:00:11. > :00:14.The Education Secretary sets out his vision for the future of state
:00:15. > :00:20.schools, as the row continues about his decision to replace the chair of
:00:21. > :00:22.Ofsted. Michael Goves says he wants standards to be raised in state
:00:23. > :00:28.schools so that they match independent schools. More great
:00:29. > :00:34.schools, more great teachers, more pupils achieving great results, add
:00:35. > :00:38.up to one inescapable conclusion. The English state education system
:00:39. > :00:42.is getting better and better. We will be getting the latest from
:00:43. > :00:45.Westminster. More criticism of the Environment
:00:46. > :00:50.Agency as a severe flood warnings remain in place in several areas,
:00:51. > :00:52.with the Met Office warning of worse to come.
:00:53. > :00:57.Lloyds Banking Group says its increasing its provision for the
:00:58. > :01:03.mis-selling of PPI by another ?1.8 billion, but says it is on course to
:01:04. > :01:06.full advertise a share tributes to the Oscar-winning actor Philip
:01:07. > :01:12.Seymour Hoffman, who died of a suspected drug overdose in New York.
:01:13. > :01:15.And the 30 foot deep sinkhole that swallowed a car in High Wycombe.
:01:16. > :01:18.Later on BBC London. Police search for Robert Richard
:01:19. > :01:21.Fraser in connection with the death of a sex worker in Earl's Court.
:01:22. > :01:23.And should curbs be placed on overseas buyers snapping up property
:01:24. > :01:50.in the capital? Good afternoon. The Education
:01:51. > :01:55.Secretary has said state schools in England should be more like private
:01:56. > :01:59.schools, with longer school days, more discipline, and with all
:02:00. > :02:05.students taking the equivalent of the Common entrance exam. Michael
:02:06. > :02:09.Gove was speaking as the row at the top of Ofsted intensifies, with one
:02:10. > :02:15.Chief Inspector warning him not to believe his own hype.
:02:16. > :02:19.A swell of controversy has surrounded Michael Gove this weekend
:02:20. > :02:25.over how he makes public appointments and over his style.
:02:26. > :02:29.This morning, he sought to wrest back the agenda, with a speech laden
:02:30. > :02:34.with his main priorities, rigorous standards with no excuses for poor
:02:35. > :02:39.performance. He said he wanted a state system that matched the
:02:40. > :02:43.private sector. My ambition for our education system is simple. When you
:02:44. > :02:49.visit a school in England, standards are so high all round, you simply
:02:50. > :02:53.cannot tell whether it is a state school or an independent fee-paying
:02:54. > :02:58.school. Mr Gove urged state secondaries to try out common
:02:59. > :03:03.entrance test papers, sat in private schools aged 13, to give pupils a
:03:04. > :03:07.chance to see how they are performing. He said a future
:03:08. > :03:11.Conservative government would help state schools offer a nine or ten
:03:12. > :03:17.hour day, with homework, music and sport. I have nothing against an
:03:18. > :03:23.extended school day, as long it isn't teachers who have to work from
:03:24. > :03:28.6am to 8pm. Teachers do the largest amount of unpaid overtime of all
:03:29. > :03:32.professions. A row has raged over the airwaves over the position of
:03:33. > :03:38.the Labour peer Sally Morgan. She accused Mr Gove is being politically
:03:39. > :03:42.motivated in the placing her as the chair of the schools watchdog
:03:43. > :03:49.Ofsted, which he denies. The furore of Lady Morgan prompted a former top
:03:50. > :03:51.mandarin, Sir David Bell, to issue these words of advice to the
:03:52. > :04:07.Secretary of State. Supporters of Michael Gove say he's
:04:08. > :04:11.acted entirely properly. The minister is responsible for the
:04:12. > :04:14.policies he delivers, the others are not. He is held to account by the
:04:15. > :04:19.electorate, and wants the best people in the job to push his
:04:20. > :04:25.policies through. He's right to make changes. Michael Gove has never been
:04:26. > :04:29.frightened of ruffling feathers in the education establishment, but his
:04:30. > :04:35.pursuit of radical change in school has ruffled political feathers too.
:04:36. > :04:40.Let's speak to our chief let call correspondent in Westminster. Trying
:04:41. > :04:45.to gain the initiative on education, Michael Gove. Has he
:04:46. > :04:49.managed? The radical reforms outlined by him today are part of
:04:50. > :04:54.the same story, which is that Michael Gove is a bit like the Billy
:04:55. > :04:59.whizz of British politics. He wants to get from a as quickly as
:05:00. > :05:05.possible, and doesn't care about the mayhem that might follow behind him.
:05:06. > :05:09.He is not a conservative, he is a Tory radical. He doesn't want to
:05:10. > :05:14.protect the establishment, he wants to change it. That's why he got rid
:05:15. > :05:18.of Sally Morgan, not because she was not any good, but because he felt
:05:19. > :05:24.she didn't have the zeal to press a head with the changes he wants. If
:05:25. > :05:30.the former chief inspector of schools is upset, so be it. He
:05:31. > :05:37.almost regards offending the educational establishment and the
:05:38. > :05:40.Lib Dems as badges of honour. Paradoxically, within the
:05:41. > :05:44.Conservative Party, that does his standing a lot of good, because they
:05:45. > :05:50.like to see politicians of conviction. But if you demotivate or
:05:51. > :05:56.alienate the people who are meant to be implementing the change you seek,
:05:57. > :06:00.you could jeopardise that change. You might know that Billy whizz
:06:01. > :06:07.frequently ends up battered and bruised, and not quite where he
:06:08. > :06:10.intended to be. Thank you. Downing Street has called on the
:06:11. > :06:16.Environment Agency to scrap premium rate charges on a helpline for flood
:06:17. > :06:21.victims. People were being charged 41p per minute. There are two severe
:06:22. > :06:26.flood warnings in place in the Midlands, and nearly 300 other
:06:27. > :06:31.warnings and alerts in place across the UK. Our correspondent is at
:06:32. > :06:34.Thorney in Somerset. You can probably see the rain is
:06:35. > :06:40.holding off this lunchtime, but behind me, there's no sign of that
:06:41. > :06:45.flood going away. All over the weekend, people in this area were
:06:46. > :06:49.watching the weather forecast with trepidation, waiting to see what
:06:50. > :06:57.might happen to them again. Not just them, those living on the coast as
:06:58. > :07:04.well. Another day, another storm. There
:07:05. > :07:11.was little let out, as gale force winds and high tides battered parts
:07:12. > :07:18.of the South West. Again. More damage, more costly repairs, and
:07:19. > :07:23.fears arguments about how to protect areas like this in the future. The
:07:24. > :07:27.chair of the Environment Agency, Lord Smith, today said there are no
:07:28. > :07:32.quick fixes in the face of this kind of extreme rainfall, and the
:07:33. > :07:36.solutions are not just for the Environment Agency to find. He said
:07:37. > :07:39.there is no bottomless purse, and we need to make difficult but sensible
:07:40. > :07:44.choices about what we try to protect. Cold comfort to those
:07:45. > :07:50.already living with the floods, or worried they might be next.
:07:51. > :07:55.Terrible. These people are suffering all the time. Last year, they said
:07:56. > :07:59.it wouldn't happen again, but it is worse. We don't need new flood
:08:00. > :08:08.defences, we just need to keep in order what was built 50 years ago.
:08:09. > :08:15.Anger this morning too that and Environment Agency flood helpline
:08:16. > :08:19.charge -- charged worried callers a premium rate. The Environment Agency
:08:20. > :08:24.says it doesn't make money out of it, but David Cameron is calling for
:08:25. > :08:28.it to be scrapped. People can look at our website and see flood
:08:29. > :08:31.warnings free of charge. We are willing to move towards a free
:08:32. > :08:36.service for the flood line number. This event is going to run for a few
:08:37. > :08:40.days or weeks to come. In the middle of this event, it isn't the best
:08:41. > :08:46.time to move to a different number, when people already know the number
:08:47. > :08:51.we are using. Tomorrow, the Levels by Royal appointment. Rinse Charles
:08:52. > :08:56.is coming here to see the extent of the damage and how people are
:08:57. > :09:01.coping. You can hear they're the
:09:02. > :09:06.frustration, the sheer frustration, of people living here in Thorney and
:09:07. > :09:10.right across the Somerset Levels, that there are these arguments being
:09:11. > :09:15.put forward about whether to dredge or not to dredge, and what to do.
:09:16. > :09:20.What they really want is action on the ground, and they would like it
:09:21. > :09:23.now. The Lloyds Banking Group has taken
:09:24. > :09:27.another step towards full privatisation after saying it hopes
:09:28. > :09:31.to start paying dividends to existing shareholders for the first
:09:32. > :09:36.time in six years. That's despite having to set aside an extra ?1.8
:09:37. > :09:42.billion for PPI compensation. Our business correspondent reports.
:09:43. > :09:46.Lloyds is the biggest force in high Street ranking, and it sold more
:09:47. > :09:52.payment protection policies than anyone else. It's billed just keeps
:09:53. > :09:59.on rising. Lloyds is having to set aside another ?1.8 billion for
:10:00. > :10:05.mis-selling PPI, bringing its total bill to merely ?10 billion, half the
:10:06. > :10:09.total for all UK banks. These figures are mind blowing, but there
:10:10. > :10:15.is good news in this for Lloyds. Despite having to pay out vast sums
:10:16. > :10:20.for PPI claims last year, it is expected to make a small profit when
:10:21. > :10:24.it announces its results in the next few weeks. It is now in good enough
:10:25. > :10:30.position to start paying dividends later this year. This big bank that
:10:31. > :10:36.we own a large chunk of is cleaning itself up, getting ready for the
:10:37. > :10:40.next step in its privatisation. The Lloyds management is trying to put
:10:41. > :10:45.everything up front, so when it comes to having the share sale later
:10:46. > :10:49.this year, there are no more embarrassing announcements. This is
:10:50. > :10:54.throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, out. The government
:10:55. > :10:59.has already sold a 6% stake in Lloyds. The question is how soon the
:11:00. > :11:04.next sell-off will be, and when individual investors will be able to
:11:05. > :11:11.take part. When ever it is, the process will be closely scrutinised.
:11:12. > :11:16.Robert Peston is with me now. The good news is good news, but looking
:11:17. > :11:22.at that figure for PPI that they have had to set aside, that is a
:11:23. > :11:27.huge figure. Almost ?10 billion in total. It just tells you how bad
:11:28. > :11:32.this product was, this credit insurance sold by all the banks, and
:11:33. > :11:39.how Lloyds was up to its neck in it in the bad old days. But even the
:11:40. > :11:44.bad news about its past sins is, in a way, good news for the rest of us.
:11:45. > :11:52.In total, the banks are handing out not far off 20 alien pounds -- 20
:11:53. > :11:57.alien pounds to millions of British people. And the British people are
:11:58. > :12:02.spending that money. There was a little bit of a mystery a few months
:12:03. > :12:08.ago about why the economy was recovering as fast as it is. We can
:12:09. > :12:12.now be confident that one of the reasons the recovery was as fast as
:12:13. > :12:19.it has been is because of all of these PPI payments. They are
:12:20. > :12:24.economic least significant, more than 1% of GDP, a bigger stimulus to
:12:25. > :12:26.this economy than anything the government has done. Perhaps we
:12:27. > :12:35.should all count our blessings that the banks did pay soap -- did behave
:12:36. > :12:40.so badly in the past. There's also the issue of privatisation. There
:12:41. > :12:47.are going to be two phases to the share sale this year. There will be
:12:48. > :12:51.a lump of shares, maybe 5 billion flogged to investment institutions,
:12:52. > :12:55.and some to ordinary people, in April. There will be an even bigger
:12:56. > :13:01.sale in the autumn, aimed at the mass market.
:13:02. > :13:07.A 24-year-old woman has appeared before magistrates in Oldham charged
:13:08. > :13:13.with murdering her son. Katarzyna Gacek is accused of killing Thomas
:13:14. > :13:18.Gacek at a house in the town. She was remanded in custody to appear at
:13:19. > :13:22.Manchester Crown Court tomorrow. The judge has begun summing up in
:13:23. > :13:26.the trial of the Coronation Street actor Bill Roache. The 81-year-old
:13:27. > :13:31.is charged with the rape and indecent assault of five girls in
:13:32. > :13:38.the 60s and 70s. Mr Roache denies all the charges.
:13:39. > :13:42.This is a trial which is now into its fourth week. The jury of eight
:13:43. > :13:48.women and four men have heard both sides. They are now listening to the
:13:49. > :13:53.judge summing up the case. He reminded them that this is a case in
:13:54. > :13:58.which five women alleged they were sexually abused by the Coronation
:13:59. > :14:04.Street actor William Roache, and he flatly denies this. He told the jury
:14:05. > :14:08.there is a head on conflict of evidence here which you will have to
:14:09. > :14:12.regard -- to resolve. He told members of the jury they'd should
:14:13. > :14:16.not feel daunted or overawed by the task ahead of them. He spent the
:14:17. > :14:22.morning going through various points of law to direct them, talking to
:14:23. > :14:28.them about the fact that some passage of time has gone by since
:14:29. > :14:32.the offences were alleged to have taken place. He said that that in
:14:33. > :14:37.itself did not provide Mr Roache with a defence, although his defence
:14:38. > :14:42.lawyer has pointed to this in her case. He also talked about Bill
:14:43. > :14:46.Roache's good character, and told the jury they must decide the level
:14:47. > :14:52.of importance they will attach to that. Overall, he has said they must
:14:53. > :14:57.be certain of the actor's guilt before conviction. If they are not
:14:58. > :15:02.certain, they must acquit him. The judge will then send the jury out to
:15:03. > :15:07.consider their verdict. A pupil at a Russian high school is
:15:08. > :15:13.reported to have shot dead a police officer and a teacher. He also held
:15:14. > :15:22.more than 20 students hostage at the school on the outskirts of Moscow
:15:23. > :15:28.before being arrested. Last year there were 45,000 cosmetic surgery
:15:29. > :15:37.operations. There was a big jump in the number of people, women and men,
:15:38. > :15:42.having liposuction. It is a multibillion pound industry. Last
:15:43. > :15:46.year was the busiest ever for Britain's cosmetic surgeons. Amy
:15:47. > :15:51.works at this private clinic in Newcastle. Three months ago she
:15:52. > :15:58.became a patient and had liposuction on her hips. I had stubborn areas on
:15:59. > :16:03.the back of my hips. Most women know what I'm talking about. I couldn't
:16:04. > :16:10.get rid of it through dieting and exercise. It was getting rid of it
:16:11. > :16:16.to make me more comfortable in my clothes. The surgeon's organisation
:16:17. > :16:24.said its members carrying out a record 50,000 operations last year.
:16:25. > :16:29.T 0% were on -- 90% were on women. Breast implants were the most
:16:30. > :16:36.popular. The biggest increase was on liposuction. . We have seen a
:16:37. > :16:39.double-dig get rise. We have not seen this standard of rise since
:16:40. > :16:45.before the recession. So, clearly this is an indicator of economic
:16:46. > :16:48.recovery because the people having these procedures are from all walks
:16:49. > :16:52.of life and from all parts of the country. Two years ago, it was
:16:53. > :16:57.revealed more than 40,000 British women were given implants made from
:16:58. > :17:00.industrial silicon. Controls have since been tightened and the
:17:01. > :17:05.negative publicity seems to have been overshadowed by people's desire
:17:06. > :17:09.to change their appearance. If you are unhappy or dissatisfied with
:17:10. > :17:14.their life for whatever reason it is easy to buy into this myth that
:17:15. > :17:18.cosmetic surgery is the answer. In fact the problem is in your mind, it
:17:19. > :17:25.is not with your body. A lot of the time it does not work that. Kus
:17:26. > :17:32.mettic surgery has -- kus mettic surgery has not been so popular.
:17:33. > :17:36.Surgeons warn despite its popularity plastic surgery has risks as well as
:17:37. > :17:44.possible rewards and should not be taken lightly.
:17:45. > :17:47.Our top story this lunch time: The Education Secretary, Michael Gove,
:17:48. > :17:52.says he wants standards to be raised in state schools so they match
:17:53. > :17:56.independent schools. Still to come - that sinking feel - the hole that
:17:57. > :18:02.swallowed a car in Buckinghamshire. Later on BBC London - the Met's
:18:03. > :18:06.campaign getting tough on those who abuse and exploit children. Showing
:18:07. > :18:08.off the capital - how London is trying to lure the growing number of
:18:09. > :18:22.tourists from India. The family of Philip Seymour Hoffman
:18:23. > :18:26.have been paying their own tribute to the 46-year-old actor who was
:18:27. > :18:29.found dead in his New York home yesterday. They have issued a
:18:30. > :18:33.statement in which they speak about their tragic and sudden loss, but
:18:34. > :18:36.also their appreciation of the outpouring of love and support they
:18:37. > :18:41.have received since the news of his death. It is thought he died of a
:18:42. > :18:45.heroin overdose. Our arts correspondent's report contains some
:18:46. > :18:50.flash photography. It could have been the scene from
:18:51. > :18:53.one of his films, but this was tragically real. Philip Seymour
:18:54. > :18:58.Hoffman's body being removed from his New York home after a suspected
:18:59. > :19:03.drug overdose. Tributes were paid to him at last night's Super Bowl. It
:19:04. > :19:07.is a shame. Who knows what he would have been able to do. We are left
:19:08. > :19:12.with a legacy of the work he's done. It all speaks for itself. I am kind
:19:13. > :19:17.of in shock right now. We lost one of the greats, one of the greats. It
:19:18. > :19:22.is very, very sad. Often describes as an actor's actor,
:19:23. > :19:28.he was utterly authentic in roles, whether playing a baddie in such as
:19:29. > :19:35.Mission: Impossible III or in more art house fare, like Magnolia. Those
:19:36. > :19:44.who worked with him have expressed their sorrow. Robert De Niro saying:
:19:45. > :19:57.At the start of his career, Philip Seymour Hoffman had drug addiction
:19:58. > :20:04.problems. He went on to win the Best Actor Oscar for Capote.
:20:05. > :20:08.Clean for more than 20 years, he checked into rehab last May after
:20:09. > :20:12.taking heroin. He appeared to be getting his career back on track. He
:20:13. > :20:17.almost finished the next two hunger games movies. On Friday, the cast
:20:18. > :20:22.was announced for his second film as a director. Something on which he
:20:23. > :20:27.wanted to focus. Acting is my day job. It really is. I think it will
:20:28. > :20:33.never not be. I don't think I could just act. I think that would wear me
:20:34. > :20:38.down. Philip Seymour Hoffman described
:20:39. > :20:41.acting as torturous, but both on-screen and on-stage gave some of
:20:42. > :20:50.the most memorable performances of the last two decades.
:20:51. > :20:54.An inquest has opened into the death of a royal military police officer
:20:55. > :20:59.who hanged herself after claiming she was raped by two male
:21:00. > :21:02.colleagues. Prosecutors decided not to press charges after Corporal
:21:03. > :21:07.Anne-Marie Ellement made the complaint. Her family said
:21:08. > :21:11.afterwards she was subjected to rape-related bullying.
:21:12. > :21:16.The Army was Anne-Marie Ellement's life. In November, 2009, while
:21:17. > :21:20.serving in Germany, she claims she was raped by two colleagues.
:21:21. > :21:24.Not long after, she transferred to this base in Wiltshire, saying she
:21:25. > :21:28.was angry that no-one had been charged with the assault.
:21:29. > :21:32.She worked here at the Royal Military Police office and told her
:21:33. > :21:37.family people were shouting - there's the girl that cried rape.
:21:38. > :21:41.Anne-Marie Ellement was 30 years old and a corporal in the Royal Military
:21:42. > :21:45.Police. It was after she was posted here, to Bulford camp, in Wiltshire,
:21:46. > :21:51.that her body was found in October 2011. The inquest has to decide what
:21:52. > :21:56.were the exact circumstances that led up to that death. Her family
:21:57. > :22:00.have fought for this second inquest, saying the first didn't get to the
:22:01. > :22:05.truth. We want some justice. We want some answers. We want to know the
:22:06. > :22:10.real reason of what happened between my little sister and why she wasn't
:22:11. > :22:21.protected. Thank you. Her mother told the inquest:
:22:22. > :22:26.The Ministry of Defence will argue that Anne-Marie Ellement did receive
:22:27. > :22:31.support and that there wasn't enough evidence to charge the two soldiers
:22:32. > :22:40.involved. The inquest is due to last three weeks.
:22:41. > :22:44.Older women are being targeted by a breast cancer campaign. At the
:22:45. > :22:47.moment screening stops automatically for women when they are 70 and they
:22:48. > :22:51.have to request it themselves. Recent figures show one in three
:22:52. > :22:57.women who are diagnosed with breast cancer in England each year are aged
:22:58. > :23:02.70 or over. That is around 13, 500 women, over 70, diagnosed with the
:23:03. > :23:07.disease every year in England. This accounts for half of all breast
:23:08. > :23:11.cancer deaths annually. We will speak now to Yvonne Doyle, the
:23:12. > :23:15.regional director from public health England. What will surprise a lot of
:23:16. > :23:20.people is the risk of breast cancer increases with age. A lot of older
:23:21. > :23:24.women don't think that either. Actually their risk does go up. One
:23:25. > :23:28.in three of all cases are in the over 70s. You ra not past it if you
:23:29. > :23:33.are -- you are not past it if you are 70. If you turn up early for
:23:34. > :23:35.treatment you do very well. We are worried that older women are not
:23:36. > :23:40.turning up early enough for treatment. This campaign is to try
:23:41. > :23:46.and make them aware of the signs of breast cancer that they may not be
:23:47. > :23:51.aware of. So, increased awareness is crucial. Treatment, presumably, the
:23:52. > :23:55.same as for younger women? If they get in early their survival is very
:23:56. > :23:59.good. Older women respond well to early treatment. They need to look
:24:00. > :24:03.for signs. Everyone thinks it is about a lump, actually it is about
:24:04. > :24:06.changes in the nipple, the skin, the shape of the breast or pain in the
:24:07. > :24:10.breast. A lot of older women are not aware of those signs. Dr Yvonne
:24:11. > :24:16.Doyle, thank you for coming in. Thank you. There are just 170 days
:24:17. > :24:19.to go before the Commonwealth Games begin in Glasgow. Organisers are
:24:20. > :24:26.concerned about the future of the event because so far no-one has said
:24:27. > :24:28.they want to host the Games in 2022. An Extraordinary General Meeting of
:24:29. > :24:31.the federation is being held on Friday and bids have to be in at the
:24:32. > :24:41.beginning of March. Where will you be when the world
:24:42. > :24:46.comes to Scotland? Glasgow 2014 selling itself to the world, in
:24:47. > :24:51.order to attract big crowds and athletes to the city for the 20th
:24:52. > :24:55.Commonwealth Games. It is so far proving popular with most of these
:24:56. > :25:01.venues ready and the majority of the tickets sold. How popular are the
:25:02. > :25:06.Games in General. In 2018, Australia ya's Gold Coast will be the hosts,
:25:07. > :25:10.after that, in 2022, the destinations of the Games so far
:25:11. > :25:14.remains a mystery. So far, no serious expressions of interest have
:25:15. > :25:19.been received T man in charge of attracting them remains upbeat.
:25:20. > :25:24.Obviously there's no bids, the Games will finish in 2018. It is logical.
:25:25. > :25:28.I think we will go on. The movement will continue to grow. The Games
:25:29. > :25:33.have been held every four years since the first empire games in
:25:34. > :25:39.1930. As they have grown, so has the price tag, so as the Queen's baton
:25:40. > :25:44.makes its way around her 70 nations and territories, the message is
:25:45. > :25:50.smaller games could be smaller. Meaning less athletes. The
:25:51. > :25:54.Commonwealth games is important, not jus because of thes at -- just
:25:55. > :25:59.because of the atmosphere, but the competition. It is very competitive.
:26:00. > :26:04.So Glasgow builds to r the summer t question is - have the games -- so
:26:05. > :26:10.Glasgow builds for the summer, the question is - have they lost their
:26:11. > :26:15.shine? One moment your car is on the drive way, the next it is vanished,
:26:16. > :26:22.thanks to a sinkhole. At the weekend one opened up in High Wycombe, 30
:26:23. > :26:27.feet deep and 15 feet wide. It swallowed a car, but thankfully
:26:28. > :26:32.injured no-one. Imagine waking up to find this outside your house! A
:26:33. > :26:38.gaping hole in the drive way, with your car at the bottom of it.
:26:39. > :26:43.Phil and Liz were first alerted to the sinkhole yesterday morning when
:26:44. > :26:47.they heard their daughter scream. 15 feet across and 30 feet deep, the
:26:48. > :26:51.hole had simply swallowed up her car. We heard this piercing scream
:26:52. > :27:00.at about 7am. We came rushing out and she was looking out the window,
:27:01. > :27:05."My car has gone." We saw this huge hole. The car is buried, barely
:27:06. > :27:10.visible, under the mud. How did it happen? One theory is the heavy rain
:27:11. > :27:14.we've had over the past few weeks washed away the earth under the
:27:15. > :27:19.tarmac. There are old chalk mines in this area and they may have played a
:27:20. > :27:24.role. Happily, no-one here was hurt. Sinkholes in other parts of the
:27:25. > :27:29.world have been much bigger and sometimes catastrophic.
:27:30. > :27:34.This collapse looked like a scene from a disaster movie.
:27:35. > :27:38.The local council are now investigating what happened here in
:27:39. > :27:43.High Wycombe. The family are keeping a close eye on the sinkhole in their
:27:44. > :27:50.drive way, hoping it doesn't get bigger!
:27:51. > :27:53.That is an understatement! Let's have a look at the weather.
:27:54. > :28:00.I have been looking back at the weather. I think it was the 5th
:28:01. > :28:05.December we last had decent high pressure over the British Isles.
:28:06. > :28:10.Since 9th December we've had south-westerly winds, which have
:28:11. > :28:13.been bringing huge rainfall totals, particularly in Wales and south-west
:28:14. > :28:17.England as well. We have seen some really, really wet weather over
:28:18. > :28:21.these areas. January, across parts of the south had some of the highest
:28:22. > :28:25.rainfall totals we have ever seen for a January. On the satellite we
:28:26. > :28:28.have an area of cloud working into the western side of the British
:28:29. > :28:32.Isles. This front is slow-moving today. The chances are if it is
:28:33. > :28:34.raining where you live at the moment, it probably will be as we
:28:35. > :28:38.head towards the evening time as well. It is windy across the Irish
:28:39. > :28:42.Sea coasts. Some wet weather clinging on to the
:28:43. > :28:46.coastline of Antrim and Down this afternoon. The wettest will be
:28:47. > :28:51.further south, across southern Wales and south-west England, again. With
:28:52. > :28:55.around 30 mms of rain before the rain eases up. Across eastern
:28:56. > :28:59.England, bright and breezy. Ass the winter has been so far -- as the
:29:00. > :29:03.winter has been so far, it will be mild, running a degree or so above
:29:04. > :29:08.average. The rain band will weaken as it
:29:09. > :29:12.pushes eastwards. More snow for the Scottish mountains
:29:13. > :29:18.and across the north-west of the country, particularly over rural
:29:19. > :29:21.areas, we could get a nip of frost. Tuesday morning, well expect showers
:29:22. > :29:25.from the word go. Focussed in on Wales and south-west England.
:29:26. > :29:29.Overnight rains clears from Aberdeen. Fine weather for eastern
:29:30. > :29:34.Scotland into the afternoon. For most, bright and breezy. During the
:29:35. > :29:37.afternoon, the winds will crank up across south-west England, with
:29:38. > :29:43.severe gales here by the end of the day. This next weather system, well
:29:44. > :29:47.we are monitoring at the moment - this lump of cloud racing across at
:29:48. > :29:52.the moment will be picked up by a powerful jet stream, blasting at
:29:53. > :29:59.around 180 miles per hour. That dwrops this low press -- develops
:30:00. > :30:03.this low pressure. Expect a very, very windy spell of weather through
:30:04. > :30:09.Tuesday night into Wednesday. How strong will the winds get? We are
:30:10. > :30:16.looking at winds of 80 miles per hour. 60-70 miles per hour through
:30:17. > :30:20.the Irish Sea coasts and similar through the English Channel coast.
:30:21. > :30:25.It could bring down some trees and more rain to come. 30 mms across
:30:26. > :30:29.south-west England. More over hills. Yes, I reckon it has been the best
:30:30. > :30:33.part of two months that we have seen this incredible rainfall. Any sign
:30:34. > :30:37.of it stopping? Well, not really. In the next couple of weeks it seems
:30:38. > :30:41.like we'll see further bouts of wet weather. Towards the end of February
:30:42. > :30:46.there are hints we could get something less wet, if you like.
:30:47. > :30:48.That is a long, long way off. Don't forget the BBC News Channel this
:30:49. > :30:52.afternoon will have the latest on those flood alerts in the Midlands
:30:53. > :30:56.and the south-west and live reports from Somerset. A reminder of our top
:30:57. > :31:00.story this lunch time: The Education Secretary has said he wants
:31:01. > :31:02.standards to be raised in state schools so they match independent
:31:03. > :31:05.schools. That's all from us. Now on BBC One,
:31:06. > :31:06.it