they moved to other areas that are being set up,
:14:08. > :14:13.because, frankly, many of these people will not feel safe to go home
:14:14. > :14:17.for the foreseeable future. Can I ask you about the situation on Mount
:14:18. > :14:25.Sinjar? President Obama has said that US forces have broken the siege
:14:26. > :14:28.there and as you know, there will be no future humanitarian efforts
:14:29. > :14:34.through the air from America because they believe that the situation is
:14:35. > :14:38.good enough to leave alone. Do you and your colleagues accept that
:14:39. > :14:44.assessment? Well, I am aware of the statement that was made, of course,
:14:45. > :14:48.and we know that the American military team conducted its
:14:49. > :14:50.assessment. As humanitarians, we know there are still several
:14:51. > :14:53.assessment. As humanitarians, we know there thousand people on top of
:14:54. > :14:58.the mountain. We don't know the precise number. And that is one of
:14:59. > :15:02.the Kiwis and also we are here in Dohuk today, to speak with as many
:15:03. > :15:07.people as we can, including people still coming off the mountain and
:15:08. > :15:14.crossing the bridge today. -- one of the reasons we are also here. Some
:15:15. > :15:17.need to urgently still get down. We need airdrops possibly to still get
:15:18. > :15:21.those people supplied on that mountain. Letmember, nobody went up
:15:22. > :15:30.that mountain who was not forced because they were afraid for their
:15:31. > :15:33.life. -- re-member. Can I just ask you this - do you believe President
:15:34. > :15:38.Obama was right to make that assessment? Is it very different to
:15:39. > :15:46.how you would have assessed the situation? This was a military
:15:47. > :15:51.assessment for a potential operation and I don't know what went into the
:15:52. > :15:56.assessment. That is one process. As humanitarians, we look at what is
:15:57. > :16:00.necessary to keep people alive and what is necessary to create
:16:01. > :16:05.conditions where they can safely and freely come down from the mountain.
:16:06. > :16:09.Those things are not separate. The UN have said that Iraqis at a level
:16:10. > :16:14.three emergency status which is extremely high, so set against that,
:16:15. > :16:19.it is hard to understand when President Obama says that the
:16:20. > :16:24.country is heading in the right direction. Those seem to be two very
:16:25. > :16:27.different perspectives. I won't make a military commentary or political
:16:28. > :16:32.commentary. I'm here as a humanitarian person, working with
:16:33. > :16:35.the international community, which includes a broad spectrum of the
:16:36. > :16:39.international community and efforts who are trying to help Iraqi be more
:16:40. > :16:46.secure and safe, protect the civilian population -- help Iraq.
:16:47. > :16:51.1.2 million people alone this year have been rapidly displaced from
:16:52. > :16:55.their homes, so to help keep them alive with emergency assistance and
:16:56. > :16:59.help the local authorities set up white media to be protective
:17:00. > :17:10.measures and assistance measures for quite some time to come. -- setup
:17:11. > :17:15.humanitarian measures. There are now as many refugees in the city as
:17:16. > :17:20.original inhabitants which seems an extraordinary position to manage.
:17:21. > :17:24.The senior officials we have met have been impressive in their
:17:25. > :17:28.commitment and in the actions they are taking to deliver, but it is
:17:29. > :17:32.plain, and they are humble and they understand this, they are stretched
:17:33. > :17:37.to the limit. They are asking the UN for assistance and we are scaling it
:17:38. > :17:41.up as fast as we can, but they are asking for further international
:17:42. > :17:44.assistance to help them do the job they want done. They are stepping up
:17:45. > :17:49.and they need us to step up with them, and the UN is certainly doing
:17:50. > :17:52.that. Thank you very much for your time this evening. We appreciate it.
:17:53. > :17:55.If you've had teenagers in the house this summer you'll know
:17:56. > :17:57.Anxiety, hysteria, occasional giddiness.
:17:58. > :17:59.Either someone knows the ending to Game of Thrones,
:18:00. > :18:05.Overall grades are slightly down with fewer A and A* grades.
:18:06. > :18:08.But that might not really matter because there are a record number
:18:09. > :18:10.of university places available - an extra 30,000,
:18:11. > :18:13.which means that even some of the most elite universities are
:18:14. > :18:25.Here's Chris ?Four Straight As? Cook.
:18:26. > :18:32.Today, on a level results day, parents will be congratulating and
:18:33. > :18:36.commiserating with their children about their university choices. It
:18:37. > :18:42.is a decades-old story, but there is a wrinkle, because sons are more
:18:43. > :18:45.problems than daughters these days. Outside Scotland, a level of the
:18:46. > :18:51.main entry qualifications for university. This year they were
:18:52. > :18:56.taken by around 260,018 -year-olds in the UK, about 38%. So today is a
:18:57. > :19:01.day that the university reforms are very obvious. A key plank of the
:19:02. > :19:07.reforms are the university should be able to expand so they can compete
:19:08. > :19:12.to win students. To help them along, 30,000 extra places are being
:19:13. > :19:17.funded, an increase of 8% and that will rise by another 30,000 next
:19:18. > :19:22.year. This is hardly the first big university expansion. The share of
:19:23. > :19:27.people you went to university by the age of 30 rocketed from 5% in the
:19:28. > :19:34.early 1960s to around 35% by the turn-of-the-century. This was a
:19:35. > :19:37.legacy of a report from 1963, lip -- written by Lionel Robbins, an
:19:38. > :19:41.eminent economist, which advocated a big rise in the university
:19:42. > :19:49.population. Will bigger numbers mean lower standards? Not on our
:19:50. > :19:57.computations. When people think of the recent story of universities,
:19:58. > :19:59.they probably think of this. Demonstrations, disorder, fees, and
:20:00. > :20:17.the Liberal Democrats. # I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The cap on
:20:18. > :20:24.fees rose most recently in 2012, but at the same time participation rose
:20:25. > :20:28.as well. Since fees came in in the late 1990s, the story of growth in
:20:29. > :20:32.higher education has been similar to the previous story, which is more
:20:33. > :20:35.and more young people on their way to university. Interestingly, the
:20:36. > :20:38.growth is now concentrated amongst people from less well-off
:20:39. > :20:43.backgrounds and we have seen it in the data from UCAS, with 8000 people
:20:44. > :20:47.from the poorest backgrounds on their way to higher education. But
:20:48. > :20:52.there is still an unusual gap here. Undergraduate admissions are one of
:20:53. > :20:59.the areas where women dominate. 48% of 18 or 19-year-old women go to
:21:00. > :21:08.university, compared to 35% of men, and the gap is riding. UCAS said
:21:09. > :21:15.today that there had been 107,000 acceptances for -- 172,000 men, and
:21:16. > :21:19.more for women. The missing numbers are from poorer communities. There
:21:20. > :21:27.are more women than university going -- there are more women than men
:21:28. > :21:29.going to university, and that makes sense because apprenticeships pay
:21:30. > :21:37.less for women. It's not surprising that women feel they have to go to
:21:38. > :21:39.university to compete with men on an equal level. There are other
:21:40. > :21:45.explanations. It might be schooling, or the advice about career choices
:21:46. > :21:46.that women and men make. It is a rare area of public policy though
:21:47. > :21:50.where women do better than men. Mary Curnock Cook is the Head of
:21:51. > :22:03.UCAS and Alice Philipps is President Mary, to start with you, why does it
:22:04. > :22:07.matter if young men are not choosing university as much as women because,
:22:08. > :22:11.actually, further down the line, they enter what is clearly a man's
:22:12. > :22:15.world where they get paid more and seem to find it easier to make it to
:22:16. > :22:20.the top? I don't think that is really the case. If I could just set
:22:21. > :22:25.out the picture that we see today from mission control, if you like,
:22:26. > :22:32.at UCAS. 400,000 people have been placed today, but 50,000 more young
:22:33. > :22:36.women than young men, and what we now see is that women are one third
:22:37. > :22:40.more likely to enter higher education than men. In fact, women
:22:41. > :22:46.are more likely to enter than men are to apply. Surely that cannot be
:22:47. > :22:50.a good thing in terms of balance in the potential for young women and
:22:51. > :22:55.young men, and their future career and life. Do you know anything about
:22:56. > :23:02.why that has happened, why the choices made? -- the choice is
:23:03. > :23:05.made. The background is that young men are not getting the achievement
:23:06. > :23:10.coming out of secondary school, so the pipeline coming through for
:23:11. > :23:14.admission to higher education is worse for young men than for young
:23:15. > :23:20.women. Women reach level three A-level equivalent at the same level
:23:21. > :23:28.that young men reach level two. Why does that happen? Is it the fault of
:23:29. > :23:34.the schools? Is it something in young men, or is it that young women
:23:35. > :23:39.are just terrific? I'm not an expert educationalist, but I can tell you
:23:40. > :23:44.that young women outperform young men right through the school system,
:23:45. > :23:49.through primary school and secondary school, and, surely, the potential
:23:50. > :23:53.of young men is somehow being let down through that system. And, of
:23:54. > :23:58.course, we see it in university admissions. So what would you do?
:23:59. > :24:04.And I would like hard plans and proposals, please. I think somebody
:24:05. > :24:11.needs to look vary carefully at the issue. We can see that while the gap
:24:12. > :24:14.between... Shouldn't it be you? I don't think it is the job of UCAS.
:24:15. > :24:19.We are using evidence to show something. But you could be a good
:24:20. > :24:24.advocate for change and stir for change? Well, that is why I am here
:24:25. > :24:28.this evening. We want to see more young men coming through the system
:24:29. > :24:31.to balance it out, not least because there is probably a better
:24:32. > :24:37.university experience if there is more of a sex balance on campus. But
:24:38. > :24:44.how do you do that? In practical terms, what does that actually mean?
:24:45. > :24:47.Clearly the young men are not really listening to lots of people saying
:24:48. > :24:50.that you are not getting as far as the girls. They are in school and
:24:51. > :24:55.watching the girls outperform them, so what can they do? It is important
:24:56. > :25:00.to look at the underlying causes. They must be to do with teaching and
:25:01. > :25:04.learning. They must be to do with the curriculum or qualifications, or
:25:05. > :25:09.the assessment regime. But for some reason, boys are coming through
:25:10. > :25:14.school and not doing as well, in aggregate, as the girls are. Alice,
:25:15. > :25:18.you come from the girl school perspective, but you have also
:25:19. > :25:21.taught boys as well. Through your expertise, what do you think the
:25:22. > :25:26.problem is, so what might the solution be? One of the problems
:25:27. > :25:30.might be, if we go back to primary schools, the shortage of male role
:25:31. > :25:35.models as teachers. If you are going to go into the educational context
:25:36. > :25:39.as a child and be inspired by grown-ups around you, you want
:25:40. > :25:43.people who suggest to you as a small boy, from whatever background, that
:25:44. > :25:47.education and learning is fun and to have a male role model that will be
:25:48. > :25:52.helpful alongside the female ones. We know there are many strong female
:25:53. > :25:56.role models, but increasingly fewer and fewer male role models at the
:25:57. > :26:00.earliest age. That is a sensible suggestion that there must be more
:26:01. > :26:04.you can do further down the line -- but there must be more you can do
:26:05. > :26:07.further down the line as the young men approach a levels and are given
:26:08. > :26:12.careers advice. Something must be falling short. Could we have more
:26:13. > :26:16.positive discrimination? If we talk about this as a different group, a
:26:17. > :26:21.different socio- economic group, or cultural group, then I think we have
:26:22. > :26:25.already had in place some kind of positive discrimination and helpful
:26:26. > :26:32.schemes, but people seem to be wary of saying let's do it for the boys.
:26:33. > :26:37.Certainly, and if you take the story at the start, it's a great story of
:26:38. > :26:41.celebration for girls and women, and there was a time when it wasn't
:26:42. > :26:44.thought worthwhile to educate women. We should not try to imply in the
:26:45. > :26:49.statistics that it is the fault of women that men are falling behind.
:26:50. > :26:52.What UCAS dies, and it has been a tough day for the organisation, and
:26:53. > :26:57.I would like to thank her for the work done today, but they gather the
:26:58. > :27:04.data and now it is here we can work with it. So what would I do? I would
:27:05. > :27:07.turn to the new Secretary of State and listen to serious
:27:08. > :27:10.educationalists and gather people who have succeeded with these
:27:11. > :27:13.minority groups who struggled, and there are head teachers out there
:27:14. > :27:17.who have a strong track record, and get them to talk together and frame
:27:18. > :27:23.policy and plan. Is there ever a place for something as bold as
:27:24. > :27:27.weaker offers for young men approaching their A-level results?
:27:28. > :27:33.That is not the problem because it is in the pipeline. The acceptance
:27:34. > :27:37.rate in university for men is a smidgen higher than girls, so it's
:27:38. > :27:42.not about the admissions process, it is about what is coming through. But
:27:43. > :27:49.you could change that, couldn't you? There would always be a place where
:27:50. > :27:53.you could say, here you have a girl with 28 results and be, but we need
:27:54. > :27:59.more boys in the system, so we will take them with a B grade and a C
:28:00. > :28:04.grade? -- to a great results and a B grade? I don't think that is really
:28:05. > :28:09.the solution. I think the suggestion about more men in teaching in
:28:10. > :28:12.primary and secondary school, that is interesting, because there are a
:28:13. > :28:17.lot of initiatives to get girls to do science and computer science and
:28:18. > :28:23.stem subjects, but what about the huge imbalance in the number of men
:28:24. > :28:29.going into teaching and social work and nursing, which are massively
:28:30. > :28:32.showing a bigger gap the other way round? I think it would be good to
:28:33. > :28:36.see initiatives to show young men that there are a range of careers
:28:37. > :28:41.they could pursue that are outside of the traditional comfort zones. It
:28:42. > :28:42.is definitely a subject we will return to. Thank you for your time
:28:43. > :28:44.this evening. To Gaza now, and day one
:28:45. > :28:47.of a new five-day ceasefire, Neither side has relinquished any
:28:48. > :28:54.of its demands, although Egyptians sources have said
:28:55. > :28:57.that Israel may be willing to lift But the let up
:28:58. > :29:02.in the fighting gives citizens on both sides the opportunity to affect
:29:03. > :29:04.some normality - whatever that means The BBC's Yolande Knell
:29:05. > :29:10.in Gaza has been talking to the people trying to keep the lights
:29:11. > :29:29.on and the water flowing. Gaza took a pounding during recent
:29:30. > :29:33.Israeli air strikes. This is the third conflict here in five years.
:29:34. > :29:39.And it has been the most deadly and destructive. Israel says it is
:29:40. > :29:47.targeting militant sites, but civilian infrastructures are not
:29:48. > :29:52.being spared. Gaza's only power plant was shelled two weeks ago,
:29:53. > :29:55.setting its fuel tanks on fire. The Israeli military says it is
:29:56. > :30:06.investigating, but the effects are clear. As you see, this is total
:30:07. > :30:12.damage. It can't be used any more, and without the fuel, we have no
:30:13. > :30:16.operation. The manager has been here since the electricity plant opened a
:30:17. > :30:22.decade ago. It was supposed to make use of the latest technology to meet
:30:23. > :30:26.rising demand. Instead, it has faced constant challenges. It has been
:30:27. > :30:32.caught up in previous fighting between Hamas, which controls Gaza,
:30:33. > :30:38.and the groups sworn enemy, Israel. Tight border restrictions limited
:30:39. > :30:46.fuel imports. Although power cuts were common in Gaza before, now they
:30:47. > :30:50.are much worse. The electricity that the whole population, almost 2
:30:51. > :30:53.million people, they will suffer. -- for the whole population. When you
:30:54. > :30:58.talk about electricity, you talk about the water supply, water
:30:59. > :31:05.treatment, sewage, we are talking about hospitals and schools. All
:31:06. > :31:14.aspects of basic life require this not existing. In this home they are
:31:15. > :31:19.used to blackouts. But the sisters carry out what household chores they
:31:20. > :31:24.can in the dark. They organise their lives around the six or so hours of
:31:25. > :31:28.power they get each day. The first thing, of course, is charging our
:31:29. > :31:35.flashlights, turning on our water well and doing laundry and stuff
:31:36. > :31:40.that has to do with electricity. And they tell me even keeping clean is
:31:41. > :31:46.difficult, because without power, the water filled ration and pumps
:31:47. > :31:51.don't work. And we are like, I wish I could go take a shower, but there
:31:52. > :31:57.is no time and no water and no electricity. You can't do anything,
:31:58. > :32:00.really. Entire neighbourhoods of Gaza were reduced to rubble during
:32:01. > :32:06.the ground invasion by Israeli Armed Forces. In the East, they said they
:32:07. > :32:13.destroyed tunnels used by Palestinian fighters. But they also
:32:14. > :32:20.damaged underground water and sewage systems. Already, these were in a
:32:21. > :32:25.fragile state. A blockade of Gaza are forced by Israel and Egypt had
:32:26. > :32:30.made maintenance hard. Now there is contamination and widespread water
:32:31. > :32:36.shortages. Across Gaza, emergency efforts are under way to fix or just
:32:37. > :32:41.to patch up basic infrastructure, often in incredibly difficult
:32:42. > :32:45.circumstances. Here, the workers are struggling to restore basic water
:32:46. > :32:50.supplies. They have got miles and miles of broken pipes.
:32:51. > :32:55.Hospitals are already seeing diseases spreading. As more and more
:32:56. > :33:01.Gazans displaced by this conflict are forced to put up with dire
:33:02. > :33:06.living conditions. And here, the growing problems with
:33:07. > :33:11.Gaza's infrastructure can be a matter of life and death. The
:33:12. > :33:14.machines in this intensive care unit are now relying mostly on
:33:15. > :33:23.generators, which are meant to be used for back-up purposes only. So,
:33:24. > :33:28.imagine if the electricity of the generator went off in addition to
:33:29. > :33:34.the normal electricity being off before. Imagine what will happen to
:33:35. > :33:39.the blood banks and the stores. Imagine what will happen to patients
:33:40. > :33:47.in the ICU. And what will happen to the nursery where the newborns are
:33:48. > :33:52.there. For years, Gaza has struggled, but the latest conflict
:33:53. > :33:56.has left it on life support. A temporary truce is giving some
:33:57. > :34:01.breathing space, as Egyptian Wiggo shooters try to secure a longer term
:34:02. > :34:09.cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians. -- Egyptian
:34:10. > :34:12.negotiators. Now they need to address security concerns and open
:34:13. > :34:16.up Gaza's borders so a full recovery can begin.
:34:17. > :34:20.An 18-year-old black man, shot by American police
:34:21. > :34:22.in disputed circumstances, described by witnesses as unprovoked.
:34:23. > :34:25.And a town erupting into protest at what is seen as deep-seated racism.
:34:26. > :34:27.It's a story told before, too many times.
:34:28. > :34:39.This one in a small suburb of St Louis in Missouri called Ferguson.
:34:40. > :34:45.It has been four nights of anger, protest and clashes with the police
:34:46. > :34:48.in the US state of Missouri following the fatal shooting of
:34:49. > :34:51.black teenager Michael Brown last Saturday. Details of the killing
:34:52. > :34:55.have been disputed, with eyewitnesses saying the 18-year-old
:34:56. > :34:59.was unarmed and had his hands raised. The police say he was shot
:35:00. > :35:04.several times after a struggle and have not yet released the officer's
:35:05. > :35:07.name. Last night, heavily armed riot police fired tear gas at
:35:08. > :35:14.demonstrators in Ferguson who had ignored an order to disperse.
:35:15. > :35:15.Several people were arrested, including two journalists, who said
:35:16. > :35:21.they were assaulted before being released. On social media, the town
:35:22. > :35:29.is starting to be referred to as Fergus-stand. People should not be
:35:30. > :35:33.brilliant journalists who are just rang to do their jobs and reporting
:35:34. > :35:37.to the American people who see what is going on on the ground. We need
:35:38. > :35:42.to hold ourselves to a higher standard, particularly those of us
:35:43. > :35:49.in positions of authority. There was also a recognition of the ground
:35:50. > :35:56.swell of emotion on the -- in that immunity with efforts to bring
:35:57. > :36:00.around a more peaceful resolution. Or we also need is for folks to be
:36:01. > :36:05.able to be allowed to express their energy in an appropriate way. They
:36:06. > :36:11.have the absolute right to do that. Because we will not get the healing
:36:12. > :36:21.that we all need is the only response from the public is "I'll
:36:22. > :36:25.just be quiet". Two thirds of Ferguson's community is black, in
:36:26. > :36:30.stark contrast to 50 out of its 53 police officers being white. The
:36:31. > :36:37.town has come together in grief, sorrow and anger. A common chart
:36:38. > :36:42.against the police is "hands up, don't shoot". It has erupted on
:36:43. > :36:44.social media and touched at the core of one of the unresolved fault lines
:36:45. > :36:47.in America. With me now are Mike Colombo,
:36:48. > :36:50.a local reporter, and Lester Spence, a Professor of African and
:36:51. > :36:59.American Studies. A very good evening to you. Mike,
:37:00. > :37:06.can I start with you? Can you describe the mood in Ferguson
:37:07. > :37:09.tonight? Pardon me. At this moment, we are still learning more and more
:37:10. > :37:15.about what is happening on the ground in Ferguson but the shift to
:37:16. > :37:21.the state police has been absolutely huge already. It seems as if the
:37:22. > :37:23.captain, who is actually a Ferguson resident originally, an
:37:24. > :37:29.African-American officer, he being on the ground is orally having a big
:37:30. > :37:35.impact just seeing some of the tweets sent by my colleagues. --
:37:36. > :37:39.already having a big impact. He has said he will walk with them and the
:37:40. > :37:43.police line they have experienced over the last several days will be
:37:44. > :37:46.far less than it was, so it is a very interesting change of
:37:47. > :37:50.circumstances as to what we have been dealing with for the last
:37:51. > :37:54.several days. Can you just explain what that differences with the state
:37:55. > :37:59.police coming in? And what does it say about the police before? So much
:38:00. > :38:03.of what we have heard from the residents of Ferguson and the
:38:04. > :38:10.different processors has been that the police have been taking a very
:38:11. > :38:14.heavy-handed approach. -- protesters. I think all of us are
:38:15. > :38:18.hoping that with the change of guard, there may be some differences
:38:19. > :38:21.and that might actually allow us to see whether it was the police who
:38:22. > :38:26.were in fact being heavy-handed or if it may have been protesters with
:38:27. > :38:30.some unreasonable thoughts and feelings about what had been taking
:38:31. > :38:34.place. So I guess you could release a only time will tell as far as that
:38:35. > :38:39.is concerned but very early on, it seems the people are well receiving
:38:40. > :38:43.the new police who are investigating and helping work with the
:38:44. > :38:48.protesters. Obviously this was a tragic death of a very bright young
:38:49. > :38:52.man. But can you explain to us why it was everything kicked off so much
:38:53. > :38:57.afterwards? You can understand the grief and anger of the family and
:38:58. > :39:01.the problems of a death in custody. But what you have seen on the
:39:02. > :39:05.streets of Ferguson is we quite extraordinary. The scenes we have
:39:06. > :39:12.just showed, it is something akin to the Los Angeles riots, isn't it?
:39:13. > :39:17.They are, and one part of this story that runs parallel to the shooting
:39:18. > :39:20.death of Michael Brown is that there are some very deep-seated racial
:39:21. > :39:25.issues that have gone on in this community and many communities in
:39:26. > :39:29.this area for decades. The shooting death of Michael Brown bringing
:39:30. > :39:33.those issues to the forefront. And the people there, especially with
:39:34. > :39:37.the way many of them feel the police handled the situation from the get
:39:38. > :39:41.go, they are stepping up and saying, enough is enough, we have dealt with
:39:42. > :39:44.issues here and felt like second-class citizens for a very
:39:45. > :39:47.long time, and we are sick of it, and they are using this as their
:39:48. > :39:51.platform to bring those issues to the forefront and let people know
:39:52. > :39:56.real change has to come or they are going to continue to see some of the
:39:57. > :40:01.protests and some of the people's unhappiness that has really shown
:40:02. > :40:08.over the last several days. Thank you. And thank you for your
:40:09. > :40:19.patience. Does everything you hear mics they ring true to you? Yes, it
:40:20. > :40:25.does. -- Mike says? A week before the 11th of September, it was a week
:40:26. > :40:31.before Labor Day, and there was a kid who was killed by St Louis
:40:32. > :40:36.police, and they shot him in the alley and they accused him of firing
:40:37. > :40:41.at them. The gun had not been fired, though. Police were not even
:40:42. > :40:45.charged and there was a number of incidents once this happened. I went
:40:46. > :40:52.back and a student had collected three or four binders from me on
:40:53. > :40:55.research I was doing, and there was just incident after incident of
:40:56. > :41:00.police being heavy-handed in the city and in Saint Lewis County and
:41:01. > :41:06.people calling for Citizen review boards and their calls going
:41:07. > :41:09.unheard. Said President Obama has called for calm but also
:41:10. > :41:16.transparency, and that is a very interesting word, isn't it? What
:41:17. > :41:21.does that mean to you? If you think about the militarisation of the
:41:22. > :41:27.police, it happens in a number of different ways. It starts in the 60s
:41:28. > :41:31.as a result and in response to black protest. Then it moves to the 70s
:41:32. > :41:38.and 80s in response to the war on drugs. The 90s is the war in Iraq.
:41:39. > :41:44.And then now it is in relation to 9/11. And what you have with that
:41:45. > :41:49.militarisation move is a kind of gap being placed between citizens and
:41:50. > :42:01.the police, and then a significant part of that gap is increasing the
:42:02. > :42:05.way that the police don't feel they have the obligation to do anything.
:42:06. > :42:08.They don't have the obligation to report a citizens, they don't have
:42:09. > :42:12.the obligation to reveal themselves to journalists, they don't have the
:42:13. > :42:16.obligation to let themselves be photographed, and they definitely
:42:17. > :42:20.don't have the obligation to allow people to protest peacefully,
:42:21. > :42:24.particularly black people. And from what you have seen of the developing
:42:25. > :42:28.situation over the last four nights and other state develop and come
:42:29. > :42:33.with President Obama making his speech, do you think this could be a
:42:34. > :42:39.turning point for the residents? Yes, I do. Just that move to replace
:42:40. > :42:42.the Ferguson police with the State Highway Patrol and led by somebody
:42:43. > :42:46.who actually knows that neighbourhood, I think that is
:42:47. > :42:50.really, really important. But the important thing is going to be for
:42:51. > :42:54.us and the people of Ferguson to continue to move, because what we
:42:55. > :42:59.don't want is a circumstance in which this moment happens and this
:43:00. > :43:03.boy is killed and we find justice but then the systems that actually
:43:04. > :43:08.allow that to happen remain in place. So that is the struggle we
:43:09. > :43:10.have in front of us. A real pleasure to talk to you tonight. Thank you
:43:11. > :43:13.for your time, and also to Mike. You'd be hard pushed to find a
:43:14. > :43:16.more modish fashion than detoxing. But if you think you've done them
:43:17. > :43:25.all, you haven't, because this summer sees the arrival
:43:26. > :43:29.of a whole new type of detoxing. Newsnight's David
:43:30. > :43:42.Grossman is all over it. Now, be honest, is this what your
:43:43. > :43:46.holidays look like? Is this your night out at the pub? Is this that
:43:47. > :43:51.special romantic meal with the love of your life? We are still in the
:43:52. > :43:54.early days of this new world and it is pretty clear we are already
:43:55. > :43:58.struggling. Struggling to know when we should connect and when we should
:43:59. > :44:03.switch off. There are some pretty easy rules to make, like driving.
:44:04. > :44:07.But the rest of the time? What it has done to us is it has made us
:44:08. > :44:13.afraid of absence, afraid of solitude and daydreaming and quiet.
:44:14. > :44:18.Everybody that I see with a moment of absence in their lives, they dive
:44:19. > :44:23.into their phone. This is how this work used to be. An analogue world
:44:24. > :44:27.of pens, typewriters and landlines. When we went on holiday, it was a
:44:28. > :44:31.struggle to get a week old copy of the Daily Mail, let alone a message
:44:32. > :44:37.from work! And then, well, this happened. Mac this keeps you in
:44:38. > :44:42.constant in indication with these transportable, affordable cellular
:44:43. > :44:50.phones. We thought this could meant we could -- could mean we could be
:44:51. > :44:53.on the beach, the golf course or in the shopping centre and not be found
:44:54. > :44:59.out. But there has been a price to pay. Being able to work anywhere
:45:00. > :45:04.means anywhere we are, we are at work. The company Daimler is
:45:05. > :45:08.offering its staff and email holiday when they go on leave. Their inboxes
:45:09. > :45:13.blocked and incoming messages are simply deleted! Naturally, we wanted
:45:14. > :45:17.to talk to the executive who came up with this new policy. What you mean
:45:18. > :45:22.we can't get hold of an?! It is 2014! But it turned out he was on
:45:23. > :45:33.holiday. So he sent us this statement.
:45:34. > :45:41.We get a load of individuals who come, and then we take their phones
:45:42. > :45:45.away and lock them away. Vicki runs digital detox weekends. She says
:45:46. > :45:50.periodically dumping the smartphone is vital. We quite often find
:45:51. > :45:52.situations where if people did have their phone, instead of making an
:45:53. > :45:57.effort to chat to someone if they were bored, they would just get
:45:58. > :46:01.their phone out and do that, so we have loads of feedback saying they
:46:02. > :46:04.have much more interesting and deep conversations when they are talking
:46:05. > :46:08.to people and they are not distracted by their phone going off
:46:09. > :46:14.on the side and then there attention getting diverted to their phone. And
:46:15. > :46:17.it is only going to get worse. Technology is in its infancy. This
:46:18. > :46:23.watch can tell me when I get a message. But in future, connectivity
:46:24. > :46:27.will be sewn into the fabric of our lives. Perhaps we need to work out
:46:28. > :46:35.some rules. As much for employers as employees. Part of the thing that
:46:36. > :46:40.work that managers should know is that we are at work but we are also
:46:41. > :46:45.at play. So watch back. Facebook and Twitter, if you look at the numbers,
:46:46. > :46:48.you will find the busiest times for those websites are when everybody
:46:49. > :46:57.says they are at work. So we know it has become this... This giant
:46:58. > :47:04.no-man's-land of work and play meshing between each other. And it
:47:05. > :47:08.creates a kind of ambient anxiety throughout our lives. So, live in
:47:09. > :47:13.the modern world, in Bray six technology, but once in a while, for
:47:14. > :47:16.the sake of your health, take a trip back to the past. -- embrace the
:47:17. > :47:21.technology. That is all we have time for court
:47:22. > :47:24.the liberal and I have emails to check! Good night. -- all we have
:47:25. > :47:40.time for and I have. Friday looks the best day of the
:47:41. > :47:44.week with more wins and sunshine around. The small chance of a few
:47:45. > :47:45.isolated showers but hopefully they will be just