:00:04. > :00:10.New evidence that Merseyside Police blamed Liverpool fans for the
:00:10. > :00:20.Hillsborough disaster. 96 people died in the tragedy 23 years ago.
:00:20. > :00:23.Leaked documents reveal the police wrongly blamed drunken fans. It is
:00:23. > :00:28.absolute nonsense. It is the same old story that Liverpool fans were
:00:28. > :00:32.drunker. I was neither drank nor without a ticket, and thousands of
:00:32. > :00:34.Liverpool supporters were not. -- drunk.
:00:34. > :00:38.Also tonight: The Belgian schoolchildren enjoying
:00:38. > :00:41.the snow before the coach crash that left 22 of them dead.
:00:41. > :00:44.The not-so-thin blue line - new reforms which could see officers
:00:44. > :00:49.sacked if they're not fit enough. The PIP faulty breast scandal - now
:00:49. > :00:52.a further 7,000 women may be affected.
:00:52. > :00:57.How reading standards in English schools aren't improving and are
:00:57. > :01:07.falling behind other countries. And as Kate bullies off in the
:01:07. > :01:08.
:01:08. > :01:12.Olympic Park, children report on Coming up on Sportsday at 6:30pm,
:01:12. > :01:22.Big Buck's makes history at Cheltenham, winning the World
:01:22. > :01:32.
:01:32. > :01:35.hurdle for the 4th time, in a Good evening. Welcome to the BBC
:01:35. > :01:37.News at Six. Nearly 23 years after the
:01:37. > :01:41.Hillsborough disaster, the BBC has seen leaked documents which show
:01:41. > :01:46.that a senior Merseyside police officer claimed the tragedy was the
:01:46. > :01:48.fault of drunken fans. The officer's claim was contained in a
:01:48. > :01:53.briefing received by the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, just
:01:53. > :01:57.days after the disaster. It supports for the first time a view
:01:57. > :02:00.long held by many in Liverpool that attempts were made at the highest
:02:00. > :02:03.levels to shift the blame for the tragedy away from the police and
:02:03. > :02:07.onto the fans. Later, an official inquiry found the disaster, in
:02:07. > :02:16.which 96 people died, was caused by South Yorkshire Police's failure to
:02:16. > :02:21.control the crowd. Judith Moritz reports from Liverpool.
:02:21. > :02:24.It is almost exactly 23 years since the FA Cup semi-final at
:02:24. > :02:28.Hillsborough turned to disaster. Thousands of Liverpool fans had
:02:28. > :02:33.gone to watch their side play Nottingham Forest, but they were
:02:33. > :02:37.crammed into pens too small to hold them, and 96 people died as a
:02:37. > :02:41.result. It happened after an exit gate was opened on the orders of
:02:41. > :02:46.South Yorkshire police, and the fans surged in. The inquiry into
:02:46. > :02:49.the disaster blamed the lack of police control. But the then Prime
:02:49. > :02:54.Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who toured the ground the next day,
:02:54. > :02:56.seems to have been told another story. Radio 4's World at One
:02:56. > :03:01.programme has seen leaked government documents from the time.
:03:01. > :03:04.In one letter, Government advisers told Mrs Thatcher about comments by
:03:05. > :03:08.the then Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, Kenneth Oxford.
:03:08. > :03:11.If he is said to have believed that a key factor in causing the
:03:11. > :03:16.disaster was the fact that large numbers of Liverpool fans turned up
:03:16. > :03:22.without tickets. "This was getting lost sight of in attempts to blame
:03:22. > :03:25.the police, the football authorities, etc." It also
:03:25. > :03:29.mentioned another officer, who said he was deeply ashamed to say that
:03:29. > :03:34.it was drunken Liverpool fans who had caused this disaster, just as
:03:34. > :03:38.they cause the deaths at Heysel. Peter Carney survived the crash at
:03:39. > :03:42.Hillsborough and was upset to here about the contents of the papers.
:03:42. > :03:47.It is absolute nonsense. It is the same old story that the Liverpool
:03:47. > :03:52.fans were drunk and ticketless. I was neither drunk, nor ticketless.
:03:52. > :03:56.Thousands of Liverpool supporters were not. The people who died are
:03:56. > :04:00.commemorated here at Anfield. Their relatives and others have long
:04:00. > :04:05.campaigned for full disclosure of all information, and in 2009 the
:04:05. > :04:07.Hillsborough independent panel was created. Today's leaked Government
:04:07. > :04:12.documents form just some of thousands of papers that the panel
:04:12. > :04:15.is currently examining. Today, a spokesman said that its work was
:04:15. > :04:20.complex and difficult and they are expecting to report back in the
:04:20. > :04:25.autumn. Nicholas was 27 when he died at Hillsborough. His mother
:04:25. > :04:31.once the panel to publish the whole story. It is like a knife going
:04:31. > :04:36.into your heart and turning all the time. Because it has been such a
:04:36. > :04:43.long time for us. And every so often, these reports, information
:04:44. > :04:48.comes out, and it is not the whole truth. At Hillsborough itself, the
:04:48. > :04:53.dead are still remembered. 23 years after Britain's worst ever sporting
:04:53. > :04:57.disaster, many say that the truth is yet to be revealed.
:04:57. > :05:01.Judith Moritz is at Anfield this evening. Getting to the truth is at
:05:01. > :05:06.the heart of this. To the families think they are getting closer to
:05:06. > :05:10.discovering the truth of what really happened on that day? -- do
:05:11. > :05:15.they think? Well, since that day, there has been an independent
:05:15. > :05:18.inquiry, an inquest, judicial scrutiny and a private prosecution.
:05:18. > :05:22.Despite all of those legal steps, the families still feel they have
:05:22. > :05:26.not got the truth. They say attempts were made from very early
:05:26. > :05:31.on to shift the blame from the police to the fans, and today's
:05:31. > :05:34.papers will not have done anything to disabuse them of that notion. I
:05:34. > :05:37.know they have confidence that the panel, which is looking at every
:05:37. > :05:41.document connected to Hillsborough, is going to get closer to the truth
:05:41. > :05:46.when it reports back later in the year. And then they say they hope
:05:46. > :05:50.they will get to know what was said behind closed doors following 15th
:05:50. > :05:54.April 1989. The families of the 22 children who
:05:54. > :05:57.were killed in a coach crash in Switzerland have been to the tunnel
:05:57. > :06:01.where they died to lay flowers. Four teachers and two drivers were
:06:01. > :06:05.also killed when the coach hit a wall in the tunnel on Tuesday, as
:06:05. > :06:11.the group was on its way home after a ski trip. From Sierre, Christian
:06:12. > :06:16.Fraser reports. The last year of primary school and
:06:16. > :06:23.photos of the annual ski trip to the Alps. Incomprehensible that
:06:23. > :06:26.such a holiday could end in this way. This mountain village has been
:06:26. > :06:30.welcoming the group for 30 years. At the same hotel in which they had
:06:30. > :06:37.stayed, another Belgian party was boarding a coach today. Same
:06:37. > :06:42.company, similar age. This local mountain guide saw the children on
:06:42. > :06:45.that last fateful day of their holidays. They were clattering
:06:45. > :06:50.through the village, he said, returning from the slopes. In a
:06:50. > :06:55.small village like this one, every child feels like one of your own.
:06:55. > :06:58.It has been a brutal 24 hours for the parents. Today they left the
:06:58. > :07:02.hotel for the grim task of identifying the dead. Some of them
:07:02. > :07:05.had wanted to see the crash site where the children had died, and
:07:05. > :07:09.they were taken by the authorities to lay flowers inside the tunnel.
:07:09. > :07:16.The Belgian ambassador has been here throughout, trying to support
:07:16. > :07:20.them. You just feel the emotion. It is a terrible thing that happened,
:07:20. > :07:26.a terrible accident, and all these very young people who just died
:07:26. > :07:31.like that. What can you say? coach crashed at the end of the
:07:31. > :07:35.winding mountain road, on the first stretch of motorway, and in the
:07:35. > :07:37.first tunnel. The cause of the accident is still unknown but the
:07:37. > :07:42.investigation is focused on the driver and what is left of the
:07:42. > :07:47.vehicle. In here, the crash investigators are working through
:07:47. > :07:51.the wreckage to try to find out why the bus swerved as it did. At the
:07:51. > :07:55.moment, there are more questions than answered. There was no liquid
:07:55. > :07:59.on the road, no ice, no other vehicle involved, the bus was new.
:07:59. > :08:05.Was it the driver who suffered a catastrophic heart attack? Or was
:08:05. > :08:09.it just plain and simple driver error? The police told me they are
:08:09. > :08:13.conducting a postmortem examination today on the driver, still keeping
:08:13. > :08:20.an open mind. Although one theory is that he was handling a DVD at
:08:20. > :08:23.the time. The kind of answer that would only intensify the grief.
:08:23. > :08:27.Police officers should be made to take an annual fitness test, with a
:08:27. > :08:30.pay cut if they repeatedly fail it, according to a wide ranging review
:08:30. > :08:33.of the police service. Pay cuts for new recruits, easier and quicker
:08:33. > :08:36.promotion, and power for chief constables to make compulsory
:08:36. > :08:42.redundancies are also among more than a 120 recommendations. Here's
:08:42. > :08:47.our home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds.
:08:47. > :08:51.They call it "the job". But today's reforms are based on the idea that
:08:51. > :08:54.modern policing should no longer be regarded as a blue collar
:08:54. > :08:58.occupation and instead as a profession, on a par with medicine
:08:58. > :09:02.or the law. It is a complex environment and it requires the
:09:02. > :09:06.most intellectually able people who have the other qualities to be
:09:06. > :09:09.police officers, which are just as important - courage, maturity,
:09:09. > :09:14.judgment, self-control, the ability to assess situations and deal with
:09:14. > :09:18.people. The proposed reforms are designed to grip police officers
:09:18. > :09:23.fit for the future, literally. He wants compulsory annual fitness
:09:23. > :09:29.tests. If you fail three times, you could be docked nearly �3,000, or
:09:29. > :09:36.even fired. Some officers, like those training in public order, are
:09:36. > :09:40.already tested. They insist they are up to the job, but the Windsor
:09:40. > :09:45.report contains figures suggesting male officers in London are more
:09:45. > :09:49.likely to be overweight than the general population. The report is
:09:49. > :09:53.also trying to tackle what it calls equal pay for unequal work. New
:09:53. > :09:59.police constables would get �4,500 less than they currently do, and
:09:59. > :10:04.future pay rises would depend on performance, not time served.
:10:04. > :10:08.are not reforms. This is just another cut to the police budget.
:10:08. > :10:13.Tom Winsor took �300 million from police pay in his first report. He
:10:13. > :10:16.has come back and grabbed nearly �2 billion on this occasion.
:10:17. > :10:21.Police Federation's response to these proposals was, how much more
:10:21. > :10:24.are our members propose -- supposed to take? But Chief Police officers
:10:24. > :10:28.felt it should have gone further and tried to save more money. One
:10:28. > :10:32.of the most radical reforms is designed to attract more high-
:10:32. > :10:36.achieving graduates. 80 each year will be given a fast track to the
:10:36. > :10:41.rank of police inspector without pounding the beat. Of course, Tom
:10:41. > :10:46.Winsor wants police to do more for less in difficult times, but
:10:46. > :10:50.Britain's top officer accepts the challenge. When money is tight and
:10:50. > :10:53.we have to develop our talent and be shown to adapt to a new world, I
:10:53. > :10:57.think these are things that we must at the very least consider, and
:10:57. > :11:01.they are put into place. It will take a lot of talking and a lot of
:11:01. > :11:05.consensus-building, but I am sure that we can use these ideas and
:11:05. > :11:08.develop the police service in the future. But given that want reform
:11:08. > :11:11.today means new recruits would no longer be guaranteed protection
:11:11. > :11:19.from redundancy, it is unlikely the rank and file will be as
:11:19. > :11:22.enthusiastic about the sweeping changes.
:11:22. > :11:26.It has emerged that thousands more British women may have received
:11:26. > :11:32.potentially faulty PIP breast implants, filled with non-medical
:11:32. > :11:37.great silicon. Fergus Walsh is here. What can you tell us? Until now,
:11:37. > :11:42.the figure was 40,000 women who had these French-made PIP implants with
:11:42. > :11:45.this non-medical grade filler. All of that surgery was gone from 2001
:11:45. > :11:50.onwards. Today, the French authorities said they could not
:11:50. > :11:56.guarantee the safety of PIP implants made before 2001. That
:11:56. > :12:01.means an extra 7000 women in Britain are affected. Given that
:12:01. > :12:05.implants have a limited life span of 10 to 15 years, and these women
:12:05. > :12:08.had surgery more than a decade ago, many of them will already have had
:12:08. > :12:14.those implants replaced. The strong advice here from an independent
:12:14. > :12:17.body is that there is no need for the routine removal of PIP implants.
:12:17. > :12:22.But there is a recognition that it is causing a lot of anxiety, and
:12:22. > :12:28.the NHS has said it will remove them if, after consultation with a
:12:28. > :12:32.specialist, women still decide that is what they want.
:12:32. > :12:37.David Cameron has visited Ground Zero in New York on the last leg of
:12:37. > :12:40.his official visit to the United States. Last night, he and Barack
:12:40. > :12:48.Obama paid tribute to each other at a star studded banquet at the White
:12:48. > :12:51.House in Washington. Mark Mardell's report contains flash photography.
:12:51. > :12:55.The Prime Minister at the sight in New York where the twin towers once
:12:55. > :12:59.stood before the 9/11 attacks, a solemn moment in a trip of many
:12:59. > :13:05.moods, all of them intended to dispel any lingering doubts about
:13:05. > :13:08.the essential relationship. Earlier, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama
:13:08. > :13:11.laid on the most splendid state dinner yet for the Prime Minister
:13:12. > :13:15.and his wife, now greeted as old friends. The guest list included
:13:15. > :13:21.Hollywood glamour, with George Clooney, sports stars like Rory
:13:21. > :13:25.McIlroy, and the irrepressible entrepreneur Richard Branson. It
:13:25. > :13:29.was mostly meant to be light hearted, but there was a very
:13:29. > :13:35.personal tribute from the president, a reference to the death of the
:13:35. > :13:39.Camerons son. All of us have seen how you as a parent, along with
:13:39. > :13:43.Samantha, have shown a measure of strength that few of us will ever
:13:43. > :13:48.know. Tonight, thank you for bringing that same strength and
:13:48. > :13:52.solidarity to our partnership. guests were based in a soft purple
:13:52. > :13:55.light as they ate lemon pudding, but the most lavish part of the
:13:55. > :14:01.evening was the praise heaped on the President by David Cameron.
:14:01. > :14:06.there are three things about Barack that really stand out for me.
:14:06. > :14:13.Strength, moral authority and wisdom. In the US, Conservatives
:14:14. > :14:16.accuse Mr Obama of being weak, but this Conservative said he had given
:14:17. > :14:20.the country a new voice in the world. He has pressed the reset
:14:20. > :14:25.button on the moral authority of the entire free world. It is a
:14:25. > :14:31.pleasure to work with someone with moral strength, with clear reason
:14:31. > :14:35.and with fundamental decency in this task of renewing our great
:14:35. > :14:39.national Alliance for today and for the generations to follow. In his
:14:39. > :14:43.early days in the White House, the President got a reputation for not
:14:43. > :14:47.bothering too much about Britain. This extravagant reception is meant
:14:48. > :14:51.to made at a rest. But David Cameron has gone one further, a
:14:51. > :14:53.British Conservative going out of his way to heap praise on the
:14:54. > :15:03.President's policies and personality in a critical election
:15:03. > :15:07.Nick Robinson, who has been travelling with Mr Cameron, is that
:15:07. > :15:11.Ground Zero. Going to Ground Zero was an important part of the visit
:15:11. > :15:16.for the Prime Minister. It was very important, yes. A
:15:16. > :15:20.moving occasion for the Prime Minister. He was accompanied to
:15:20. > :15:24.this memorial at Ground Zero, a vast black hole filled an hour with
:15:24. > :15:28.rushing water, on the site where once that enormous tower, one of
:15:28. > :15:33.the Twin Towers, stirred. He was accompanied by the husband of one
:15:33. > :15:41.of the victims, a British victim from Wales. You can see the flowers
:15:42. > :15:46.that have been left there, where her name is one of 2983 names of
:15:46. > :15:54.the people who lost their lives on that day in 2001. While he was here,
:15:54. > :15:58.I ask him about the war that follows that attack, the war from
:15:58. > :16:03.Afghanistan, with more troubling news from their that the Taleban
:16:03. > :16:07.have suspended talks with the US Army -- there. I ask David Cameron
:16:07. > :16:11.what that meant to his hopes of a political solution. A I think we
:16:11. > :16:15.just have to be clear that we have a Plan in Afghanistan which is to
:16:15. > :16:20.hand over to a capable Afghan army police and government at the end of
:16:20. > :16:25.2014. We will do that without a political settlement or with a
:16:25. > :16:29.political settlement. That is up to the Taleban. Words of defiance,
:16:29. > :16:33.really, from the Prime Minister, that what ever the Taleban do,
:16:33. > :16:37.Britain, the United States, they have their eyes on the exit. They
:16:37. > :16:43.will not rush, but they know the timetable and they are determined
:16:43. > :16:47.to proceed. This trip is now coming to an end. It is striking and
:16:47. > :16:53.fitting perhaps that it and so here at Ground Zero. The roots, if you
:16:54. > :16:58.like, of the conflict of the war that the Prime Minister and the
:16:58. > :17:04.President are trying to find a way to end and end with honour.
:17:04. > :17:11.Nick Robinson, thank you. The time has just gone 6:15pm. This
:17:11. > :17:13.Copse story: -- our top story. Leaked documents suggest Merseyside
:17:14. > :17:16.Police wrongly blamed Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough disaster
:17:16. > :17:21.in which 96 people died. Coming up: The Duchess of Cambridge
:17:21. > :17:23.has taken at tour around London's Olympic Park today.
:17:23. > :17:31.The young roving reporter's guide to the Olympics for the BBC's
:17:31. > :17:36.School Report. Of Tesco UK is to resign -- the
:17:36. > :17:46.boss of years -- test the UK is to resign. And the number of people in
:17:46. > :17:46.
:17:46. > :17:49.Reading and literacy standards in primary schools in England are
:17:49. > :17:52.falling behind other countries and haven't improved in the last five
:17:52. > :17:56.years, according to the Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael
:17:56. > :17:59.Wilshaw. Last year, nearly half of children who failed to reach the
:17:59. > :18:07.required standard at primary school also then failed to get a grade C
:18:07. > :18:12.in GCSE English. Danny Savage reports.
:18:12. > :18:16.Dazed, I did not realise my position for a few moments. My chin
:18:16. > :18:21.and was resting on the floor... St Joseph's in West Yorkshire, they
:18:21. > :18:26.have a 100% pass rate when it comes to literacy. What style of writing
:18:26. > :18:29.wholly looking at? That means all of the year 6 pupils achieved the
:18:29. > :18:37.Government target for primary schools, known as Neville four. So
:18:37. > :18:45.what is the secret? It takes other children supporting, it takes adult
:18:45. > :18:49.support, including parents that volunteer to cumin, non-teaching
:18:49. > :18:53.staff -- staff at the school, boosting sessions, there is a lot
:18:53. > :18:56.already. All children in England are expected to reach a national
:18:56. > :19:03.standard of literacy by the time they leave primary school. At the
:19:03. > :19:07.moment, about one in five children fail to reach that level. That is
:19:07. > :19:11.100,000 children for not making the grade every year. And they raised
:19:11. > :19:16.concerns that standards have stalled, as there has been little
:19:16. > :19:18.change since 2007. The unions say the Government is playing fast and
:19:18. > :19:22.loose with the figures and point out that literacy levels have
:19:22. > :19:26.improved greatly over the last 20 years. One union says the
:19:26. > :19:30.Government should be a bit less critical and help them more to
:19:30. > :19:37.improve learning. But the chief schools inspector says the current
:19:37. > :19:40.situation is a problem for primary school children. They find it very
:19:40. > :19:45.difficult in secondary school. They find it very difficult to do well
:19:45. > :19:49.in examinations, to move from one Key Stage to another and progress
:19:49. > :19:53.to higher education and of course, to get a job. And employers are
:19:53. > :19:58.dismayed at the poor writing skills shown by school leavers in job
:19:58. > :20:03.applications. We get applications from people and they don't know how
:20:03. > :20:08.to spell and construct sentences in a proper way. So I would say the
:20:08. > :20:11.levels have gone down quite significantly. Today's plans apply
:20:11. > :20:15.only to England, and the literacy levels in Northern Ireland are
:20:16. > :20:20.similar. In Scotland, the result of a literacy survey will be known
:20:20. > :20:30.Sood and in Wales, there is a new five-year plan. And changes in
:20:30. > :20:34.England are already afoot. From this may, you want children -- a
:20:34. > :20:44.year one children will be tested on word sounds the two address any
:20:44. > :20:45.
:20:45. > :20:48.concerns even earlier. In Syria, it's been a year since a
:20:48. > :20:51.small protest took place in the south-eastern town of Deraa against
:20:51. > :20:54.the arrest of 15 teenage boys who had sprayed anti-government slogans
:20:54. > :20:57.on a wall. That led to a movement across the country demanding
:20:57. > :21:00.political freedom. The United Nations says more than 7,500 people
:21:00. > :21:03.have been killed in the ensuing conflict and government crackdown.
:21:03. > :21:06.Fergal Keane looks back at how the protests began in Deraa and what
:21:06. > :21:12.has happened to the town since. His report contains some distressing
:21:12. > :21:19.images. Early March 2011 and the first
:21:19. > :21:26.large protest against the Assad regime. In Deraa, people learned
:21:26. > :21:31.fear can be overcome. 18th March at Omari Mosque, the focal point of
:21:31. > :21:35.the demonstrations. Because of the secret police were chased away. --
:21:35. > :21:43.the cars. But the ecstasy of freedom was short. On the same day,
:21:43. > :21:47.the regime hit back. These sisters witnessed its brutality.
:21:47. > :21:52.TRANSLATION: One injured protesters fell to the ground and tried to
:21:52. > :22:02.escape by crawling up to safety. But they apprehended him and beat
:22:02. > :22:04.
:22:04. > :22:09.him severely with batons. I was watching all of this from my window.
:22:09. > :22:12.The Gulf's father filmed the incident. -- The Gulls. In the
:22:12. > :22:18.weeks that followed, children would be at the forefront of
:22:18. > :22:22.demonstrations. Deraa was placed at the forefront of the siege and
:22:22. > :22:29.became a symbol of resistance. This 13-year-old joined a march to try
:22:29. > :22:33.and reach the city. It was attacked. He was wounded and arrested. His
:22:33. > :22:38.uncle was present when his mutilated body was returned to the
:22:38. > :22:43.family one month later. TRANSLATION: Wedd added that his
:22:43. > :22:48.body, which was inches away from May -- when I looked at his body,
:22:48. > :22:52.which was inches away, it had been subjected to extreme treatment, I
:22:52. > :22:57.felt pain and aching in every cell. He was subjected to the most
:22:57. > :23:03.horrific torture. They had even cut off his penis. The Government
:23:03. > :23:09.denies he was tortured, but the child became an icon of the Syria's
:23:09. > :23:12.revolution. He is among hundreds of dead children. Many others are in
:23:12. > :23:16.detention or scattered to exile. Those fateful days in Deraa
:23:16. > :23:20.established a pattern that would spread across Syria of a people no
:23:20. > :23:25.longer afraid challenging the Government that would resort to
:23:25. > :23:29.ever more ruthless violence to stay in power. A year later, the news
:23:29. > :23:34.reaching the refugees from Deraa is of a city locked into permanent
:23:34. > :23:37.siege. The Welsh nationalist party Plaid
:23:37. > :23:46.Cymru has appointed its first leader from a non-Welsh speaking
:23:46. > :23:49.background. Leanne Wood won with 55% of the vote.
:23:49. > :23:54.Accepting the position, she said she would put the Welsh people
:23:54. > :23:58.first. None of us get things right first time. I don't and I won't as
:23:58. > :24:03.leader. But the one thing we have always got right and always well is
:24:03. > :24:09.that this party, our chief driver, will be the people in this land
:24:09. > :24:14.that we love. Betsan Powys is in Cardiff for us. This is quite an
:24:14. > :24:18.unexpected outcome. Leanne Wood certainly didn't start
:24:18. > :24:22.this race as the favourite and what this result tells us is that Plaid
:24:22. > :24:26.Cymru members but then down the country by ready for change. She
:24:26. > :24:33.was the candidate least like the outgoing leader Ieuan Wyn Jones.
:24:33. > :24:36.She is from that non-Welsh background, the sort of background
:24:36. > :24:40.their party members hope will help them reach the part of Wales it has
:24:40. > :24:44.not yet managed to reach their electorate. She is a staunch
:24:44. > :24:48.Republican, the only Assembly member ever to be thrown out of the
:24:48. > :24:54.Assembly chamber over the water. She called the Queen Mrs Windsor
:24:54. > :25:02.and out she was prone. Her critics say she is it -- in experienced and
:25:02. > :25:07.too much of a student protesters. She says -- talks about a real
:25:07. > :25:11.independence of Wales and taking on labour, but put her policies under
:25:11. > :25:15.scrutiny and people are afraid they will crumble. Nobody called Leanne
:25:15. > :25:23.Wood a safe pair of hands. That is what has won her the leadership.
:25:23. > :25:27.That is what other parties will now be out to exploit.
:25:27. > :25:29.Now, a school from every region of the UK has been at the Olympic Park
:25:30. > :25:35.in Stratford today and some have had the opportunity to interview
:25:35. > :25:38.Lord Coe about this summer's Games. They're just some of the thousand
:25:38. > :25:40.schools across Britain taking part in this year's BBC News School
:25:40. > :25:42.Report, giving children the opportunity to turn their
:25:42. > :25:46.classrooms into newsrooms. Reeta Chakrabarti reports.
:25:46. > :25:49.The venue, the handball arena in the Olympic Park. It was a chance
:25:49. > :25:53.for a lucky group of selected children to try out their
:25:53. > :26:00.interviewing skills. I wanted to deliver it with real
:26:00. > :26:03.gusto. The interviewee, the chair of the
:26:03. > :26:09.Organising Committee, Lord Coe. A chance to grill board: the big
:26:09. > :26:12.story of the year is every budding journalist's dream -- Lord Coe.
:26:12. > :26:17.Questions ranged from Whitemoor children have not been allocated a
:26:17. > :26:22.Olympic tickets to wide certain sports are not included. How come
:26:22. > :26:28.that Paul is not an Olympic sport? That is a question I get from my
:26:28. > :26:31.daughter's quite a lot. Today is the culmination of weeks and
:26:31. > :26:40.research -- of research and reporting by tens of thousands of
:26:40. > :26:45.children. I play all kinds of sport with
:26:45. > :26:53.Charlie and I usually don't use a wheelchair, but when I play with
:26:53. > :26:58.him, I do. I am going to interview Jessica Ennis. We are trying to
:26:58. > :27:02.find out what it means to be a great British Roller. We will be
:27:02. > :27:06.reporting for Look East... Back at the Olympic Park, children were
:27:06. > :27:11.perfecting their pieces to camera, while inside, the Duchess of
:27:11. > :27:14.Cambridge was showing off her skills on the hockey pitch. The
:27:14. > :27:21.former schoolgirl captain was there to give the British Women's team a
:27:21. > :27:24.boost. From a Royal Athlete to a real athlete, the chance to
:27:24. > :27:27.interview a 2012 hope for. And for the children to show they have made
:27:27. > :27:32.the most of this golden opportunity. -- hopeful.
:27:32. > :27:36.Let's take a look at the weather now. Here's John Hammond.
:27:36. > :27:39.You saw it was sunny in Stratford, You saw it was sunny in Stratford,
:27:39. > :27:43.but look at this. Across parts of the Midlands and East Wales, it was
:27:43. > :27:48.cold and dull, with temperatures just four or five degrees. What a
:27:48. > :27:54.contrast with conditions across parts of East Anglia and the south-
:27:54. > :27:57.east where temperatures soared in the sunshine. It has been a day of
:27:57. > :28:00.contrast, and a week of contrast, but things will even themselves out
:28:00. > :28:05.to some extent through this evening with cloud pushing them from the
:28:05. > :28:10.West. One or two parties of fog across the south-east of England,
:28:10. > :28:14.but not the same as last night. Rain turning up across parts of
:28:14. > :28:17.Northern Ireland and Scotland, some of it quite heavy. That will
:28:17. > :28:22.continue through the day for Northern Ireland and Scotland. Most
:28:22. > :28:25.of England and Wales will start overcast but mostly dry. Some
:28:25. > :28:29.brighter spells developing across central and eastern areas but not
:28:29. > :28:34.the sunshine we saw across the South East Today. Across western
:28:34. > :28:40.part, by 3pm, a fair bit of cloud as we rolled down towards the south
:28:40. > :28:44.coast. Wales is rather dull, parts of the Midlands and East Anglia
:28:44. > :28:47.will see the best of the sunshine. Patchy rain pushing into Cumbria
:28:47. > :28:52.but moving out of parts of Scotland, so some late bright as for the
:28:52. > :28:55.north-west of Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland. Saturday, again,
:28:55. > :28:59.the best of the sunshine will be across Northern Ireland and
:28:59. > :29:03.Scotland, bright but chilly. England and Wales, a change in the
:29:03. > :29:08.weather, lots of cloud and showery bursts of rain and quite cool when
:29:08. > :29:11.they come along. Sunday, the southern half of the UK will
:29:11. > :29:15.continue to see further outbreaks of showery brain gradually easing