31/01/2012

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:00:31. > :00:36.Hello and welcome to Stormont today. Fred Goodwin is stripped of his

:00:36. > :00:40.knighthood, but keeps his pension pot of �12 million. It's unlikely

:00:41. > :00:45.he'll get much sympathy. Here on the hill, MLAs concentrate on the

:00:45. > :00:50.young, youth unemployment an the eternal catch 22. A particular

:00:50. > :00:53.problem faced by young people is in sufficient experience and it's

:00:53. > :00:56.difficult to get such experience without having a job. There's a

:00:56. > :01:02.danger of young people being lost to long-term unemployment. And grab

:01:02. > :01:07.a box of tissues, as MLAs reveal their tearful secrets. People don't

:01:07. > :01:11.realise that behind every hard- nosed politician, there's a person

:01:11. > :01:21.who is soft about something and certainly sad songs really do get

:01:21. > :01:24.

:01:24. > :01:27.me. With me throughout, Kula Yusuma, Concerns for a lost generation of

:01:27. > :01:30.young people deprived of the opportunity to join the workforce

:01:30. > :01:39.has become a major political issue, not just here, but also throughout

:01:40. > :01:44.Britain. With me now is Kula Yusuma. It is difficult in this climate but

:01:44. > :01:50.there's a loft young people facing unemployment potentially for a few

:01:50. > :01:55.years to come. There is. It's nearly one fifth of 16 to 24-year-

:01:55. > :01:58.olds find themselves unemployed and not in training on education. It's

:01:58. > :02:01.in the a straightforward as saying let's get them jobs. There are a

:02:01. > :02:06.group of young people who need a lot of training and support to find,

:02:06. > :02:11.to get the skills to get into the work place. You're right, the

:02:11. > :02:14.economic downturn, you see, seeing statistics, in Spain it's as much

:02:14. > :02:18.as 50% of young people are unemployed. This is a global issue

:02:18. > :02:23.we have to address properly. What do you think is the answer then?

:02:23. > :02:26.Even this phrase NEETs, not in education and training, has

:02:27. > :02:30.negative connotations. Yeah absolutely. Because we like to

:02:30. > :02:33.label people, because we can put them in a box. That's what I mean

:02:33. > :02:37.about things being complicated. You have a group of young people,

:02:37. > :02:41.several thousand young people who left school with no qualifications,

:02:41. > :02:44.without any skills to take them into a work place. They're barely

:02:44. > :02:49.able to read and write. We need to support them. That's what

:02:49. > :02:54.organisations like Include Youth are doing. We need to give them

:02:54. > :02:58.proper financial support to be able to progress up the ladder. At the

:02:58. > :03:02.other end you have graduates coming out with very good degrees and no

:03:02. > :03:06.jobs. In those cases we need to get them, again into the work place and

:03:06. > :03:09.help employers give them a chance to take them in and hopefully, we

:03:09. > :03:13.can see these young people go through. But there's a lot of work

:03:13. > :03:17.to be done. It's great that the Assembly's talking about it. We

:03:17. > :03:21.need to see some action. Stay with us. Now, young people were very

:03:21. > :03:25.much on the agenda today with questions to both the employment

:03:25. > :03:28.and learning and the Education Ministers. But first, you might

:03:28. > :03:32.remember two weeks ago, the Alliance Party's Judith Cochrane

:03:32. > :03:37.told the Assembly how tempted she was to kiss John O'Dowd. Well,

:03:37. > :03:41.today, it was her colleague Chris Lyttle who seemed keen to start a

:03:41. > :03:44.little bromance with the minister. Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. My

:03:44. > :03:49.colleague Judith Cochrane threatened to kiss the minister for

:03:49. > :03:56.the start of progress in regards to nursery provision. If he could sort

:03:56. > :04:00.out the need for new build skills I maybe come down there and kiss

:04:00. > :04:04.himself -- him myself as well. Can I ask the minister with regards to

:04:04. > :04:07.communication with the schools, can I ask the minister how exactly he's

:04:07. > :04:13.going to commune the deadline and time scales for this plan with the

:04:13. > :04:17.schools who've been waiting for these new buildings for years?

:04:17. > :04:22.will have to tell my wife there is a House where I can get a kiss in,

:04:22. > :04:26.so there is. Last week the minister told education boards he was

:04:26. > :04:32.unhappy with an audit of schools they'd carried out. He sent it back.

:04:32. > :04:35.Today, members wanted to know more. Due to the sensitivity of the

:04:35. > :04:41.publication of the audit, what implications do you see for schools

:04:41. > :04:48.within north Belfast? Well, I understand there is some

:04:48. > :04:53.sensitivity around the publication of the audit. Rather -- whether

:04:53. > :04:55.it's north Belfast or any other constituency, the sensitivity of

:04:55. > :04:59.the information, most of the information will be in the public

:04:59. > :05:04.domain. I am bringing the information together, so I am as a

:05:04. > :05:10.minister, have a clear picture of our schools across the area. This

:05:10. > :05:15.is not the end game in relation to these aud its. The media should not

:05:15. > :05:19.be using them as a league table or what mapping out the destiny for

:05:19. > :05:22.schools. There may well be schools that are clearly identified as

:05:22. > :05:25.having such problems that they are unsustainable into the future. If

:05:25. > :05:29.that is the case, I have a duty to ask the managing authorities what

:05:29. > :05:34.plans are in place to secure the education of the young people at

:05:34. > :05:37.those schools. But I think in mat jort of case what's we will see is

:05:37. > :05:40.a position where schools need further support and we'll ask what

:05:40. > :05:46.further support are you giving those schools? How are we assisting

:05:46. > :05:52.schools to work out of their current financial or educational

:05:52. > :05:58.underattainment. We're entering the next stage of viability audits.

:05:58. > :06:04.This is not the final destination. These reports should not be used as

:06:04. > :06:07.a league table or speculate them in any way that would damage a school.

:06:07. > :06:10.Onto the employment and learning minister and the issue of

:06:10. > :06:15.unemployment among young people, clearly one of the most pressing

:06:15. > :06:21.matters facing his department. Deputy Speaker, members have tabled

:06:21. > :06:24.five questions all in the theme of youth unemployment and one on

:06:25. > :06:28.general unemployment. With permission I will address youth

:06:28. > :06:32.unemployment as a group and will see additional time in that regard.

:06:32. > :06:37.The increase in youth claimant unemployment, those aged 24 and

:06:37. > :06:43.under, between November 2007 and November 2011, for Northern Ireland

:06:43. > :06:45.was 155% compared to the overall UK rise of 97%. While the rate of

:06:46. > :06:52.youth unemployment may be marginally lower in Northern

:06:52. > :06:56.Ireland at 18.4% compared to 21.1% to the UK as a whole, it

:06:56. > :07:00.constitutes a major challenge. There are around 20,000 young

:07:00. > :07:04.people who are unemployed here. Youth unemployment brings its own

:07:04. > :07:09.challenges. Young people risk being denied the opportunity to acquire

:07:09. > :07:11.the skills. A particular problem is insufficient experience to compete

:07:11. > :07:16.for jobs and it's difficult to get such experience without having a

:07:16. > :07:20.job. There's a danger of young people being lost to long-term

:07:20. > :07:24.unemployment. This is an international issue and many

:07:24. > :07:28.governments have made targeted interventions N Great Britain the

:07:28. > :07:32.Government introduce aid youth contract. This initiative will

:07:32. > :07:38.invest 940 million in new measures over three years to help young

:07:38. > :07:43.progress in the labour market. It provides for advisors, 100,000 work

:07:43. > :07:49.placements over three years, a new wage incentive to encourage jobs

:07:49. > :07:54.and a new target for NEETs. In addition to youth contract measures

:07:54. > :07:58.Wales has put in place the jobs growth Wales programme a �75

:07:58. > :08:01.million scheme designed to create 4,000 jobs a year for young people.

:08:01. > :08:06.Scotland has in place the Scotland scheme whereby organisations are

:08:06. > :08:12.offered a grant of up to �6,000 for each job created. The scheme will

:08:12. > :08:16.create 2,000 jobs in the next three years and represents additional

:08:16. > :08:23.investment of �12.4 million. My department has a range of measures

:08:23. > :08:26.to help the unemployed to find work. More needs to be done. Therefore I

:08:26. > :08:30.have circulated to my executive colleagues a set of proposals to

:08:30. > :08:34.help young people and to address the threats to the future of our

:08:34. > :08:37.economy if we do not take effective action now. The executive should

:08:37. > :08:40.shortly consider the options and it is for the minister of finance to

:08:40. > :08:43.consider the issue of funding in the first instance. I will make a

:08:43. > :08:48.full statement to the Assembly when a package of measures has been

:08:48. > :08:52.agreed. This youth contract that the minister referred to there,

:08:53. > :08:56.what do we need to do here, because as I understand it, the departments,

:08:56. > :09:02.it's up to them how they spend the money. They don't necessarily have

:09:02. > :09:07.to put it into youth employment. hope to goodness they do put it

:09:07. > :09:13.into youth employment. Our understanding is that Stephen Farry

:09:13. > :09:17.has bid for a proportion to come to Northern Ireland. It has to go into

:09:17. > :09:20.programmes and processs to get young people, a range of young

:09:20. > :09:24.people into employment. The one thing that he didn't mention and I

:09:24. > :09:28.hope he will mention is how we give young people, there are a group of

:09:28. > :09:32.young people working incredibly hard to get into training and

:09:32. > :09:39.employment, but on, are on pre- vocational programmes. They're not

:09:39. > :09:41.given a penny by the state. Why as their friends in tech, in colleges,

:09:41. > :09:45.within so-called recognised training organisations get a

:09:45. > :09:49.training allowance. One thing he has to do is recognise the work

:09:49. > :09:53.that so many young people are doing. I'm hoping that some of this youth

:09:53. > :09:56.contract money can be spent on giving young people a training

:09:56. > :10:03.allowance to help them build the skill that's they need to get into

:10:03. > :10:07.the work place. The Health Minister has announced what he's called a

:10:07. > :10:14.full and rigorous investigation into the sued moan as infections

:10:14. > :10:18.which claimed the -- pseudo moan yaz infections which claimed the

:10:18. > :10:22.lives of four babies. Edwin Poots told the Assembly that the actions

:10:22. > :10:25.of trust officials need to be rigorously examined. I must ensure

:10:25. > :10:28.the review is thorough and rigorous and makes recommendations on

:10:29. > :10:33.immediate action that's we need to take. I want an internal report by

:10:33. > :10:37.the end of March so that urgent actions can be taken. He will be

:10:37. > :10:41.aware that there have been calls for a public inquiry, particularly

:10:41. > :10:45.from the parents of one of the children, one of the babies who

:10:45. > :10:50.very sadly died. He's opted for an independent investigation, could he

:10:50. > :11:00.tell the House why he's opted for an investigation rather than a full

:11:00. > :11:02.

:11:02. > :11:09.blown public inquiry? In terms of public inquiries, there has been

:11:09. > :11:15.calls from at least one of the families for a public inquiry by

:11:15. > :11:20.some members of this house and indeed some people in the press and

:11:20. > :11:27.I realise that there is a huge degree of public concern at this

:11:27. > :11:30.time and people want answers. I believe an independent

:11:30. > :11:36.investigation and review will provide the urgent answers that I

:11:36. > :11:42.require. As I already stated, I've asked the chief executive of the

:11:42. > :11:48.RQIA to assist me in a full, rigorous, independent investigation

:11:48. > :11:53.into these incidents. A public inquiry in and of itself under the

:11:53. > :11:57.inquiries act 2005 would not be the quickest or most effective way of

:11:57. > :12:02.actually getting the answers. it was what everyone was talking

:12:02. > :12:07.about here on the Hill yesterday, would Tom Elliott add insult to

:12:07. > :12:10.injury and replace David McNarry on the education committee with his

:12:10. > :12:15.Strangford colleague Mike Nesbitt? The Speaker made the announcement

:12:15. > :12:20.to the House. Order. Members order. I would like first of all to inform

:12:20. > :12:25.members that I have been notified by the nominating officer of the

:12:25. > :12:30.Ulster Unionist Party Mr Tom Elliott. Mr David McNarry has been

:12:30. > :12:35.replaced as deputy chairperson of the committee for education. Mr

:12:35. > :12:38.Elliot has now nominated Mr Mike Nesbitt to be deputy chairperson of

:12:38. > :12:43.the committee for education and Mr Mike Nesbitt has accepted the

:12:43. > :12:47.appointment. A note from our producer, please be

:12:47. > :12:51.more careful with what you do with your papers and microphone. Earlier,

:12:51. > :12:54.I spoke to the new deputy chair, Mike Nesbitt. Well, I'm sorry about

:12:54. > :12:58.the circumstances which have led to the appointment, but I'm very

:12:58. > :13:02.pleased to be on the education committee. I think education and

:13:02. > :13:06.enterprise would have been my two picks, my passions. I'm very much

:13:07. > :13:11.looking forward to working with Joanne Dobson and the rest of the

:13:11. > :13:14.committee. David McNarry talked about two agendas in the Ulster

:13:14. > :13:18.Unionist Party last night. Which do you fit into? I didn't hear what he

:13:18. > :13:22.said. All I'm focused on is reading my brief for the education

:13:22. > :13:26.committee which meets tomorrow morning at 10.30. A lot of viewers

:13:26. > :13:31.will be parents of school children. A lot of your viewers will be

:13:31. > :13:35.teachers. I don't think they care about the internal maccinations of

:13:35. > :13:40.the party. They care about the future of the education of their

:13:40. > :13:43.children. There's not much more important than that in what we do.

:13:44. > :13:49.Surely you care about what happens in the party. I do. A lot of what

:13:49. > :13:57.we do is internal. I'm not going to wash our dirty linen in public. I'm

:13:57. > :13:59.focused on my role and getting myself up to speed on the actual

:13:59. > :14:03.they've covered so far and what they're covering tomorrow. You'll

:14:03. > :14:06.be aware that Stormont and beyond is awash with rumours, do you see

:14:06. > :14:11.yourself in some future role as leader of the Ulster Unionist

:14:11. > :14:15.Party? If you look at the clippings, you'll see that I have said

:14:15. > :14:19.publicly and unequivocally, I will never, ever challenge Tom Elliott's

:14:19. > :14:23.leadership. But if he was to step aside, would

:14:23. > :14:28.you put your name forward? If the building was to collapse, would I

:14:28. > :14:36.still want to be an MLA, who knows. What happens now with the party?

:14:36. > :14:39.Obviously, basil McCrae and Danny Kennedy gave a news conference this

:14:39. > :14:46.afternoon, how do you reassure supporters you're on track going

:14:46. > :14:49.forward? Last night I was at the division Alanual general meeting of

:14:49. > :14:55.Fermanagh. There were about 160 people there. They're totally

:14:55. > :15:00.united. I was at a party assembly group meeting this week, totally

:15:00. > :15:04.united. I was in east Belfast last week, totally united. Are you sure

:15:04. > :15:07.there's an issue here? Are you sure it isn't just to some extent a

:15:07. > :15:11.media invention? I'm very happy. I'm very confident that the Ulster

:15:11. > :15:15.Unionist Party is moving in the right direction. My focus isn't so

:15:15. > :15:21.much on the party, it's on what the people who are paying my salary

:15:21. > :15:25.elected me to do. As of tomorrow that is to do with education policy.

:15:25. > :15:29.Are you supportive of Tom Elliott's action against David McNarry

:15:29. > :15:31.considering he's your colleague in Strangford. It's not a question of

:15:31. > :15:35.whether he's my colleague in Strangford. The leader has taken

:15:35. > :15:38.action, we all in the Assembly group support the leader. You don't

:15:38. > :15:43.regret to see him go? I told you that I regretted the circumstances

:15:43. > :15:46.under which I come to be the vie chair marn of the education

:15:46. > :15:49.committee. That's what I'm focused on. I'm happy to continue talking

:15:49. > :15:54.about that. In terms of anything else, I understand as a journalist

:15:54. > :16:04.you're going to poke around and see if you can get me so say something,

:16:04. > :16:04.

:16:04. > :16:10.if there is dirty linen, I'm not Conall McDevitt com and affable

:16:10. > :16:13.enough MLA you might think, but he seemed to get under the skin of the

:16:13. > :16:17.Social Development Minister day during a debate on pensions. Nelson

:16:17. > :16:20.McCausland was summing up at the end of a debate proposing the

:16:20. > :16:30.second stage of the Pensions Bill which would keep us in line with

:16:30. > :16:31.

:16:31. > :16:35.the rest of the UK when he picked on the SDLP member. I think that is

:16:35. > :16:45.indeed the right and the responsible way to take this

:16:45. > :16:45.

:16:45. > :16:49.forward. Could I actually just say in his case I do not commend

:16:49. > :16:59.irresponsibility and financial and fiscal incompetence from people you

:16:59. > :17:03.cannot work out... Can I make two point. If he wanted to speak on the

:17:03. > :17:07.matter, he might have been in the House. He could not even be

:17:07. > :17:15.bothered to be here to ask the question or make an intervention.

:17:15. > :17:19.The key point is and maybe he could tell me where he is going to

:17:19. > :17:25.conjure up �700 million from? A quick answer will do. Health or

:17:25. > :17:33.education? Which are you going to cut? I thank the Minister for

:17:33. > :17:37.giving way. The neighbour is McDevitt, minister. Committee

:17:37. > :17:41.members often spend hours listening to presentations from ministers or

:17:41. > :17:46.interest groups, but sometimes their burden is less pressing and

:17:46. > :17:49.then they can become a little wistful, nostalgic event. We start

:17:49. > :17:56.our weekly look at the work of the committees at education where they

:17:56. > :18:01.are discussing P E. Is it compulsory to provide swimming

:18:01. > :18:08.lessons or swimming for schools? This particular school does not

:18:08. > :18:18.have access to a nearby swimming facility. My understanding is that

:18:18. > :18:22.it does not provide swimming lessons. Then I made inquiries and

:18:22. > :18:27.the Department were very good at coming back and said, it is a

:18:27. > :18:35.statutory requirement, it is in the curriculum. A think it has to be

:18:35. > :18:42.noted that whilst in the past football and Gallic were perceived

:18:42. > :18:47.to be predominantly male who played those games. But when David speaks

:18:47. > :18:54.about rugby, what about hockey and other games that females play? That

:18:54. > :19:00.does not fit in. In my own area we have a fantastic hockey team. If

:19:00. > :19:06.that is not being funded, I know the community fund so that and the

:19:06. > :19:15.coaches come from the community. If we are talking in terms of equality,

:19:15. > :19:22.I think we should include female games like hockey. And cricket. It

:19:22. > :19:26.was an amazing thing why cricket was such eight Keene Sport west of

:19:26. > :19:33.the province, which is a very English thing. The answer I was

:19:33. > :19:37.given when I asked why there was a cricket club in Brady, at the Mills

:19:37. > :19:43.was the reason why. The mill owners would have provided a sport and

:19:43. > :19:46.they played cricket and that was the link. What it does raise his

:19:46. > :19:56.maybe we should look at this as another potential area for inquiry

:19:56. > :19:57.

:19:57. > :20:06.for us. I agree with that and I agree with what Mekelle is saying.

:20:06. > :20:09.I used to play hobby and the next top you was the best game. It is an

:20:09. > :20:17.important piece of work for the committee to undertake in terms of

:20:17. > :20:26.the judiciary. Could I suggest that we invite a witness to give

:20:26. > :20:30.evidence on this issue? Can I anticipate the witness. There has

:20:30. > :20:39.been a certain former Secretary of State who has written a book and he

:20:39. > :20:47.has very definitely outspoken views on this issue. He has taken the

:20:47. > :20:52.very unusual step of making a public comment about this. He says

:20:52. > :20:58.it is an assault on the independence of the judiciary. That

:20:58. > :21:08.was a response to Mr Payne's comments that Sir Paul Girvan was

:21:08. > :21:12.

:21:12. > :21:18.off his rocker! Being serious about it, he has clearly a very strong

:21:18. > :21:22.views on this. He has been on the inside track as far as this issue

:21:22. > :21:26.is concerned. I am proposing that given the fact he has very strong

:21:26. > :21:34.views that we invite him to come before this committee and give

:21:34. > :21:38.evidence. On the judiciary? On the appointments to the judiciary.

:21:38. > :21:43.to attend we will have terms of reference for our work on this and

:21:43. > :21:49.part of that will be witnesses and if you want to pick up almost

:21:49. > :21:53.Secretary of State for this list... They were talking about p, but on a

:21:53. > :21:58.more serious education at, is there some sort of early intervention

:21:58. > :22:02.needed to prevent children ever leaving school without some basic

:22:02. > :22:07.qualifications and the skills to read and write? Absolutely.

:22:07. > :22:13.Education is one of the biggest factors that can help children

:22:13. > :22:17.overcome some disadvantage. Our education system is very good. I am

:22:17. > :22:21.not going to criticise it for the sake of it, but too many people

:22:21. > :22:25.coming out at the other end with not enough and generally they come

:22:25. > :22:29.from poorer communities weather have been family difficulties

:22:29. > :22:33.through no fault of their own, so we need an education system that

:22:33. > :22:38.can educate all its children. That may mean a classroom assistant, it

:22:38. > :22:43.may mean children come out of the classes to get extra attention. It

:22:43. > :22:47.does not necessarily mean that many resources. It means we need to

:22:47. > :22:51.think differently about how we educate some of our children.

:22:51. > :22:55.Should we have targets to say that children should never be able to

:22:55. > :22:59.leave school without being able to read or write? I am not saying

:22:59. > :23:05.targets is right, because we have seen what is happening with league

:23:05. > :23:09.tables, but we should have targets that recognise a child's potential.

:23:09. > :23:14.If you have had a difficult time in your life, like a bereavement, as

:23:14. > :23:19.you may not get a GCSE at 16, but you may get it at 18 once things

:23:19. > :23:23.have settled a bit. It is to make sure children learn in the best way

:23:23. > :23:30.that they can. It has been a busy week for the Ulster Unionist Party,

:23:30. > :23:35.but today they attempted to move on as Martina told me earlier. We had

:23:35. > :23:37.Basil McCrae and Danny Kennedy appeared together at a news

:23:37. > :23:43.conference to say how much they supported the leader and they

:23:43. > :23:47.wanted to move forward and the party was united. They came

:23:47. > :23:52.together and Baz on a crate is seen as the man who prefers opposition

:23:52. > :23:57.and sees the fortunes of the Ulster Unionist Party best served by going

:23:57. > :24:03.into opposition, with Danny Kennedy the Minister involved in the talks,

:24:03. > :24:07.both different wings of the party coming together. Interesting DAVID

:24:07. > :24:14.COULTHARD: Nari mentioned agenda as last night. When he talked about

:24:14. > :24:18.two competing agendas he meant those two interests. Although David

:24:18. > :24:23.McNarry appeared on the programme last night, as a hurt and winded

:24:23. > :24:28.MLA, who he said was unfairly punished, he was more angry and

:24:28. > :24:33.vengeful today. He said this will be a 15 round fight and is not

:24:33. > :24:38.going quietly. The we have had discussions about two agendas and

:24:38. > :24:43.is this all semantics? He said last night he did not recognise this

:24:43. > :24:48.term a liaison officer, which was how Tom Elliot referred to him in

:24:49. > :24:53.the talks with the DUP. He spoke of a panel of four. He would not tell

:24:53. > :25:00.us who else was on this panel, but informed sources tell as it was

:25:00. > :25:04.David Campbell, the chairman of the party, Danny Kennedy and the Ulster

:25:04. > :25:07.Unionist leader Tom Elliot. I rang Tom Elliot and asked about the

:25:08. > :25:14.panel and he said he did not recognise there was a panel. He

:25:14. > :25:20.said there were meetings, there were areas of co-operation. The

:25:20. > :25:25.last meeting was 45 minutes. He said there were games being played,

:25:25. > :25:32.but in fairness to DAVID COULTHARD: Nari he was never officially known

:25:32. > :25:36.as a liaison officer. -- DAVID COULTHARD: Nari. We have been

:25:36. > :25:41.asking the politicians about which sad songs would make them cry. What

:25:41. > :25:48.would bring a tier 2 your eye? people say I am heartless and it is

:25:48. > :25:52.not possible to make me cry, but I say Elvis Presley and you can play

:25:52. > :25:58.his music at my funeral, which would cheer up many people around

:25:58. > :26:03.here. Perish the thought. Listening to a sad song has reduced seven out

:26:03. > :26:08.of 10 men to tears according to a studied. If the title music of this

:26:08. > :26:14.programme brings a tier 2 your eye, get eight issue and keep watching

:26:14. > :26:23.as MLAs reveal a softer side. was being facetious I would say

:26:23. > :26:27.every song that the Reverend McRae recorded. It would be a song by a

:26:27. > :26:32.group called the Stanlow brothers, different things to different

:26:32. > :26:37.people and it is a survey of how people view things if you are a

:26:37. > :26:44.father, a brother, a son and you are all those things. When I

:26:44. > :26:48.listened to my children perform, the tears come to my eyes. But I

:26:48. > :26:56.remember when my sister, who is a trained vocalists, did her first

:26:56. > :27:04.solo in church and she sang, I was moved to tears. Every time I hear

:27:04. > :27:11.that song in church tears come back to me. In a survey it brought back

:27:11. > :27:20.memories of the Show Band Days and suddenly the band would start to

:27:20. > :27:25.play Elvis and the men started to cry. It told the story of the

:27:25. > :27:29.orphanages which were in vogue in the Sixties and the whole idea of

:27:29. > :27:35.people turning up to adopt somebody and passing that little child

:27:35. > :27:40.because it was blind. That really was emotional. People do not

:27:40. > :27:47.realise that behind every hard- nosed politician there is a person

:27:47. > :27:53.who is soft about something and it certainly sad songs really get me.

:27:53. > :27:59.I do not know which is worse, nobody's child or two little boys.

:27:59. > :28:06.What would bring a tier 2 your eye? I have two if you indulge me. One

:28:06. > :28:12.is the South African national anthem and that always makes me cry.

:28:12. > :28:17.The other is Peggy Gordon, an old Irish folksong, because my children

:28:17. > :28:22.performed it when they were very young. It still brings a tier 2 I

:28:22. > :28:27.just thinking about it. One is personal and won his emotional

:28:27. > :28:33.thinking about people's struggles. Anything to do with children is

:28:33. > :28:38.tricky. Thank you for being our guest this event. That is it for