17/05/2017

:00:08. > :00:09.Hello. It's Wednesday.

:00:10. > :00:10.It's 9am. I'm Joanna Gosling.

:00:11. > :00:20.America's former FBI chief claims he was urged

:00:21. > :00:22.to drop his inquiry into links between the President's ex-national

:00:23. > :00:29.The Liberal Democrats will launch their manifesto today,

:00:30. > :00:31.promising a new referendum on Brexit.

:00:32. > :00:34.There's also more money for housing and education and a promise to lower

:00:35. > :00:41.Today we're offering huge opportunities for young people where

:00:42. > :00:46.they can get on the renting ladder for the first time because we'll

:00:47. > :00:47.give them help with their deposits or they can rent-to-own with a

:00:48. > :00:52.radical new scheme. We'll have all the details and we'll

:00:53. > :00:55.be asking if the party has done enough to woo back voters

:00:56. > :00:58.who abandoned them in 2015. One of Labour's biggest union

:00:59. > :01:00.backers - Len McCluskey from Unite - says he cannot see Labour

:01:01. > :01:02.winning the election. Also today, our panel of black

:01:03. > :01:11.and Asian voters tell us Education, the economy and better

:01:12. > :01:13.representation in Parliament are all on the list. We will speak to them

:01:14. > :01:19.in just a moment. The former American

:01:20. > :01:21.soldier, Chelsea Manning, who passed thousands of confidential

:01:22. > :01:24.documents to Wikileaks, will be released from

:01:25. > :01:25.a military prison today. We'll speak to someone

:01:26. > :01:36.who campaigned for her release. Hello and welcome to the programme.

:01:37. > :01:44.We're live until 11am. The bad news is there

:01:45. > :01:47.may be no such thing. Some doctors now reckon it's

:01:48. > :01:49.impossible to be overweight without increasing your risk

:01:50. > :01:53.of future health problems. Do get in touch on all the stories

:01:54. > :01:56.we're talking about this morning. Use the hashtag Victoria Live

:01:57. > :01:59.and if you text, you will be charged In a moment we'll get the latest

:02:00. > :02:06.on election campaign here. First, though to the US,

:02:07. > :02:11.where the White House is denying reports that Donald Trump asked

:02:12. > :02:15.former FBI director James Comey to stop an investigation into alleged

:02:16. > :02:18.links between an advisor and Russia. Mr Comey, who was sacked last week,

:02:19. > :02:22.is said to have made the claims in notes taken after a meeting

:02:23. > :02:24.with the president in February. Following a meeting of his security

:02:25. > :02:30.advisers back in February, President Trump waited for other

:02:31. > :02:35.officials to leave the room before taking then FBI director

:02:36. > :02:37.James Comey to one side. The previous day, his

:02:38. > :02:42.National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, had been forced

:02:43. > :02:45.to resign amid allegations that he misled the vice-president

:02:46. > :02:47.about conversations According to the New York Times,

:02:48. > :02:55.the president then asked Mr Comey to shut down an FBI investigation

:02:56. > :03:00.into General Flynn. But the FBI investigation

:03:01. > :03:02.into Michael Flynn is still under way, along with one into possible

:03:03. > :03:07.collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government

:03:08. > :03:09.to influence the outcome Last week, James Comey was removed

:03:10. > :03:16.from his post by President Trump. The White House has denied

:03:17. > :03:19.the New York Times allegations, saying the president never asked

:03:20. > :03:23.for an end to any investigation, but the suggestion that

:03:24. > :03:26.James Comey kept detailed notes of his conversations

:03:27. > :03:27.with President Trump has left some Last week, President Trump

:03:28. > :03:35.suggested he might have tapes of his conversations with James

:03:36. > :03:38.Comey. If they exist, those, too,

:03:39. > :03:44.could be called for, in order to establish whose account

:03:45. > :03:46.of the discussions is correct. Some Democrats are already saying

:03:47. > :03:49.this could amount to obstruction of justice on the part

:03:50. > :03:52.of the president, an unproven allegation, certainly,

:03:53. > :03:54.but the most serious yet to confront Donald Trump's beleaguered

:03:55. > :04:04.administration. The Liberal Democrats

:04:05. > :04:07.will focus on younger voters when they launch their general

:04:08. > :04:09.election manifesto later. A promise to hold a second EU

:04:10. > :04:12.referendum will be at the heart of the document but it will also

:04:13. > :04:15.include pledges to restore housing benefit for younger people

:04:16. > :04:18.and to make it easier to get Our political guru Norman Smith

:04:19. > :04:35.is across everything It's a big day for the Lib Dems?

:04:36. > :04:37.Yesterday, we had the Labour manifesto and today we get the

:04:38. > :04:42.Liberal Democrats manifesto. Maybe it is a side bar because the Lib

:04:43. > :04:46.Dems have made pretty clear they're one, big message for this election

:04:47. > :04:51.is vote Lib Dem and we will have a referendum on the deal that Mrs May

:04:52. > :04:55.negotiates. In other words, Brexit is their big pitch and they're

:04:56. > :05:00.appealing to those people who voted Remain. The manifesto becomes not so

:05:01. > :05:05.important, although, it will contain measures for more money for schools,

:05:06. > :05:08.hospitals, social care, reversing some benefits, they will be looking

:05:09. > :05:13.to see where that cash is going to come from. They'll also be a pitch

:05:14. > :05:18.for younger voters, so they're suggesting there ought to be a

:05:19. > :05:21.rent-to-own scheme to try and help first-time buyers, they're going to

:05:22. > :05:23.bring back student grants, but Brexit remains their big theme as

:05:24. > :05:28.Vicki Young now reports. The Liberal Democrats see this

:05:29. > :05:31.general election as a chance to change Britain's future

:05:32. > :05:33.and their message is clearly aimed at those who voted Remain

:05:34. > :05:35.in last year's referendum. They want voters to have another say

:05:36. > :05:38.on Brexit once any deal with the European Union has been

:05:39. > :05:41.finalised and if people don't like it, they should be able

:05:42. > :05:44.to reject it and keep the UK The Lib Dems hope their pro-EU

:05:45. > :05:50.argument will encourage Remain voters to swing behind them,

:05:51. > :05:52.especially in seats But in some of the other former

:05:53. > :05:59.heartlands in the south-west of England, Brexit is much more

:06:00. > :06:02.popular, so the party is trying to broaden the appeal

:06:03. > :06:12.with new policy ideas. The Lib Dems have already

:06:13. > :06:14.called for extra health and education spending,

:06:15. > :06:16.paid for by higher income On housing, they want to introduce

:06:17. > :06:20.a rent to own scheme for tenants and they've pledged to legalise

:06:21. > :06:24.and regulate cannabis. The Lib Dem leader, Tim Farren,

:06:25. > :06:26.has admitted his party isn't going to win the election

:06:27. > :06:29.and says his aim is to replace Labour and be an effective

:06:30. > :06:44.opposition to the Conservatives. Norman a development in the Labour

:06:45. > :06:50.campaign? Yes, strange words from Len McCluskey, the leader of the

:06:51. > :06:53.Unite union and Jeremy Corbyn's key right-hand man, a strong man in the

:06:54. > :06:58.Labour Party. Suggesting that Labour seem to be on course to lose the

:06:59. > :07:04.election, but also saying that if Jeremy Corbyn wins just 200 seats,

:07:05. > :07:09.that would be a success. Now, 200 seats would be Labour's worst result

:07:10. > :07:13.since the Second World War. Worse even than Michael Foot and yet Len

:07:14. > :07:19.McCluskey is saying all things considered that would be OK. What is

:07:20. > :07:24.going on here? Well, I think the truth is, Mr McCluskey, like many of

:07:25. > :07:28.Mr Corbyn's key allies, is just trying to protect him if in the

:07:29. > :07:32.aftermath of an election defeat there is a move to oust Mr Corbyn.

:07:33. > :07:35.So he can turn around and say, "Well, look it has been a very

:07:36. > :07:39.difficult election. The media were against me. The Parliamentary party

:07:40. > :07:44.were always attacking me. I've had to deal with two leadership

:07:45. > :07:48.elections. At least I won 200 seats. And thereby, ensure that Mr Corbyn

:07:49. > :07:52.carries on as leader even if Labour go down to a pretty dismal defeat.

:07:53. > :08:04.Thank you very much, Norman. Annita McVeigh is in the BBC

:08:05. > :08:06.Newsroom with a summary The idea that people can be fat

:08:07. > :08:11.but medically fit is a myth, according to a study of the medical

:08:12. > :08:14.records of more than Researchers say being obese

:08:15. > :08:17.increases the risk of suffering heart disease, stroke

:08:18. > :08:18.and heart failure. Our health correspondent

:08:19. > :08:20.Dominic Hughes reports. So just keep your

:08:21. > :08:21.hands on your hips. The idea that you can be obese,

:08:22. > :08:24.but still healthy has Previous studies have suggested that

:08:25. > :08:27.around a third of very They have normal blood pressure

:08:28. > :08:32.and cholesterol levels despite being classed as obese

:08:33. > :08:37.according to their Body Mass Index which is a measure of

:08:38. > :08:39.height versus weight. But a new analysis of the medical

:08:40. > :08:42.records of 3.5 million UK residents suggests the idea of healthy obesity

:08:43. > :08:47.is a myth. Compared to those of a normal

:08:48. > :08:52.weight, it suggests even outwardly, healthy obese people have a 49%

:08:53. > :08:57.greater risk of developing coronary heart disease,

:08:58. > :08:59.the risk of heart failure is increased by 96%

:09:00. > :09:04.and stroke by 7%. What was new for me from this study

:09:05. > :09:09.was that it showed that people who are overweight or obese

:09:10. > :09:15.are at an increased risk of heart disease even though they may be

:09:16. > :09:18.healthy in every other respect. Previously I rather thought that

:09:19. > :09:24.obesity increased blood pressure and your cholesterol

:09:25. > :09:26.and it was those factors which increased your risk

:09:27. > :09:28.of cardiovascular disease. Just being overweight or obese puts

:09:29. > :09:30.you at increased risk Rugby players are often used

:09:31. > :09:34.as examples of people who might be classed as obese,

:09:35. > :09:38.but are healthy. Their Body Mass Index would mean

:09:39. > :09:42.they are technically overweight, but for the vast majority,

:09:43. > :09:44.this research suggests being obese Lloyds Bank says the taxpayer has

:09:45. > :09:54.made a profit of nearly ?900 million after the Government sold the last

:09:55. > :09:57.of its shares in the banking group. It is almost nine years

:09:58. > :10:00.since the bank was bailed out at In a statement, Lloyds confirmed

:10:01. > :10:04.the group has been fully returned The former US soldier,

:10:05. > :10:15.Chelsea Manning, who passed hundreds of thousands of confidential

:10:16. > :10:17.diplomatic documents to the website Wikileaks,

:10:18. > :10:19.will be released later today Born Bradley Manning, she announced

:10:20. > :10:24.she would be living as a woman, She was expected to remain in jail

:10:25. > :10:30.until 2045, but Barack Obama commuted her sentence before he left

:10:31. > :10:35.the White House in January. A police drone has captured

:10:36. > :10:38.the moment a controlled detonation was carried out

:10:39. > :10:40.on a Second World War bomb discovered at a building

:10:41. > :10:44.site in Birmingham. Around 180 people had to be

:10:45. > :10:55.evacuated from their homes near Aston following its discovery

:10:56. > :10:58.yesterday morning. The British Army said it was one

:10:59. > :11:01.of the biggest unexploded devices A pair of diamond earrings have been

:11:02. > :11:14.sold at auction in Geneva for a record-breaking price of more

:11:15. > :11:18.than ?44 million. The pear-shaped jewels,

:11:19. > :11:19.nicknamed Apollo and Artemis, The flawless stones mined

:11:20. > :11:25.in South Africa are perfectly matched except for their colour -

:11:26. > :11:32.Artemis is pink and Apollo is blue. That's a summary of

:11:33. > :11:41.the latest BBC News. Thank you very much indeed. Let us

:11:42. > :11:43.know this morning what you think about whether it is possible to be

:11:44. > :11:49.fat and fit because experts are saying it is not. Get in touch with

:11:50. > :11:52.us. All the usual ways, hashtag Victoria Live and remember texts

:11:53. > :11:56.will be charged at the standard network rate.

:11:57. > :11:58.We will be joined by our audience shortly to talk more about the

:11:59. > :12:03.election and about what matters to them.

:12:04. > :12:08.Groundbreaking news in horseracing with a first-ever

:12:09. > :12:17.Yes, good morning, Joanna well, with many sportswomen are under

:12:18. > :12:20.represented and it is the same in British horse racing. Almost 400

:12:21. > :12:25.people were interviewed for this report, from all levels, and the BBC

:12:26. > :12:30.had exclusive access to it. What did we find? A growing number of women

:12:31. > :12:35.entering horse racing from clebleg courses and that's outnumbering men

:12:36. > :12:39.by nearly 70-30, but the problem is that women are facing career

:12:40. > :12:43.stagnation as the report puts it, once they try to progress. It also

:12:44. > :12:47.found that because of how male dominated some areas of the sport

:12:48. > :12:51.are, women are being denied certain opportunities and several of the

:12:52. > :12:54.participants in the study have to deal with inappropriate behaviour

:12:55. > :12:58.and banter culture. Now the report was commissioned by women in racing

:12:59. > :13:03.which seeks to develop the profile of women in the sport. Here is their

:13:04. > :13:07.committee member Suzanna Gill. Young women are coming into the sport, but

:13:08. > :13:11.then what we're seeing and certainly what came out in the report is that

:13:12. > :13:15.those women are not necessarily making it through to the middle and

:13:16. > :13:19.top ranks. So, taking it through the career, if you look at who is on the

:13:20. > :13:23.senior boards of organisations in race, the average is 16% and we have

:13:24. > :13:28.several boards in the sport that don't have any women a the top level

:13:29. > :13:30.at all. So we're seeing a stagnation of career progression and that's

:13:31. > :13:35.something that certainly has been recognised in other industries as

:13:36. > :13:38.well and I think we probably moan about it in racing, but it is the

:13:39. > :13:41.first time we have seen it and talked about and hopefully can now

:13:42. > :13:45.act upon it. I know you'll have more on this later in the programme with

:13:46. > :13:50.our sports correspondent, Joe Wilson. Yes, we will be talking

:13:51. > :13:54.about that later. If people watching at home have got any thoughts on it,

:13:55. > :14:00.get in touch and let us know your thoughts.

:14:01. > :14:01.Maria Sharapova is back in the headlines

:14:02. > :14:03.after her doping ban, she's not having a smooth ride

:14:04. > :14:11.No, she continues to be a divisive figure. Different tournament

:14:12. > :14:15.organisers have shown different attitudes. She was given wildcards

:14:16. > :14:19.to events in Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome, but for the next tournament,

:14:20. > :14:24.which is the French Open, she will not be given the same privilege. She

:14:25. > :14:27.is a two-time champion there, but the organisers said their

:14:28. > :14:31.responsibility to protect the high standards of the game's played

:14:32. > :14:34.without any doubt on the results, on the other hand, this morning, the

:14:35. > :14:40.Chief Executive of the women's tennis federation has said that the

:14:41. > :14:46.French Open had no grounds to penalise Maria Sharapova by denying

:14:47. > :14:50.her a wildcard. Steve Simon said she already served her sanction. The

:14:51. > :14:55.next tournament is Wimbledon. Sharapova will need to go through

:14:56. > :15:00.qualifying because of her low ranking. Alternatively she could

:15:01. > :15:04.receive a wildcard, but Pat Cash hopes the organisers will send out a

:15:05. > :15:08.strong message. I would hope that they would stand strong and said no,

:15:09. > :15:13.you've got to go through play and qualify. Look, Maria at qualifying,

:15:14. > :15:17.she'll breeze through it on the grass. She is very experienced and

:15:18. > :15:23.she will probably need some extra matches and she might welcome those

:15:24. > :15:26.matches. Clearly, she's not physically ready 100% for hard

:15:27. > :15:31.tennis. She hurt herself this week. I think it will be in the long run,

:15:32. > :15:34.it might not be a bad thing for her, but I thinkle scat autopsy England

:15:35. > :15:38.need to stand up and make a stand about this and say we're not

:15:39. > :15:43.rewarding drug cheats. Well, it will be interesting to see which way the

:15:44. > :15:48.All England Club go. It is a contentious issue with the fans and

:15:49. > :15:52.broadcasters wanting the most high-profile names play k, but will

:15:53. > :15:55.the All England Club want to stand up and be counted in the decision

:15:56. > :15:59.against doping. An interesting decision to be made.

:16:00. > :16:00.As politicians start to outline their policies in more

:16:01. > :16:03.detail ahead of general election, we want to hear what issues

:16:04. > :16:08.Over the course of the campaign, we're talking to voters

:16:09. > :16:11.from all over the UK and hearing what different groups

:16:12. > :16:15.Today, a group of black and Asian voters are here to tell us

:16:16. > :16:20.what issues are most important to them.

:16:21. > :16:23.Only about 6% of the politicians in Westminster, in the House

:16:24. > :16:26.of Commons and the House of Lords are from a minority

:16:27. > :16:29.That compares to 13% of the general population.

:16:30. > :16:31.We have an audience of seven voters from different ethnic minority

:16:32. > :16:34.backgrounds to talk about the issues that are important to

:16:35. > :16:42.William, I know you feel quite wrongly about representation, we

:16:43. > :16:48.start with you and tell us what your thoughts are. Yeah, of course. I

:16:49. > :16:51.think representation is really, really important, especially because

:16:52. > :16:54.issues pertaining to a certain demographic are never going to be

:16:55. > :16:56.highlighted or pushed forward if people from that demographic are not

:16:57. > :17:03.represented within politics at large. I also feel like it

:17:04. > :17:07.highlights a wider issue around elitism, the fact that people from

:17:08. > :17:16.certain demographics aren't presented as well so I think it is

:17:17. > :17:20.very important. I am the chairman of the Asian business council. I am

:17:21. > :17:25.here to talk about representation to the UK Parliament of the BAA me

:17:26. > :17:33.community first I have looked at other parliaments, -- representative

:17:34. > :17:38.of the BAME. The US or Australian parliaments is about two to 3%,

:17:39. > :17:42.whereas at the UK at 6%, we are still better off. At least we have

:17:43. > :17:46.those 41 MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds who are representing us,

:17:47. > :17:51.who are voices in Parliament. More of the MPs from our backgrounds

:17:52. > :17:56.would be much better. I would say we have people who are standing up and

:17:57. > :17:59.down the country from the BAME community and we should go out and

:18:00. > :18:03.vote for them and make sure we see them in Parliament in the coming few

:18:04. > :18:09.days all week or two. Do any of you feel there should be a mechanism by

:18:10. > :18:15.which the number of MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds is forcibly

:18:16. > :18:21.increased? I don't think there needs to be a mechanism or a methodical,

:18:22. > :18:28.mechanical method, but certainly there is an emerging trend, that

:18:29. > :18:32.simply planting an ethnic minority face as a candidate is inadequate.

:18:33. > :18:38.That person needs to be competent, needs to have credibility, needs to

:18:39. > :18:41.have a track record. We have got up and down the country certain

:18:42. > :18:48.constituencies where you have an ethnic minority face. Three

:18:49. > :18:52.elections, still there now, safe seats, the local population gets fed

:18:53. > :18:56.up with them. They don't reflect the real life, the young life of the

:18:57. > :19:03.community that they tried to or seek to represent. Therefore, this sort

:19:04. > :19:08.of somewhat oversimplistic connection that from the seek

:19:09. > :19:12.community, if you put forward a steak

:19:13. > :19:25.-- from the Sikh constituency. I am from Coventry. I am an active

:19:26. > :19:31.campaigner in the Sikh community. There are no Sikh MPs at the moment

:19:32. > :19:38.in the UK Parliament. That is a big topic in the Sikh community. We need

:19:39. > :19:40.to have not just ethnic minority representation, which is

:19:41. > :19:45.fundamentally important, but we need to have the right people, the right

:19:46. > :19:49.quality of person, representing us. The rest of you, do you feel like

:19:50. > :19:54.you're MPs are currently representing the issues that matter

:19:55. > :19:57.to you? Personally, I feel my MP does represent me, however speaking

:19:58. > :20:02.on the matter of having ethnic minorities in Parliament and

:20:03. > :20:06.politics, I come from the point of view of educating people from the

:20:07. > :20:12.ethnic minority backgrounds about ways to get involved in politics,

:20:13. > :20:16.because in my opinion this is the most tolerant country in the world.

:20:17. > :20:23.And I think people just need to know what to do, where to go, in order to

:20:24. > :20:27.access those places. So you say it doesn't matter if the MP is from an

:20:28. > :20:33.ethnic minority, as long as they are tuned with what is going on? Well, I

:20:34. > :20:42.think it would be a good thing to have the good representation, so 6%

:20:43. > :20:47.where there is 13% of the population is not that good. It should be

:20:48. > :20:50.organic, but in doing that let's provide information from members of

:20:51. > :20:59.that community to enable them to have access. I am a leadership

:21:00. > :21:04.development coach. It really does come from education, I think it is a

:21:05. > :21:09.wider community in society. If all young people were getting the right

:21:10. > :21:11.education, good teaching, good schools, good opportunities,

:21:12. > :21:15.naturally those doors would open and you would find a lot more black and

:21:16. > :21:19.Asian politicians in place, and that is where the issue is. If you wait

:21:20. > :21:23.until after you have graduated, it's too late. You need to go back when

:21:24. > :21:27.you are in the school years, three or four years old, and giving them

:21:28. > :21:32.the support they need. There has been I have found over previous

:21:33. > :21:39.decades a cultural and political tokenism, in terms of black faces

:21:40. > :21:42.for that constituency, Sikh faces for that constituency, Muslim faces

:21:43. > :21:47.her that constituency. That has been purely superficial exercises. The

:21:48. > :21:52.migrant communities in this country now include fourth and fifth

:21:53. > :21:55.generation. They have gone through that first oversimplistic,

:21:56. > :21:58.ineffective process. We are demanding more now. We are demanding

:21:59. > :22:04.quality, we are demanding authentic representation. We want people from

:22:05. > :22:09.amongst us to be coming forward to Parliament. So let's broaden it out,

:22:10. > :22:12.the key issues you are thinking, the forefront of your mind to miss

:22:13. > :22:19.election, what is of particular concern to you? There are quite a

:22:20. > :22:23.few, to be honest. We couldn't go overall the things, but for me,

:22:24. > :22:29.being a regular black woman, British woman, who is a professional, as

:22:30. > :22:34.much as I know a little bit about politics, I don't really believe

:22:35. > :22:41.that all the information I need to make really good informed choices

:22:42. > :22:45.are readily available. And I don't think that is helpful for us to make

:22:46. > :22:51.the best decision. Who's fault do you think that is? The media's, the

:22:52. > :22:54.government's, I don't know. I am a regular woman, the person that gets

:22:55. > :22:59.up in the morning and goes to work, has a family, has to do everyday

:23:00. > :23:03.things, I represent the everyday British black woman, and I am fairly

:23:04. > :23:05.intelligent, as I said, I am a professional, and I enjoy

:23:06. > :23:10.information and I try to get as much information as I can, but the man

:23:11. > :23:15.next door isn't necessarily the same as me. He isn't able to make certain

:23:16. > :23:19.choices because the information you need to make from great choice is

:23:20. > :23:24.just isn't there. The manifestos are coming out this week, would you take

:23:25. > :23:28.a good look at those? Absolutely, but I am making a concerted effort

:23:29. > :23:33.to do that. Does the regular man on the street do that, I don't think

:23:34. > :23:37.so. Let's look at Brexit, people say that word and they don't know what

:23:38. > :23:44.the actual term means. I think it means Britain's exit, but does it? I

:23:45. > :23:49.do know, nobody has told me. I am somebody that works all over Europe,

:23:50. > :23:53.and sometimes internationally, not just throughout Europe, I actually

:23:54. > :23:58.don't know if Brexit is going to affect my work. I have been working

:23:59. > :24:03.in Europe to 20 years, and I have been able to move freely and work in

:24:04. > :24:09.whichever countries have needed to without any concerns. I actually

:24:10. > :24:16.don't know if, when Brexit becomes our reality, if that will affect

:24:17. > :24:19.that. It has been a recurring theme, always a recurring theme, voters

:24:20. > :24:23.saying they don't feel they are necessarily hearing a clear,

:24:24. > :24:27.factually -based picture, whether it is because of the media coverage or

:24:28. > :24:32.coming from the politicians. How do the rest of you feel? Brexit is

:24:33. > :24:40.quite plainly and simply a very grey area, there is no exact action plan.

:24:41. > :24:44.I am just thinking more generally, we have the NHS, education, every

:24:45. > :24:51.single issue we are facing, are you clear on which party is

:24:52. > :24:56.representing? We need to look at who owns the media. That may be a wider

:24:57. > :25:01.issue. A lot of the media is owned by the elite, by people that want to

:25:02. > :25:05.perpetuate a certain argument. And I feel they are given the liberty to

:25:06. > :25:10.push forward certain parties and represent them a bit unfairly. And a

:25:11. > :25:13.lot of people in general, as she was saying, actually don't read into

:25:14. > :25:17.policies and they themselves do the research so they just eat up

:25:18. > :25:22.whatever the media give them that is a major issue. So let's focus on the

:25:23. > :25:28.specific issues at the forefront of your minds. What is your key, going

:25:29. > :25:32.into the selection? As you can see, I am a young person, unemployed at

:25:33. > :25:36.the moment but I have a youth platform in Croydon that encourages

:25:37. > :25:39.immunity engagement and empowers the voices of young people. For me, the

:25:40. > :25:44.key thing is what is being done for young people, what is being done to

:25:45. > :25:49.make them feel they can go out there until they are valued but what in

:25:50. > :25:54.terms of things specifically? Things like education, dropping statistics,

:25:55. > :26:01.and tuition fees, but what about things like PSA Chi education,

:26:02. > :26:06.things that will take them into life skills going forward in life.

:26:07. > :26:11.Talking about mental health. Talking about knife crime. Building a

:26:12. > :26:15.respect for each other and that communication. The key thing about

:26:16. > :26:19.knife crime is people don't always respect each other or respect their

:26:20. > :26:22.lives, are able to communicate healthily, and just to find a way to

:26:23. > :26:25.get to the root issues of that. There was a lot of talk about stop

:26:26. > :26:29.and search, but what about getting to the root of it, working with

:26:30. > :26:33.people on the ground, the community of organisations, helping them to

:26:34. > :26:37.help those young people. Interesting you have gone into that, rather than

:26:38. > :26:45.the bigger picture of the NHS, does that chime with the rest of you? It

:26:46. > :26:48.is a really big thing. In 2008 I was part of a programme set up by the

:26:49. > :26:52.Labour government, what they found was that young black men, young

:26:53. > :26:54.black boys, were overrepresented in the prison system, they weren't

:26:55. > :26:58.doing well in school, so they thought of what we could do to help

:26:59. > :27:01.them. They found 20 different young black people in different issues you

:27:02. > :27:06.were doing well and I was one of those 20. We got to speak to

:27:07. > :27:11.students in schools, prisons, young offenders institutions, to help

:27:12. > :27:14.raise their aspirations. When the Conservative government came into

:27:15. > :27:19.power, that was scrapped, along with other community events and things.

:27:20. > :27:23.Those are the type of things we need, we need to connect more, build

:27:24. > :27:26.relationships, communities. It is all very well and good, because

:27:27. > :27:30.obviously I don't want to pay lots of taxes, I want to do well and have

:27:31. > :27:33.houses and all that stuff but if your basic community is struggling,

:27:34. > :27:37.if people are not connected and don't see opportunities, it doesn't

:27:38. > :27:41.matter if the 5% are doing well if the rest of the country are

:27:42. > :27:53.struggling. So it is really important we start to

:27:54. > :27:57.look at really need help, really need support. That should really be

:27:58. > :28:00.a focus. You are only as good as your lowest common to nominate. If

:28:01. > :28:02.the people at the bottom are struggling as a country, you are not

:28:03. > :28:06.a successful country, and we need to look as a whole where do you want to

:28:07. > :28:08.go to. Do you feel the politicians are talking about the issues that

:28:09. > :28:11.matter to you? Yes, personally, they are to me. Education is a big one

:28:12. > :28:18.for me. I have two children. My daughter is 15 and my son is nine.

:28:19. > :28:22.It is important to me that I know that they have access to a

:28:23. > :28:26.first-class education, without necessarily having to be rich to

:28:27. > :28:33.provide that for them. But, beyond that, it is also how my children, as

:28:34. > :28:37.black children, are treated in school. My daughter is in an

:28:38. > :28:42.excellent school, so there are no problems there and I appreciate

:28:43. > :28:47.that, but sometimes I kind of worry about how they place black children,

:28:48. > :28:53.especially black boys, in a box. When you save a commune in the

:28:54. > :28:57.schools. The education system, and the schools. They are not allowed to

:28:58. > :29:03.flourish. That is a concern for me. Why do you think that is the case?

:29:04. > :29:10.Four example with behavioural issues, a lot of times, they may not

:29:11. > :29:16.understand the cultural behaviour of young black people. There are quite

:29:17. > :29:19.a few studies on that. That is that everyone to see. And then they

:29:20. > :29:23.labelled them immediately from a young age without helping to develop

:29:24. > :29:32.them in their own truth, if you like. And it may be because there is

:29:33. > :29:37.not a huge representation of ethnic minority educators who understand

:29:38. > :29:43.why the children behave the way they do. But it is important to me that a

:29:44. > :29:52.child is not held back simply because they are poor or they are

:29:53. > :29:55.black, or their parents are not necessarily into their education. I

:29:56. > :30:04.think the education system should cater for all. I am a Conservative

:30:05. > :30:09.voter. Listening to what Mrs May is saying, I believe in her Britain,

:30:10. > :30:13.that is a Britain that works everyone, regardless of where you

:30:14. > :30:20.have come from. I don't think any of you have said the economy yet. Who

:30:21. > :30:23.do you trust on that? What I wanted to say, our local mosque, it has a

:30:24. > :30:29.volunteer group where we have teachers who come in to teach

:30:30. > :30:32.children who cannot afford to go to maybe private schools or do not get

:30:33. > :30:41.the right education. So they are making the housewives busy. That is

:30:42. > :30:45.a local initiative. So are the politicians doing what you would

:30:46. > :30:50.want on this? The politicians should encourage this to be rolled out in

:30:51. > :30:55.other religious places. It could be in the temples. Coming back to the

:30:56. > :31:00.economy, we need a very strong person to negotiate for Brexit. We

:31:01. > :31:04.need Mrs May, a person like Mrs May, who will not crumble under the

:31:05. > :31:07.pressure of 27 leaders of the European macro nations to get us

:31:08. > :31:11.that good deal with the single market. We need those free trade

:31:12. > :31:15.agreements with the world. The Commonwelfies able to us. I voted

:31:16. > :31:18.remain. That bus has departed, we the thing about how we will progress

:31:19. > :31:28.our economy now. I don't believe that this woman has

:31:29. > :31:31.any interest in securing the lives, the economical lives, the financial

:31:32. > :31:37.lives of anybody else in this country apart from those like her

:31:38. > :31:41.that come from her world, from her financial background, from her

:31:42. > :31:46.societal background. She does not have the interests of the regular

:31:47. > :31:52.people like myself and my next door neighbours at heart. Absolutely not.

:31:53. > :31:55.It shocks me that, I understand that everybody has different thoughts and

:31:56. > :32:02.everybody has a right to think what they want and choose who they want

:32:03. > :32:07.who best represents them. But I simply cannot fathom how anybody

:32:08. > :32:14.could think that Theresa May has the best interests at heart of

:32:15. > :32:17.everybody. The issue will be deciding your vote

:32:18. > :32:23.when gu into the ballot box. So let's just in a word, please, we'll

:32:24. > :32:28.start with you? NHS and economy. Education, those are the key things

:32:29. > :32:32.for me. Economy and education. Education and investing in the

:32:33. > :32:37.younger generation. Economy and enterprise and education. For me, UK

:32:38. > :32:43.foreign policy, specifically in regards to Punjab and Kashmir.

:32:44. > :32:45.Equality and access for all. Young people and hopefully something about

:32:46. > :32:50.knife crime and mental health. Thank you very much. Let us know your

:32:51. > :32:57.thoughts as well. Watching at home. We're going to be in Dunstable in

:32:58. > :33:02.Bedfordshire on Monday, 29th May. If you've made up your mind who you're

:33:03. > :33:05.going to vote for or still deciding or don't think you'll bother and

:33:06. > :33:09.would like the chance to share your views and grill senior politicians,

:33:10. > :33:11.get in touch to apply for a place at: There are more details on our

:33:12. > :33:15.Facebook and Twitter pages. We'll speak to someone

:33:16. > :33:19.who campaigned for the release of Chelsea Manning, the former

:33:20. > :33:22.American soldier who passed thousands of confidential

:33:23. > :33:23.documents to Wikileaks. She will be released

:33:24. > :33:26.from a military prison today. Researchers have cast doubt

:33:27. > :33:30.on the theory that some people can be healthy,

:33:31. > :33:32.despite being overweight. We'll be talking to the scientist

:33:33. > :33:40.behind the research. Here's Annita in the BBC Newsroom

:33:41. > :33:46.with a summary of today's news. The White House is denying reports

:33:47. > :33:50.that Donald Trump asked former FBI director James Comey to stop

:33:51. > :33:52.an investigation into alleged links Mr Comey, who was sacked last week,

:33:53. > :33:59.is said to have made the claims in notes taken after a meeting

:34:00. > :34:07.with the president in February. The White House say the notes are

:34:08. > :34:12.untrue. The Liberal Democrats are putting

:34:13. > :34:15.a second EU referendum at the heart of their general election manifesto,

:34:16. > :34:17.which is formally launched later. The party says it would

:34:18. > :34:19."let the people decide" whether Brexit happens once

:34:20. > :34:21.negotiations have finished. It is also offering pledges to young

:34:22. > :34:24.people, promising to restore housing benefit for 18 to 21-year-olds

:34:25. > :34:26.and help people get The head of one of Labour's biggest

:34:27. > :34:31.union backers has said the party is on course to lose

:34:32. > :34:34.the general election. Len McCluskey of Unite claimed it

:34:35. > :34:36.would be a successful campaign A spokesman for leader Jeremy Corbyn

:34:37. > :34:41.said he was determined to lead Lloyds Bank says the taxpayer has

:34:42. > :34:50.made a profit of nearly ?900 million after the Government sold the last

:34:51. > :34:54.of its shares in the banking group. It's almost nine years

:34:55. > :34:56.since the bank was bailed out at In a statement, Lloyds confirmed

:34:57. > :35:00.the group has been fully returned That's a summary of

:35:01. > :35:12.the latest BBC News. You Thank you very much. The

:35:13. > :35:17.unemployment figures. Unemployment fell by 53,000 to 1.54 million in

:35:18. > :35:20.the three months to March. Latest official figures just out.

:35:21. > :35:28.With Manchester, Liverpool and Arsenal all battling

:35:29. > :35:31.for the final two Champions League spots, the Gunners have

:35:32. > :35:35.They beat Sunderland 2-0 to keep themselves in the battle for a top

:35:36. > :35:38.four Premier League finish and qualification for

:35:39. > :35:41.the Champions League which would be the 21st season

:35:42. > :35:46.City need just a point from their final match to secure

:35:47. > :35:48.third place to guarantee their spot after beating West

:35:49. > :35:56.City are now unbeaten in their last 12 Premier League home games.

:35:57. > :35:58.Andy Murray's difficult clay court season takes another

:35:59. > :36:01.turn for the worse - beaten in his first match

:36:02. > :36:04.at the Italian Open by Italy's Fabio Fognini.

:36:05. > :36:06.It's likely to be the world number one's last match

:36:07. > :36:08.before the French Open, which starts at

:36:09. > :36:14.And Geraint Thomas showed few ill-effects from Sunday's crash

:36:15. > :36:17.by finishing second in the Stage 10 time trial at the Giro D'Italia.

:36:18. > :36:26.Holland's Tom Dumoulin now leads the race by over two minutes.

:36:27. > :36:34.That's all the sport for now. I will have a full update for you at about

:36:35. > :36:37.10am. Thank you very much, Jess. See you later.

:36:38. > :36:40.Some time after dawn today at a barracks in Kansas the security

:36:41. > :36:44.gates will open and Chelsea Manning will be released.

:36:45. > :37:27.Earlier this week, her lawyer Nancy Hollander told our reporter

:37:28. > :37:35.She's obviously excited. Erm, she's nervous.

:37:36. > :37:38.Getting out of prison after a long incarceration is not as easy

:37:39. > :37:42.It's a transition, there's a period of adjustment.

:37:43. > :37:52.And it will take her some time to adjust.

:37:53. > :37:55.But she'll be fine, and she's got a lot of resilience and a lot

:37:56. > :37:58.that she wants to do, I'm sure.

:37:59. > :38:02.And she will start doing it, as soon as she has a little bit

:38:03. > :38:08.It was straight after she was sentenced, she announced

:38:09. > :38:15.Then she started the transition process.

:38:16. > :38:22.Ultimately, she was given the transition hormones,

:38:23. > :38:25.but they continued to fight about her hair length,

:38:26. > :38:33.which is a huge issue for her - she was not allowed

:38:34. > :38:39.So, we're very relieved that she's going to be out of the prison

:38:40. > :38:40.and can finish her transition without the anxiety

:38:41. > :38:46.of constantly fighting, fighting for what she's entitled to.

:38:47. > :38:48.What stage is that transition at now?

:38:49. > :38:51.She has received hormones, I don't know when they started,

:38:52. > :38:58.And I don't know exactly what happens next, but that will be

:38:59. > :39:06.Let's speak now to Naomi Colvin who helped campaign

:39:07. > :39:17.You have been campaigning for her release. So how are you feeling

:39:18. > :39:22.today knowing that she is actually coming out? It is a really momentous

:39:23. > :39:25.day. I'm thrilled for Chelsea and thrilled for my friends and

:39:26. > :39:27.colleagues over the world who campaigned so relentlessly over the

:39:28. > :39:30.past seven years. It is almost unbelievable. Do you think seven

:39:31. > :39:38.years is a fair sentence for what she did? No. It's incredibly unfair,

:39:39. > :39:43.. Serving almost seven years Chelsea will have served longer in prison

:39:44. > :39:49.than any whistle-blower in US historiment for part of the time she

:39:50. > :39:54.was treated incredibly poorly. The UN reported torture, it reported her

:39:55. > :39:59.treatment amounted to cruel and unusual treatment and as Nancy

:40:00. > :40:05.pointed out, she has not been able to live her life in the way she

:40:06. > :40:09.should and identify in the way, you know, that she is entitled to. It

:40:10. > :40:14.has been incredibly difficult for her and I think that, you know, I'm

:40:15. > :40:19.thrilled that she is being released. It was the right thing for President

:40:20. > :40:26.Obama to do commute her sentence, but she suffered so much and it is

:40:27. > :40:32.unjust. White House said that what she did was harmful to national

:40:33. > :40:36.security. She put out classified diplomatic information and military

:40:37. > :40:40.records, 750,000 military records which, you know, some say did put

:40:41. > :40:45.lives at risk? There is always a question of balance here and I think

:40:46. > :40:48.when you say, "Put lives at risk." It is worth remembering at Chelsea's

:40:49. > :40:54.trial nobody produced any evidence that was the case and they spent

:40:55. > :40:57.concerted time looking for it. If military records are put out there,

:40:58. > :41:00.it is identifying people in a public environment who perhaps should not

:41:01. > :41:05.be identified in that way? There is always a balance and I think with

:41:06. > :41:09.some of those military records some were kept back and there were

:41:10. > :41:13.redactions made, but if you look at the balance between public benefit

:41:14. > :41:16.and potential harm and Chelsea's release, the balance is very far in

:41:17. > :41:22.the direction of public benefit in my opinion. So what would you say

:41:23. > :41:26.has been the public benefit? When Chelsea, the words we have from

:41:27. > :41:29.Chelsea before she was arrested from chat logs talk about wanting to

:41:30. > :41:34.generate worldwide debates and reforms and if you look at the

:41:35. > :41:38.impact what she released I think it goes beyond what she could have

:41:39. > :41:42.imagined there. The release of the state department cables informed the

:41:43. > :41:46.revolution in Tunisia which went on to spark off the Arab Spring and the

:41:47. > :41:51.spate of democratic grass-roots movements which shook the world in

:41:52. > :42:00.2010, 2011. It is hard to imagine impact on a greater scale I think.

:42:01. > :42:05.One senator, military veteran, has said, she is a traitor and treated

:42:06. > :42:10.like a martyr? This, you always see this with whistle-blowers because

:42:11. > :42:14.the same thing came up with Snowdon as well, hero or traitor. I think

:42:15. > :42:17.actually outside of the United States very few people think that

:42:18. > :42:22.Chelsea is a traitor really. Within the United States, there are some

:42:23. > :42:28.senior figures within the Republican Party who do see it very

:42:29. > :42:32.differently. John McCain says it devalues the courage of real

:42:33. > :42:36.whistle-blowers who use proper channels to hold Government

:42:37. > :42:40.accountable and he also says that the actions endangered the lives of

:42:41. > :42:49.US troops, diplomats and intelligence sources. But... So,

:42:50. > :42:53.obviously people can disagree. As I say at Chelsea's trial nobody

:42:54. > :42:57.managed to produce any evidence that lives had been put at risk by

:42:58. > :43:01.Chelsea's disclosures and I think that history will judge her very

:43:02. > :43:08.kindly. Whatever individuals think, she had a tough time going through

:43:09. > :43:11.what she has been going through with gender dysphoria and being

:43:12. > :43:15.incarcerated? She is incredibly brave and when you think about it,

:43:16. > :43:21.she went through this incredible battle to maintain her intellectual

:43:22. > :43:25.integrity against odds. She joined the military believing it was the

:43:26. > :43:27.patriotic thing to do and believing what she was told about fighting

:43:28. > :43:33.terrorism and fighting for democracy in the Middle East. And sort of when

:43:34. > :43:37.she realised that wasn't quite what was going on, had the convictions to

:43:38. > :43:42.get the message out the that's one enormous battle and thereafter, she

:43:43. > :43:45.fought this very battle for transgender rights and for her

:43:46. > :43:51.gender identity to be respected and you know that's another enormous

:43:52. > :43:54.battle. Her bravery, I think, is astonishing and I think these a very

:43:55. > :44:03.modern kind of hero really. Thank you very much.

:44:04. > :44:05.It's one of the most serious allegations faced

:44:06. > :44:09.Did he ask FBI chief James Comey to drop an inquiry into links

:44:10. > :44:12.between his ex-national security adviser and Russia?

:44:13. > :44:21.In a moment we'll be talking more about the latest twist

:44:22. > :44:24.in the Trump-Comey tale - but first a reminder of why these

:44:25. > :44:32.Probably illegal - we'll have to find out

:44:33. > :44:35.what the FBI says about it - but certainly it was bad judgment.

:44:36. > :44:39.I just read the report. It's devastating, the report.

:44:40. > :44:41.Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton

:44:42. > :44:45.or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing

:44:46. > :44:47.the handling of classified information, there is evidence

:44:48. > :44:50.that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive,

:44:51. > :44:56.Based on what was being said, she was guilty.

:44:57. > :45:08.Today is the best evidence ever that we've seen that our system

:45:09. > :45:23.The question of whether that amounts to gross negligence, frankly,

:45:24. > :45:26.there's no way anyway the Department of Justice is bringing a case

:45:27. > :45:45.The FBI is reopening their investigation.

:45:46. > :45:53.That was so bad, what happened originally, and it took guts

:45:54. > :45:57.for Director Comey to make the move that he made in light of the kind

:45:58. > :46:03.What he did, he brought back his reputation.

:46:04. > :46:28.The FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission,

:46:29. > :46:30.is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere

:46:31. > :46:35.with the 2016 presidential election, and that includes investigating

:46:36. > :46:39.the nature of any links between individuals associated

:46:40. > :46:43.with the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

:46:44. > :46:45.With respect to the President's tweets about alleged wiretapping

:46:46. > :46:48.directed at him by the prior administration, I have

:46:49. > :47:15.no information that supports those tweets.

:47:16. > :47:20.Scott Lucas is a professor of American politics at the University

:47:21. > :47:30.of Birmingham. We can talk to him now. How serious is this? Very

:47:31. > :47:33.serious. Even given the day-to-day controversies of the Trump

:47:34. > :47:38.administration, we have now crossed the line, that is because of

:47:39. > :47:42.obstruction of justice, claimed in the FBI director's memo, is both a

:47:43. > :47:47.legal defence, it could lead to criminal charges, and it is a

:47:48. > :47:50.political offence that could lead to impeachment. So Republicans now

:47:51. > :47:53.income west I think who have at least stayed back from pushing

:47:54. > :48:01.against Trump so far will probably be reconsidering their positions. If

:48:02. > :48:07.they don't, is there anyway that this could sort of the fatal for

:48:08. > :48:12.Donald Trump? What we are going to see, whether or not the Republicans

:48:13. > :48:17.shift immediately, is a steady diet of damaging memos, damaging

:48:18. > :48:23.documents, both in the context, the specific context of Trump, the

:48:24. > :48:26.investigation into Trump's associates's alleged links with

:48:27. > :48:30.Russia, and now the specific issue of whether Trump is trying to block

:48:31. > :48:34.that investigation. That will continue from the FBI, it will

:48:35. > :48:38.continue from the CIA, the national security agency because Trump is

:48:39. > :48:42.alienating those agencies. Now at some point, it is like you pull a

:48:43. > :48:46.brick, each brick from under the White House, at some point the White

:48:47. > :48:52.House collapses. Will it mean an impeachment immediately, no, but it

:48:53. > :48:59.means the White House is paralysed. It will not be able to pursue its

:49:00. > :49:04.domestic projects, such as repealing Obamacare. President Trump is tied

:49:05. > :49:08.down like a lover but unlike calibre I don't think he will be able to

:49:09. > :49:14.escape. You say that you are sure certain things emerge, but unless

:49:15. > :49:19.they do from the FBI investigation that is continuing, we don't

:49:20. > :49:24.actually know, do we? We have a body of circumstantial evidence, and

:49:25. > :49:28.let's review, we know that Trump associates met with Russian

:49:29. > :49:32.officials in 2016. The exact content of those and destinations is what

:49:33. > :49:36.the FBI is investigating. We know the times of those meetings that

:49:37. > :49:43.Russia was interfering at the time of the election through hacking and

:49:44. > :49:45.interference. We know that Michael Flynn the security adviser was

:49:46. > :49:49.dismissed because of his conversations with the Russian

:49:50. > :49:54.ambassador, and we now know that President Trump tried to block the

:49:55. > :49:58.investigation of flint by appealing to Director Comey to just stop. You

:49:59. > :50:01.add all of that together and it at least makes a case that this is

:50:02. > :50:08.serious, if indeed as you know it is not yet proven. And adding into this

:50:09. > :50:15.as well is the conversation that Donald Trump had at the White House

:50:16. > :50:20.with Russian representatives, where classified intelligence, it seems,

:50:21. > :50:24.was shared. He says he did share stuff, in the national interest, for

:50:25. > :50:30.the right reasons. What do you make of that row? To have one controversy

:50:31. > :50:36.is unfortunate, to have multiple is very careless, and when Trump gave

:50:37. > :50:39.that information to the Russians, Heerenveen Jude a sensitive

:50:40. > :50:42.relationship between the US and the Middle Eastern country, probably

:50:43. > :50:48.Israel, which may damage their intelligence sharing. He damaged US

:50:49. > :50:52.alliances with other countries, such as European countries, who are

:50:53. > :50:55.wondering whether they can trust the president, and he reinforced the

:50:56. > :50:58.perception that he is far closer to Russia than he is the sum of

:50:59. > :51:02.America's allies. Thank you very much.

:51:03. > :51:08.A new study appears to suggest the idea that you can be both fat and

:51:09. > :51:12.medically fit is a myth. Researchers from the University of Birmingham

:51:13. > :51:16.say obese people who had no initial signs of heart disease, diabetes or

:51:17. > :51:20.high cholesterol were not protected from ill health later in life. We

:51:21. > :51:22.can talk to the man behind the study.

:51:23. > :51:24.And joining me from Portugal is the man behind the study,

:51:25. > :51:33.He joins us from the European Congress on obesity. That is where

:51:34. > :51:36.the study is being unveiled. And Professor Tom Sanders from Kings

:51:37. > :51:41.College London, who is more sceptical of the study. We are

:51:42. > :51:47.joined in the studio by GPL E Cannon, who can offer us some

:51:48. > :51:48.insight into -- we are joined in the studio by

:51:49. > :51:50.Joining me in the studio is Dr Ellie Cannon, a GP.

:51:51. > :52:04.first you, Rishi. This was a study that looked at people who were

:52:05. > :52:11.obese, with no metabolic abnormalities, so without aid

:52:12. > :52:15.history of diabetes or high fat in their blood. We looked at whether

:52:16. > :52:19.they developed cardiovascular disease, specifically coronary heart

:52:20. > :52:24.disease, stroke, heart failure, and something called peripheral vascular

:52:25. > :52:31.disease first up we found that over an average follow-up of 50 years,

:52:32. > :52:37.that people who were obese and did not have any metabolic abnormalities

:52:38. > :52:46.were at increased risk of crony heart disease, heart failure and

:52:47. > :52:51.stroke. That is compared to normal weight individuals with no metabolic

:52:52. > :52:57.abnormalities. So in a nutshell you do not think it is possible to be

:52:58. > :53:04.fat and fit? I don't use the term fit. In terms of cardiovascular

:53:05. > :53:10.health, the study does suggest that it is not, according to the

:53:11. > :53:15.findings, there is a significant proportion of people, which are

:53:16. > :53:20.termed metabolically healthy obese that do go on to actually develop

:53:21. > :53:24.some form of cardiovascular disease. Professor Tom Sanders, what do you

:53:25. > :53:29.think of this? I think the bottom line is to maintain a healthy

:53:30. > :53:32.weight, what you are in early adult life, throughout life. I think

:53:33. > :53:36.people tend to put on weight through life. So if you measure them a long

:53:37. > :53:39.time ago and then look at follow-up, you are not taking into account

:53:40. > :53:45.people who are fat when they are young will be even fatter when they

:53:46. > :53:48.are older. We know that fatness itself is associated with raised

:53:49. > :53:52.blood pressure, raised blood fat, and diabetes. But the diabetes

:53:53. > :53:56.normally doesn't manifest itself until people are in their 50s. So

:53:57. > :54:01.measuring at outset doesn't really tell you that. So the key thing I

:54:02. > :54:04.think is to keep your weight down and don't think there is a magic

:54:05. > :54:08.cut-off point from when you can identify someone is having diabetes

:54:09. > :54:13.or hypertension. We talk about people having pre-hypertension,

:54:14. > :54:18.prediabetes, they are on that road to getting those disorders. They all

:54:19. > :54:21.increase the risk. It is important not to be complacent about your

:54:22. > :54:26.weight, get your weight down, even if you just lose a little bit of

:54:27. > :54:32.weight, that helps, and take regular exercise. Ellie, you are a GP, is it

:54:33. > :54:37.possible to think people to be overweight and ridden absolutely.

:54:38. > :54:42.These are very old-fashioned measurements, looking at BMI, as

:54:43. > :54:47.opposed to waste consultant -- waist circumference, which is much more

:54:48. > :54:51.important long-term health. We need look at holistically peoples health,

:54:52. > :54:55.you talk a lot about people's mental health and people being fit is not

:54:56. > :54:59.just governed by cardiovascular health and whether you get diabetes,

:55:00. > :55:02.whether you coronary artery disease. I don't want my overweight patients

:55:03. > :55:09.to be put off trying to exercise, trying to be healthy, which they

:55:10. > :55:13.really could be, even with a higher BMI. It is also really important to

:55:14. > :55:17.point out that this study has not actually been published. It has not

:55:18. > :55:20.been published in a peer-reviewed journal, so it means that it isn't

:55:21. > :55:25.the quality of evidence that we have in terms of other scientific

:55:26. > :55:28.studies. So, yes, we know that being fat is a risk factor, in terms of

:55:29. > :55:34.disease, along with smoking and other things. But it might actually

:55:35. > :55:39.still be fine for people to be slightly overweight, as long as they

:55:40. > :55:44.are exercising and that BP is normal. So, Rishi, how would you put

:55:45. > :55:50.it, in terms of clear guidance and advice to people, how overweight

:55:51. > :55:54.would you say somebody could be before health starts to become an

:55:55. > :56:07.issue, as a result specifically of the weight? I agree with some of the

:56:08. > :56:12.comments made by Dr Cannon. BMI is a risk of developing cardiovascular

:56:13. > :56:20.disease, depending on your weight, is along a continuum, that I agree

:56:21. > :56:27.with. However, in clinical practice, we do tend to use cut-offs, and the

:56:28. > :56:35.cut-offs we use from the WHO. And so I would be referring to the WHO

:56:36. > :56:39.cut-offs, if I was practising in a hospital, in a GP practice in order

:56:40. > :56:48.to give advice. Tell us what they are. The clear advice. For example,

:56:49. > :56:52.the cut-off for obesity, the BMI that being obese is 30 kilograms per

:56:53. > :56:57.metre squared, and that is according to the WHO. That is used across the

:56:58. > :57:02.world, it is used in clinical practice as well as in research

:57:03. > :57:05.studies, as well. So after that point you are OK, your weight isn't

:57:06. > :57:13.going to impact on your health? Not necessarily. But these are the

:57:14. > :57:16.cut-offs defined by the WHO. So there is a risk of developing for

:57:17. > :57:27.example cardiovascular disease at lower BMIs. That would make all of

:57:28. > :57:33.our rugby players classified as obese, so the entire rugby teams in

:57:34. > :57:36.this country would be obese and unhealthy, yet they are quite

:57:37. > :57:40.obviously very fit from a cardiovascular point of view. That

:57:41. > :57:45.is why doctors don't use BMI any more, it is an old-fashioned way of

:57:46. > :57:50.measuring. Thank you all very much. Let us know your thoughts at home on

:57:51. > :57:53.that as well. Just a reminder, we will be in Dunstable in Beds on

:57:54. > :57:59.Monday 29th made the big election audience debate. If you have made up

:58:00. > :58:03.your mind already you will vote for, still deciding ordered think you

:58:04. > :58:09.will bother, and want the chance to share your views, get in touch to

:58:10. > :58:10.apply for a place. There are more details on our Facebook and Twitter

:58:11. > :58:23.pages. Yesterday was a warm day. We saw the

:58:24. > :58:27.UK top temperature of 26 degrees in Gravesend in the south-east.

:58:28. > :58:31.Scotland also saw a woman's Day of the year, 22 in the Moray Firth.

:58:32. > :58:36.Things a little bit cooler today. Still plenty of sunshine in the

:58:37. > :58:42.north. I will show you this picture from our Weather Watchers. A fresher

:58:43. > :58:45.feel the things, even a touch of frost across the north-east of

:58:46. > :58:50.Scotland but compare that to the south-east, a very wet night. A lot

:58:51. > :58:53.of rain falling, even reports of some localised flooding, minor

:58:54. > :58:56.flooding across west London. You can see why, the bright colours

:58:57. > :58:59.indicating that heavy rain, which swept up from the south-west and

:59:00. > :59:01.more waiting in the wings, which will be driving its way northwards

:59:02. > :59:05.through the course of this afternoon. We could see some

:59:06. > :59:10.brightness developing through the south-east. Then temperatures will

:59:11. > :59:13.really shoot up because it is warm here. Across Scotland and Northern

:59:14. > :59:18.Ireland, a lovely day into the afternoon. The few heavy showers

:59:19. > :59:21.getting in May be heavy with some hail and thunder. Eastern Scotland

:59:22. > :59:26.tending to stay dry, feeling fresher but lovely in the sunshine. Maybe a

:59:27. > :59:29.bit of brightness getting in towards the north and west of Wales, some

:59:30. > :59:35.dry weather into the far south-west but the bulk of eastern Wales and

:59:36. > :59:39.for much of the Midlands, heavy bursts of rain, feeling quite cool

:59:40. > :59:43.too. Heat and humidity in the south-east means we could see some

:59:44. > :59:46.heavy, thundery downpours across the south-east, the London area, in the

:59:47. > :59:50.East Anglia as we head into this evening. Tom Prydie hazardous

:59:51. > :59:53.driving conditions, lots of standing water around for stock that

:59:54. > :00:00.continues to push off into the North Sea. It leaves a legacy of cloud and

:00:01. > :00:03.murkiness through the night. But the south-east where you have clear

:00:04. > :00:06.skies further north and west. The Thursday, once you lose the cloud

:00:07. > :00:10.from the south-east, a fresher feel across-the-board. But at least

:00:11. > :00:13.breakfast are plenty of sunshine around. A scattering of showers

:00:14. > :00:16.developing and some could be quite heavy with hail and thunder,

:00:17. > :00:21.potentially Northern Ireland, eastern Scotland, Wales.

:00:22. > :00:25.Temperatures were they should be, mid to upper teens. This is the

:00:26. > :00:31.pressure chart Friday, this area will be a player as we head into the

:00:32. > :00:33.weekend. This weather front in the south-east could graze East Anglia

:00:34. > :00:40.and the south-east, towards Kent, some patchy rain at times.

:00:41. > :00:43.Elsewhere, there will be a mixture of sunshine and showers,

:00:44. > :00:48.temperatures again in the mid-teen sells you. In the Saturday, a day of

:00:49. > :00:53.sunshine and showers, an area of low pressure firmly in control. Some

:00:54. > :00:56.showers fairly blustery and the north-west, but feeling pleasant in

:00:57. > :00:59.the sunshine. For the weekend it feels like it will be a mixture of

:01:00. > :01:03.sunny spells and showers, some of which will be heavy with hail and

:01:04. > :01:04.thunder. With light winds and clear skies at night we can expect to

:01:05. > :01:09.return to some chilly nights. Hello.

:01:10. > :01:11.It's Wednesday. It's 10am.

:01:12. > :01:12.and I'm Joanna Gosling. Our top story today -

:01:13. > :01:14.the Liberal Democrats will launch their manifesto today,

:01:15. > :01:17.promising a new referendum There's also more money for housing

:01:18. > :01:27.and education and a promise to lower Today we're offering huge

:01:28. > :01:30.opportunities for young people where they can get on the renting ladder

:01:31. > :01:33.for the first time because we're going to give them help with their

:01:34. > :01:37.deposits or they can rent-to-own with a radical new scheme.

:01:38. > :01:40.We'll get reaction from liberal democrat voters and Baroness Kramer

:01:41. > :01:43.from the Lib Dems will be here too to answer yours and their questions.

:01:44. > :01:46.America's former FBI chief claims he was urged to drop his inquiry

:01:47. > :01:48.into links between the Trump campaign and Russia

:01:49. > :02:02.Donald Trump denies the claims. We will have the details.

:02:03. > :02:06.The first survey into gender in horse racing shows that women are

:02:07. > :02:15.under represented in the most prominent areas of the sport.

:02:16. > :02:18.Here's Annita in the BBC Newsroom with a summary of today's news.

:02:19. > :02:26.The Liberal Democrats are putting a second EU referendum at the heart

:02:27. > :02:28.of their general election manifesto, which is formally launched later.

:02:29. > :02:30.The party says it would "let the people decide"

:02:31. > :02:32.whether Brexit happens once negotiations have finished.

:02:33. > :02:34.It's also offering pledges to young people, promising to restore housing

:02:35. > :02:37.benefit for 18 to 21-year-olds and help people get

:02:38. > :02:43.The head of one of Labour's biggest union backers has said the party

:02:44. > :02:45.is on course to lose the general election.

:02:46. > :02:47.Len McCluskey of Unite claimed it would be a successful campaign

:02:48. > :02:52.A spokesman for leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was determined to lead

:02:53. > :02:55.The head of one of Labour's biggest union backers has said the party

:02:56. > :02:57.is on course to lose the general election.

:02:58. > :03:03.The White House has denied reports that Donald Trump asked former FBI

:03:04. > :03:06.director James Comey to stop an investigation into alleged links

:03:07. > :03:11.Mr Comey, who was sacked last week, is said to have made the claims

:03:12. > :03:13.in notes taken after a meeting with the president in February.

:03:14. > :03:19.The White House says the notes are untrue.

:03:20. > :03:22.The UK's unemployment rate has fallen to a 32-year low,

:03:23. > :03:25.as a record number of people are in work, figures show.

:03:26. > :03:29.The jobless total fell by 53,000 to 1.54 million

:03:30. > :03:34.in the three months to March, a rate of 4.6%, the lowest

:03:35. > :03:44.Average weekly earnings ex-excluding, bonuses increased by

:03:45. > :03:48.2.1%. Lloyds Bank says the taxpayer has

:03:49. > :03:51.made a profit of nearly ?900 million after the

:03:52. > :03:52.Government sold the last It's almost nine years

:03:53. > :03:57.since the bank was bailed out at In a statement, Lloyds confirmed

:03:58. > :04:01.the group has been fully returned The former US soldier,

:04:02. > :04:07.Chelsea Manning, who passed hundreds of thousands of confidential

:04:08. > :04:11.diplomatic documents to the website WikiLeaks, will be released later

:04:12. > :04:13.today from a military Born Bradley Manning, she announced

:04:14. > :04:18.she would be living as a woman, She was expected to remain in jail

:04:19. > :04:24.until 2045, but Barack Obama commuted her sentence before leaving

:04:25. > :04:32.the White House in January. That's a summary of

:04:33. > :04:34.the latest BBC News. The Chief Executive

:04:35. > :04:58.of the Women's Tennis Association says that French Open organisers had

:04:59. > :05:00."no grounds to penalise" Maria Sharapova by denying her

:05:01. > :05:03.a wildcard entry to the tournament, WTA chief Steve Simon says that

:05:04. > :05:05.Sharapova has complied Shortly after learning

:05:06. > :05:07.of her Roland Garros snub, Sharapova withdrew injured

:05:08. > :05:10.from her second-round Italian Open Sharapova could still be given

:05:11. > :05:16.a wild card to appear in the main draw at Wimbledon next month,

:05:17. > :05:19.but former champion Pat Cash thinks I would hope that they would

:05:20. > :05:29.stand strong and say no, you've got to go

:05:30. > :05:31.through play and qualify. Look, Maria at qualifying,

:05:32. > :05:34.she'll breeze through it on the She's very experienced and she will

:05:35. > :05:39.probably need some extra matches and she might

:05:40. > :05:42.welcome those matches. Clearly, she's not physically ready

:05:43. > :05:45.100% for hard tennis. I think it will be in the long run,

:05:46. > :05:55.it might not be a bad thing for her, but I think the All England Club

:05:56. > :05:58.need to stand up and make a stance about this and say we're not

:05:59. > :06:00.rewarding drug cheats. Andy Murray continues

:06:01. > :06:02.to have a tough time He's now lost his Italian Open

:06:03. > :06:06.title after being beaten It was a straight sets defeat

:06:07. > :06:09.to Italy's Fabio Fognini, made all the more worrying

:06:10. > :06:12.because the next major, And that is likely to be Murray's

:06:13. > :06:17.next competitive match. His Coach Ivan Lendl flies to Europe

:06:18. > :06:20.this weekend to join Murray's team. Clearly he still has

:06:21. > :06:26.a lot of work to do. The three-way battle for the top

:06:27. > :06:29.four in the Premier League will go down to the final day of the season

:06:30. > :06:32.after Arsenal and Manchester City Arsenal have qualified

:06:33. > :06:35.for the Champions League for the last 20 seasons and beat

:06:36. > :06:37.Sunderland 2-0 to keep Alexi Sanchez scored both goals

:06:38. > :06:42.in the second half to leave Arsene Wenger's side with an outside

:06:43. > :06:44.chance of overtaking And talking of City,

:06:45. > :06:52.they look the most likely to secure They had an straight forward 3-1 win

:06:53. > :06:59.over West Brom last night. Yaya Toure scored

:07:00. > :07:02.the pick of the goals. A point in their final match

:07:03. > :07:06.at Watford will guarantee third Geraint Thomas has

:07:07. > :07:14.moved up to eleventh in the Giro D'Italia

:07:15. > :07:16.after an impressive second place His chances of winning the race

:07:17. > :07:20.were ruined by a crash on Sunday, but he pulled some time back

:07:21. > :07:22.on his rivals yesterday. Holland's Tom Dumoulin now leads

:07:23. > :07:33.the race by over two minutes. That's all the sport for now,

:07:34. > :07:41.Joanna. See you at 10.30am. The Lib Dems will launch

:07:42. > :07:44.their manifesto later. It's their plan for the country

:07:45. > :07:47.which has a series of pledges designed to attract young voters

:07:48. > :07:49.and people who wanted They say if they win the election

:07:50. > :07:52.they'll restore housing benefit to young people,

:07:53. > :07:55.lower the voting age to 16, and hold a referendum

:07:56. > :07:57.on the final Brexit deal. The party is hoping these plans

:07:58. > :08:00.will help reverse the huge losses at the last election

:08:01. > :08:02.when they went from Some voters felt let down

:08:03. > :08:06.by the time they spent in coalition Here's a reminder

:08:07. > :08:09.of what went wrong. And just a warning, there is some

:08:10. > :08:12.flash photography in this report. Until pretty recently,

:08:13. > :08:13.the Liberal Democrats were the strong third force

:08:14. > :08:15.in British politics. In 2007, Nick Clegg, a young MP

:08:16. > :08:20.who used to work in the EU, His personal popularity soared ahead

:08:21. > :08:28.of the general election in 2010 So, don't let them tell

:08:29. > :08:35.you that the only choice is between two old parties who've

:08:36. > :08:37.been playing pass the parcel with your government for 65 years

:08:38. > :08:40.now, making the same promises, Making the same old mistakes

:08:41. > :08:48.over and over again. Despite losing a few seats,

:08:49. > :08:50.the Lib Dems held the balance of power after the election and went

:08:51. > :08:53.into joint government It all kicked off with

:08:54. > :08:59.a love-in out in the back On the steps of Downing Street

:09:00. > :09:05.yesterday evening, I said that Nick and I wanted to put aside party

:09:06. > :09:09.differences and work together Coalition government was not kind

:09:10. > :09:20.to Nick Clegg and his party. Forcing them to go back on some key

:09:21. > :09:25.policies like cutting tuition fees. And forcing this out

:09:26. > :09:32.of the party leader. We made a pledge.

:09:33. > :09:34.We didn't stick to it. Come election night in 2015,

:09:35. > :09:42.things were looking pretty bad. And so it turned out with the party

:09:43. > :09:47.dropping from 57 MPs to just eight. Key figures like former

:09:48. > :09:50.leader Charles Kennedy and Business Secretary Vince Cable

:09:51. > :09:53.were booted out overnight, He had little choice

:09:54. > :09:59.but to resign as leader. Clearly, the results

:10:00. > :10:02.have been immeasurably more crushing and unkind

:10:03. > :10:04.than I could ever have feared. For that, of course,

:10:05. > :10:06.I must take responsibility. Therefore, I announce

:10:07. > :10:09.I will be resigning as leader He eventually handed over to this

:10:10. > :10:16.man, Tim Farron, whose job it now is to give his party

:10:17. > :10:18.the Parliamentary boost it That was at rattle through the Lib

:10:19. > :10:31.Dems fortunes. Let's talk to Baroness Susan Kramer,

:10:32. > :10:33.a Liberal Democrat peer We're joined by two voters who say

:10:34. > :10:38.they felt "let down" by the Lib Dems the last time they

:10:39. > :10:40.were in government. Jess Bowyer voted for

:10:41. > :10:42.the Lib Dems in 2010 after their promise to abolish

:10:43. > :10:44.university tuition fees. Now, she says there's no point

:10:45. > :10:47.in the Lib Dems having good policies Kate Pearson voted for

:10:48. > :10:53.the Lib Dems in 2010. She says she was "seduced"

:10:54. > :10:58.by Nick Clegg's charm, but was horrified after

:10:59. > :11:08.the coalition government. Kate, you were seduced, but then

:11:09. > :11:11.horrified, what happened? I don't knowment like millions of voters

:11:12. > :11:15.across the country I watched Nick Clegg in the debates. He seemed to

:11:16. > :11:23.be the kind of person that I could trust. What were you basing that on?

:11:24. > :11:29.I live in leafy Kent. A vote for Labour seemed like a wasted vote and

:11:30. > :11:34.I didn't have a huge amount for Gordon Brown as the leader at that

:11:35. > :11:37.point. I had always been voting for the Labour Party until that point

:11:38. > :11:43.and Nick Clegg seemed to be saying nothing but things that I agreed.

:11:44. > :11:49.There was the hashtag trending, "I agree with Nick." So I gave him my

:11:50. > :11:53.vote and frankly, was sat in a mask of horror two days later when he

:11:54. > :11:59.stood in the Rose Garden next to David Cameron and they acted like

:12:00. > :12:04.best of friends. I spent five years feeling nauseous that my vote in

:12:05. > :12:08.some way had given value I hadation to the austerity cuts, and the work

:12:09. > :12:13.capability assessments and the tuition fees and all the other

:12:14. > :12:20.ghastly things, rising foodbanks and everything and I just felt as if my

:12:21. > :12:24.vote had given legitimacy to that. I also felt that the Conservative side

:12:25. > :12:29.of the coalition were doing it because they believed it was right

:12:30. > :12:33.and I might dishave disagreed, but they were doing it because they

:12:34. > :12:36.thought it was right and the Liberal Democrats knew that what they were

:12:37. > :12:41.doing was wrong and they were doing it anyway because they wanted to

:12:42. > :12:45.stay in power. Well, let's bring in Jess. You felt let down as well.

:12:46. > :12:51.Tell us why? I voted Lib Dem because I grew up in a Tory-Lib Dem marginal

:12:52. > :12:55.in Devon and it was very clear you voted Lib Dem to stop the Tories. I

:12:56. > :12:59.was attracted to the Lib Dems because you know I was 18. It was my

:13:00. > :13:02.first election. They billed themselves as the party of young

:13:03. > :13:09.voters, with pledges on tuition fees and that was really attractive to

:13:10. > :13:14.me. So, it was, it was a huge shock to find, you know, two days later

:13:15. > :13:19.them going into power with the Conservatives in capitulating on

:13:20. > :13:23.everything that they claimed to have stood for. The tuition fees for you,

:13:24. > :13:29.was what, that was the final straw, was it? It was one of the big things

:13:30. > :13:32.and I think tuition fees has become kind of emblematic with regards to

:13:33. > :13:37.perceived Lib Dem failures, but for me it is more about the austerity

:13:38. > :13:40.programme. We have had rises in child poverty, in homelessness and

:13:41. > :13:45.desmation of the Welfare State and the NHS, all of which have been

:13:46. > :13:47.facilitate bid the coalition Government and probably wouldn't

:13:48. > :13:51.have happened without the Lib Dems. So, Susan, how do you feel when you

:13:52. > :13:57.hear the Lib Dem voters talking like that? I suspect I will never win

:13:58. > :14:02.back Jess or Kate and I'm sad about that. They are representative of a

:14:03. > :14:06.lot of people. I'm sad about that. If we go back and look at the

:14:07. > :14:11.coalition, we need to look forward, but I wouldn't change going into

:14:12. > :14:14.coalition. I think people have forgotten the fragility of the

:14:15. > :14:19.economy and the crisis that we faced at that point in time and if we

:14:20. > :14:22.hadn't had a Government that had a majority to deliver in Parliament,

:14:23. > :14:26.we would, I mean, the damage that would have happened to people with

:14:27. > :14:29.their job losses, the collapse in communities, we have seen that in

:14:30. > :14:34.the past and to have decided, it's good for our party to stay out, but

:14:35. > :14:39.I'll let this happen to people, I couldn't have done that. So, I

:14:40. > :14:42.understand the anger. I would ask them not to forget the good things

:14:43. > :14:46.we did in Government, much of which have been claimed by the

:14:47. > :14:50.Conservatives, but there are 23 million people who used to pay

:14:51. > :14:53.income tax and don't. Pupil premium made a fantastic difference in

:14:54. > :14:58.schools, the der ter ration in the NHS, you can see comes after the

:14:59. > :15:01.coalition. We managed to hold the frontline services to a very

:15:02. > :15:08.significant degree during that period. We stemmed the Tories from

:15:09. > :15:11.savage cuts in welfare which you saw coming as soon as we were no longer

:15:12. > :15:15.there. There were a lot of things we did. Equal marriage. There were all

:15:16. > :15:20.kinds of things that were important in that period that I'm proud of,

:15:21. > :15:24.but not everything, we were the smaller party in a coalition and the

:15:25. > :15:27.reality, you do a programme for when you're in Government, but that means

:15:28. > :15:34.you think you're going to be the Government. We were part of a

:15:35. > :15:39.coalition. Let's see what Jess and Kate think. The bits that Susan is

:15:40. > :15:44.proud of. Does that mitigate the bits that you don't like? You

:15:45. > :15:48.mentioned the NHS. What about the massive top down reorganisation of

:15:49. > :15:52.the NHS that was unmentioned in anybody's manifesto and was opposed

:15:53. > :15:58.by every medical professional body in the country? That was on your

:15:59. > :16:04.watch. I have a very dear friend who was a sister in A and she would

:16:05. > :16:06.argue with you that cuts to National Health Service were going on long

:16:07. > :16:23.before. Things like waiting lists. The

:16:24. > :16:27.crunch seems to have come over the last couple of years. I think that

:16:28. > :16:38.is because the cutting process has continued. So let's look forward. We

:16:39. > :16:42.have the Lib Dem manifested today. Mental health finally on the agenda,

:16:43. > :16:47.finally finally, where it has never been before. Yes, it has come

:16:48. > :16:51.through. The manifesto launch today, trying to appeal to younger voters,

:16:52. > :16:54.exactly voters like these two. But you said right at the beginning you

:16:55. > :17:03.have no hope of winning people like back. What other policies that

:17:04. > :17:07.might? I talk to people on the doorstep. There are some that will

:17:08. > :17:11.always be disillusioned with us but I have found there are many that

:17:12. > :17:17.actually are very excited. Satele than the policies. What has been

:17:18. > :17:21.fascinating is our party membership, half of which under 35 and it is

:17:22. > :17:23.younger people who have come and said as we look at Lib Dem

:17:24. > :17:28.principles, we bond to join the party and shape the party, which I

:17:29. > :17:33.find absolutely fascinating and crucially important. For many of the

:17:34. > :17:37.young people I talk to, Brexit really is serious. They feel

:17:38. > :17:43.European, their identity is being taken from them, they planned to do

:17:44. > :17:46.internships in different places, engineering in Germany, fashion in

:17:47. > :17:52.France, they thought they were free to work abroad. So Lib Dems is

:17:53. > :17:56.giving a promise of a second referendum. Yes, that second

:17:57. > :18:00.referendum will be their chance to see what is the actual deal Theresa

:18:01. > :18:04.May has managed to negotiate and will you live with this or not. I

:18:05. > :18:10.hope young people will see that as a really important opportunity to talk

:18:11. > :18:17.about their feelings. Is that appealing? I would rather set myself

:18:18. > :18:21.on fire than live through another EU referendum. I don't think results

:18:22. > :18:25.would be any different. Don't give up, don't give up, we have to go to

:18:26. > :18:30.the barricades and keep fighting this. I do have Brexit and I think

:18:31. > :18:34.it can be avoided but I don't want another referendum. For me,

:18:35. > :18:37.fundamentally, the problem as it is fine to have all these great

:18:38. > :18:41.policies but why should voters trust you? I voted Lib Dem in 2010 on the

:18:42. > :18:47.basis of your policies, which never came into action, and you reversed a

:18:48. > :18:51.lot of things. We delivered a lot of that policy -based. The obvious one

:18:52. > :18:56.being taking 23 million people at the lower end of income out of tax.

:18:57. > :18:59.Instead of looking back it would be good on what is coming on the

:19:00. > :19:05.manifesto. A pledge to allow people to vote from the age of 16. That is

:19:06. > :19:09.something we really feel is so important because 16-year-olds

:19:10. > :19:13.should have a voice. My daughter just turned 16, I would love it if

:19:14. > :19:17.she had a voice, particularly with the European referendum last year. I

:19:18. > :19:19.think it was absolutely appalling that so many of the younger

:19:20. > :19:24.generation who would be the most affected by it, particularly people

:19:25. > :19:30.who might want to study and a couple of years, were not allowed a vote.

:19:31. > :19:34.Would it make you vote Lib Dem? Personally, I never ever thought I

:19:35. > :19:37.would vote Lib Dem again. 2015, I swore I would never vote Lib Dem

:19:38. > :19:49.again and two years later they have my vote. Delighted. They are the

:19:50. > :19:52.only people representing my views on Brexit. Unfortunately if Theresa May

:19:53. > :19:56.wants to say this is a Brexit election and this is her mandate to

:19:57. > :20:04.go in and deliver a hard, Conservative style Brexit, stripping

:20:05. > :20:09.away employee rights and equal protection under the law, if she

:20:10. > :20:14.wants it to be a mandate for her hard Brexit, the only party

:20:15. > :20:19.certainly south of the border whereby I can express my strong

:20:20. > :20:24.opinion that that is not my mandate is by going to the Liberal

:20:25. > :20:30.Democrats. What will success look like the Lib Dems in this election,

:20:31. > :20:34.because you are down to eight MPs? Never I spend my time looking at

:20:35. > :20:39.numbers. What I want us to do is to be that kind of voice that Kate

:20:40. > :20:42.talked about. Because I think Theresa May, I will be honest,

:20:43. > :20:46.Theresa May will get a substantial majority. She will see that as a

:20:47. > :20:52.mandate to do whatever she chooses, and not just on the Brexit issue. We

:20:53. > :20:55.have seen a lot of hard right policies being proposed. She is

:20:56. > :20:59.being careful to shore herself up by bringing in the Ukip vote. You are

:21:00. > :21:04.not going to give us a figure on what success would be for the Lib

:21:05. > :21:07.Dems? We are the voice of the election, we will keep that voice

:21:08. > :21:12.loud and clear, whatever our numbers. But the more people we

:21:13. > :21:17.have, the more we can push for the second referendum. We are going to

:21:18. > :21:24.listen to Theresa May right now, I will interrupt you because she is on

:21:25. > :21:27.the campaign trail and speaking. The UK economy has grown at one of the

:21:28. > :21:35.fastest rates in the developed world. Employment has increased by

:21:36. > :21:39..9 million since Labour were in power, and we should never forget

:21:40. > :21:43.what those numbers mean for the Merhi working families. They mean a

:21:44. > :21:46.better future and more security. They mean a better standard of

:21:47. > :21:51.living for people and more tax revenue to spend on vital public

:21:52. > :21:55.services, like our NHS, schools and defence. And just today, we have

:21:56. > :22:00.seen that the work of fixing Labour's economic mess continues.

:22:01. > :22:04.The government has sold its remaining shares in Lloyds banking

:22:05. > :22:11.group, as we continue to repair the damage to our banking sector, and

:22:12. > :22:15.today's employment figures show that our credible policies are delivering

:22:16. > :22:22.greater security for families across the country. But none of this

:22:23. > :22:26.happened by accident. Our economic progress has been dearly won, and

:22:27. > :22:33.could easily be lost if the wrong policies were pursued in the years

:22:34. > :22:39.ahead. It is frankly all at risk. Any party which asks the British

:22:40. > :22:43.party to entrust to them the responsibilities of forming the next

:22:44. > :22:48.government through the crucial years of our Brexit negotiations and

:22:49. > :22:52.beyond must demonstrate that it has the credible economic plan and the

:22:53. > :22:58.capable team to safeguard our economic security. Now one could

:22:59. > :23:03.look at what Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour Party offered yesterday and

:23:04. > :23:07.concludes that it passed the test. The risk which a Jeremy Corbyn

:23:08. > :23:11.-based government would pose to our economy has been laid bare, that

:23:12. > :23:18.manifestos are also a test of something else. They are a test of

:23:19. > :23:22.leadership. Later this week, I will publish my party's manifesto for the

:23:23. > :23:27.next five years. Unlike Jeremy Corbyn's fantasy wish list of easy

:23:28. > :23:32.promises, paid for with imaginary money, I will set out in detail the

:23:33. > :23:38.five great challenges our country faces over the next five years. And

:23:39. > :23:41.lay out how we will tackle them. While Jeremy Corbyn and Labour

:23:42. > :23:46.retreat into an ideological comfort certain, ducking the difficult

:23:47. > :23:52.challenges which lie ahead, I will be straight with people. I won't shy

:23:53. > :23:59.away from facing the challenges of our time. Rather, I will set out how

:24:00. > :24:04.we will tackle them head-on. Because that is what leadership is about.

:24:05. > :24:10.And on this key test, Jeremy Corbyn has failed once again. If he can't

:24:11. > :24:14.show real leadership of his party now, how could he lead our country

:24:15. > :24:17.through Brexit? How could he sit down with the Prime Minister 's,

:24:18. > :24:23.president and chancellors of Europe and get a good deal for Britain? At

:24:24. > :24:26.this election, only the strong and stable leadership of me and my team

:24:27. > :24:33.can deliver the successful Brexit our country needs, face up to the

:24:34. > :24:38.challenges which lie ahead, and improve the lives of everyone in our

:24:39. > :24:43.country. It will be strong leadership and credible policies for

:24:44. > :24:48.a better future. That starts with getting the right Brexit deal for

:24:49. > :24:51.Britain, which locks in economic security for our country, the

:24:52. > :24:55.weakness of Jeremy Corbyn and the chaos of the coalition which would

:24:56. > :25:03.put him into Downing Street would put that at risk, and with it the

:25:04. > :25:07.future prosperity of families across our country, and the Chancellor will

:25:08. > :25:12.now say more about that. Thank you, Prime Minister. Yesterday, the

:25:13. > :25:17.Labour manifesto confirmed what we already suspected, that they do not

:25:18. > :25:23.have a credible plan for our country's future, and they cannot be

:25:24. > :25:27.trusted with our country's finances. What we saw yesterday is only the

:25:28. > :25:31.latest in a catalogue of chaos from Labour. Throughout this campaign,

:25:32. > :25:36.Labour have shown time and time again that they lack the basic

:25:37. > :25:41.competence and credibility the government this country. We have

:25:42. > :25:48.seen Jeremy Corbyn and his closest lieutenancy exposed as being simply

:25:49. > :25:50.not up to the job. The Shadow Chancellor, the self-confessed

:25:51. > :25:58.Marxist John McDonnell, doesn't know how big the deficit is. The shadow

:25:59. > :26:01.secretary Di Shadow Home Secretary at one stage was suggesting you

:26:02. > :26:05.could employ a police officer to ?30 a year. The Shadow Education

:26:06. > :26:11.Secretary Angela Rayner couldn't tell us how many children their

:26:12. > :26:14.class size policy would affect, and yesterday, the Shadow Foreign

:26:15. > :26:21.Secretary Emily Thornberry was unable to explain Labour's policy on

:26:22. > :26:24.benefits. Labour have simply become a shambles, and as yesterday's

:26:25. > :26:31.manifesto showed, their numbers simply do not add up. Now that

:26:32. > :26:36.Jeremy Corbyn has published his manifesto in full, we have been able

:26:37. > :26:41.to update the analysis, which David Davis and I published previously. We

:26:42. > :26:48.can now set out the full damage his nonsensical plans would do to the

:26:49. > :26:53.nation's finances by 2021-22. The new dossier of analysis we have

:26:54. > :26:57.published today shows that there is a ?58 billion black hole in Jeremy

:26:58. > :27:04.Corbyn's plans in just one year alone. Proposal after proposal in

:27:05. > :27:12.Labour's manifesto mean more borrowing and more debt, two

:27:13. > :27:17.unexplained threats to seize control of private companies stop these

:27:18. > :27:25.plans, many of them extremely questionable in themselves, simply

:27:26. > :27:28.do not add up. Any shred of economic credibility, which Labour had left,

:27:29. > :27:35.has now been buried by Jeremy Corbyn and his acolytes. And this matters

:27:36. > :27:39.to families across the United Kingdom. The economic chaos, which

:27:40. > :27:44.would hit our country if Labour were in a position to implement the

:27:45. > :27:48.shambolic package of policies they unveiled yesterday, would leave

:27:49. > :27:54.every household in Britain counting the cost. The price of Labour's

:27:55. > :27:58.chaos would be felt in higher taxes and steeper mortgage bills for

:27:59. > :28:02.working families. This economic chaos would mean higher

:28:03. > :28:06.unemployment, robbing families of the peace of mind and security,

:28:07. > :28:11.which comes with a job. It would mean more borrowing, throwing away

:28:12. > :28:17.all the hard earned progress of the last seven years, and take us right

:28:18. > :28:20.back to square one with a growing deficit, growing debt, and

:28:21. > :28:28.increasing financial uncertainty for the next generation. Labour's

:28:29. > :28:32.manifesto is a plan for an ideological fuel, which would mean

:28:33. > :28:38.economic chaos for the many. Only Theresa May and her Conservative

:28:39. > :28:44.team have a plan to lock in economic security and built a better future

:28:45. > :28:51.for our country. Dee Stakes at this election could not be higher. A vote

:28:52. > :29:02.for any other party is simply too big a risk to take. Thank you.

:29:03. > :29:09.Thank you, very much, Philip, we will now take some questions. Laura?

:29:10. > :29:14.Thank you very much Prime Minister and Chancellor. You have attacked

:29:15. > :29:20.the Labour plans, not surprisingly, but if increasing tax and increasing

:29:21. > :29:23.spending overall is such a bad idea, why has it continued to happen under

:29:24. > :29:28.a government that you have both been part of for seven years? You have

:29:29. > :29:30.repeatedly missed your deficit target the new even still have a

:29:31. > :29:36.black Colin Newell most recent budget, Chancellor. The Chancellor

:29:37. > :29:41.this morning rather candidly admitted swearing occasionally in

:29:42. > :29:46.rows with number ten. If after June you are re-elected, will you still

:29:47. > :29:49.be next neighbours? First of all, I will ask the Chancellor to respond

:29:50. > :29:52.as well, but first of all let's be clear about what we are saying about

:29:53. > :29:58.the Labour Party manifesto. It simply doesn't add up. What we see

:29:59. > :30:04.today is this ?58 billion black hole that we have identified in their

:30:05. > :30:08.figures. These are large numbers, but what matters is the impact it

:30:09. > :30:12.has on ordinarily working families, and it means that people will be

:30:13. > :30:18.paying the price of labour. They will pay the price in higher taxes,

:30:19. > :30:21.lower wages, higher prices, and an economy which will be in chaos. The

:30:22. > :30:24.key thing is that over the last seven years we have shown we have

:30:25. > :30:29.that credible economic plan and we have that credible economic plan for

:30:30. > :30:32.the future to take us forward, to ensure that we get the right deal

:30:33. > :30:36.from Brexit but also locked our economic security. And I think it is

:30:37. > :30:40.true to say that the Chancellor and I and every other member of our team

:30:41. > :30:43.are focused on the 8th of June. Our focus is on winning this general

:30:44. > :30:49.election because it matters for the future of our country. What I

:30:50. > :30:54.candidly admitted this morning, and my family will confirm this, is that

:30:55. > :30:57.I do occasionally swear. I wasn't referring to any particular, session

:30:58. > :31:03.but I do occasionally swear. The difference between us and Labour is

:31:04. > :31:06.that Labour doesn't believe in balancing the budget. The Prime

:31:07. > :31:09.Minister has said many times that as a country we have to get back to

:31:10. > :31:13.living within our means, we have to do that in a sensible way, we have

:31:14. > :31:16.to do that in a measured way that balances the needs of deficit

:31:17. > :31:19.reduction with the needs for investment in our economy, and the

:31:20. > :31:25.needs of our public services, but we do have to do it. Labour doesn't

:31:26. > :31:31.believe in reducing taxes. Labour believes in increasing taxes. We are

:31:32. > :31:31.a low tax party by instinct. Conservatives will always cost you

:31:32. > :31:45.less in tax. Well, let's leave Theresa May and

:31:46. > :31:53.Philip Hammond. Norman Smith is in Westminster.

:31:54. > :32:00.Today, they are focussing on bashing Labour's offering yesterday. Yes,

:32:01. > :32:04.this was just an attack press conference to gut and fillet

:32:05. > :32:07.Labour's manifesto yesterday. Theresa May, Philip Hammond,

:32:08. > :32:12.focussing on the issue of credibility, saying that Mr Corbyn's

:32:13. > :32:17.plans simply did not add up. It was described as a catalogue of chaos. A

:32:18. > :32:22.fantasy wish-list and at the heart of their argument is there is they

:32:23. > :32:26.say ?58 billion of unfunded commitments made by Mr Corbyn

:32:27. > :32:29.yesterday. Now, those mostly are the big nationalisations, he talked

:32:30. > :32:34.about, Team Corbyn are saying we didn't include that because it's

:32:35. > :32:37.capital spending so we can borrow. Mrs May, also again focus on the

:32:38. > :32:41.credibility of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. She wants to make it a

:32:42. > :32:47.tussle about the strong and stable leadership of Theresa May as she

:32:48. > :32:52.sees it versus Jeremy Corbyn and she accused him of retreating into an

:32:53. > :32:56.edelogical comfort zone. So this was basically an attack press conference

:32:57. > :32:59.by the Tories to try and take apart Labour's big manifesto launch

:33:00. > :33:03.yesterday. And separately, Norman, today, one of Labour big backers is

:33:04. > :33:07.expressing his doubts about Labour's prospects at the election. Tell us

:33:08. > :33:11.more? Extraordinary really in a way because come election time normally

:33:12. > :33:16.all the big political beasts come out and say how wonderful their side

:33:17. > :33:23.is doing and it's all going very well. No so Len McCluskey who is

:33:24. > :33:27.Jeremy Corbyn's main man in the union movement and he is political

:33:28. > :33:31.muscle within the Labour Party. Len McCluskey said, it doesn't look like

:33:32. > :33:35.we're going to winment in fact, we'll be doing well to win just 200

:33:36. > :33:39.seats. That would be the worst result Labour have ever had since

:33:40. > :33:45.the Second World War. Worse than mike al Foot and Len McCluskey seems

:33:46. > :33:50.to be saying that would not be a bad result. This morning, a different

:33:51. > :33:55.tune from Mr McCluskey listen. Well, first of all the interview I did was

:33:56. > :34:00.a conversational piece and it was against the backdrop of if the

:34:01. > :34:03.opinion polls are to be believed that I made those comments. Of

:34:04. > :34:08.course, since then Labour have launched their manifesto. It's a

:34:09. > :34:11.fantastic manifesto. A manifesto for workers, for ordinary working

:34:12. > :34:17.people. A manifesto that will change Britain for the good. And the

:34:18. > :34:24.response that we've had from Unite members has been incredible. That's

:34:25. > :34:27.why I was checking our polls that we do constant polls and the response

:34:28. > :34:32.has been like something we've never seen before. So I'm full of optimism

:34:33. > :34:36.if I was having that interview today, I wouldn't be making those

:34:37. > :34:39.comments. I think also the Labour campaign has been brilliant. It has

:34:40. > :34:45.outshown the Tories. Jeremy Corbyn has come across as a real man of the

:34:46. > :34:48.people and a real leader. I'm now full of optimism as to what will

:34:49. > :34:55.happen in the next two to three weeks. I believe that the opinion

:34:56. > :34:59.polls will start to move, if our members in Unite are anything to go

:35:00. > :35:05.by, once people start looking at the policies that Labour have, in their

:35:06. > :35:08.manifesto, then anything is possible and we believe now that everything

:35:09. > :35:12.to fight for over the next three weeks and that's what we will be

:35:13. > :35:18.doing. So you have not had a change of tune? Yes, in many respects I

:35:19. > :35:23.have. Against the backdrop of the opinion polls, that was the

:35:24. > :35:30.conversational interview I was having, but Labour's manifesto has

:35:31. > :35:33.been received certainlily Unite members, very, very enthusiastically

:35:34. > :35:37.and I think positively and I think if that spreads throughout the rest

:35:38. > :35:40.of the nation then we could see something really dramatic happening

:35:41. > :35:45.in the next two to three weeks and that's what we will be fighting for.

:35:46. > :35:48.Every single vote, Unite, will be there, in every constituency

:35:49. > :35:52.fighting for Labour to win this election.

:35:53. > :35:56.You did say in the interview that 200 seats would be a successful

:35:57. > :36:03.campaign, but that's almost 30 fewer... Yes, against a backdrop of

:36:04. > :36:10.the current opinion polls and that's why it's always difficult in a

:36:11. > :36:13.long-ranging interview to pick out specific comments because it's

:36:14. > :36:18.always against the backdrop of what you were talking about and of

:36:19. > :36:24.course, I was talking about the opinion polls and how massive a task

:36:25. > :36:29.lies ahead for Labour. Now, what I'm saying now is, very evidencely, this

:36:30. > :36:34.manifesto -- efficiently, this manifesto that's come out, the

:36:35. > :36:37.Americans sometimes refer to it as a Christmas tree, there is a present

:36:38. > :36:41.for everybody hanging from it and that's true. John McDonnell has been

:36:42. > :36:50.brilliant in explaining where the cash will come from. And I think now

:36:51. > :36:53.that that should start to alter things fairly dramatically both in

:36:54. > :36:57.the polls and Labour's prospects so that's what I'm looking forward. But

:36:58. > :37:03.if the polls don't change and you're still... Well, let's just wait to

:37:04. > :37:07.see because I'm now convinced that the polls will change. I'm now

:37:08. > :37:12.convinced that Labour are in with a real chance and that's what we are

:37:13. > :37:17.hoping for the that's what the British people need if they could

:37:18. > :37:20.only examine those particular policies that Labour have put

:37:21. > :37:24.forward then I think things will begin to change and that's, I'm

:37:25. > :37:30.ready for the fight. I'm up for the fight. So, there we are. Len

:37:31. > :37:34.McCluskey had a conversion overnight. A shining light convinced

:37:35. > :37:40.him that Jeremy Corbyn is now in fact on course for victory. OK,

:37:41. > :37:45.Norman. Hold the thoughts. You may well know that every day until 8th

:37:46. > :37:50.June we are highlighting the best gaffe or amaoudsing moment from the

:37:51. > :37:55.election cal pawn with Norman. We need a general election and we

:37:56. > :37:59.need one now. To every city, every village, every town. We state a

:38:00. > :38:05.clear intention. About the future of this country. The big question here

:38:06. > :38:10.is simply this... At what point... Are voters... Getting tired of

:38:11. > :38:20.politicians. Let me finish if you don't mind. What have you got today,

:38:21. > :38:24.Norman? I bring you beards! What do we think of beards? Well, vote, are

:38:25. > :38:28.not terribly fond of politicians who have beards of the there is a survey

:38:29. > :38:35.out today saying two-thirds of voters don't like their leaders to

:38:36. > :38:42.have beards. They view them as unkept and looks as if you kind of

:38:43. > :38:49.let yourself go, which is not good news for Westminster's famous beard

:38:50. > :38:54.which belongs to Mr J Corbyn. He won the Beard Of The Year seven years on

:38:55. > :38:58.the trot. This was him being asked a couple of years ago, how long he had

:38:59. > :39:05.been growing a beard for? Well, the leader of the beard liberation front

:39:06. > :39:09.quoted me as saying I wear my beard as my opposition to New Labour, but

:39:10. > :39:15.that doesn't really work when John himself wears a beard! Look, there

:39:16. > :39:20.are contradictions in the movement. Now, history is not necessarily on

:39:21. > :39:28.Mr Corbyn's side, the last Prime Minister to have a beard was the

:39:29. > :39:36.Marcus of Salisbury in 1900s, 1902, something like that. He had a bushy,

:39:37. > :39:42.full beard, a bit like that character in Fools And Horses. He

:39:43. > :39:48.has an uncle Albert beard! Karl Marx, yes he had another very full

:39:49. > :39:54.beard! Other figures we can think of, well, of course, there was the

:39:55. > :39:59.US President, Abraham Lincoln. Very successful leader, of course, he had

:40:00. > :40:12.more of a goatee, I guess we'd call it now. Elsewhere on the range,

:40:13. > :40:19.Gengis Khan. Beards have a chequered relationship. However, on matters

:40:20. > :40:24.here, one Liberal Democrat is so enthused by his party, he has got

:40:25. > :40:29.the words, "Lib Dem" Cut into his hair! Have a look! This is what he

:40:30. > :40:32.has done on each side. That's how committed he is to the

:40:33. > :40:37.cause! Maybe I could get the words, "BBC"

:40:38. > :40:42.Cut into the sides of my hairment I don't think I've got enough hair.

:40:43. > :40:44.Scrap that idea. Forget it. I think you should do it, Norman.

:40:45. > :41:02.LAUGHTER So there is an election going on.

:41:03. > :41:14.We are calling it What's The Chatter? Today we are talking about

:41:15. > :42:47.echo chambers. What are they? Well, have a look at this.

:42:48. > :42:51.He's the stats guy at the think-tank, Demos.

:42:52. > :42:55.And his colleague Jamie Bartlett is here to tell us what the data means.

:42:56. > :43:03.Welcome. I know that you enjoyed Norman's chat on beards a moment

:43:04. > :43:08.ago! Let's talk more about the echo chamber because we heard the

:43:09. > :43:12.principle, Josh and I know you wanted to know if that principle is

:43:13. > :43:16.going on with the 200,000 supporters you followed. You generated a chart

:43:17. > :43:20.and explain what we're looking at here? What you're looking, we're

:43:21. > :43:23.interested in not only people were saying and who they were talking to

:43:24. > :43:28.and what the conversations were and each of the dots on this graph is a

:43:29. > :43:33.user on Twitter. And each line represents a conversation. So if I

:43:34. > :43:37.tweet to you, you will get a notification that I've, I'm talking

:43:38. > :43:42.to you, but you will be connected by a line on this graph. Now, the only

:43:43. > :43:47.thing that determines where the users are on this graph is who

:43:48. > :43:50.they're talking to and how much. We've coloured them by party, but

:43:51. > :43:53.that's what is determining their position. The really interesting

:43:54. > :43:58.thing that we have seen coming out here and this is 1.5 million tweets

:43:59. > :44:04.over the election period is that people are generally grouping by

:44:05. > :44:06.their parties. This affects kind of various, depending on the parties,

:44:07. > :44:09.Labour and Conservatives are grouped together, but they're more spread

:44:10. > :44:14.out than the three other parties that we have been looking at. So

:44:15. > :44:17.that's specifically then where you're identifying the echo chamber

:44:18. > :44:22.going on, the Lib Dems, the SNP and Ukip? That's where we have seen this

:44:23. > :44:25.effect strongest. So you can see and if we remove Labour and Conservative

:44:26. > :44:31.from the graph, you can see that while there are conversations going

:44:32. > :44:34.on between these clusters, they're much, much denser within themselves.

:44:35. > :44:38.So most of the chatter within each of the parties are to the party

:44:39. > :44:42.faithful, are to people who kind of share the same views. Jamie, tell me

:44:43. > :44:46.what you've identified about people in the three parties and what they

:44:47. > :44:50.are sharing? Well, so taking our sort of little clusters and taking

:44:51. > :44:54.our samples of 200 from each of the parties, we were looking at the

:44:55. > :45:01.tweets that were the most shared within them. So, I think the first

:45:02. > :45:09.one comes from the SNP here. So this was the most shared within the SNP

:45:10. > :45:12.group. And as you can see this is fairly inward looking. Essentially

:45:13. > :45:17.it is Nicola Sturgeon saying that Alex Salmond was right by saying

:45:18. > :45:23.that the Labour manifesto is essentially a rip off of some SNP

:45:24. > :45:26.policies. Very popular amongst SNP supporters. So that was

:45:27. > :45:31.reverberating around about that, but what about the Liberal Democrats? A

:45:32. > :45:34.sort of similar one. A self congratulatetry tweet from the

:45:35. > :45:40.Liberal Democrats. This was the most shared within that cluster and it's

:45:41. > :45:44.essentially again Tim Farron's vision to change Britain and

:45:45. > :45:54.apparently the voters were loving it. All Or Now message. What about

:45:55. > :45:58.Ukip? This was interesting because the Ukip one was not directly about

:45:59. > :46:05.the election. That was if you like a bit more on the core territory of

:46:06. > :46:11.Ukip, it was about a terrorism case in court. I don't know what you draw

:46:12. > :46:16.from that, may be that the focus is not solely on the election the Ukip,

:46:17. > :46:27.this was a bit of an outlier if you like, it was about a broader issue

:46:28. > :46:30.than this election. Won interesting. If we look of the tweets they are

:46:31. > :46:34.sending, the outlook is a bit different. They are engaging in

:46:35. > :46:39.debate with each other a bit more. And the shape here is interesting,

:46:40. > :46:43.these clusters are much closer together, much more connecting these

:46:44. > :46:48.two parties than we saw the other three parties earlier. They were

:46:49. > :46:57.focusing mainly on the same issues, in this last week, both parties

:46:58. > :47:01.talking about Eurovision. The Labour manifesto is a big topic of

:47:02. > :47:07.discussion. There are still groupings but there is more talk

:47:08. > :47:15.between them. So Jamie. Eurovision is a cross-party issue expat what

:47:16. > :47:19.else? The big story last week politically was ransomware, which as

:47:20. > :47:23.we saw was this piece of malware that was infecting computers and

:47:24. > :47:28.causing trouble particularly for the NHS because it was locking files

:47:29. > :47:35.that had to be decrypted. Ransomware was being talked about by all of the

:47:36. > :47:44.parties. One of the most popular tweets of all was this one from Paul

:47:45. > :47:53.Mason, about should we be upgrading trident Fumic uneven seemed to fix

:47:54. > :47:58.an exploit of Windows XP. That was the problem which resulted in some

:47:59. > :48:01.of the ransomware. And this was especially popular with SNP voters,

:48:02. > :48:12.probably because of the trident aspect. With the cyber attacks seen

:48:13. > :48:15.as Jeremy Corbyn things. Among Labour supporters it was this one

:48:16. > :48:20.that was most shared. This is the interesting thing. The received

:48:21. > :48:25.wisdom in electoral politics as if we are talking about the NHS, Labour

:48:26. > :48:30.is winning. That is what strategists have always thought. Labour

:48:31. > :48:34.supporters on Twitter were more likely to be talking about this

:48:35. > :48:37.ransomware than those from the Conservative Party. They especially

:48:38. > :48:43.focused on the fact that Jeremy Corbyn had been speaking about a tax

:48:44. > :48:51.that very morning on the NHS from things like -- speaking about

:48:52. > :48:55.attacks. The Tories did not engage in any way the same volume. The

:48:56. > :48:58.Labour Party wants to get the conversation onto the NHS of this

:48:59. > :49:03.was the way to do it. Where they did talk about this and I think it

:49:04. > :49:06.reflects the strengths of the different party as they perceive it

:49:07. > :49:11.themselves, Conservative supporters on twitter were just sharing

:49:12. > :49:16.information about it being an international cyber attack. It

:49:17. > :49:21.wasn't only the UK targeted. That kind of puts the conversation onto

:49:22. > :49:28.national security, where the Conservatives feel more confident.

:49:29. > :49:31.It is a good place for the Conservatives to take these issues

:49:32. > :49:35.of the day and spend them in a way that they think it works for them.

:49:36. > :49:43.What is the biggest tweet of the week? This was picked up by every

:49:44. > :49:47.party except the Conservative Party, everyone else loved it. Someone has

:49:48. > :49:52.noticed that the bus to Theresa May is currently touring the country in

:49:53. > :49:57.is exactly the same bus, if you look at the license plate, that was

:49:58. > :50:01.flagging up the boat Remain campaign just a few months ago. This is

:50:02. > :50:05.potentially a side of the campaign Theresa May would like to be

:50:06. > :50:11.forgotten, obviously she was on the Remain side back then. It is like a

:50:12. > :50:16.perfect tweet, it is funny and clever and simple. You can't get

:50:17. > :50:24.away with anything on twitter. One mistake and it will get picked up

:50:25. > :50:25.and shared widely. Thank you both. We will keep updating with them

:50:26. > :50:30.throughout the campaign. Horseracing is a sport worth over

:50:31. > :50:33.?3 billion to the British economy, watched live by six million people

:50:34. > :50:36.a year in Britain. But if women choose it as career,

:50:37. > :50:39.are they being held back? The first ever survey

:50:40. > :50:40.into gender in horse-racing Despite more women than ever before

:50:41. > :50:44.entering the sport, the research finds they are underrepresented

:50:45. > :50:46.in the most prominent It highlights examples

:50:47. > :50:50.of "entrenched prejudice Our sports correspondent,

:50:51. > :50:58.Joe Wilson, has seen the report. Most other sports have done their

:50:59. > :51:07.gender survey and come up with a gender survey. Researchers from

:51:08. > :51:10.Oxford Brookes, they were survey more, ask questions, interviewed. We

:51:11. > :51:14.should say this is all anonymous. It has enabled a lot of people in the

:51:15. > :51:19.industry and in the sport to speak more candidly than they have before.

:51:20. > :51:22.There was a range of views, some people would see racing as a

:51:23. > :51:27.meritocracy, whereby you get what you put in, hard work is rewarded,

:51:28. > :51:32.but a lot of people disagree. Most people responded, they were female,

:51:33. > :51:36.but not all. We have seen comments like I was told specifically not to

:51:37. > :51:42.ask for promotion, that there was talk of a bullying culture within

:51:43. > :51:46.yards. And the key bit of it is that women from across the industry

:51:47. > :51:48.reported being patronised, not taken seriously or being denied

:51:49. > :51:54.opportunities because of their gender. Those other key aspects of

:51:55. > :52:09.it. Why has it taken so long for horse racing to be looked at? That

:52:10. > :52:12.is a good question. A lot of sports that get funding from the lottery,

:52:13. > :52:19.they have to have this sort of study. Something I hear is that this

:52:20. > :52:25.is enabling people to say haps what they bottled up for a long time. If

:52:26. > :52:28.you look at horse racing as a sport, what is interesting is that the

:52:29. > :52:34.number of people going into it through colleges, trying to get

:52:35. > :52:39.their first job on it, are women. It is something like a 70-30 split. The

:52:40. > :52:49.interesting thing is how quickly do they face a ceiling, find a barrier

:52:50. > :52:57.to aggression within the sport? Tell us about the indications. Jockeys is

:52:58. > :53:01.one of a high-profile thing. Across-the-board, about 6%, just 6%

:53:02. > :53:05.of horses that are ridden and races that are ridden by women. If you

:53:06. > :53:13.look at trainers who have that responsible at E of looking after

:53:14. > :53:17.horses, turning them into, we went to Newmarket where there are over 70

:53:18. > :53:22.trainers in that town alone. You will find about of them are women.

:53:23. > :53:26.We spoke to Amy Murphy, the youngest trainer in the town. When I asked

:53:27. > :53:31.her specifically whether she felt it was more difficult for a woman to

:53:32. > :53:34.make progress than a man, she came up with an interesting answer which

:53:35. > :53:38.hopefully we can hear from now. You have to get the support

:53:39. > :53:43.I have to support get the support and sometimes I think,

:53:44. > :53:46.probably, as a woman, you're having to prove yourself

:53:47. > :53:49.before people want to support you, whereas if you were a man they might

:53:50. > :53:51.probably, as a woman, you're having to prove yourself

:53:52. > :53:54.before people want to support you, whereas if you were a man they might

:53:55. > :53:58.But, you know, we've had great support and great loyalty

:53:59. > :54:02.Whether I would have had that from day one had I not had

:54:03. > :54:05.the results we've had already, I'm not sure, but I'm

:54:06. > :54:09.so, Joe, how have the sport 's governing body respond to this? They

:54:10. > :54:15.say they welcome the report. They have given me a response. As you

:54:16. > :54:19.will see, he says it is a stark reminder that while they had been

:54:20. > :54:24.making progress, there is a lot to do over all areas of diversity. We

:54:25. > :54:27.are restating our commitment to improve diversity in our sport, they

:54:28. > :54:32.say. One other element which I think is interesting is if you look at the

:54:33. > :54:38.boards, the directors, there is a lot of them looking after various

:54:39. > :54:43.areas. The BH a restructured recently to bring more women in at

:54:44. > :54:48.director level. But that issue of the people in boardrooms rather than

:54:49. > :54:52.people in stables, and whether they are women rather than men, is

:54:53. > :55:01.another key issue. Thank you very much. Susanna Gill, what is your

:55:02. > :55:09.reaction to this? Good morning, great to be in the show. We are here

:55:10. > :55:12.to launch this research and it is a great step forward for the sport.

:55:13. > :55:16.The first time this piece of work has been done. As Joe said, people

:55:17. > :55:19.have been really honest in their feedback and it has led to a really

:55:20. > :55:23.great report from the team at Oxford Brookes who have looked at many

:55:24. > :55:26.other sectors before looking at horse racing. I hope today's report

:55:27. > :55:30.is just the start of what we want to do, that we now have a commitment

:55:31. > :55:34.from the BHA and others in the sport to look at diversity and women in

:55:35. > :55:39.racing can support that. Hopefully, year-on-year, we will see progress

:55:40. > :55:43.made. As Joe was saying, it is one thing the BHA doing a positive thing

:55:44. > :55:46.in terms of getting more women on the board but when it comes down to

:55:47. > :55:54.the individual stables and what is going on at grassroots, how

:55:55. > :55:59.difficult is it to connect the two? That is right, the BHA has to set an

:56:00. > :56:02.example from the top. But what we need is to have monitoring and to

:56:03. > :56:06.know what is going which happened until this report. The BHA are

:56:07. > :56:12.committed to doing that and setting an example from the top and it has

:56:13. > :56:14.to be a no tolerance approach to any inappropriate behaviour in the

:56:15. > :56:18.sport, especially yards, because that is where seven people are

:56:19. > :56:22.coming into the sport and experiencing it for the first time

:56:23. > :56:28.in a working environment. Can you give us some anecdotes of the worst

:56:29. > :56:32.things you have heard? Some of the things you hear is that men's tend

:56:33. > :56:35.to sometimes dominated, some of the language used, and we have seen it

:56:36. > :56:39.in other sports, where women have the sort of go along with it rather

:56:40. > :56:44.than stand up and say actually I am not happy with that. I have done

:56:45. > :56:46.that in my own environment. In the Oxford Brookes team that looked at

:56:47. > :56:51.this, you find that type of behaviour in any sector and it is

:56:52. > :56:53.well reported these days. It is about women having the confidence to

:56:54. > :56:57.say actually I am not comfortable with that, it is not appropriate and

:56:58. > :57:06.it went help us get on in our career. Everyone in positions of

:57:07. > :57:13.influence need to set an example. Why has it gone on so long in horse

:57:14. > :57:17.racing? Is it so bad in comparison to other sports? It hasn't been

:57:18. > :57:20.discussed in horse racing before because this research has not been

:57:21. > :57:26.done. There hasn't been anyone to make it happen. Until women in

:57:27. > :57:30.racing worked with the Oxford Brookes research team. I don't think

:57:31. > :57:36.racing is worse than other sports but this has cast a light on it and

:57:37. > :57:37.allowed us to address the key issues that the report raises. Thank you

:57:38. > :58:04.very much. Just a reminder, we're going to be

:58:05. > :58:06.in Dunstable in Bedfordshire on Monday, 29th May for a big

:58:07. > :58:09.election audience debate. If you've made up your mind already

:58:10. > :58:12.who you're going to vote for, still deciding or don't think you'll

:58:13. > :58:15.bother - and would like the chance to share your views and grill senior

:58:16. > :58:18.politicians on their policies - More details on our Facebook

:58:19. > :58:22.and Twitter pages. Thank you for your company, BBC

:58:23. > :58:33.Newsroom Live is coming up next. It's cold.

:58:34. > :58:38.Tastes a bit like avocado. And soon we're all

:58:39. > :58:42.going to be eating them. Four crickets have the same amount

:58:43. > :58:45.of calcium as a glass of milk, and a dung beetle,

:58:46. > :58:49.twice the protein of beef.