hello this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and sally nugent. courses axed, bigger class sizes and after—school clubs cut — a stark warning from head—teachers about the pressure on school budgets. they'll put their grievances to the education secretary at a conference today — the government says school funding is at a record high. good morning. it's friday the 10th of march. also this morning: labour accuses the government of making a "partial u—turn" as the prime minster says controversial tax rises for self—employed won't now be voted on until the autumn. she's defended the policy. think it is fair to close the gap in contribution between two people doing the same work and using the same public services. an in-depth

analysis of live music is taking place. we look at the big issues for the industry. in sport: "impossible to play any better" — that was jose mourinho's assessment of his manchester united side, as they bagged an away goal in europe. it brought london to a standstill and killed thousands — more than 60 years after the great smog, we'll find out what's being done to improve the capital's air quality today. nick has the weather. after so much loose guide yesterday, a bit of rain in northern and western parts. still mild but not as lovely as yesterday. you'll forecast for friday and your weekend weather. good morning. first, our main story. schools in england are being forced to cut gcse and a—level courses in an effort to balance the books, according to a head teachers‘ union. the association of school and college leaders has warned

budget pressures are driving up class sizes and causing them to cancel things like school trips. our education correspondent gillian hargreaves reports. peter woodman might be a head teacher but he still likes to work at the chalk face partly he enjoys is an partly because it saves money for the school. if the government sticks to the pledge is with cash flow budgets, we will be making cuts to something like 70,000 every year. peter is one of dozens of heads in south—east england who wrote to pa rents south—east england who wrote to parents informing them of the impact of cuts. in a poll of more than 1000 members almost three quarters said they had to make cuts to gcse all vocational courses. the most common subjects were design and the

allergy, performing arts, music and german. parents also have their concerns. i think really important pa rt concerns. i think really important part of education will be cut. class sizes will increase and i think they are at capacity already. sizes will increase and i think they are at capacity alreadylj sizes will increase and i think they are at capacity already. i think it isa are at capacity already. i think it is a real concern. itjust places more and more pressure on the teaching staff so it is of them having to work longer, harder to make this work. on average, had said that the largest class size was 33 pupils however official statistics showed the average class size has fallen to just 20 people and that £40 billion has been spent on schools this year. the highest cash figure ever. the labour party has accused the government of being in disarray after the prime minister said controversial tax rises for self—employed workers would not be put into legislation until the autumn, after a review of working practices is published. theresa may said

the changes to national insurance, announced in the budget, were necessary and fair but said the chancellor would listen to concerns before mps voted on the measures later this year. theresa may defended the plans to increase national insurance contributions for some self—employed workers. she said that the measures would ensure the tax system was there, narrowing the gap between what employed and self—employed people pay. the shift towards itself employment is raiding the tax base. it is making it harder to afford the public services on which working families depend. this goes some way to fix that. mps will not vote on the changes until the autumn as separate legislation is required. critics accused the prime minister ofa critics accused the prime minister of a deliberate delays said the

government can soften the proposal and stave off a potential rebellion from tory backbenchers. mrs may stood firm saying it was necessary and that time it will allow mps to consider the measures in the round. a paper detailing the full effect will be published in the summer followed by the results of a review into wider employment track this is. —— practices. the lead brexit negotiator for the european parliament says he wants to ensure that british people can retain the benefits of eu citizenship after the uk leaves the union. in an interview with the today programme, guy verhofstadt described brexit as a tragedy for both the uk and the eu and said he hoped to convince leaders to allow britons to keep a number of rights, so long as they were applied for on an individual basis. protests are taking place in seoul after south korea's highest court upheld a decision to remove

the country's president from office. these live pictures show scenes in seoul after that decision which forces park geun—hye to stand down. she was impeached over a corruption scandal involving a close friend. she will now lose her immunity against prosecution and could face charges. the decision was met by cheering in the streets from opponents of ms park, but her supporters have reacted angrily. the country must now vote to elect a new president in 60 days. britain's aid programme in libya could be harming vulnerable migrants according to a new report. the independent commission for aid impact said there was a risk that britain's support was leading to more migrants being detained and denied a right to asylum. here's our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. last year some 180,000 migrants and refugees made the perilous crossing from libya to italy. almost 5,000 died in the attempt. hundreds of thousands of others remain trapped in libya. britain's aid programme here is modest, about £9 million.

but it supports the libyan coastguard and provides humanitarian support for migrants held in detention centres. but the independent commission on aid impact, which monitors uk aid spending, has concluded that uk aid could be causing unintentional harm. the watchdog says that while saving lives at sea is vital, there is a risk that supporting the coastguard means more migrants and refugees are returned to indiscriminate and indefinite detention. and when they are in the detention centres, the commission says the refugees there are denied any chance of claiming asylum, something that is not recognised in libya, and they are also vulnerable to extortion and people trafficking by libyan officials. the international development department said it had considered the potential harm of any aid, but insisted it protected migrants' human rights and improved their conditions. it added that since may 2015, british vessels had saved more than 13,000 lives

in the mediterranean. james landale, bbc news. mp‘s are being encouraged to make a decision over the palace of westminster renovation, following concerns the building is at risk of catastrophic failure. the government's spending watchdog says the longer mps mull over different options to repair the houses of parliament, the greater chance that public money will be wasted. the splendour of the palace hides a secret, a building is decaying, crumbling stonework, ageing electrics and is best is and major renovation need to be carried out urgently renovation need to be carried out urge ntly to renovation need to be carried out urgently to avoid what some mps say it isa urgently to avoid what some mps say it is a catastrophic failure. the watchdog has been considering three watchdog has been considering three watchdog stash keeping mps and peers in the building costing £5.7 billion

and take 32 years. a partial move out taking 11 years and costing £4.4 billion or moving both houses out the palace entirely to allow six yea rs of intensive the palace entirely to allow six years of intensive repair costing £3.5 billion. get on with it. we need to make a decision. we are suggested to the work over a six year period and we need a decision made soon to work out the details, costing and schedule. mps can be house nearby in what is currently the headquarters for the department of health while others could be house here. there are now been three examinations to rescue the palace and another parliamentary committee wa nts to and another parliamentary committee wants to have its say but the longer the delay the more the likely cost to the public cost and the longer the dangers go unchecked. despite the dangers go unchecked. despite the upheaval, doing nothing, the

committee says, is not an option. it will have to decide again whether to leave or remain. more than two thousand and five hundred in england are not fit to support the heaviest lorries, a new study has found. the rac foundation discovered devon had the highest number of substandard bridges, followed by somerset and essex. councils have blamed a shortage of funds to repair them. scientists in australia say the great barrier reef has been hit by widespread bleaching of its corals for the second successive year. bleaching happens when the water temperature is too high and the coral expells the alage that lives in its tissue and the coral expells the algae that lives in its tissue and turns completely white. the first aerial survey of 2017 shows large areas of the reef have become distressed over the australian summer. it's the first time bleaching has returned within twelve months, leading to concerns over the reefs long term health. does it come back again? does it

recover? that is what they are worried about because it is repairing more often. david attenborough, thank you. no more questions please. can i ask you about grass? manchester united described the night on the cabbage patch, that is howjose mourinho described it. jose mourinho wasn't happy with the pitch in russia but his manchester united team managed to come away with a draw against fc rostov. henrik mikhitaryan gave united a valuable away goal against rostov, as the first leg finished 1—1. england's cricketers cruise in the caribbean. victory in the third one day international in barbados secures a 3—0 series whitewash. wigan warriors are top of super league after making it four wins from four this season — they beat warrington wolves 38—12.

england centre 0wen farrell should be fit for the calcutta cup match against scotland on saturday — but he left training early yesterday after injuring his leg — initially head coach eddiejones bizarrelyjoked that he had tripped over his dog! in the papers we will be speculating whether that is a shaggy dog story! do we have a picture? we have. first the weather. we need the weekend weather but we will start with the picture for the day and i am afraid it is not as sunny day and i am afraid it is not as sunny 01’ day and i am afraid it is not as sunny or blue as it yesterday. plenty of cloud around. even a bit

of rain around. the first part of the morning, substantial rain across northern scotland. elsewhere in the west damp and drizzly. misty in the hills. and throughout the lower coasts of southern england. chilly inafew coasts of southern england. chilly in a few spots and there will be some early brightness and down the eastern side of the uk but it probably will not last long. this is the more substantial area of rain pushing through northern scotland and on towards the northern isles. through the day, any worry the west could see some rain and drizzle and again plenty of cloud of with a few brea ks again plenty of cloud of with a few breaks perhaps to the north coast of northern ireland. north cornwall, devon and somerset. given any brightness, 14 degrees possible.

into the night, it will be a mild evening to come. six nations action in cardiff and we are expecting it to be dry with a few breaks in the cloud. we will overnight bring an area of rainfall across northern ireland and scotland so a spell of rain to come here, maybe some drizzle in england and wales. but a lot of dry weather to be found. temperatures still quite misty and murky. 0n temperatures still quite misty and murky. on saturday, rain pulling away from scotland and northern ireland becoming slow—moving in parts of northern england and wales. rain towards the north and west of wales into northern england. brighter skies behind and ahead, some sunshine with a mild day to come. part two of the weekend, on sunday, a couple of spells of wet

weather. a dry interlude in between. turning cooler from the west and double—figure temperatures. to sum up double—figure temperatures. to sum up the weekend, we will get to see a bit of sunshine, some spells of wet weather moving through not particularly whether and getting cooler by the end of sunday. it's 6:15 and you're watching breakfast from bbc news. the main stories this morning. headteachers in england say they are being forced to cut gcse and a—level courses to help balance school budgets. labour has accused the government of being in disarray over its budget. it's after theresa may said that controversial tax rises would not go before mps until the autumn. let's take a look at some of the main stories in this morning's newspapers. let's look at some of the front

pages first, the front page of the sun. “— pages first, the front page of the sun. —— sun. that is the lead. should we leave it there? the sun is campaigning about this, this is all about national insurance, they are starting one of their campaigns, fight van scam. an interesting front page from the times. theresa may back pedals on tax pot. not entirely sure that is exactly what she has done. we will be talking about that throughout the programme. some of the papers are suggesting there is a bit of room for manoeuvre after what philip hammond announced yesterday. not entirely clear whether that is true, it has striking picture of former prime minister tony blair. indeed. it is nearly all the front pages. the daily mail as well. tory tax retreat. they are seeing signs of some sort of the street, but it

isa of some sort of the street, but it is a bit more complicated than that. theresa may was in brussels yesterday and was asked the question again. is it a break of a promise? if you look at the 2015 and a facility says, we will not raise national insurance contributions. but in the legal process afterwards, they made it clear that after the election they would not be looking at individual employees and their national insurance contributions. this is all about the self—employed. it could be an interesting weekend, i will be talking about it a lot. i have a couple of retail stories. john lewis, bonus at its lowest level for 50 years. staff still getting 6%, but they have expected more than that over the years. john lewis as saying the reason is the pension issues, brexit, the move to online, all of those things are playing on the minds of management. pret a manger is saying that only one in 50 of theirjob applicants is from the uk. one in 50! yes, their

boss said they had a committee meeting at the house of lords yesterday, and if we leave the european union with a more restricted labour movement deal, obviously a company like that will have quite a bit of a change. and presumably they would qualify as low skilled. yes, we have heard all about keeping the high skilled labour market in the uk after leaving the eu. but we have to consider low skilled workers as well. the wonderful eddie jones, the england coach, ahead of this huge game in the 6—nation is with scotland, he has us all talking about his dog. is this a distraction? it could be. we have got a picture of annie, the dog. she has been known to run onto the training pitch before, getting off her leash. he says she is a tricky run and she is quite small, very quick, and can get under your feet. a suggestion that alan farrell had

this injury in training because of annie. he is fine, and actually this stuff could just be a shaggy dog tale. at it is lovely, isn't it? the other story i have picked out of the papers, we will talk about this later on the programme after 7:30am, england fans are motivated and spurred on by the anthem. swing low, suing chariot, come forth, carry me home. american academics are saying that actually, england fans do not know the true meaning of this song. it dates back to the 1880s when it was used by slaves in the fields, and it actually means, swing low, sweet chariot, carry me home, come ta ke sweet chariot, carry me home, come take me to heaven, because i would rather be dead end in heaven than be here toiling the fields. it is not the first time that story has been raised. we will be talking about it later this morning. it has become a divisional song. yes, for england fans it is a motivational song. it should we think about the meaning when we sing it? very briefly, i love this story in the telegraph.

favourite feeds that parents have told children. do you have any fibs that you have told your children? little white lies? yes, losing or secretly sabotaging a noisy toy. my favourite one is pretending to phone the police when a child is being naughty. have you ever done that? does it work? yes. they are under way, they on their way now. you are going outside, i due? just a little musical thing we are doing this morning, yes. there is a reason for it. there is an assessment about how much live music is being played. yes, that is going on over the next 24 hours. we will be looking at that. what are you going to be plain? everything, if you have your way. the ukelele. 6:20am is the time. in 1952, the city of london was effectively brought to a standstill, caused by air pollution. while some may remember the great smog, more than 60 years on, poor air quality is still damaging people's health and causing thousands of premature deaths every year.

as part of the bbc‘s so i can breathe series, breakfast‘s graham satchell has been looking at how things have improved and what else needs to be done. london has been brought to a halt by death smog, which has descended overnight. the great smog of 1952, dramatised in the netflix series, the crown. it was a difficult time. it was scary, it was unpleasant. and goldsmith was eight in 1952 and remained as it well. we could hardly see in front of us, and one i got to school, the handkerchief would be absolutely black. —— when i got to school. it is now for 12,000 people died in the great smog. the enemy was coal, used in factories and people's homes. what followed the

smog was the clean air act of 1956. it introduced smoke controlled areas, where only smokeless fuel could you don't. fast forward 60 yea rs could you don't. fast forward 60 years and the enemy now as nitrogen dioxide from diesel engines. so what is being done today? these are the engines that have been removed out of taxis in birmingham. the local authority in birmingham has funding to replace the diesel engines in 65 taxis. we removed 95% of to replace the diesel engines in 65 taxis. we removed 9596 of the emissions that taxis were producing. it isa emissions that taxis were producing. it is a massive reduction. but it is a small pilot project. there are hundreds of taxis in birmingham. the government's overall plan is to introduce so—called clean air zones in five cities by 2020.|j introduce so—called clean air zones in five cities by 2020. i will look at the evidence, and when the evidence comes through as to where the key areas of pollution are, we will take the action that is needed to address the need for clean—air in the city. i am afraid the government

has been hopeless. critics like client earth say that what we need todayis client earth say that what we need today is a new clean air act, and a scrappage scheme for diesel cars. we have to face diesel vehicles off the roads. it will cost a fortune. it will take time, but we have to protect people's l. if the water we we re protect people's l. if the water we were drinking is as dirty as the air were drinking is as dirty as the air we we re were drinking is as dirty as the air we were breeding an hour, we would do something about it. —— breathing in now. back in lewisham in london, anne is meeting nine—year—old louise, and amy, who is six. we called it smog, and you couldn't see. 0nly called it smog, and you couldn't see. only this far in front of your eyes. so we had to be very careful we didn't bump into anybody. we walked along the road like that. it was terrible, really. ifeel sad walked along the road like that. it was terrible, really. i feel sad for you. on days when pollution is bad, amy and alleys are kept indoors at playtime, just as anne was in 1952. sometimes we have to do stay inside

because the air is bad. because the air is bad now? amazed by anne's story, amy and louise are recreating her walk home from school in the smog. are you ok? yes. are you ok? yes. can you see anything? no. more than 60 years on, air pollution is still damaging children's than 60 years on, air pollution is still damaging child ren‘s health than 60 years on, air pollution is still damaging children's health and shortening people's lives. all this week across the bbc we've been running a series called #soicanbreathe looking at ways to cut air pollution. for more information and to watch more of the coverage visit bbc. co. uk/soicanbreathe /, so /,so| /, so i can breathe! you are right, it was difficult to see that. sorry about that. that is fine. still to come, they are great companions but

sometimes dog owners can be a bit naughty. from stealing food to chewing furniture, keeping dogs in check can be a tough job. later in the programme we will meet a mastered old trainer who is dealing with jealousy, mastered old trainer who is dealing withjealousy, intimidation, even breaking and entering. —— master dog trainer. he faces some big challenges. that is one of them. that is one very aggressive great dane. he had to dish the owner how to deal with them. i am scared of that great dane. we have a very tricky dog coming on late in the programme as well. do let us know stories of your dog's misdemeanours, trivial, hopefully not too serious. yes, fun ones. let us know in the usual ways. you are bringing your dog in later this morning? yes, my little tricky customer. i think i am the most nervous about this feature than any other thing i have ever

done. what is your dog called? sadie. if you are watching, sadie, you'd better be good. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news, i'm sonja jessup. former teachers at an east london school that's been investigated over allegations of exam malpractice say they experienced a "culture of fear and intimation." bbc london has spoken to around a dozen teachers who've given evidence about green spring academy in bethnal green. the trust says it's dealt with the allegations "robustly" and has now taken "appropriate action." but some staff say they had no choice but to leave. it became quite 0rwellian. people disappeared. they would come into work one morning and presumably they we re work one morning and presumably they were asked to leave, asked to hand their keys in, and they were escorted from the premises. this was really upsetting. 0bviously escorted from the premises. this was really upsetting. obviously it gave a climate of intimidation and fear. people were watching their backs.

the police are being accused of making "major failings" while investigating allegations of electoral fraud and malpractice during the 2014 mayoral election in tower hamlets. the winner, lutfur rahman, was forced to step down after an election court found him guilty of corrupt and illegal practices — but he's neverfaced criminal prosecution. the london assembly's police and crime committee says the met missed opportunities that could have seen charges brought. now, if you use the central line, i'm afraid there's no service between ealing broadway and marble arch and minor delays on the rest of the line, because an engineering train‘s derailed at white city. there is also no 0verground between clapham junction to wandsworth road, and minor delays on the dili line between rayners lane and 0xbridge. —— piccadilly line. here is hangar lane, traffic building on the 8406, southbound. in surrey, be a 22 katherine bypass is closed northbound between goldstone road

and croydon road because of an oil spillage. good morning. a mild start, but different yesterday. cloud building fairly early on after some brightness. the further east you are, the more chance you have of that initial brightness but you can see this cloud invading from the west and staying put for much of the day. mostly died today but the way have one or two exports of drizzle, temperatures getting up to 13 or 14 degrees celsius. —— mostly dry. quite a lot of cloud overnight, there may be some breaks developing and then we will see some fog forming. temperatures down to about nine degrees. quite a mild night tonight. tomorrow there is a fair amount of cloud around but i think many of us will have quite a bright day. southerly wind still with us, temperatures up to 16, possibly 17 celsius. we may get a touch above that. it is a different second half

to the weekend. 0n that. it is a different second half to the weekend. on sunday, quite a dank, dark day. lots of drizzle around for much of the day. certainly not finding up to get out and about for many of us. i monday it is looking much brighter and drier, but pressure as well. it becomes mild as we had three next week and it is looking like a largely dry week ahead next week. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now, though, it's back to charlie and sally. bye for now. for young people's futures. it stirs passion and pride among england rugby fans,

but do its origins as an american slave song make swing low, sweet chariot an inappropriate anthem? we'll hear the arguments before 8 o clock. if you went to a gig or heard a performance last night — you may have been part of the first ever live music census. we're looking at the issues facing the industry and inviting you to our very own festival — brea k—fest! all that still to come. but now a summary of this morning's main news: first, our main story. schools in england are being forced to cut gcse and a—level courses in an effort to balance the books, according to a head teachers‘ union. the association of school and college leaders has warned

budget pressures are driving up class sizes and causing them to cancel things like school trips. 0ur education correspondent gillian hargreaves reports. peter woodman at the welad school might be a head teacher peter woodman at the weald school might be a head teacher but he still likes to work at the chalk face, partly because he enjoys it but partly because it saves money for the school. the only reason we can survive is we are carrying forward money from last year. and if the government stick to their pledges over the next five years, with the cash flow and budgets, we will be making cuts to something like 70,000 every year, year on year. peter is one of dozens of heads in south—east england who wrote to parents yesterday informing them of the impact of cuts. in a poll of more than 1000 members of the ascl union almost three quarters said they had to make cuts to gcse or vocational courses in the past 12 months. the most common subjects to have been removed were design and technology, performing arts, music and german. parents also have their concerns. i think really important parts of education will be cut. class sizes will increase and i think they are probably at capacity, teachers‘ jobs will become even harder.

i think it is a real concern. i thyink the worry is itjust places more and more pressure i think the worry is itjust places more and more pressure on the teaching staff so actually it is them that are going to have to end up working longer, harder to make this work. on average, heads said that the largest class size was now 33 pupils however the government‘s said official statistics showed the average secondary class size has fallen over the past decade to just 20 pupils and that £40 billion has been spent on schools this year. the highest cash figure ever. gillian hargreaves, bbc news. labour has accused the government of being in disarray after the prime minister said controversial tax rises for self—employed workers would not be put into legislation until the autumn, after a review of working practices is published. theresa may said the changes to national insurance, announced in the budget, were necessary and fair but said the chancellor would listen to concerns before mps voted on the measures later this year. the shift towards self employment is

eroding the tax base. it is making it harder to afford the services on which working families depend on and this goes some way to fixing that. protests are taking place in seoul after south korea‘s highest court upheld a decision to remove the country‘s president from office. these live pictures show scenes in seoul after that decision which forces park geun—hye to stand down. she was impeached over a corruption scandal involving a close friend. she will now lose her immunity against prosecution and could face charges. the decision was met by cheering in the streets from opponents of ms park, but her supporters have reacted angrily. the country must now vote to elect a new president in 60 days. patients and doctors have called for "do not resuscitate" notices to be replaced with orders that offer a range of treatments. currently, "do not resuscitate" orders tell medical professionals not to use intensive and invasive treatments if a patient‘s heart stops beating or they stop breathing. a british medicaljournal article says a number of options should be discussed with patients instead.

mp‘s are being warned that the palace of westminster is close to a "catastrophic failure" unless they make a decision over it‘s renovation plans soon. the public accounts committee, which overlooks government spending, says the longer mps mull over the options, the greater the chance that public money will be wasted. the committee is encouraging parliament to support the cheapest option to repair the deterioration, which will cost around 3.5 billion pounds and take 6 years to complete. more than 2,500 bridges in england are not fit to support the heaviest lorries, a new study has found. the report by the rac foundation found that many of the structures have weight restrictions in place, while others have to be closely monitored. it says some have also been put in a managed decline. the cost of clearing the backlog of work on all bridges is estimated to be £3.9bn. councils say they don‘t have the funds to repair them. jose mourinho was complaining quite

a lot about the pitch but he cannot complain to match this morning? behind it it did not look too bad but according to everybody there it was quite patchy. but how about this for dedication, a 4000 mile round trip and fans made the journey. the clu b trip and fans made the journey. the club paid for their visas and given free blankets. manchester united got the draw they needed. jose mourinho said it was "impossible to play any better" after his manchester united side drew 1—1 at fc rostov in the europa league last night. mourinho wasn‘t impressed with the rough pitch but henrik mikhitaryan scored an away goal

and although the russian side equalised, mourinho said that football life was "full of experiences" and that was a new one for united. england have won the one day series against the west indies 3 nil, after victory in the third match in barbados. alex hales came back into the team, after recovering from injury, and made a hundred. joe root also scored a century, as england, made a record total for the ground. the west indies never looked likely to reach their target of 329, and were bowled out well short. england‘s 0wen farrell injured his left knee in yesterday‘s training session ahead of the six nations match against scotland on saturday. the centre departed the training field at pennyhill park. and while number 8 billy vunipola will make his first appearance in the tournament from the bench, head coach eddiejones admits farrell could be a doubt for the calcutta cup, although he made light of the incident in front of the press. he has a bad leg so he could not

finish training. i think he ran into my dog. finish training. i think he ran into . my finish training. i think he ran into g. my dog finish training. i think he ran into s finish training. i think he ran into my dog. my dog was running around and he ran into him. he will be all right. you just sit he was a doubt. yes but i think you will be all right. ben te‘o can play 12, he is an exceptional player so there is no risk for us. our players know we have to be on our best performance. we will have the string together a numberof we will have the string together a number of excellent plays and think clearly to get them to start adapting to our play. they are a very good team. well the weekend‘s six nations action begins this evening at the principality stadium in cardiff, as wales take on ireland. you can see the match live on bbc one from 7.30pm.

the big air will be making its winter debut next year. you take off a ramp and perform all sorts of somersaults while flying through the air. it sounds impressive as well. has mike bushell yet tried it? small air. i think both of you could win a medal in big hair! i definitely think you should be. when you land on one of these huge inflatable

trampolines so i am up for a challenge. and for a haircut as well. thank you very much. it is 639 a year. cuts to courses and bigger classes is the direct impact on budget pressures in schools according to a union head. the government says school funding is at the highest it has ever been. so what are the challenges? we are joined by a head teacher. good morning to you. these are really quite start claims. really very disappointing claims for anyone who has a child in education. how big a problem might they be? we do know class sizes are increasing somewhat and school budgets are not moving and school budgets are not moving and because of that teachers are

facing redundancies and if you have more students coming through and less money than you will probably end up with fewer teachers and larger class sizes. why are some subjects more at risk, perhaps languages and arts? one of the reasons arts subjects are vulnerable is because five — six years ago the government changes away it measures school performance. art subjects we re school performance. art subjects were kept out. because of that, hearts have not been given as much priority from schools although so far the numbers have stay the same. we do think that over the next 18 months this will change. do you think this might be the start of a

slow decline for those type of subjects? what we are hearing from the ground is that it is art, music, drama, particularly because they are only taught fewer hours per week, they are quite vulnerable. if we see fewer teachers and they are offered less often, there will be a decline in the number of people taking these subjects and it seems pretty likely. the survey suggests class sizes are getting higher but the data from the department of education suggests class sizes are not rising? it depends on how you cut the data. if you take over the last few years, plus sizes have risen. for a few

yea rs plus sizes have risen. for a few years in secondary we had fewer pupils than ever before but as these bump of pupils move through to secondary, this changes. for instance, the number doubled last year and because there is more pupils, if you have twice as many pupils, if you have twice as many pupils in the number of classes then twice as many parents are going to see their child in a class of over 36. what power does ahead teacher have? they have quite a lot of control over their budget and the government will say it is up to you how you decide to spend it if you area how you decide to spend it if you are a situation where pension costs, national insurance have gone up salaries need to go up to retain teachers, then you are limited with the money and it stays pretty flat

and does not reflect those expenses. most head teachers are saying they are having to cut staff. that is causing the problems. the editor from schools weeks, thank you very much indeed. you are watching brea kfast. much indeed. you are watching breakfast. that is the main story does morning: head teachers reinforced to cut a—level courses and gcse to allow for budgets. labour accuses government of being in disarray. let‘s take a moment to have a look at the weather. good sunrise in suffolk but the cloud is putting up a fight. it is not going to be as lovely as yesterday but

still on the milder side particularly in the west. 0utbreaks of rain and drizzle for parts of wales, western england, northern ireland and western scotland. misty and murky around the coasts. the eastern side of the uk, a little bit of sun trying to poke through the cloud but it will increase. western areas damp and drizzly. central areas damp and drizzly. central areas will have rain poised to move in from northern scotland. by this afternoon it will be spreading across the northern isles. after all the sunshine yesterday, cloudier story. bright outbreaks in the north coast and northern ireland, the north—east of wales. as for your temperatures, double figures for

most of us but not as lovely as it yesterday. myatt evening to come. plenty of cloud. damp and drizzly in places. i expect it to be mainly dry. for the six nations in cardiff, it should be mild. an area of of rain through the first part of saturday mainly dry for england and wales. temperatures are not going down very far. starting tomorrow morning, mild again with plenty of cloud. should clear for morning, mild again with plenty of cloud. should clearfor most morning, mild again with plenty of cloud. should clear for most of scotla nd cloud. should clear for most of scotland and northern ireland. sunny spells around east anglia. some outbreaks of rain from northern england into north and west wales. it will fill really pleasant giving the sunshine. sunday, dry and brighter spells in between. starting

to feel a little bit cooler by the end of the day. most of us into double figures. it looks like it is getting milder, but a bit mixed up. absolutely changeable on the weekend. some sunshine, some rain moving through. nothing particularly heavy. the temperatures are mostly into double figures which is not bad for this time of year. we and those spring flowers are loving it when the temperatures are like that. thank you. the first ever live music census is taking place right now in cities across the uk — think springwatch, but for music! and there is something else new happening today. it is big, and it is outside our studios. we are calling at break—fest. it will make sense in a moment. sean is outside for us. good morning, sean. yes, good morning. welcome to break—fest. it is all getting under way.

glastonbury, watch out. we spent a bit of time getting the logo right. the rain has come, the wellington syron, what more do you need for a festival? the first act this morning, little sparrow is getting under way, singing for us now. and the reason we are talking about this this morning, this is live music sensors that you mentioned. it is basically an audit of the live music industry right around the uk. universities are looking at certain cities and seeing, for 24 hours, from corel singers to open mike nights to festivals to concerts, what is going on? —— choral singers. laura gordon has been taking a look in glasgow. buskers on the streets of glasgow, passionate about their music, drawing into rest from passers—by. passionate about their music, drawing into rest from passers—bylj love it. i do it every day, it is a way to play with my friends and

enjoy life with other people. from classical to contemporary. from concert halls to deeds in pubs. —— gigs. music is part of our culture. in ourcars, at gigs. music is part of our culture. in our cars, at home, on our phones, we listen to plenty of music. but how does the live scene compare? volu nteers how does the live scene compare? volunteers in six cities across the country are attempting to find out. we are asking how many events they go to, why you might go to an event, what the reasons are behind going to an event. are people interested? i think some people are very interested. people go to a lot more live music than they realise. there are plenty of free performances to go to. but even so, british consumers spend more on go to. but even so, british consumers spend more on concert tickets than on physical records, digital downloads and streaming combined. and the organisers of this census say that even those who think

silence is golden should care about the state of the nation‘s live music. music is a huge driver, economically, within the creative industries, which are of course a big exporterfor the industries, which are of course a big exporter for the uk, industries, which are of course a big exporterfor the uk, where it punches above its weight. there is a lot of research to suggest that music is also important for our health and well—being. but for me, it is important because music is pa rt it is important because music is part of what makes us human. it is a fundamental part of being part of the human species. glasgow has a really active music scene. there are 70 live music events in the 24—hour period in the census is taking place in. but here and across the uk, the live music scene is facing challenges. some iconic locations where famous groups honed their acts have closed down, some never to reopen. some smaller, more intimate venues are onlyjust breaking even. surviving as a small venue is difficult at the moment because property prices are increasing

because of the kind of tight regulations around licensing. this attempt to measure the economic and cultural benefits of live music yea rs, census organisers cultural benefits of live music years, census organisers believe, a world first. whatever they find out, that‘s live music in all its glorious forms brings joy to many is already beyond doubt. it is bringing its glorious forms outside the studio this morning. break—fest is under way. little sparrow was playing for us in the background. gavin sharp here is a concert promoter, running one of the big venues in manchester. that's right. how difficult is it for the music industry at the moment, or is it a lwa ys industry at the moment, or is it always difficult? for small venue is

particularly it is very, very hard. there are so many fishers on us —— pressures on us. there are so many fishers on us —— pressures on us. the commitments that we have in terms of health and safety, keeping people safe, but also as the inner—city ‘s are being developed, the planners are moving in and people are coming to live in the city centre, and that is a challenge, because those people are obviously entitled to peace and quiet. 0ften obviously entitled to peace and quiet. often they put in complaints and that can be a problem. but you survive, don‘t you? we heard from all those people in glasgow, they are still there and they are still going. even though it is a difficult time, you get a stream of people like little sparrow coming through. in manchester we are very fortunate. people in manchester have always loved live music. they come out to shows, and if anything, there are more venues than there used to be. we all work together, we all have our own little niches, we have our own target audiences. we specialise

in world music and jazz, that is our thing at band on the wall. 0ther places have their own thing. we are ina places have their own thing. we are in a healthy place. people in manchester support live music, it is great. in other parts of the country it is not such a good picture. 120,000 jobs directly in the music industry across the country, £4 billion for the economy. so when the chancellor is making little tax twea ks chancellor is making little tax tweaks this week, can that have an effect? yes. the business rate is a big issue for power sector. 0ther things, the penny on the pint, we will not be putting pennies on alpines. at some point it will go up alpines. at some point it will go up a bit. all it really does is squeeze our margins. why wouldn't you protect penny on, if everybody else‘s? protect penny on, if everybody else's? i don't know... as much as anything, dealing with 9p change is anything, dealing with 9p change is a nightmare, isn‘t it? we don‘t do that. it is notjust those pressures on the licensing sector. like i say, it is maintaining health that safe,

well—run venues. like say, that is extensive these days. people are not really keen on paying the actual ticket price that it should be when they go into small music venues. so very often be model of a small music venue, the tickets are just covering the cost of the bands, and it is the bar that is making the owner the money. why is that? some people are willing to pay fortunes these days the big concerts. i don't know whether it is just something within our sector, but whenever you put your ticket prices up you see a reaction. attendances drop. so i think between the high cost of people walking in and paying for pounds 50 for a pint, even though they can buy up pint in the supermarket for £1, that is definitely a factor. —— for pounds 50p. we deal with a niche audience, we deal with people whose spot artists are very early in their

careers. they pick up on them as they are coming through and playing 100, 200 capacity venues. just before we are played out by little sparrow, are you actually able to pay your artists who are performing in your venues what you would have been able to pay them years ago? we are actually a charity. so we do go and raise funds to make sure that we pay all our artists properly. nobody really plays at band on the wall and doesn‘t get paid properly, it is one of our things. but certainly, at other venues, early in your career, ata other venues, early in your career, at a small venues, they are still going in and really playing, they are given tickets and they sell the tickets and that is what they are playing for. great, we will talk more about this this morning. we will be played out by little sparrow. # speaka sparrow. # speak a little louder, maybe even shout. # you know that i‘m proud... i want

to be with you everywhere. # i want to be with you everywhere. that is little sparrow singing there. it is worth remembering, as you look at break—fest, as we are calling it, all the great festival started small. glastonbury at one point was just two people singing with just one person point was just two people singing withjust one person playing point was just two people singing with just one person playing an instrument. it could be so much bigger next year. talking about live music, if you have got an anecdote about a live music gig that she went to wear something very special happened, let us know this morning. —— that you went to. still to come on breakfast. from counting penguins in the antarctic, to monitoring birds in your garden. we find out why scientists are calling on people to get involved in the latest research to help discover more about the natural world. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. what a lovelyjob.

good morning from bbc london news, i‘m sonja jessup. former teachers at an east london school that‘s been investigated over allegations of exam malpractice say they experienced a "culture of fear and intimation." bbc london has spoken to around a dozen teachers who‘ve given evidence about green spring academy in bethnal green. the trust says it‘s dealt with the allegations "robustly" and has now taken "appropriate action." but some staff say they had no choice but to leave. it became quite 0rwellian. people disappeared. they would come into work one morning and presumably they were asked to leave, asked to hand their keys in, and they were escorted from the premises. this was really upsetting. obviously it gave a climate of intimidation and fear. people were watching their backs. the police are being accused of making "major failings" while investigating allegations of electoral fraud and malpractice during the 2014 mayoral

election in tower hamlets. the winner, lutfur rahman, was forced to step down after an election court found him guilty of corrupt and illegal practices — but he‘s neverfaced criminal prosecution. the london assembly‘s police and crime committee says the met missed opportunities that could have seen charges brought. now, if you use the central line, i‘m afraid there‘s no service between ealing broadway and marble arch and minor delays on the rest of the line, because an engineering train‘s derailed at white city. there‘s also no 0verground between clapham junction to wandsworth road and minor delays on the piccadilly line between rayners lane and uxbridge. delays and cancellations on greater anglia trains from stratford to liverpool street. at camden, there has been an accident and camden road is partly blocked. now let‘s get a check on the weather with georgina. good morning.

a mild start, but different yesterday. cloud building fairly early on after some brightness. the further east you are, the more chance you have of that initial brightness but you can see this cloud invading from the west and staying put for much of the day. mostly dry today but we may have one or two spots of drizzle, temperatures getting up to 13 or 14 degrees celsius. quite a lot of cloud overnight, there may be some breaks developing and then we will see some fog forming. temperatures down to about nine degrees. quite a mild night tonight. tomorrow there is a fair amount of cloud around but i think many of us will have quite a bright day. southerly wind still with us, temperatures up to 16, possibly 17 celsius. we may get a touch above that. it‘s a different second half to the weekend. on sunday, quite a dank, dark day. lots of drizzle around for much of the day. certainly not fining up to get out and about for many of us. by monday it‘s looking much brighter and drier. it becomes mild as we had

through next week and it is looking like a largely dry week ahead next week. i‘m back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now, though, it‘s back to charlie and sally. bye for now. good morning. it‘s friday the 10th of march. also this morning: labour accuses the government of making a "partial u—turn" as the prime minster says controversial tax rises for self—employed won‘t now be voted on until the autumn. she‘s defended the policy. welcome to a wet brexit. in sport: "impossible to play any better" — that was jose mourinho‘s assessment of his manchester united side, as they bagged an away

goal in europe. it brought london to a standstill and killed thousands — more than 60 years after the great smog, we‘ll find out what‘s being done to improve the capital‘s air quality today. nick has the weather. it isa it is a cloud first at break first. still mild but not as lovely as a yesterday top your friday forecast annual weekend —— you will weekend whether coming up. good morning. first, our main story. schools in england are being forced to cut gcse and a—level courses in an effort to balance the books, according to a head teachers‘ union. the association of school and college leaders has warned budget pressures are driving up class sizes and causing them to cancel things like school trips.

0ur education correspondent gillian hargreaves reports. peter woodman at the weald school might be a head teacher but he still likes to work at the chalk face, partly because he enjoys it but partly because it saves money for the school. the only reason we can survive is we are carrying forward money from last year. and if the government stick to their pledges over the next five years, with the cash flow and budgets, we will be making cuts to something like 70,000 every year, year on year. peter is one of dozens of heads in south—east england who wrote to parents yesterday informing them of the impact of cuts. in a poll of more than 1000 members of the ascl union almost three quarters said they had to make cuts to gcse or vocational courses in the past 12 months. the most common subjects to have been removed were design and technology, performing arts, music and german. parents also have their concerns. i think really important parts of education will be cut. class sizes will increase and i think they are probably at capacity, teachers‘ jobs will become even harder. i think it is a real concern.

i think the worry is itjust places more and more pressure on the teaching staff so actually it is them that are going to have to end up working longer, harder to make this work. on average, heads said that the largest class size was now 33 pupils however the government‘s said official statistics showed the average secondary class size has fallen over the past decade to just 20 pupils and that £40 billion has been spent on schools this year. the highest cash figure ever. gillian hargreaves, bbc news. labour has accused the government of being in disarray after the prime minister said controversial tax rises for self—employed workers would not be put into legislation until the autumn. theresa may said the changes to national insurance, announced in the budget, were necessary and fair but said the chancellor would listen to concerns before mps voted on the measures later this year. she was speaking at a eu leaders‘ summit in brussels, her last one before formal brexit talks.

we‘ll speak to our political correspondent ben wright, who‘s at the summit in brussels, in a moment — but first let‘s hear from iain watson who‘s in westminsterfor us. ian, is there potentialfor a u—turn from the government on this? ido i do not think there will be a huge turn but if we keep the motoring metaphor, theresa may is on a collision course and she is trying to soften the impact. in brussels she defended the principle of the policy on the grounds of fairness. but the crucial phrase of the chancellor will listen to concerns is what we should focus on. she is delaying a parliamentary vote on the

increases until the autumn and the timing is important because by then there should be a review into the domain and it is likely to recommend raised in maternity and paternity leave and other things so she will be able to argue that the self—employed are getting all value for money. if there is still a bit ofa for money. if there is still a bit of a rebellion, there is another budget which will give them all an opportunity to do a little bit more. all this fuss over whether this was a breach of the conservative manifesto, the minister said he apologised to every voter who read the manifesto. let‘s go to ben now in brussels, what‘s the prime minister been saying about brexit? what kind of reception has she been getting? a strange atmosphere. brexit one of the massive items on the agenda but it is not discussed

at all on this summit recalls eu leaders refused to talk about it and enter negotiations until theresa may has triggered article 50 and begun the withdrawal. theresa may said that will happen by the end of the month and then negotiations will start in earnest. she has a gone back to london while they continue to map the future of the european union. 0ne to map the future of the european union. one of the big issues will be a question of money. what britain doesin a question of money. what britain does in terms of the contributions and commitment it has a ready—made to the european union. possibly £15 billion bill to be settled. in a documentary, a suggestion that might bea documentary, a suggestion that might be a bill britain is not willing to pay and do a mrs thatcher, according to borisjohnson. pay and do a mrs thatcher, according to boris johnson. another pay and do a mrs thatcher, according to borisjohnson. another key

player, norbert hofer said he would like to see some british citizens continue if they want to get the same sort of rights. —— guy verhofstadt. we have some way to go. thank you very much indeed. protests are taking place in seoul after south korea‘s highest court upheld a decision to remove the country‘s president from office. these live pictures show scenes in seoul after that decision which forces park geun—hye to stand down. she was impeached over a corruption scandal involving a close friend. she will now lose her immunity against prosecution and could face charges. the decision was met by cheering in the streets from opponents of ms park, but her supporters have reacted angrily. police say two people have died

during those protests. it‘s emerged some detainees held at an immigration removal centre near gatwick airport have been held there for as long as two and a half years. prison inspectors found that children had also been detained at brook house, which holds almost 400 adult male asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and foreign national offenders. the home office says some people prolong detention by trying to frustrate the removal process. britain‘s aid programme in libya could be harming vulnerable migrants according to a new report. the independent commission for aid impact said there was a risk that britain‘s support was leading to more migrants being detained and denied a right to asylum. the government said british vessels have saved more than 13,000 since may 2000 15. .com ordered bt to separate from its

open reach division. today‘s announcement means 0penreach will become a distinct company with a legal purpose to serve all of its customers equally. the announcement madejust a few customers equally. the announcement made just a few minutes ago and we will get more on that later on. mp‘s are being encouraged to make a decision over the palace of westminster renovation, following concerns the building is at risk of catastrophic failure. the government‘s spending watchdog says the longer mps mull over different options to repair the houses of parliament, the greater chance that public money will be wasted. scientists in australia say the great barrier reef has been hit by widespread bleaching of its corals for the second successive year. bleaching happens when the water temperature is too high and the coral expells the algae that lives in its tissue

and turns completely white. the first aerial survey of 2017 shows large areas of the reef have become distressed over the australian summer. it‘s the first time bleaching has returned within twelve months, leading to concerns over the reef‘s long term health. a short time ago i asked you what this meant which was unfair but lots of people have got in touch and they said it could be permanent damage. the latest imagery display very quickly what is happening. the weather forecast in about five minutes time. with just 100 days before the start of the come frederick cup —— confederate cup, police want to find out how they are

planning to reduce the violence. excitement has been dampened by violence involving hooligans. the final countdown to the confederations cup. for russia, it is a dress rehearsal for the world cup next summer, and they are planning a party here. but this violence in france last year has cast a shadow over the tournaments of the russian football hooligans who they fought running battles in marseilles. britain‘s top football policeman has been visiting russia this week to personally check how safe it is. this tour was the first step to make sure the scenes were not repeated here at the world cup. awful violence. people were seriously injured. anyone watching thought it was appalling. we need to work on a good working relationship to make sure that anyone who comes to russia for the games is safe. known hooligans will be banned.

russia and britain will be sharing data to make sure of that. security will be tight. for russia, hosting be games is a matter of prestige. they do not want anything to damage that. they said that the past events were a one—off. they cannot guarantee they will be under control. there has never been a major incident in russia. that proves we can really organise a great atmosphere. the important thing is to find the right balance between atmosphere and festivity and complete safety. so, russia is gearing up to greet the football fans of the world like this, not with violence. it is a message that hard—core troublemakers will not be able to spoil the football party. sarah rainsford, bbc news.

we arejoined by we are joined by a football journalist. good morning. forthe people at home, can you explain the level of problem, the level of hooliganism that russia has experienced in recent years?‘ hooliganism that russia has experienced in recent years? a think it goes back to the 905. the country was not in great shape and it emerged out of that. while we were reporting on english hooliganism in the 705 and 805. a lot more work has been done on it so that we are not returning to those days any more. police have more survey that is, so the hooligans are gradually being brought under control. what happened in france last year was in my

opinion a breakdown in communications. after the complaint, the information was not taken on. hooligans understand now that if anything happened in russia next year, there would this serious consequences. we are seeing picture5, consequences. we are seeing pictures, i was there, and it was deeply unpleasant and a scary place to be at times. how do you think russia next year, during the world cup, could handle anything like thi5? cup, could handle anything like this? i think anything like these, perpetrators of something like this, would come nowhere near the centres in town. 0ne would come nowhere near the centres in town. one of the complaints in the russian media was that the french police response was very weak, they did nothing to separate the fans. the russians will be doing a preventative measure and should

something breakout, ithink a preventative measure and should something breakout, i think the police would be going in very, very ha rd to police would be going in very, very hard to make sure it would happen again. -- would not happen again. the idea that you cannot stop the hooliganism happen so you can therefore organi5e it and let these people fight under supervision according to one man. how seriously easy being taken? he is a member of the ldp are, a right —i5h party. the only reason is that is because his father 5et only reason is that is because his father set the thing up to start with. russia and that party to be hone5t anything he says cannot be taken seriously at all. how safe should fans feel travelling to russia next summer? i think they

will be very safe top it takes fans out of western europe out of the comfort zone. a5 out of western europe out of the comfort zone. as an example you can look at what happened yesterday, manchester united fans came and they we re manchester united fans came and they were treated very well in ro5tov. they were given blankets. a little bit unu5ual. journalists were given a tourand all bit unu5ual. journalists were given a tour and all the feedback i have seen so a tour and all the feedback i have seen so far has been very, very positive and out of think manchester had a great time and for us it wa5n‘t opportunity to show despite the bad publicity we can you ready for the world cup. it‘s 07:17 and you‘re watching breakfast from bbc news. the main stories this morning: head teachers in england say they are being forced to cut gcse and a—level courses to help balance school budgets.

labour has accused the government of being in disarray after there5a may said that controversial tax ri5e5 announced in the budget would not go before mp5 until the autumn. here‘s nick with a look at this morning‘s weather. good morning. we have some weather p i ctu res good morning. we have some weather picture5 coming in, the best sunrises particularly across the eastern pa rt5 of sunrises particularly across the eastern parts of england, where there is a bit of cloud. in the west of the uk there is so much cloud around today that it is dampened to and places. an east—west split to begin with, mainly dry in the east, with a touch of frost in eastern scotland. lots of cloud in the west. quite misty and murky a5 scotland. lots of cloud in the west. quite misty and murky as well. this i5 quite misty and murky as well. this is the picture at nine o‘clock in the morning from the channel islands, across much of southern and coastal england. tho5e islands, across much of southern and coastal england. those in salt brightness across eastern parts of england will probably disappear behind some cloud. in the west, although you may be dampened drizzly out the moment, that is not going to

be lasting all day long, but there i5a be lasting all day long, but there is a more substantial area of rain ju5t edging through northern scotla nd ju5t edging through northern scotland as we go through the day. here we go through the day. after so much 5un5hine yesterday, so much cloud today. just limited brightness this afternoon. could 5ee cloud today. just limited brightness this afternoon. could see a bit in the north coast of northern ireland, north—east wales, north somerset, cornwall and devon. but if you expect a lot of cloud you will not be going far on. here is that rain into northern scotland. temperatures still on the mild side in two double figures. a bit of sunshine, could see 14 or 15 degrees. not as lovely as it was yesterday. this was the picture into this evening. not a huge amount of change. plenty of cloud. mainly dry in cardiff for the six nations action. maybejust cloud. mainly dry in cardiff for the six nations action. maybe just a few brea ks six nations action. maybe just a few breaks in the crowd at times. into tonight, we are going to see an area of rain move across northern ireland, eventually into scotland, for england and wales it will be mainly drive are the odd bit of drizzle. still misty and murky. you

will notice how those temperatures tonight are not going down fast. that means a mild start of the weekend. if you start with rain in northern ireland in scotland, the bulk of that will break away and thenit bulk of that will break away and then it brightens up. the rain moves into pa rt5 of then it brightens up. the rain moves into parts of northern england, north and west wales, to the south of that it is mainly dry. there will be some sunny spell5 around part5 of that it is mainly dry. there will be some sunny spell5 around parts of east anglia and south—east england. probably the day‘s eyes temperatures here. sunny spell5 in scotland and northern ireland, where it will feel quite nice. part two of the weekend on sunday. a couple of bands of weather moving from west to east. dry spots in between, giving a bit of sunshine for a time, turning a bit cooler from the west a5 of sunshine for a time, turning a bit cooler from the west as we go on through sunday. so it is a mixed picture this weekend. there will be a bit of sunshine to be had at time5. a bit of sunshine to be had at times. but not all the time. because when the cloud is thick enough we will start to see a bit of rain. you will start to see a bit of rain. you will notice that in northern england, north and was wales for a time on saturday. then many of us will see a spell of rain at some stage on sunday. although it is on

the mild 5ide, things will be turning a little bit cooler by the time we get to the end of sunday. we saw time we get to the end of sunday. we 5aw17.5dc time we get to the end of sunday. we 5aw 17.5dc for a top temperature in london yesterday. it may get close to that someone in south—east england tomorrow. but those temperatures have come down a little bit. the reason why, we arejust temperatures have come down a little bit. the reason why, we are just not seeing as much 5un5hine. in 1952, the city of london was effectively brought to a standstill, caused by air pollution. while some may remember the great smog, more than 60 years on poor air quality is still damaging people‘s health and causing thousands of premature deaths every year. as part of the bbc‘s so i can breathe 5erie5, breakfast‘s graham satchell has been looking at how things have improved and what else needs to be done. london has been brought to a halt by death smog, which has descended overnight. the great smog of 1952, dramatised in the netflix 5erie5 the crown. it was a difficult time. it was scary, it was unpleasant. anne goldsmith was eight in 1952

and remembers it well. we could hardly see in front of us, and when i got to school, the handkerchief would be absolutely black. it is now thought 12,000 people died in the great smog. the enemy was coal, used in factories and people‘s homes. what followed the smog was the clean air act of 1956. it introduced smoke—controlled areas, where only smokeless fuel could be burnt. fast forward 60 years and the enemy now is nitrogen dioxide from diesel engines. so what is being done today? these are the engines that have been removed out of taxis in birmingham. the local authority in birmingham has funding to replace the diesel engines in 65 taxis. we removed 95% of the emissions that

taxis were producing. it is a massive reduction. but it is a small pilot project. there are hundreds of taxis in birmingham. the government‘s overall plan is to introduce so—called clean air zones in five cities by 2020. i will look at the evidence, and when the evidence comes through as to where the key areas of pollution are, we will take the action that is needed to address the need for clean air in the city. i am afraid the government has been hopeless. critic5 like client earth say that what we need today is a new clean air act, and a scrappage scheme for diesel cars. we have to force diesel vehicles off the roads. it will cost a fortune. it will take time, but we have to protect people's health. if the water we are drinking were as dirty as the air we're breathing in now, we'd do something about it. back in lewisham in london, anne is meeting nine—year—old eloise, and amy, who is six. we called it smog,

and you couldn‘t see. only this far in front of your eyes. so we had to be very careful we didn‘t bump into anybody. we walked along the road like that. it was terrible, really. i feel sad for you. on days when pollution is bad, amy and eloise are kept indoors at playtime, ju5t a5 anne was in 1952. sometimes we have to do stay in5ide because the air is bad. because the air is bad now? amazed by anne‘s story, amy and eloise are recreating her walk home from school in the smog. are you 0k? ye5, are you 0k? yes. can you see anything? no. more than 60 years on, air pollution is still damaging children‘s health and shortening people‘s lives. all of this week across the bbc we

have been running a special series called so i can breathe, looking at ways to cut the pollution. for more information about you can the bbc website. if you are a dog owner, you will know that while they can be great companions, they can also have a naughty 5treak, from stealing food to chewing furniture, keeping them in check can be a big job. later in the programme we are going to be meeting a master dog trainer who can bring any dog to heal. we want to hear your stories of good and bad behaviour. we do have some examples from our own little cap at breakfast family, don‘t we? let‘5 from our own little cap at breakfast family, don‘t we? let‘s look at the first one. this is winnie. her owner dan says she keeps barking at night until his wife says good night to her. i think that is very cute. this i5 mike‘s dog, a5

her. i think that is very cute. this i5 mike‘s dog, as all. —— basil. he i5 mike‘s dog, as all. —— basil. he is notorious to having once eaten an entire birthday cake. now let‘s take a look at mole. you know him quite well, don‘t you charlie? a look at mole. you know him quite well, don't you charlie? yes, that i5 well, don't you charlie? yes, that is my dog. i have said that mole‘5 crime is being cleverer than me. he i5a crime is being cleverer than me. he is a very sensitive dog. clever and 5en5itive. and your dog is coming m, 5en5itive. and your dog is coming in, isn‘t it? yes, it is a lot of pressure. my dog, sadie, i5 in, isn‘t it? yes, it is a lot of pressure. my dog, sadie, is in the studio in about an hour. i am quite nervous about it. is she a well—behaved dog? how would you de5cribe well—behaved dog? how would you describe her? she is a good little dog, but she jumps describe her? she is a good little dog, but 5hejump5 up describe her? she is a good little dog, but she jumps up that people. what kind of dog is she? a mixture between a poodle and a cavalier. you will need her, she is coming in. just trying to paint a picture. she i5 just trying to paint a picture. she is going to sit right here. is she allowed on the sofa? is she allowed

on the sofa in your house? no. she might be allowed on this one, though. the time is 7:36am. still to come, forget glastonbury. nobody can get tickets to this festival. the good news is that everybody‘s invited anyway. yes, it is break—fest. it is right outside the studio, over there. there is shorn. a lovely day for it as well. we have our own festival on because we are looking at the £4 billion mu5ic industry, particularly the live mu5ic industry, particularly the live music industry. right now there is a 24 hour and ulcer5 on right across the country, from choirs to open mike night5, about what kind of things that industry bring5. —— mic night5. but first, the news, travel and weather where you are, played out byje55 gilham. good morning from bbc london news, i‘m sonja jessup. former teachers at an east london school that‘s been investigated over

allegations of exam malpractice say they experienced a "culture of fear and intimation." bbc london has spoken to around a dozen teachers who‘ve given evidence about green spring academy in bethnal green. the trust says it‘s dealt with the allegations "robustly" and has now taken "appropriate action." but some staff say they had no choice but to leave. it became quite 0rwellian. people disappeared. they would come into work one morning and presumably they were asked to leave, asked to hand their keys in, and they were escorted from the premises. this was really upsetting. obviously it gave a climate of intimidation and fear. people were watching their backs. the police are being accused of making "major failings" while investigating allegations of electoral fraud and malpractice during the 2014 mayoral election in tower hamlets. the winner, lutfur rahman, was forced to step down after an election court found him guilty of corrupt and illegal practices — but he‘s neverfaced criminal prosecution. the london assembly‘s police and crime committee says the met missed opportunities that could have

seen charges brought. now, if you use the central line, i‘m afraid there‘s no service between ealing broadway and marble arch and minor delays on the rest of the line, because an engineering train‘s derailed at white city. there is no bakerloo line between paddington and queens park. there are also minor delays on the piccadilly line between rayners lane and uxbridge as well. delays and cancellations on greater anglia trains from stratford to liverpool street. at camden, there has been an accident and camden road is partly blocked. in surrey, the 822 cut from high passes close between dodds dynon road and croydon road due to an oil spillage. time for the weather. a mild start, but different yesterday. cloud building fairly early on after some brightness. the further east you are, the more chance you have of that initial brightness but you can see this cloud invading from the west and staying put for much of the day.

mostly dry today but we may have one or two spots of drizzle, temperatures getting up to 13 or 14 degrees celsius. quite a lot of cloud overnight, there may be some breaks developing and then we will see some fog forming. temperatures down to about nine degrees. quite a mild night tonight. tomorrow there is a fair amount of cloud around but i think many of us will have quite a bright day. southerly wind still with us, temperatures up to 16, possibly 17 celsius. we may get a touch above that. it‘s a different second half to the weekend. on sunday, quite a dank, dark day. lots of drizzle around for much of the day. certainly not fining up to get out and about for many of us. by monday it‘s looking much brighter and drier. it becomes mild as we had

through next week and it is looking like a largely dry week ahead next week. i‘m back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now, though, it‘s back to charlie and sally. the association of school and college leaders has warned schools in england are being forced to cut gcse and a—level courses in an effort to balance the books, according to a head teachers‘ union. the association of school and college leaders has warned budget pressures are driving up class sizes and causing them to cancel extra curricular activities. 0fcom has announced that bt has

agreed to its requirements for the legal separation from 0penreach — the biggest reform in its history. the telecoms giant has faced growing calls from rivals to break up — sky, talktalk — have long complained they have to use bt lines to provide their services. they argue this means customers get a poor service — as they can‘t make improvements. let‘s speak now to chief executive of 0fcom sharon white. it isa it is a major reform to 0penreach which will created as a separate company with its board working by law for the interests of all customers not just bt law for the interests of all customers notjust bt making decisions on your broadband again with the interests of the whole community. it matters because we believe this will result in better broadband for all of us. how will you measure how this works — in 12 months time, if their broadband is

not better, this would not have worked. we will monitor this very closely and robust league and that keyissueis closely and robust league and that key issue is does a chris reed make decisions for the good of the whole country. —— 0penreach make decisions for the good of the whole country. engine is turning up on time, and if things go wrong, for the first time, there will be automatic compensation. you get a cheque in the post if 0penreach does not deliver. i am curious as to how you judge this. consumers see it as whether the price is right, and it works well. if those things do not

happen, what will you do? we will be monitoring very closely at the quality of service that we receive it better. we will be watching these things closely and if it does not deliver we will look at further action but it is part of a broader set of reforms including a much tougher focus on customer service. bt's tougher focus on customer service. bt‘s rivals, including sky, wanted something else, they wanted 0penreach to be entirely separate. that surely would have guaranteed it was genuinely independent. a lot of people will be thinking, those people will be thinking, those people operating 0penreach will still be answering to the parent

company. legal separation brings the significance independence. the great advantage of legal separation is that those changes can be implemented quickly and we can enjoy it better broadband faster. why not insist on complete separation, that would seem like the logical way no one could accuse bt of interfering? asi one could accuse bt of interfering? as i say, legal separation, independence from bt, what we have seen independence from bt, what we have seen is those changes can be implemented very quickly. structural separation causes lots of disruption and delays in getting better broadband to customers. we believe

that legal separation will lead to better broadband more quickly with less disruptions. on those announcements are made 20 minutes also about 0penreach and how it will be governed in the future. labour has accused the government of being in ‘disarray‘ after the prime minister said controversial tax rises for self—employed workers would not be put into legislation until the autumn. theresa may said the changes to national insurance, announced in the budget, were necessary and fair but said the chancellor would listen to concerns before mps voted on the measures later this year. the shift towards self—employment is oraiding the the shift towards self—employment is or aiding the tax base and making it harder to afford the public services on which ordinary working families depend. this goes some way is into fixing that. protests are taking place in seoul after south korea‘s highest court upheld a decision to remove the country‘s president

from office. these live pictures show scenes in seoul after that decision which forces park geun—hye to stand down. she was impeached over a corruption scandal involving a close friend. she will now lose her immunity against prosecution and could face charges. the decision was met by cheering in the streets from opponents of ms park, but her supporters have reacted angrily. police say two people have died during those protests. mp‘s are being warned that the palace of westminster is close to a "catastrophic failure" unless they make a decision over plans to renovate it soon. the public accounts committee, which overlooks government spending, says the longer mps mull over the options for addressing the deterioration, the more likely it is that public money will be wasted. the committee is encouraging parliament to back the cheapest option, which will cost around 3.5 billion pounds and take 6 years to complete. more than 2,500 bridges in england are not fit

to support the heaviest lorries, a new study has found. the report by the rac foundation found that many of the structures have weight restrictions in place, while others have to be closely monitored. it says some have also been put in a managed decline. the cost of clearing the backlog of work on all bridges is estimated to be £3.9bn. councils say they don‘t have the funds to repair them. mike is here with news of last night ‘s mike is here with news of last night ‘5 game. jaye marie green had been ——jose ‘5 game. jaye marie green had been —— jose mourinho had ‘5 game. jaye marie green had been ——jose mourinho had been complaining about the pitch?“ ——jose mourinho had been complaining about the pitch? if you look closely, a few brown patches. inconsistent but the 238th manchester united fans —— 238th fans

saw a great game. jose mourinho said it was ‘impossible to play any better‘ after his manchester united side drew 1—1 at fc rostov in the europa league last night. mourinho wasn‘t impressed with the rough pitch — but henrik mikka—tar—ian scored an away goal and although the russian side equalised, mourinho said that football life was "full of experiences" and that was a new one for united. england goalkeeperjoe hart, doesn‘t think he‘ll play for manchester city again. he was dropped by pep guardiola, when he took over as manager, at the start of the season, and sent on loan to torino in italy. he told the bbc‘s premier league show there were no hard feelings. i love the club and i was said as long as they wanted me i would be there at i was always a cautious when i said that because at the big, big clubs, staff can change quickly and opinions and people in charge and opinions and people in charge

and not everybody is going to like you and would want to play and that is the business side of it. england‘s cricketers have completed a 3—nil whitewash in the one—day series against west indies. alex hales came back into the team in barbados, after recovering from injury, and made a century. joe root also hit a hundred, as england, scored a record total for the ground of 328. the west indies were bowled out well short of that target, england winning by 186 runs. now have england‘s six nations ambitions been knocked off course by a dog? 0wen farrell, injured his left knee in their latest training session ahead of tomorrow‘s match against scotland. the centre had to leave the training field at pennyhill park. and while number 8, billy vunipola, will make his first appearance in the tournament from the bench, head coach eddiejones admits farrell could be a doubt, although he made light of the incident in front of the media. he has got a bad leg so he could not finish training. how did it happen in training? i think he ran into my dog, mate. my dog was running around

and he ran into it. he‘ll be alright. you're confident about that? he‘ll be alright. but you just said he was a doubt. yeah but i think he‘ll be alright. is that 0k? 0ur players know that we will have to be on our best performance on that day, during that 80 minutes we will have to string together a number of excellent plays, whether it's in attack or defence. and think clearly to get them to start adapting to our play. they are a very good team. well the weekend‘s six nations action begins this evening at the principality stadium in cardiff, as wales take on ireland. we heard from the coaches are the teams are unchanged. ireland need to wind to keep alive their ambitions. you can watch the game live on bbc 0ne

you can watch the game live on bbc one at 7:30 p.m.. super league champions wigan warriors are top of the table, after beating warrington wolves 38—12. liam marshall was the star, scoring 4 of wigan‘s tries on only his second appearance for the club. that‘s four wins from four for them but warrington haven‘t won yet this season — they‘re bottom of super league. we have all been there as journalists in terms of awkward interviews. now ronnie 0‘sullivan, has taken his bizarre behaviour in interviews to a new level. he recently said, he wouldn‘t be talking in depth in interviws, after he was, disciplined, for comments he made to the media during the masters tournament but after giving a few short answers to bbc wales reporter gareth blaney, the questions certainly struck a chord. so how do you reflect on the match as a whole? don‘t know, really. um, you seem to take while to get going. maybe.

sing: # maybe, there‘re gonna be the one that saves me. and after all, you‘re my wonderwall. ..# what do you reckon of my lyrics, is that good? i actually liked that. i like that. it was funny. he sang instead. what are we going to do if ronnie 0'sullivan ever retires! and as we are talking next. the sound of england rugby fans singing ‘swing low, sweet chariot‘ regularly fills the stands at twickenham — as it‘s bound to during this weekend‘s 6 nations clash with scotland — but now there‘s debate as to whether its an appropriate sporting anthem. the song was originally sung by slaves in the united states — and some academics believe that historical link is lost when it‘s used in celebration.

before we chat a bit more about this, let‘s have a listen. singing we‘re joined now by professor alan rice, who specialises in english and american studies, and professor robert beckford, an expert in theology and culture is in our london newsroom. we just heard a little bit of the music, how do you feel when you hear it and how do you feel when you hear it and how do you feel when you hear it used in celebration at a sporting event? i feel really moved because it is so beautiful and i am aware of the history. it is a slave song sung to express hope in god and to release from the terror of slavery. it was a double meaning. it was a

cry for help to get out of the plantation. i quite excited when i hear it also because they sing it went in the side is doing well but i am aware it is an inappropriate appropriation. it is a song that deals with racial terror to celebrate sport and they are two very different things. ido i do not think there is a problem as long as it is used in the right way, as long as we understand the history and we can use the ways in which, when we hear it, if we can start thinking about that history again. so we use it as a learning experience, really. what would be great, i think, experience, really. what would be great, ithink, is if experience, really. what would be great, i think, is if there was more knowledge about where the song comes from, and what the song is about. these slave spirituals are often

coded messages, and if you listen to the lyrics of the song, it is about the lyrics of the song, it is about the angels taking us away, it is about the hope there is for freedom. some of these songs are even more explicit. "steal away to jesus", thatis explicit. "steal away to jesus", that is about let's have a meeting and discuss our plans to escape. what you know about how it is that it came to be a song used by rugby fa ns it came to be a song used by rugby fans supporting england? there are lots of different ideas about where it came from and who started singing it. now, ithink it came from and who started singing it. now, i think the it came from and who started singing it. now, ithink the idea it came from and who started singing it. now, i think the idea was that some members of choirs started singing it in the 19805, at a specific england match. but i think to an extent, the origins of them singing it is not the point. the point is to try to make where they got to it now. it is a wonderful song. it is wonderful they are singing it. a great thing would be

of people went back to people like paul robson singing it, and learned about the long history of this song, but the song has always been a black song and has been used by black people to talk about their history. robert, what would you say to the people who suggest it should be banned? well, first of all i com pletely banned? well, first of all i completely agree that it is a fantastic learning mosman. we can have learn about the history of slavery and britain‘s collusion with the slave trade. it opens up that pa rt the slave trade. it opens up that part of history as well. personally i don‘t think you can police culture. after all, this is a song thatis culture. after all, this is a song that is crafted from a variety of cultural strands. african rhythms, african thought, as janet e, which came from europe. it is a cultural creation of cultural merging. —— christianity, which came from europe. so from that context it cannot argue for a ban. what you can argue for is not policing, but having people become aware of where the song has come from, its history, its context, and think about it critically. you cannot police it,

because you cannot police culture. but there is quite a strong tradition, isn‘t there, particularly in sport. we mentioned appropriating songs, and sometimes it isjust in sport. we mentioned appropriating songs, and sometimes it is just as they are rousing. and people are not thinking. you could argue that they should think more, but sometimes it is just should think more, but sometimes it isjust for should think more, but sometimes it is just for that reason. yes, sometimes it is because the songs are beautiful and evocations of committee. some theologians see sport as a new religious experience. so it makes sense to sing spirituals in that context. but we have to be critical and be sensitive to appropriate forms of expropriation. and in this case, combining sport, frivolity, excitement, with the serious experience of racial terror that slaves experienced on the killing fields of the american plantations, the two are very much diametrically opposed. it requires some kind of thinking in terms of whether this is appropriate. i don‘t think this is appropriate. but i don‘t think we have a right to

police it, we just don‘t think we have a right to police it, wejust have don‘t think we have a right to police it, we just have a don‘t think we have a right to police it, wejust have a right don‘t think we have a right to police it, we just have a right to educate people and make informed decisions about what kind of a cultural appropriation is useful and beneficial. and how do we educate people about it? i would quite like us to hand out the lyrics with a kind of explanation, you know? so at those matches, especially children, i think there is a sense in which we do not educate enough about the history of slavery. we don't educate enough about the ways in which our culture has been made out of that. this is a perfect opportunity to hand out the lyrics and an explanation of the song, which could be 500 or 600 words, tell them about the ways in which this song was a song about freedom, you know? both professors, thank you very much for your time this morning. it‘s 9:50 and you‘re watching breakfast from bbc news. here‘s nick with a look at this morning‘s weather. good morning. most of us will not

see the sun this morning. have been some glorious sunrise pictures coming in from parts of eastern england, though. hull, the city of culture. some cracking sunrises, clearly, as well. an east—west split going on this morning. a bit of brightness down the eastern side of the uk. cooler here compare to a mild start in the west, but it is very cloudy, dampened to suban outbreaks of rain. quite misty and murky around the coast and some of the hills. and on the english coast, into the channel islands, to begin the day. a little bit clearer on the eastern side, but starting with glimmers of sunshine. i do not think it will last to long. again, across parts of wales, western england, northern ireland into western scotland, we begin today with outbreaks of rain. a bigger area of rainfall here lurking to the west of scotland. that will gradually feed on through northern scotland through the day and eventually go into the northern isles. elsewhere, plenty of cloud. but there will be a lot of

dry weather into the afternoon. a few brighter breaks, maybe the north coast of northern ireland, north—east wales, the north of somerset, devon and cornwall. temperatures not quite as high as they were yesterday because of all this cloud around. still going to be fairly mild. a few spots mayjust get to about 15 celsius. it is going to be mild this evening, and a lot of dry weather around. maybe a bit of dry weather around. maybe a bit of drizzle here and there, at nothing to worry about for the six nations this evening in cardiff. the cow mild it is going to be, temperatures not going down too far. —— look how mild. we will see some rain in northern ireland overnight, moving into scotland. some weather to be had. maybe a bit of drizzle in western wales and england, but elsewhere, mainly dry. those temperatures up around seven or nine degrees or sears. 0n temperatures up around seven or nine degrees or sears. on saturday, an area of rain coming out of scotland and northern ireland into parts of northern england and western wales. behind it, art and a sunny smells in scotla nd behind it, art and a sunny smells in scotland and northern ireland. the

of it, breaks into cloud east anglia and the east of england, where it will feel mild again, maybe as high as 17. part two of the weekend on sunday. 0ne as 17. part two of the weekend on sunday. one area of rain clearing away from the east, another moving from west to east during the day. brighter spells in between, turning cooler in the west later in the day. a mixed weekend, a bit of sunshine, a bit of rain. but it is all looking pretty 0 k a bit of rain. but it is all looking pretty 0k to get up and about. nick, thank you very much. we will talk to you again in half an hour. if you are seeing some live music today, you are being asked to make a record of it. they are showing to get a picture of how much live music is played in one day, over a 24 hour period. and we are adding to it, because we are having our very own break—fest. does that work?m because we are having our very own break-fest. does that work? it kind of works. shaun is outside for us. there he is. we lost it for a second, shaun. you have your yellow wellingtons on a specially. yes, the

wellies are wrong, because the drizzle was out. we are well prepared for break— fest drizzle was out. we are well prepared for break—fest this morning. we have our own live music, as you can probably hear. we have violinists vladimir and anton. have you ever played anywhere as big as this? nearly as big, look at all the crowd here. it is not bad, they have played at the bbc proms. you all have to start somewhere. the reason we are talking about this, it is a big industry, £41 billion and two at 400,000 jobs. this week the budget to place. a lot of self—employed people out of air wondering what they might do next. we speak now to somebody who launched a business this week, and kindly set up a food store at our breakfast this morning. alana spencer, who won the last series of the apprentice, congratulations. the harder thing now, setting the apprentice, congratulations. the harderthing now, setting up the apprentice, congratulations. the harder thing now, setting up your business, how is that going? well, we launched the other day. we announced the plans for the company. we are recruiting a load of ambassadors. basically we are

recruiting self—employed people to come and have our brand and they will go out and do what i did when i started the company. he said the keyword, self—employed people. that means i have to ask you, when you hear the budget this week that tax the self—employed people is going to go the self—employed people is going to 90 up. the self—employed people is going to go up, how did that change or thinking, when you are running a business that relies on self—employed people ?|j business that relies on self-employed people? i mean, it is not going to stop anyone. anybody who was to become self—employed is going to go and do it. it is a bit ofa shame, going to go and do it. it is a bit of a shame, because i think putting things in people's way that could eventually go on to create jobs is not the best thing, really. it is only a very small increase, but yes, it isn't ideal. is it more about the principle than the actual increase? because on average, they are saying 60pa week because on average, they are saying 60p a week for the average self—employed person, when you take all the changes into account. you say people will go ahead and do it, but do you get the feeling that maybe this government doesn't back entrepreneurs as much as you might have thought? maybe, maybe not as much as we had all hoped. i think

with being self—employed, there are obviously things that you don't get, which that little gap was four, to cover certain things like maternity leave and sick pay. you know, you really have to encourage people to go out and start their businesses. you are launching a cake business. food prices, we are talking about that a lot. have you noticed much of a change in terms of your business model and your plans? everything is still fine with our business. the belgian chocolate prices have gone up belgian chocolate prices have gone upa belgian chocolate prices have gone up a little bit. what do you do then? we are ok, it is all fine. if it goes up any more than we might have to get on the phone to belgium. but it is all 0k at the moment. have to get on the phone to belgium. but it is all ok at the moment. do you find suppliers are happy to have that conversation? are they happy to allow you to charge them more? luckily enough we haven't had to do that yet. i think that will be the la st that yet. i think that will be the last resort. i don't want to put a price increase on the products. i

have built relationships with customers already and to put up the prices will put them off. thank you very much. enjoy the cakes and enjoy the rest of the music this morning. what's more live music to come at break—fest. what's more live music to come at break— fest. not sure what's more live music to come at break—fest. not sure whether we should cross out the latter a or not on the logo. two players out, jess gilham. saxophone music saxophone music applause good morning from bbc london news, i‘m sonja jessup. former teachers at an east london school that‘s been investigated over allegations of exam malpractice say they experienced a "culture of fear and intimation." bbc london has spoken to around a dozen teachers who‘ve given evidence about green spring academy in bethnal green. the trust says it‘s dealt with the allegations "robustly" and has now taken "appropriate action." but some staff say they had no

choice but to leave. it became quite 0rwellian. people disappeared. they would come into work one morning and presumably they were asked to leave, asked to hand their keys in, and they were escorted from the premises. this was really upsetting. obviously it gave a climate of intimidation and fear. people were watching their backs. the police are being accused of making "major failings" while investigating allegations of electoral fraud and malpractice during the 2014 mayoral election in tower hamlets. the winner, lutfur rahman, was forced to step down after an election court found him guilty of corrupt and illegal practices — but he‘s neverfaced criminal prosecution. the london assembly‘s police and crime committee says the met missed opportunities that could have seen charges brought. now, quite a few problems on the tube. there‘s no bakerloo line between paddington to queens park, no central line between

ealing broadway and north acton to marble arch, because an engineering train‘s derailed. there are also minor delays on the piccadilly line between rayners lane and uxbridge. there are delays on greater anglia trains from stratford to liverpool street too. this is how it looks in wapping. this is how it looks in wapping. this is how it looks in wapping. this is heading into town from the limehouse link tunnel to tower bridge. and in surrey, the a22 caterham bypass is reopened. time for the weather now, here‘s georgina burnett. good morning. a mild start, but different to yesterday. cloud building fairly early on after some brightness. the further east you are, the more chance you have of that initial brightness but you can see this cloud invading from the west and staying put for much of the day. mostly dry today but we may have one or two spots of drizzle, temperatures getting up to 13 or 14 degrees celsius. quite a lot of cloud overnight, there may be some breaks developing and then we will see some fog forming. temperatures down to about nine degrees. quite a mild night tonight.

tomorrow there is a fair amount of cloud around but i think many of us will have quite a bright day. southerly wind still with us, temperatures up to 16, possibly 17 celsius. we may get a touch above that. it‘s a different second half to the weekend. on sunday, quite a dank, dark day. lots of drizzle around for much of the day. certainly not fining up to get out and about for many of us. by monday it‘s looking much brighter and drier. it becomes mild as we had through next week and it is looking like a largely dry week ahead next week. i‘m back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now, though, it‘s back to charlie and sally. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast with charlie stayt and sally nugent. courses axed, bigger class sizes

and after—school clubs cut — a stark warning from head—teachers about the pressure on school budgets. they‘ll put their grievances to the education secretary at a conference today. the government says school funding is at a record high. good morning. it‘s friday, 10th march. also this morning: labour accuses the government of making a "partial u—turn" as the prime minster says controversial tax rises for self—employed won‘t now be voted on until the autumn. she‘s defended the policy. i think it is fair to close the gap in contributions between two people doing the same work and using the same public services. a major shake—up in the telecoms industry. bt is to turn its open

reach broadband network into a separate company. we‘ll explain what it means for customers. we‘re live at break—fest. we are looking at the live music industry. there is a 24 hour analysis going on across the country of what kind of live music we like. at the moment we‘ve got little sparrow. in sport, "impossible to play any better". that was jose mourinho‘s assessment of his manchester united side, as they managed to score and draw, on the patchy pitch in russia. she‘s a giant of glam rock who has been a star for more than half a century. now suzi quatro is teaming up with a host of other music legends. she‘ll be here to explain why. nick has the weather. good morning. after all the sunshine

yesterday, we‘re turning up the grey today. there is rain in western parts of the uk. it is mild. just not as lovely as it was yesterday, but will lovely come back for the weekend? i‘ve got the answer in the next half an hour. good morning. first, our main story. schools in england are being forced to cut gcse and a—level courses in an effort to balance the books, according to a head teachers‘ union. the association of school and college leaders has warned budget pressures are driving up class sizes and causing them to cancel things like school trips. 0ur education correspondent gillian hargreaves reports. peter woodman at the weald school might be a head teacher but he still likes to work at the chalk face, partly because he enjoys it but partly because it saves money for the school. the only reason we can survive is we are carrying forward money from last year. and if the government stick to their pledges over the next five years, with the cash flow and budgets, we will be making cuts to something

like 70,000 every year, year on year. peter is one of dozens of heads in south—east england who wrote to parents yesterday informing them of the impact of cuts. in a poll of more than 1,000 members of the ascl union almost three quarters said they had to make cuts to gcse or vocational courses in the past 12 months. the most common subjects to have been removed were design and technology, performing arts, music and german. parents also have their concerns. i think really important parts of education will be cut. class sizes will increase and i think they are probably already at capacity, teachers‘ jobs will become even harder. i think it‘s a real concern. i think the worry is itjust places more and more pressure on the teaching staff so actually it is them that are going to have to end up working longer, harder to make this work. on average, heads said that the largest class size was now 33 pupils however the government said official statistics showed

the average secondary class size has fallen over the past decade to just 20 pupils and that £40 billion has been spent on schools this year. the highest cash figure ever. labour has accused the government of being in "disarray" after the prime minister said controversial tax rises for self—employed workers would not be put into legislation until the autumn. theresa may said the changes to national insurance, announced in the budget, were necessary and fair but said the chancellor would listen to concerns before mps voted on the measures later this year. she was speaking at a eu leaders‘ summit in brussels, her last one before formal brexit talks. we‘ll speak to our political correspondent ben wright, who‘s at the summit in brussels, in a moment, but first let‘s hear from iain watson who‘s in westminsterfor us. lots of newspapers signalling there maybe a u—turn. how realistic is that really? well, i wouldn't call ita u—turn,

that really? well, i wouldn't call it a u—turn, sally, that really? well, i wouldn't call ita u—turn, sally, but that really? well, i wouldn't call it a u—turn, sally, buti that really? well, i wouldn't call it a u—turn, sally, but i would say that theresa may recognised she is ona that theresa may recognised she is on a collision course with many of her own mps, many of her backbenchers on this issue and she is trying to think of ways to soften the impact. now, the timing of something rather than the principle behind it is usually less important. this time, i think, it is crucial. we heard a strong defence of the policy from theresa may at a conference under sustained questioning in brussels last night. she said it was fair, fair between the employed and the self—employed, but there won‘t be a parliamentary vote until the autumn that‘s because by then there will be a review into working practises published and it is likely to be offering self—employed people greater rights to for example maternity leave and paternity leave. the argument will be come the autumn that in effect the tax rises will be going ahead, but self—employed people will be getting more value for money and more rights and benefits in return for that. however, we should be also aware that unusually this year we have not one, but two budgets. there

is another budget in the autumn. so i think if tory mps remain rebellious then at least the government has bought itself space and time and could perhaps come up with further changes, who knows, maybe even a delay in implementing it? the trouble is the more that you offer to self—employed people to soften or sweeten the bitter pill of a tax rise, the less money there is going to be for the treasury. iain, thank you. let‘s go to ben in brussels. this was mrs may‘s last eu summit. what kind of a reception has she been getting over there? it is the last summit that she will come to before she formally tells the eu that we‘re leaving, that she‘s triggering brexit and in fact the remain 27 members of the european union are meeting here this morning to continue talks, to map the future, but theresa may won‘t be because we‘re not going to be part of it. so she has already gone home. the strange thing, even though brexit is this huge issue the eu have to deal

with, the complex negotiations are about to start, it was barely mentioned here over the last 24 hours because the eu are emphatic that there can be no talks, no negotiations until that formal brexit request goes in and theresa may says, she said again yesterday, that will happen by the end of march. so on the brink of it all getting underway in earnest. 0ne march. so on the brink of it all getting underway in earnest. one of the big issues that will be on the negotiating table is a question of money that britain owes. commitments it has made to pay into the eu coffers. there is discussion here that there could be a brexit exit bill presented to britain of around 50 billion euros. borisjohnson, the foreign secretary, has said in a documentary on the bbc, that he suggested strongly that could be an amount that britain should be not prepared to pay. it should be able to walk away and not pay that money. so he‘s taking out, he‘s staking out a hard position early on in this. and another key eu player, an mep, he has also told the bbc that as

pa rt he has also told the bbc that as part of the negotiations he might quite like to see british citizens continue if they want to get some of the rights they enjoy as members of the rights they enjoy as members of the european union such as the free movement of people. brexit hasn‘t begun yet. it is about to, but we‘re getting a sense already of some of theissues getting a sense already of some of the issues that will be in play. ben, thank you. that‘s ben wright in brussels this morning. bt is to split from its 0penreach service which runs the uk‘s broadband infrastructure — the biggest reform in its history. the telecoms regulator, 0fcom, has been pushing to legally separate the two, following complaints that 0penreach was under—performing and providing slow broadband speeds for some parts of the uk. 0pen reach is legally separate, but within bt. does 0penreach make its decisions and invest in the way that‘s for the whole good of the country. it is not the only reform that we‘re making to improve broadband. we will be

setting tougher rules so that engineers turn up on time to fix your broadband, but also, if things do go wrong, for the first time, there will be automatic compensation as you get a cheque in the post if 0penreach doesn‘t deliver. protests are taking place in seoul after south korea‘s highest court upheld a decision to remove the country‘s president from office. these live pictures show the scenes in the capital following the decision which forces park geun—hye to stand down. she was impeached over a corruption scandal involving a close friend. she will now lose her immunity against prosecution and could face charges. the decision was met by cheering in the streets from opponents of ms park, but her supporters have reacted angrily. police say two people have died during protests outside the court. it‘s emerged that some detainees held at an immigration removal centre near gatwick airport have been there for as long as two and a half years. prison inspectors found that children had also been detained at brook house which holds almost 400 adult male asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and foreign

national offenders. the home office says some people prolong detention by trying to frustrate the removal process. britain‘s aid programme in libya could be harming vulnerable migrants, according to a new report. the independent commission for aid impact said there was a risk that britain‘s support was leading to more migrants being detained and denied a right to asylum. the government says british vessels have saved more than 13,000 lives in the mediterranean since may 2015. mps are being warned that the palace of westminster is close to a "catastrophic failure" unless they make a decision over plans to renovate it soon. the public accounts committee, which overlooks government spending, says the longer mps mull over the options for addressing the deterioration, the more likely it is that public money will be wasted. the committee is encouraging parliament to back the cheapest option which will cost around £3.5 billion and take six years to complete.

scientists in australia say the great barrier reef has been hit by bleaching of its corals. the bleaching of its corals. the bleaching happens when the water is too high and the coral expels the algae that lives in its tissue. the first aerial survey of 2017 shows large areas of the reef have become distressed over the australian summer. distressed over the australian summer. it is the first time that bleaching has returned to within 12 months leading to concerns over the reef‘s long—term health. it is 8.12am. nick will have the weather shortly. budget pressures are forcing schools in england to cut courses and increase class sizes, according to head teachers. that‘s despite the government saying that funding is at an all—time high. the association of school and college leaders is warning that rising costs will lead

to more difficult decisions. we‘re joined by head teacher ian fenn, and the chair of the education committee neil carmichael, who is in our westminster studio. thank you both forjoining us this morning. ian, you are a headteacher. yes. at the sharp end of this. yes. tell us what is happening in your schools in relation to budgets? over the next three years, we‘re expecting and we‘ve been told by the national audit office, that there will be an 8% drop in ourfunding. 0ur costs will go up by 8%, but it will not be matched by money coming in and that therefore means that we‘re going to have to think long and hard about how we balance our budgets and many, many schools are going into deficit already and that‘s before this price hike. so it will be very, very significant and it‘s going to affect every school in england. ok, you use the word thinking long and hard, presumably there is only a few options when it comes to saving money. what are the options? what are the things that can go? you might not want them to,

but what are the things that have to go? you have to look at subjects which aren‘t popular on the curriculum and therefore have small sizes. like what? well, dance for example, if you‘re having dance with ten kids, it is not going to happen. minority languages like german in some schools, that will be a minority subject, that would go. in my school, product design is strong, but in some schools, it is weak. therefore, if you cannot have a class with at least 15 children in because, not that many children want to do it, that subject will go. neil carmichael mp, just listening to that there, in your role, what is your reaction to what you‘re hearing? classes being dropped, you know, pupil numbers having to change because of of a lack of money? well, there are three things that are happening all at once which i think helps to make this a bigger problem.

0ne helps to make this a bigger problem. one is obviously we've got more children coming into the system. we have nine million children now, but soon there will be ten million and i think that's one of the drivers behind this particular problem. the second one, of course, is we're looking at the way in which schools are funded, that's sensible because some schools haven't been funded fairly for a while, but the national formula funding proposal from the government does have some issues. 0ne government does have some issues. one of them which we have been campaigning about is the need for a higher floor so that no schools fall below a certain level and i think that's something we need to press the case on, but the wider question of the budget itself, £40 billion is being spent on our schools, that's the biggest amount of money ever, but it does reflect the fact that we need to bear in mind, inflation and we need to bear in mind other challenges to the school system. can i get you to clear something up for me? the acl says class sizes are

going up. the government says class sizes are not going up. what is it about the data which contradict what the schools are actually saying? we have always had issues about data. my own committee was worrying about data not long ago when we were talking about teacher recruitment and retention. so there are data questions. the fact is there will be some schools which are struggling because there are some schools in areas where we have simply more pupils and the increase in pupil numbers forecast it will be higher in some areas than others. so there is really a conflict here between the global figure and the local figure. and i think that the government is right to say absolutely overall class sizes are not rising. they have fallen in some subjects. ian fenn, you are shaking your head, i‘m just going to interrupt you. think the government looks that census figures which are drawn every years from schools and

thatis drawn every years from schools and that is divided by the number of teachers which in effect is not how schools operate. you have some teachers like me, i don‘t teach because i am a head teacher that i encountered in the number of teachers that a school has, and consequently, you get a distortion between what the census shows, maybe a ratio of 16 to one and actually what is going on in classrooms. you have also got to bear in mind that some schools have children with very specific needs. you cannot at 33 children who do not speaking dish in a class together. we do not have a spokesman from the government to give their position but neil says they are proudly boasting they are putting in more money and they are quibbling over class sizes. when you hear them say that, what do you think? i'm sure they are putting 40 billion in because that is on record that if you‘re putting 45 billion m, that if you‘re putting 45 billion in, if you have more children coming in which they do, if we have higher

costs, i will have to pay increased national insurance for the people i employ, i will have to pay higher pension costs, none of this is factored into the money we get. if you give us £40 billion this year, and think next year 40 billion will do, well, it will not. 0ur costs will have gone up by x percent and it will be a cut. you are very proud and passionate teacher and head teacher. what is the reality check. we know there are more pupils coming into secondary schools. it is only going to get worse, all of these issues will be exacerbated. what do you see as the future?” issues will be exacerbated. what do you see as the future? i don't sound too dramatic but i see a collapse of the system. i see all the achievements we have had in the last five, ten, 15 years, under threat. i see vulnerable children feeling disenfranchised from society that are to care for them. i see them being adrift so the more privileged

parts of society are able to subsidise the education of their children. there is an average of £400 per parent per child spent by the parents in the state sector. my pa rents the parents in the state sector. my parents cannot afford that. they are going to be the ones that suffer disproportionately and it is a tragedy. neil, did you hear that, a total colla pse tragedy. neil, did you hear that, a total collapse of the system?” tragedy. neil, did you hear that, a total collapse of the system? i did hear that. the system is not going to collapse because it is one of the most important systems we have got. we have got to educate our young people, we have got to have a school syste m people, we have got to have a school system which is responsive to the challenges we have in the future, especially in two years' time when we are leaving the european union and we will need all of the skills from our own number so our schools syste m from our own number so our schools system and college system has got to deliver all of that. there is a case for more investment in the medium term. i myself have made that case because we have got to be sure that we do actually have a properly resourced education system. the

chancellor on wednesday has actually demonstrated a commitment to providing extra money for skills and training, and that is a really big step in the right direction. it is pa rt of step in the right direction. it is part of our schools system, it will be embedded in the way in which our schools are funded, and of course he has also underlined the amendment to provide more school places. so the move is in the right direction. i acce pt move is in the right direction. i accept that because of our budgetary system, we cannot look far enough forward to think about what we might have say in 2021, four example. and thatis have say in 2021, four example. and that is a worry for headteachers, i know that. one of the things we have got to try and do is get a three—year line of sight for our school budgets and that would help enormously. and it would allay some of the fears we have just heard. neil carmichael, unfortunately we are out of time. it is safe to say

there is a lot of head shaking going on from our headteacher here now. we will pick up on the story again. thank you very much for your time. let‘s go to knit with the weather. -- nick. i will show you a view from the west. it is a bit misty and murky. it isa west. it is a bit misty and murky. it is a bit damp and drizzly as well. we have an east west split going on at the moment. glimmers of rightness. mild, it cloudy and damp in the west. there are some areas of coastal fog around in the south and south—west of britain and the channel islands as well. there is that difference in temperature. single figures in the east, double figures in the west. 0utbreaks single figures in the east, double figures in the west. outbreaks of rain and drizzle for northern

ireland and scotland. it is a bit breezy towards the north—west of scotland. it is the cloud today, after a ll scotland. it is the cloud today, after all the sunshine yesterday. it has been taken away from us. there will be some brighter spells developing towards the coast of northern ireland, north—east wales and devon and somerset. there is not much wet weather around during the afternoon. it is mild, just not as mild as it was yesterday in the sunshine. here is a few going into the evening, nothing changing very quickly. there may be some breaks around for cardiff for the six nations this evening. 0vernight we will have ranged from northern ireland and scotland. england and wales, with the exception of the odd patch of drizzle, it will be mainly dry, misty and murky. temperatures are holding up, not going down very

far. a mild start to the weekend. the rain pushes away on saturday in two parts of northern england, north and west wales. behind it we brighten up. ahead of it we will have some funny spells, east anglia and the south—east, where for some of us it will turn quite warm. we could see 17 celsius again. in scotla nd could see 17 celsius again. in scotland and northern ireland it will also feel pleasant in the afternoon. part two of the weekend now. a couple of areas of whether moving through. it is more mixed on sunday. slightly cooler by the end of the weekend. some rain at times this weekend, not all the time, there will be drier and brighter moments as well. back to you two. thank you. in 1952, the city of london was effectively brought to a standstill — caused by air pollution. while some may remember the great smog — more than 60 years on, poor air quality

is still damaging people‘s health and causing thousands of premature deaths every year. as part of the bbc‘s so i can breathe series — breakfast‘s graham satchell has been looking at how things have improved, and what else needs to be done. london has been brought to a halt by death smog, which has descended overnight. the great smog of 1952, dramatised in the netflix series the crown. it was a difficult time. it was scary, it was unpleasant. anne goldsmith was eight in 1952 and remembers it well. we could hardly see in front of us, and when i got to school, the handkerchief would be absolutely black. it is now thought 12,000 people died in the great smog. the enemy then was coal, used in factories and people‘s homes. what followed the smog was the clean air act of 1956. it introduced smoke—controlled areas, where only smokeless fuel could be burnt. fast forward 60 years and the enemy

now is nitrogen dioxide from diesel engines. so what is being done today? these are the engines that have been removed out of taxis in birmingham. the local authority in birmingham has funding to replace the diesel engines in 65 taxis. we removed 99% of the nox that taxis were producing. it is a massive reduction. but it is a small pilot project. there are hundreds of taxis in birmingham. the government‘s overall plan is to introduce so—called clean air zones in five cities by 2020. i will look at the evidence, and when the evidence comes through as to where the key areas of pollution are, we will take the action that is needed to address the need for clean air in the city. i am afraid the government has been hopeless. critics like client earth say that what we need today is a new clean air act, and a scrappage scheme for diesel cars.

we have to force diesel vehicles off the roads. it will cost a fortune. it will take time, but we have to protect people's health. if the water we are drinking were as dirty as the air we're breathing in now, we'd do something about it. back in lewisham in london, anne is meeting nine—year—old eloise, and amy, who is six. we called it smog, and you couldn‘t see. only this far in front of your eyes. so we had to be very careful we didn‘t bump into anybody. we walked along the road like that. it was terrible, really. i feel sad for you. on days when pollution is bad, amy and eloise are kept indoors at playtime, just as anne was in 1952. sometimes we have to do stay inside because the air is bad. because the air is bad now? amazed by anne‘s story, amy and eloise are recreating her walk home from school in the smog.

are you 0k? yes, are you 0k? yes. can you see anything? no. more than 60 years on, air pollution is still damaging children‘s health and shortening people‘s lives. so many people are still complaining. now the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning. it is mild despite the

cloud, but these are the views in the conwy valley. in hull as well the cloud is starting to come in, but a beautiful sunrise. there is a little sunshine after the chilly start in eastern areas, but it is limited and it‘s fading. there are a few sharper bursts of rain on the weather front particularly across the highlands and the grampians and it will get into the northern isles this afternoon. behind it, it is drier, but a legacy of cloud is left behind and hill fog as well. similarly so for northern ireland. we could see brightness, northern parts of northern ireland later, perhaps up towards the north—east of wales and cheshire, the north coast of devon and cornwall, but there is a lot of cloud around. there is hill fog and coastal fog for the channel islands. it could be a dry affair in cardiff as wales take on ireland this evening for the next round of the six makeses. it should be milder as well than it was last time when wales played at home, but there will bea wales played at home, but there will be a lot of cloud and that remains

with us. it is holding the temperatures up. temperatures dip a little, eight to nines overnight and we have got more rain coming into scotla nd we have got more rain coming into scotland and northern ireland, but again as that head southwards, it the peter out, but it will give a damper day across northern england and parts of wales and the south—west. scotland will have a lovely day. there maybe sunshine coming through and warmth in the south and the east, but for central areas, it will be a cloudy affair. that swings away on sunday and we get rain bands coming in. cooler air behind. it does look as if saturday will be the dry day of the weekend because we will have the bands of showery rain to contend with on sunday. still mild until late on when it starts to feel cooler. as ever, there is more on the website. i will see you soon. this is business live from bbc news with rachel horne and jamie robertson. news with rachel horne this is business live from bbc news with rachel horne clearing the air. volkswagen looks to steer away from it‘s us diesel troubles

which have already cost it more than $20 billion. live from london, that‘s our top story on friday, 10th march. it‘s a big day for the german car—maker with a court hearing in detroit and a new partnership to help it rev up in india. also in the programme, kicked out of office. south korea‘s president is ousted over corruption involving the country‘s biggest companies meaning elections are on their way. let‘s see how the markets have openedin