:00:08. > :00:09.The battle for Raqqa is raging and the US-backed coalition
:00:10. > :00:13.is closing in on the so-called Islamic State.
:00:14. > :00:15.But as its grip on the caliphate weakens,
:00:16. > :00:21.In the early years of the self-proclaimed caliphate,
:00:22. > :00:23.the message was all about travelling out to Syria to help
:00:24. > :00:31.Now, the message to supporters in the West is to stay away
:00:32. > :00:33.and attack the "kaffir", disbelievers, at home.
:00:34. > :00:34.Violent clashes leave at least 23 dead
:00:35. > :00:37.in Northern India as a religious leader is convicted of rape.
:00:38. > :00:45.We'll hear from an Indian journalist who has followed the case.
:00:46. > :00:47.Also tonight, the Government announces the first
:00:48. > :00:55.steps to self-driving lorries on Britain's roads.
:00:56. > :00:58.So what does the future hold for those who drive for a living?
:00:59. > :01:00.Well, I think it's going to be dangerous.
:01:01. > :01:07.Why not? Well, it might kill somebody.
:01:08. > :01:09.And a study suggests that women have more stamina than men.
:01:10. > :01:25.So could there be female domination at endurance sports?
:01:26. > :01:29.For more than three years, the black flags of so-called
:01:30. > :01:31.Islamic State have cast a dark and bloody shadow
:01:32. > :01:49.But soon they might flutter their last.
:01:50. > :01:51.The battle for Raqqa, IS's defacto capital in Syria,
:01:52. > :01:55.Still, as the self-styled caliphate crumbles, there are fears the group
:01:56. > :01:57.will increase its efforts to terrorise Europe's shores -
:01:58. > :01:59.and concerns about what might happen if its fighters return home.
:02:00. > :02:03.This map shows how IS control in Iraq and Syria peaked in 2016.
:02:04. > :02:04.Since then, its collapse has been swift.
:02:05. > :02:07.This is the territory it controlled at the end of June this year.
:02:08. > :02:09.Data from the Global Terrorism Database at the University
:02:10. > :02:12.of Maryland show that between 2013 and 2016, there were 211
:02:13. > :02:21.terror attacks outside Iraq and Syria by IS
:02:22. > :02:26.Since 2013, five such attacks were in the UK.
:02:27. > :02:28.Security sources say that in the last four years,
:02:29. > :02:55.attack by a man outside Buckingham Palace.
:02:56. > :03:04.Either way it shows that Britain is on high alert. It begs the question,
:03:05. > :03:09.if IS is weakened in Syria, where will it turn attention to next?
:03:10. > :03:18.Slowly but surely, so-called Islamic State's caliphate is being
:03:19. > :03:21.IS is losing battle after battle on the ground.
:03:22. > :03:24.But it's too early to say it's lost the war, because
:03:25. > :03:42.as the state fails, it will continue in other forms.
:03:43. > :03:44.It's a proto-state in Raqqa, and Mosul, and over those areas.
:03:45. > :03:46.It's also an insurgency across Syria and Iraq.
:03:47. > :03:49.And it's a terrorist movement to us here in the West.
:03:50. > :03:51.It occupies all of these three states simultaneously.
:03:52. > :03:54.Just because it's being pushed back as a state, that does nothing
:03:55. > :04:00.So, what does this mean for the UK terror threat?
:04:01. > :04:02.Around 850 jihadists from Britain have gone out
:04:03. > :04:07.Half of the remainder, about 360, have already returned here.
:04:08. > :04:15.But many of these are early adopters and may pose a lesser threat.
:04:16. > :04:17.People who went in 2012 were motivated by very different
:04:18. > :04:21.The drivers of their radicalisation, the pull, the alure,
:04:22. > :04:36.When we talk about returnees in the UK, people who have come
:04:37. > :04:38.back, they are pretty much people who went earlier on.
:04:39. > :04:41.Many of those still in Syria will want to stay and die fighting.
:04:42. > :04:44.And even if they did try to return, security sources have told Newsnight
:04:45. > :04:47.that MI5 knows the identities of most of the 850 British
:04:48. > :04:51.So, getting back into the UK undetected would be very difficult.
:04:52. > :05:02.Plus Turkey and transit countries are cooperating with intelligence.
:05:03. > :05:06.We know of one case of an individual with IS who did return to the UK,
:05:07. > :05:10.So he travelled through various countries by road, by car,
:05:11. > :05:13.and jumped on a ferry in the end, and came across the UK.
:05:14. > :05:16.When he did, the police had been monitoring him and tracking him
:05:17. > :05:19.the whole way across Europe so as soon as he set foot on these
:05:20. > :05:22.He's been convicted, he is serving a sentence right
:05:23. > :05:31.In Syria, IS's gradual defeat may actually spur supporters in the West
:05:32. > :05:39.Official security sources have told Newsnight has been a marked
:05:40. > :05:41.shift in IS propaganda, and this now is the major
:05:42. > :05:43.threat against the UK, and not from fighters physically
:05:44. > :05:49.Any early years of the self-proclaimed caliphate,
:05:50. > :05:51.the message was all about travelling out to Syria to help
:05:52. > :06:00.Now, the message to supporters in the West is to stay away
:06:01. > :06:05.and attack the "kaffir", the disbelievers, at home.
:06:06. > :06:07.The most recent attacks in Spain illustrate this well.
:06:08. > :06:09.The leader of the plot, a preacher, was blown up
:06:10. > :06:16.There is some evidence he spent time in prison with one of the terrorists
:06:17. > :06:27.responsible for the 2004 Al-Qaeda train bombings in Madrid.
:06:28. > :06:29.But there's no evidence yet of any link with Syria.
:06:30. > :06:32.TRANSLATION: We have no evidence to prove that any of the attackers
:06:33. > :06:37.Most of the attacks we discovered in Catalonia and Spain in the last
:06:38. > :06:43.few years have been inspired by propaganda found online.
:06:44. > :06:45.But it's usually low-key incidents, mainly propaganda and small-scale
:06:46. > :06:46.terrorist financing, or sending recruits
:06:47. > :06:52.So, how do you stop low-tech attacks using trucks or knives?
:06:53. > :06:57.It's become much harder as the threat has diversified.
:06:58. > :07:03.Al-Qaeda plots were relatively sophisticated,
:07:04. > :07:12.There was a chain of command, networks to penetrate,
:07:13. > :07:17.So is a shift in counter-terror tactics today required to combat
:07:18. > :07:32.TRANSLATION: It's important to tackle the threat at all stages,
:07:33. > :07:35.from the process of catching new recruits to Islamic State,
:07:36. > :07:37.dealing with self-starters who are attracted to the propaganda,
:07:38. > :07:39.and police techniques to detect and dismantle these extremist
:07:40. > :07:48.Security sources here in the UK have told Newsnight that
:07:49. > :07:50.when intelligence does not meet the threshold for terrorist
:07:51. > :07:52.prosecutions, then they look for evidence of lesser crimes.
:07:53. > :07:59.Arrests are then made to disrupt networks and plots.
:08:00. > :08:04.A lot of people, myself included, would like to see the authorities
:08:05. > :08:10.being far more disruptive in terms of arrests and prosecutions
:08:11. > :08:13.of people who are engaging with this material, who are engaging
:08:14. > :08:16.with spreading terrorist content, who are looking at that content
:08:17. > :08:20.There needs to be a much tougher and proactive legislative
:08:21. > :08:26.approach towards this, an arrest approach towards this.
:08:27. > :08:28.One former counterterrorism police officer told us that low-level
:08:29. > :08:34.crime often features in terrorist investigations.
:08:35. > :08:36.But he says the UK has preferred to run investigations long,
:08:37. > :08:46.with the aim of securing terrorist convictions.
:08:47. > :08:48.We might find evidence of theft or credit card fraud,
:08:49. > :08:53.So, on terrorism, it's simply the same thing.
:08:54. > :08:57.For many years, I've been saying I don't know why we don't go
:08:58. > :09:00.Given that MI5 has 500 active investigations and
:09:01. > :09:03.six plots have been stopped since the Westminster Bridge attack
:09:04. > :09:05.in June, disruption by prosecuting for low-level offences is likely
:09:06. > :09:18.to become an increasingly vital tool.
:09:19. > :09:21.So what of the hundreds of Britons who joined Isis
:09:22. > :09:25.And how worried should we be about the changing threat?
:09:26. > :09:27.I'm joined by Tasnime Akunjee - he's a criminal lawyer who has
:09:28. > :09:29.specialised in terror cases and represented the families
:09:30. > :09:34.of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green who fled to Syria.
:09:35. > :09:37.With us from Dubai is Aimon Deen, he's a former extremist who joined
:09:38. > :09:45.Al-Qaeda before leaving the group and becoming an informant for Mi5.
:09:46. > :09:51.What we know so far is that one of those schoolgirls is believed to be
:09:52. > :09:59.dead and the other two unknown. Watching that report, what you think
:10:00. > :10:08.would motivate someone considering IS's caliphate shrinking, and the
:10:09. > :10:12.state of its presence in Syria now, what would motivate somebody to
:10:13. > :10:16.stay? A few things, number one, their inability to leave, that would
:10:17. > :10:22.cause them to stay. I would imagine, they would be concerned about what
:10:23. > :10:27.would be like -- what life would be like should they return. The
:10:28. > :10:31.prospect of coming back to a European country from which they may
:10:32. > :10:35.have originated, knowing they may well be detected, probably being
:10:36. > :10:37.aware that they are on the radar, from interactions with the
:10:38. > :10:41.authorities and their families since they left, then it is not an
:10:42. > :10:46.attractive prospect. And also, they have the problem of trying to get
:10:47. > :10:51.across a war zone into Turkey, whose shutters have come down some time
:10:52. > :10:57.ago in terms of the porous and is of its borders. And the short to kill
:10:58. > :11:01.-- shoot to kill policy on the border with Turkey. There are high
:11:02. > :11:07.hurdles for somebody to actually... I mentioned you represented the
:11:08. > :11:10.three families of the girls from Bethnal green, we understand, the
:11:11. > :11:15.understanding is, that one of them may be dead, it is not known, the
:11:16. > :11:18.fate of the other two. If they are alive, could they be motivated to
:11:19. > :11:25.come home? What could motivate them? In terms of the girl who was
:11:26. > :11:29.reportedly killed, there was an active attempt to bring her back,
:11:30. > :11:35.she wanted to leave, but the final straw that stopped her in gauging in
:11:36. > :11:40.that attack was the brutal murder of a 16-year-old Austrian girl, who had
:11:41. > :11:44.tried to leave the week before, she had been caught and beaten to death,
:11:45. > :11:55.publicly, for that attempt, and that is what stopped the attempt to
:11:56. > :11:58.leave. You work for Al-Qaeda between 1998 and 2006, part of the currency
:11:59. > :12:05.which helped you come home was that you knew you had associations with
:12:06. > :12:14.Osama bin Laden. How easy was it for you to return? At the time, it was
:12:15. > :12:18.easy, because I was going out of Afghanistan for a medical treatment,
:12:19. > :12:23.my intention was basically to leave, because it was in the aftermath of
:12:24. > :12:28.the East Africa bombings. I decided that it was not a path I wanted to
:12:29. > :12:33.continue with. During that medical leave, let's put it this way, I was
:12:34. > :12:39.then approached by MI6 at the time, and I was persuaded to continue
:12:40. > :12:45.working for Al-Qaeda, but passing information back to London. That is
:12:46. > :12:52.what happened. It was an environment which allowed me to go, which
:12:53. > :12:57.allowed me to leave. Not as paranoid as IS right now stop what we have
:12:58. > :13:03.been talking about the state of IS's control over Raqqa, and how the
:13:04. > :13:06.caliphate may be weakened, when you compare IS with Al-Qaeda... In terms
:13:07. > :13:14.of what they are able to do with terrorism... Is IS is strong with or
:13:15. > :13:21.without a physical state? Well, let us a member that between 2009, up
:13:22. > :13:29.until 2013, IS had no territory whatsoever. They were more or less
:13:30. > :13:34.an underground group, armed with a considerable amount of cash, and a
:13:35. > :13:39.network of businesses from Baghdad to Mosul to Ramadi and other places,
:13:40. > :13:44.and they were able to use this network of businesses, including
:13:45. > :13:48.cafes and restaurants, farms, transportation companies, in order
:13:49. > :13:53.to infiltrate the security services and the government headquarters in
:13:54. > :13:56.Iraq will stop then they were able to use that as an intelligence
:13:57. > :14:02.gathering network, then they took over a quarter of the country in
:14:03. > :14:07.lightning speed, using the fact that a neighbouring country there was a
:14:08. > :14:11.civil war, Syria. So, now, if they lose that territory, it does not
:14:12. > :14:17.matter because they have now a considerable amount of cash, as well
:14:18. > :14:21.as a considerable business network in neighbouring Turkey and in
:14:22. > :14:24.Kurdish regions, in northern Iraq, as well as the fact they have a
:14:25. > :14:29.network of sympathisers across the world. Which they never had
:14:30. > :14:36.2009-2013. So, they are perhaps an even greater threat than they were
:14:37. > :14:43.between 2009-2013. Is Europe more at risk, now the state is weakening, we
:14:44. > :14:49.have called it the endgame, in Raqqa? It is advising followers and
:14:50. > :14:57.supporters to make damage, to make terror where they are.
:14:58. > :15:01.Since they lost the border with Turkey, and the Turkish border
:15:02. > :15:05.became inaccessible in terms of smuggling people who are coming from
:15:06. > :15:11.Europe and other parts of the world, it became clear that they are
:15:12. > :15:15.telling would-be recruits, you know, potential recruits, to stay where
:15:16. > :15:20.they are, in Europe, Australia and North America, and to wage jihad
:15:21. > :15:24.wherever they are. The fact of the matter is that they themselves
:15:25. > :15:27.adopted this, almost since 15 months ago, telling people to stay where
:15:28. > :15:34.they are and wage jihad where they are. Because now, Isis is moving
:15:35. > :15:38.from being a proto- state into a transnational terrorist
:15:39. > :15:41.organisation. What do you think? Do you think you have seen more people,
:15:42. > :15:47.if people are being urged to stay in Europe, do you think there is also
:15:48. > :15:52.that motivation, however difficult it is, to return? I think being
:15:53. > :15:55.urged to stay is just a soft power projection statement by Isis,
:15:56. > :16:01.suggesting they have some control over the fact when they don't.
:16:02. > :16:06.People can't leave the UK. I know, I mean supporter staying in Europe,
:16:07. > :16:10.not going to Syria? Again, it is still a soft power issue. If any
:16:11. > :16:13.attack happens inside of Europe, Isis will claim it is on the basis
:16:14. > :16:18.that they made that edict, rather than the fact that, physically, they
:16:19. > :16:23.could not, the individual couldn't move. More importantly, the reason
:16:24. > :16:30.why Isis is more dangerous is not because it has a network, it is
:16:31. > :16:33.because it is now a franchise. If somebody was to get news headlines,
:16:34. > :16:36.they just have to do something that is crazy, pick up a knife or drive a
:16:37. > :16:41.car into somebody, which actually happens quite a lot, our prisons are
:16:42. > :16:45.filled with criminals, but to get front page on that you just say you
:16:46. > :16:49.did it in the name of Isis. Thank you very much. Thank you for your
:16:50. > :16:51.time. Curfews are in place and thousands
:16:52. > :16:54.of soldiers are on the streets in cities across five of India's
:16:55. > :16:56.northern states - this after violence erupted
:16:57. > :16:58.after the conviction Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was found
:16:59. > :17:04.guilty of raping two women at the headquarters
:17:05. > :17:07.of his Dera Sacha Sauda sect, which claims to have
:17:08. > :17:11.60 million followers. At least 23 people were killed
:17:12. > :17:16.in clashes after the hearing The violence later spread
:17:17. > :17:23.to the capital Delhi. The convictions have halted
:17:24. > :17:24.the superstar lifestyle of the self-styled religious leader,
:17:25. > :17:27.who starred in rock concerts and movies as was known
:17:28. > :17:39.as the culture of bling. His conviction ends years of
:17:40. > :17:44.controversy over his conduct. Earlier, I spoke to an Indian
:17:45. > :17:48.journalist who has reported on Singh and his sect for more than a decade.
:17:49. > :17:54.I began by asking what the situation is in India tonight. We just
:17:55. > :18:01.received information that the death count, the mayhem that followed the
:18:02. > :18:08.arrest of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has resulted in the death of more
:18:09. > :18:13.than 50 people, including in Punjab. So, the situation is pretty tense.
:18:14. > :18:17.Tell us about Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. To you, he is a well-known
:18:18. > :18:24.name. But very little is known about him here. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is
:18:25. > :18:32.the chief of a set called Dera Sacha Sauda. He is known to have too much
:18:33. > :18:38.power in India because of his close proximity with the ruling and
:18:39. > :18:43.opposition parties. The city from where he operates, he is virtually
:18:44. > :18:48.the king of the city. The city is divided into two halves, one is run
:18:49. > :18:55.by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and he has a following of millions. There
:18:56. > :18:58.are accusations against him ranging from sexual exploitation, murder,
:18:59. > :19:02.castration and other illegal activities. He was evading the law
:19:03. > :19:06.since 2002, because of his connections with higher-ups in state
:19:07. > :19:11.machinery and political parties. Take us back to the beginning of
:19:12. > :19:17.this man's life. How has he managed to amass such a huge following,
:19:18. > :19:25.millions of people adoring him? People in the upper caste of India,
:19:26. > :19:28.they were looking for something where they can get a certain kind of
:19:29. > :19:34.equality in the social system. The other thing was, Gurmeet Ram Rahim
:19:35. > :19:43.Singh was known to have good connections in the ruling parties.
:19:44. > :19:46.This am a nation of power, and realisation that, OK, there is
:19:47. > :19:50.somebody giving us a space in society. Because of his close
:19:51. > :19:54.connection with bureaucracy and politicians, he was able to get work
:19:55. > :20:01.done, people had faith in him that he was somebody that was a God. That
:20:02. > :20:05.was the time when he started exploiting his disciples. You will
:20:06. > :20:10.be surprised to know, in the process of the investigation, we chanced
:20:11. > :20:25.upon a witness who has given a statement, that how everyday he
:20:26. > :20:31.wanted a new woman in his chamber, and rules for this to be provided
:20:32. > :20:35.for him. In 2002, one of his disciples, then Prime Minister of
:20:36. > :20:42.India, an anonymous letter stated how she was sexually exploited by
:20:43. > :20:47.Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Now that these accusations have come, now
:20:48. > :20:55.that his reputation is in tatters, what will happen to his followers? I
:20:56. > :21:03.am sure that this outburst, this will not last long. The death of
:21:04. > :21:08.more than 28, 30 people, it has really exposed him. I know that
:21:09. > :21:14.these supporters were completely dependent on him. The man was
:21:15. > :21:20.getting their dirty work done, the man was like a god for them. I think
:21:21. > :21:23.in a matter of a few days, things will be under control. The
:21:24. > :21:27.supporters that were supporting them, whatever job they were doing,
:21:28. > :21:29.whatever things they were doing, they have to go back to their normal
:21:30. > :21:32.life. Platoons of driverless lorries,
:21:33. > :21:34.thundering down our motorways. That vision came closer today
:21:35. > :21:39.after the government gave the green light to test runs of self-driving
:21:40. > :21:42.trucks on Britain's clogged roads. For now only some of the functions
:21:43. > :21:45.will be performed by the machines - there will still be drivers
:21:46. > :21:47.in each vehicle. But the announcement
:21:48. > :21:49.raises questions about the future of travel -
:21:50. > :21:53.and of professional drivers. Is the traditional trucker,
:21:54. > :21:56.or the cheerful cabbie, When the world - and Newsnight -
:21:57. > :22:04.was a little more carefree than it is now, Stephen Smith
:22:05. > :22:20.was our Motorway Man. The poorer old lorry drivers come in
:22:21. > :22:24.for some affectionate ribbing over the years. But we would miss him if
:22:25. > :22:35.he wasn't there. # I like trucking!
:22:36. > :22:47.But what's this? Replaced by a smoothie with a tablet? Look, no
:22:48. > :22:56.hands. A computer has taken over the tedious chore of actually driving.
:22:57. > :23:00.In this test run, the speed of the second wagon is set by the League 1.
:23:01. > :23:11.The pair of them are linked by Wi-Fi, something called platooning.
:23:12. > :23:16.Yellow marker 10% less fuel, that is money of our shopping bills. Less
:23:17. > :23:19.CO2, we will be helping the planet. If we get platooning, vehicles
:23:20. > :23:23.moving smoother together, we won't get the traffic jams. Finally,
:23:24. > :23:31.safety, robots and sensors not making mistakes.
:23:32. > :23:41.But handing over the wheel to a robot would surely be too much to
:23:42. > :23:48.bear for the lorry drivers of Great Britain? We pulled into the London
:23:49. > :23:56.Gateway services on the M1, to dunk a dipstick in the emotions of the
:23:57. > :24:05.freighter fraternity. Think it's going to be dangerous. I don't think
:24:06. > :24:08.it'll work. Why not? Well, it might kill somebody. I think it is a death
:24:09. > :24:14.trap, to be honest with you. Definitely. Without somebody behind
:24:15. > :24:24.the wheel, to grab it. I don't know, maybe it is a good idea, for the
:24:25. > :24:29.traffic. I don't know. It could see people and stop. The trucker is the
:24:30. > :24:32.master of his vehicle, a connection we weaken at our peril, say some.
:24:33. > :24:38.The real difficulty comes with computers trying to respond to
:24:39. > :24:43.unexpected circumstances, a cat running into the middle-of-the-road,
:24:44. > :24:49.or having to take an immediate left turn because something has happened,
:24:50. > :24:53.there is and obstruction. It is the 1% of stuff, the tail end risk.
:24:54. > :24:58.Computers have not managed to figure all of that out. Even if you have a
:24:59. > :25:02.leading truck that is still effectively being looked after by a
:25:03. > :25:07.human, there is still the concern, with automated technology, that the
:25:08. > :25:11.driver himself might be a little bit complacent. 98% of everything we
:25:12. > :25:15.have, eat and consume, comes on the back avail or you. Brett's Supply
:25:16. > :25:21.chain is vital to the economy. Also vital to that economy are the
:25:22. > :25:25.drivers who drive the trucks. The job doesn't just begin and end with
:25:26. > :25:27.driving, they also have all of these other duties to do with unloading,
:25:28. > :25:35.form filling and so on. It's not only lorry drivers that
:25:36. > :25:43.could be on the road to nowhere if the machines take over. Mind if I
:25:44. > :25:46.hop in and talk about driverless cabs? They don't have the knowledge
:25:47. > :25:51.that you have with a human, you know? Some people don't like to
:25:52. > :25:55.talk, some people do, they like to know the history of London and the
:25:56. > :25:59.UK. They like to know what football team is winning or losing. They want
:26:00. > :26:08.to know where they can get a pint of milk from. Lorry drivers of Britain,
:26:09. > :26:11.we salute you. After all those years of not nodding off at the wheel,
:26:12. > :26:16.computers mean you cannot last get 40 winks -- can at last get 40
:26:17. > :26:18.winks. So, to the battle of the sexes -
:26:19. > :26:21.it's a subject many enjoy Well, researchers at the University
:26:22. > :26:28.of British Columbia in Canada say that men may be physically
:26:29. > :26:31.bigger and more powerful - Specifically, their study found
:26:32. > :26:37.that the female of the species is less physically exhausted
:26:38. > :26:40.after repetitive gruelling tasks and so naturally better
:26:41. > :26:42.at endurance events, to such an extent that they
:26:43. > :26:44.could soon regularly Here's one example of extreme female
:26:45. > :26:54.endurance achievements. Quoted in much of the reporting
:26:55. > :26:58.of this study today is that of cyclist Lael Wilcox,
:26:59. > :27:01.who stunned her male competition last year to become the first woman
:27:02. > :27:04.to win the 4,300 mile Trans Am She joins us now via
:27:05. > :27:14.Skype from Alaska. she's a sports nutritionist
:27:15. > :27:19.and performance coach who has worked She has also run ultra-marathons
:27:20. > :27:36.and joins us from Bristol. Lael, Renee, welcome to you both.
:27:37. > :27:41.This study, it says because of women's abilities to do frequent,
:27:42. > :27:46.repetitive movements for longer, it shows we have more endurance. Does
:27:47. > :27:51.this surprise you? No, not at all. The style of racing that I do is
:27:52. > :27:56.ultra-distance. It takes about a couple of weeks to complete the
:27:57. > :28:01.race. It is really all about recovery. In terms of recovery, is
:28:02. > :28:05.that just being sensible, psychological, just the fact that
:28:06. > :28:10.physically women are able to recover better? For me, it is really
:28:11. > :28:15.physical. Day after day, I feel pretty good. Usually during these
:28:16. > :28:19.races I sleep for four five hours, and I wake up the next day post I am
:28:20. > :28:26.in some pain, but able to continue. I think it is pretty physical. In
:28:27. > :28:31.your races, have you beaten men? Yes, last summer I beat the entire
:28:32. > :28:41.field. I finished in 18 days. I caught the first placed man in the
:28:42. > :28:46.final night. Renee, do you think the fastest woman in the world, talking
:28:47. > :28:52.ultra marathons, could be a woman? Without a doubt. I think this study
:28:53. > :28:54.is great in terms of bringing to light some of the things we have
:28:55. > :29:01.already known for a while, that women are better suited to
:29:02. > :29:09.ultra-distance events. A lot of that seems to be related to hormonal and
:29:10. > :29:13.biochemical processes in our body. I think it is great that we are
:29:14. > :29:18.getting more investigations into this particular area. How do you
:29:19. > :29:24.explain, Renee, this statistic, which amazed us in the office. Paula
:29:25. > :29:29.Radcliffe's a world marathon time is two hours 15.25, set in the London
:29:30. > :29:33.Marathon. It is 30 minutes faster than the women's record in the
:29:34. > :29:40.mid-70s. If you look at the similar data over men's Times, the
:29:41. > :29:47.improvement is only five minutes. One of the things we need more
:29:48. > :29:51.research into, one of the things that is clear is that female
:29:52. > :29:56.physiology is to these events. The studies that have been done, it's
:29:57. > :30:00.shown that women fare better in events that are 26.2 miles and
:30:01. > :30:08.above. I think a lot of that is related to the fact that we tend to
:30:09. > :30:13.burn fat a lot better than men. So, we naturally have a higher reserve.
:30:14. > :30:17.We have a bigger tank of fat stores, because women generally do have. On
:30:18. > :30:21.top of that, we have a better ability to use that for fuel.
:30:22. > :30:24.Particularly in these ultra events, we know that at some point you are
:30:25. > :30:32.going to run out of your carbohydrate stores. Even fold
:30:33. > :30:36.glycogen stores only last 60 to 90 minutes. You will need topping up.
:30:37. > :30:42.But even that will not be enough. Having the better efficiency of
:30:43. > :30:48.using fat for fuel is one of the critical things that makes us so
:30:49. > :30:51.good at running these longer events. Lael, the scientific evidence seems
:30:52. > :30:54.to point that women could have the upper hand when it comes to these
:30:55. > :30:57.ultra marathons, these longer events. Do you think there are any
:30:58. > :31:01.other sports where the barriers could be broken down, or the
:31:02. > :31:04.competitive edge could be broken down? I think there is definitely
:31:05. > :31:09.room for improvement in all sports for women. There is definitely a lot
:31:10. > :31:16.less encouragement. We are seeing a change, but there is still a lot of
:31:17. > :31:18.room for that to build. Speaking about results changing so
:31:19. > :31:22.dramatically from the 70s, there were very few women competing in the
:31:23. > :31:28.marathon in the 70s. Many more now, but I still feel like its many fewer
:31:29. > :31:36.than men competing. So, that will change and we will see improved
:31:37. > :31:40.results. Renee similar question, when we look at sports like
:31:41. > :31:48.football, where short bursts of energy are needed, or tennis, do
:31:49. > :31:54.women compare with men? Absolutely. I think a lot of the athletes I work
:31:55. > :31:57.with, there is no difference between men and women in how they train.
:31:58. > :32:04.They train the same, they put the same effort in, they get the same
:32:05. > :32:10.sports science support. I think football is an interesting one,
:32:11. > :32:14.because it is now emerging and the women's squads are getting a lot
:32:15. > :32:21.more support now. Prior to the last few years, this wasn't something
:32:22. > :32:25.that was actually very clear. I think with the right wraparound and
:32:26. > :32:32.the right direction, yes, we can definitely see a huge improvement in
:32:33. > :32:33.women making their ground. Renee, Lael, thank you very much for your
:32:34. > :32:36.time this evening. That's almost it for tonight,
:32:37. > :32:41.but before we go, you might Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson
:32:42. > :32:43.was in Libya this week, where he was welcomed by a Libyan
:32:44. > :32:46.military band giving a tuneful At least, we think it's
:32:47. > :32:50.the national anthem.