:00:06. > :00:09.A fall in high street sales, as Labour calls for an emergency tax
:00:09. > :00:16.cut to kick-start the economy. The Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, says a
:00:16. > :00:25.temporary VAT cut would boost consumer confidence.
:00:25. > :00:30.My suggestion to George Osborne is, while he won't agreed to pay VAT
:00:30. > :00:34.rise permanently, he should do it temporarily until the economy is
:00:34. > :00:38.growing strongly again. A juror is sent to prison for contacting a
:00:38. > :00:42.defendant on Facebook in the first case of its kind. The woman she
:00:42. > :00:46.messaged says she's upset. I feel sorry for the woman, I seriously do.
:00:46. > :00:49.She's a mother, and I've seen how upset she was. And I felt for her.
:00:49. > :00:52.If we have jurors who, whether by the internet or by face-to-face
:00:52. > :00:55.communication, who breach their oath or who disobey the orders of
:00:55. > :01:05.the judge at the beginning or during the course of the trial,
:01:05. > :01:06.
:01:06. > :01:10.that constitutes contempt. The 200 of the worst performing
:01:10. > :01:15.Brummie schools will be turned into academies.
:01:15. > :01:18.We have never been in an arena. bringing the Royal Ballet to the
:01:18. > :01:28.people, as they prepare to perform in front of their biggest live
:01:28. > :01:42.
:01:42. > :01:45.Expectations are high for a Good afternoon, and welcome to the
:01:45. > :01:49.BBC News at One. Britain's high street shops saw a
:01:49. > :01:54.drop in sales last month. They fell by 1.4%, a much bigger drop than
:01:54. > :01:57.predicted. Analysts are blaming the fall on the tough economic climate.
:01:57. > :02:00.Today, the Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, said the government should
:02:00. > :02:10.introduce an emergency cut in VAT to boost the economy and consumer
:02:10. > :02:13.
:02:13. > :02:17.confidence. Here's our chief Retailers are used to our ups and
:02:17. > :02:23.downs, some months, shoppers are out in force, sometimes not. Even
:02:23. > :02:27.so, the slide in sales in May was more than expected, and is seen as
:02:27. > :02:30.a son of consumers tightening their purse strings. We have seen
:02:30. > :02:34.consumers cutting back quite dramatically, and it is clear
:02:34. > :02:40.consumer spending is on a downward trend, particularly given how high
:02:41. > :02:46.inflation is. Consumers are not in any mood to spend. The feel-good
:02:46. > :02:50.factor in the run-up to the royal wedding has bed, the extra bank
:02:51. > :02:55.holiday boosted takings at the tills. Shoppers in Glasgow told us
:02:56. > :03:00.how they felt about spending. do not need to spend, I will not
:03:00. > :03:09.spend unless it is a necessity. I see something I like, I still buy
:03:09. > :03:14.it. In April, retell cells were up 1.1%. Last month, they were down by
:03:14. > :03:18.1.4%. Food stores including supermarkets saw a drop of over 3%
:03:18. > :03:21.in May compared to the same month the year earlier. The latest
:03:21. > :03:23.evidence of weaker consumer spending comes at a time of
:03:23. > :03:28.increasing debate about the government's handling of the
:03:28. > :03:33.economy. Some are calling for a rethink on the package of spending
:03:33. > :03:37.cuts and tax increases. The Shadow Chancellor today's said the
:03:37. > :03:41.government should change course to avoid further damage to the economy,
:03:41. > :03:45.and called for a temporary reduction in VAT. By putting more
:03:45. > :03:50.money into people's pockets, it would boost consumer spending for
:03:50. > :03:57.consumers feeling the squeeze from rising prices, especially
:03:57. > :04:01.pensioners and those on low incomes. The increase in consumer confidence
:04:01. > :04:06.would help a struggling retail sector. But government sources
:04:06. > :04:12.argue that the Governor of the Bank of England last night had supported
:04:12. > :04:16.the deficit reduction plan and Labour's alternative did not add up.
:04:16. > :04:19.This is planned before bankruptcy, cutting tax and increasing spending
:04:19. > :04:23.all over again would make the deficit worse and we will end up
:04:23. > :04:27.like Greece. There is a mixed picture in the economy,
:04:27. > :04:32.unemployment has fallen, some companies are doing well, but when
:04:32. > :04:39.it comes to the consumer, there are not many rays of sunshine right now.
:04:39. > :04:42.Our political correspondent, Gary O'Donoghue, is at Westminster.
:04:42. > :04:47.The Shadow Chancellor is insisting they should be another way of
:04:47. > :04:51.cutting the deficit? It is an interesting move by the Shadow
:04:51. > :04:56.Chancellor. Before this VAT rise was implemented by the government,
:04:56. > :05:00.Labour were in favour of not raising VAT at all. Their position
:05:00. > :05:05.has moved slightly in terms of moving to a temporary cut based on
:05:05. > :05:09.the argument the economy isn't growing fast enough, and if you put
:05:09. > :05:17.more money in people's pockets, they spend more and businesses
:05:17. > :05:22.improved. Vat is a big earner for the government. More than �80
:05:22. > :05:27.billion in year in revenue, a 2% cut cost the Government �1 billion
:05:27. > :05:33.a month. The question is if you get that money back quick enough. The
:05:33. > :05:37.bigger question for Ed Balls is to position the Labour Party work it
:05:37. > :05:42.is in the game on the economic argument. And number of people in
:05:43. > :05:47.his party felt Labour had been out to lunch, and this is about trying
:05:47. > :05:54.to undo these months of George Osborne saying there is no
:05:54. > :05:57.alternative. Labour is arguing there is an alternative.
:05:57. > :06:02.The 200 of England's worst performing private schools are to
:06:02. > :06:12.be reopened as academies. Michael Gove it says it will force of
:06:12. > :06:17.
:06:17. > :06:20.failing schools to improve standards in English and maths.
:06:20. > :06:24.From now on, Knights Temple Grove Academy in south east London used
:06:24. > :06:27.to be known as Merlin Primary. This school was struggling, and a
:06:27. > :06:31.successful local group which runs a chain of schools stepped in to take
:06:31. > :06:34.over. A new name, new head and a new uniform brought about a big
:06:34. > :06:37.improvement in performance. Quality of teaching is essential to what we
:06:38. > :06:41.need to do, in terms of transformation. But you have to
:06:41. > :06:44.transform the mindset of both the children, parents, the whole school.
:06:44. > :06:47.The government wants to roll out this reform more widely. 200
:06:47. > :06:50.struggling primaries in England will be turned into academies next
:06:50. > :06:53.year, run by other schools. They would include schools which have
:06:53. > :06:57.failed for five years to meet targets for 11 years olds in maths
:06:57. > :07:04.and English. Another 500 schools will be forced to convert later if
:07:04. > :07:07.they do not improve. These are schools where young people are
:07:07. > :07:10.leaving without a secure foundation in reading, writing and maths.
:07:10. > :07:13.want to make sure those schools, like this school, are taken over by
:07:13. > :07:16.organisations with a track record of success, to turn the schools
:07:16. > :07:25.around and guarantee those its young people the best possible
:07:25. > :07:29.start in life. Michael Gove made clear he thinks academies which are
:07:29. > :07:32.state-funded are key to driving up standards. Under the coalition,
:07:32. > :07:39.hundreds of successful schools have been fast-tracked into becoming
:07:39. > :07:46.academies. Now he is turning his attention to failing schools.
:07:46. > :07:51.Meikle -- getting good schools to take over bad ones is a policy
:07:51. > :07:55.started under the last government and some are asking what is new?
:07:55. > :07:58.When New Labour introduced academies, it came with new
:07:58. > :08:04.buildings and transitional funding. Michael Gove is offering no new
:08:04. > :08:08.money, but a quick-fix solution. Will the Minister tell the House
:08:08. > :08:12.how many schools have been over funded? Labour has today raised
:08:12. > :08:21.concerns an error has left academies and with more funding
:08:21. > :08:24.than they are entitled to. Academies are a preferred means of
:08:24. > :08:34.transforming schools but Michael Gove has yet to take teachers with
:08:34. > :08:37.
:08:37. > :08:40.him. Unions are poised to strike over pensions. The Al-Qaeda says it
:08:40. > :08:43.has a new leader. He's Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was
:08:43. > :08:49.Osama Bin Laden's deputy. The announcement was made this morning
:08:49. > :08:54.by the organisation's general command. The he is a very powerful
:08:54. > :08:59.figure, he has been running Al- Qaeda operationally for six years.
:08:59. > :09:04.We have seen him in videos far more than Osama Bin Laden. It is no
:09:05. > :09:11.surprise that he has taken over. But he does not have the same
:09:11. > :09:19.personal pulling power that Bin Laden had, particularly among
:09:19. > :09:24.Saudis and the Gulf people. He is an Egyptian. That could represent a
:09:24. > :09:30.problem for Al-Qaeda it in that he may not be able to unite Al-Qaeda?
:09:30. > :09:36.He faces challenges, the biggest one is how to harness the Arab
:09:37. > :09:44.Spring, this vast popular movement where people are fed up with
:09:44. > :09:48.autocratic governments. His challenge is to try to say, Al-
:09:48. > :09:58.Qaeda it is relevant and we do listen to what people want, it is
:09:58. > :09:58.
:09:58. > :10:02.not all about death and destruction. He will have an uphill struggle.
:10:02. > :10:05.The political and financial crisis in Greece comes to a head today.
:10:05. > :10:08.The prime minister is trying to form a new government to deal with
:10:08. > :10:10.the country's catastrophic debts. There were riots in Athens
:10:10. > :10:13.yesterday, as tens of thousands of people demonstrated against
:10:14. > :10:18.austerity cuts imposed by the government in an effort to bring
:10:18. > :10:24.the country's finances under control.
:10:24. > :10:28.The streets of Athens this morning, like the eurozone itself, in a mess.
:10:28. > :10:31.A new government is coming and a vote of confidence in Parliament.
:10:31. > :10:36.In a country at all but bankrupt, people are reaching the end of
:10:36. > :10:41.their tether. I think the Prime Minister is trying, he says, but
:10:41. > :10:46.will he achieve anything? He is scared, she says, he should have
:10:46. > :10:50.taken action a year ago. yesterday, all the frustration
:10:50. > :10:55.erupted onto the streets again, violent protests against massive
:10:55. > :10:59.austerity measures, much of it couched in nationalist terms. Many
:10:59. > :11:02.Greeks wonder whether the high price of staying in the euro is
:11:02. > :11:06.still worth paying. The rest of Europe is worried, they have
:11:06. > :11:10.already given billions to Greece but the medicine hasn't worked. Now
:11:10. > :11:13.they need to raise more money to keep Greece a float and a having to
:11:13. > :11:20.fight against a perception of paralysis, a sense that nobody
:11:20. > :11:26.knows what to do next. We need unity, we have to move beyond
:11:26. > :11:28.national quarrel, said Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris today, we have to
:11:28. > :11:35.defend our single currency and European institutions. Earlier this
:11:35. > :11:39.week, finance ministers spend hours discussing how to spend -- finance
:11:39. > :11:44.a second bail out. Germany was private bondholders to take their
:11:44. > :11:48.share of the pain. European Central Bank and the French say imposing
:11:48. > :11:52.losses on the private sector could panic the markets, and make
:11:52. > :11:56.financial jitters spread. European leaders are meeting here next week
:11:56. > :12:01.to talk about Greece. They will probably find a compromise
:12:01. > :12:05.eventually. The stakes are too high for them to fail. If the Greeks
:12:05. > :12:08.themselves no longer accept the terms of the deal, the crisis will
:12:08. > :12:15.deepen, and that could affect us all.
:12:15. > :12:21.Let's get more from our economics editor, Stephanie Flanders. He says
:12:22. > :12:28.it could affect us all, how much of an impact when it have on Britain?
:12:28. > :12:32.There is a straightforward financial issue, which is a lot of
:12:32. > :12:36.European banks have lent a lot of money to Greece. If there is a
:12:36. > :12:40.question about its ability to repay that money in full, if we do not
:12:40. > :12:45.get this deal to help them find their weight in financial markets,
:12:45. > :12:54.that will mean losses for our banks. Most people think those losses are
:12:54. > :12:58.manageable. The question has always been that you wouldn't then just be
:12:58. > :13:05.talking about Greece but Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and the amount of
:13:05. > :13:15.debt would be very large with potential losses for are banks. We
:13:15. > :13:18.
:13:19. > :13:23.are not looking at a Lehman situation yet. And there is a
:13:24. > :13:33.broader problem, of governments not being able to solve this. It is
:13:34. > :13:39.
:13:39. > :13:43.corrosive to confidence. A woman who was serving on the jury
:13:43. > :13:47.at a drugs trial last year, has been sent to prison for contacting
:13:47. > :13:50.one of the defendants on Facebook, in the first case of its kind.
:13:50. > :13:53.Joanne Fraill, 40, burst into tears this morning as she was jailed for
:13:53. > :13:56.eight months for contempt of court, after admitting exchanging messages
:13:56. > :14:03.with Jamie Sewart while the jury was still deliberating, causing the
:14:03. > :14:08.case to collapse. Surrounded by protective members of her family,
:14:08. > :14:14.Joanne Fraill, a so-called Facebook Truro, arrived at court to receive
:14:14. > :14:18.a prison sentence. Also here to receive a suspended sentence, Jamie
:14:18. > :14:23.Sewart, the former defendant in a multi-million-pound drugs trial
:14:23. > :14:29.whose Facebook conversation with the juror caused controversy. Back
:14:29. > :14:39.in August, Jamie Sewart had asked the jurors, what is happening with
:14:39. > :14:51.
:14:51. > :14:56.the other charge? This is what When told today she would be going
:14:56. > :15:00.to prison for eight months, Joanne Fraill released a cry of anguish.
:15:00. > :15:04.Several of her relatives and her sister were crying as well. As the
:15:04. > :15:09.family left court, the sister of read his statement. Joanne Fraill
:15:09. > :15:13.is deeply sorry for her actions which led to these proceedings. Her
:15:13. > :15:18.remorse was evident to the court and reflected in the judgment. She
:15:18. > :15:22.is totally devastated at what has happened. Jamie Sewart was spared
:15:22. > :15:28.prison today and she said she sympathised with the juror who had
:15:28. > :15:32.reached out to her on Facebook. feel sorry for the woman. I
:15:32. > :15:37.seriously do, she is a mother. was the government's lawyers who
:15:37. > :15:41.brought them to court, keen to send a stern warning to any juror
:15:41. > :15:46.considering breaking the rules, whether by internet or not. If we
:15:46. > :15:49.have jurors, but there they are communicating by internet or face-
:15:50. > :15:53.to-face communication, who breach their oath or disobey the orders of
:15:53. > :15:58.the judge at the beginning of the trial and during the course of the
:15:58. > :16:03.trial, that constitutes contempt. It was on the internet which was a
:16:03. > :16:13.problem, said the group -- said the judge, but the behaviour of the
:16:13. > :16:14.
:16:14. > :16:19.Let's be to our legal affairs Correspondent. Is this the tip of
:16:19. > :16:23.the iceberg? How much of a problem will be internet pose to the legal
:16:23. > :16:28.system? We know from research carried out about a year-and-a-half
:16:28. > :16:34.ago that people on juries are going to the internet, about five per
:16:34. > :16:40.cent, that raises to almost 15 per cent in high-profile cases, we do
:16:40. > :16:45.not know the effect but we know they are doing it. It is a bit like
:16:45. > :16:48.saying to a juror do not use the internet, leaving a jar of sweets
:16:48. > :16:53.in a room full of children, the teacher leaves the Rehman says do
:16:53. > :16:59.not look in the jar marked sweets. A national newspaper -- newspaper
:16:59. > :17:03.reported this week something like 40 online communications by serving
:17:03. > :17:09.jurors. If this prison term that has been passed to day of eight
:17:09. > :17:13.months does not send out a clear message that if people continue to
:17:13. > :17:16.use the internet while they serve on a jury, we will have to look at
:17:16. > :17:19.our laws on content and perhaps move more towards an American
:17:19. > :17:28.system where they take a more relaxed attitude towards this kind
:17:28. > :17:31.of thing. Our top story this lunchtime...
:17:31. > :17:35.High street sales fell last month as Britons tightened their belts
:17:35. > :17:43.and spent less. Coming up... A breakthrough over break-ins - how
:17:43. > :17:46.new security technology is foiling the car thieves. We are alive at St
:17:46. > :17:52.Paul's Cathedral where the scaffolding has come down after 15
:17:52. > :18:02.years of restoration and Centre Court fashion. We see what the top
:18:02. > :18:04.
:18:04. > :18:07.designers have designed for tennis Twenty years ago, more than half a
:18:07. > :18:10.million cars were stolen in the UK. But since then that figure has
:18:10. > :18:12.fallen dramatically to just over 100,000 in a year. It's all thanks
:18:12. > :18:15.to improvements to the security on new vehicles. Better locks,
:18:15. > :18:18.toughened glass and immobilisers have all made life harder for the
:18:18. > :18:27.thief. Our transport correspondent Richard Scott has been to the UK
:18:27. > :18:31.motor industry's research centre in Thatcham to find out more. Back in
:18:31. > :18:35.the day the car thief had it easy with this car, he could break the
:18:35. > :18:44.window, hot while it and drive off. But with modern cars now it is
:18:44. > :18:47.different. A demonstration... He has broken a window but an alarm
:18:47. > :18:51.goes off and you cannot open the door because the door handles do
:18:51. > :18:55.not work without a key. Even if he climbs into the car he still cannot
:18:55. > :19:01.drive it away because the engine will not start without the key do.
:19:01. > :19:06.That is because modern keys have a chip inside them unique to the car.
:19:06. > :19:09.So the engine simply will not start unless you have the relevant key.
:19:09. > :19:13.About three-quarters of car thefts are carried out with the keys being
:19:13. > :19:20.stolen as well, with about front the cent of burglaries carried out
:19:20. > :19:23.simply to get at a car's keys. Andrew Miller is from the Motor
:19:23. > :19:26.Research Organisation, Thatcham. You are simply saying you have done
:19:26. > :19:30.all you can as an industry and it up to the public to protect their
:19:31. > :19:35.keys. The statistics you talked about indicate that about 75 per
:19:35. > :19:39.cent of thefts are with the keys so people should look after their keys
:19:39. > :19:46.as much as they can. However, we are working closely with carmakers
:19:46. > :19:49.to make sure even though they are highly Secure, cars are made even
:19:49. > :19:55.more securing the future. The even the cars are getting more difficult
:19:55. > :19:59.to steal, and safer with all of this new technology, insurance
:19:59. > :20:04.premiums seem to be going up sharply. Why is that? Unfortunately
:20:04. > :20:08.there is a link between premiums, cost of insurance and claims, which
:20:08. > :20:15.still continue to rise due to personal injury, whiplash style
:20:15. > :20:19.claims. You could argue strongly that without the safety and
:20:19. > :20:23.security developments that have taken place, actually they will go
:20:23. > :20:29.up even faster. The message from the industry - keep your keys safe
:20:29. > :20:32.and certainly not within easy reach of your letterbox.
:20:32. > :20:35.The man accused of abducting and murdering the schoolgirl, Milly
:20:35. > :20:38.Dowler, in Surrey nine years ago has refused to give evidence at his
:20:38. > :20:41.trial. Lawyers acting for Levi Bellfield told the judge at the Old
:20:41. > :20:48.Bailey that he would not be speaking in his defence. He denies
:20:48. > :20:50.The American congresswoman shot in the head in January has been
:20:50. > :20:53.released from hospital after showing improvements in her
:20:53. > :20:56.condition. Gabrielle Giffords was injured and six others died in the
:20:56. > :21:03.shooting at a constituency event in Tuscon, Arizona. The man accused of
:21:03. > :21:06.the shooting has been declared mentally unfit to stand trial. Two
:21:06. > :21:08.men have been remanded in custody in connection with an alleged plot
:21:08. > :21:11.involving the singer, Joss Stone. Junior Bradshaw and Kevin Liverpool
:21:11. > :21:21.are charged with conspiracy to rob and commit grievous bodily harm.
:21:21. > :21:26.Let's speak to our correspondent, Jon Kay, who's in Exeter. What was
:21:26. > :21:32.said in court? This was a short initial court appearance lasting
:21:32. > :21:36.half-an-hour. The two men were remanded in custody and have been
:21:36. > :21:40.taken away. They only spoke in court to confirm their identities,
:21:40. > :21:46.and the address where they both live in Manchester. Junior Bradshaw
:21:46. > :21:51.is 30, he had braided hair, wore a grey sweatshirt and Kevin Liverpool,
:21:51. > :21:55.beside him, 33, he has a beard and warring black T-shirt. They were
:21:55. > :21:59.charged with conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to cause re the his
:21:59. > :22:06.bodily harm. The next court appearance will be here at Exeter
:22:06. > :22:14.Crown Court early next month. This alleged plot focuses on the soul
:22:14. > :22:18.singer, Joss Stone, she grew up here in Devon. Despite her enormous
:22:18. > :22:24.fame and global fortune at she still lives in a small hamlet close
:22:24. > :22:31.to the town of Cullompton. It was in that area near Cullompton that
:22:31. > :22:37.two men were arrested on Monday. Police recovered balaclavas, knives,
:22:37. > :22:42.a samurai sword and some detailed maps from a calf at the scene. We
:22:42. > :22:46.are not sure whether Joss Stone was inside the property at the time but
:22:46. > :22:54.we know she has been in Devon over the last few days, she has issued a
:22:54. > :22:57.statement to fans reassuring them The FA Cup is to be sponsored by
:22:57. > :23:00.Budweiser beer it's been announced today. The deal is said to be worth
:23:00. > :23:08.�8 million over three years. It's the first time the worlds oldest
:23:08. > :23:11.domestic cup competition has been Ice hockey is famous - or maybe
:23:11. > :23:14.infamous - for its brawls between players during the match. But after
:23:14. > :23:18.one game in Vancouver the violence got a little out of hand. The local
:23:18. > :23:21.team had just lost the cup final to a team from Boston, and as Jon
:23:21. > :23:26.Brain now reports, sore losers doesnt come anywhere close to how
:23:26. > :23:34.they reacted. They had come expecting to see
:23:34. > :23:39.their team triumph. Instead, at the Vancouver fans experienced only
:23:39. > :23:48.humiliation as Boston trounced their heroes to win the prestigious
:23:48. > :23:57.Stanley Cup. Then mayhem outside the stadium... For several hours
:23:57. > :24:05.downtown Vancouver was turned into a riot zone. There were running
:24:05. > :24:12.battles between some fans and the Others smashed shop windows and
:24:12. > :24:16.there were reports of widespread looting. Fire crews were called
:24:16. > :24:21.into action as the mob set light to vehicles and piles of rubbish. A
:24:21. > :24:28.plume of black smoke could be seen over the Vancouver skyline. This
:24:28. > :24:32.city has paid a high price for sporting defeat.
:24:32. > :24:35.Something more sedate now... There was a time when watching a ballet
:24:35. > :24:38.meant an evening at the theatre. Well, not anymore. The Royal Ballet
:24:38. > :24:41.is performing Romeo and Juliet in front of its biggest ever live
:24:41. > :24:51.audience at the O2 Arena. As David Sillito reports, it's part of a
:24:51. > :24:58.
:24:59. > :25:05.growing trend to bring dance to a It is huge! Incredible. Amazing.
:25:05. > :25:11.They may be the stars of the Royal Ballet but this is not Covent
:25:11. > :25:17.Garden! It is huge. Compared to what we are used to, and when we do
:25:17. > :25:23.go on tour, again, it is just the it is, we never do arenas! We are
:25:23. > :25:26.on an arena tour! We are. The it is the stage that gets you because
:25:26. > :25:31.when you walk out here you realise there are 12,000 seats they, 40,000
:25:31. > :25:40.people will be watching ballet over the next few days here. There has
:25:40. > :25:47.never been a moment like this in the history of British ballet. The
:25:47. > :25:53.intimate, passionate emotions of Romeo and Juliet in an arena. We
:25:53. > :25:57.were actually be able to see the dancers? Absolutely. You have these
:25:57. > :26:00.big screens as well. The it is not the same as being up close in
:26:00. > :26:05.Covent Garden. I am not sure everybody wants that. I think
:26:05. > :26:12.people enjoy seeing it in a large auditorium, sharing the experience
:26:12. > :26:17.with thousands of others. You cannot get that at Covent Garden.
:26:17. > :26:27.Across town, another huge venue, the Albert Hall, where you can see
:26:27. > :26:34.
:26:35. > :26:40.the English National Ballet's And all this is inspiring an
:26:40. > :26:44.increasing number of people to return to ballet classes. We run
:26:44. > :26:49.classes Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and they are fully booked,
:26:49. > :26:56.we have a waiting list! The effort, concentration, the sheer joy of
:26:56. > :27:01.jumping about. Until recently this was a forgotten pleasure. Have you
:27:01. > :27:06.come back to this? Yes. After a long time and a lot of laziness.
:27:06. > :27:11.This is the most fun exercise. You do not even have to be about it. It
:27:12. > :27:19.is amazing. I wanted to see what it felt like to do a class after 35
:27:19. > :27:25.years! 35 years? Yes. I loved it! For some, this was their first
:27:25. > :27:29.ballet lesson. Maybe it is the film, Black Swan, a recent documentary,
:27:29. > :27:35.or something deeper. A desire in this digital age for an art form
:27:35. > :27:45.that is all about the beauty of movement, being alive and seeing it
:27:45. > :27:51.
:27:51. > :27:54.Finally... Just in case you missed last night's lunar eclipse because
:27:54. > :27:57.of the cloudy skies over the UK, here's what it looked like. This
:27:57. > :28:00.was the view in Moscow with the moon's vivid red colour caused by
:28:00. > :28:03.particles in the Earth's atmosphere. It was the longest lunar eclipse in
:28:03. > :28:13.more than a decade and occurred when the Moon moved behind the
:28:13. > :28:17.Earth which cast its shadow over Very beautiful. Now the weather...
:28:17. > :28:22.It is mainly rain at the moment. miserable start to the day for many.
:28:22. > :28:32.Heavy rain in the south-east which affected Ascot. It does not look
:28:32. > :28:32.
:28:32. > :28:35.like things will improve. This is the radar image. This green and
:28:35. > :28:40.yellow brought the heavy showers but now we are seeing showers
:28:40. > :28:44.through southern England, Wales and north-east England. For the rest of
:28:44. > :28:51.the day showers at Ascot, a wet day tomorrow and it stays cool and
:28:51. > :28:56.Sharif through the weekend. -- Sharif. The really heavy rain would
:28:57. > :29:06.clear away over the next few hours. We continue to see showers
:29:07. > :29:07.
:29:07. > :29:11.developing across western areas of Four southernmost counties of
:29:11. > :29:18.England we need to watch out for a line of heavy showers developing
:29:18. > :29:21.across the southern coast, hail and thunder still a possibility.
:29:21. > :29:25.Through the Home Counties and the Midlands it is sunshine and showers,
:29:25. > :29:29.hit and miss, as they will be through Lincolnshire up towards
:29:29. > :29:33.Yorkshire and the Borders. North- west England faring best with any
:29:33. > :29:37.sunshine today. South West Scotland may have some sunshine, but for
:29:37. > :29:44.more than Scotland further showers through the afternoon, cool and
:29:44. > :29:48.breezy. For Northern Ireland it continues to be hit and miss.
:29:48. > :29:54.Through this evening the showers track eastwards on the breeze. They
:29:54. > :29:59.will clear away overnight. A dry night initially until we see more
:29:59. > :30:03.cloud and rain arriving in the south-west. The best of the
:30:03. > :30:07.sunshine initially will be in the east. Make the most of it because
:30:07. > :30:10.we have unsettled weather at the moment meaning we have it
:30:10. > :30:14.successions of weather fronts sweeping in from the Atlantic. This
:30:14. > :30:18.is heading our way for tomorrow. So if it is sunny initially make the
:30:18. > :30:22.most of it because we will see the crowd invading, the winds will
:30:22. > :30:32.freshen, dragging cloud right across the UK. A miserable day
:30:32. > :30:36.tomorrow without the sunshine. The rain will be heavy. Starting the
:30:36. > :30:40.weekend, the brain is still with us, slowly clearing from the north-east
:30:40. > :30:44.of the UK, then back to what we are familiar with - sunshine and more
:30:44. > :30:48.showers. As we head through the next few days the weather will
:30:48. > :30:51.definitely be hit and miss. For Ascot it looks like it will be wet
:30:51. > :30:54.tomorrow with showers right the way through the weekend. Not great news
:30:54. > :31:01.for the other sporting action as well.
:31:01. > :31:06.Thank you. At 1.30pm, a reminder of our top story... A sharp fall in
:31:06. > :31:12.high street sales. Worse than analysts expected. Still to come on