05/09/2011 BBC News at Six

The first wave of England's free schools, but a row about whose

children will gain the most. New uniforms, a new type of school, but

the Deputy Prime Minister insists they are not just for pushy parents.

I want them to be available to the whole community, open to all

children, and not just the privileged few. Free schools will

of course take resources from existing education budgets and

schools. They may well take pupils from existing schools. This will

destabilise the system. Or so on the programme: The

ransacked room full of secret documents. An inquiry into MI6

links with Libya and torturers. And how Raoul Moat's row with his

girlfriend may have sparked his rampage.

A survey sparks new fears for Britain's economic recovery.

The Forth Bridge paint job that was never finished. Now it has, at

least for 25 years. I will bring you all the sports on

the BBC News Channel, including the latest news ahead of the euro

qualifiers. There is a warning from Good evening and welcome to the BBC

News At Six. This term sees the start of a radical change in the

way that some children in England will be taught. The first batch of

free schools, the Government's big idea on education, are opening. But

there are accusations that they will only help the children of

pushy parents. Nick Clegg assured critics, including some within his

own party, that the schools are not just for the privileged few. Our

Education Correspondent has more. It is a new term, and with it in

England comes a new type of school, set up by parents, teachers,

businesses and faith groups, free from local council control and free

to parents. Free schools have arrived. These five year-old at a

free school in East London are among the first to get this new

brand of education. Many of them struggled to find a place elsewhere.

One boy had waited for one year. Parents' sake this school is --

parents say the school is offering something different. The Times, 8

o'clock until 6 o'clock if they need, it is good for parents. It

will be good for my children's education. The flexibility in terms

of or parental involvement in the decision-making. It is beneficial

for the school and the children as well. Because free schools are

independent of the local authority, they have the scope to do things

differently. Some have smaller class sizes, 24 or fewer. Others

have flexible opening times for the school day and the school term.

Exceptionally, free schools can employ teachers that do not have a

teaching qualification. Michael Gove has said that repeatedly he

wants free schools to be opened in poorer areas, such as this one in

London. But critics point out that over half of the school's opening

this year are not in deprived areas and they risk becoming middle-class

enclaves. A point acknowledged today by the Deputy Prime Minister,

mindful perhaps that his party voted against free schools at the

conference last year. Nick Clegg had this message for his own

Government. They must not be the preserve of the privileged few,

creaming off the best pupils while leaving the rest to fend for

themselves, causing problems for at draining resources from the nearby

schools. The 20 for new schools will cost up to �130 million. -- 24

new schools. They include a handful of private schools like this one in

Yorkshire which will now be state- funded. Some say the money should

be more evenly spread. Free schools will of course take resources from

existing education budgets from existing schools. They may well

take pupils from existing schools and this will destabilise the

system. 24 is a small start, but with hundreds more predicted in the

next four years, it could herald the beginning of something big.

Our deputy political editor, James Landale, is that Westminster. Nick

Clegg wanted to reassure people within his own party, the Liberal

Democrats. How much sensitivity is there within the Government over

this issue of free schools? There is quite a lot of sensitivity but

not much division. Both sides of this Government, Conservatives and

Liberal Democrats, back the policy of free schools. A lot of the

things that Nick Clegg was talking about would never happen. The idea

that free schools could make profits, that was explicitly ruled

out in the Conservative manifesto. What has been happening today is

Nick Clegg trying to reassure people, people that may or may not

have fears about this policy. He went through a list of those fears

and said he would not let each of them happen. The problem is that

that has irritated some Conservatives. They think this is

not the time and place to rein on their parade. They think they can

get a good message out this week on education and the idea that there

are tensions and divisions is not one the Government wanted to get

out. David Cameron says an inquiry will

look into new allegations that MI6 co-operated with the illegal

transfer out of terror suspects to Libya for interrogation by

Gaddafi's agents. The allegation by human rights activists comes after

the discovery of documents in one of the offices of a former Libyan

leader's key official. The ransacked office of the former head

of Libyan intelligence. Inside, a treasure trove of once secret files,

which reveal a close relationship between British intelligence and

Libyan spy master Moussa Koussa. The question is, did they get too

close? Some of the documents are from one time MI6 man Mark Allen.

He offers Christmas greetings and an invitation to lunch at his

office. Other documents raise difficult questions including over

Britain's roll over a transfer of detainees. One from the CIA to the

Libyans reads, we are also aware that a service has been co-

operating with the British to effect the detainee's removal to

Tripoli. Allegations of Britain's knowledge of involvement in the

removal of detainees has already led to an inquiry. The Prime

Minister said these allegations would be looked at as part of it.

We have issued new guidance to intelligence and security personnel

on how to deal the detainees held by other countries. And we have

asked Peter Gibson to examine issues around the treatment of

terror suspects overseas. This inquiry has already said it will

look at these latest accusations very carefully. The Foreign

Secretary at the time many documents were written says he does

not -- did not know about the accusations. It is this

Government's policy to be opposed to any complicity in torture and

ill-treatment. Much of the information related to the exchange

of information over alleged Islamist activist. There are

allegations that Britain played a role in the act of rendition where

suspects are transferred and sometimes restrictive. One document

relates to Mr Belhadj, subject to rendition in 2004, apparently based

on British information. He says he was tortured in custody. The

British Government has always denied any complicity in

mistreatment or rendition. Rendition is effectively the

unlawful kidnap of people, carrying them across borders and putting

them into jurisdictions where it is known perfectly well that they will

be mistreated. The British Government also condemns that,

which is why it would be so serious if it turned out that agencies

answerable to the British Government had been engaging in

that sort of behaviour. Government intelligence agencies

are supposed to gather information and sometimes that involves working

with regime that do not share their standards, they say. Our Middle

East editor is in Tripoli. Do you think there is more to come about

these allegations of links between MI6 and the Libyans? Could be.

Maybe that is what the inquiry will be finding out. In Tripoli we have

only really see a couple of files, mainly from 2003 and 2004, a time

when the British relationship with Libya was starting to burgeon.

There could be more that comes out of this. I have spoken to the last

foreign minister of Libya during Gaddafi's time, Abdul Ati Al-Obeidi,

a prisoner at the moment. He said to me that they were working in

Tripoli right up until the revolution started on February 17th.

We will be looking more into that and I hope to have more on the 10

o'clock News. Thank you. The inquest into the death of the

gunman Raoul Moat has been hearing how it might have been in rampage

sparked off by an argument with his girlfriend. Raoul Moat was in

prison when he was told by his girlfriend that she was leaving him.

He replied by saying he would go crazy. Raoul Moat was caught on a

riverbank in Rothbury, and he lay down, pointing a gun at his head in

a stand-off that lasted four hours. Today the inquest into his death

told what caused him to get to that point. While serving a prison

sentence for assaulting a child, his girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart,

ended their relationship. In a phone call she told him that she

had had enough. He asked her of what. She said everything. Raoul

Moat then said that they had one argument the other day and should

not get silly. The telephone is then slammed down. Days later, he

calls her and says that she is the only person he has ever cared about

and he is going to go crazy. She tells him that she has got a new

boyfriend and warns him that he is a handy bloke and much younger.

When he was released, Raoul Moat went on to try and kill Samantha

Stobbart and murder of her new boyfriend, Christopher Brown. He

also tried to kill David Rathband in Newcastle by shooting him at

point-blank range as he sat in his police car. Minutes after he did

this, Raoul Moat rang 999 to taunt the police. Are you taking me

seriously now? I have just shot one of York police officers in

Newcastle. You are going to have to kill me. I am not going to stop.

huge manhunt followed, centred on the small town of Rothbury, after

Raoul Moat's car was found here. It involved hundreds of armed police.

Resulting stand-off ended in the rain and darkness, when the gun

that Raoul Moat was holding went off.

This is where Raoul Moat was lying that night. But what was the exact

sequence of events here? Who did what and when in the moments before

and after his gun went off? Those are some of the many questions that

will be addressed by this inquest. The jury was also told about a

noose found in his house, and suicide notes, all written after

losing who he describes as the most beautiful woman in the world.

More fears about Britain's economic recovery according to one measure,

the regular survey of companies. They say Britain's shops and

companies have seen the worst slowdown for 10 years. The new

figures added to the gloom on the stock market, with leading shares

losing �50 billion in value. Our Economics Editor it is here.

Some of us might be feeling better after our summer holidays, but the

signs are that the British economy is not. A private index that

measures business activity across most of the economy has fallen to

its lowest level since June 2009, which was during the middle of the

recession. The services sector accounts for 75% of the economy,

and it was especially downbeat. This covers retailers to private

consultants, and they saw the sharpest fall since 2001. That is

only one month's figure and might have been affected by the riots,

but it speaks to growing pessimism about the pace of Britain's

recovery. This is a disappointing number. It is signalling growth,

but very meagre growth. The rate of expansion has fallen dramatically.

This firm counts as a service sector company. They give planning

advice to councils and property developers. They are still winning

work but it is tough going. People that were not competing for the

work that we were doing are now in the field that we dominated in. We

have to compete against many more businesses and therefore cut our

cloth accordingly. An independent economist has been busy lowering

their expectations for growth, not just for the UK but most of Europe

and America, which some now think is slipping back into recession. In

March, the average forecast in the City was for growth in the UK of

1.8%. That has now fallen to 1.3%, reopening questions about the

Government's Budget strategy, even among some of the people that

People like Bill Gross, for example, who runs one of the world's largest

investment funds. Last year he said Britain had one of the best

combination of policies among the This could all help revive the

political argument over cuts and whether the Government needs a plan

B in time for the party conferences later this month, but in the mean

time all eyes will be in the City when it meets later this week to

decide whether or not the economy needs even more energy support.

Thanks, Stephanie. Our top story tonight:

The first wave of England's frea school -- free schools - the Deputy

Prime Minister insists they're not just for the few.

And coming up, John le Carre gets a The Chancellor weighed into the row

over proposed changes to the planning rules in England. George

Osborne says they are essential if the economy is to recover. But

critics argue the countryside is at risk if the changes go ahead. Our

rural affairs correspondent Jeremy Cooke reports. They call it the

green belt, protected countryside which lies between our towns and

cities. This is the gap which separates the urban sprawl of

Birmingham and Coventry. Getting planning permission for places like

this has been hard for decades, but now campaigners say the proposed

Government changes in the planning system could mean much more

development in the countryside. At issue is how much protection we

give to areas like this. What you're looking at down there is

potentially prime development land. The campaigners say it's also

priceless green space. Here, plans for a 220-berth marina complex were

previously rejected but are now being reconsidered under appeal.

The Government says it wants to simplify planning rules reducing a

thousand pages of regulations down to just 52, and crucially, they say

the default answer to planning applications should be yes unless

there are strong reasons to reject them.

The developer owns this field, two fields to the right... It's a

change in emphasis, and for some, the alarm bells are ringing.

proposed planning guidelines, as far as I have seen them, do provide

some protection for the green belt. One's concern is that'll gradually

be eroded, and I don't know how strong those - that protection will

actually be. Whether sites like this can be developed in the future

will depend on the new-look planning rules. The Government

insists there will be no erosion of the protection of green belt,

National Parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty, but

those who support more development are encouraged by the changes being

proposed. This changes the balance to make it more positive and will

help developers in certain circumstances certainly to improve

the possibility of getting consent. The Chancellor, George Osborne says

planning reforms are key to the nation's economic recovery. The

National Trust has launched an unprecedented campaign to oppose

them. The trial of former French

President Jacques Chirac on charges of illegal party funding during his

time as mayor of Paris got underway today. Mr Chirac, who claims he is

too unwell to attend court, was represented by his lawyers. If

found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in jail. Our Paris

correspondent Christian Fraser has sent this report. For 50 years, he

was a potent force not only in French politics, but on the world

stage, with adjunctlar style, Jacques Chirac was forever pushing

his point of view, the zenith of his career, a bold stance in the

war in Iraq. But today, the elder statesman was portrayed as a frail

old man with a failing memory. The lawyers who represent him and nine

other codefendants say there's no prospect of a fair trial. The most

important person in this trial is not available to come and defend

himself, and for this only reason I think this trial has no - any

(Indiscernible) The case relates to his time as Mayor of Pair fris 1977

to 1995. It's alleged he embezzled taxpayers' money, creating 21 ghost

jobs to pay alFleiss his RPR Party. The charge carries a possible

sentence of ten years or a fine of 150,000 euros, �130,000.

The medical report that is being submitted is signed by an eminent

neurologist. It concludes he's suffering from a condition that

could be linked to Alzheimer's. It affects the speech. There can be

bouts of memory loss. The sufferer is often unaware there is even a

problem. Friends say the man who once spoke in such eloquent French

now forgets which party he's from, but have the people forgotten what

he's accused of and how tirelessly he fought to evade this

prosecution? He's too old and so sick, he's in the past. So if two

months ago he sold a book with his memories, why he couldn't answer to

questions? He lost his memory in two weeks? Ahh! And yet in spite of

many rear-guard actions to avoid court, Jacques vauk is the first --

Jacques Chirac is the French head of state to face these charges

since the end of the Second World War, historic, but not as historic

as the man they dubbed the untouchable finally appeared in the

dock. We've all heard the expression

"like painting the Forth Bridge" -- coined to describe a never-ending

job - one which takes so long that by the time you have finished it,

it is time to start again. The painting of the Forth Bridge is

finally about to come to an end. Our Scotland correspondent Glenn

Campbell is there. Standing on top of this bridge

several hundred feet up you get a sense of its scale. No wonder it's

taken nearly a quarter of a million litres of paint, but the work is

almost done. This awe-inspiring feat of

engineering is being restored to its full Victorian glory. It's

taken hundreds of men ten years to remove and replace its famous red

coat. This is a substance we use to blast off the old coating system,

taking the metal back to a clean finish. You can imagine the damage

it would do to somebody if they come in contact with it. Once flaky

paint and corrosion is stripped away, fresh coats are applied. It's

heavy-duty paint originally developed for oil rigs. It takes

three years Did the application is a world away from traditional

techniques. In the past, Forth bridge painters couldn't afford to

put a foot wrong. A bucket and a brush - that's how it was done, a

big round brush, a big bucket you had to carry wherever you went.

There was no safety belts than these days. The current paint job

should keep this mile-and-a-half- long bridge rust free for longer.

You have to make sure the bridge is in historic condition. Pretty

scabby. Pretty scabby, but structurally sound. The paint has a

guarantee for 55 years, so for the first time in this bridge's history

you won't need to paint it. So the job that never ends is almost

complete. Well, the last painters are due off in three months' time,

then, George, I guess we'll all be looking for a new expression for

those jobs that go on and on and on. Thank you very much.

The latest version of the the classic thriller Tinker Tailor

Soldier Spy has it's world premier today. This time the iconic George

Smiley is played by Gary Oldman. Can his performance match that of

Sir Alec Guiness? Our arts editor reports.

There is a double agent at the heart of the British intelligence

service. Enter George Smiley, the sharpest tool in the MI6 box of

tricks. His main weapons are perception and precision. I want to

talk about loyalty, Toby. What did you make of it, Jim? Gary Oldman is

playing the enigmatic spook in the film adaptation of John le Carre's

book Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. It's a role Alec Guinness famously

took in this 1979 television series. How does a new George Smiley

differ? I think it's a little sexier, a little crueler. There is

a sort of - a bit of a sadistic side to George that we've brought

to the fore and I think the sort of - the disenchantment - he's a sort

of disenchanted romantic, the melancholy. The film boasts a role

call of top British acting talent. But the director is Swedish. Tomas

Alfredson made his name with this 2008 vampire movie, Let the Right

One In. He's brought the same school style to 1970s London.

came to England the first time in 1972, as I remember it, and London

was quite different from what it is now, and I have very strong images

and memories from that period, and since it's a very analogue world

compared to today. This film is not your typical modern thriller. There

is none of the fast cutting and nonstop action you get served up in

a Bond or Bourne franchise, it's much more like HBO's The Wire or

The Killing. This movie is very, VERY slow. It is very slow, but

it's intellectually compelling, I think. Each tiny detail is a layer

upon a layer, so it's a thriller of the mind. Early reviews have been

favorable. Could it be a British spy will follow in the footsteps of

a British King taking up an Oscar Not exactly a thriller, although it

will be quite exciting for weather geeks like me but for most

depressing as the last vestiges of summer get blown away. We have a

frontal system coming in from the west right now, so turning wet and

windy into the evening and night, particularly heavy in western area,

could see over an inch of rain. By the end of the night, gusts up to

50mph in the English Channel. Soggy journey to work for much of England.

Things will improve for most later in the day. We could see disruption

to ferry crossings across the English Channel. The wet weather

across the south accompanied by a blustery winds but things soon

improve. In fact, as we go through the morning, the worst rain will be

clearing from Wales. Something drier and brighter emerging in

western areas. Sunshine, if you're lucky, across Northern Ireland.

Blustery showers will be blowing in on that keen old wind. Some clumps

of pretty heavy rain across Western Scotland first up, but at least

most of us can look forward to some improvement in conditions into the

afternoon. The last of the rain clearing from the south-east, so

for the cricket at the Rose Bowl after a wet start, hopefully play

later in the day. The A1 en route east of the Pennines will be badly

affected by the wind. It's going to be cool wherever you are - 16C-18C

is typical I am afraid. The wind is blowing on Wednesday, blowing in a