Browse content similar to 13/09/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Now MPs are campaigning on behalf of hundreds of families | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
I've seen cases where people have tried for days and days on end | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
and not managed to get through, and it's constantly busy or you're | :00:10. | :00:11. | |
on hold for many minutes, many hours. | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
I spent 59 phone calls yesterday trying to get through, | :00:16. | :00:19. | |
and it took me an hour and four minutes to get through after I got | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
If I alone have been contacted by hundreds of women, | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
then MPs across the country will have been contacted | :00:30. | :00:31. | |
Another MP raised in the House today that 12% of their caseload | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
This is clearly a massive issue right across the country. | :00:38. | :00:44. | |
HMRC said payments to Concentrix are based on the quality | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
and accuracy of their work and they will not be paid | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
Concentrix itself said re-evaluating tax credit claims can be difficult, | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
but they adopt a rigorous process at every stage. | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
But in the meantime, many families claim they are struggling | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
I have got ?20 last me two weeks, as of yesterday. | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
To feed me and my daughter and for the bills that I'm supposed | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
We asked HMRC for a statement. They told us this: | :01:15. | :01:58. | |
We can talk now to Sophie Bonner, who runs a group for people fighting | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
Concentrix decisions, and Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, | :02:02. | :02:03. | |
an SNP MP who says that half of her case load in the last few | :02:04. | :02:06. | |
weeks has been from people who say they've had their tax credits | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
Welcome both of you. Sophie, first of all, you set-up this groupment | :02:10. | :02:21. | |
the Treasury say since October -- group. The Treasury say since | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
October there were only 120 cases were mistakes were made? Last night | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
I ran a poll within our group to see if that was correct. I had in | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
response 250 people that have come forward. I have added up a total of | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
what the HMRC are saying they have overpaid and it is ?1.3 million has | :02:40. | :02:46. | |
now been incorrectly paid out to people because of a decision made by | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
Concentrix. Which means they are expecting ?1.3 million back from | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
people on the lowest incomes? That's correct. Who you are saying it is a | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
giant mistake? Yes, we can only go on what people tell us. But from the | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
conversations we have been having with these people, we cannot see any | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
reason why they have been told that they have been claiming incorrectly | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
based on the documents they could have shown us or what they have told | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
us they have sent in and their own circumstances. Tell us about some of | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
the constituent stories that are come to you? It is clear that | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
Concentrix are not following due process and 50% of my cases have | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
been from people who have had issues with Concentrix and the last five | :03:28. | :03:30. | |
cases out of which three had to go to foodbanks. One of the foodbanks | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
was set-up by one of my constituents and he has found himself having to | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
seek help from because he was accused, it is on the bass Is that | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
you're guilty and you have to have prove your innocence. On the basis | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
that he was living with someone. But it is the case that that person was | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
a previous tenant at that property, now living somewhere else and | :03:51. | :03:53. | |
claiming tax credits in their own right. So there are clearly issues | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
and when asked to provide this information and it is a year back | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
you have to go in terms of providing the information, it is subsequently | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
lost and there is a backlog because there are so many issues people will | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
be told it will be six to eight weeks until the paperwork is | :04:10. | :04:12. | |
processed. Now we are talking about people who are in hardship, they are | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
receiving tax credits to supplement an already low income and it is | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
causing terrible, terrible distress to people. Therefore, we need to | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
have some action immediately. What needs to happen and quick? We | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
believe the best thang that could happen is for Concentrix not to open | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
any new cases. Clear the backlog. Close down their postal room because | :04:36. | :04:37. | |
there is just documents everywhere. Get themselves to a point where they | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
are starting a fresh almost and not open so many cases in one go. They | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
clearly cannot cope with their workload. You say you've written to | :04:46. | :04:53. | |
the Chancellor. HMRC tell us when Concentrix make a mistake, they | :04:54. | :04:56. | |
won't be paid, it is payment by results S that enough? How does that | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
help people on a daily basis trying to survive and make ends meet? We | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
have heard this morning through your programme people who don't know how | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
they are going to make ends meet over the next couple of weeks. That | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
offers them no help at allment we need to see action. Your suggestion | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
is a good one, I wrote to the chancellor on 30th August about | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
general complaints and recently in terms of a specific case study and | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
we will use every tool available to us via Parliamentary process to make | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
sure the Government answers these key questions. | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
Thank you very much. Thank you for coming on the programme. | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
This story was sent to us by Susannah on Facebook, | :05:41. | :05:42. | |
Some of our best stories come from you, our viewers, | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
including this one about how Pokemon Go is helping | :05:47. | :05:48. | |
Very good. He has gone from hardly leaving the house other than to go | :05:49. | :06:24. | |
to college into wanting to go out every night. When he first said he | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
wanted to come out, I thought we will see how it goes and went three | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
hours later we were still out, I was just like oh my god. | :06:35. | :06:42. | |
The film has reached over 23 million people! If you have got a story, do | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
send it to us. Next, should taking cannabis | :06:46. | :06:53. | |
for medical reasons be made legal? That's what a group of politicians | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
from all political They say there is clear evidence | :06:57. | :06:58. | |
cannabis could have a therapeutic role for some conditions, | :06:59. | :07:01. | |
including chronic pain and anxiety and that tens of thousands of people | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
in the UK already break the law Those who do take it | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
in lots of different ways - by smoking it, eating it, | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
in capsules, using cannabis oil in a vaporiser, or even | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
cannabis skin creams. role for some conditions, | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
including chronic pain and anxiety We can talk now to Faye Jones, | :07:21. | :07:30. | |
who buys cannabis from a street dealer, and then makes her own | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
cannabis capsules and creams Lara Smith who travels to Holland | :07:34. | :07:35. | |
to buy a cannabis product Chip Somers is a former drug addict | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
and ex-offender who now runs a charity providing treatment | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
for alcohol and substance misuse, and advises the Government | :07:45. | :07:52. | |
on drug rehabilitation. And Baroness Meacher who leads | :07:53. | :07:54. | |
the all-party parliamentary group for drug reform | :07:55. | :07:56. | |
who released the report today. Welcome all of you. Fay, you were | :07:57. | :08:08. | |
diagnosed with arthritis at just 27 and actually, there are drugs that | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
treat that. So why are you using cannabis? There are lots of | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
different drugs that treat that. Most of them are actually cancer, | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
chemotherapy drugs that are given out as a low dose. Whereas a cancer | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
patient might be looking at a course of treatment on drugs that have | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
rather unpleasant side-effects I was being asked to put a needle in my | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
leg once a week every week and experience the side-effects on a | :08:35. | :08:37. | |
weekly basis for the rest of my life with no chance of reprieve from | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
that. They were making me gnaw shoulds, causing me problems at | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
work, things were falling through the cracks, I was about to lose my | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
job because of the side-effects of the drugs and I had to find | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
something else. How did you stumble upon cannabis? I first approached | :08:55. | :09:04. | |
cannabis as to deal with the nausea of the chemotherapy drugs, when I | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
looked into it more, it could be used to suppress my immune system | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
and so I moved into it from there. How does cannabis help you? So it is | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
a pain reliever, that's probably the worst kept history in the history of | :09:20. | :09:26. | |
drug folklore. It is an anti-inflammatory and my immune | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
system is attacking my joints. How do you take it? Lots of different | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
ways. I use the skin creams that you mentioned. They are good for joint | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
specific pain. You make that up yourself? Yes. If I have more all | :09:43. | :09:49. | |
over pain then I will vapourise herbal cannabis or oil cannabis. I | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
have the capsules where if I am in a place where it is not appropriate | :09:55. | :10:02. | |
and he hadables, sweets. Lara tell us about your condition? I have got | :10:03. | :10:10. | |
osteoarthritis and last year I had to have two disks taken out of my | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
neck and I don't know if you can see the tremor I have got in my hand. It | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
makes life difficult, writing, doing up buttons, but one of the things it | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
does it helped for me, it helps alleviate the pain. It does help | :10:27. | :10:34. | |
alleviate the tremor. With my cannabis based medicine it does | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
alleviate it an awful lot. The hardest thing is that when I look up | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
and down and left and right, I experience electric shocks into all | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
four limbs. It is common to MS and it is exceptionally painful. It | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
feels like you've got a scatter bomb of nails going off into your body. | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
What does cannabis do? It helps lessen it. It helps dampen it down | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
so, yes, I get the odd breakthrough one, but it just helps dampen down | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
the severity of it. So you're both breaking the law? As far as I'm | :11:12. | :11:19. | |
concerned I'm not, not. I am prescribed a medicine. It is a | :11:20. | :11:29. | |
schedule two medicine. The active ingredient in cannabis was allowed | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
for medicinal use. But a lot of people are having to access the | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
legal market, which I don't feel they should do, people should have | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
access to prescribed medicines so it is safe. OK. Explain to our audience | :11:44. | :11:51. | |
what you want to change? We want the Government to follow Germany in | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
particular. Germany are just having a law going through their Parliament | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
to legalise cannabis only for medicinal use for 60 conditions. | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
There is a list of 60 conditions for which cannabis is recognised by | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
Germany as being important as a medicine and that cannabis, in | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
Germany and we would want this here as well, is produced by licensed | :12:16. | :12:23. | |
suppliers. It is sold by licensed outlets, presumably pharmacies so we | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
want the whole thing utterly controlled by regulations. We don't | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
want cannabis leaking into the recreational market and where this | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
has happened, where countries and States and of course, 11 countries | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
in Europe, 24 States in the US and lots of other countries have | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
legalised cannabis for medical use, apparently there isn't much of a | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
problem of leakage into the recreational market. You mentioned | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
the US States. One newspaper, The Daily Mail is reporting that your | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
report has been partly funded by the US billionaire George Sorres? He is | :12:59. | :13:09. | |
a more radical drug policy person that a lot of other people. How can | :13:10. | :13:16. | |
your report be seen to be independent if it is funded by a man | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
who wants cannabis to be legalised? The report isn't funded by him. He | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
funds my research officer, but the MPs and peers are not funded by | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
anybody, of course. We're just MPs and peers. We have no funding from | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
anywhere at all and we are responsible for the report. We | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
undertook the inquiry. We are issuing the report and we are, we | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
MPs, and peers, not funded by anybody, independent people, are | :13:46. | :13:47. | |
calling on the Government to change a law which has been there for 45 | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
years because it is irrational and it is cruel and it is causing people | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
like these two to suffer unnecessarily or to risk being | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
arrested which I think is terrible. Lara is different. She does import | :14:04. | :14:13. | |
her's. Chip, irrational cruel and people being criminalised? I have | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
sympathy for people like Fay who have conditions like that. I'm | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
amazed it has taken politicians and the powers at be to come to the | :14:24. | :14:32. | |
conclusion that cannabis has therapeutic properties. It relaxes | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
you and puts you into a euphoric state, it is going to make you feel | :14:37. | :14:45. | |
a little bit better. I'm going to pause you Chip. As Lara says, if you | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
are suffering profound pain, all cannabis does is to bring you up to | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
something more of a normal level of mental state. Very, very important | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
point... It is a pain management. People are not looking to be high. | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
OK. You have said it. You're surprised it has taken this long to | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
get to this point, but what's your objection to it being legalised for | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
medicinal purposes? The parameters for prescribing it | :15:17. | :15:24. | |
has become wider and wider, so people with almost spurious | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
conditions have been prescribed it for general usage. What would you | :15:29. | :15:36. | |
consider a spurious condition? I am prepared to admit that there is a | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
benefit of smoking cannabis, because it will make you feel more relaxed. | :15:42. | :15:48. | |
You do not have to smoke it, you pay price it, it is far healthier. Or | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
take it as you would a normal painkiller. There are thousands and | :15:53. | :16:01. | |
thousands of parents today who are spending their time worrying about | :16:02. | :16:03. | |
their children who are using cannabis day by day and not doing | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
anything with their lives. We are spending far too much time worrying | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
about little things like this while the entire drugs market... The | :16:16. | :16:27. | |
services for drugs problems are appalling the moment. It does not | :16:28. | :16:33. | |
have a medicinal benefit that would improve a condition. That is an | :16:34. | :16:40. | |
outright lie. I have three angry women hail. We have a report looking | :16:41. | :16:48. | |
at 20,000 studies across the world showing without any doubt whatsoever | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
that cannabis has medicinal value is a pain reliever, controlling | :16:55. | :17:01. | |
insomnia, nausea, anxiety. You will be challenging the academics who are | :17:02. | :17:08. | |
knowledgeable on this issue on the basis of no evidence at all against | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
what the professor is saying, and we have patients expressing their | :17:15. | :17:20. | |
experiences. Final word? This will be a difficult thing to put into | :17:21. | :17:23. | |
place, it will cause all kinds of problems with how people carry on | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
their daily lives, things like driving while under the influence, | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
whether it is legal or not, that becomes a massive problem, it is not | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
able to be controlled. I already use it, the law is not going to stop me, | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
so how is making me a criminal and forcing me to go to the black market | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
and possibly purchasing poor quality medicine going to help me? Just | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
because people do something does not give it reason to make it legal. A | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
lot of people speed their cars, we do not make it legal. We put in | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
place controls to stop people doing things that are harmful to them. | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
Cannabis misused is affecting thousands and thousands of families | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
today, and they are getting no help at all. I know you have loads more | :18:08. | :18:16. | |
to say, we will come back to it. He is an addiction expert, he is not a | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
doctor, he has no qualification to see if there is medical efficacy for | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
conditions like ours. He is an adviser to the Government. That is | :18:26. | :18:26. | |
worrying. The ceasefire in Syria appears to | :18:27. | :18:47. | |
have held for its first night, can it last for seven days? We will talk | :18:48. | :18:49. | |
to Syrians in the UK. With the news, here's Joanna | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
in the BBC Newsroom. Hundreds of people are claiming | :18:53. | :18:54. | |
that they have had their tax credits incorrectly stopped after a firm | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
used by HMRC wrongly assessed them. The US firm Concentrix | :18:58. | :18:59. | |
is used to cut tax-credit But this programme has found that | :19:00. | :19:02. | |
in one case a 19-year-old mum had her child tax credits stopped | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
after she was accused of being And then they goes, "Well, | :19:08. | :19:10. | |
you still need to get him And I goes, "Well, Heaven | :19:11. | :19:19. | |
doesn't have opening hours, so what do you want me | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
to do about that?" One politician on the Work and | :19:24. | :19:34. | |
Pensions Secretary said Concentrix was falling far short of | :19:35. | :19:35. | |
expectations. I will be consulting | :19:36. | :19:36. | |
with my colleagues on the Work and Pensions Select Committee, | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
and I've got a feeling that we'll be bringing Concentrix in for a very | :19:42. | :19:43. | |
serious investigation. A 61-year-old man was arrested in | :19:44. | :19:54. | |
west London by the counterterrorism command yesterday afternoon. | :19:55. | :19:56. | |
Scotland Yard say he is being held on suspicion of possessing an | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
article for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
instigation of an act of terrorism. Soldiers will still begin and a | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
controversial antimalarial drug come despite a call from MPs for it to | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
only be used as a last resort. Hundreds of British troops say they | :20:14. | :20:21. | |
have experienced side effects from Lariam, including severe depression. | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
The MoD says it will only be prescribed after a detailed medical | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
checkup. The chair of the select committee says that is better late | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
than never. They are doing something which they | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
should have done all along, but there are many other aspects to | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
this. Namely their persistence in still wishing to prescribe it at all | :20:41. | :20:48. | |
when, as far as we can see, there is still a debate to be had about | :20:49. | :20:50. | |
whether there are any circumstances under which you could not get an | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
alternative with less risk. The BBC says it could not afford to | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
keep The Great British Bake Off, which is moving to Channel 4 next | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
year. It is believed the BBC offered ?15 million for the next series, but | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
the show's makers reportedly wanted 25 million. The programme rose from | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
humble beginnings to prime time on BBC One, and made Mary Berry and | :21:14. | :21:17. | |
Paul Hollywood household names, but it is not yet clear whether they | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
will move with the show. Last year's final was the most watched show of | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
2015, with 15.1 million viewers. Join me for BBC | :21:25. | :21:27. | |
Newsroom Live at 11am. More comments on child tax credits | :21:28. | :21:39. | |
and working tax credits, so many of you have had your credits stopped by | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
Concentrix will stop once week, I am a victim, they accused me of being | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
married to my own brother. This tweet, my brother lives in housing | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
association accommodation, he had his tax credits stopped and was told | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
it was because he did not declare he owned his own home. Unbelievable. | :21:59. | :22:00. | |
It was a golden night in the pool for Great Britain | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
There were three gold medals in the space of 40 | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
minutes as Sascha Kindred, Susie Rodgers and Ellie Simmonds | :22:09. | :22:10. | |
all won their respective finals, helping bring ParalympicsGB's medal | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
In the Premier League, Sunderland's poor start | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
They're still without a win after being thrashed | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
Romelu Lukaku scored all of his side's goals as Everton | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
The Champions League is back tonight. | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side take on Borussia Monchengladbach, | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
hoping to continue their good start to the season. | :22:38. | :22:40. | |
Arsenal and Celtic are also in action. | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
And, Tyson Fury missed his own press conference to promote his rematch | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
His team said bad traffic, then a car breakdown | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
His opponent said he wasn't surprised, claiming it's just one | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
of several ridiculous moves from the Fury camp. | :22:58. | :23:04. | |
That is all this board for now, more across the BBC News Channel through | :23:05. | :23:07. | |
the day. A ceasefire which has come | :23:08. | :23:09. | |
into effect in Syria What is the latest? As you say, it | :23:10. | :23:25. | |
appears to be holding. Still some reports of skirmishes in different | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
parts of the country, but people living in Italy and Aleppo and these | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
parts which have seen severe bombardment in recent days, they | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
have reported their first quiet night for months. The US and Russia, | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
who brokered the deal, expected there would be skirmishes over these | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
days, but they are hoping that things can die down so that you when | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
aid agencies can get in. 600,000 people are living in besieged part | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
of Syria, places where they can't get any food, water, electricity, | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
and so aid agencies are waiting on the border in Turkey to get this aid | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
into those areas. They say they can't do it until rebels are totally | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
on board with the ceasefire agreement. They have not signalled | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
that they totally are. It all comes down to the fact that under this | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
agreement the Syrian Government is still allowed to target who it calls | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
terrorists inside Syria. That goes to the crux of the debate. Who's | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
definition of using when we talk about terrorists? The Syrian | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
Government's or the US'? Until that kind of debate can be sorted and the | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
skirmishes can totally die down, it will not be time yet to get that all | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
important humanitarian aid into Syria. | :24:42. | :24:43. | |
We can also talk to some Syrian residents here in the UK, | :24:44. | :24:46. | |
Mohammed Isreb, who welcomes the ceasefire effort, | :24:47. | :24:49. | |
Why do you not? Can you repeat, please? Tell us why you don't | :24:50. | :25:12. | |
welcome the ceasefire. Welcoming the ceasefire? I can't hear. Did you | :25:13. | :25:18. | |
think the ceasefire is a good idea? Of course. If it happens for one | :25:19. | :25:28. | |
day, it will cede's saved between 50 and 100 lives, so I support this | :25:29. | :25:37. | |
step, and I hope the conversations between secular froth and John Kerry | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
and the EU go well, and they apply this step to save lives. That is all | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
we need now and Aleppo and Syria. You have got relatives in various | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
places in Syria. What are you picking up about whether they say | :25:55. | :26:01. | |
the ceasefire is holding? Apparently since the first few hours of | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
implementing it there was a violation by Bashar al-Assad's | :26:06. | :26:12. | |
regime. There was some bombing on the eastern side of a let go. The | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
rebel held side. Bombs thrown there. The same in the western suburb of | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
Damascus. There are reports of bombs being thrown there, hours after the | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
ceasefire was fermented. The problem with this ceasefire is similar to | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
all previous ones, there is no mechanism to enforce it ought to | :26:35. | :26:43. | |
monitor it. Assad has no consequences if he violated, and | :26:44. | :26:46. | |
that is why we see these violations. What did your relatives say? What | :26:47. | :26:53. | |
has it been like living in Aleppo? The situation is miserable and | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
horrible. They are not living like any other human beings. There is no | :26:59. | :27:05. | |
water or electricity or telephones or enough food. They are suffering a | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
lot. The problem is they can't leave because there is no money, there are | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
no jobs. Every time we talk together, they say it might be the | :27:16. | :27:22. | |
last call and the last conversation, please don't forget us, and forgive | :27:23. | :27:30. | |
us. That sort of thing. The situation is so miserable. We feel | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
sad, we are trying to do anything just to help the Syrian people and | :27:36. | :27:43. | |
the people in Aleppo with the air strikes all the time and bombings. | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
We hope this political transition goes well and the ceasefire happens, | :27:48. | :27:56. | |
so the people can live. It is as simple as that. But it is not simple | :27:57. | :28:03. | |
in any shape or form. Let's imagine this holds for seven days, let's | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
hope it does, then what do you want to see happen? We would love to see | :28:08. | :28:12. | |
the ceasefire holds for seven days, and then get a meaningful position | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
-- political transition, but there is no sign of it happening. It will | :28:20. | :28:27. | |
last. There is no enforcement. What we need is what we have seen the | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
income entered, the US and forced the Concentrix regime not to attack | :28:34. | :28:40. | |
a city, and the regime withdrew their forces. We need something | :28:41. | :28:46. | |
similar to say, if you violate the ceasefire, he bombed civilian areas, | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
we will retaliate against that. If we don't do that, there will not be | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
any meaningful reason. What did you mean? Bombing back areas like the | :28:56. | :29:08. | |
forces... If you bomb Assad, we will bomb you. That is for both sides. | :29:09. | :29:14. | |
That will make the ceasefire hold its place. The trouble with that, | :29:15. | :29:20. | |
there are no incentives for Assad to stop that. The policy he is going | :29:21. | :29:27. | |
with, bombing civilians, seizing some of the areas, starving them to | :29:28. | :29:30. | |
death, it is working for him, so why would he change. | :29:31. | :29:40. | |
Thank you very much to those of you who have sent in pictures of Roald | :29:41. | :30:03. | |
Dahl this. Is because it is the 100th anniversary of Mr Dahl's birth | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
and schools are forcing their children to go in today dressed as | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
various characters. Rachel Hill sent this. This is Ben. Guess what he is | :30:14. | :30:22. | |
dressed as? He is dressed as a Willie Wonka chocolate bar. | :30:23. | :30:26. | |
Relatively simple to make. I don't want to under estimate how long you | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
spent on that box. Well done to you. You've got Julie Davis, that's | :30:32. | :30:39. | |
Harley-Joe, he is dressed as Fantastic Mr Foxment superb. I love | :30:40. | :30:47. | |
the waistcoat. This is five-year-old Lara as another Fantastic Mr Fox, | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
brilliant. We've got three-year-old Erin who is dressed as Willie Wonka, | :30:53. | :30:59. | |
now that's gorgeous. Did you make that or buy that from a fancy dress | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
shop? I'm not knocking it. Sometimes you have to buy that stuff, don't | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
you? A, it is quicker and you can get them cheap on various websites. | :31:09. | :31:14. | |
We have Leona who is ten. She is from Gosport and she is Vie owe let, | :31:15. | :31:22. | |
of course. Another Charlie In The Chocolate Factory. This is Ben and | :31:23. | :31:28. | |
Sam dressed as Fantastic Mr Foxes. There are kids up and down the | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
country doing this. My son loved it this morning, he was Matilda's dad. | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
This is seven-year-old Faith. When I said earlier I bet you ?100 that 98% | :31:40. | :31:48. | |
of the girls go dressed as Matilda, I was wrong. I owe you ?100. | :31:49. | :31:54. | |
Disgraced US swimmer Ryan Lochte says he feels "a little hurt" | :31:55. | :31:57. | |
after being ambushed by protesters on his debut on the TV show | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
Two men were arrested after they rushed on stage | :32:01. | :32:03. | |
while Lochte was getting his scores from the judges. | :32:04. | :32:05. | |
What you bring to this ballroom is all we want to see, | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
and I really do feel that you brought your best | :32:12. | :32:13. | |
Off, off! | :32:14. | :32:23. | |
We'll take a break, we'll get the rest of the judges' comments. | :32:24. | :32:33. | |
Take a deep breath, we'll be right back. | :32:34. | :32:46. | |
Radio 1 Newsbeat's Sinead Garvan is here. | :32:47. | :32:58. | |
At the end of their routine, gathered getting feedback from the | :32:59. | :33:05. | |
judges, if you watch Strictly Come Dancing, that bit. The judge started | :33:06. | :33:10. | |
shouting, "Get off." They cut to a break, but one of his swimming | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
team-mates was actually in the crowd and he is filming it on his phone. | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
He put it on Instagram and you can see two guys on the floor and they | :33:20. | :33:22. | |
have got five security guards on top of them. Then he pans around and he | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
sees a row of women in white T-shirts and they have got the word, | :33:28. | :33:35. | |
"?Lochte Written on the T-shirt and a stop sign. You're seeing it now. | :33:36. | :33:38. | |
It appears to be a protest about Ryan Lochte being on the show. Of | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
course, he is famous for the scandal in Rio where he over exaggerated the | :33:44. | :33:49. | |
claims of being robbed by gun point with his team-mates as he is for | :33:50. | :33:52. | |
being an Olympic swimmer and there is a lot of people in America who | :33:53. | :33:56. | |
aren't pleased that he is on this show. Just a short time after it all | :33:57. | :34:00. | |
happened. Many people think he should have laid low a little bit | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
rather than being on a show that pays a lot of money and it is the | :34:05. | :34:07. | |
biggest show in America as well. I wonder if they asked him before the | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
incident in Rio or after? They did. You wonder why they didn't change | :34:14. | :34:17. | |
their mind? What else did Lochte say about what happened? He hasn't said | :34:18. | :34:21. | |
much, just they asked him on stage how did he feel after they came back | :34:22. | :34:27. | |
from the break and he said he felt a bit hurt by it. He said, "I wanted | :34:28. | :34:34. | |
to come out here. There is lots of feelings going through my head right | :34:35. | :34:36. | |
now. I want to do something I'm not comfortable with and I did." He said | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
before the routine that he wanted to prove to the world that I've | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
changed, but post that, he has not said anything. The judges were | :34:47. | :34:49. | |
encouraging towards him and they are like, "You're here to dance." I | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
don't think he is the greatest dancer is what we have seen from the | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
show so far, but Len Goodman who has been over here on Strictly, he was | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
like, "Keep dancing. That's what you're here for." It is a public | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
vote, is it? If people don't want him on, they can vote him out ASAP? | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
The feeling on Twitter after it. Some people are saying, as I said | :35:15. | :35:18. | |
before, why is he on this? A lot of other people are going, "Well, you | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
know, he got his ten month ban from swimming. He has got the big fine. | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
Now, let him get on with it and prove that people make mistakes and | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
we should be more forgiving." And his penance is going on a dancing | :35:33. | :35:35. | |
show. Thank you very much, Sinead, cheers. | :35:36. | :35:42. | |
Hundreds of people are having their tax credits stopped by a firm used | :35:43. | :35:51. | |
by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, HMRC and the cases we have | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
heard, a 19-year-old mum who had her child tax credits stopped wrongly | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
after they thought she was married to a 74-year-old man she never met. | :36:01. | :36:03. | |
A single mum of three, who is accused of living with a man who has | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
been living in the States for the last three years. A woman who is | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
accused of being in a relationship with her gay brother-in-law and a | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
woman accused of being married to her own brother! | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
In response to our story HMRC stold us the firm will not be paid if | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
decision they maim about claimants are wrongment here is another | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
woman's story. I've lost ?64 and that goes on my son, nappies, wipes, | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
food, gas and electric and whatever he will he may need. Basically, they | :36:35. | :36:40. | |
were accusing me of being married to a 74-year-old bloke that used to | :36:41. | :36:46. | |
live here. Way before I did and saying it is normal thing for my | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
kind of age and it is my sort of behaviour. 74? He was 74. But you're | :36:51. | :36:57. | |
only... 19. They seriously thought you were married to a 74-year-old? | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
They thought I was living with him and they state that had I was | :37:02. | :37:05. | |
married to him. They didn't say he was my partner, they said married to | :37:06. | :37:09. | |
him. When I spoke to the council, they said he was deceased and died | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
on the 15th July 2016. They goes, "Well, you still need to get him to | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
make contact with us." I goes, "Heaven doesn't have opening hours, | :37:20. | :37:22. | |
so what do you want me to do about that?" I spent 59 phone calls trying | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
to get through. It took me an hour and four minutes to get through | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
after I got past the line busy section. I haven't been paid for | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
three weeks from my child tax which helped me with food so I could | :37:36. | :37:40. | |
actually provide for my child. I'm now relying on everybody else to | :37:41. | :37:43. | |
provide for me which isn't right. This is what I've got left which I | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
can't really make mealses with that. The most I can make out of that is a | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
sandwich. So many viewers got in touch including Robin in | :37:56. | :37:57. | |
Gloucestershire who says she was accused of being married to her own | :37:58. | :38:04. | |
brother! She was claiming child tax credits and working tax credits and | :38:05. | :38:07. | |
Michelle says she was accused of living with a woman who was | :38:08. | :38:10. | |
previously a tenant in her property and Lisa who is a single mum in | :38:11. | :38:14. | |
Belfast. She says her child tax credits were stopped because they | :38:15. | :38:16. | |
thought she was living with someone who she has been legally separated | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
from for five years. Wow. Right, we have only got a few minutes ladies. | :38:22. | :38:24. | |
Thank you very much for coming on the programme. Robin, what do you | :38:25. | :38:30. | |
think of this? It is a joke really. It is a joke. You can laugh at some | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
of these things except it is putting you into serious financial hardship? | :38:36. | :38:40. | |
It definitely is. I have lost my child tax credits and working tax | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
credits which is the bulk of what I get each month. And how much are you | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
down by as a result of their mistakes? A little over ?600. A | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
month? Yeah. Wow. That's astonishing. Michelle, hi. Thank you | :38:54. | :38:58. | |
for coming on the programme. Apparently you're going out with a | :38:59. | :39:01. | |
woman who used to be a tenant, is that right? Yes, that's correct. | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
What do you say to HMRC and Concentrix? I can't swear live on | :39:06. | :39:11. | |
TV, can I? Please don't. Thank you for giving us the sentiment. It is a | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
joke. It made our lives hard work. They accused me of living with | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
another lady. I sent the documents back in June. They lost the | :39:21. | :39:24. | |
documents. So again, I have had to send documents two weeks ago. I have | :39:25. | :39:27. | |
had no money for two weeks now. I have had to go to a foodbank. It is | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
just hard. It is really hard. It certainly is. Lisa, hi, thank you | :39:32. | :39:34. | |
for coming on. What do you think about this and the effect it is | :39:35. | :39:38. | |
having on you and your family? It is a disgrace. I mean whatever happened | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
to innocent until proven guilty? They're telling us that we're living | :39:44. | :39:47. | |
with people, even though they don't have proof, you know, where is the | :39:48. | :39:54. | |
proof that we are? I'd love to know where they are getting their | :39:55. | :39:59. | |
documentation from? It is crazy. I mean, you sign declarations and all | :40:00. | :40:03. | |
stating that you're a single parent, you're living on your own, but yet | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
that's still not good enough. I mean you're giving your word, you know, I | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
just don't know what else you're supposed to do. I mean it is just | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
really putting people in difficult situations because of this my | :40:17. | :40:19. | |
housing benefit could be stopped as well which means that my tenancy | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
could be affected. Presumably all of you agree with the principle that it | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
is all right actually to clamp down on fraud when it is genuine fraud, | :40:32. | :40:38. | |
but in your cases, they seem to be totally genuine claims, Robin? Yeah. | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
You can understand that they want to protect their interests, but he is | :40:45. | :40:51. | |
my brother! Yeah. Not good. Right, what is your message, Michel to | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
first of all the private firm from the States, Concentrix, and then | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
HMRC who are employing Concentrix? Just, yeah, we understand you need | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
to investigate, but at least, we need some money to live off. If they | :41:04. | :41:06. | |
need to investigate, it is fair enough, but we're not getting any | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
income or any help from anyone. So please just help us. They need to | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
sort the backlog out that they have got. They are not giving time scales | :41:16. | :41:21. | |
so we are just expected to live off nothing. They need to sort the | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
backlog out and have proof before they do this to people. What would | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
you say to people? I just think it is a disgrace, you know, even trying | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
to contact them on the phone. I isn't a photo through to yourselves, | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
122 times I rang last week before I was able to speak to someone. Did | :41:40. | :41:45. | |
you? 122 times in one day and they asked me to ring back with the | :41:46. | :41:48. | |
tracking number because I sent it recorded delivery. I style haven't | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
been able to reach them. That was two days ago. OK. Well, thank you | :41:53. | :41:59. | |
very much, Lee is a in Belfast, Michelle in Bolton and Robin in | :42:00. | :42:01. | |
Gloucestershire. I appreciate your time. There is so many of our | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
audience in the same boat as you, I know that's no consolation, but we | :42:09. | :42:15. | |
will follow this story and try and get Concentrix and HMRC. I have no | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
idea if we will get through, but we will keep trying. Keep sending us | :42:20. | :42:21. | |
your stories. On the programme tomorrow, | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
we really will bring you that in-depth interview | :42:26. | :42:27. | |
with Julie Walters we What she thinks of post Brexit | :42:28. | :42:38. | |
Britain and what she thinks of the new Prime Minister and what she | :42:39. | :42:41. | |
thinks of Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith. Join us tomorrow. We're back | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
at 9am. Thank you very much for getting in touch today. Keep the | :42:46. | :42:48. | |
e-mails and tweets and texts coming even though we're off air until 9am | :42:49. | :42:50. | |
tomorrow. Have a good day. | :42:51. | :42:54. |