:00:00. > :00:14.The government is talking a lot about schools this week.
:00:15. > :00:20.But does it have a strategy for good schools?
:00:21. > :00:25.The Education Secretary is setting out her approach tomorrow -
:00:26. > :00:27.but money's tight and pupil numbers are growing.
:00:28. > :00:31.We'll ask whether there's a plan, or a few sketchy ideas.
:00:32. > :00:42.I complained about that a long time ago and they made a change,
:00:43. > :00:48.I said it was obsolete, it's no longer obsolete.
:00:49. > :00:49.Is Trump changing the world or has
:00:50. > :01:04.We'll ask if it's a random cock up or a problem with capitalism.
:01:05. > :01:06.And the latest battle ground between populism
:01:07. > :01:18.In to project an image around the world that is one of an open society
:01:19. > :01:21.in which dissent is not persecuted. But there is a growing fear that a
:01:22. > :01:26.new generation of political leaders want to shut down political voices.
:01:27. > :01:29.-- Israel wants to project an image around the world that it is one of
:01:30. > :01:35.an open society. Hello, school's out for Easter,
:01:36. > :01:37.but schools policy is The Education Secretary Justine
:01:38. > :01:41.Greening is to give a big speech She will undoubtedly restate
:01:42. > :01:44.the aim of the government, to make better schools for ordinary
:01:45. > :01:47.families, or the just But does the government
:01:48. > :01:51.have a strategy for delivering that objective, in the absence of money
:01:52. > :01:56.and student numbers growing? We know Theresa May is interested
:01:57. > :01:58.in grammar schools, and today, the government announced another 131
:01:59. > :02:00.free schools have been approved to open, creating
:02:01. > :02:06.about 69,000 places. Chris Cook offers this assessment
:02:07. > :02:24.of where things stand. We should all look at the cameras
:02:25. > :02:28.and smile. Tomorrow the government's domestic non-Brexit extendable get a
:02:29. > :02:31.rare airing. Justin Greening, the Education Secretary, will set out
:02:32. > :02:32.her thoughts on what comes next for English education.
:02:33. > :02:35.The English schools report card, though, isn't in great shape.
:02:36. > :02:46.This graph shows average GCSE results.
:02:47. > :02:49.It starts at the left where we have the results
:02:50. > :02:51.from the children in the poorest neighbourhoods, moving to the right
:02:52. > :02:59.The height of the line shows how well pupils
:03:00. > :03:01.from that background did on average in English, maths,
:03:02. > :03:05.What it shows is that the poorest children, at the left,
:03:06. > :03:07.averaged around a D, and the very richest
:03:08. > :03:19.That is a two grade gap. Closing that gap has been a focus of policy
:03:20. > :03:24.the years, but this government wants to work on an ordinary working
:03:25. > :03:28.families. That is to say not the poorest. You might think that
:03:29. > :03:35.targeting particular pupils like Paul children like we do that that
:03:36. > :03:38.would have any -- like Paul children like we do here, that it would have
:03:39. > :03:43.a negative effect, but that isn't true. It benefits everybody in the
:03:44. > :03:47.class. We have seen that from our work. And if you look at the best
:03:48. > :03:51.scores they are doing well for the Paul children, the rich children,
:03:52. > :03:55.and those in the middle. We've also not been that radical on helping
:03:56. > :04:01.poorer children. This is footage of the process by which children get
:04:02. > :04:11.places at some over popular US schools. It is quite hard to watch.
:04:12. > :04:16.20. Still, it even harder for wealthier people to gain their way
:04:17. > :04:21.in. England has another huge problem, geography. Going to school
:04:22. > :04:26.in London in particular is very different to going to school
:04:27. > :04:31.elsewhere. When you think of Westminster you probably think of
:04:32. > :04:35.things like this, but behind all the pomp and circumstance and the
:04:36. > :04:40.politicians here, there is actually an urban borough with serious social
:04:41. > :04:45.problems. Happily Westminster has a really good schools that do a great
:04:46. > :04:49.service by its poorest children, such as those eligible for free
:04:50. > :04:52.school meals. You can see that if we go back to that measure of GCSE
:04:53. > :05:01.performance across five subjects we used earlier. Poor Westminster kids
:05:02. > :05:13.beat poor Isle of Wight students, here they get Bs and Cs, Cs and Ds
:05:14. > :05:17.not. Here they beat the average of all children. It's much more
:05:18. > :05:21.difficult to get teachers to move to the Isle of Wight compared with
:05:22. > :05:25.London. Academy chains also struggle where local authority struggles
:05:26. > :05:29.before them. We also know that areas with grammar schools don't do any
:05:30. > :05:38.better than other places. Westminster's poor children get
:05:39. > :05:42.higher grades than Kent's not poor children. There is a basic economics
:05:43. > :05:52.problem. In short, it's running out of money. There are two issues
:05:53. > :05:59.affecting funding. Schools are having to make their first real cut
:06:00. > :06:03.since the 1990s. At the same time the government is proposing a major
:06:04. > :06:06.shake-up of the school funding system, which will for the first
:06:07. > :06:11.time ensure that similar schools are funded in a similar way. There are
:06:12. > :06:14.winners and losers. In this case the losers are effectively losing twice.
:06:15. > :06:20.Firstly from the national average cut and second any losses from the
:06:21. > :06:26.new structure format. The government has coped just about with a baby
:06:27. > :06:33.boom bust far, but that wave is about to hit secondary, so keep an
:06:34. > :06:38.eye on it. -- bus far, but that wave is about to hit secondary, so keep
:06:39. > :06:39.an eye on that. It is about to get hit very hard.
:06:40. > :06:41.David Laws was a former Lib Dem schools minister
:06:42. > :06:43.in the coalition government, and is now the executive chairman
:06:44. > :06:48.Dr Jo Saxton - is a free school founder and CEO of Turner Schools -
:06:49. > :06:50.an academy trust which was set-up to serve coastal
:06:51. > :06:54.They will open one of the new free schools which was approved
:06:55. > :07:10.How hard was it to get approval? Was it just a formality? It was a
:07:11. > :07:14.rigorous process. The best part was we spent a lot of time consulting
:07:15. > :07:18.locally with employers and parents, we really listened to what the
:07:19. > :07:23.people wanted and hopefully we are delivering that. This will be a new
:07:24. > :07:26.school, and Academy school, in Folkestone. It will be a brand-new
:07:27. > :07:34.free school Academy in Folkestone, nonselective. Does it feel to you,
:07:35. > :07:38.from your department, that they know what they are doing and they know
:07:39. > :07:44.what the vision is for schools, and also how to make sure your school is
:07:45. > :07:50.a good school? We are in a context where we need at least 400,000 new
:07:51. > :07:54.school places by 2021. So prioritising new school places is
:07:55. > :07:57.the most important thing. We know more and more about what makes a
:07:58. > :08:05.good school from research, from people like the EDF, which you
:08:06. > :08:09.highlighted earlier. David, do you think there is a strategy for making
:08:10. > :08:13.schools better? We have seen some of the gaping holes and gaps and
:08:14. > :08:18.discrepancies and differences, is there a strategy for overcoming
:08:19. > :08:23.those? There is, but the problem is that it might not be a sound one. It
:08:24. > :08:27.relies on having more academies that are freed up from local government
:08:28. > :08:30.control. And also come under this government, having more grammar
:08:31. > :08:36.schools, according to this government, which will select
:08:37. > :08:40.pupils. Goblin is, firstly with academies, we know that where
:08:41. > :08:44.academies have had strong leadership, and sometimes a lot of
:08:45. > :08:50.money, for example Tony Blair early generation, they have added
:08:51. > :08:53.impressive impact including from poor children. Other recent
:08:54. > :09:01.expansion of free schools and grammar schools hasn't been -- the
:09:02. > :09:06.other recent expansion of free schools and academies hasn't had the
:09:07. > :09:10.same effect. So making sure the headteacher is good, and the school
:09:11. > :09:15.knows what it is doing, basically? That's right. We have a lot of
:09:16. > :09:19.autonomy in our schools system. Giving more autonomy to those who
:09:20. > :09:22.already have that freedom doesn't make a difference. What makes a
:09:23. > :09:27.difference is that school governors and leaders can get good teaching
:09:28. > :09:32.staff, good headteachers, can do the basics well. Structural reform
:09:33. > :09:36.doesn't always deliver that. On grammar schools it is more difficult
:09:37. > :09:40.for the government, the evidence, grammar schools redistribute
:09:41. > :09:47.educational opportunities, they don't raise overall attainment. Do
:09:48. > :09:56.you agree with the basic contention that it has to be about how well run
:09:57. > :09:59.the schools are, calling them academies, -- do you agree with the
:10:00. > :10:03.basic contention that it is about how well run the schools are, not
:10:04. > :10:12.what they are called, academies or whatever? Recognising that changing
:10:13. > :10:15.the structure means the free school programme. The good thing is that
:10:16. > :10:23.people have got excited about it. Who thought that was possible? My
:10:24. > :10:28.free school group in Folkestone, we've had five applications on spec
:10:29. > :10:31.from teachers and senior leaders enquiring about working there. I
:10:32. > :10:36.think changing the structures has got people excited about education.
:10:37. > :10:41.You were running a chain of academies in London. You are now
:10:42. > :10:45.involved in a smaller chain in Kent. London schools are beacons for good
:10:46. > :10:49.performance and good turnaround in the UK. What did they do in London
:10:50. > :10:54.that worked, and are you able to bring that to Kent? That is what I
:10:55. > :10:59.am trying to do in Kent. We have a tight jury graphical cluster in
:11:00. > :11:04.Kent. We want to replicate that in Kent. The important thing about
:11:05. > :11:08.academy structures is in a context of funding cuts we can work together
:11:09. > :11:16.to do things efficiently and effectively to make a difference, to
:11:17. > :11:19.prioritise front line teaching. You think organising is not the thing,
:11:20. > :11:26.you think it is the leadership. I don't think that, that is the
:11:27. > :11:30.evidence that the expansion of the programme, over the last few years,
:11:31. > :11:35.has not led to that improvement in performance. You need a
:11:36. > :11:42.counterfactual as to what the schools would be. We have those. By
:11:43. > :11:47.looking at those schools that went on to become academies. Grammar
:11:48. > :11:52.schools? Yes. The evidence that they don't work, that they are a
:11:53. > :12:00.distraction from the government. Two points. First, virtually no poor
:12:01. > :12:05.children get into grammar schools, so they are a bad vehicle for social
:12:06. > :12:10.mobility. That's because most of the big disadvantages for young children
:12:11. > :12:15.from poor backgrounds emerge before they take the test at 11. The other
:12:16. > :12:18.thing we found, looking at the Department's information and looking
:12:19. > :12:23.at grammar school and non-grammar school areas, it is true that
:12:24. > :12:28.grammar schools have a small benefit for the pupils who get in.
:12:29. > :12:36.Unfortunately, the more you have the more there is a dish benefit for
:12:37. > :12:43.children who don't get in. -- there is a dis-benefit four children who
:12:44. > :12:48.don't get in. There are some grammar schools who worked very hard for
:12:49. > :12:57.deprived areas. In Folkestone, 20% of its cohorts are pupils in receipt
:12:58. > :13:05.of the pupil premium fund... That is very rare. Most do not have any poor
:13:06. > :13:09.children. I believe in success without selection. Grammar schools
:13:10. > :13:14.have a place in a context where we need more school places and we need
:13:15. > :13:17.diversity of choice for parents. We will hear Justin Greening 's speech
:13:18. > :13:24.tomorrow. Thank you very much indeed. -- Justine Greening's speech
:13:25. > :13:26.tomorrow. Rex Tillerson, the US
:13:27. > :13:28.secretary of state, met President Putin this afternoon,
:13:29. > :13:30.a new step in the evolving foreign Meanwhile the President
:13:31. > :13:33.himself was speaking with the Nato secretary-general
:13:34. > :13:35.in Washington this evening. The foreign policy evolved there
:13:36. > :13:38.too; Mr Trump is a fan of Nato now. And despite the Syrian missile
:13:39. > :13:41.attack, he was ready to make things We will see about Putin
:13:42. > :13:49.over a period of time. It would be a fantastic
:13:50. > :13:51.thing to get along with Putin and we get
:13:52. > :13:53.along with Russia. That could happen,
:13:54. > :13:55.and it may not happen. I tell you what I would
:13:56. > :13:59.love to be able to do. Our diplomatic editor,
:14:00. > :14:04.Mark Urban is with me. Mark, Tillerson's Russia trip
:14:05. > :14:06.was meant to mark a turning point in relations -
:14:07. > :14:18.did it deliver? A big moment. Yes, how did it go? It
:14:19. > :14:21.is obvious Donald Trump would like improved relationships with Russia,
:14:22. > :14:27.so everybody was looking forward to this. What we got was the meetings
:14:28. > :14:30.of both the Foreign Minister and president Putin, and an
:14:31. > :14:34.extraordinary press conference where they were going at one another about
:14:35. > :14:41.their differences. Once the few phrases about it being good to have
:14:42. > :14:47.a frank discussion came out, after that they went at each other,
:14:48. > :14:50.criticism going both ways. Rex Tillerson, far from rolling back
:14:51. > :14:54.sanctions on Russia, as some people suggested they would, seemed to be
:14:55. > :14:56.suggesting there might be more on the way.
:14:57. > :14:59.I think as to the question of the interference
:15:00. > :15:00.with the election, that is
:15:01. > :15:03.fairly well-established in the United States now,
:15:04. > :15:06.and I think he's been spoken to on the hill as well
:15:07. > :15:08.with the Congress, it is a serious issue.
:15:09. > :15:10.It's one that, we know, is serious enough to attract additional
:15:11. > :15:26.Where does the whole reset for Trump reset relations with Russia? I
:15:27. > :15:33.suppose you can say that the President did this evening. I've
:15:34. > :15:39.only ever said it is desirable but may not happen. It is extraordinary,
:15:40. > :15:45.with the speed, that members of his platform have been jettisoned. Two
:15:46. > :15:53.today, no longer labelling China a character manipulator. And that Nato
:15:54. > :16:00.was no longer obsolete. An extraordinary turnaround. We've seen
:16:01. > :16:05.quite a few of these. Is it the internal machinations inside of the
:16:06. > :16:09.administration, the turf battles and feuding, does that drive a lot of
:16:10. > :16:12.the direction of this? You can always say with an American
:16:13. > :16:17.president, there's a difference between campaign language and what
:16:18. > :16:21.they do, and way events then shape the Syrian gas attack, for example.
:16:22. > :16:26.Then shape their platform once in office. But there has been a really
:16:27. > :16:31.important change, I think. The real disrupters in the tent with Trump,
:16:32. > :16:35.when he was inaugurated, Steve Bannon, Flynn has had to resign
:16:36. > :16:44.after a few weeks in post. He was deeply in favour of improving
:16:45. > :16:46.Russian relations. Steve Bannon look sidelined, general matters
:16:47. > :16:49.apparently has some sort of deal, I've been told, by senior senators
:16:50. > :16:59.not to make any sudden changes in policy.
:17:00. > :17:03.Then we have the replacement, and in effect, Trump is being captured by
:17:04. > :17:08.the permanent government in Washington. These people who have
:17:09. > :17:10.held senior posts in the military, intelligence agencies, and
:17:11. > :17:14.legislator, they have a sense of what is right and proper and
:17:15. > :17:21.increasingly are seen to be driving it. Mark, thank you.
:17:22. > :17:23.The Treasury organsied a conference in London today on Fintech -
:17:24. > :17:26.a fancy label for a variety of technologies that promise change
:17:27. > :17:29.Promise, or possibly threaten, because for existing banks this
:17:30. > :17:35.The Governor of the Bank of England today preferred
:17:36. > :17:39.Fintech has the potential to democratise financial services.
:17:40. > :17:43.Consumers can get more choice, better pricing, small to medium
:17:44. > :17:47.enterprises can access new and cheaper credit.
:17:48. > :17:49.Banks themselves could become more productive, with
:17:50. > :17:54.lower cost and operational resilience, and financial services
:17:55. > :17:56.could become more inclusive with people better connected, more
:17:57. > :18:06.But when you look at the big names in banking, they are often ones that
:18:07. > :18:11.Have they managed to resist the technology that has wiped out
:18:12. > :18:16.so many travel agents and book sellers?
:18:17. > :18:18.Or have they introduced the technology?
:18:19. > :18:27.Our technology editor, David Grossman reports.
:18:28. > :18:34.Sun Jennings's business has blossomed in spite of the banks, not
:18:35. > :18:38.because of them. Her florist stall at a busy London station was in a
:18:39. > :18:43.prime location to grab commuters on their way home, except many of them
:18:44. > :18:47.wanted to pay by card. She could not accept card payments. Getting a card
:18:48. > :18:52.machine so that I could take electronic payments was out of the
:18:53. > :18:56.question because it would be three to five days it would keep your
:18:57. > :19:00.money from the mainstream banks, and they were charged so much per month
:19:01. > :19:05.to use the machine, then you pay per transaction. It all adds up, you
:19:06. > :19:08.cannot commit if you don't know. You can guess your turnover but
:19:09. > :19:11.forecasting is guesswork and you do not know the reality. You cannot
:19:12. > :19:15.sign in to contrasts which could cost you your business if you cannot
:19:16. > :19:20.pay the banks that could close you down. The problem, everyone agrees
:19:21. > :19:24.is a lack of competition. This is what the big five UK high street
:19:25. > :19:28.banks look like before the unprecedented earthquake of the
:19:29. > :19:33.financial crisis. The impact of this devastating once in a century event
:19:34. > :19:39.was to cause two of them to merge. Because the banks were then pumped
:19:40. > :19:43.full of government borrowed once said easing, they did not have to
:19:44. > :19:49.compete for business. Tom Bloomfield is the CEO of the UK's newest bank.
:19:50. > :19:54.They got their full banking licence just last week and is part of a new
:19:55. > :19:58.wave of a technology-based institution designed to provide more
:19:59. > :20:05.choice and better service. For example, things like unauthorised
:20:06. > :20:17.overdraft fees, these are egregious, for some, banks charge ?16. Spam
:20:18. > :20:21.e-mails come you can reject payments, I do not understand why it
:20:22. > :20:31.should cost you ?15 for the spam e-mails. If I go abroad my bank
:20:32. > :20:35.charges seven or eight pounds per transaction.
:20:36. > :20:39.The government is trying to encourage competition.
:20:40. > :20:42.The Treasury hosted a Fintech conference in London today, about
:20:43. > :20:47.inspiring investment. The regulators in this country, the
:20:48. > :20:50.government, forced through regulation and Challenger bank
:20:51. > :20:55.licences. The big banks to wake up and to shake up the way they do
:20:56. > :20:59.things. Challenger banks have shown in certain segments that you can
:21:00. > :21:02.lend better and do credit better, and person-to-person payments
:21:03. > :21:08.better. If those big banks do not follow suit, they will lose
:21:09. > :21:12.customers. My iPad is my tale... For Sam, the answer came not from a bank
:21:13. > :21:17.but a technology entrepreneur. The card reader she now uses is made by
:21:18. > :21:21.Square, long established in the USA but launched in the UK only two
:21:22. > :21:30.weeks ago. When will you see that ?10? Or PM tomorrow, working day.
:21:31. > :21:34.The CEO of Square is also the co-founder of Twitter -- 4pm
:21:35. > :21:41.tomorrow. Why is this technology next on the
:21:42. > :21:47.list? It's not noticing the problem but it was a big job for our CEO, he
:21:48. > :21:51.couldn't accept a credit card and lost a sale as a result. We saw that
:21:52. > :21:55.another sellers we were talking to, they would miss out because they
:21:56. > :22:00.could not accept payment devices that the buyer would to use. So we
:22:01. > :22:04.learned really quickly about how to accept credit cards and make
:22:05. > :22:10.hardware. The industry and what mattered most to the sellers, and it
:22:11. > :22:15.was access and speed that was important. We built it, and it
:22:16. > :22:20.resonated. There is another huge change coming next January, a new EU
:22:21. > :22:24.directive called PST two, which would force banks to give customers
:22:25. > :22:28.access to their data which should mean that new apps and ideas can
:22:29. > :22:33.flourish. You might want to share it with a price comparison website.
:22:34. > :22:36.Rather than having to type in the details of your car insurance, you
:22:37. > :22:40.simply give them access to transaction histories, and they can
:22:41. > :22:45.look through the last year and go, you can save money on your gas,
:22:46. > :22:49.electricity, broadband, these are better providers... It puts the
:22:50. > :22:53.power into the hands of consumers. I believe that fundamentally it will
:22:54. > :22:59.probably be the biggest change in financial services, certainly in
:23:00. > :23:06.Europe for a generation. Think back to streaming music. 20 years ago,
:23:07. > :23:11.the idea that you would not buy a CD or vinyl and get a truck on the
:23:12. > :23:14.move, inconceivable. This will do for banking what Apple has done to
:23:15. > :23:18.music. But Apple and the other big
:23:19. > :23:22.technology firms are already getting involved in financial technology and
:23:23. > :23:26.it may be that ultimately, they are the big winners in the market. We
:23:27. > :23:30.have seen Facebook launch bill splitting and sending money just
:23:31. > :23:36.yesterday. Now, in messenger, you can send money and request money
:23:37. > :23:42.from people, in the USA at least. It is a concern for us, the big banks,
:23:43. > :23:46.that one of the big four that has come in and eat in every 1's lunch,
:23:47. > :23:52.it is a huge market and there's room for a number of winners here. It is
:23:53. > :23:57.perhaps too much to expect that people will ever send bow case to
:23:58. > :24:00.their bank managers, but the revolutions in financial technology
:24:01. > :24:01.should mean that people feel they have more of a choice and more of a
:24:02. > :24:05.sense of control. Now, the story that has absorbed me
:24:06. > :24:14.most this week is... That viral video filmed
:24:15. > :24:17.on United Airlines and Not since Gerald Ratner has
:24:18. > :24:23.there been such a self-inflicted corporate wound, exacerbated,
:24:24. > :24:32.of course, by the name company corporate wound, exacerbated,
:24:33. > :24:34.of course, by the lame company After mishandling it for 24 hours,
:24:35. > :24:38.yesterday the company finally made a proper apology and today the chief
:24:39. > :24:41.executive faced an interviewer on the subject and incidentally
:24:42. > :24:43.gave the right answers Probably the word
:24:44. > :24:48.ashamed comes to mind. You know, as I think
:24:49. > :24:51.about our business and our people, the first thing I think is important
:24:52. > :24:54.to say is to apologise to Doctor Dao, his family,
:24:55. > :24:58.the passengers on that flight. In this stuff, all the stuff that's
:24:59. > :25:08.been written about it, I do discern that all too human
:25:09. > :25:11.desire for people to use these occasions to bolster the case
:25:12. > :25:16.for their worldview. Shane Ryan in the digital magazine
:25:17. > :25:19.Paste said, of United, they are a product of an indifferent
:25:20. > :25:23.system that increasingly devalues individual life,
:25:24. > :25:28.and that system is called America. Except they are conspicuously
:25:29. > :25:31.good at valuing life Jeff Spross in The Week thought
:25:32. > :25:38.United Airlines shows how inequality is putting the squeeze
:25:39. > :25:45.on customer service. You can even see it in theme parks,
:25:46. > :25:49.Disney World now offers its high dollar customer's premier hotels,
:25:50. > :25:51.fine dining, VIP Tours, spa treatments and more,
:25:52. > :26:01.while everybody else gets shunted into offsite lodging and bizantine
:26:02. > :26:03.deals for cheap tickets. Or is it just normal that people
:26:04. > :26:06.paying more would get finer dining Writer Helaine Olen tweeted,
:26:07. > :26:10.make no mistake, the decline of customer service is part
:26:11. > :26:12.of the political anger out there. Now, far be it from me
:26:13. > :26:20.to defend America, or United, I really wouldn't, this was the most
:26:21. > :26:25.ridiculous response to an awkward customer service problem ever
:26:26. > :26:30.to have been caught on film. I've winced along with everyone else
:26:31. > :26:33.and had thoughts of Fawlty Towers. For a man who is supposed
:26:34. > :26:38.to be running a hotel, your behaviour, your behaviour
:26:39. > :26:40.is totally incorrect... Is there anything
:26:41. > :26:45.else I can get you? Look at that cheese,
:26:46. > :26:50.isn't that lovely? Don't worry, a bit of cheese
:26:51. > :26:56.went the wrong way. But does it really tell us much
:26:57. > :27:04.about United Airlines? A secret policy of
:27:05. > :27:08.beating up passengers? It has exposed weaknesses
:27:09. > :27:13.in their overbooking system - probably that the levels
:27:14. > :27:14.of compensation don't But was it not a random cock-up
:27:15. > :27:18.rather than a meaningful one? It's nothing compared to say,
:27:19. > :27:20.Volkswagen and the emissions scandal, that was pursued
:27:21. > :27:22.for several years. Of course, social media demands that
:27:23. > :27:28.any cock up caught on film, is properly punished; perspective
:27:29. > :27:31.is not encouraged, incidents like this are too sweet
:27:32. > :27:33.not to be savoured. Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote a well
:27:34. > :27:42.received book called Fooled by Randomness: he pointed out that
:27:43. > :27:44.successful people often think they're clever
:27:45. > :27:46.when they're simply lucky. Well, the inverse also may
:27:47. > :27:48.hold: you can be unlucky, Joining me now from New York
:27:49. > :27:53.is Felix Salmon, Senior Editor at the digital news provider -
:27:54. > :27:56.Fusion and the journalist whose quote I just mentioned,
:27:57. > :28:06.Helaine Olen. You wrote in the New York Times, we
:28:07. > :28:10.saw your tweet there, are you guilty of reading too much into what was
:28:11. > :28:18.obviously an enormous clock up and mistake? No, I'm not, what is going
:28:19. > :28:23.up there, there is outrage posted on the Internet by the minute. Only
:28:24. > :28:28.certain ones catch on. You must ask why this caught on. Why did
:28:29. > :28:32.something else not? In this case, the answer is it tapped into
:28:33. > :28:37.everything from people's frustration in feeling powerless against the
:28:38. > :28:43.system, to the fact that yes, United seems a uniquely challenged
:28:44. > :28:46.reputation out there. You spoke about demonstrating something about
:28:47. > :28:51.militarisation in US society, governments out of touch with the
:28:52. > :28:56.issues. I'm willing to bet that these were points on which you
:28:57. > :28:59.already felt very strongly before you saw that video? These are
:29:00. > :29:03.confirming your beliefs about America, rather than creating them,
:29:04. > :29:09.correct? Well, they confirmed the beliefs about America as a lot of
:29:10. > :29:14.people. Based on what you are writing and what others have said on
:29:15. > :29:18.social media in the last 48 hours. This has gone on for the last three
:29:19. > :29:22.days, not two days, excuse me. This isn't dying down in the least. It
:29:23. > :29:30.seems to be tapping into any number of issues. Life is not either or.
:29:31. > :29:35.Everything can be true at once here. It can be about powerlessness and
:29:36. > :29:41.the system, be somewhat random and also about United commits all of the
:29:42. > :29:46.above. Felix, what about you? You are right about this, it is going to
:29:47. > :29:50.blow over and a lot of people will want to get their players
:29:51. > :29:54.reinforced. A lot of people are looking for reasons to be outraged
:29:55. > :29:59.now, we are in an incredibly polarised society where social media
:30:00. > :30:02.does an incredibly good job of ramping up the outrage cycle. I can
:30:03. > :30:09.already see that this is on the downswing. I feel like Sean Spicer
:30:10. > :30:14.and his Holocaust clock ups overtook it at some point. It is bad for
:30:15. > :30:17.United, their reaction made it worse. But ultimately, people are
:30:18. > :30:22.still going to fly with them, it will not harm the company that much.
:30:23. > :30:29.It did not hurt the stock prices that much... It knocked off $1
:30:30. > :30:33.billion off the value of the company? Yes, that has not happened
:30:34. > :30:38.since March the 14th, and then it went back up!
:30:39. > :30:48.I would like to point out, it cannot hurt United because of the basic
:30:49. > :30:54.reason of American life. United is a monopoly. Ten years ago we had nine
:30:55. > :31:01.major carriers, now we have four. In a huge amount of markets United is
:31:02. > :31:05.one of two. Even if people want to boycott it. As I tend to agree that
:31:06. > :31:09.it'll blow over because most things do on social media, they couldn't
:31:10. > :31:16.boycott it if they tried, unless they plan on not going anywhere.
:31:17. > :31:21.They are stuck. Does it tell us anything about American capitalism?
:31:22. > :31:25.All we have learnt is that people are angry. Everybody is in their
:31:26. > :31:30.corners, everyone is fighting, everybody wants to get outraged,
:31:31. > :31:34.which is not really news. Would you be surprised if I told you, because
:31:35. > :31:38.you have read a lot of customer service into this, that people being
:31:39. > :31:48.taken off flights is about half what it was in 1999. It is one in 1000
:31:49. > :31:55.people. That is one every two jumbo jets. It isn't a problem, is it? Why
:31:56. > :32:01.make a point about customer service? I think it is because, as I said,
:32:02. > :32:06.United as they challenged reputation. If you look at customer
:32:07. > :32:13.service data United is always close to the bottom if not the bottom.
:32:14. > :32:18.Less than two weeks ago they were caught up in another social media
:32:19. > :32:22.storm. Two young girls were reduced boarding because they were wearing
:32:23. > :32:26.leggings and it was deemed inappropriate. If that is
:32:27. > :32:30.inappropriate, so is half of American women walking around the US
:32:31. > :32:36.right now, right? United seems to have had a particular problem with
:32:37. > :32:44.this. This is going to come back up. The way societies think about things
:32:45. > :32:47.is in little episodes, little stories that says something to
:32:48. > :32:53.people and capture imaginations, maybe that is the way public
:32:54. > :32:59.discourse works. Yes. We are storytelling animals. We always want
:33:00. > :33:05.to try and lay our stories onto these individual discrete events
:33:06. > :33:11.which happen. Right now we have a clear story in place. Everything
:33:12. > :33:13.fits in. Thank you both. I doubt we will be talking about it on this
:33:14. > :33:14.programme tomorrow. The peace process between Israel
:33:15. > :33:16.and the Palestinians remains frozen, but meanwhile, Israel is itself very
:33:17. > :33:18.divided, not least There have been fights over plays,
:33:19. > :33:22.music, books, the funding The populist culture minister -
:33:23. > :33:26.a rising star of the right - She is one of a new generation
:33:27. > :33:34.of leaders who are unapologetic in their nationalism,
:33:35. > :33:36.supportive of poorer dues of Middle-Eastern backgrounds
:33:37. > :33:37.and of settlers in of Middle-Eastern backgrounds
:33:38. > :33:52.and of settlers in Less tied to the values
:33:53. > :33:55.of the old Europeanised So what is that
:33:56. > :33:58.culture war all about? The Bastian of Israel's
:33:59. > :34:05.liberal culture. At this theatre, the evening
:34:06. > :34:07.show is sold out. This is a place for avant-garde
:34:08. > :34:10.and fringe productions. This evening's play,
:34:11. > :34:11.Palestine Year Zero, written and directed by Einat
:34:12. > :34:20.Weizman. It deals with an insurance assessor,
:34:21. > :34:24.who is estimating the cost of damage done to Palestinian homes
:34:25. > :34:38.by the Israeli authorities. Before it was first performed,
:34:39. > :34:41.the office of the culture minister A complaint had been lodged
:34:42. > :34:45.because the play apparently contained messages of incitement
:34:46. > :34:47.that undermined the state For the author, a very
:34:48. > :34:55.uncomfortable situation. It was the end of the rehearsals,
:34:56. > :35:03.and we became paranoid, because we were scared from everyone
:35:04. > :35:06.who entered the door You were suspicious that the people
:35:07. > :35:12.coming in to see the rehearsals had Yes, I started to be suspicious
:35:13. > :35:19.of the cleaning people! For making art, you need
:35:20. > :35:21.an autonomous place outside Israel likes to project
:35:22. > :35:35.an image around the world that is one of an open society,
:35:36. > :35:38.in which dissent is not persecuted. But there is a growing fear
:35:39. > :35:41.here that a new generation of political leaders wants
:35:42. > :35:46.to shut down critical voices. Some say the culture minister,
:35:47. > :35:48.Miri Regev, is trying to gain control over cultural production,
:35:49. > :35:50.putting the vitality of this country's culture and the freedom
:35:51. > :35:59.of creation it has in jeopardy. Many talk of a culture war
:36:00. > :36:02.that has been declared Even in the last year, Miri Regev
:36:03. > :36:31.has become one of the most Her critics call her
:36:32. > :36:36.Trump in High Heels. She generates a constant
:36:37. > :36:43.stream of headlines. She has spent most of her career
:36:44. > :36:47.serving in the Army, she became chief media censor
:36:48. > :36:51.and then a spokesperson. A profile she made sure that
:36:52. > :37:06.no one would forget... called artists arrogant,
:37:07. > :37:09.hypocritical and ungrateful. And she reigns against
:37:10. > :37:11.the liberal elite. She sets out a so-called
:37:12. > :37:13.loyalty in culture plan, threatening to condition support
:37:14. > :37:18.for cultural institutions and the contents they present,
:37:19. > :37:23.or the place where they perform. Taxpayers are fed up
:37:24. > :37:26.of being in a situation where they are paying money
:37:27. > :37:28.for people who are describing themselves as an elite,
:37:29. > :37:32.and are rubbishing the country. They say by all means,
:37:33. > :37:36.go ahead and do it, but we are not That, I think, is the core
:37:37. > :37:41.of what this is all about. So are you making the
:37:42. > :37:43.case for censorship? So freedom of expression
:37:44. > :37:50.with a limit? No, freedom of
:37:51. > :37:56.expression and limited. -- No, freedom of
:37:57. > :37:59.expression unlimited. Freedom to get government
:38:00. > :38:01.funds is limited. Approval ratings show that a large
:38:02. > :38:04.number of people believe that too. Miri Regev sees it as a cultural
:38:05. > :38:07.revolution which takes us to one We followed her to
:38:08. > :38:17.the occupied West Bank. That night was the first time
:38:18. > :38:20.the National Theatre had ever A move that many say normalises
:38:21. > :38:29.the residents of settlers And so here is a simple story -
:38:30. > :38:57.not the question of settlements, Written by the Israeli Nobel Prize
:38:58. > :39:08.laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon. A tale of an impossible love,
:39:09. > :39:11.at the turn of the 20th century, driving a young man
:39:12. > :39:19.from melancholy to madness. The culture ministry issued
:39:20. > :39:21.a memo that became known From now on, cultural
:39:22. > :39:28.institutions that would perform in the occupied West Bank
:39:29. > :39:30.would benefit from Those that wouldn't
:39:31. > :39:37.may face funding cuts. For the artists who have so far
:39:38. > :39:40.refused on moral grounds, For the public here,
:39:41. > :39:48.it is a just recognition. If it is the National Theatre,
:39:49. > :39:51.and it is a national budget, you must go everywhere
:39:52. > :39:56.where there are people. But some of the performers
:39:57. > :39:59.want to make their feelings clear. Before the show, the lead
:40:00. > :40:01.actress visited the nearby She was guided by former soldiers
:40:02. > :40:22.who now campaign to the occupation. -- She was guided by former
:40:23. > :40:24.soldiers who now campaign Not a word, but her
:40:25. > :40:32.face said it all. I can understand that the young
:40:33. > :40:34.author, or a young playwright, can say I'm afraid I don't
:40:35. > :40:39.want to lose by audience... -- can say I'm afraid I don't
:40:40. > :40:42.want to lose my audience... Back in Tel Aviv, we met with one
:40:43. > :40:45.of the liberal vanguard, AB Yehoshua, the 80-year-old writer
:40:46. > :40:47.reflects on a society that is increasingly
:40:48. > :40:49.turning sights inward. Their inner censorship is far more
:40:50. > :40:51.dangerous than what you would call the government censorship,
:40:52. > :40:53.or the government instruction. As the peace process
:40:54. > :40:57.with the Palestinians remains frozen, and with new leaders leaning
:40:58. > :41:00.towards more populous agendas, Israel is, for now, busy fighting
:41:01. > :41:06.on the cultural front. But before we go, have you ever
:41:07. > :41:14.wondered why your laces come undone? Some academics at the University
:41:15. > :41:17.of California, Berkeley,