:00:10. > :00:13.A union calls for Business Secretary Vince Cable's resignation, after the
:00:14. > :00:18.privatisation of Royal Mail is described as a "botched panic sale".
:00:19. > :00:20.With shares in Royal Mail worth 70% more than their purchase price, the
:00:21. > :00:30.spending watchdog accuses the Government of letting taxpayers
:00:31. > :00:35.down. The truth is, this has been a first-class disaster for the
:00:36. > :00:38.taxpayer, and those people he once referred to as spivs and gamblers
:00:39. > :00:44.are laughing all the way to the bank. The last thing I intend to do
:00:45. > :00:49.is to apologise. What I intend to do is to refer to what the report
:00:50. > :00:51.actually said, as opposed to the spinning and the froth which is
:00:52. > :00:54.being generated. We'll be getting the latest from Westminster. Also
:00:55. > :00:57.this lunchtime... Living a healthier life - Scientists say we should be
:00:58. > :01:01.eating at least seven portions of fruit and vegetables every day.
:01:02. > :01:05.25 years after the Hillsborough disaster, the names of each of the
:01:06. > :01:08.96 victims are read out at the start of new inquests.
:01:09. > :01:11."Break the rules and we'll take you out" - the warning to payday lenders
:01:12. > :01:17.from the new financial watchdog. The full exchanges between air
:01:18. > :01:21.traffic control and the pilot of the doomed Air Malaysia plane are made
:01:22. > :01:28.public - but do nothing to solve the mystery.
:01:29. > :01:37.Later on BBC London News, a new way of policing. And the mayor abandons
:01:38. > :01:38.plans to try to stop motorists driving in London when pollution is
:01:39. > :01:55.bad. Good afternoon and welcome to the
:01:56. > :01:58.BBC News at One. Business Secretary Vince Cable says
:01:59. > :02:02.he has no intention of apologising after a damning verdict on the
:02:03. > :02:05.Government's sell-off of Royal Mail. A spending watchdog says the
:02:06. > :02:09.taxpayer lost out to the tune of ?1 billion after the price of Royal
:02:10. > :02:12.Mail shares was pitched too low. Royal Mail shares are now more than
:02:13. > :02:17.70% higher than the original sale price of 330p in October 2013. The
:02:18. > :02:28.National Audit Office said too much emphasis was put on completing the
:02:29. > :02:31.sale within this parliament, at the One union leader has called on Mr
:02:32. > :02:40.Cable to resign. John Moylan reports. Successive governments had
:02:41. > :02:43.tried to privatise Royal Mail. Now, the public spending watchdog has
:02:44. > :02:48.concluded that the Department for Business, which led the eventual
:02:49. > :02:51.sale, did not get value for money. The department could have done
:02:52. > :02:55.better to achieve value for money. It focused on selling the shares
:02:56. > :02:59.within the current parliament, and achieved its primary objectives, and
:03:00. > :03:04.we felt it should have gone further to extract the maximum value for the
:03:05. > :03:09.taxpayer in this particular transaction. The Government priced
:03:10. > :03:15.shares at 330p for the stock market flotation. But the shares jumped 38%
:03:16. > :03:20.in value on the first day, the largest first day rise in years. Six
:03:21. > :03:26.months later, the shares are now worth 560 2p, a 70% increase on the
:03:27. > :03:29.initial price. The report says the shares were offered to the market
:03:30. > :03:34.too cheaply because of the Government's cautious approach. It
:03:35. > :03:38.prioritised completing the sale over getting a higher price. It relied
:03:39. > :03:44.too heavily upon its advisers, and it could have kept a bigger stake to
:03:45. > :03:48.benefit when the share price went up. It did not get full value for
:03:49. > :03:53.the public asset that it was charged with selling. It continued to
:03:54. > :03:56.undermine confidence in the business by telling the public and potential
:03:57. > :04:00.investors that it did not think it was worth the share price which the
:04:01. > :04:05.market was sitting. It did not look very competent. The Government
:04:06. > :04:09.wanted Royal Mail to have long-term, stable shareholders, so
:04:10. > :04:13.it gave a core group of city institutions a bigger allocation of
:04:14. > :04:17.shares. These firms also had a role in the price being set so low. But
:04:18. > :04:22.the report finds that these firms had sold around half of their
:04:23. > :04:27.relegation of shares within weeks of the privatisation. Some had sold
:04:28. > :04:31.their entire stake. Today, one union called for the Business Secretary to
:04:32. > :04:35.resign. It was right that we took a cautious and measured approach to
:04:36. > :04:38.the sale. This approach was taken in the light of our primary objective,
:04:39. > :04:43.and it reflects the considerable risks that we faced due to
:04:44. > :04:49.industrial relations and challenging market conditions. This has been a
:04:50. > :04:52.first-class disaster for the taxpayer. Those he once referred to
:04:53. > :04:57.as spivs and gamblers are laughing all the way to the bank. The report
:04:58. > :05:01.also questions the sell-off process. It was not flexible enough to enable
:05:02. > :05:05.the shares to be priced again late in the day. That could have big
:05:06. > :05:08.implications for the future, when the Government decides to sell off
:05:09. > :05:10.its stakes in our biggest banks. Well, our chief political
:05:11. > :05:17.correspondent Norman Smith is at Westminster. Vince Cable says he
:05:18. > :05:22.will not apologise, but how damaging is this for him? Well, it is
:05:23. > :05:26.striking that we have had no apology, no regrets, no qualms of
:05:27. > :05:29.disquiet from any government minister, despite the fact that it
:05:30. > :05:34.has cost you and I, the public, around ?1 billion, despite the
:05:35. > :05:39.political price paid, because obviously, it is hard to sell
:05:40. > :05:42.austerity and benefit cuts if you are blowing ?1 billion in the City.
:05:43. > :05:48.Despite the political price paid by Vince Cable in particular, who
:05:49. > :05:52.dismissed as froth and speculation the idea that Royal Mail was
:05:53. > :05:56.undervalued. And the reason I think no one has said sorry is in part
:05:57. > :05:59.because there is a conviction in government that Royal Mail's future
:06:00. > :06:04.is better served in the private sector. Ministers took one look at
:06:05. > :06:09.the attempts of previous governments to sell-off Royal Mail, and viewed
:06:10. > :06:14.it as pretty much mission impossible, with people like Michael
:06:15. > :06:18.Heseltine and Peter Mandelson both trying and failing. They decided
:06:19. > :06:21.that this time they would succeed. For that reason they decided to give
:06:22. > :06:26.free shares to postal workers, to have a tight timetable to avoid
:06:27. > :06:32.industrial action, and yes, to sell it for a bargain price. To
:06:33. > :06:35.paraphrase a couple of other Conservative chancellors, that was
:06:36. > :06:36.regarded as a price worth paying if it got Royal Mail back into the
:06:37. > :06:41.private sector. Well, it seems five portions of
:06:42. > :06:46.fruit and veg a day is no longer enough - and we should be aiming for
:06:47. > :06:48.seven or more. Scientists at University College London analysed
:06:49. > :06:51.information from 65,000 adults in England and they say people eating
:06:52. > :06:55.at least seven portions of fruit and vegetables a day have the lowest
:06:56. > :06:56.risk of an early death. Our health correspondent Dominic Hughes
:06:57. > :07:08.reports. A good diet, with lots of fruit and
:07:09. > :07:12.veg, can have a significant impact on our health. Now, research
:07:13. > :07:18.suggests the more you eat, the greater the benefit. Eating at least
:07:19. > :07:26.reduced the risk of death through cancer, heart disease and stroke. --
:07:27. > :07:32.eating at least seven portions a day seems to reduce the risk. The most
:07:33. > :07:35.health benefit weather people eating seven or more portions of fruit and
:07:36. > :07:41.vegetables every day. So, what does this look like in reality? A portion
:07:42. > :07:45.of fruit might be a banana or an orange. A portion of veg might be a
:07:46. > :07:50.tomato, some salad leaves, or some beans. Some countries like
:07:51. > :07:54.Australia, for example, suggest you have at least seven portions. So
:07:55. > :07:58.they might add a carrot some cucumber. But could we actually
:07:59. > :08:02.managed to eat that much fruit and veg? Of course, it is just getting
:08:03. > :08:09.into the habit, though. It is easier said than done. I like fruit, and I
:08:10. > :08:13.like vegetables, but I do not eat them every day, you know. The World
:08:14. > :08:19.Health Organisation recommends we eat at least 400 grams, roughly five
:08:20. > :08:23.portions, of fruit and veg each day. On average we manage just to
:08:24. > :08:29.portions of fruit and 1.5 portions of vegetables. Health experts say
:08:30. > :08:34.until more of us are hitting that five day target, the official advice
:08:35. > :08:39.is unlikely to change. As to weather it should be raised to seven day, I
:08:40. > :08:44.think probably not at the moment. This is just one study, and also,
:08:45. > :08:48.the majority of us, two thirds of us, do not manage to eat five a day.
:08:49. > :08:52.Until we have managed to do that, then I think there is some way to
:08:53. > :08:58.go. But there are some reservations about what this study really tells
:08:59. > :09:00.us. The group who ate lots of fruit and veg were predominantly
:09:01. > :09:05.nonsmokers, better off, and better educated. All of those things may be
:09:06. > :09:11.contributing towards a reduced mortality. The research also
:09:12. > :09:15.questions whether sugar rich fruit juice should count as part of the
:09:16. > :09:19.five a day target. Five a day at least feels achievable. Asking
:09:20. > :09:25.people to do more may be too much. And we can speak to Dominic now.
:09:26. > :09:31.Consumers could be forgiven for getting a bit bemused, couldn't
:09:32. > :09:35.they? They could. One interesting thing about this report is that it
:09:36. > :09:39.has exposed how the advice differs around the world. In the UK, it is
:09:40. > :09:45.five portions a day, as it is in France, Germany and Spain. In
:09:46. > :09:49.Denmark, it is six, in Australia, it is seven, and in the United States,
:09:50. > :09:54.where portion sizes tend to be bigger and better anyway, it is
:09:55. > :09:58.between seven and 13. But I think the key thing for public health
:09:59. > :10:03.campaigners is not to confuse consumers. That might be a very good
:10:04. > :10:06.reason for sticking to five day, particularly as we have heard two
:10:07. > :10:13.thirds of us are not even that target.
:10:14. > :10:16.-- not even hitting that target. The coroner at the inquests into the
:10:17. > :10:19.deaths of 96 Liverpool fans in the Hillsborough disaster almost 25
:10:20. > :10:22.years ago has told the court that many of the men, women and children
:10:23. > :10:25.suffered "terrible crushing injuries" as the pressure in the
:10:26. > :10:27.pens on the terraces built up. The hearing in Warrington, in Cheshire,
:10:28. > :10:31.was ordered after the original inquest verdicts of accidental death
:10:32. > :10:33.were quashed in 2012. At the start of this morning's proceedings, the
:10:34. > :10:36.names of each of the victims were slowly read out to the jury. Our
:10:37. > :10:44.correspondent Judith Moritz is in Warrington.
:10:45. > :10:48.Yes, those names of each of the victims were read out in court by
:10:49. > :10:51.one of the lawyers. There was a complete hash in the courtroom, save
:10:52. > :10:55.for the tears of some of the relatives. Families of the 96
:10:56. > :11:00.Liverpool fans who died at Hillsborough have waited for this
:11:01. > :11:02.day to come, the moment that the new inquests begin in earnest.
:11:03. > :11:11.Yesterday, the jury was selected. Today, the jurors were ready to be
:11:12. > :11:16.sworn in. It will just be nice now to finally get started, to get the
:11:17. > :11:22.jury sworn in. Once that has been done, it seems like it is real,
:11:23. > :11:25.then. Lord Justice Goldring, acting as coroner, opened the inquests by
:11:26. > :11:29.telling the jury of seven women and four men about the long task ahead
:11:30. > :11:33.of them. He began by telling them about Hillsborough, saying, the
:11:34. > :11:38.disaster is seared into the memories of the very many people affected by
:11:39. > :11:43.it, most notably, the families of the 96 people who died. The jury
:11:44. > :11:47.were told that the tragedy happened in April 1989, when a terrible crush
:11:48. > :11:51.developed at the Leppings Lane end of the Sheffield ground. The coroner
:11:52. > :11:52.told them it had been the worst ever disaster at a British sports stadium
:11:53. > :12:16.just he told them... The jury were told that there will
:12:17. > :12:19.be a break inquest in a fortnight, when the 25th anniversary of the
:12:20. > :12:23.disaster will be commemorated. The jury were told about the kind of
:12:24. > :12:26.evidence that they will be presented with. They were told the process
:12:27. > :12:28.could last more than a year. The coroner told them that he is aware
:12:29. > :12:36.of the enormous public service... Pay day lenders are facing tough new
:12:37. > :12:40.regulations by the Financial Conduct Authority. The watchdog is taking
:12:41. > :12:43.over from the Office of Fair Trading. It wants to curb
:12:44. > :12:48.extortionate charges and ensure that money is only lent to those who can
:12:49. > :12:52.pay it back. And there was a warning to the lenders - if you don't stick
:12:53. > :13:02.to the rules, we will take you out. Simon Gompertz reports. It is a
:13:03. > :13:06.world of thousands of percentage points APR, and high charges if you
:13:07. > :13:14.fail to repay. This south London borough has tried to restrict
:13:15. > :13:27.posters being put up by lenders. We have got lonely shop, lonely shop,
:13:28. > :13:32.and another one. -- loan shop. That is seven within about 100 yards. It
:13:33. > :13:37.is absolutely terrible. The interest is absolutely terrible. I have had
:13:38. > :13:41.?100, and then all of a sudden, you miss one payment, the following
:13:42. > :13:45.month, they want ?300 off you. They are absolutely terrible, they should
:13:46. > :13:50.not be allowed. The new regulator is demanding more checks, it will
:13:51. > :13:56.restrict the number of times you can roll over your loan, and also it is
:13:57. > :13:59.consulting on a cap on the overall cost of credit, all backed by the
:14:00. > :14:05.threat of closing lenders down. We are concerned that people who cannot
:14:06. > :14:09.afford the loans, and who then get rolled over, should be protected.
:14:10. > :14:15.That is the area we are worried about. They can continue the
:14:16. > :14:20.advertising, which has helped make this a ?2 billion industry, as long
:14:21. > :14:29.as there is a warning saying late repayment can cause serious money
:14:30. > :14:33.problems. I think the FCA has got an important part to play in setting
:14:34. > :14:38.new rules for this relatively new industry, which is going to drive up
:14:39. > :14:42.standards and help us to drive out the bad practice. Heyday lenders
:14:43. > :14:47.were found to be making too much profit out of the people who
:14:48. > :14:51.struggle to pay the money back. The new regime is designed to force them
:14:52. > :14:53.to lend only to those who can afford it.
:14:54. > :14:58.A pupil at a school in Edinburgh was killed this morning when a wall
:14:59. > :15:01.collapsed. The Scottish Ambulance Service was called to Liberton High
:15:02. > :15:02.School just before ten this morning. Our Scotland correspondent Lorna
:15:03. > :15:16.Gordon is at the school. For the last couple of hours,
:15:17. > :15:20.children have been arriving to pick up their children, some of them in
:15:21. > :15:23.quite a distressed state. The children were told at a special
:15:24. > :15:28.assembly that one of their fellow pupils has died in an accident
:15:29. > :15:31.earlier this morning. Emergency services were called to the school
:15:32. > :15:36.here just before ten o'clock this morning. We understand, talking to
:15:37. > :15:44.the parents, that a wall collapsed inside the changing rooms for the PA
:15:45. > :15:49.area, the gym area. Talking to the parents, we understand that the girl
:15:50. > :15:52.who died was one of the younger pupils, in the first year of the
:15:53. > :15:56.school, so she would have been 11 or 12 years old. Many of the pupils
:15:57. > :16:00.have left for the day. You can see the ambulance and the police
:16:01. > :16:05.remaining outside the building. There will be a full investigation
:16:06. > :16:08.into what happened. There was a big operation of course to try and
:16:09. > :16:14.release the girl by paramedics at the scene, but she was pronounced
:16:15. > :16:17.dead. A lot of distress for the pupils here today and a big
:16:18. > :16:26.investigation to work out what has happened. Thank you very much.
:16:27. > :16:32.Our top story this lunchtime: A union boss calls for Vince Cable to
:16:33. > :16:47.stand down this lunchtime after the selling off of Royal Mail is called
:16:48. > :17:01.a botched sale. And still to come: The best April fool ever?
:17:02. > :17:05.The Malaysian authorities who have been coordinating the search for the
:17:06. > :17:07.missing airliner flight MH370 have released the transcript of
:17:08. > :17:09.communications between the pilots and air traffic controllers and it
:17:10. > :17:14.differs from the version they gave just after the plane disappeared.
:17:15. > :17:19.They said though that the exchanges showed there was nothing abnormal in
:17:20. > :17:22.the conversations. Australia is to deploy a special flying air traffic
:17:23. > :17:24.control centre to prevent collisions between the planes searching for the
:17:25. > :17:26.missing aircraft in the remote Indian Ocean. Our correspondent Lucy
:17:27. > :17:40.Williamson sent this report. Three and a half weeks after MH370
:17:41. > :17:45.went missing, the investigation is in some ways becoming less clear.
:17:46. > :17:48.Under growing pressure for clarity, the Malaysian Government has
:17:49. > :17:52.released a transcript of the final conversation between the plane and
:17:53. > :17:57.air traffic controllers. The final words spoken by the cockpit were not
:17:58. > :18:03.all right good night, as originally stated, but good night Malaysia
:18:04. > :18:07.370, a standard industry sign off. That small difference in language
:18:08. > :18:22.does not change the investigation but it does show how unreliable our
:18:23. > :18:24.information about it might be. At a conference in Kuala Lumpur today,
:18:25. > :18:27.the global airline association said that the plane must never be allowed
:18:28. > :18:30.to vanish again, and announced a new task force to look at better ways of
:18:31. > :18:33.tracking international flights. I think what we will have to do after
:18:34. > :18:35.this incident is to make sure that this can never happen again and that
:18:36. > :18:38.aircraft can be tracked in real-time. The technology is either
:18:39. > :18:41.they're already or almost there, but we need to think about the most
:18:42. > :18:47.effective ways of deploying it to make sure we can never be in this
:18:48. > :18:51.situation again, where we can't find an aeroplane. After days of claiming
:18:52. > :18:57.the new search area, all that has been found fishing nets and rubbish.
:18:58. > :19:01.The current search area, to give you some context, about the size of
:19:02. > :19:05.Ireland. I have to say, in my experience, and I have got a lot of
:19:06. > :19:12.experience in search and rescue over the years, this search and recovery
:19:13. > :19:18.operation is probably the most challenging one I have ever seen.
:19:19. > :19:22.Political leaders in several countries have said there is no time
:19:23. > :19:27.limit on the operation, but with so little information to go on, they
:19:28. > :19:33.are working in the dark. Lucy Williamson, BBC News, Kuala Lumpur.
:19:34. > :19:37.NATO Foreign Ministers are meeting in Brussels this afternoon to
:19:38. > :19:40.discuss the crisis in Ukraine. With tensions still high in the region,
:19:41. > :19:42.Moscow has announced the withdrawal of one infantry battalion from the
:19:43. > :19:45.Ukrainian border but the Americans say tens of thousands of Russian
:19:46. > :19:48.soldiers are still deployed there. Speaking ahead of the meeting, the
:19:49. > :19:50.NATO Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said the North Atlantic
:19:51. > :19:57.alliance could not carrying on doing business with Russia as usual.
:19:58. > :20:05.Russia's actions are unacceptable. We will take positions on which
:20:06. > :20:09.cooperation with Russia is still appropriate because through its
:20:10. > :20:15.actions, Russia has undermined the principles on which our partnership
:20:16. > :20:20.is built and has breached its own international commitments. So we
:20:21. > :20:27.cannot go on doing business as usual. Our diplomatic correspondent,
:20:28. > :20:33.Jonathan Marcus is in Brussels. What realistically our NATO's options?
:20:34. > :20:37.Clearly NATO was not going to go to war with Russia, that is obvious.
:20:38. > :20:42.But I think they want to do three things. In the short term, they want
:20:43. > :20:46.to reassure worried NATO allies like the Baltic republics, and the
:20:47. > :20:50.Polish, who believe there should be a more muscular response to the
:20:51. > :20:54.Russians. We may see some small military deployments, stepped up
:20:55. > :20:58.exercises and so on. They also want to give reassurance to Ukraine, so I
:20:59. > :21:05.think we will see a continuation of the sorts of activities that NATO
:21:06. > :21:07.countries have been carrying out with Ukraine and its military in the
:21:08. > :21:10.past. For the longer term, they want to reassess the whole relationship
:21:11. > :21:15.between NATO and Russia and to look at NATO defence plans and defence
:21:16. > :21:18.deployments, and see whether they should be changed. It was
:21:19. > :21:23.interesting, the Polish Foreign Minister arrived a short while ago
:21:24. > :21:27.and said it was the 15th anniversary of Poland joining NATO. The only
:21:28. > :21:31.NATO facility in his country, he said, was a conference centre, so he
:21:32. > :21:41.said really, perhaps with what is going on in Ukraine, and the new
:21:42. > :21:44.wind blowing from Russia, the sorts of deployments that NATO has in
:21:45. > :21:47.eastern and central Europe should be looked at again. Thank you. At his
:21:48. > :21:52.trial in Preston, the former Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans has had his
:21:53. > :21:56.evidence cross-examined. He is on trial of rape and sexual assault and
:21:57. > :22:02.he denies the charges. Danny Savage is at Preston Crown Court. Less
:22:03. > :22:08.people at the evidence into context. Yesterday Nigel evidence
:22:09. > :22:11.gave evidence in his defence. -- Nigel Evans. He talked about an
:22:12. > :22:15.alleged sexual assault that is claimed to have taken place at his
:22:16. > :22:19.home in Lancashire. He was asked about the man who was accused of
:22:20. > :22:23.assaulting and the MP said he was incredibly flirtatious. I got the
:22:24. > :22:30.impression he was interested in me. There is no fall like an old fool.
:22:31. > :22:36.He was asked by his barrister if his approaches were unwelcome and he
:22:37. > :22:40.said, goodness, no. Nigel Evans said that he wanted a reaction from the
:22:41. > :22:43.man that the passes I was making towards him would be accepted. It
:22:44. > :22:48.was put to him that he obviously did not consent to what you were doing.
:22:49. > :22:52.That is right, conceded the MP, but he maintained that he did not
:22:53. > :22:56.sexually assault the man. He was also asked about a couple of the
:22:57. > :23:01.other charges, one of them in the House of Commons bar. He is supposed
:23:02. > :23:05.to have tried to kiss a man. It was put to him he was exercising his gay
:23:06. > :23:10.sexuality. You knew perfectly well that the likelihood that he would
:23:11. > :23:14.complain about you, Nigel Evans MP, was virtually zero. The MP replied
:23:15. > :23:18.to that, this goes from the bizarre to the bunkum. It is ridiculous
:23:19. > :23:24.beyond belief. On another charge, he said, do you realise how absurd it
:23:25. > :23:28.sounds about what you are saying I have done? It is better you don't
:23:29. > :23:31.ask questions for fear that I might answer them, Mr Evans, was the
:23:32. > :23:37.response. The trial continues. Thank you.
:23:38. > :23:40.Do people's perceptions of freedom correspond to how free they really
:23:41. > :23:47.are? That was the question asked by a BBC poll, carried out to mark the
:23:48. > :23:49.end of our Freedom 2014 season. The survey, conducted between December
:23:50. > :23:52.2013 and February 2014, discovered that people who live in countries
:23:53. > :23:58.traditionally considered to be free don't necessarily feel more free
:23:59. > :24:03.than others. Nick Higham reports. Freedom has never been a simple
:24:04. > :24:07.notion, but what does it mean in our modern digital age? The internet and
:24:08. > :24:11.social media mean we can communicate more freely than ever but we are
:24:12. > :24:16.also under more surveillance than ever before from governments and
:24:17. > :24:19.commercial organisations. Our BBC World Service poll began by asking
:24:20. > :24:23.people about freedom and the internet. More than two thirds of
:24:24. > :24:25.those we questioned told us they thought the internet means we have
:24:26. > :24:31.greater freedom but more than half also told as they thought it was an
:24:32. > :24:35.unsafe place in which to say what they think. Edward Snowden's
:24:36. > :24:39.revelations about widespread surveillance by the US Government
:24:40. > :24:43.have really had an impact on the public consciousness in terms of
:24:44. > :24:47.their understanding of the fact that anything they do online can
:24:48. > :24:52.potentially be monitored. These days, the prying eyes of the state
:24:53. > :24:56.seem to be everywhere. Governments say they need surveillance to fight
:24:57. > :25:00.terrorism and crime but what do the public think? In our survey, we
:25:01. > :25:04.asked people whether they felt free from monitoring by their own
:25:05. > :25:08.governments. Results were surprising. In countries like the
:25:09. > :25:11.United States and Germany, which like to think of themselves as
:25:12. > :25:17.bastions of freedom and democracy, fewer than half those and felt free
:25:18. > :25:21.from Government surveillance. In China and Russia, it was completely
:25:22. > :25:26.different. A sizeable majority said they didn't think they were subject
:25:27. > :25:32.to online surveillance. We have about 80% of American and German
:25:33. > :25:36.people who do have access to internet in their homes. It is less
:25:37. > :25:41.than half this in Russia and China. It seems that people in countries
:25:42. > :25:46.with higher internet connectivity naturally feel more exposed. How
:25:47. > :25:49.free you feel, it seems, is not necessarily a reflection of how
:25:50. > :25:56.freely the society in which you live is supposed to be.
:25:57. > :25:59.It's perhaps the most famous April Fool prank in the history of British
:26:00. > :26:02.television. And in a rare interview, the man responsible has explained
:26:03. > :26:05.how it all happened. In 1957 the BBC's Panorama programme showed a
:26:06. > :26:08.report about spaghetti growing on trees in Switzerland and many of its
:26:09. > :26:18.eight million viewers swallowed every word. Here's our entertainment
:26:19. > :26:21.correspondent Colin Paterson. The past winter, one of the mildest
:26:22. > :26:27.in living memory, has had its effect in other ways as well. Most
:26:28. > :26:33.important of all, it has resulted in an exceptionally heavy spaghetti
:26:34. > :26:37.crop. At 8:30pm on the 1st of April 1957, in between Hancock's Half Hour
:26:38. > :26:40.and some heavyweight boxing, the current affairs programme Panorama
:26:41. > :26:45.featured one of the most famous April falls of all time. Spaghetti
:26:46. > :26:48.cultivation here in Switzerland is not carried out on anything like the
:26:49. > :26:54.tremendous scale of the Italian industry. Michael Peacock presented
:26:55. > :27:00.Panorama and was responsible for giving the spaghetti tree hoax the
:27:01. > :27:03.go-ahead. We had noted in the editorial meeting that April the 1st
:27:04. > :27:10.was on a Monday, power transmission day. A week or so later, a freelance
:27:11. > :27:15.cameraman came into the office and they pitched the idea of the
:27:16. > :27:24.spaghetti harvest being an April fool's joke. I gave Charles a budget
:27:25. > :27:29.of ?100 and sent him off. Some heavyweight support gave its
:27:30. > :27:33.backing. The anchorman for Panorama was Richard Dimbleby. Richard was
:27:34. > :27:38.most respected reporter and he earned his reputation as a war
:27:39. > :27:41.correspondent. We knew perfectly well we were using his authority to
:27:42. > :27:46.make the joke work. He loved the idea and went at it with relish.
:27:47. > :27:51.Many people are often puzzled by the fact that spaghetti is produced at
:27:52. > :27:55.such uniform length, but this is the result of many years of patient by
:27:56. > :27:59.plant breeders, who succeeded in producing the perfect spaghetti.
:28:00. > :28:05.Next day it was all over the newspapers. The press loved the
:28:06. > :28:09.story. Others hated it for misleading the nation, which was why
:28:10. > :28:14.it worked so well. We'll felt very pleased with ourselves. Almost 60
:28:15. > :28:18.years later, it is still being talked about. For those who love
:28:19. > :28:25.this dish, there is nothing like real home-grown spaghetti. Colin
:28:26. > :28:30.Pattinson, BBC News. What are the chances of sunshine? No
:28:31. > :28:35.April Fool about the weather. We could see 20 degrees in the South
:28:36. > :28:40.East of England. This is a satellite picture. Cloud across Scotland and
:28:41. > :28:44.the central slice of England. It is breaking up all the time with
:28:45. > :28:48.sunshine around. Already 17th in the South East. With that weather front
:28:49. > :28:53.struggling Scotland and bringing outbreaks of rain, it is quite
:28:54. > :28:56.chilly East coast of Scotland. Through the afternoon, much of
:28:57. > :29:01.England, Northern Ireland and Wales will hold onto sunshine with the odd
:29:02. > :29:05.shower. The lion's share of the rain will affect central and eastern
:29:06. > :29:11.Scotland. That said, the Outer Hebrides is not doing too badly with
:29:12. > :29:14.some shelter. You will enjoy a fine afternoon with sunshine. Eastern
:29:15. > :29:19.Scotland and the South of Scotland will be cool with an onshore breeze.
:29:20. > :29:24.England is not doing too badly. Double figures for Newcastle with
:29:25. > :29:28.sunshine. The Midlands, South East England and Southern counties seeing
:29:29. > :29:33.the best sunshine. Variable amounts of lead cloud around with the odd
:29:34. > :29:40.shower. Most places remain dry. Cloud in the South coast of Devon
:29:41. > :29:45.and Cornwall. In Northern Ireland, conditions improve but the far
:29:46. > :29:50.western coast will hold onto cloud and the odd shower. That is how it
:29:51. > :29:54.is looking this afternoon. Into the evening and overnight, rain affects
:29:55. > :29:59.central and eastern Scotland and low mist and cloud rolls on and off the
:30:00. > :30:02.North Sea in eastern areas. This weather front coming from the South
:30:03. > :30:09.will bring showery -based sovereign into the Midlands. Some dry
:30:10. > :30:13.interludes and a mild night to come but quite chilly in the North.
:30:14. > :30:18.Wednesday morning starts off damp and cloudy with showers and western
:30:19. > :30:22.areas pushing East. It will be quite chilly across the North East corner
:30:23. > :30:25.of England and also eastern Scotland, but some sunshine for the
:30:26. > :30:30.far North of Scotland with better temperatures there. Cool in the
:30:31. > :30:34.North East corner. In the South East, temperatures could hover
:30:35. > :30:38.around 20. The pressure chart for Thursday shows low pressure trying
:30:39. > :30:44.to push further East. This weather front could have more action on it.
:30:45. > :30:49.More heavy rain affecting central and western areas. Slowly pushing
:30:50. > :30:53.its way East. Cooler air moving in the Atlantic. Still quite warm
:30:54. > :30:59.across central and eastern areas with sunshine. We have had lots of
:31:00. > :31:03.emails about the Sahara dust and air pollution situation. If you want
:31:04. > :31:08.more, check our local weather website. Thank you.
:31:09. > :31:13.The top story this lunchtime: A union boss calls for Vince Cable's
:31:14. > :31:15.resignation after the privatisation of Royal Mail