26/03/2014 BBC Oxford News

is getting under way over on BBC Two in a moment with analysis of that

debate between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage.

Good evening. Around 150 schools in our region have been affectdd by

today's teachers strike. Thd action's part of a long`running

dispute about pay, pensions and workload. Hundreds of teachdrs have

taken part in a march and r`lly in Oxford. The strike was calldd by the

National Union of Teachers. A defiant march to the centre of

Oxford. Teachers and supporters hoped to send a clear message to

Education Secretary Michael Gove. One Buckinghamshire teacher taking

part told me he was quitting the profession. The workload was simply

too much. Teaching is no longer the journey of discovery that it should

be. It is now just a pressure cooker for pupils and teachers alike.

That's not the environment H want my children to grow into. Nearly 1 0

schools have been closed or partially shut by the action in

Oxfordshire alone. A large `nd loud turnout here, but in a statdment

today, the Department for Education told us it is disappointed `t the

action to strike saying it damages the chances of children's

education, and damages the reputation of the profession. What

we want is a compromise. We want government to sit down and talk with

us properly, and that is not what they are doing. There have been

weekly talks, but Michael Gove has not attended any of them. Wd want a

proper dialogue to resolve this issue. The feeling on the streets

has been mixed. Closed schools have caused disruption for parents. I

don't think it is fair that they chose parents when they want to take

them out of school for a dax, but then it's OK when they want to go on

strike. They caused so much inconvenience, child care is

expensive as it is. Teachers here in this they will continue thehr fight.

They say it will be for a bdtter future in education.

Crossrail is to be extended to renting. It will mean hundrdds of

extra rush`hour seats. A formal announcement is expected tolorrow.

The new rating station and the depot nearby were designed with Crossrail

in mind. The decision to terminate services further east at Mahdenhead

was taken years ago to reduce costs. Now, the entire route is behng

electrified anyway, so the lain financial obstacle has been removed.

I understand that a decision will be announced tomorrow morning. For

Reading it will mean two tr`ins an hour into the heart of London, using

a new tunnel to the city. Twyford will also get direct servicds. With

nine carriages each, they whll add thousands of extra seats a day.

There would still be to First Great Western local trains and hotr.

Together, a transformation of services. But, Crossrail will take

50 minute to reach London, compared with 25 minutes on these new

high`speed trains. And, there are concerns about comfort levels. For

example, no toilets, no catdring, but for most passengers, thd

benefits of this decision are considerable. For the railw`y, the

costs are marginal. Redundancy letters have been

received at the homes of hundreds of Honda workers based in Swindon.

It was announced yesterday that 500 jobs are to go at the plant. Honda

blames continuing poor sales in Europe for its decision.

One of the last of the Bletchley Park code breakers has died. Jerry

Roberts was 93. The work of the codebreakers, who interceptdd Nazi

messages, is said to have shortened the Second World War by at least two

years. Managers of a bar in Oxford say

crime, including theft, has dropped there since they started kedping

identity records of its customers. An electric scanner at Thirst Bar

checks if ID cards are legitimate. It also can stop underage drinkers

getting in. Privacy campaigners say nightclubs shouldn't have the right

to retain information about guests, but police disagree.

The information taken is wh`t they show to a member of door st`ff

anyway. There is nothing th`t isn't in the public domain alreadx there

could be found on the Internet. The people that may be concerned about

having their details taken lay not be the people that the management

here want on the premises in the first place.

There are claims students who want to work in motorsport are ddciding

not to study in Oxford becatse of changes to visa rules. To rdmain in

the country after they gradtate students from outside the ET the

need to be sponsored by a btsiness. The government says it's to limit

immigration and stop bogus applications. Peter Cooke rdports.

Like hundreds of others, Gabriel Elias was attracted to the Thames

Valley because of its rich motorsport heritage. But thd Oxford

Brookes student will have to return to America unless he can find an

employer willing to sponsor him I work it to benefit the motorsport

engineering. Obviously we are here to benefit the universities as

well, so we have a specific purpose coming here. Since 2012, anx non`EU

graduate who wants to stay has to find a job which pays a minhmum of

?20,000. Even then, businesses must fund the visa of that emploxee. The

way the rules are set out, the Visa is constructed in such a wax that it

should potentially allow us to stay, but we are finding that bushnesses

are being put off from hiring us based on the fact that they do need

to apply for those visas. It is easier to hire someone from the UK.

The government says it annotnced the changes as part of its efforts to

tackle migration and bogus applications but many peopld say it

is deterring genuine and talented students. Our region, known as

Motorsport Valley, boasts sdven F1 teams. There are more than 3,00

companies associated with the sport, employing some 40,000 peopld,

including 80% of the world's high`performance engineers. The

industry produces an estimated turnover of ?6 billion. But, with

their finishing line in sight, some of these students face misshng out

on joining that illustrious group. Alexis will have news of wh`t the

weather has in store. That's in just a moment. That's it from us. Good

night. Good evening. Rain or showers during

the course of the night, and the risk of ice on untreated surfaces.

The showers will continue through the night. Mist and fog may develop

and there will be patchy frost first thing tomorrow morning. Temperatures

tomorrow will reach 910 Celsius during the afternoon. We will see

some sunshine, but also one or two showers, which could be heavy with

hail or thunder at times. A brisk easterly wind will take the edge off

temptress. Into the weekend, temperatures are on the up. Above

the seasonal average. blowing. On the outlook, it is

warming up towards the weekend. Here's Nick Miller with more.

Some of the many faces of spring weather showed themselves today Sun

in Scotland, snow in the showers that moved in across England. Hail

as well. Adrian took this picture from Essex and the chilly feel stays

with us for the rest of the week along with further showers. If you

don't like this, wait for this! Temperatures heading up at the

weekend. To achieve that, we need to change the weather pattern which is

tailored towards a cold wind coming in from the North Sea and low

pressure giving us showers. Cold enough for the rest of the night for

the showers to fall as snow on the Pennines and even to relatively low

levels, there could