10/03/2017 Victoria Derbyshire

Hello. It's Friday.

A major shake-up of broadband services for thousands of customers

as BT says it will legally separate from Openreach.

We'll find out what the decision could mean for you.

No vote on tax rises for self-employed workers

Theresa May says the changes will reform the national

insurance system and make it "fairer and simpler".

People will be able to look at Government paper when we produce it

and take a judgement in the round and of course, the Chancellor will

be speaking as will his ministers to MPs, business people and others to

listen to the concerns. Also this morning, design

and technology, music, German - just some of the subjects being cut

at GCSE and A-Level by headteachers who say they're being

forced to scale back And are we living in

a golden age of satire? We'll talk to writers and performers

who say politics in 2017 is providing more material

than they ever thought possible. What's that doing in here? That's a

plate of mashed potato. We are lucky that Trump will provide most of the

jokes for the foreseeable future. Hello and welcome to the programme.

We're live until 11am. If you're a pupil or teacher

in a school where subjects are being cut, do get

in touch with us. Have you studied or taught

one of the less popular Does it matter if the fewer people

get to take it in the future? Do get in touch on all the stories

we're talking about this morning - use #Victoria Live and if you text,

you will be charged It's been announced that

British Telecom and its Openreach service, which runs the UK's

broadband infrastructure, Telecoms regulator, Ofcom, says

Openreach will become a distinct company with its own staff,

management and strategy. Ofcom had been pushing for the move

following complaints about poor levels of service and had threatened

to force BT to legally Rory Cellan-Jones is our

technology correspondent. Good morning. So, tell us more about

why it is happening then. Well, this has been a long running battle.

Critics says that BT's Openreach division which is responsible for

the broadband infrastructure across the UK, a vital bit of

infrastructure for all of us has not been doing a good job. Rivals like

Sky and TalkTalk say they depend on it and they can't rely on it and it

is biassed towards BT rather than them when it is supposed to be

impartial. That its engineers don't turn up on time and then customers

have been complaining that the roll out of fibre broadband services has

been too slow. So, Ofcom has been looking at this for a while. There

was a nuclear option where BT were forced to sell it off completely. It

would become a separate company. I think they concluded that would just

take a long time. BT would have challenged it in the courts. It

could have taken ten years to complete. So this is the sub-nuclear

option in a way. So it is a separate division. It is supposed to be run

separately and they are supposed to be arm's length from the rest of BT

and that's supposed to end up with a better service. Why would it end up

with a better service? Why does separating them make those things

that have been going wrong right? Well, that's the $64,000 question.

The theory is without having to look over their shoulder, there has been

accusations which BT denied that money they earn in Openreach is

spent on things like football rights. We have seen BT spend a

fortune this week on renewing its Champions League football rights.

This will make it clear that that can't happen. It should, it is built

into the process now that they are impartial so that they don't supply

better services to BT when it is talking about customers, to Sky or

TalkTalk or to any of the other people who are going to use that

service. The question then is where would that money go? It could, I

guess, go in terms of cuts to costs to customers or customer

improvements. Are they going to be forced to do one or the other? They

are going to have the same amount of money. It's more about the strategy

and more about the attitude and the culture of the company. There has

been a feeling that it has got too much of the legacy culture of what

was many years ago, of course, a state run monopoly. Some of those

habits have stayed with it and it will be leaner, quicker and more

focussed. It has got one job, rolling out broadband across Britain

and providing Britain with the kind of telecoms infrastructure it needs.

It will be responsible for that. It shouldn't be worrying about whether

it is delivering enough profits to the BT Group. It shouldn't in theory

have that on its plate too. OK, we will see happens, Rory thank you

very much. Does that bother you? Get in touch if you have got any

thoughts on that one. Annita McVeigh is in the BBC

Newsroom with a summary Labour has accused the Government

of being in "disarray" after the Prime Minister said

controversial tax rises for self-employed workers would not

be put into legislation Theresa May said the changes

to national insurance, announced in the Budget,

were necessary and fair but said the Chancellor would listen

to concerns before MPs voted Our Political Correspondent Alex

Forsyth reports from Westminster. Theresa May defended the plans

to increase national insurance contributions

for some self-employed workers. She said the measures would ensure

the tax system was fair, narrowing the gap between what employed

and self-employed people paid. The shift towards self-employment

is eroding the tax base. It is making it harder

to afford the public services on which ordinary

working families depend. This goes some way

towards fixing that. Despite being announced

in this week's Budget, MPs will not vote on the changes

until the autumn as separate Critics accused the Prime Minister

of a deliberate delay so the Government could soften

the proposals and stave off a potential rebellion

from Tory backbenchers But Mrs May stood firm saying

the tax rise was necessary in light of the country's changing workforce

and the timing would allow MPs to consider

the measures in the round. A paper detailing the full effect

of the national insurance changes will be published in the summer

followed by the results of a review Let's talk about this with Iann

Watson, Labour sense an opportunity to go on the attack here. Is Labour

getting much traction with this? Well, I think in the end this will

come down to the attitudes of the Conservative backbenchers. Labour

are slow off the mark in criticising this on Budget day, but since then

the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, has called for this to be

withdrawn and the Liberal Democrats as well. And certainly, where I

think Labour can make an impact is talking to some of the Conservative

potential rebels on this to see what pressure can be put on the

Chancellor. But I think the timing, as Alex was saying, is crucial

because it allows Theresa May to do two things. Firstly, publish the

review into working practises which is likely to give, if you like,

self-employed people more value for money from their tax rise, they

might be getting maternity or paternity rights. If that isn't

enough to buy off some of these rebels on her own side then there

is, of course, uniquely this year two Budgets so the Chancellor could

do something there and I have been speaking to some people who are

displeased about this on the Conservative benches and one of them

said very pleased to see attempts to soften the blow by perhaps looking

at these new rights and benefits that people could get, but

ultimately what they wanted to see was a delay in implementing the

measure. So telling people they wouldn't have to pay the extra by

2019. Whether the Chancellor will be prepared to do that is another

matter because the more concessions he makes, of course, the less money

that comes to the Treasury. Iani, thank you very much.

Schools in England are being forced to cut GCSE and A-Level courses

in an effort to balance the books, according to a head teachers' union.

The Association of School and College Leaders has warned

budget pressures are driving up class sizes and causing them

to cancel activities such as social clubs and school trips.

Our Education Correspondent Gillian Hargreaves reports.

Peter Woodman at the Weald School might be a head teacher

but he still likes to work at the chalk face, partly

because he enjoys it but partly because it saves money

The only reason we can survive is we are carrying forward

And if the Government stick to their pledges over

the next five years, with the cash flow and budgets,

we will be making cuts to something like 70,000 every year,

Peter is one of dozens of heads in south-east England who wrote

to parents yesterday informing them of the impact of cuts.

In a poll of more than 1,000 members of the ASCL union almost three

quarters said they had to make cuts to GCSE or vocational courses

The most common subjects to have been removed

were design and technology, performing arts, music and German.

I think really important parts of education will be cut.

Class sizes will increase and I think they are probably

already at capacity, teachers' jobs will

I think the worry is it just places more and more pressure

on the teaching staff so actually it is them that are going to have

to end up working longer, harder to make this work.

On average, heads said that the largest class size was now

33 pupils however the Government said official statistics showed

the average secondary class size has fallen over the past decade to just

20 pupils and that ?40 billion has been spent on schools this year.

Later on in the show, we will be speaking to educators

about the pressures being faced by schools.

European leaders are continuing the second day

of their summit in Brussels today, but without Theresa May.

The British Prime Minister left last night.

The meeting was her last summit ahead of the formal triggering

Mrs May was keen to downplay the situation, insisting that

Britain will continue to play a leading role in Europe

and offering suggestions on other topics including

Issues expected to be discussed today include the economy,

It has emerged that some detainees held at an immigration removal

centre near Gatwick Airport have been there for as long

Prison inspectors found that children had also been

detained at Brook House which holds almost 400 adult male

asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and foreign national offenders.

The Home Office says some people prolong detention by trying

Seven people have been injured in an axe attack at the main railway

station in the western German city of Duesseldorf, police say.

The attack happened at about 9pm local time yesterday.

A 36-year-old man from the former Yugoslavia,

suffers from psychological problems, according to Duesseldorf police.

Patients and doctors have called for "do not resuscitate" notices

to be replaced with orders that offer a range of treatments.

Currently, "do not resuscitate" orders instruct medical

professionals not to use intensive and invasive treatments

if a patient's heart stops beating or they stop breathing.

A British Medical Journal article says a number of options should be

Makers of Game of Thrones announced the show will return for its seventh

season in July. Fans watched an online video to see a block of ice

being melt to see the air date which will be 17th July in the UK. It is

the latest the show has aired as filming was delayed due to a lack of

wintry conditions! That's a summary of the latest BBC

News - more at 9.30. Thank you. You're getting in touch

on school subjects being dropped. Jonathan said, "I studied GCSE

astronomy. I felt because it was not a key subject it was marginalised

and I just learnt it was scrapped from next year." Another viewer

says, "Attended son's year eight options evening last night. He will

only be allowed to do nine GCSEs of which only two are his chosen ones.

The rest are compulsory." Mike says, "If funding is not forthcoming many

less popular subjects will be lost. I'm fed up hearing that fund is at

its highest ever. I am a teacher of design and technology. Without this

subject, no one would get confidence in DIY, we will not provide the

spark and thrill of using tools and machinery, craftsmen, engineers and

designers. DT can only run safely in smaller class sizes and therefore

must be protected." Keep them coming in. We will be talking more about

them soon. Now the sport with Hugh.

British cycling admitted to failings in their world-class programme after

a draft version of the independent report was leaked overnight. Let's

find out more about what the report has said with Matt Lowton who has

seen it and joins us on the phone this morning. Matt, first of all, it

talks about a culture of fear at British cycling? Yeah, it does and

we've been aware that that's the kind of tone that it was going to

follow for sometime. It talks about a way that the world-class

performance programme was run by Dave Brailsford and Shane Sutton. It

will make for an interesting debate because as Dave Brailsford said

recently he was medallists rather than sexist, I think, was the quote,

and you know, it will open a debate about what constitutes hard coaching

that delivers results and where that line is that a coach crosses in

terms of the treatment of athletes, you know, it's a really interesting

debate. You look at, you could look at a number of Premier League

football managers and wonder if they, how they would fair under this

scrutiny. It talks about Sir David Aylesford

being untouchable and questioning the leadership wallet is of Steve

Sutton -- Shane Sutton. This all started because of complaints made

by Jess Varnish about and Sutton. This was the big thing form a full

independent panel which has under this review which is yet to be

published in its final version, it wasn't their remit to try and

establish who was telling the truth between Jess Varnish and Shane

Sutton, it was more the way that the internal enquiry into the Jess

Varnish allegations were handled by British cycling. They appointed one

of their board members to conduct the investigation. She came back

with her findings and of the nine allegations, it appears that she

found that more than one was upheld. In the end when they reported

publicly the conclusions, they only upheld one of the allegations of the

nine against Shane Sutton. What this report is saying is the British

cycling board's handling of the situation was inept. They reversed

some of the findings and they sanitised Alex Russell's report.

Thank you very much for now. We should say that reduce cycling

overnight said the world-class cycling programme focused without

sufficient care to the athlete and environment.

Thank you. A new warning from headteachers

about the pressures on our They say schools are being

forced to drop subjects, increase class sizes,

and cut back on trips and after school clubs

because of the funding crisis. The most common GCSE and A level

subjects to be dropped was design and technology, said the Association

of Teachers and Lecturers' poll That was followed by

performing arts courses, music and languages,

and art and design. The Government insists it's putting

a record amount of funding into schools and in this week's

budget unveiled new cash for existing schools and an expansion

of the free schools programme. This morning, the Education

Secretary Justine Greening will be addressing head teachers

at their annual Lets get reaction to this,

and talk to Carl Ward, the Chief Executive of an academy

group in Stoke on Trent, and the Vice-President

of the Association of School and College Leaders,

Carol Herman, the head teacher at Shenfield High School in Essex

and Jake Pinder, who is studying Furniture and Product Design

at Nottingham Trent University. Thank you all very much for joining

us. Karl, first of all, you are going to be on stage with Justine

Greening at the conference today. What message do you want her to get?

The funding crisis is real but I need to make a couple of points. The

first point I would agree with the DFC is that there is far more money

then there has ever been, that is because we have more students

entering the system. Schools have been suffering with flat cash

budgets for the last three years. They have been making real-time cuts

because costs have increased. That is one of the biggest issues. Second

one is with subjects being cut by schools, schools do not want to do

that, but they are being forced into the back position because they have

got to cut somewhere to decrease costs. The biggest issue there there

is the problem with the accountability system. Many of their

subjects we can talk about, music, DT and so on, are not... Any more.

When schools have to make points. I also want to make clear the

Secretary of State cares really deeply about this issue so we really

need to get together to find a common solution for us all. Just

spell out what is being cut and where? It is a survey by the

Association of School and College Leaders. The reality is costs have

increased. For example, in my main school, over the last year we have

reduced hours laughing by ten staff, echoes the biggest area of costs for

any school staffing and that is where you can make the biggest

savings. Class sizes have increased from that active in certain areas.

We are really looking at reducing as many costs as possible. For the last

three years we have had to find ?350,000 from the current Budget to

deal with increased costs. In the next three years I will have to find

further ?150,000, in five years, that is ?500,000 out of the Budget.

Every time teachers' pay increases and used money from the government

to cover that. I don't any more. I have defined that from within the

school Budget. Carol, you are a headteacher. Are you having to cut

subjects? I am indeed. I am certainly considering it. The

problem is even though we have a cat/ -- a flash cut Budget, we have

to look at increased national insurance contributions, pensions

contributions and a pension levy and so wonderful is top school like my

own, Shenfield High School, obviously we focus on the core

subjects. For many that is their ticket into further education,

higher education and employment. But we are also known here for our

excellent sport and performing arts. We have to look for a carefully. We

will not cut those because it is absolutely essential to the nature

of the school, but we are having to look very carefully at other

subjects such as design technology. This is exacerbated by the fact that

teaches don't want to train in the subjects any more, because the

emphasis is far more on other subjects will stop its a real double

bind. We may have to cut those slightly less popular subjects or

ones with less kudos because of cost savings and actually, it is very

difficult to recruit in those areas as well. It is a really tricky time

for schools. Jake, you are doing a degree in furniture and product

design and you studied design at GCSE and A-level, if you had not

been able to study that what difference would it have made for

you? It would have made it a lot more difficult to go to school. I am

dyslexic and really struggle with English and maths and those core

subjects. Because I had this outlet which was designed technology, it

encouraged me to go to school altogether. So what do you think

about the fact that it is being seen as expendable in the face of Budget

difficulties? I think you will run the risk of isolating a lot of

children that aren't maybe as academically minded, or pushing out

people that are not good at subject, what are known as core subjects like

maths and sciences. Sometimes, people need to be told they are good

at something like a musician that cannot read or write or someone like

me who was always good at drawing. That is all I enjoyed as well. It is

difficult. Carol, as you are listening to Jake you are nodding.

The Department Frederick and has put out a statement and it has said

about that cash on schools is on record levels -- the Department for

Education has put out a statement. Going on to look at practical ways

of helping schools, they say we recognise that schools are facing

cost pressures which is why will continue to use funding and look at

best possible value. Are there other ways to make the money go further?

We offer a good at getting the best value already and we have been doing

that because we have had to. I think what is really frustrating is

announcements such as the ones in the Budget where money is going into

grammar schools and free schools, where actually existing schools are

not being properly looked after. I would welcome conversations with

Justine Greening and the Chancellor who is actually an ex-boy of

Shenfield High School, pointing out what it is like on the ground. There

is no evidence that grammar schools will support social mobility. We

know only 3% of children in grammar schools are children on free school

meals. It is not going to work necessarily. All the research is

against it. Let's have a look at existing schools. We are absolutely

committed to making sure we have a diverse, broad and balanced

curriculum and that we are inclusive of all talents. If we have not got

the right Budget settlements, we are forced because of our accountability

is to look at being less diverse and less inclusive and that is a great

site with. You said you wanted to talk to Justine Greening and Philip

Hammond. We also would have liked to. We invited them onto the

programme but they were unable to put anyone up for us. That is a

great shame. The system as it stands is unfair and opaque and the changes

mean half of England's schools will get a cash boost, how will that

change the picture? I think it will change the pit your for those

schools that get a cash boost. There are winners and losers in this is.

There is going to be rebalancing overtime and it is important to know

at the moment that the proposals out for the national funding formula are

a proposal, we are in consultation period with that. That is why I

think it is important that the government and education system need

to work together to find a common area and common ground to move

forwards. It is only working in corporation where we can use forward

-- move forward most importantly to provide a fantastic education for

students. I am a. I have two children. I have seen from the coal

face, from eye on children who are at primary school at the moment, for

example having to pay for after-school clubs. That should not

be happening. If that primary school is in a position where they cannot

provide after-school clubs because they have not got the money and

parents have to provide that, then we have a pretty serious problem in

the education system for funding. Martin has e-mailed and said I have

been a teacher for six years and this doesn't is destroying the

quality of education. I work in a rare community School and we worked

incredibly hard. With the new cuts it will be impossible. Teachers are

devastated to close down a level groups and often leave teaching

altogether. If all we see is Budget cuts, it is released that. Chris is

a performing arts teacher and he says please take education away from

politicians. They know nothing about what is needed in schools. It is

said to moralising to see idiotic decisions made without any thought

consequences for the children and staff.

It is actually heartbreaking. Do you think subjects like DT, German and

music, subjects which are not necessarily that efficient for

schools to teach because they do have fewer students, do you think

they will disappear off the curriculum. I think there is a

danger that they will. The issue is acute and they need to deal with

things quickly. Because schools are coping but they will not down the

line. The system will feed through like that and it will hurt

everybody. I think it is a real shame that we are in a position that

headteachers across the country in many schools are doing a fantastic

job, under tough financial circumstances to keep these in

place, and I think it is a real shame that they are having to make

decisions to narrow the curriculum when they don't want to, and it is

partly because of funding and partly because the accountability system

now means you have got to make tough choices to do that. It is the wrong

thing for children. Thank you all very much and do keep your comments

coming in on that. They are always welcome. Still to come, it has

emerged some detainees at a removal centre near Gatwick Airport have

been there for 2.5 years. The Home Office as they do not want to detain

people for longer than necessary. We will find out why they are being

held for so long. And is it time to vacate the Houses

of Parliament to carry out essential restoration? The old building has

asbestos, leeks and electrical faults. Putting it right there will

cost around ?4 billion. Let us know what you think about that. First of

all, let's catch up with all of the news.

Good morning. BT has bowed to pressure

from telecoms regulator Ofcom to legally separate Openreach,

which runs the UK's Ofcom says Openreach

will become a distinct company with its own staff,

management and strategy. It will also have to consult

with customers such as Sky The regulator had been pushing

for the move following complaints about poor levels of service and had

threatened to force BT Labour has accused the Government

of being in "disarray" after the Prime Minister said

controversial tax rises for self-employed workers would not

be put into legislation Theresa May said the changes

to national insurance, announced in the budget,

were necessary and fair but said the Chancellor would listen

to concerns before MPs voted Schools in England are being forced

to cut GCSE and A-Level courses in an effort to balance the books,

according to a head teachers' union. The Association of School

and College Leaders has warned budget pressures are driving up

class sizes and causing them to cancel activities such as social

clubs and school trips. Members of the organisation are due

to raise their concerns with the Education Secretary,

Justine Greening, when she addresses their annual conference

in Birmingham today. European leaders are

continuing the second day of their summit in Brussels today,

but without Theresa May The meeting was the Prime Minister's

last summit ahead of the formal Mrs May was keen to downplay

the situation, insisting that Britain will continue to play

a leading role in Europe and offering suggestions

on other topics including Seven people have been injured

in an axe attack at the main railway station in the German city

of Duesseldorf, police say. The attack happened at about 9pm

local time yesterday. A 36-year-old man from the former

Yugoslavia, who suffers from psychological problems,

according to Duesseldorf police. Protests are taking place in Seoul

after South Korea's highest court upheld a decision to remove

the country's president from office. Park Geun-hye was impeached over

a corruption scandal, She will now lose her immunity

against prosecution The decision was met

by cheering in the streets from opponents of Ms Park,

but her supporters Police say two people have died

during protests outside the court. That's a summary of

the latest BBC News. Thank you. Lots of you getting in

touch on school subjects being cut. Brian says, "Cutting a subject like

design and technology when the Government is announcing tech

levels. Typical attitude of headteachers and other teachers

thinking these subjects are irrelevant. I was a DT teacher for

years before retiring. It is not woodwork which some teachers call it

today." Vincent says, "There are not enough kids to take these courses so

they are not cost effective. It makes common sense." Another teacher

says, "I resigned from my post as the writing had been on the wall

already. I was extremely happy or I am happy teaching at an

international school in Brazil. No Ofsted, smaller class sizes and

accommodation provided by the school and a culture that's healthy. Soon

there will be a shortage of good teachers." So many of you getting in

touch. Keep your comments coming in. We love to get them.

Now the sport with Hugh. British Cycling have admitted

to failings in their World Class Performance Programme after a draft

version of the independent report into the sport's governing body

was leaked overnight. It claims there is a "culture

of fear" among staff at British cycling and that an internal

British Cycling report following Jess Varnish's claims

of sexism against former technical director Shane Sutton

was "sanitised". Manchester United can claim they got

a good result on a bad pitch. Henrikh Mkitaryan scored

the away goal in a 1-1 draw at Rostov in the first leg

of their Europa League England's cricketers,

cruise in the Caribbean. Victory in the third one day

international in Barbados secures It's emerged that some detainees

at an immigration removal centre near Gatwick Airport have been held

there for as long as Let's get more on this from our home

affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw. Two-and-a-half years without charge?

Yes. Because these are people who include foreign offenders, people

who are asylum seekers who are waiting for their claims to be

processed and people who are illegally in the country. It doesn't

mean they have broken any law, but they have been detained at Brooke

House immigration centre near Gatwick Airport. It holds 400 men

and what we learn from this inspection report into Brooke House

is that the average stay for detainees there has increased

substantially. It is now a couple of months, two or three months the

average stay and 23 people were held for over a year. Of whom four were

held for longer than two years. And the longest stay was over

two-and-a-half years. I've learned from this report, if you borough

into the detail that two children were held at the centre mistakenly,

they were categorised as adults by an immigration officer. They were

held for two months. How old were they? We don't know their ages, but

social services reassessed them and said they are children so they

shouldn't have been held at a centre for adults. Why are people held for

so long? Well, these decisions about whether someone is allowed to stay

in the country or leave are difficult. They're tricky. They're

not straightforward and once a decision has been made getting them

to actually get on to a flight can be very difficult because they need

documentation, sometimes the country to which they're going doesn't want

to take themment flights have to be arranged and then the detainee

themselves may have a number of different appeal processes that they

are allowed to go through. So these are complex matters and they can

take sometime. The Home Office is saying that some people are

deliberately trying to frustrate the process and in doing so, they're

prolonging their stay of detention. They are almost saying it is their

own fault in some of the cases. Is there a finite period, I mean, the

processes have to run out at some point. These four are still there,

two-and-a-half years on, how much longer can they be there? They were

documented as being there for that length of time. There is no time

limit on how long someone can be held, but a review last year into

immigration detention across the UK said, you know, that the use of it

should be reduced because it is expensive. It costs ?34,000 per

detainee per year and around half of those detained aren't removed.

They're released back into the community and while you're detained

in those conditions and Brooke House is akin to a prison in the way that

it is set-up, why you're detained, you will see the welfare, the health

of those people can deteriorate so there are concerns there.

Thank you very much, Danny. A couple say they were ecstatic

after having twins. Russia says it is doing

everything in its power to organise a safe World Cup,

without the violence that marred the European Championship

in France last year. Russian hooligans were involved

in street battles then, with England This week, Britain's top police

official for football has been in Russia to check how safe

it is for travelling fans. Sarah Rainsford reports

from St Petersburg. In Marseille, English fans became

one of the top targets for a new breed of Russian hooligan,

more athletic, disciplined and organised than the English

hooligans they once So this week Britain's top policeman

for football was in Russia to compare notes on known

troublemakers and to ensure security I think anyone watching that

would have been absolutely appalled. What we need to do is build

on the good working relationship and try to do everything to ensure

that anyone coming to Russia Russia dismisses what happened

in France as a one-off, and it insists that any talk

of a hooligan problem It's clearly anxious,

because of course the last thing Russia wants at the World Cup

is embarrassingly empty stands. There has never been a single

incident during major sporting events in Russia that proves

that we can really We're not dangerous

because hooligans in Russia, they worry about fighting

because the police can cage them and we can go to prison and it

will be big problems here. The human rights lawyer Amal Clooney

has urged the UN to act against so-called Islamic State

by backing a UK-led investigation Speaking at the UN, Mrs Clooney said

IS had declared it will "destroy" the country's Yazidi ethnic group

through murder, rape She told the UN she wanted to know

why no action had been taken. Mass graves in Iraq lie

unprotected and unexhumed. Witnesses are fleeing, and not one

Isis militant has faced trial for international crimes anywhere

in the world. So I am speaking to you,

the Iraqi Government, and to you, UN Member States,

when I ask, why? Why is it that nothing

has been done? I wish to speak directly

to Prime Minister Abadi. On behalf of all Isis' victims,

I call on you to send the letter to the Security Council requesting

an investigation into Isis' crimes. Getting the UN involved

was initially Iraq's idea, and finally taking action to make

this a reality would silence those who doubt your commitment to bring

Daesh to justice. And finally to all of the UN

Member States, if this road to accountability through

the Security Council is blocked, you must take initiative to secure

accountability in other ways available to you under

the UN Charter. Don't let this be another Rwanda,

where you regret doing Later Ms Clooney and Yazidi genocide

survivor Nadia Murad explained why I think you have to ask the Iraqi

government why the Iraqi government hasn't acted

to create this investigation. Clearly they're not able to do it

themselves on the ground, you know? There are a grand total of 32

forensic pathologists in Iraq to try and deal with all of these crimes

that have been committed. We know that they are not able

to conduct investigations and prosecutions themselves

because there have not been any prosecutions of Isis members

for crimes of sexual violence, for crimes committed

against the Yazidis, international So there is no reason

for them not to act. They have themselves asked for UN

assistance and, even today, you heard the Iraqi ambassador ask

for UN assistance with the investigation, so we have

to translate these public statements into an actual deed that will make

this happen on the ground, and that's why I made a clear call

at the end directly to the Prime Minister of Iraq to say

"Send a letter to the UN Security Council requesting this

investigation and it will happen." It's not too much to ask,

it's really not that difficult, it's in the interest not only

of Yazidi victims but of all Iraqis, because all sects of Iraq has been

victims of Isis's violence. There's no excuse

for any further delay. Loads of you getting in touch.

Louise says, "Why deny children of the subjects of their choice? We

need all skills, not just academics. Teachers need to be seen as

professionals and allowed to do their job without meddling about

Government and Ofsted." Kathy says, "A payment was made about -- a

comment was made about comment. We need funding for teachers to teach

in the real-time of school to help the children to achieve the required

level of maths and English." Keep your thoughts coming in.

It's going to cost ?4 billion to fix the Houses of Parliament and stop

this world-famous site slowly crumbling into the Thames.

It is a huge amount of public money, but as these pictures show,

the buildings are in a very poor state of repair.

Is there any way of keeping the costs down?

The influential Public Accounts Committee the most effective way

of keeping costs down is by asking them all to leave the building

for a whole six years, whilst works commence.

But where should politicians go and should politicians think

of going to a place other than the south of England

Joining us now is the SNP's Philip Boswell who sits on the MPs'

Public Accounts Committee and before becoming a politician was a surveyor

The material that Parliament is made out of.

And also Dr Faiza Shaheem, director of CLASS,

the Centre for Labour and Social Studies.

Thank you both for joining us. Philip, with your surveyor's hat on

then, tell us why ?4 billion to fix what the issues are, what are the

issues? Well, good morning Joanna. Well, first of all, it is a

limestone which can be classified as sandstone, but the stone work is in

poor repair, but particularly it's the services that cause a problem

and water ingres. So there is lots of problems that have been storing

up over the years and the decades in fact, although quite a lot of work

has been done, there is a serious risk there could be a catastrophic

failure, it could be electrical fire. It could be, it is something

that the drains are regularly blocking up. It could be any number

of things that cause an emergency situation whereby we would have no

planned removal to another location which would cost even more. So it

sounds like doing nothing is not an option? That's correct. How quickly

would it need to be done? Well, there are a few options on the table

at the moment and we need to understand that we're still at quite

an early stage of development. The project is yet to find itself. We

are looking at options or the project teams that will be put in

place will be looking at various ogses, but you have to put better

definition around that to understand what the true costs will be and to

understand the works that will be carried out and of course, you have

to select which option you prefer to go ahead with. So there is a lot of

work still to be done. The ?4 billion isn't a quote to be signed

off on, it is an estimate, but it is a mind blowing amount. I mean,

obviously, it is a very special building. It's a big building. But

how is ?4 billion the figure that's arrived at? Sp

First we should be clear what the order of magnitude estimate is.

There is very little definition about the exec nature of the works.

The option, certainly, if you ask any quantity surveyor or project

manager, they will automatically say that a full to count is the best

option. There is a lot of work still to be carried out. We need

disruptive surveys, dilapidation surveys. We need to get in to look

at the amount of asbestos which is down there. The 36 rises which

create a fire hazard. There is still a huge amount of work to be done

before we can determine the optimum solution for this. ?4 billion is a

lot of money but it is a world Heritage iconic building and it

belongs to every citizen of the UK. So Faiza you look at this and see it

as an option for MPs to move out of London for a while? Yes, when you

look at the regional divides in this country and the inequalities which

have been left gaping open for years, when you see the

opportunities for politicians to be in Manchester or Birmingham,

somewhere outside of London, at a time when people feel all editions

are not speaking to them unless you live in London and the south-east,

what an amazing opportunity this is at least in the interim to decamp.

And what about the money? It is an important building and I understand

that money has to be spent. We can think about how it has be done over

time. I have not looked at the numbers in any detail. Maybe if we

move Parliament out of London for some period of time maybe we can do

the work slower, maybe that will make it cheaper? I do know. It is

not a question of not investing in that building, it is a question of

democracy and the opportunity to go back to some basic questions about

why we have Parliament in London stock London has everything, a

commercial centre, a financial centre, Eddisbury unusual to have

all of in one place. -- it is very unusual to have all that in one

place. Do you think there is an option to move out of London? It was

an option and it is the consideration I would have some

sympathy for. However, the Public Accounts Committee, we can look at

the evidence that is but for us and since that option was removed prior

to coming to public accounts, it is not an option we have been able to

look at. So it is possible, it is not totally off the table? I believe

it is an option which has been removed prior to any detailed cost

estimates which have been carried out. It was initially mooted as a

possibility but sadly it has been removed. There are other options.

There are other sites. I asked several witnesses whether it was

possible to partially decamp which is another edge and to make it

cheaper or at least to keep some activity in the palace, but as I

said earlier, no doubt the cheapest option and what we recommend is

backing up that the joint committee found, that a full decamp would give

us the best and most effective option. Thank you both.

A couple have spoken of their joy after becoming parents to children

conceived with the help of two lesbian surrogate mothers.

Tracy and Pete Akoun suffered repeated miscarriages and fell

victim to a con-woman as they battled to

They then met Tricia Hunt and Kate Fruin-Smith,

two lesbians who each have their own partners

and children and live in different parts of the UK.

The group came together, and Nyobi and Kenya who you can see

here with Tracy and Pete, were born last summer

Tracy is joining us on the line and Kate, one of these are but mothers

is with us. Tracy, you had miscarriages and one failed

surrogacy attempt. Before Kenya and Nyobi arrived, how were you feeling

about the prospect of whether parenthood would happen to two? It

is a dream which you think will never happen. It just seemed so far

away for us. On top of the fact that our own personal losses, you feel it

all slipping away. How did you find Tricia and Kate? I was actually

brought into our closed group Hope by another surrogates who is

obviously now a very good friend of ours and I got talking to Kate and

Tricia as friends in the group that way. And then when things went wrong

with our initial Farragut, they stepped in -- when things went wrong

with our initial surrogates. Kate had got the all clear from her

consultant to be a surrogate again and we got talking and that is when

it happened. Were you intending to try for two babies at once ordered

that just happened? ... Pete and I decided we wanted two. We took in

consideration our age and the fact that Pete is a twin, he wanted his

children close together. We just felt that is what we wanted for us

as a family. Kate, you obviously were one of the surrogates mums, you

had done it previously? Yes, my first surrogate baby is nearly three

now. Why did you decide to do it? It is an amazing experience. The

experience I have from my first written in C which was not a good

pregnancy made me realise that the short-term pain was worth the

long-term gain and being able to see those families develop was so worth

the pregnancy. When I saw the heartache that Pete and Tracy went

through, I knew that they were somebody I wanted to help. They

deserved to have that happy ending after everything they went through

and they were still positive and a happy and supportive couple towards

other people. People find it very hard to get to grips with the

thought of carrying a baby, delivering that baby and then

handing it over. How was that? The babies are conceived with surrogacy.

They are not conceived to be our children. Even before they are

conceived we are very much in the mindset that we are carrying for

somebody else. That baby was never intended to be part of my family or

my make up. When I am going through pregnancy, the visualisation is

Tracy and Pete and my family, not my family. When I was pregnant with

mine I envisaged them growing up as you do as a parent. Ukip sure what

they will be like. You have four -- you picture what they would be like.

I have four and my wife's carried another. Tracy, you go into a

vulnerable situation top did you feel possible that Kate or one of

the other surrogates parents might have decided to keep the baby? No,

never. Never in a million years. Kate actually said initially that we

would not be paying any expenses up until we had our first scam to

reassure us that there was an actual AD there. -- our first scan. -- to

reassure us there was an actual baby there. And I think you were not

together when you gave birth? She was too impatient. By the time

Tracey and Pete arrived at the hospital she had already arrived.

What is it like as one unusual but blended family? When they came into

the room, the look on their faces was worth every minute. The whole

journey was worth a look on their faces to see their daughter and to

complete their family like that, if the something that nobody can ever

describe. And Tracy? Kate will tell you, she will laugh now, she will

know I am crying now. At that moment, there is nothing can

describe it. It is indescribable. And then there is that point when

Tracy you walk away with Kenya and Kate, you are left behind? I did not

feel left behind. We keep in contact. As soon as they were in the

car I was getting pictures of them on their first journey home. I

always knew that is how they would be. They would go off. We have a

family have planned our family holidays and things like that for

afterwards. Kenya being in July meant we had all our summer holidays

and I was raring to get back to being with my children and give them

the quality time that they deserve as well. Tracy, how would you

describe your family, how do you see this situation? It is perfect. It is

absolutely perfect. The aim of doing this media is to promote surrogacy,

to give people who have no hope another option that is acceptable

and to promote the conference on Saturday which is run by an

organisation to give people the information because there is nothing

more devastating, as a wife particularly, it is the one thing

you are supposed to do is create a family. And it can be hard. Lovely

to talk to both. Good luck with everything.

I just want to bring you some comments on subjects and schools

being cut because of constraints on budgets. Lots and lots of you still

getting in touch. Tim has e-mailed to say in further education colleges

we have had 24% of cuts in funding over the last five years with

redundancies every year. The Bulls have less contact time and teachers

have doubled the amount of work -- pupils have less contact time. The

funding in education is absolutely dire, regardless of what the

government says. Stephen e-mails saying cutting funding for design

technology is outrageous. This subject is wide my career and add me

setting up a company which has generated millions for the UK

economy. Another person says why do schools with this more numbers of

children taking their subjects Alba may to with another -- why don't

schools with small number will of pupils amalgamate with another will

stop Sonia says tech levels are needed, yet deeply and art and

design are being cut. And another e-mail says I work in a small rural

primary school, always rated as good by Ofsted. Funding has been

dwindling to such an extent that we have had to make all but one

teaching assistant redundant and may lose a teacher as well. The

government seems hell-bent on pushing through its own education

agenda when many schools are struggling to make ends meet. I have

seriously considered quitting because the stress has had an impact

on my family life and health. Now let's join Nick Miller for

whether at date. How are things? Do you remember the sunshine yesterday?

It was glorious. Is that it? Look at that. You can just about see

some of Portsmouth through that. The sun will come back eventually but

for now it is a very different story. It is misty and murky for

many of us got a lot of the murky and damp stuff is across the west of

the UK. The further east you other have been some glimmers sunshine. We

had a lovely sunrise in Hull, City of Culture and city of cracking

sunrises. Not a huge amount of rain around but it is ample and drizzly

across parts of Wales, western England and Northern Ireland. An

area of rainfall moving north across Scotland. It is possible you may

counter some of that patchy rain at times. Let's take a look at things

in more detail this afternoon. You will notice the temperatures in

double figures. Yesterday, in the best of the sunshine, 17.5 Celsius.

We are not getting back today. I think there will be some towards the

north-east of Wales, into Cheshire, North Cornwall, Devon and Somerset

and maybe along the North Coast of Northern Ireland a few brighter

burst into north-east Scotland. But in the Northern Isles there are

outbreaks of rain. The winds an night as they will be tonight.

Plenty of cloud tonight as well. Temperature is not going down too

far. If you're going to the Six Nations Rugby in Cardiff you do not

need too many layers of top again, the possibility of seeing some

drizzle around times. You will get an area of rain moving through

Northern Ireland and in Scotland. England and Wales mainly drive. A

mild start to the weekend. But it is mainly cloudy start to the weekend.

Things would improve though. They will improve for Scotland and

Northern Ireland. It edges into northern England, North and West

Wales and maybe the far south-west of England. Notice Scotland and

Northern Ireland brightens up. Parts of East Anglia and south-east

England also sees in sunny spells. As Ashley and south-east England

with any sunshine, it is not out of the question you could get 18

Celsius. Spring is very much in evidence. Sunday is a messy picture.

There are spells of wet weather moving through. It will turn a

little bit cooler from the West late in the weekend. Whatever you're

doing, have great weekend. sp A decision on hiking taxes

for the self-employed won't be voted Her party is calling

it a partial U-turn. Do you take your babies

in their pushchair during Well, experts are urging

parents to cover prams to protect babies from exhaust

fumes and high levels I do think about it quite a lot.

There is not much we can do. We live in the centre of London so there is

pollution everywhere. And are we living in

a golden age of satire? There's been more and more interest

in seeing the funny side of politics We'll talk to writers and performers

who say politics in 2017 is providing more material

than they ever thought possible. What is that picture doing in here?

That's just a plate of mashed potatoes. We're lucky that Trump is

going to provide the jokes for the foreseeable future!

Annita McVeigh is in the BBC Newsroom with a summary

BT has bowed to pressure from telecoms regulator Ofcom

to legally separate Openreach which runs the UK's

The regulator was pushing for the move following complaints about a

poor level of performance. The decisions it takes in terms of

investment have to work for the interests of the whole country. And

we would expect to see from this, both better service, but also better

broadband. Labour has accused the Government

of being in "disarray" after the Prime Minister said

controversial tax rises for self-employed workers would not

be put into legislation Theresa May said the changes

to national insurance, announced in the budget,

were necessary and fair but said the Chancellor would listen

to concerns before MPs voted European leaders are

continuing the second day of their summit in Brussels today,

but without Theresa May The meeting was the Prime Minister's

last summit ahead of the formal Mrs May was keen to downplay

the situation, insisting that Britain will continue to play

a leading role in Europe and offering suggestions

on other topics including Schools in England are being forced

to cut GCSE and A-Level courses in an effort to balance the books,

according to a head teachers' union. The Association of School

and College Leaders has warned budget pressures are driving up

class sizes and causing them to cancel activities such as social

clubs and school trips. Carole Herman is a head teacher

at a school in Essex. She told this programme the issue

is extremely complicated. For many students that is their

ticket into further education, We are also known here

for our excellence in sport Now, we won't cut those

because it is absolutely central to the nature of the school,

but we're having to look very carefully at other subjects such

as design technology. This is exacerbated, actually,

by the fact that teachers actually don't want to train in these

subjects any more because the emphasis is far more

on the EBacc subjects. Protests are taking place in Seoul

after South Korea's highest court upheld a decision to remove

the country's president from office. Park Geun-hye was impeached over

a corruption scandal, She will now lose her immunity

against prosecution The decision was met

by cheering in the streets from opponents of Ms Park,

but her supporters Police say two people have died

during protests outside the court. Makers of the hit fantasy TV show

Game of Thrones have announced the show will return for its seventh

season in July. Fans watched an online video

for more than an hour to see a huge block of ice being melted to reveal

the air date which will be It's the latest the award-winning

series has ever aired as filming was delayed due to a lack

of wintry conditions. That's a summary of

the latest BBC News. Nigel says "We pushed hard for our

son's school to keep design technology. He went on to motorsport

engineering and is employed as lead quality engineer at Aston Martin. He

would not have achieved his goal without doing design technology.

More engineers are needed." This viewer says, "We are a design couple

and are saddened that creativity is being stifled by Government cuts. We

flourished when traditional core subjects were not our strength. This

door to creativity opened up incredible opportunities and enabled

us to travel the world with our careers." Thank you for those. Keep

your comments coming in. Do get in touch with us

throughout the morning - use #Victorialive and if you text,

you will be charged A leaked report into British Cycling

has levelled serious criticisms at the door

of the sport's governing body which has admitted failings in its

World Class Performance Programme. The draft version of the report

by UK Sport appears to reveal these key findings - that there

is a "culture of fear" among staff at British cycling,

some of whom are "frightened Former Performance Director

Sir Dave Brailsford was "untouchable" and took decisions

about the multi-million pound budget himself and former

Technical Director Shane Sutton was said to be unsuitable

for a leadership role. The review alleges that

British Cycling's own report into Jess Varnish's claims of sexism

against Shane Sutton where this story began

was "sanitised" after the grievance officer found Varnish's

allegations were largely true but British Cycling chose to leave

out his findings in their report. The review concludes those actions

were "shocking and inexcusable". British Cycling have responded

with a statement accepting that "leadership focused on medal

delivery without sufficient care and attention to the staff

and athlete culture." While they disagree with the factual

accuracy of certain points, The body's board admits that there

was not "adequate oversight" Leading to a failure to "address

the early warning signs". Jose Mourinho said it was

"impossible to play any better" after his Manchester United side

drew 1-1 at FC Rostov Mourinho wasn't impressed

with the rough pitch. But Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored

an away goal AND although Mourinho said that football life

was "full of experiences" England goalkeeper Joe Hart

doesn't think he'll play He was dropped by Pep Guardiola

when he took over as manager at the start of the season and sent

on loan to Torino in Italy. He bears no grudge

against City though. I love that club and I always said

as long as they wanted me, I would be there, but I was always cautious

when I said that because I'm aware that other big clubs, stuff can

change quickly and opinions and people in charge, not everyone is

going to like you. Not everyone is going to want to play you and that's

the business side of it. England one-day captain Eoin Morgan

described Alex Hales' innings as "unbelievable",

after he set them on their way to a 3-0 series

victory over West Indies. Hales was back in the side

after recovering from a broken hand and he scored a century in the third

and final one-dayer in Barbados. Joe Root also made 100

as England hit a record total The West Indies were bowled out well

short of that target, Wales and Ireland launch

the penultimate weekend Anything other than a victory

for Ireland will end their bid They're second in the table,

behind England, who take on Scotland And can claim the championship

at Twickenham if Ireland don't win. Commentary on Radio 5 Live from the

Principality Stadium. That's it for now.

Labour has claimed the Government is in disarray after Theresa May

said controversial Budget tax rises would not go before

Let's go to Westminster and bring in Iani Watson. Is the Government

getting cold feet in the face of a rebellion over this? I think

certainly a touch of cold feet, certainly a shiver up the spine of

the Government Joanna for the following reasons. There is a logic

to increasing the contributions of self-employed people because they're

getting benefits they didn't previously get such as the state

pension, but the politics, I think, is far more dangerous than the

economics because many Conservative MPs say, look, this is not what we

said in our manifesto and secondly, we're hitting people that might be

likely to vote for the Conservative Party. So effectively, the timing of

this measure is crucial by delaying a Parliamentary vote until the

autumn, that will be after the publication of a review into working

practises which might actually offer self-employed people more rights and

benefits. Rights to maternity and pa personity leave. So the Government

could argue, look you're getting more value for money out of this

national insurance increase. We get a second Budget. If the rebellion

hasn't been quelled, then the Chancellor would have some

flexibility to perhaps even potentially delay the

implementation. I was speaking earlier to the Conservative MP Neil

Carmichael, he chairs the Education Committee. He says there is lots of

concern in his constituency about the changes. So I was asking him if

it would be enough to offer self-employed people more rights or

whether the Chancellor would have to go further and think again about how

the whole reform is implemented? If we're expecting people to be sort of

active in the economic system as entrepreneurs taking risks we've got

to demonstrate that we are aware of that and willing to mitigate some of

those risks. So that's an important point. The wider question about

taxation, of course, is we have got to increase tax take in order to pay

for the things that we might want to pay for. Education clearly being one

of them and also the risks that we might confront on leaving the

European Union. So it's important that we have a tax system which

works fairly and efficiently in terms of getting the money in. Is it

a package that says look, self-employed people could get value

for money? They will get more of the rights that employed people would

get that would satisfy people like you and your constituents or would

you and some colleagues be holding out for a re-think on the

implementation of the time scale on the tax rise itself? I think a

re-think on the implementation is probably the most likely outcome.

Because at the end of the day, you know, we are going to have to get

some tax. So, I think, we've got to recognise that and be bold enough to

stick with the overall direction of travel, but make sure it's more

comfortable for those that are basically travelling.

Here is the real problem for the Chancellor - if you're making that

direction of travel more comfortable, you're going to raise

less money for the Treasury. So it could be possible that Philip

Hammond goes through all this political pain and doesn't make the

Government significantly better off at the end of it. OK, thank you very

much. Let's bring in Rachel Reeves, the Government says it is right to

equalise the way people are treated in terms of taxation, how do you see

it? Well, I'm all for cracking down on bogus self employment and

avoiding people incorporating to avoid paying those national

insurance contributions, but we do need to better help and support

people who are self-employed, who are entrepreneurs setting up on

their own in part because they are taking more risk and they don't get

access to the same sickness benefits and the same maternity and paternity

rights and Universal Credit. So I think that it is wrong to just

increase the tax take on self-employed without giving them

any additional support to make a success of their business and the

reality is, the Government are cutting taxes for the biggest

businesses, ?3.8 billion cut in corporation tax and yet asking the

self-employed to pay an additional ?2 billion in taxes. I don't think

those are right priorities. I think we should be asking more of those

with the broadest shoulders and helping small businesses and the

self-employed to make a better contribution to our economy. Would

you be appeased if there were more benefits for the self-employed over

rights from the state? I moon the Government is saying there is almost

equal treatment at the moment. There will be a review into modern

employment practises. Would that make you change your mind? It

doesn't sound like anything would? It is true with the flat rate

pension that over time people who are self-employed will start to

benefit from a pension they didn't previously get, but when you look at

other benefits like maternity and paternity leave and maternity and

paternity pay, like for example, sickness and disability benefits,

out of work benefits, you don't have the same sort of access if you are

self-employed. So, if the Chancellor wants to go further, and look at

those whole range of benefits I think that would be something that

we could support and we could get behind, but at moment we don't have

anything like those guarantees. All we know is the self-employed are

going to have to pay higher national insurance without getting those

benefits that many of the rest of us take for granted. We also need to do

more to help the self-employed access pensions and mortgages. In

the private sectorment if you are self-employed... That's a different

issue, isn't it? Just focussing on the tax take from the self-employed

here. The Government is pointing out that if it were not to be getting

this extra cash from the self-employed with the national

insurance increase, there wouldn't be the money that was announced in

the Budget for social care, an extra ?2 billion going into social care?

Well, as I said the government is cutting corporation tax. They are

cutting inheritance tax for the richest estates and that is costing

taxpayers ?1 billion. The government are cutting taxes for the better

off. I want more money going into the National Health Service and the

care system. I do think it is right to be cutting services for the best

of while asking the self-employed to pay more. There is an important

point. Self-employed people are taking additional risks which were

not taking if you are directly employed and you miss out on things

both in terms of State benefits through the national insurance

system but also, you do find it harder to access things like

pensions in the private sector as well. There is something different

about being self-employed and the government needs to recognise that.

That is why traditionally the southern point have paid less. I

recognise with the growth in self employment that needs to be looked

at again, but so do the rights that come from paying into national

insurance and those are some of the things we have just spoken about.

Thank you. Still to come: more and more people

are seeing the funny side of being in power and politics in general. We

will find out why we are in a golden age of satire.

First, an independent watchdog has warned that Britain's aid programme

in Libya could be harming migrants. A report said Britain's support lead

to more migrants being detained and denied a right to asylum. We can

speak to the Oxfam policy adviser. We also joined by the Conservative

MP Jeremy Lefroy who was a member of the International development

committee. And here in the studio I enjoyed by Doctor John Campbell from

the School of Oriental and African. Josephine, spell out why the British

aid could actually be making things worse for migrants? Oxfam works with

people who had to leave their home due to conflict, violence, poverty

and disaster and all around the world. In the companies in which we

work, we see first-hand the transformative effect that foreign

aid can have when it is targeting people when it addresses the issues

of poverty and suffering. We can see how it saves lives. What this report

looks at is areas where foreign aid is used to prevent people migrating

to Europe or foreign aid used as a bargaining chip to have agreements

with third countries to prevent mobility and migration to Europe.

This is where the report finds that this must never be the sole

objective of foreign aid and assistance and that is something

which Oxfam wholeheartedly second is because not only is it ineffective,

it also puts people's lives at risk and that was made in the case of

Libya and it also risks undermining development in fact by restricting

mobility. In Libya we are seeing a situation where the UK and other

European governments are trying to prevent people from leaving Libya to

seek safety in Europe, and also looking at ways in which they would

return people back to Libya. These are really concerning developments

and we know from our operations, Oxfam's operations in Italy, where

we work with people who have left Libya and made the horrendous

journey across the Mediterranean, who tell us about the human rights

by nations they have witnessed, the beatings, the kidnappings and forced

Labour, so that Libya is Rulli situation they themselves describe

as hell. It is really worrying to see trends in which the UK and other

European governments are trying to pave the way in which vulnerable

people would not be able to leave situations of human rights

violations be returned there. Jeremy Lefroy, you are on the international

development committee, are you concerned that aid might be doing

more harm than good? I don't think the UK is doing more harm than good

at all. The report points out that there are cases where because of

support slave for the Libyan coast guard, people have been returned to

the coast of Libya and maybe in camps or places where there are real

problems with human rights violations. Clearly, we need to look

at that. However, the report also looks at the work of the United

Kingdom in Ethiopia, and in Nigeria, and in both those cases, the work of

the UK in those countries is really helping the governments to work with

refugees. Ethiopia has an open door policy for refugees which is a

magnificent response by that government to the problems

particularly in Eritrea and South Sudan. The UK Government is working

with the Ethiopian government to see that refugees in Ethiopia can have

access to work, up to 30,000 job places. That is something I think we

should absolutely be doing. That has been singled out for praise in this

report but you said about potentially looking at what happens

to migrants when they are returned to Libya, having tried to head off

on that journey, it is UK money that is obviously helping the Coast Guard

in Libya to intercept these people and take them back, how would you

suggest it be looked at and what might change? Clearly, where there

are things to be improved, they need to be improved, but I do think

anyone would suggest working with the Libyan coast guard in order to

save people's lives, when so many people have drowned on a perilous

crossing could be a bad thing. It is surely a good thing. What we then

have to look at is what happens to people when they are returned. The

work of Oxfam and other NGOs are vital and we must listen to them

with great respect. To point them out with this particular report and

suggest the UK aid is doing real harm is a complete misinterpretation

of the report. There are areas we have to look at and there are

people, let's not forget it is the people who are actually breaching

people's human rights are doing the harm. It is not the UK Government or

anybody associated with it. We really need to look at those things

in detail while recognising that the work the UK Government, often on its

own. I have been to northern Nigeria where the UK Government is working

in very, very difficult situations. There is almost no deal is working

there apart from the UK Government. I hear the broader picture of what

you're saying about the good work that is being done with UK aid. John

Campbell, the strategy, obviously, in terms of people travelling from

Libya to Europe, making that dangerous journey across the

Mediterranean is aimed at stopping that happening, because more than

4500 people were killed on Matt Crossen last year, and Jeremy Lefroy

making the point that if investing in the Coast Guard and stopping

people making that journey is having an effect, it is absolutely the

right thing? Does the right thing but what the UK and Europe are

interested in, is preventing migrants reaching Europe. The

broader issue should be about the security of those migrants. The key

issue is being overlooked. What are the factors driving people leaving

Africa to come to Europe. That is where we need to focus. This has not

identified any relevant thinking of policies which deal with that. I'm

afraid I totally disagree with that. The UK is working with the economic

divide and in Nigeria and in Ethiopia, and that is the thing to

enable both Ethiopians and Nigerians, and refugees seeking

refuge in their countries, to see a better future for themselves in

their own countries and regions. That is surely very strategic

thinking? John Campbell? The government promised last year they

would put money into the strategy identified by your speaker. The

issue is this already fits into Ethiopia in developing strategies.

Ethiopia polices its borders relatively efficiently. The

investment into Ethiopian industry is primarily there, as seen by the

British government as something which will prevent Eritreans leaving

the region. Eritreans are not leaving searching for work. There

are broader agendas and there are commitments made to migration which

can be addressed by investment next year or the next two years in jobs

in Ethiopia. Thank you to all of you.

A Government spokesperson said, "Cross-government efforts

are tackling the root causes of migration by building opportunity

and stability for people in their home regions so they don't

need to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.

ICAI rightly praises our innovative work in Ethiopia where we have

We're also getting help to vulnerable migrants who have already

Since May 2015, British vessels have saved more than 13,000 lives

Lots of you getting touch today about the cuts being made to some

We had a particularly strong response to the news that

lots of schools stopping design and technology.

Lots of you took it at school and have made a career out of it.

One viewer who contacted us was Syreeta Challinger from Lincoln.

She did design and technology and art A-levels and is now a fashion

designer. She joins us now. You obviously feel very strongly about

this. Absolutely, I would not be employed at all if I had not taken

those subjects. What to think about the idea that it may go off the

curriculum if it is not viable? I'm shocked and in disbelief actually.

British design is revered around the world. If we cut it at such an early

age, at school age, what does that mean for future generations? Do you

think you would have ultimately found your way without design and

technology? These are relatively new subjects in British education. I

would have struggled. And I know that my partner who also struggled

with dyslexia at school, if he had not had art, design and technology

as well, we would not be as employable as we are now. We would

not have the skill set we have now. It has moulded us greatly. What was

it you got from studying it, the skills you talk about? If you are

not good at maths or remembering subjects, if you are a bit more

logical and hands-on, it definitely benefits you at a school age. It

shows you that there are other opportunities, rather than having

your nose in a book or having to correct spelling or anything in that

manner. There are other opportunities. We have talked on the

programme about the growth in manufacturing in this country, in

the fashion industry, we were talking just before London Fashion

Week about how the fashion industry is benefiting the country, tell us

more about your career and your input there? So, I was fortunate

that I studied, I went on to university to study textile design

and that has opened up doors within the industry pretty much

straightaway. Having worked for UK-based companies, and then even

opening an opportunity to work globally. However, most recently, I

have been working predominantly with the British high street and everyone

in that industry would have studied art and design or technology at

school. Therefore, I think it is quite short-sighted for the

government to not invest in those areas, because it is a huge

industry. Thank you. It is great to know you were watching at home and

you are obviously moved by what he we were talking about and got in

touch. It is great to have you on the programme. Thank you.

More and more people are seeing the funny side of people in power

We'll find out why some think we're in the golden age of Satire.

And should you put a cover on your pram or pushchair when you are doing

the school run? We will hear more about pollution.

Annita McVeigh is in the BBC Newsroom with a summary of the news.

BT has bowed to pressure from telecoms regulator Ofcom

to legally separate Openreach which runs much of the UK's

The regulator had been pushing for the move following complaints

about poor levels of service and had threatened to force BT

Openreach will have to work to the interests of all consumers, better

broadband, but secondly, the decisions it takes as a company in

terms of investment again have got to work for the interests of the

whole country and we would expect to see from this both better service,

but also better broadband. Labour has accused the Government

of being in "disarray" after the Prime Minister said

controversial tax rises for self-employed workers would not

be put into legislation Theresa May said the changes

to national insurance, announced in the Budget,

were necessary and fair but said the Chancellor would listen

to concerns before MPs voted MPs are being warned the Palace

of Westminster is close to a "catastrophic failure"

unless they make a decision The Public Accounts Committee,

which overlooks government spending, says the longer MPs mull over

the options, the greater the chance The committee is encouraging

parliament to support the cheapest option to repair the deterioration,

which will cost around ?3.5 billion and mean MPs and peers would leave

the building for six years. Join me for BBC

Newsroom Live at 11am. British Cycling have admitted

to failings in their World Class Performance Programme after a draft

version of the independent report into the sport's governing body

was leaked overnight. It claims there is a "culture

of fear" among staff at British cycling and that an internal

British Cycling report following Jess Varnish's claims

of sexism against former technical director Shane Sutton

was "sanitised". Manchester United can claim they got

a good result on a bad pitch. Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored

the away goal in a 1-1 draw at Rostov in the first leg

of their Europa League last 16 tie. England's cricketers cruise to

a series whitewash in the Caribbean. They won the third one day

international against the West Indies comfortably thanks

to centuries from Adam Wales and Ireland launch

the penultimate weekend Anything other than a victory

for Ireland will end their bid for a third title in four years

and is likely to mean England can claim the championship

by beating Scotland. That's all the sport for now.

Lovely, see you later. Thank you very much.

The host of one of the biggest talk shows in America said yesterday

"When I see Donald Trump, I see a stand-up comedian"

and it would seem he's not the only one seeing the funny side of him

Because there's growing interest in taking the mick out of people

in power and some think we're in the golden age of Satire.

James Ballardie's been looking into this one for us.

You might not think so every time you turn on the news,

but some people think we're currently living through one

of the funniest periods of human history.

It's boomtime for satire, the art of poking fun at public figures.

Satirists have never been more popular.

In the UK, sales of satirical magazine Private Eye are a record

all-time high of 25% on just five years ago.

Private Eye has been taunting politicians

Its editor Ian Hislop is often described as the most

It measures basic intelligence, which he would lose.

Meanwhile, in the USA, there are no less than 24 nightly

talk shows to guide satire fans through the day's top stories.

And long-running comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live

is experiencing its highest audience ratings in 24 years, up 26% on 2016,

in part thanks to Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin's impression

No, that's just a plate of mashed potatoes, sir.

It even caught the attention of the president himself.

Not everyone is a fan of satire, but it's everywhere.

Satirists are lapping up shares and retweets.

Last month, this skit starring comedian Melissa McCarthy as White

House Press Secretary Sean Spicer became an internet sensation,

racking up over 24 million YouTube hits.

And it's not just professional satirists

You might recognise some of these pictures from your Facebook

They're called memes, the tool of choice for budding

But why do we relish ridiculing people in power?

Can satire really change opinions, or does it just reinforce

And by lampooning those we disagree with, do we risk

I've come to Private Eye's HQ in London to find out why politics

Why is Private Eye selling so many copies right now?

I think, if I'm honest, it's because of Brexit and Trump.

People have become more interested in politics and also

quite gloomy about it, and Private Eye offers some

jokes, some light relief, and hopefully some insight,

though I'm less confident about that.

As a satirist you have a responsibility in some way,

do you ever worry people might start taking you literally?

Well, I mean that obviously has been a problem.

Private Eye was listed as fake news by some American academic who just

didn't get any of the jokes and decided that when we said

the Queen had signed a petition to stop Trump coming over,

So that is a slight problem in doing satire, but responsibility?

Yes, I mean, you should be able to justify what you write.

What is the difference between Private Eye and fake news?

Obviously the journalism in Private Eye is true

Fake news is when you deliberately make up stories in order

It's a group of teenagers in a shed in Macedonia

or the middle of Russia, when you are deliberately making up

news in order to make people believe things which aren't true.

When a character like Trump comes along, do you think, "Oh, goody,

I've got lots and lots of jokes that I can tell," or are you terrified?

You know, my first reaction is as a responsible citizen

and human being, so I'm appalled and I'm terrified.

And my second response is how very lucky we are that Trump

is going to provide most of the jokes for the

You can feel the acerbic wit just radiating from these covers.

Talk me through which is your favourite?

We talked about American presidents, I love that, "Bush,

But, again, the great thing about doing it for a long time

is you realise that there isn't that much that's new,

and the approach tends to need to be the same.

Satire's pretty consistent, I think, not only over the decades but pretty

I mean, what happens is it goes in and out of fashion,

sometimes everyone says, "Oh, satire, marvellous,

And then during the down periods they say, "Oh,

really, it's so pathetic, we don't want this stuff,

Do you think that by going after all these people, so many years,

that you may have contributed in some way to the climate

No, what I hope we've done is make people view it realistically.

I think people do tend to say that, they say, "Well, it's your fault

for pointing out when people have done something wrong because then

we think they are up to something wrong."

And I say, no, our job is to make people honest,

to make people think if they do that then they will be found out.

Satire helps us make sense of the world.

It empowers us and reminds us that humour can be found in even the most

It was on January 7th 2015 that terrorist attacks on French

satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo brought home the power

12 people were killed and 11 injured when masked gunmen

In an outcry of public grief, 3.7 million people joined

One week after the attack, surviving Charlie Hebdo staff

released a commemorative edition packed full of incendiary jokes and

Shappi Khorsandi is someone who knows this all too well.

Her father was a satirist in Iran, until he and the rest of the family

were forced to flee in 1976 after he published a poem ridiculing

In countries in the Middle East, Iran, after the revolution they went

gunning for the satirists, they were the first on the hit list.

And your dad was one of those people, that's

Yeah! My dad's the man!

So I came to Britain in the early 80s.

We were refugees long before it became fashionable.

A lot of your stuff is based on real life, isn't it?

You're taking things that happen to you day-to-day and you're talking

There are certain times when certain things are going on in politics,

like they've closed the refugee camp in Calais.

Now, I was a refugee child, so how can I not mention that

in stand-up when what I do is so personal?

For me, I find satire itself is to mock the status quo,

mock the powers that be, mocking what we are told

to consider is right and normal and the moral high ground.

And you're like, "No, no, no, that's not the way I see it.

You're actually trying to trick us, you're trying to lead us

The Western world is currently experiencing the most

significant political upheaval since the Second World War.