17/08/2017 Victoria Derbyshire

Hello it's Thursday, it's 9 o'clock, I'm Joanna Gosling.

Hundreds of thousands of teenagers across the country are this morning

And universities are bracing themselves for what could be one

of the busiest years ever for the clearing process as changes

to the exams have made it difficult to predict results.

We have had exclusive access to a radical new approach

Dubbed Edinburgh's "homeless village",

the joint charity and council project will see 20 people

housed in portable properties for up to 18 months.

It is quite spacious, we have a wee living room area, a week kitchen

area, and a couple of bedrooms. -- wee.

And the high court in Belfast will issue a landmark ruling today

on whether the current ban on same-sex marriage

in Northern Ireland should be overturned.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where same-sex couples

are restricted to civil partnerships rather than marriages.

We talk to the couples who have mounted the legal challenge.

Welcome to the programme, we're live until 11 this morning.

Obviously A level results don't just affect the students,

it's a big day for parents and carers too, so do get in touch

if you've been caught up in the stresses of results day too.

We love this, from Paris, mother, what were your results, the

important thing is, I am healthy and alive...

You can get in touch on that and any of the stories we're talking

about this morning, use the hashtag Victoria LIVE,

and if you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate.

AS-level no longer count in some subject and student sit all of their

exams at the end of two years of study rather than modules, initial

figures show that the number accepted on UK degree courses is 2%

down on last year. The changes do not apply in Wales and Northern

Ireland, where results are also published today. Gillian Hargreaves

reports. Three months ago, busy showing what

they learn, now the students at this college in east London are about to

find out if hard work paid off. In England, recent changes to A-levels

mean these are the first Judon is to sit one exam at the end of two years

study, less emphasis on coursework, and AS-level is no longer count

towards the final grade in 13 subjects. The new type of A-levels

are unsettling for some students. -- AS-levels. Memorising, rather than

learn, they are trying to make it harder for us and it will get harder

each year. We have two access it. When they wheel out the guinea pigs,

we have no past papers, no practice, even teachers, so much new things

added to the syllabus, teachers are struggling to teach as well. The

change of direction has been welcomed by some headteachers. The

new system is good, it prepares students well for university and for

employment. The key challenge is for the awarding bodies to make sure

that they are marking to a consistently high standard, and that

students get the results they deserve. There has been a fall in

the number of students applying to university, it is expected there may

be more places available to young people who want to shop around.

STUDIO: One student who will be pleased is Malala Yousafzai, the

feminist activist who was shot in the dead by Taliban gunmen for

attempting to go to school has tweeted that she has won a place to

study politics, philosophy and economics at the University of

Oxford. We will be speaking with teachers about whether these new

tests are more difficult. Rebecca Jones is in the BBC Newsroom with a

summary of the rest of the days news.

President Trump says he is shutting down two business councils

after a raft of resignations by the leaders of some of the United

Around a dozen company heads left their roles

following Mr Trump's decision to blame left-wing protesters

as much as right-wing supremacists for the violence which erupted

At the top of our agenda is the creation of great

VOICEOVER: Set up to help the President deliver

America great again," the business advisory councils brought together

the heads of some of the biggest companies in the US.

Who would have thought, then, that the racial

clashes in Charlottesville on Saturday, in which one person

died, would have proved their undoing?

The President's response to this violence shocked members

of his own party and unnerved many of those corporate executives.

Once the country's most prominent African-American

businessman, pharmaceutical CEO Ken Frazier,

announced that he was leaving, others swiftly followed.

We believe the symbolism of being associated with that

spirited defence of racism and bigotry was just unacceptable.

As a trickle of resignations turned into a flood,

a close ally of the president, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman,

rang to tell him that members were threatening to quit en

masse, at which point the president took to Twitter to pull the plug:

A large crowd took to the streets of Charlottesville

A peaceful protest this time in memory of the 32-year-old woman,

Heather Hayer, who died in Saturday's clashes.

But with racial tension simmering once more in the United States,

few believe the debate will end here.

STUDIO: A man will appear in court today for an extradition hearing

after being arrested over the alleged kidnapping

Chloe Ayling is believed to have been snatched

after being lured to a fake modelling shoot in Milan last month.

Michal Herba was detained at an address in the West Midlands

and is the brother of Lukasz Herba, who is being held by Italian police.

The Spanish authorities say there's been a surge in the number

of illegal migrants crossing the sea from Morocco.

during what coastguards described as their busiest day yet.

Some migrants have attempted the short journey using children's

Spain has dealt with nine-thousand arrivals by sea since January --

three times as many as in the same period last year.

Emergency services are tackling a huge blaze at the fruit market

Ninety per cent of the building is now ablaze.

Drifting smoke has caused some road closures and speed

Hundreds of traders work at the market supplying fresh food

to shops and restaurants in the west of Scotland.

There are no reports of any injuries.

Far too many older people are suffering in silence when things

go wrong with their NHS care, according to the Parliamentary

It says it's often their relatives who have to step in to complain,

but even when they do, many don't believe it

Afraid to raise the alarm, far fewer complaints from older people than

expected, given their high use of the NHS, according to the ombudsman.

Elderly people are reluctant to complain because they think it is

difficult. The ombudsman says the NHS must make

it clear how to complain, and those who do must be convinced

that future care will not suffer. In response the Department of Health

said that when things go wrong, "it is incredibly important

to listen to the concerns of patients and their families,

by learning from mistakes, STUDIO: Thousands of low paid

workers are to receive more than two million pounds in back pay as a

result of tax investigations by the government. -- ?2 million. Around

230 employers were found to have paid workers less than national

minimum wage. Among the worst offenders was the retailer Argos,

which has been fined ?800,000. A week of national mourning has been

called in Sierra Leone, in the wake of the flooding

and mudslides that claimed hundreds Officials say more than 100 children

are among the 400 people who are known to have died when part

of a mountain collapsed At least 600 people

are still missing. Our correspondent

Martin Patience reports. VOICEOVER: In Freetown, ambulances

rushing not to the hospital but to the main mortuary, they are ferrying

the dead, victims buried alive by a landslide.

This lady lost her sister. The grief and anger is tangible here, this is

a nation mourning the loss of hundreds, rescue workers say the

authorities are hampering rescue efforts. This gaping scar was once a

neighbourhood, now, a landscape changed for ever. It is the scene of

a recovery operation on the hoof. Diggers have been drafted in but

there are no sniffer dogs and not enough body bags, the fear is

disease could spread unless hundreds of corpses are found. A trickle of

aid is getting through, many, like Adam Ashe, are now homeless will

stop she tells me, I have lost everything. -- Adama.

STUDIO: The leader of Australia's populist One Nation party,

Pauline Hanson, has worn a burqa in the senate in Canberra.

Ms Hanson's parliamentary opponents have criticised the stunt,

which came ahead of a debate on her party's call

The attorney-general, George Brandis, was given a standing

ovation after he cautioned her not to offend the religious

To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner,

to mock its religious garments, is an appaling thing to do

and I would ask you to reflect on what you have done

Ordo! Order! APPLAUSE -- order.

Most of the historic World War two aircraft that make up the Battle

of Britain Memorial Flight have been grounded because of engine issues.

The Hurricanes, Spitfires and a Lancaster bomber

are all affected and one display has already been cancelled

The RAF is unable to say when the planes will

The aircraft are more than 70 years old.

Tom Cruise has broken his ankle whilst trying to undertake a daring

stunt during filming in London at the weekend.

Cruise attempted to leap between the roofs of two buildings,

but he fell short of the mark and hit the building.

Filming for the latest installment of Mission Impossible has

A Canadian woman has been reunited with her diamond ring,

13 years after she lost it while weeding in her garden.

Mary Grams' daughter-in-law picked a carrot out of the vegetable patch

and found its growth had been restricted by the ring.

Mrs Grams had been too embarrassed to tell her husband she'd lost it

That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 9.30.

We are so hoping to speak with her about that! Coming up, teachers and

students, a level results, and whether the changes in the exams had

a positive or negative effect. The coach of the England football

team has been accused of making racial comments. Not the news the FA

would like to see, and England player was left shocked after being

the subject of an alleged racial remark made by the women's national

team coach Mark Sampson, he allegedly joked in a team meeting

that one of his players had been arrested a number of times, it is

claimed by one of the squad, that the comment was made with derogatory

racial and prejudicial connotations, the player who made the claim was

Eni Aluko. As part of a bullying and harassment complaint she made last

year. Despite having over 100 caps, she has not been included for

England since her complaint, but the FA decided to pay her ?80,000

settlement, agreeing a mutual resolution with the Chelsea forward,

they say, in order to avoid disrupting the England squad's

preparations for 2017. The FA cleared Sampson of any wrong doing

and made this statement: the question is, if an independent

report found there was no wrongdoing, why pay out ?80,000 in

settlement. There are question marks over the Football Association with

Kick It Out saying they have a responsibility to be transparent -

especially given all the recent talk around integrity and welfare in

sport. Sure we will hear more on that in the coming days. One thing

that is pretty much over and done with is Celtic's Champions League

Qualifier with Astana. The Scottish Champions were in action Last night

and won the first leg 5-0, to all but seal a spot in the group stages

of Europe's elite competition. The second leg in Kazakhstan is next

Tuesday but Celtic can be more than confident of their progression

barring something miraculous. Very good news indeed for Brendan Rodgers

steam. -- Brendan Rodgers's team. On the cricket. The first day night

test will be played on home soil against the West Indies. That is not

the first time some of England's players blab use the pink ball, it

appeared in the County Championship, and it is very different, as you can

see, to the traditional red Test match ball. Pretty much untoasted in

inverse conditions that will make it a bit of a step into the unknown for

England's players. The main difference is the pink ball moves

quite unpredictably through the air and also deteriorate at a faster

rate than the red ball. A few unknown things but that is a really

good challenge for us as a team. Seeing how the ball performs under

lights but ultimately it is still the same game, you still have to

adapt to the conditions and we managed to do that well, and we

should be in a good position come the end of it. England playing in

Birmingham against the West Indies will start at around two o'clock

with a whole new crowd going to see the day night Test match. Finally,

tell us what Serena Williams has been saying about when she is hoping

to get back on the tennis after the birth of her child. I am not sure

anything would surprise me when it comes to Serena Williams. She is

away from tennis with a burst of her -- the birth of her first child away

but she is saying she is I and what she calls the most outrageous plan

to return to defend her Australian Open title at the start of next

year. That will only give her around three months to prepare after giving

birth. That would be a very remarkable return that after 23

clans -- Grand Slam wins you would not bet against her. She says she

will have some new tricks against up her sleeve for everyone at the age

of 35. Thank you very much. It is A level results

day in England, Wales and Northern Ireland,

with hundreds of thousands of Some pupils are going to be

the first to be affected by recent Initial figures say that people

being accepted as down 2% last year. Now - results for 13

subjects in England, including history, English,

psychology, physics, chemistry and biology,

are being decided by final exams with no link to

coursework or As-levels. However, there have been complaints

from some that the new tests have been rushed through,

revision material hasn't been adequate - and students have

suffered because of it. Joining us now are some

A Level students from Collins Epie Nanje -

a Key Stage five coordinator for Science at Heanor Gate Science

College in Derbyshire. And Aliyah Bashir, the lead

teacher of Science at Welcome to all of you. We should

come to the students first of all. Kate, kick off by telling us how you

did, did you get what you wanted? Yellow Brick Road yes, I did better

than I thought I would have done. I am really proud. What did you get?

Two distinction stars and an A. What whether subjects? Dance, BTEC,

musical theatre and dance available. I got pretty much what I wanted, a

star and two as. English, French and history. So heil. Two a stars and an

A. So you have all done really well. Some of the exams have changed this

year. I know Kate, dance hasn't changed, so you probably haven't had

changes but the other two of you have. So tell gas whether you think

it has been harder this year, James, because of changes to the subject

you have been studying? I don't think so, you are the a disadvantage

because you don't have more pass papers. My only a star was in the

one refund subject, so it worked out well. What about you? The biggest

change for me was a couple of my subjects becoming more linear. We

would resit our AAS content at the start of our second year. The first

thing that everyone thinks others you have to revise all two years

worth of content at the end and that can be quite hard for some people.

It means you have the time manage a lot more. But I guess, especially

with subjects like physic and chemistry, you develop your skills

in your second year. So when you revisit that AAS content, that

first-year content, you do may a lot better than maybe you would have in

your first year. Because you have nothing to compare. Do you feel hard

done by, being the first year of the changes? I am not sure, I guess we

will just have to wait to see for the statistics to come out. Let's

bring in some teachers. Collins, you are an A-level science coordinator,

and the sciences have been particularly affected this year,

changes being phased in with different subjects, what you think

about the changes? If you look at the way the government rushed in the

legislation, especially with the AAS, GCSE and A-level, I think we

needed to see basically, if we look at it, AAS qualification for

example, it is a stand-alone qualification, which means it

doesn't come close, the A-level course for itself but more

importantly, if you look at this year, 42%, it is a staggering

decline in terms of AAS entry and therefore it means universities are

in a very difficult position to try to make that admissions process

straightforward and therefore it means there is a trend now, in terms

of decline, terms of young people's access to further opportunities. I

think it is a really big issue. If you look at the whole course, it is

a linear course, not just a course on its own for example, like in the

past couple of years they had a qualification which had 50%

contributing to the overall A-level qualification, but now it is not. It

is quite hard for the students for that linear course to prepare them,

so it is quite a bit difficult. This means that we as teachers, it is

difficult to make that prediction, in terms of what they will get at

the end of the course. With universities, it is quite hard,

because before VA is qualification would give them a benchmark, in

terms of looking at students. Ali, what you think about the changes? I

totally agree. The issue is that the course is linear, it means it is

over two years. Whereas before as teachers we were assessing teachers

during the AS-level, we would know where they are, the support and the

guidance that they need. Now it is done over a two-year process. This

is a skill. Being able to study two years worth of work is a skill that

needs to be in bedded in the students before their GCSEs. So I

feel like it has not been drip fed into the system, it has just kind of

come as a sharp shock for both teachers and students. The evidences

and the lack of resources we have to teach this course. So yes, it is

difficult. It is going back to what it used to be like. When the changes

came in, there have been years of people who do the old styles

A-levels, saying it has got easier and easier. Michael Gove changed the

system when he was education says -- secretary because he said it was not

fit for purpose and intention was to make it more rigorous. Do you think

it is the right thing to do in the long run, and it is just the

teething problems you describe in terms of everyone readjusting? I

think with the legacy courses we have done before we have had a lot

of preparation time, we have done it over years, built up resources as

teachers. Students know how to access things online. So perhaps it

is teething problems, and we will develop the resources for it and it

will become easier for teachers, because in terms of the content,

there are not massive changes. It is more changes in the assessment. It

is more a focus on students becoming more independent with their learning

and being able to do practical work. It is a matter of training our

students to do that. It will not come over two years. There will be a

long period of time and lots of effort from teachers and students.

Back to the students, university applications are down 4% this year.

It has been put down to one of the factors being cited as being the

unpredictability of what people were expecting, what was your approach

when it came to university, have you got confirmation, or are you

expecting confirmation today that you will get into where you want to

as a result of the grades have got? Yes. We have had confirmation. What

about you, James? I have confirmation I will be going to

Oxford in October. I think, Kate, as I mentioned, no change your use you

know where you are going as well with your dance? With dance college

you sort of audition. Once you have got through the audition stages, you

need to get the grades but it is more than based on your dance

technique and the way you perform in your audition. It is like how it

will be in the performance world. Sohail, you will be studying physics

at Imperial. How do you feel about the tuition fees, and the prospects

of a job at the end and whether the costs of going to university is

worth it in the end? The University I have applied to, it has a really

generous bursary scheme, which should cover most of my

accommodation costs. And then of course students applying to live and

study in London can take out a higher maintenance loan. So I am not

worried too much about it. James, what about you? I think there is a

lot of help you can get so it is not really that daunting for me. How

will you all be salivating? Probably going out tonight, yep. I will

probably go for a lot of meals. And I'm going to New York in September,

so I guess that the celebration. That does sound like a good

celebration. Back to you, Collins. In terms of getting students used to

there being a two-year period in which you study and then take the

exam right at the end, you were obviously outlining your concerns

about that, but do you think in the end it is a better system? It has

its positives and negatives, in terms of the positives, what you can

see is that yes, it frees time for teachers to prepare the students

over the two-year course but also we need to think about, in terms of the

predictions, again, the students who get university, how do we make that

accurate prediction, in terms of them getting to university? It is

quite daunting, it is a whole new ball game and we need to be quite

careful. If you look on the other side, one of the key things we need

to consider again, if it is a two-year course, fair enough, but

what are the implications and the ramifications in all of this? What

do we get from this? What we need to think about first of all, if it is a

two-year linear course, what happens to the AAS? It is a stand-alone

qualification, what's that mean for teachers, students and universities?

So on the negative side again you can make a prediction from the

student perspective, but it is difficult, we have two assessed the

student intern the leak, which means we can never be accurate. Just

imagine again with the University, it is quite difficult for them, in

terms of putting those predictions across. They use AAS results as a

yardstick, in terms of differences in students and looking at how they

can get to university. So it is a whole new ball game, quite

challenging. Students you have got what you wanted but have any of you

got friends who have not got what they wanted and are now heading for

clearing, and perhaps tell us how they are feeling? We have got

friends who haven't got what they wanted but the clearing system is so

strong that for example my sister did not get exactly what she wanted

but she has come out and done amazing where she went. She nearly

got a first. I think the clearing is so good that if you have not quite

gotten you what you wanted, it is a big deal but there are similar

people who are here to help and support you that it is a lot easier.

Thank you all. We will be talking more about clearing and what to do

if you did not get the results you wanted after ten. Also coming up we

will take a look at the radical approach to tackling homelessness in

Scottish capital. Dubbed Edinburgh's homeless village, it is an 18 month

project were 20 people will be housed in portable properties. And

we will get a national breakdown of this year plus Mac A-level results,

that is coming shortly. Here's the BBC Newsroom

with a summary of today's news. This year plus Mac official A-level

results are about to be announced. Hundreds of thousands of teenagers

across the country are finding out how they did. Universities are

bracing themselves for what could be one of the busiest years ever for

the clearing process. Changes to the exams have made it difficult to

predict results. Initial UCAS figures show the number accepted on

UK degree courses is 2% down on the same time last year. President Trump

has said he is scrapping two business councils, after around a

dozen bosses quit over the way he handled the violent clashes in

Virginia. Business leaders left the White House manufacturing council

following Mr Trump is Mike decision to blame left-wing protesters as

much as right-wing supremacists for the violence, which erupted in

Charlottesville at the weekend. The Spanish authorities say there has

been a surge in the number of illegal migrants crossing the sea

from Morocco. Nearly 600 were rescued on Wednesday, during what

coastguards described as their busiest day yet. Some migrants have

attempted the short journey using children's inflatable boat and even

a jet ski. Spain has dealt with 9,000 arrivals

by sea since January, three times as many as in the same

period last year. Emergency services are tackling

a huge blaze at the fruit market Ninety per cent of the

building is now ablaze. Drifting smoke has caused some

road closures and speed Hundreds of traders work

at the market supplying fresh food to shops and restaurants

in the west of Scotland. There are no reports

of any injuries. Thousands of low paid workers

are to receive more than two million pounds in back

pay as a result of tax Around 230 employers

were found to have paid workers less than

national minimum wage. Among the worst offenders

was the retailer Argos, Most of the historic World War two

aircraft that make up the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight have been

grounded because of engine issues. The Hurricanes, Spitfires

and a Lancaster bomber are all affected and one display has

already been cancelled The RAF is unable to say

when the planes will The aircraft are more

than 70 years old. One thing that is pretty

much over and done with is Celtic's Champions League

Qualifier with Astana. The Scottish Champions

were in action Last night and won the first leg 5-0,

to all but seal a spot in the group stages

of Europe's elite competition. The second leg in Kazakhstan is next

Tuesday but Celtic can be more than confident of their progression

barring something miraculous. And England football player was left

shocked after being the subject of alleged racial remarks made by the

women's national head coach Mark Sampson. In rugby union, England

Lions can reach the semifinals of the World Cup, victory means they

will qualify for the last four. Ireland must beat France to make it

into the semifinals. Students get a level results today,

the first results to include 13 of the new reformed A-levels in

England. Where AS levels no longer count towards the final grade. Our

Education Correspondent Gillian Hargreaves is at a school in

Kensington in London and has details of just how well pupils across the

country have done. These are national statistics for A-levels

across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, produced by the Department

for Education, they show a slight dip in the pass rate nationally,

down by 0.2%, so statistically, a small dip, but interestingly, in

England, where we now have a reformed A-levels, in certain

subjects, one single example of the two years study and an end to

AS-level is counting towards the final a level results, there has

been a drop in the top grade. -- AS-levels that will affect people

studying A-levels in England, that could have happened this year

because they are the first candidates to take these new style

A-levels and there was a bit of criticism that there was not a lot

of past papers for them to work from, so to a certain extent, it was

a bit of uncharted territory. The exams regulator in England is always

at pains to say that it's job is to make sure that there is fairness

across the board, so it has a very complicated way of checking grade

boundaries, taking into account things like changes but there has

been a drop in the number of top grades. Interestingly, for many

years, I have been reporting that girls have been doing much better in

A-levels and GCSEs than boys have, one reason for that, we have always

assumed, is because of an emphasis on coursework.

Boys do better when there is one final example which the result

hinged. This year, in those refund subject, for a level candidates in

England, the gap between boys and girls has begun to narrow. It may

well be that girls who have been in the ascendancy for a number of years

are now finding that the new regime is not quite so much to their

liking. On that 0.5% drop and comparisons with last year, there

were reassurances from the regulator that those taking A-levels would not

be problems, that the principle of comparative outcomes would be used

to make sure this that year's national results were similar, it

used to be called standardisation, they would make sure the same

proportion of people got the same number of grades, obviously it is

not like that. When I sat my A-levels it was judged on something

called norm referencing, there would be a certain proportion of

candidates, whatever marks they got, who would get an A, and then a

day... What that meant year-on-year there was enormous fluctuations. --

a B. In some years you had to score very high marks to get an A, in

other years, depending upon the ability of everybody sitting the

exam, you would score less high marks. What the government did was

introduce a new system, come parable outcomes, what Ofqual looks at is

all sorts of quite complicated detailed data, looking at how well

the 18-year-old who sat A-levels this year did when they left prime

risk all at the age of 11, for example, calculating how well they

may do compared to previous cohorts of 18-year-olds sitting A-levels,

and from all of the data, it can work out what it thinks are fair

grade boundaries to fix, Army marks you need to have achieved in each

paper to get a certain grade, Ofqual say that is much fairer. -- how many

marks. That should iron out any problems that occur when you have

changes in the system. This year we have seen a new cohort of subject

which have been decoupled from a AS Levels, one final exam on which

everything hinges at the end of two years study, and there has been a

dip in the top grades but Ofqual would argue that the system is still

scrupulously fair, and that those bright able candidates who were

going to get an a start last year would still get an a star this year,

those who got a bee last time we'll still get baby this time. -- A*. - a

B. Let us know how you have done, how you are feeling today. Megan

says, worked so hard this year, if I don't get the results I want, I will

be so gutted. Ryan on Facebook, for those who did not get everything

they hoped for, grade wise, look at universities who offer degree

courses with a foundation year, it does mean an extra year of study and

fees but it is an option. Thinking of all the teams getting their

results, says Amanda, I hope you get what you worked so hard for, and

parents, well done in raising the next generation. Good luck,

everyone, room and be don't need big grades to go somewhere. -- go big

places. -- teens. Thank you for those, keep them coming.

Homelessness is on the rise across the UK but a potential

solution to some of the problem may be just around the corner.

A scheme dubbed Edinburgh's "homeless village"

will see 20 people housed in portable properties

It's a collaboration between Social Bite who raised

?500,000 to build the accomodation and the local council who provided

So is this a radical new solution to homelessness or if its just

papering over the cracks of a decades old problem?

VOICEOVER: Britain has a problem, a shortage of places

The fact is we don't have any place to put them.

Over 150,000 of us have nowhere to live.

Here in Scotland's capital homelessness is set to rise by 50%

in the next 25 years and across the UK the

Nearly 400,000 people will be homeless by 2040,

But one small social enterprise is trying to change the way

They're building ten of these portable homes in what has been

They will house 20 people here for 18 months on a plot of land

This man used to be homeless and gave as a tour of the show home

setup for the Edinburgh fringe Festival.

So, do you want to have a look? Yes let's do it.

As you can see this is quite spacious,

It's got two bedrooms so there is one of the rooms in here.

Spaces for people's clothes and stuff.

We've got the same bedroom at the other side of the wee house.

Space for people's clothes and stuff.

There's a wee toilet, here, there's a shower and that in there.

It is nice, hey? Wow, it is very nice.

You used to be homeless, how long for?

But, two months of that was on the streets.

I was in few bed breakfasts and stuff and a few hostels.

For about two years and I managed to get a tenancy.

How difficult is it when you are in temporary accommodation,

Bed breakfasts, it's like you've got to be in for 11 o'clock every

night and you cannae stay out any night, or you would get flung out

of the place, so it's kind of like being under curfew.

The hostels are like just full of people taking drugs

It wasn't a very nice time, not very nice places to stay.

For people who don't understand what homelessness is,

how would something like this help them?

Well, obviously you've got a roof over your head but there's got to be

people supporting the guys or girls got to live in the houses.

In an election promise in 2017 the government pledged to end

but the problem is so much bigger than that.

Homelessness is not just living on the street it encompasses

many different types of chaotic living arrangements.

Almost 160,000 people across the UK are homeless.

Of that nearly 10,000 sleeping on the street.

Sofa surfing is where you are forced to stay with friends and family

and nearly 70,000 people were forced into this predicament last year.

are in unsuitable temporary accommodation

While over 25,000 are left to live in squats, women's refuges, tents,

This is David, he's been homeless for three months.

The real impact is the impact on the spirit and you start to give up.

a job and I will lead a full existence.

You are in temporary accommodation one of the biggest

problems by homeless people is where they going to stay.

How long does it take to get permanent accommodation?

Once a week, I look at the housing list Edinburgh and the available

accommodation and make the choices, what I am told is it will be a year

to 18 months before I even come close to the top

When you're writing of 18 months of your life just concentrate

-- When you're writing off 18 months of your life just concentrate

solely on trying to find accommodation.

A project like this where they are going to going to build ten

houses and help 20 people give them that permanent accommodation

for up to 18 months, which is the length of time that

you are going to wait for accommodation, how would that

impact on your life being able to live there?

Well, it helps and it gives us a stable base.

Something to aspire to, you can have folks over,

you can have a normal life and start to rebuild your only.

Because you have a fixed place to stay.

It's amazing how security lifts the spirit.

I think we take for granted that when we do have housing how much

The man hoping to give people some security is Josh Littlejohn.

He started Social Bite, a cafe chain aimed at helping the homeless

not just by donating to the book by employing them.

Ten houses, 20 people will live in them, how is this

So, at the moment if you are homeless you go

to the homeless office, it doesn't matter what city you live

You present as homeless and the council have a statue

obligation to provide you some kind of temporary shelter.

So, at the moment they typically could take the forms of hostels,

but more often than not someone will go into a homelessness specific

bread and breakfast where get a single bed and a kettle,

they have a curfew, they have to be out of ten in the morning they can't

That was originally designed as a kind of short-term one too weak

solution but the situation now in Edinburgh the average

waiting time in a B is between 18 and 24 months.

So you find people live in a really isolated,

limbo situations for up to two years.

By which time they are almost written off from society,

they are completely excluded, marginalised and evidence suggests

they stand very little chance of ever coming back into society

in a meaningful way around employment or getting integrated.

So, I think we expect this village to change people's lives

in the sense that rather than living in that isolated situation

they will come in a situation which is very community focused,

there will be numerous staff employed by the village and also

importantly there will be lots of links to employment opportunities.

So, we hope that after 12 to 18 months people can be helped

They will have received a lot of support to help them hopefully

that'll come alongside the job, that is how we hope to

The Council have given you this land for four years,

On an annual basis it is going to cost Roughly ?200,000 a year

inoperating cost whilst it sounds like this is a project that we've

had to mobilise a lot of fundraising for it still drastically cheaper

than all the money that we funnel into the B, so whilst at same time

we want to much improve the outcomes for these people we also think

we can deliver a model that would be quite a significant

cost saving to the local authorities if we are successful.

Keeping people in temporary accommodation is expensive.

Last year in England alone councils spent a in temporary

Councillor Gavin Barrie head of the housing committee at

Edinburgh City Council helped to get this project off the ground.

National figures show that homelessness across the UK

is on the rise, could this fit into your strategy for Edinburgh

It could but the national figure is unsurprising,

the benefit cap came in October which means that people can no

longer meet the rent costs in the capital,

they are currently being evicted and turning up on our doorstep

saying, I've been evicted, I'm homeless, so, yes,

if it is happening here I expect it is happening right

I'm afraid it is a Westminster-generated problem and

they have not given us any more money to do

problem that we've have defined a way of dealing with.

The government say, actually, our programme of austerity,

ourcuts to social care has had nothing to do

I would have to absolutely disagree with that.

I could evidence by the people that actually turn up now,

they have built up rent arrears since the benefit cap came

in and the fact is we don't have any place to put them,

Definitely part of it is Westminster-generated

This is one of the best projects of its kind in the country to be

applied to homelessness project, given that land for four years,

the houses are portable, is it your understanding that

Absolutely, it is a new initiative that we're very interested

in and hopefully will be a success and if is there is no reason why

this can't be replicated in other parts of the city and perhaps other

The charity raised nealy half a million pounds for this project

and the Council gave them the land of free for four years.

Is this a radical new approach to homelessness across the UK

or is it just papering over the cracks?

This is the deputy director of homeless charity

This project, it's a collaboration between charities and the council

I think it is a helpful model and really important

that it is demonstrating a local authority and partners in the third

sector can work together, I think that is a really important

part of what the village is about, but to get the scale of activity

we need to prevent homelessness that is about having a national

strategy which looks at how a range of agencies and resources

are brought together in a coordinated way.

The focus does need to very much go on prevention,

I think that is the better thing to do, let's stop people falling

into that crisis in the first place, let's make sure there are not homes,

Making sure that people that support so they don't become homeless

in the first place but also if they do have a crisis

is about support to get them back on their feet

This village may help some people get back on their feet

but with increasing numbers of homelessness across the UK,

it's people like David who will remain stuck

Homelessness can affect anybody, there was an old saying that

you only ever two paycheques from being homeless yourself,

And the majority of homeless people are people that have

fell off the ladder, things have went wrong in their life

Everybody deserves, I think, a quality of life.

I think as a society we are duty bound to help the ones that

Pettersen has a non-touch on Facebook. She says it is a start.

Tackling homelessness is not just about putting a roof over their head

but about understanding problems, such as addiction, and for Armed

Forces often post-traumatic stress disorder. We did ask the government

to join us on the programme. They declined but they sent us a

statement. They sent us this statement:

A Department for Communities and Local Government said:

"This should be a country that works for everyone,

including the most This Government is committed

to ensuring people always have a roof over their heads

which is why we've committed to "Alongside investing

?550 million to 2020 to address the issue,

we're implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act,

which will require councils to ensure that more people get

the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming

homeless in the first place. "But Ministers know there is more

to do and are continuing to look Coming up, we will meet some of the

first recruits on a new prison officer graduate scheme, modelled on

the teach first programme for schools.

Ofsted has published a highly critical report about one

of Britain's biggest training companies, Learn Direct UK.

Our reporter Adina Campbell has read the report

This is a very critical report which focuses on a four-day inspection

earlier this year. We now know that Learn Direct Ltd has been given a

grade four, the lowest possible rating, in terms of its training and

performance. Essentially it is inadequate. Some of the findings in

this report include not enough 16 to 19-year-olds on traineeships

completing their programmes, too many apprentices not getting the

right kind of training and a poor quality of teaching. Learn direct is

one of the biggest adult learning providers in the UK. It has more

than 1600 members of staff. There are dozens of training centres

dotted across the UK. The issue is money. Back in 2011 the company was

privatised. It is estimated around ?600 million of public money was

given to training, and some of that money has come from the government.

What happens normally is the government has decided to wind up

its contract with Learn Direct. Normally it would take two to three

months but in this case, the Mordt has been given until July. It is a

scandal because the government have been given special treatment. Tim

one themselves made it clear in the court which I attended that they

expected to get a three-month termination on the contract which

would put them into administration. Instead special treatment, those

termination notices are not being served. They will continue to

deliver apprenticeships under a company they set up last year. Learn

Direct has responded to this report, giving us a statement. In it it says

it did not provide an accurate reflection of the current quality of

its training and performance. It also insists it is financially

stable and all learners will continue to be well supported. But

of course anyone on these courses or hoping to take one up will have some

ongoing concerns. Thank you. President Trump Osman comments about

pilots between far right demonstrators and their opponents in

Charlottesville at the weekend have divided Washington. Even some within

the President's own party have accused him of not going far enough

in condemning white supremacist groups. Last night, hundreds of

people attended a candlelit vigil to remember Heather Heyer, who was

killed in the violence. As the issue once again ignites talk of a racial

divide, how has this filter down into the lives of ordinary

Americans? Page Glasgow could not believe her eyes when she drove past

a home flying a Nazi flag in North Carolina. She decided to confront

her neighbour and tour the BBC about her experience.

Isn't that extraordinary? Letters know what you think about that. Now

let's catch up with the weather. For some of us we have had some

really heavy rain overnight but it is now clearing and for most of us

will the sunshine and showers today. Some lovely Weather Watchers

pictures to show you from earlier on, look at this, beautiful blue sky

in Conway. We saw a lot of rain crossing us as denoted here by our

Weather Watcher in Lincolnshire. The rain has steadily been the minimum

from the west bushing eastwards, making good progress now towards the

North Sea and behind it we are looking at sunshine and some

showers. Through the course of this morning that will be the case. Quite

a breezy day as well. Behind the rain there will be some cloud. The

cloud will break up, we will see the sunshine coming out. Some of us will

see some showers. Especially across parts of Somerset heading into the

Home Counties. Outside the showers it will be a fine afternoon with

some sunshine. For the Midlands, you might catch a shower at Edgbaston.

And the Wales and Northern Ireland, some showers dotted around but we

won't all catch one. For Scotland, the showers will be a bit more

frequent but even so in between there will be some sunshine and

across southern and eastern Scotland and parts of northern England could

stay dry. An outside chance of a shower for the cricket at Edgbaston.

If you catch one it will be fairly fleeting and temperatures up to 20

or 21. As we had on through the evening and overnight, the daytime

showers tend to fade. However we will see some more showery outbreaks

of rain coming in across Northern Ireland, northern England and also

Scotland. Away from that, there will be one or two showers. Some clear

skies and overnight lows between 12 and 15 in towns and cities.

Tomorrow, we pick up that band of showery rain moving north-eastwards.

Behind it another one coming in across Northern Ireland and then

into northern England and southern Scotland. In between these two

bands. Once again sunshine and showers. Tomorrow will be quite

blustery. You will notice the wind which will take the edge of those

temperatures. Then as we head into the weekend, this is Sunday, you can

see we have low pressure coming our way. Saturday will be largely dry.

One or two showers. Sunday, things will change. An interesting area of

low pressure. It has by then absorbed the remnants of

ex-hurricane Gert. The relevance for that means we will have some

tropical air mixed in amongst this. Warm air contains more moisture than

cold air so it will enhance the rainfall as it comes in from the

west. The positioning of this could well change. What we think at the

moment is it will from the West, some eastern areas will start dry

and have a pleasant enough day. The further north you are that will be

the case. Don't make this the last forecast you see because that could

change. Hello it's thursday,

it's 10 o'clock, I'm Joanna Gosling. Universities are bracing themselves

for what could be one of the busiest years ever for the clearing process

as changes to the exams have made it Hundreds of thousands

of teenagers find out how they did. I'm here at St George Moloch School

in Walthamstow, east London, students still trickling in to pick

up their results, those that have have done better-than-expected. --

Monarch. We'll be speaking to some

students to find out Modelled on the Teach

First Scheme, it's led I saw this as a stepping stone, to

go into forensic psychology, because of my psychology background, but at

the minute, I am enjoying what I'm doing.

Ad the high court in Belfast will issue

a landmark ruling today on whether the current ban

on same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where same-sex couples

are restricted to civil partnerships rather than marriages.

We talk to the couples who have mounted the legal challenge.

Keep your thoughts coming in on A-levels, in particular.

Here's Rebecca in the BBC Newsroom with a summary of todays news.

The percentage of A level entries receiving the top

grades has risen slightly, the first increase in six years.

But the results for 13 subjects in England which have seen

big changes in assessment show a small fall in achievement.

Our education correspondent Gillian Hargreaves told us more.

In England, recent changes to A-levels mean these are the first

children to sit one exam at the end of two years study,

less emphasis on coursework, and AS-level is no longer count

towards the final grade in 13 subjects.

The key challenge is for the awarding bodies to make sure

that they are marking to a consistently high standard,

and that students get the results they deserve.

President Trump says he is shutting down two business councils

after a raft of resignations by the leaders of some of the United

-- President Trump says he is shutting down

after a raft of resignations by the leaders of some of the United

Around a dozen company heads left their roles

following Mr Trump's decision to blame left-wing protesters

as much as right-wing supremacists for the violence which erupted

The Spanish authorities say there's been a surge in the number

of illegal migrants crossing the sea from Morocco.

Nearly 600 were rescued on Wednesday during what coastguards described

Some migrants have attempted the short journey using children's

Spain has dealt with 9,000 arrivals by sea since January,

three times as many as in the same period last year.

Emergency services are tackling a huge blaze at the fruit market

Ninety per cent of the building is now ablaze.

Drifting smoke has caused some road closures and speed

Hundreds of traders work at the market supplying fresh food

to shops and restaurants in the west of Scotland.

There are no reports of any injuries.

A Canadian woman has been reunited with her diamond ring,

13 years after she lost it while weeding in her garden.

Mary Grams' daughter-in-law picked a carrot out of the vegetable patch

and found its growth had been restricted by the ring.

Mrs Grams had been too embarrassed to tell her husband she'd lost it

That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 9.30.

That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 10.30.

Let me tell you how students at the school that was right by the

Grenfell Tower have done in their A-levels, four students died and one

former student died, 15 students were made homeless. The school has

put out their results, Kensington Aldridge Academy, the school had to

relocate after the fire, for the students to carry on and do their

A-levels. A is level results, 62% of students got A*-C, the school is in

the top 10% for added value. Coming up later, we will be hearing from

the head of the school, David Benson, on how the students have

done so well in the face of the trauma. Do let us know your thoughts

on the level results, especially if you are affected.

There was a fantastic result for Celtic in Europe last night,

they all but sealed a spot in the Champions League Group stages

this year with a 5-0 first leg win over the Kazakh champions

Celtic were comfortable throughout and having gone all of last year's

domestic season unbeaten, they'll now be focused

on showing their quality again on the biggest of stages.

Some of our play, some of our football, was outstanding, we need

to get the job done over there. The Football Association paid an 80

thousand pound settlement to England Women's International Eni Aluko

despite an independent report clearing their head coach Mark

Sampson of a bullying and harassment complaint made by Aluko. -- ?80,000.

Details have emerged from the report claiming Sampson made a "derogatory,

racial and prejudicial" comment about another England player, but

that Aluko's settlement was made to allow the side to focus preparing

for Euro 2017. Ordinarily we would be half an hour

away from the start of the first test between England and the West

Indies but today, they will be starting and finishing much later,

the match is the first day night test to be played in England, only

the fifth of its kind in the world. The players will use pink balls,

designed to show up in the dark. The changed timings are designed to

attract a new audience to the sport. A few things unknown slightly, but I

think that is a wheelie good challenge for us

as a team, seeing how the ball performs under lights but ultimately

it is the same game, adapting to the conditions, we managed to do that

well and we should be in a good position. It is something the game

needs, Test cricket, many territories around the world, it is

slowly but surely decreasing. This adds a bit of value to Test cricket.

England and Ireland can reach the semi-finals

Defending champions England have made six

changes for their match against the United States in Dublin.

Victory would guarantee them a place in the last four.

Hosts Ireland have to beat France to reach the semis. Coach Tom Tierney

has made six changes with Paula Fitzpatrick given the number eight

shirt after her two tries against Japan.

Scotland's Catriona Matthew has been called up to replace the injured

Suzann Pettersen as Europe prepare to take on the United States

Matthew, who's 47, has played in nine Solheim Cups.

Influential Norwegian Pettersen will be vice captain but misses out

In the last hour it has been announced that the percentage of a

level grades has risen slightly this year but university entries are

down, thousands more places may be available for those that did not

quite make their grades. This year the exams system is different. There

are no modular exams throughout the course. Instead students sit all

A-level exams at the end of two years of study. AS-level results no

longer count towards A-level grades in England. No subject has more than

a 20% coursework component and most courses are assessed entirely

through exams. Resits will still be available, but January exams will be

scrapped, so students will have to wait until May/June of the following

year for a chance to improve their grades.

Our reporter, Chichi Izundu, is at a school in Walthamstow in north

London. Tell us about the grades they are getting there. We are

hearing east London, actually, a lot of the students seem to have done

slightly better than they were expecting, and as you said, just to

remind you, A-levels for 13 subjects now require two years study period,

AES level modules will no longer count towards the final grade.

Joining me, Ahad and Adrian, tell us how you did. I got A* in economics,

and maths, and I got an a in biology. Over the moon, I knew that

I would get A* in maths, I did not expect the top grade in biology, and

economics was a big surprise. I want to go to UCL, study economics,

hopefully get a good job. UCL is my first choice, might insure it was

Queen Mary, that was a back up. That is the one I want to go to, UCL. We

also found out that boys have done slightly better than girls when it

comes to a level results, you studied for the two-year period, how

did you find that? Difficult, it is a reformed a level, much more

difficult to remember the first year, as well as understanding the

second year, really difficult, all about working hard, from Day 1, and

being dedicated and believing in yourself! Adrian, how did you do?

Two as and a beat, economics and history, and the bee was in maths.

It has made me feel really good, better than I expected full up

better than I was predicted. -- B. You have changed your university.

Yes, it is an avenue I'm willing to explore, we will see what comes up,

at the moment I have a firm in Sussex but we will see if there is

anything better available. Because you want to study. Economics. Why is

it so popular? So many good jobs and avenues open to us, so varied. So

many different things and options in life. You also did two-year study

on. Really testing and strenuous, really stressful at points. Had you

have some advice for students? About to embark on the two-year study

period? Just about, because there is so much to remember, you have to

make sure you start from Day 1, you cannot leave it to next month, you

become lazy, but when you work everyday hard and dedicate yourself

in a routine. But the main thing is, believe in yourself. If you don't

believe in yourself, it will never happen, I never thought that I would

get A*s. You broke the news to your mother, how did she react? She was

screaming! LAUGHTER A lot of people doing much

better-than-expected and looking to up what they got in their university

or even change courses. Thank you very much. Always nice

when you do better-than-expected! Obviously, a lot of people who will

not be getting the results they expected, many will go through

clearing to get into university, if that is what they want to do.

Weakens big with the Director of admissions at the University of

Bedfordshire. And Bobby Richardson, who did not perform as well as she

had hoped in her A-levels, she -- chose to do an IT apprenticeship

instead of going to university. You will remember how you were feeling

on this day when the results came in... You were one of those who did

not get what you wanted. I was predicted As across-the-board but I

got Cs which is not what I hoped, and... Must have had you hard. Huge

difference. Still got into university but I did not know what I

want to do, the fact that I did not know what I wanted to do, made me

very never is on results day. After results day, again, I did not know

what I wanted to do, I did a third year at college, I found that it was

very difficult for me because a lot of my friends had gone to

university, I was on my own, I went into full-time work for a couple of

years, leading me to do an IT apprenticeship. As that turned out

to be something you are glad that you have ended up doing? Yes, one of

the best decisions I have ever made, put me in a much better position

than a lot of people I know. Why do you say that? At the moment a lot of

my friends are graduating university, they have come out with

a degree, which is great, but they are struggling to find jobs, they

don't have the experience they need to get the jobs they are looking

for. By taking an apprenticeship, I got the experience, I did not have

the debt when I came out, which was great.

Bob cousins, director of admissions at the University of Bedfordshire.

Across the board, University applications were down 4%, why do

you think that was? There are a range of reasons for that, the job

market at the moment, but there have been changes as well in nursing

funding which has contributed. Generally at the University of

Bedfordshire we have not seen a decline overall and most of our

courses are actually up on last year. We are an open access

university, still have plenty of clearing places available. We have

lots of new opportunities such as a new foundation year. Those students

entering clearing have not done as well as they have achieved, there

are opportunities you can consider, such as a foundation year. Explained

that, somebody got in touch via Twitter to advise that is a good

route to go down if you don't know what to do? If you don't have the

grades you expected, many institutions including ours have

introduced a foundation year, which means you can apply for the degree

wanted to do but you have an extra degree of study which -- an extra

year of study which prepares you to succeed. Some of our students who

have done that are doing really well. Will the universities have to

lower their admission standards to get students in, because it is

important for the universities to get courses filled, isn't it,

because of the funding that comes along with students and fees they

are paying? That is part of it, there are lots of different funding

routes into universities. When we have been confirming our own results

with students this year we have found we have not seen a fall. It is

broadly in line with where it was last year. If courses aren't filled,

though, does it leave universities with a problem? It can do, but at

the University of Bedfordshire we have not found that was an issue

this year. What about the attractiveness or not of

universities when students are incurring big debts? It is

interesting to see that one company in particular, Grant Thornton, has

said actually it has increased the number of students dramatically,

going into work of the company straight from A-levels, versus

coming out of university. A quarter of their intake of trainees are

available students. Yes. There are lots of different routes, as we have

just been discussing, one of those is degree apprenticeships will stop

the University of Bedfordshire has recently signed a contract with

Tesco and we are doing degree apprenticeships with them.

University is also considering those different entry routes and working

with employers to make up those gaps. Bobby, what is the best advice

you would give someone if they find themselves in a position where they

don't know what they will be doing? The best piece of advice is just

don't panic. It doesn't matter if you didn't do well because your

grades don't define you. There are still other alternative options,

like apprenticeships, degree apprenticeships, and just because

you don't do well academically does not mean you will not do well

somewhere else. Did it take you a while to get to that position? On

the day when they come through I guess you don't feel as level-headed

as that? Definitely, it is always a bit of a shocker when you open your

results and it is not what you wanted but it is important to remain

calm and think there are still good things to come. Just because you

have had that results doesn't mean it will set you up for a bad future.

Is there anything on the day that kind of made you feel better?

Knowing that the future I had was in my hand and not on a piece of paper

in front of me, definitely. Greatest talk to you, Bobby and Bob, thank

you both very much. Good luck to you, whether you have the results

that you wanted or you did not come as we were hearing from Bobby, in

the end it all worked out to her and I am sure and hope it you as well.

Coming up, we will find out how teenagers at the Kensington Aldridge

Academy did in their A-levels. That is the school in the shadow of

Grenfell Tower who lost four pupils and one former pupil in the disaster

with another 50 made homeless. The High Court in Belfast is due to

issue a landmark ruling on whether same-sex marriage in Northern

Ireland should be recognised the first time. Northern Ireland is the

only part the UK where same-sex couples are restricted to civil

partnerships rather than marriages. Three couples are challenging the

current law. They are challenging by judicial review the assembly's

repeated decision to refuse to legislate for same-sex marriage.

They fed couple involved in action have had their identities and on my

is that they High Court. They were married in England in 2014 but live

in Northern Ireland and their marriage not recognise there. It is

only recognised as a civil partnership. We can talk to two of

those couples who have brought the case. Thank you all very much for

joining us. Welcome. So you have this joint action. Shannon, to you

first, tell us what your legal argument is, in a nutshell. I

probably am not the best person to summarise a legal argument but we

get asked quite often, what are the differences really between civil

partnership and same-sex marriage and why would we be pushing for

this. There are quite a few different aspects to answering that

question. One, as you rightfully highlight and which we are very

grateful for is that same-sex marriage is everywhere else in the

UK. It is also in in the Republic of Ireland. So Northern Ireland remains

to be the only place in the UK and in the island of Ireland, that does

not have same-sex marriage. That is one aspect and we can't lose sight

of that bigger picture. It is simply that it has been blocked from coming

into Northern Ireland and we believe that is wrong. Another aspect of

that, what is the difference question, is that if the government

says there is no difference, they are trying to push us to accept

civil partnership as being the same, then why is the government spending

tens of thousands of taxpayers pounds to try and stop it from

coming in? Tangibly logistically for us, some of the differences exist in

pension rights, and travel. For example, I am American. And there is

same-sex marriage recognised in the States. However, because only civil

partnership is recognised in Northern Ireland, and the United

States only recognise a reciprocal relationship, I can't bring my

father into the United States as other married couples would. That

means an injustice and a discrepancy between our relationships and

everyone else's. It brings us into second-class citizenship. I know

Chris and Henry... Before we go to Chris and Henry, I want to get

Grainne's thoughts on this. It is interesting, looking at the history

of Northern Ireland, and the fact it was the last place to decriminalise

homosexuality in the UK but the first place to have civil

partnerships but now behind the curve on gay marriage. How do you

feel about that? Personally, I feel that 12 years ago we were very

progressive in being the first couple in the UK. You would think

times should have moved on. We are now the last place in the island of

Ireland and also in the UK, as Shannon has said, and I think from a

point of view that it is William Porter and that Shannon and I both

have a little daughter, and for her future it is important that same-sex

marriage is recognised for so it is a personal matter to us. Henry and

Chris, why is it so important to you both? It is about family. We should

not be in court today, this should have come in when it came in with

legislation with the rest of the UK. Gay people growing up, there is a

lot of suicide at the moment and things like that. Part of it is

feeling that their love is not equal to anyone else. They are looked down

on by people. Love is love. Henry is next to you. It is not that he

doesn't want to talk. Giving you moral support alongside you. How do

you feel attitudes, how much support do you have? It is a big change, it

shows that times are changing. People are happy to accept gay

marriage. The support we have had recently is unbelievable from

everybody from all walks of life. There is just that negative few that

will always have a downside. But you know what, we are not pushing gay

marriage and the people's faces, if you don't want one, don't have one,

simple as that. We are here to show that our love is the same as

everyone else's. Shannon, you may not win this, what will you do if

you lose, carry on fighting? We are ready to appeal. If we don't get the

judgment in our favour today. When we signed up to this, the four of

us, we knew it was not going to be straightforward, even though we

hoped it is today only get the judgment. And we know and recognise

that we might be this for a few years, this might even go to the

European Court of Human Rights, depending on how things shake down!

We know we are in this for the long haul. But I am quietly confident

today that we will get the judgment in our favour, and that same-sex

marriage will come into Northern Ireland. You are all looking very

buoyant and happy today, what has it been like going into this fight?

Tough at times? Incredibly tough, especially for the last two years we

have been waiting for the judgment. That definitely takes its toll on

you, in terms of carrying that. It is not just the Shannon and I and

Henry and Chris that we are doing this for every lesbian and gay

couple across Northern Ireland and that is rarely important to me and

that we are carrying the weight of that, and prepared to put our necks

on the line. Because it hasn't been easy but we are just really hoping

for a positive judgment today. Chris, you are putting your necks on

the line, do you come across people who say to you you should not have

this right? Not to our face, no. There are plenty on Facebook that

like to preach over here, but not to your face. The worst we have ever

had in 12 years of our civil partnership was a seven-year-old

saying to us one day, imagine having to marry another man? That is the

worst we have come across in 12 years. Grainne were saying about

some of the difficulties over time, how have you found the legal battle?

Of course it has been hard. It just shouldn't be a court case, it should

have come in as law. Our MLAs have approved it, but they have stopped

it at every chance it has had of going through. We shouldn't be

sitting here this morning waiting on a judgment, it should have been

brought in law. How do you feel about the sort of changing nature of

how things have progressed in Northern Ireland? The fact that as

we mentioned it was the first place in the UK to have civil

partnerships, but now there is this lag on this? Chris. I can't really

hear you. OK, I am going to go back to Grainne and Shannon, Chris might

have trouble hearing. Grainne and Shannon, how are your families,

around this particular fight? They are very supportive, just before I

came on here this morning, my family was wishing as well. Also I have a

two-year-old niece, and just recently, this is a lovely story,

Allan Little daughter had her naming ceremony and her first birthday

party and we sent out an Cue cards with our photos and hers on it. When

my little two-year-old niece asked her sister, her granny, who is that

other person, that is her money, she has two mummies. I just think it is

really important that that is our future. She just went about her

business, oh, right, and went about her future, in terms of that is just

the way it is going to go. Thank you all very much. We will bring you

that judgment when it comes through. Still to come, tickets go on sale

for We are Manchester, a benefit centre that will mark the reopening

of Manchester Arena. We speak to one of the people performing. It is

10:29am. Let's join Rebecca for a news summary. The percentage

available entries receiving the top grades has proven slightly, the

first increase in six years. But the results for 13 subjects

in England which have seen big changes in assessment show

a small fall in achievement. Our education correspondent

Gillian Hargreaves told us more. Initial figures from the University

system UCAS show the number of people accepted on university

courses is 2% down on the same time last. There has been a surge in the

number of illegal migrants crossing the sea from Morocco to Spain.

Nearly 600 were rescued on Wednesday during what coastguards described as

their busiest day yet. Spain has dealt with 9000 arrivals by sea

since January, three times as many as in the same period last year.

since January, three times as many President Trump says

after a raft of resignations by the leaders of some of the United

Around a dozen company heads left their roles

following Mr Trump's decision to blame left-wing protesters

as much as right-wing supremacists for the violence which erupted

Firefighters are tackling a huge blaze at a warehouse

Four hundred people work at the Blochairn fruit market,

which supplies fresh food to shops and restaurants in

Everybody has been moved to safety - twelve fire engines have

Most of the historic World War two aircraft that make up the Battle

of Britain Memorial Flight have been grounded because of engine issues.

The Hurricanes, Spitfires and a Lancaster bomber

are all affected and one display has already been cancelled

The RAF is unable to say when the planes will

The aircraft are more than 70 years old.

A Canadian woman has been reunited with her diamond ring,

13 years after she lost it while weeding in her garden.

Mary Grams' daughter-in-law picked a carrot out of the vegetable patch

and found its growth had been restricted by the ring.

Mrs Grams had been too embarrassed to tell her husband she'd lost it

That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 9.30.

I do love that story, have you ever lost something that turned up

unexpectedly years later. Celtic are pretty much put

themselves a place in the group stages of the Champions League for

the season, beating the England and Ireland can reach the

semifinals of the Williams Rugby World Cup later on, England take on

the United States, they know that victory would mean they

automatically qualify for the last four, I will have more sport for you

in newsroom live after 11am full. -- England captain Joe Root says Ashes

places are on the line for some of his team-mates ahead of their

historic first 'day-night' Test match against the West Indies at

Edgbaston later. An England player was left "shocked" after being the

subject of alleged 'racial' remarks made by women's national team head

coach Mark Sampson. is on the increase -

up by 665 - nearly a 4% rise is on the increase, up

by 665, nearly a 4% rise That's according to the latest

figures released by the Ministry Among the new recruits is a group

of graduates on a programme modelled on the Teach First

scheme for schools. The Justice Secretary,

David Lidington, says they'll bring fresh ideas to a service that's too

much of a "closed world." Our home affairs correspondent,

Danny Shaw, is the first journalist to meet some of the new recruits

as they undergo their final weeks of training at

Coldingley Prison in Surrey: We are doing a cell search,

obviously, this is someone's house VOICEOVER: It is one of the most

basic tasks in prison, but one of the most important,

looking for drugs, weapons and mobile phones and these new

recruits are learning how to do it. How did your family react

when you told them you would My mum was a bit worried

and concerned to begin with, My dad, happy, I think he's quite

excited for me because I'm excited Probably happy that he's got another

one through the door. This is first-hand experience

and a first step in helping They come in and they've been

convicted of the crime and then their punishment

is coming into prison. After that, they don't need to be

punished any more they need the support and the help

and guidance into leading Do you have particular

ambitions at the moment? When I first looked at this

programme I did, into me getting

into forensic psychology from a psychology background,

and that is how saw it... But, at the minute I'm

enjoying what I'm doing. Most of the graduates, here meeting

Justice Secretary David Lidington, are embarking on their first career

but some are much older and have switched from office-based jobs

selected for their communication The whole of society needs leaders

who believe in reducing reoffending So, yes we want people in prisons

who have done our programme, we want people starting criminal

justice charities that have done our programme,

but we also want MPs that have done our programme, I want

a Secretary of State for justice, I want a Prime Minister that has

done our programme. -- Prisons like this will benefit

hugely from this influx of new staff but with violence across the prison

service at record levels the question is, can it hang

on to all the new offices that The salary for new prison officers

is between ?20,000-?29,000 a year. Some can earn more in jobs

which are less stressful I think it is also about sharing

that as well as paying people the right level,

you value the work that they do and you take steps in terms

of discipline, drugs, mobile phones to make it

easier for the officers is something that could

be replicated more It is not an alternative

to the standard recruitment of prison officers and prison

governors, and yes I do do hope that this can

be rolled out more widely There is a huge number of very

dedicated governors and officers working in prisons looking

after well over 80,000 people, at the moment and yet most

of the public don't know what is going on inside

our prison system. Bringing some bright graduates

in who are committed to making a success of their work,

I've been really impressed that I think will help

with the running of the prisons. I think it will get some

new ideas, some challenges. I think to the way in

which we go about doing things in prisons and provide

extra bodies, extra help for the

established staff here. a way of opening up

prisons a bit more One of the issues you have got

is although you are getting people in, quite a lot are leaving

because of the problems of violence and self harm and the lack

of support they feel and perhaps That is a real issue, isn't it,

you got it tackle retention? It is a challenge and it is

a particular problem in parts of London and the south-east,

it is not the case everywhere but yes in London and

the south-east in particular. We have yes to recruit the extra

prison officers but we also have to show as ministers and senior

managers in justice that we value the professionalism,

that we value the professionalism, the dedication of prison officers,

listen to them and their ideas of how to make prison work better

in the future and we need to redouble our efforts on things

like cracking down on drugs And it is not easy work

when prisons are full and, -- And it is not easy work

when prisons are full and, STUDIO: Well, this is what some

serving prison officers told about how important experience

is in the profession. When I joined, there

used to be staff coming They have the life experience

to deal with these they don't have these

kind of life skills, and that's another big failure

that causes problems. We're getting officers

who are 20, 21 years of age, what experience have

they got of life? And they're telling a 40-,

50-year-old to get back behind the door, who's probably done

ten years already. There's no respect, no authority

and there's no discipline. We can speak now to Paul Miller,

who was a prison officer for more than 25 years until 2013,

John Podmore, who's a former prison governor, and Carl Cattermole,

who was convicted of criminal damage and served time in a number

of prisons, including Pentonville, welcome, all of you, thank you for

joining us John, the Justice Secretary says the graduate will

bring fresh ideas to a service that is too much of a close world, what

do you think? Let's bear in mind as far as I'm aware, we are talking

about 40 individuals, I welcome this scheme, there is enthusiasm, clearly

money behind it, I welcome investment in the new staff, we need

to know how much money has been spent, and the important thing is

that we have some trans-Arens as to how many of the 40 graduates stick

with it. -- transparency. That is a key barometer of whether it is

working. But it is a close world, we need more prison staff and Ministry

of Justice staff to talk about these issues. Do you think that graduates

are the answer to some of the problems? Definitely not, we have

been down this road before, years ago, when we had the accelerated

promotion scheme, we had people who were coming to the job, graduates,

and the first thing they wanted to do was get off the land, become a

governor, be running wings in jails within a few years. -- get off the

landings. John, in terms of that, presumably, that is what the goal is

going to be, this time around, do you think that is a good thing?

Well, what we need to bear in mind, with all this recruitment, apart

from the Unlock scheme, where there is intensive training, the prison

officers we are recruiting, talking about an increase of six, 700 based

on the group and 3000, we are losing a lot of experience, but the

training for prison officers is the shortest in the world, about eight

weeks. Prisoners can be difficult, disorder, drug and alcohol problems,

devious, manipulative. The skills to deal with prisoners are huge, a

training course of eight weeks, based on the fact you don't need

five GCSEs, A-C, to join the scheme, is a problem that is not yet being

tackled. We have lost 7500 experienced staff, we are bringing

in, trying to bring in, 800, 2500 new ones. But, the turnover at the

moment, the people who are leaving, are going to be those who can afford

to go, early pensions, early retirement full. We are still

continuing to lose the experience. Addressing the spearing issues of

the workforce is the most important thing, I don't think governments are

doing enough. You are a former prisoner, what you think is required

in prison officers to make a good one? I think that bringing in young

graduate is unrealistic. I think that like John says, I can only echo

what that says, 7500 experienced officers have been lost, offices and

know what they are doing, they have the mettle to deal with the

situation, and they bringing new 800 kids, any investment is a good

investment, but the net result is not a good one. What do inmates

respect, in terms of prison officers? Inmates don't really

respect prison officers, they are the arm of a system that has locked

you up and is not helping you, failing to provide you with

education, putting drugs in front of you, separating you from your

family. We don't have respect for prison officers. Were there anywhere

you thought, I respect that person, he's doing a good job. There is two

answers, I did not like prison officers, I had bad experiences with

them on the ground, but I think that also, I can see they are doing a

hard job, and I deeply respect that. All the prison officers who had the

real experience in how to deal with inmates made the wing safer, they

made you feel more able to rehabilitate yourself, they provided

an environment that was more conducive to a functioning prison

system. What was it they were doing? They would let you in the eye, they

would know the right questions, recognised tensions when they are

about to rise. These kids that are coming through... About mutual

respect and a bit of fear. Honestly, I don't think fear works, because

people like me, who have been in detention from school, or people who

have been in care and youth offenders institutions, you don't

response to fear, what you respond to is respect, that is something

everyone seems to miss in this narrative about the justice system,

I think you are more likely to have respect and mutual respect for an

officer who has been through it and knows what they are doing. I think

that the wider issue of the way that the prison system has become an

absolute mess is something we urgently need to talk about. You

were nodding vigorously when he was talking about respect, and how to

get the most constructive relationship between prison officers

and inmates. Prison is run on relationships, and what has

happened, those relationships have been broken down. That is because

you have prison officers feeling demotivated, in some instances not

particularly well led and well-trained or even well-prepared

for situations they face. Above all, they need to be self-confident, they

need to know about the issues that prisoners raise with them, they need

to know more than they do about suicide prevention.

They need to know how the system works. They need to be investing

their knowledge in the prisoners, and that has broken down. Putting

that that will be a truly difficult. Paul Camier were a prison officer as

we mentioned for more than 25 years, how has the role changed? Basically

the role has changed hugely. I basically went to work and I was