:00:04. > :00:07.Welcome to South East Today, I'm Rob Smith. And I'm Natalie Graham.
:00:07. > :00:17.Tonight's top stories... The day they downed tools - public
:00:17. > :00:17.
:00:17. > :00:22.sector workers have marched and picketed across the South East.
:00:22. > :00:24.When I say General, due say strike! Teachers joined the day of action -
:00:24. > :00:27.shutting nearly four hundred schools in Kent, Sussex and Surrey.
:00:27. > :00:31.We'll be hearing from our reporters in Maidstone and Brighton and from
:00:31. > :00:34.a local MP who offered to spend the day helping out in a school.
:00:34. > :00:39.A threat to Dover's future - the stark warning from P and O ferries
:00:39. > :00:42.about plans to privatise the port. Also in tonight's programme...
:00:42. > :00:46.Remembering the Titanic - an exhibition in Chatham recalls the
:00:46. > :00:48.triumph and the tragedy of the most famous liner of them all.
:00:48. > :00:51.Whitstable's celebrated oysterbeds captured by Kent's most celebrated
:00:51. > :00:56.artist - a Turner Watercolour returns to the town ahead of its
:00:56. > :01:06.auction. And bearing up - why this honey
:01:06. > :01:13.
:01:13. > :01:15.loving sun bear has moved to sandwich.
:01:15. > :01:18.Good evening. Thousands of protestors have taken
:01:18. > :01:22.to the streets across the South East today trying to persuade the
:01:22. > :01:24.government to change course over pension reform. One of the biggest
:01:24. > :01:28.demonstrations was in Sussex, where it's estimated more than 3,000
:01:28. > :01:31.people joined a rally in Brighton. Teachers and lecturers were joined
:01:31. > :01:34.by other public sector workers including the PCSU - the Public and
:01:34. > :01:44.Commercial Services Union, responsible for immigration at our
:01:44. > :01:46.
:01:47. > :01:50.ports. Our political editor Louise Stewart reports.
:01:50. > :01:56.In Sussex it is estimated as many as 3,000 people took to the streets
:01:56. > :01:59.to protest against pension reforms. Many were teachers and other public
:01:59. > :02:06.sector workers affected by plans to increase contributions and reduce
:02:06. > :02:10.pension payouts. I think that turnout has been fantastic. The
:02:10. > :02:15.response from the public has been heartening. I have been on many of
:02:15. > :02:18.the picket lines this morning. So many people expressing support for
:02:18. > :02:24.the action today. People recognise that people are not doing this
:02:24. > :02:29.slightly but as a genuine reason. At have got no sympathy for them,
:02:29. > :02:32.the reason being, there's a lot of people who would only be too glad
:02:32. > :02:37.to have a job. They are trying to bring in changes too quickly and
:02:37. > :02:47.they are not being fair. It is affecting a lot of people. There's
:02:47. > :02:49.
:02:49. > :02:55.no money. Times have changed. I'm on a fixed income, I am hit as well.
:02:55. > :03:04.Others taking part included teachers in Hastings. When I see
:03:04. > :03:12.general, you say strike! Us were in Kent, hundred Stroud a rally in
:03:12. > :03:16.Chatham. Customs staff walked out in Folkestone. As did immigration
:03:16. > :03:21.officers in Dover. Passengers there were warned they could face delays
:03:21. > :03:26.as security checks were made. In the end there was little disruption.
:03:26. > :03:30.Wendover, came back, no problem. Those taking part thought they had
:03:30. > :03:35.no alternative. I will have to pay an extra �100 per month, work
:03:35. > :03:41.longer, and I will receive less at the end of it. In my opinion it is
:03:41. > :03:45.a no-brainer. We went to school during the snow, stayed in school
:03:46. > :03:51.premises because we are dedicated and there comes a point when you
:03:51. > :03:57.have to protect your own interests. What do we want? Decent pensions.
:03:57. > :04:01.When do we want them? Now! Here, there was a rally outside County
:04:01. > :04:05.Hall. The civil service union has warned this could just be the
:04:05. > :04:09.beginning of an autumn of discontent. We are determined on
:04:09. > :04:12.this. Other public sector unions are prepared to stand by us and if
:04:12. > :04:18.the government has. Start talking properly and meaningfully, I am
:04:18. > :04:22.afraid this could be the first of many. Not all unions have supported
:04:22. > :04:26.this. Some senior union figures view it as a mistake and say going
:04:26. > :04:30.on strike while negotiations are still going on plays into the
:04:30. > :04:33.government's hands. So what has been the impact on
:04:33. > :04:36.individuals of today's action? Our reporter John Young is at St Paul's
:04:36. > :04:42.Primary school in Brighton. John - school closures have been the most
:04:42. > :04:52.obvious effect of the industrial action. Absolutely. This is one of
:04:52. > :04:53.
:04:53. > :04:58.64 schools in Brighton. One of the organisers of the demonstrate an --
:04:58. > :05:01.demonstration described it as wonderful news that more than half
:05:01. > :05:08.of the schools in Brighton were on strike. But everybody agreed, we
:05:08. > :05:12.spent the day with three people who were caught up in it to find out.
:05:12. > :05:15.An unusually silent site for a weekday afternoon in June but
:05:15. > :05:20.repeated in enough places across the South East this afternoon to
:05:20. > :05:24.make an impact. At Tonbridge, we heard what is meant for a mother of
:05:24. > :05:31.four with a job to go to. Tracey had to get her mother involved the
:05:31. > :05:39.day. She didn't have much choice. had to ask my mum to look after my
:05:39. > :05:44.kids so I can go to work. I cannot lose a day's money. In Paddock Wood,
:05:44. > :05:50.no such problems for parents or grandparents. It was business as
:05:50. > :05:54.usual. Sportsday was schedule and went ahead. Diplomacy was required
:05:54. > :05:57.from head teacher. It is the age individual's decision as to whether
:05:57. > :06:01.they strike. Some people say they agree with them and some people
:06:01. > :06:05.said they would like to come into work and work with the children.
:06:05. > :06:10.Other members have said, I am not sure what this means at the moment,
:06:10. > :06:12.let's wait for more detail and then maybe I will strike later on.
:06:12. > :06:19.Brighton and Hove, a newly qualified teacher on strike and
:06:19. > :06:22.proud of it. A man that brought her son and daughter with her today. We
:06:22. > :06:26.met up in the local park to talk about it. What would she say to
:06:26. > :06:30.people who had to juggle childcare? If I understand it has been
:06:30. > :06:35.inconvenient. We are sorry about that. I have children of my own and
:06:35. > :06:40.had to have them with me. It is one day and hopefully it will not come
:06:40. > :06:43.to any more. We would be in work houses if we did not have the
:06:43. > :06:47.occasional strike. Some of them have not been the right thing to do
:06:48. > :06:51.but this one was. When I was brought casting at lunchtime I was
:06:51. > :06:54.able to say it had passed off peacefully but this evening, Sussex
:06:54. > :06:59.Police announced that four people were arrested after a breakaway
:06:59. > :07:05.demonstration got under way in the middle of town. 25 people were Obst
:07:05. > :07:10.acting -- abstracting staff at shops and banks and some staff were
:07:10. > :07:14.assaulted. Organisers will say that this has to be an effective
:07:14. > :07:16.demonstration. In the furious debate leading up to
:07:16. > :07:19.these strikes, it's the teachers' industrial action that's received
:07:19. > :07:22.the most attention. But just how much disruption did they cause? In
:07:22. > :07:26.Kent, 201 schools - just over a third of the total number - were
:07:26. > :07:30.fully or partially closed. It's the same proportion in Medway, with 37
:07:30. > :07:34.schools shut or partially shut. The figure's higher in East Sussex
:07:34. > :07:37.where just over half - 101 schools - were affected. And 46 schools
:07:37. > :07:40.were affected in Brighton and Hove - 64% Winning the public's support
:07:40. > :07:49.over the strikes has been key in the battle between the unions and
:07:49. > :07:52.the government. Four per we always regret strike
:07:52. > :07:56.action. I came into education to make a difference for the next
:07:56. > :08:02.generation. We never take strike action lightly. We do it with a
:08:02. > :08:07.heavy heart but a clear head. It we are fighting for our dignity and
:08:07. > :08:10.security in retirement. Winning public support has been key. Both
:08:10. > :08:13.sides want to claim public backing to use as a bargaining chip in
:08:13. > :08:16.negotiations. The latest polls show public opinion is split. A YouGov
:08:16. > :08:18.poll found almost half the public are against the government's
:08:18. > :08:26.proposed changes to public sector pensions, compared to 37% who
:08:26. > :08:33.support them. Yet, there are more people against the strikes than in
:08:33. > :08:35.favour of them - 40% in favour with just under half against. And the
:08:35. > :08:45.level of support was roughly the same among parents of school-age
:08:45. > :08:46.
:08:46. > :08:50.children, with 39% supporting the strikes and half opposed to them.
:08:50. > :08:53.The strikes will cause massive disruption to learning. Can the
:08:53. > :09:00.Secretary of State advise how the people with a series you Teggart
:09:00. > :09:09.like myself and other colleagues can help schools stay open on
:09:09. > :09:12.Thursday? Well we're joined now from
:09:12. > :09:15.Westminster by Tracey Crouch, the MP for Gillingham. You didn't spend
:09:15. > :09:18.the day working in a school because none of them took up your offer.
:09:18. > :09:21.Are you a bit embarrassed that no schools took you up?
:09:21. > :09:25.On the contrary. I was delighted to offer my services and I am pleased
:09:25. > :09:32.as they might offer was head -- appreciated but they were either
:09:32. > :09:37.closed valley, or had schools covered. It is naive to suggest
:09:37. > :09:41.parents should go into classrooms? I was not suggesting that parents
:09:41. > :09:47.or indeed people like myself should be teaching classes but actually,
:09:47. > :09:53.there is a great deal that people can offer in schools. I would have
:09:53. > :09:56.been delighted to go into school today. Because of the good work of
:09:56. > :10:02.teachers that have not gone on strike and the heads the who have
:10:02. > :10:05.managed it, it met my services were not required. As we heard, huge
:10:05. > :10:10.proportions of schools were shut and thousands of people take part
:10:10. > :10:16.in strike action. A bad day for government? I think two-thirds of
:10:16. > :10:20.schools were either open or partially open. I think that it is
:10:20. > :10:24.rather a disgraceful and certainly this tasteful for unions to claim
:10:24. > :10:28.success for disrupting a child's learning when actually, we should
:10:28. > :10:31.be paying tribute to the teachers that have continued to keep these
:10:31. > :10:34.schools of one. Well our political editor is in
:10:34. > :10:37.Maidstone now, where protests have been taking place against the cuts.
:10:37. > :10:47.Louise, plenty of workers out on strike today, but just how
:10:47. > :10:51.significant has this day of action been? The most severe disruption
:10:51. > :10:58.was in skills across the region. Elsewhere, predicted disruption,
:10:58. > :11:01.places like that we, Dover, caught and Jobcentres, did not materialise.
:11:01. > :11:04.It was about a show of strength. The government is the majority of
:11:04. > :11:10.public sector workers did not take part in the strike and
:11:10. > :11:13.interestingly, then Labour leader - - the Labour leader, elected with
:11:13. > :11:16.the backing of unions, say it was wrong to strike at a time when
:11:16. > :11:19.talks were ongoing. You've been telling us what you
:11:19. > :11:24.think of today's strike action. Rachael Claire Kinnear says: Why
:11:24. > :11:27.can they not strike on a teacher training day? I'm a single working
:11:27. > :11:32.parent of three - all of which are off school today. I'm now �45 out
:11:32. > :11:35.of pocket for extra childcare costs. Sara Gregory disagrees. She says: I
:11:35. > :11:38.believe it is actually bad for our children's education to expect
:11:38. > :11:41.teachers to work for as long as the gevernment are saying they should.
:11:41. > :11:45.It is a job that requires enthusiasm and energy and passion,
:11:45. > :11:49.and people cannot keep that up in such a stressful job indefinitely.
:11:49. > :11:52.Adrian Leader says: MPs have a wage plus expenses plus allowances...
:11:52. > :11:55.MPs should live on a single wage like most other employees, then
:11:55. > :12:05.they might understand what other workers have and how far their
:12:05. > :12:10.
:12:10. > :12:13.money will go. Can keep your comments coming.
:12:14. > :12:17.Email us or leave a comment on our Facebook page and we'll read some
:12:17. > :12:20.of your messages at the end of the programme.
:12:20. > :12:23.In a moment... A quarter of a million golf fans
:12:23. > :12:29.are about to descend on east Kent, but will they bring disruption, or
:12:29. > :12:32.a boom? Dover's biggest ferry operator, P&O,
:12:32. > :12:35.is tonight warning that the future of the cross-Channel industry, and
:12:35. > :12:42.the thousands of jobs that go with it, are at risk, if port
:12:43. > :12:50.privatisation plans go ahead. Simon Jones is in Dover for us now, Simon
:12:50. > :12:54.- some strong words from P&O? P&O have written this letter to the
:12:54. > :12:57.government. It says, the ferry industry is an Anneke -- in an
:12:57. > :13:02.extremely fragile state and it needs to know what privatisation
:13:02. > :13:07.might mean for the company. It says the Harbour Board, which wants to
:13:07. > :13:13.privatise the port, will not enter into any meaningful discussions. In
:13:13. > :13:18.a letter written by Keith Chief Executive Helen people, it says the
:13:18. > :13:23.management team has presided over a significant deterioration. It goes
:13:23. > :13:32.on, Dover Harbour Board is abusing its dominant position and this
:13:32. > :13:39.situation will be exacerbated after privatisation. It had -- P&O says
:13:39. > :13:43.it has looked at an alternative plan, the port run by people, an
:13:43. > :13:50.idea. Four -- brought forward by the local MP, which it finds
:13:50. > :13:52.persuasive. I do not think anyone wants a war of words. We have the
:13:53. > :13:58.Harbour Bar wanting to see good poured off and everybody else is
:13:58. > :14:03.opposed to that. -- wanting to sell the poured off. No one wants
:14:03. > :14:06.privatisation to go ahead. harbour board says it has consulted
:14:06. > :14:12.with his stakeholders including ferry companies and in
:14:12. > :14:15.consultations, it says, local people are supporting the idea of
:14:15. > :14:25.privatisation. In reality, having both sides at loggerheads cannot be
:14:25. > :14:25.
:14:25. > :14:29.healthy. Toll fees for car drivers at the
:14:29. > :14:33.Dartford Crossing are due to go up by a pound from �1.50 to �2.50 by
:14:33. > :14:36.the end of next year. For lorries, they'll be going up from �3.70 to
:14:36. > :14:38.�6. Now users of the crossing can have their say on the planned toll
:14:38. > :14:41.increases on the Department for Transport's website.
:14:41. > :14:43.A man has been jailed for eight years for killing a Polish man in
:14:43. > :14:47.Gravesend. 31-year-old Artur Koslowski carried out a sustained
:14:47. > :14:49.drunken attack on the 24-year-old man at a flat in South Street in
:14:49. > :14:51.December last year. Police discovered the victim's body in a
:14:51. > :14:54.pool of blood at the premises two days later.
:14:54. > :14:57.A motorcyclist who died after a collision on the A27 Polegate
:14:57. > :15:00.Bypass has been named. 31-year-old Jason Hosker from Eastbourne died
:15:00. > :15:04.in hospital after he came off his Yamaha motorbike on Tuesday evening.
:15:04. > :15:07.Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident.
:15:07. > :15:12.In just two weeks time, hundreds of thousands of golf fans will descend
:15:12. > :15:14.on Sandwich in Kent for the start of the 140th Open Championship.
:15:14. > :15:17.Despite residents' fears, there have been official assurances today
:15:17. > :15:27.that such huge numbers of visitors to the South East will bring
:15:27. > :15:31.
:15:31. > :15:35.prosperity with them - and not disruption. Neil Bell reports.
:15:35. > :15:39.And it was very much business as usual in Sandwich but in a
:15:39. > :15:43.fortnight, over 200,000 people are expected for the biggest annual
:15:43. > :15:49.sporting event staged in the UK. The years ago many locals were
:15:49. > :15:55.frustrated by road closures, but things should be better. People
:15:55. > :16:01.coming puts more pressure on the public transport arrangements but
:16:01. > :16:08.with high-speed rail transport, let's hope that this will not have
:16:08. > :16:13.an impact. Market traders believe is this could be down but they
:16:13. > :16:18.opening could be worth �80 million to be Kent economy. That is split
:16:18. > :16:24.into two things. One is direct spend and the other is profiling
:16:24. > :16:28.and reputation, which is comes about through promoting tourism.
:16:28. > :16:34.The people at And which are looking forward to the golfing invasion.
:16:34. > :16:41.am glad about it. It is good for the South East. Not certain it is
:16:41. > :16:46.as good for the shopkeepers are. is mostly traffic causing
:16:46. > :16:53.disruption. A lot of golfers do not come in at all. It is nice for sand
:16:53. > :17:01.which that we are having it. will be business as usual when it
:17:01. > :17:05.gets under way. Moguls seem to be looking forward to it. -- locals.
:17:05. > :17:10.The top story... Thousands of public sector workers have taken
:17:10. > :17:15.part in a day of strike across the South action. Teachers joined the
:17:15. > :17:18.protests against pension reforms, shutting nearly 400 schools.
:17:18. > :17:20.Also in tonight's programme... He's a fan of honey in Sandwich -
:17:20. > :17:23.but what is a sun bear doing in east Kent?
:17:23. > :17:26.And Whitstable's oyster beds immortalised by JMW Turner, and you
:17:26. > :17:36.can see his watercolour in the town for the first time in nearly 200
:17:36. > :17:42.
:17:42. > :17:46.years. The Titanic, the ocean liner which
:17:46. > :17:49.famously sank on its maiden voyage with the loss of more than 1500
:17:49. > :17:51.lives, was launched 100 years ago this year. Her tragic story is
:17:51. > :18:00.being told in an exhibition at Chatham Historic Dockyard. Robin
:18:00. > :18:04.Gibson has this special report. It is the blockbuster movie which
:18:04. > :18:14.ships many people's imaginations of the scene after the Titanic struck
:18:14. > :18:19.an iceberg. The place, pictures and artefact in these cases bring home
:18:19. > :18:24.the reality of the people who live -- actually died or somehow managed
:18:24. > :18:28.to survive one of the worst peacetime tragedies at sea. Once
:18:28. > :18:33.they work in the. They are going to walk out again with a different
:18:33. > :18:37.feeling about the Titanic. You can read about it and watch films and
:18:37. > :18:42.DVDs, but, long and see real objects and personal stories behind
:18:42. > :18:47.the items. -- come along. This is a private collection put together
:18:47. > :18:53.over many years. It is on almost permanent true enough. Surely this
:18:53. > :18:58.is one of the most poignant exhibits, the pocket watch stopped
:18:58. > :19:03.at 2:30am, the moment when the ship went down. We do not know who it
:19:03. > :19:10.belonged to. It was recovered from a body that could not be identified.
:19:10. > :19:15.There is also a Qadi, typical of their class of travel. It is a nice
:19:15. > :19:22.way of seeing it yourself, even down to a flooring. It is original
:19:22. > :19:28.as can be. It is to give people a feeling of what it would have been
:19:28. > :19:34.like. There is a reconstruction, so you can do in the creation of the
:19:34. > :19:38.scene from the movie. Some people are interested in the furniture,
:19:38. > :19:44.the fine china, personal memorabilia from the crew as well.
:19:44. > :19:54.Fact and fantasy nestle side by side. Here, the necklace worn by
:19:54. > :19:54.
:19:54. > :20:01.Kate Winslet in the film. Like a mermaid's song, the Titanic's music
:20:01. > :20:04.lures those curious to hear her story.
:20:04. > :20:07.Nearly 200 years ago, JMW Turner painted a watercolour of the oyster
:20:07. > :20:12.beds at Whitstable and for the first time since then, it's being
:20:12. > :20:14.shown in the town before it goes on sale next month. Expected to reach
:20:14. > :20:24.over �120,000 at auction it's an increasingly rare chance for
:20:24. > :20:37.
:20:37. > :20:43.collectors to pick up a work from He said the skies over found it
:20:43. > :20:47.with the loveliest in Europe. It is less than 20 miles up the coast
:20:47. > :20:52.that Turner's straight, to capture the he oyster harvest in Whitstable.
:20:52. > :21:00.The elements in the picture, the sky, the sea, just comes together
:21:00. > :21:08.and has an incredible way of being captured. The oyster beds of
:21:08. > :21:13.Whitstable will be sold alongside a watercolour of St Mary's Church in
:21:13. > :21:20.Dover. It is the I Koniks seen in Whitstable that steals the show. --
:21:20. > :21:24.I Koniks seen. It is the balance of composition, the way he treats with
:21:24. > :21:30.simple brushstrokes getting so much out of figures in the foreground,
:21:30. > :21:35.the horses pulling carts up the beach. There is hardly any effort
:21:35. > :21:40.at all and he has such dexterity. He portrays everything that is
:21:40. > :21:44.going on. Oysters have been harvested here since the Roman
:21:44. > :21:50.occupation. It is a town that has grown up around them. Painting the
:21:50. > :22:00.dredger meant harvesting under the afternoon sun, Turner captured an
:22:00. > :22:04.
:22:04. > :22:08.industry that almost 200 years later is still thriving. It is a
:22:08. > :22:13.rare chance to get hold of the painting. It has only twice been up
:22:13. > :22:17.for auction, having sat in one private collection for almost 100
:22:17. > :22:25.years. With interest from across the globe, chances are it will not
:22:25. > :22:29.stay in its place of creation for long.
:22:29. > :22:32.The future of some of the world's rarest animals could depend on a
:22:32. > :22:37.little known patch of countryside in east Kent. The latest addition
:22:37. > :22:40.to the Rare Species Conservation centre is a sun bear. These
:22:40. > :22:43.reclusive animals comes from South East Asia. They get their name from
:22:43. > :22:47.the golden bib on their chests - which it's said represents the
:22:47. > :22:56.rising sun. They're also known as the honey bear, because they use
:22:56. > :23:04.their long tongues to slurp honey from bees' nests.
:23:04. > :23:11.When it comes to finding food, this there is smarter than average. The
:23:11. > :23:18.15 month old sun bear has come from Singapore. His favourite filling in
:23:18. > :23:28.Sandwich is honey! He has been searching for honey. He knows
:23:28. > :23:33.
:23:33. > :23:38.already where it is. He knows we put it everywhere. These are proper
:23:39. > :23:45.tree climbing clause. They belong to the sun bear. In the wild, sun
:23:45. > :23:48.bears can be found in the tropical rainforest. Their plots are
:23:48. > :23:53.perfectly adapted for climbing and they have long tongues to make sure
:23:53. > :23:57.they can reach any hidden in trees. Because they look cuddly, they are
:23:57. > :24:04.under threat from poachers, who sell them into the illegal pet
:24:04. > :24:12.trade. It is hoped this sun bear will bond quickly with Charlotte to
:24:12. > :24:21.become a breeding pair. Despite event sun bears enjoy shade when
:24:22. > :24:31.the weather is hot. -- despite their name, even sun bears enjoyed
:24:32. > :24:36.
:24:36. > :24:40.It is going to be a warm again with sunny spells and it will be
:24:40. > :24:44.reasonably warm, although none were near as part of it was last weekend.
:24:44. > :24:48.-- no work. We started off with clear blue skies today. We still
:24:48. > :24:52.have one or two showers around at the moment. They will be fading
:24:53. > :25:02.away quite soon. This guys are going to be clear for most of the
:25:02. > :25:09.night, so it will be chilly. Ashby skies. There could be temperatures
:25:09. > :25:13.as low as three degrees. It is only the end of June, after all!
:25:13. > :25:17.Tomorrow, clear blue skies but again, cloud building up during the
:25:17. > :25:21.course of the day. The sun blotted out from time to time. There is the
:25:21. > :25:25.chance of the odd light shower. Most places will stay dry and
:25:25. > :25:30.continue to have sunny spells in between has patches of cloud.
:25:30. > :25:36.Temperatures not too bad at around 20 degrees in land, it could or
:25:36. > :25:41.along the coast. -- cooler. Tomorrow night will be rather
:25:41. > :25:51.different. There will be more cloud hanging around. It will prevent
:25:51. > :25:52.
:25:52. > :25:56.temperatures from falling as low as tonight. At the moment, high
:25:56. > :26:01.pressure with us. We are going to keep that for a considerable time.
:26:01. > :26:05.It will be fading in the weekend. We have to keep an eye on
:26:05. > :26:10.developments in the Atlantic. They could mean trouble for next week.
:26:10. > :26:16.At the moment, no such problems. It looks like it will be fine and dry
:26:16. > :26:21.for the foreseeable future. Patches of cloud and sunny spells and with
:26:21. > :26:31.the dry weather, bear in mind it will be high pollen and at the same
:26:31. > :26:36.time, high UV Index. The top story: Thousands of workers
:26:36. > :26:39.have taken to the street across the South East to protest against
:26:39. > :26:43.government plans to change public sector pensions.
:26:43. > :26:46.Let's go back to our political editor in Maidstone. We have had
:26:46. > :26:50.this day of action. What is going this day of action. What is going
:26:50. > :26:53.to happen next? The unions said they hope the
:26:53. > :26:58.Government will change direction and listen to them. Otherwise there
:26:58. > :27:04.are warning of further strike action and they think other unions
:27:04. > :27:08.will join them. But sides set -- realise there has to be a deal to
:27:08. > :27:14.resolve this and there is a tour schedule for Monday.
:27:14. > :27:19.We have had a lot of responses from you. Mainly against the strikes.
:27:19. > :27:22.Rebecca said her family and she believe it is not a good thing for
:27:22. > :27:25.teachers to strike. I know many single parents who have been out of
:27:25. > :27:29.pocket all day because of the action.
:27:29. > :27:32.Carol says I think public sector workers are being selfish. With so
:27:32. > :27:38.many people out of work they should think themselves lucky to have a
:27:38. > :27:42.job. Similar sentiments here, people say
:27:42. > :27:46.they do not support the strike and we have to make compromises with
:27:46. > :27:49.pensions. Gary says, my son's class was
:27:49. > :27:52.closed. We had to wait until 8 o'clock this morning to have it
:27:52. > :27:56.confirmed. The head teacher told parents if we took our son out of
:27:56. > :28:00.school for a holiday we would be fine �50 for the disruption to
:28:00. > :28:04.learning. What an can I impose on a scoop for the destruction they have
:28:04. > :28:07.cost? Please do join in on our Facebook