Browse content similar to 10/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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A new crisis at the Co-op as former City minister Lord Myners quits the | :00:07. | :00:13. | |
board, a board he wanted to scrap. It's another significant blow for | :00:14. | :00:19. | |
the business. It lost its chief executive last month and is facing | :00:20. | :00:22. | |
losses of up to ?2 billion. We'll be getting analysis from our business | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
editor. Also this lunchtime... At his murder trial, Oscar Pistorius is | :00:26. | :00:28. | |
accused of only being concerned about himself. I had to go to | :00:29. | :00:37. | |
training, she knew I had to go to lunch. It's all about Mr Pistorius. | :00:38. | :00:44. | |
New research suggests hundreds of millions of pounds may have been | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
wasted on a drug for flu that works no better than paracetamol. Nearly | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
30,000 people died in England in 2010 because of long-term exposure | :00:54. | :01:01. | |
to air pollution. And the Royal ascent that never quite got off the | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
ground. On BBC London. London City Airport | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
to close to make way for new homes according to a think tank. And how a | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
pilot using traceable liquid is the Met's latest tool to tackle | :01:12. | :01:12. | |
burglaries. Good afternoon, and welcome to the | :01:13. | :01:40. | |
BBC's News at One. The troubles of the Co-op Group deepened today after | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
the resignation of one of its board members, the former Labour City | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
Minister, Lord Myners. He was in charge of a review that was due to | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
recommend wide-ranging changes, including replacement of the Board. | :01:50. | :01:51. | |
But even before the report was finished, some parts of the group | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
said they would reject his proposals. It's just the latest in a | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
litany of problems to hit the business, which is facing losses of | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
up to ?2 billion. Here's our chief economics correspondent, Hugh Pym. | :02:01. | :02:07. | |
These are troubled times at the Co-op. Attempts to provide a more | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
commercial edge and streamline the board have hit a brick wall. Last | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
month, the chief executive walked out over a row over his pay packet, | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
and now a senior independent director has quit. The former Labour | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
Minister Lord Myners was brought into carry out a review. He has now | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
gone, after his reform proposals were opposed by some in the Co-op | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
movement. In a video for Co-op members last month he had an | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
uncompromising message. At the moment, if you ask the question, are | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
we truly democratic? No. We led by a board that is fit for purpose? No. | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
Do we enjoy the full and undoubted support without any hesitation from | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
our bankers? No. Some outsiders agree with Lord Myners that the | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
Co-op asked to change. It's very important that the Co-op understands | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
that the old way is over, finished and gone and someone has to grab it, | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
take it forward, communicate and deliver. The Co-op, owned by its | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
members, has a complex structure with independent regional societies | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
electing some directors. Some say Lord Myners' plans went too far. It | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
seems they do not enjoy the support of the vast majority of elected | :03:23. | :03:25. | |
members. Lord Myners knows this very well. It certainly doesn't enjoy the | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
support of all of the independent societies. Many of the Co-op's | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
problems stem from the banking subsidiary. It needed funding to | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
plug a hole in its balance sheet. Outside investors have to be brought | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
in the Co-op has lost overall control of the bank. Embarrassing | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
revelations about the personal life of the former chairman, the reverend | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
Paul Flowers, raised questions about the lack of experience of those in | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
charge the bank. The Co-op has a long established presence of | :03:56. | :03:58. | |
Britain's high street, but there are now a whole range of questions over | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
its future, including how it governs itself, where sources of finance for | :04:03. | :04:05. | |
investment might come from and how it might look to customers in years | :04:06. | :04:12. | |
to come. Results from the bank tomorrow and the group next week are | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
expected to reveal big losses. Another reminder of the scale of the | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
challenge facing those still at the helm of the Co-op. Let's speak to | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
our business editor, Kamal Ahmed. It's a business that seems to lurch | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
from crisis to crisis. A huge concern if you work there, but what | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
about everybody else? It's quite easy to view the Co-op as a homespun | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
charity vistas, a sort of Miss Marple of the high street, but this | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
is a very big British business. It has 8 million members, 2800 retail | :04:44. | :04:51. | |
shops. It has Britain's biggest funerals business and its third | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
largest pharmacy. It also has a 30% stake in Co-op Bank, which has 4.7 | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
million customers. So this is important. What is going on here is | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
a power battle. To put it simply, on the one side you have the | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
traditionalists. These are the people who think that's what the | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
Co-op is really about, feel they've got their Co-op DNA. The notion of a | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
cooperative society in them. And then the modernisers, of which Lord | :05:18. | :05:27. | |
Myners is probably one of the leaders. He thinks that the Co-op to | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
survive, and it's got a lot of problems, needs to completely change | :05:31. | :05:32. | |
the way it is governed. That is the big problem, the big battle. With | :05:33. | :05:34. | |
Lord Myners' departure last night, it looks like those traditional | :05:35. | :05:37. | |
members are fighting back and are probably now in the ascendancy. | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
Marks and Spencer has revealed that its general merchandise sales fell | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
for the fourth quarter, down 0.6%. But like-for-like clothing sales | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
were up 0.6%. M also reported a small rise in food sales. Oscar | :05:51. | :06:03. | |
Pistorius has been accused of bullying his girlfriend, Reeva | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
Steenkamp, before her death. The South African athlete has been | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
undergoing some tough cross examination at his trial for | :06:10. | :06:11. | |
murdering the model on St Valentine's Day last year. Let's | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
cross to Pretoria and our correspondent Andrew Harding, who's | :06:16. | :06:17. | |
been watching the morning's proceedings. | :06:18. | :06:24. | |
Yes, for the first time this week, no tears in court this morning from | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
Oscar Pistorius. But his character and credibility once again came | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
under withering criticism from the prosecutor who was cross-examining | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
him. Repeatedly accusing the athlete of lying about his evidence to the | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
court will stop and, as usual, there were no pictures of Pistorius | :06:45. | :06:46. | |
broadcast as he gave evidence this morning. Jacket on and heading back | :06:47. | :06:53. | |
into court for a second gruelling day of cross-examination. Oscar | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
Pistorius calls this the fight for his life. The prosecutor's first | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
topic, the athlete's relationship with Reeva Steenkamp. Those angry | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
texts she sent him, and his excuses. I had to go to training, I had to go | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
to lunch. It is about you. The prosecutor said it was clear from | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
the texts that Pistorius was deeply self-centred. Your life is just | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
about you, what is important to Oscar. Oscar shouldn't get into | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
trouble, this shouldn't get into the media. You are very concerned about | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
what is good for Oscar. Bent to the incident when Pistorius fired a | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
friend's gun under a table in a crowded restaurant. The athlete told | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
the court, my finger was not on the trigger. He was called a liar. I | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
must accept that in your version the gun went off by itself. He gave you | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
a bun, it went off by itself. I don't recall how the fire Ron went | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
off, I know my finger was not on the trigger. The prosecutor suggested | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
there was a pattern, that Pistorius did not want to accept the blame for | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
anything. He linked it to the athlete's suggestion that he'd shot | :08:06. | :08:08. | |
through a toilet door, killing Reeva Steenkamp, accidentally. It's the | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
strangest day today, you just don't take responsibility for anything, | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
you just don't do anything wrong. You are lying. The prosecutor sought | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
to show Pistorius was often reckless with guns, asking him why he would | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
carry a loaded pistol to a boating party. You can't conceal a fire Ron | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
in shorts without a shirt so that nobody can see it. I can't say I was | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
wearing a shirt, I can't remember. I wasn't there, I'm testing you. It's | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
your version, do tell the court, I took my gun to get together on a | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
boat. A bruising morning for the athlete and the cross-examination | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
continues. And remember those two witnesses, former friends of | :08:58. | :09:00. | |
Pistorius, who said he'd fired a pistol through a car sunroof. Today, | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
the athlete accused both of them of fabricating evidence. The prosecutor | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
then moved onto the key incident in this trial, those four bullets that | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
Pistorius fired through his toilet door, killing Reeva Steenkamp. | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
Again, pressuring the athlete to admit it wasn't something he'd done | :09:20. | :09:26. | |
accidentally. There'll be updates on the trial throughout the day on the | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
BBC News Channel. Plus a special programme each evening with the key | :09:30. | :09:32. | |
moments of the day. That's at 7.30pm on the BBC News Channel. The Office | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
for National Statistics says it underestimated the net flow of | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
migrants into the UK between 2001 and 2011 by 346000. It says a | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
substantial number of citizens arriving in Britain from the eight | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
countries that joined the European Union in 2004, including Poland, | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
were missed in official figures. Australian search teams have | :10:00. | :10:01. | |
discovered more signals in the area where they think Malaysian Airlines | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
flight MH370 may have been lost. Officials say they could be from a | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
"man-made source". An Australian vessel picked up four acoustic | :10:08. | :10:10. | |
signals in the area, twice over the weekend and twice on Tuesday. The | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
flight vanished 33 days ago with 239 people on board. Back in 2006, at | :10:14. | :10:22. | |
the height of the concerns over an outbreak of bird-flu, a drug called | :10:23. | :10:25. | |
Tamiflu seemed to offer the best hope of preventing the spread of the | :10:26. | :10:28. | |
disease. Hundreds of millions of pounds was spent on stockpiling the | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
drug here in the UK. But now a review has concluded it was a waste | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
of money because it may be no more effective at fighting flu than | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
paracetamol. Here's our medical correspondent, Fergus Walsh. Huge | :10:42. | :10:51. | |
stocks of Tamiflu were distributed during the swine flu pandemic of | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
2009. It's an anti-Bible and should ease symptoms. But researchers, who | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
spent five years fighting to get access to all the data from clinical | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
trials, say the drugs don't work. Or at least not very well. The Cochrane | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
Collaboration, a global health care research network, say the drugs | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
shorten symptoms by half a day, it may be no better than paracetamol. | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
They say there's no good evidence it reduces hospital admissions or | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
complications, and it the risk of nausea, vomiting and other | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
side-effects. What is more worrying, we don't have the clear benefits, | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
which compensation reduction, any harms have been accentuated, and | :11:34. | :11:36. | |
this is in otherwise healthy people. Start to use that in elderly | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
people, children, this is deeply worrying. But this detailed review | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
is at odds with a recent study from Nottingham University, funded by the | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
manufacturers, Roche, which looked at 30,000 hospital admissions | :11:52. | :11:53. | |
worldwide, and found that early use of the drug halved the risk of | :11:54. | :12:00. | |
death. Roche says no wonder The Who, US and health bodies all recommend | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
Tamiflu. There's a clear consensus across all of those people, and that | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
is a significant body of expertise that have looked at our data and | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
share the same position that we do, that Tamiflu is a very useful | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
medicine for what is a serious respiratory infection that can lead | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
to death in some instances. This drug has been a blockbuster which | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
has made billions, but for critics it symbolises a culture of secrecy | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
within the pharmaceutical industry. With some companies cherry picking | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
the data they release from clinical trials that shows their products in | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
the best light. The Health Secretary said suggestions that drug companies | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
withheld data is worrying. The Government has to decide by the end | :12:43. | :12:45. | |
of the year whether to renew its stockpile of Tamiflu. Fergus Walsh, | :12:46. | :12:54. | |
BBC News. Long term exposure to air pollution led to around 25,000 | :12:55. | :12:57. | |
deaths in England in 2010, and local authorities need to do more to | :12:58. | :12:59. | |
protect people. That's according to the latest figures from Public | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
Health England. Let's speak to our environment analyst, Roger Harrabin. | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
That's a very striking figure. It is. We can't say for certain that | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
the figure is accurate. It's an estimate, because people don't | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
instantly die of air pollution. This is where air pollution is associated | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
with hastening death from heart problems or lung problems, | :13:20. | :13:21. | |
particularly striking in London where one in 12 deaths are | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
associated with air pollution. Much less bad in northern Scotland and | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
Northern Ireland. The interesting thing about these figures is they | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
should be going down. Air pollution is supposed to be improving in the | :13:33. | :13:43. | |
UK it's not, because the government is failing to implement an EU | :13:44. | :13:46. | |
directive on this and campaign groups for people with heart and | :13:47. | :13:48. | |
lung problems are extremely unhappy about that. Schools in Wales are | :13:49. | :13:50. | |
struggling to improve and suffer from a lack of a long-term vision. | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
That's the findings of a review into the Welsh education system, carried | :13:55. | :13:57. | |
out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. But it | :13:58. | :13:59. | |
did praise "positive" learning conditions, as our Wales | :14:00. | :14:01. | |
correspondent, Hywel Griffith, now reports. Right, if you could all | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
face before a second, we are going to start on this worksheet. Learning | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
to get results. These pupils in Port Talbot are revising for their GCSE | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
exams in the summer. Their school has a good record. But to many | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
others in Wales are making -- failing to make the grade. The last | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
set of international tests for 15-year-old ranked Wales as 43rd out | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
of 65 countries in maths, 41st for reading and 36 for science. Making | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
it the worst performing part of the UK and trailing well behind | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
countries like Poland and Slovenia. The body which once the tests says | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
it is an education system that is trying to improve but doesn't have a | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
clear direction. We believe you need to have a longer term vision of what | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
the Welsh learners should be learning, who they should be and | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
what Wales wants out of their students. It's a question some | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
teachers have been left asking, too. A decade after scrapping SAT tests, | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
the Welsh Government has brought in new tests on numeracy and literacy, | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
creating confusion in some classrooms. I feel worried for some | :15:14. | :15:21. | |
pupils who are in school currently because they, too, must be asking, | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
what do you want from us? What are the output is you want for us in | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
terms of success? The Labour government in Wales says its | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
education plan is clear. So what is it? What is your long-term vision? | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
Excellence. In an international context. What does it mean for a | :15:41. | :15:48. | |
pupil or their parent? What it means in simple terms is that Welsh | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
people, young people in Wales can expect the very best in terms of | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
their educational experience. And in an international context, they will | :16:01. | :16:03. | |
have a passport to success, whether that's true qualifications or the | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
wider skills they need. That could take them wherever they need to go. | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
Where Welsh schools have been told to go is into the top 20 countries | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
internationally by 2015. An ambition that will test the whole system. Our | :16:18. | :16:28. | |
top story this lunchtime. The former city Minister Lord Myners has quit | :16:29. | :16:31. | |
the board of the Co-op Group over objections to his planned changes. | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
And still to come, why the government is giving a ?10 million | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
loan to help ease the closure of two of the UK's deep coal mines. | :16:40. | :16:45. | |
Later on BBC London, the capital's businesses say they are feeling | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
confident, so why are they finding it so hard to recruit staff? If you | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
think original artwork is out of your league, think again. You too | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
could own a Banksy, but you will have to share it. | :16:58. | :17:05. | |
The parents of two sisters who died in the Hillsborough disaster have | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
been trying to put into words their loss at the inquest into their | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
deaths. Clever and Jenni Hicks said their daughters, Sarah and | :17:16. | :17:18. | |
Victoria, had been too bright, beautiful innocent young women, who | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
had lived together and died together -- clever. Judith Moritz has been at | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
the inquest in Warrington. The court has been continuing the | :17:30. | :17:32. | |
process of hearing statements from the families of all of those who | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
died at Hillsborough and of the 96, who were killed, seven were women. | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
Two of those word teenage sisters, Sarah and Victoria Hicks. | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
The 96. It is the number and collective name of all those who | :17:49. | :17:51. | |
died at Hillsborough. But the families of every one of the | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
disaster's victims have been telling their individual stories to the | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
court. Today, the jury heard about sisters Sarah and Victoria Hicks. | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
Ricky, on the left, was 15. Sarah, on the right, 19. If she had lived, | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
today would have been her 44th birthday. The girls went to the | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
match that day with their parents. Today, their father told the jury | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
that Hillsborough had caused the end of his marriage to their mother, | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
Jenny. They both came to court to speak about the loss of the two | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
girls. It is an opportunity to let the court know what lovely people my | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
daughters were. That is the way I am looking at it. I am proud and | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
privileged to speak, to be given the opportunity to speak about them | :18:40. | :18:42. | |
today. I have written difficult things, political stuff, clever, | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
technical things, but to try to encapsulate two people in this case | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
on a couple of sides of a four, for it to project that person, is | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
extremely difficult to do. Trevor Hicks told the jury, it is not that | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
losing two is twice as bad, it is that you lose everything. The | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
present, the future and any purpose. The most difficult thing for me is | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
the sheer waste of Sarah and Vicky's lives. Jenny described her | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
daughters as two bright, beautiful innocent young women. I left you as | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
you went into a football ground, she said, and a few hours later you were | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
dead. Trevor Hicks spoke to reporters after the end of the last | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
Hillsborough inquests in 1991. He and Jenny have campaigned on behalf | :19:29. | :19:31. | |
of those bereaved for many years. But today, they spoke about how | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
Hillsborough destroyed their own family. | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
The inquests have adjourned for the day and they will not be sitting | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
next week because on Tuesday, instead of coming here to court, the | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
survivors and the bereaved of Hillsborough will be going to a | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
service at Anfield, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Britain's | :19:55. | :20:02. | |
worst sporting disaster. Two of UK's deep coal mines are to | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
get ?10 million to help them close. The mines, owned by UK Coal, are due | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
to shut in the next 18 months with the loss of around 1300 months jobs, | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
but the government says it will load the money because it would cost the | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
taxpayer more if they went into insolvency now. Let's speak to our | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
correspondent Phil Bodmer, who is outside Kellingley Colliery in North | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
Yorkshire. NUM officials and UK Coal bosses | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
have been locked in talks at Kellingley, discussing this loan | :20:34. | :20:35. | |
offer from the government. The Energy Secretary Michael Fallon says | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
it is a good offer and if the unions don't accept it then this pit and | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
Thoresby in Nottinghamshire could become insolvent as early as next | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
week. That would the results in the loss of several thousand jobs. The | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
union says it is unhappy. They wanted more time and money to make | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
this colliery and Thoresby a going concern. However, UK Coal say if | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
they don't accept it then up to 2000 jobs could be at risk. The union | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
says we are likely to be burning coal for the next decade, much of | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
that coal is imported from Columbia and Russia. They say we should be | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
burning coal which come -- can be mined here in Kellingley and | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
Thoresby, transported to power stations more cheaply. The | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
discussions are ongoing. Most students in England will still | :21:25. | :21:27. | |
be paying back loans from the university days in their 40s and 50s | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
and many will never clear the debt. That is according to research by the | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
Institute of fiscal studies which suggests graduate on lower salaries | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
will pay back less than they would have been expected to while higher | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
earners will end up paying more. Luke Walton reports. | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
Study at university has long been a chance to expand your mind and your | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
ambitions but today's report says students in England will pay the | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
price long after graduation. Its figures suggest the average student | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
will pay back nearly twice as much because of changes to student loans | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
and higher tuition fees. And though lower paid graduates will pay less, | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
the burden on those on middle and higher incomes will increase and | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
continue until they are 50. Universities insist a degree still | :22:13. | :22:15. | |
represents a good investment, one that leads to higher incomes in the | :22:16. | :22:18. | |
future. But for the current generation of students there is | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
another, less positive legacy, in the shape of a debt that can last 30 | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
years. Today's students will be paying back less in their 20s but | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
more in their 40s, when they have significant family bill pressures on | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
the irony is the government probably won't get around half the loans it | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
has paid out so there is a double debt trap in the system. Do students | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
think it is money well spent? It is an intimidating amount, but we are | :22:45. | :22:51. | |
stuck with it. It is a lot of money but I would rather have a degree and | :22:52. | :22:54. | |
better prospects of a job afterwards. Ministers insist their | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
report -- their reforms were necessary to make higher education | :23:00. | :23:01. | |
more financially viable. This system is leading to savings for the | :23:02. | :23:07. | |
taxpayer, savings and public expenditure. It is bringing more | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
money into our universities so that the teaching experience of a student | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
at university is better. There is more resource behind him or her at | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
university. The picture is different elsewhere in the UK. Welsh and | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
Northern Irish students pay less for tuition. Scottish students don't pay | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
for it at all if a study in their own country. In England, the numbers | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
going to university and stayed buoyant despite much higher fees but | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
there are questions about the policy's long-term cost. | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
It is the biggest democratic election the world has ever seen | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
up-to-date, is crucial day innings day where 814 million people are | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
eligible to vote. Polling is taking place across 14 states including the | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
capital Delhi. We won't know the result until May the 16th. Let's | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
cross to Delhi and Jon Sopel. Yes, the figures are eye-popping, | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
aren't they? 91 constituencies are voting today. Over 100 million | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
people are eligible to vote. The polling stations here in Delhi are | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
open for another five minutes and already the turnout is significantly | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
up on 2009. That is seen to be good news for the challenger, the BJP led | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
by Narendra Modi. Let's get this report from our Delhi correspondent, | :24:27. | :24:28. | |
Andrew North. The quiet dignity of democracy in | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
action. From here in North Delhi to southern India, millions of voters | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
are going to the polls. Many bringing their families as the | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
voting means a public holiday. Before casting their ballots | :24:43. | :24:44. | |
everyone has their finger marked with ink to prevent fraud. This | :24:45. | :24:51. | |
electrician came to vote early, bringing his six-month-old grandson | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
to the polling station. Like many other Muslims living in this part of | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
Delhi, he said he was staying loyal to the ruling Congress party. | :25:02. | :25:09. | |
TRANSLATION: I have always voted for the Congress and the Gandhi family. | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
Inflation is an issue for us but it's not the fault of the Congress | :25:15. | :25:17. | |
party. But others said it was time for change and were backing the | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
opposition BJP candidate. TRANSLATION: Narendra Modi has clean | :25:25. | :25:27. | |
politics. People say all sorts of things in elections and they say | :25:28. | :25:31. | |
he's against Muslims, but I say he should get a chance. We should see | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
how he performs. As well as in Delhi, voters are casting ballots in | :25:38. | :25:39. | |
nearly a fifth of India's parliamentary seats in this latest | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
round of voting. But it will be another month before the world's | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
biggest election is over. There's been a steady flow of voters | :25:49. | :25:51. | |
arriving at this polling station in Delhi'S old city on what is the | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
biggest day so far in India's marathon elections. Voters have been | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
saying issues like corruption and inflation are deciding their votes | :25:59. | :26:01. | |
but others are talking about old loyalties. We won't know the result | :26:02. | :26:16. | |
until the middle of May. Every newspaper has this this | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
morning. Front page advert of Narendra Modi for the BJP, him on | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
page three, him on page five, him on the back pages of the newspapers. | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
The BJP clearly have the money. They also think they have got the | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
momentum. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge | :26:37. | :26:39. | |
have been paying their respects to New Zealand's warded. They were | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
visiting the town of Glenn on South Island and later toured a museum of | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
World War I memorabilia owned by the Lord Of The Rings film director | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
Peter Jackson. Here is our royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell at | :26:52. | :26:54. | |
the start of his report does contain some flash photography. | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
They are taking on a greater share of the workload of William's | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
grandmother now, particularly the long haul journeys like this one to | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
New Zealand. So for William and Catherine, their state receptions in | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
their honour, speeches to be made and jokes about George. He is a | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
Bonnie Langford and you will be pleased to know he is currently | :27:15. | :27:17. | |
preparing for life as a prop forward. -- he is a bonny lad. This | :27:18. | :27:25. | |
couple's first public engagement of the visit had been to pay tribute to | :27:26. | :27:33. | |
New Zealand's warded. The country placed itself immediately up | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
Britain's side in 1914, 17,000 New Zealanders were killed in the First | :27:38. | :27:41. | |
World War. In denim on the South Island, William and Catherine | :27:42. | :27:44. | |
stepped forward together to place a wreath at the town's War Memorial -- | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
in denim. They met veterans. William top one group, Catherine another. | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
Men with their memories of war, recalled slowly, listened to | :27:57. | :28:02. | |
carefully. Hands were clasped and -- clasped and confidence is shared. | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
Then to the crowds, predominantly women, frequently mothers who had | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
brought their babies. A chance for Catherine to show off sharp and | :28:11. | :28:13. | |
communication skills and to be reminded that babies don't | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
necessarily regard reading the Duchess of the moment not to be | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
sneezed at. There is a serious point of course amid all the royal visit | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
frivolity. Does New Zealand want to keep Britain's kings or queens as | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
their head of state? New Zealand has certainly flirted with the idea of | :28:34. | :28:37. | |
moving on from the monarchy in the past, but when you come out into | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
small, rural communities like this, support for the monarchy is still | :28:43. | :28:48. | |
strong. I think Will and Kate will be wonderful to be the king and | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
queen. It will be lovely. Can you imagine a King George of New | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
Zealand? Absolutely, why not? Absolutely. He and his son represent | :28:57. | :29:03. | |
the long-term future of the monarchy and at the moment there is no real | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
evidence that New Zealand is pressing for change. | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
Time for a look at the weather with Phil Avery. | :29:14. | :29:20. | |
Good afternoon. This was the scene recently, I believe that is Muswell | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
Hill in north London. The blossom is out here. Over the next few days it | :29:26. | :29:28. | |
will feel like spring for many others. Dry and bright, mild days | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
but some chilly nights starting as early as tonight. There is an if and | :29:33. | :29:38. | |
but, in the form of this old weather front. It has been a bother for | :29:39. | :29:42. | |
Northern Ireland and so too for southern parts of Scotland and the | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
other side of the Solway. We will come back to that because we are not | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
done with it even though it looks as if it is fading away. To the north | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
of that the skies are brighter, but there are some sharp showers | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
rattling in on a noticeable west to south-westerly breeze across the top | :30:00. | :30:02. | |
end of Scotland. Some of those are getting down to the central belt. | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
That front, we will come back to that in a second, then further | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
south, it is dry and fine for the most part but the cloud, rather like | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
yesterday, is beginning to show signs of developing across the South | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
West and Wales. It may be this becomes the focus for warm or two | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
showers. Overnight that front will reinvigorate itself for a time, | :30:25. | :30:30. | |
before it fades as it drifts towards the south. Behind it the skies were | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
clear. Those are the towns and city temperatures. In the countryside, | :30:36. | :30:40. | |
well, much cooler. In fact, there may be pockets of frost around. Bear | :30:41. | :30:44. | |
that in mind. A little bit of missed as well. The last of the weather | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
front takes its time to get away from the south-east and you might | :30:50. | :30:52. | |
find a spot of drizzle on that. We will thicken up the cloud of -- | :30:53. | :30:57. | |
across the North of Scotland again. In between, a lot of dry weather | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
around and you, if any, showers to report. That weather front becomes | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
on Friday and into Saturday more of a player for a greater part of | :31:08. | :31:10. | |
Scotland and Northern Ireland. Notice the number of isobars, it is | :31:11. | :31:15. | |
going to be quite breezy. This puts me in mind of the process we have | :31:16. | :31:18. | |
just gone through of the front eventually getting down towards the | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
Solway, through Northern Ireland too. A lot of dry weather ahead of | :31:23. | :31:28. | |
it. That will be the forecast for Sunday's London Marathon, a chilly | :31:29. | :31:31. | |
start and don't be on the course too long because beyond 2pm it could get | :31:32. | :31:36. | |
warmer, possibly 16 Celsius. A lot of dry weather across the British | :31:37. | :31:39. | |
Isles on Sunday except perhaps the far north of Scotland with more | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
cloud, wind and rain there. The top story. The former city | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
Minister Lord Myners has quit the board of the Co-op Group Robert | :31:50. | :31:50. | |
objections to his | :31:51. | :31:53. |