people. research suggests more than a quarter of england's secondary schools are not offering religious education, despite being legally required to do so. the national association of teachers of re says it's a worrying trend and many pupils are not being prepared for life in modern britain. the department for education says religious education remains compulsory. tim muffett reports. the coopers‘ company and coborn school in upminster, where religious education is a core subject. it gives you the skill to debate, argue, and really consider what other people view about something. all state schools in england, including academies and free schools, are legally obliged to provide religious education as part of a balanced curriculum. there needs to be something that happens if schools aren't doing this. fiona moss is from the national association of teachers of religious education. it issued a freedom of information request to the department for education. its school census data showed that 26% of secondary schools in england made no provision for re,

and in academies, which operate outside of local authority control, the figure rose to 34% amongst the 11 to 13 age group — 44% for older pupils. when it comes down to it, schools are breaking the law. they do have to teach re to all of their students. schools we've spoken to have told us that re teachers can be hard to recruit, and that, for many pupils and parents, the subject is not considered a priority. many insist that the legal obligation to teach re can be fulfilled in different ways. they might be using conferences, they might be using some of citizenship lessons, they might be using assemblies. as head of a church of england school, that's what we did. we were most definitely not breaking the law. the department for education said that it firmly believes in the importance of religious education, and that it remains compulsory for all state funded schools. tim muffett, bbc news. now its time for meet the author.

munich. a word that in britain was turned from the simple name of a city, into a political label — for the appeasement of hitler, perhaps political weakness in the face of aggression. it is the title of robert harris‘ new novel. a thriller set in that anxious prelude to the second world war, and the story of betrayal and loyalty. welcome. you face an interesting problem as an author here. you are trying to create tension, a marvellous human story, against the backdrop where we know the outcome. you know, oddly enough that is not a problem. one of the best thrillers of recent

times, the day of the jackal, we know de gaulle was not assassinated, but it's still a thrilling book. we know there was a deal at munich, that is not really the issue. it is how we get there, what went on behind the scenes. and who was trying to do what, in order to get to a point the other didn't know what you have to do with this book, far from the essential human drama, which we will come to, for those who will not read it, is work out how hitler, for example, behaved in a room. how he looked at ribbentrop, chamberlain. what he was like? i must say, my biggest worry about writing the novel, i realised i had to have hitler close—up, you cannot write a novel about the munich agreement without that. i did have one great piece of good fortune. oddly enough, there is a 12—minute recording of adolf hitler speaking

normally, was recorded in finland in 1943. nobody was aware of it, it turned up in the finnish archives. you hear him speak, this remorseless, grinding, at the same time, lively voice. that was a great help to me. you don't have any other leader in the second world war, that we have heard what they sound like over the dinner table. talking about leaders. you managed to evoke a certain amount of sympathy for what chamberlain was trying to do, and how he went about it. his fundamental decency, really. although he was duped. i have a great sympathy for chamberlain. i'm often drawn in life to unpopularfigures. chamberlain was unlike the modern caricature for a weak leader we have. a terrifically strong leader. if i had to pick a recent prime minister he reminds me of, it is margaret thatcher. the same remorseless

domination of his colleagues by his mastery of detail. he was as passionate for peace as hitler was passionate for war. munich describes a dual between these two men. oddly enough, chamberlain wins the dual. i do not think there is any doubt about that. hitler felt he had been cheated. and was furious with chamberlain. we remember it completely differently. very hard but that is how it looks to hitler. the drama that unfolded in the book, and i don't want to go to too much detail of the plot. it would spoil it readers about to pick it up. there is human drama involving two people on different sides, as it were. who knew each other before the war. what we see is the classic fight between loyalty to country and loyalty to one‘s own beliefs. that occurs again and again in your story. it always fascinates you. yes, i like the great historical

event, and the individual conscience caught up in it. i wanted to write a novel about munich for 13 years. —— 30 years. i liked the idea of a civil servant who travelled with chamberlain on his plane to see hitler. but i could not see where it went. a man having problems in his private life, his wife having an affair. at which point do you stop appeasing in the private life, as well as the international stage? that was my original conceit. last year, i thought if he was at oxford around 1930, and there was german scholar, and they were great friends, and they travelled on adolf hitler's train overnight to munich, as my other protagonist travelled from london on chamberlain‘s plane. and they met. that would take me into the conference. there's a wonderful sense of fun, on the author's part. serious, but fun nonetheless.

trying to create the atmosphere in the room. it has to come out of your imagination. we know the historical fa ct afterwards. we can work out the various strategies. what it was like, what the smell was like, what the fuel was like. the atmosphere, the lighting, that is in your head. great fun to make it up. i had three great visits writing this book, one was around downing street after six o'clock when i was allowed in, and shown chamberlain‘s private study. the geography of downing street. then in munich, the building where the munich conference took place. it's hardly changed. it was untouched by allied bombing. a lot of the decoration is still there. the study where the conference took place, you can see. hitler's apartment. there i was very fortunate to get into that, as it is a police headquarters, closed off.

that was staggering. do you think you know what it felt like to walk into that room, when chamberlain and hitler met in person? i think i do. i read all the accounts i could. history to me is a very live thing. i don't necessarily believe in ghosts, but i believe in picking up, as it were, the tremors of the past. i feel that quite strongly. when i go to these places... always in my books i have a strong place in place, i needed that physicality. to go there, yes, i did feel i could imagine what it was like. the room was filled with uniforms, ss uniforms, goring, himmler, hess. various types. the italians in their smart fascist uniforms. then these rather dowdy civilians from london and paris turn up. the crowds outside. the swastikas. i did not realise the munich conference took place in the absolute heart of nazism. there were all eternal flames.

the grand reviewing area and so on. like a pagan city within a city. so to bring all of that alive, for me, that is a great pleasure of writing. we are up both of the post—war generation. the shadow of these events was so strong over us. the interpretation was so vivid, by our parents‘ generation. we are now almost creeping out of that shadow, beginning to be able to get it as human beings. we have this churchillian view of history. he was such a brilliant storyteller. a creative writer in a way, as well as prime minister. he has conditioned this whole island story of our. island story of ours. of course neville chamberlain was given a very poor part. i don't think without ‘38, without munich, there would not have been the glorious victories of 1940. or the survival of 1940.

poor old neville chamberlain died early on in the war. unable to give his version of events afterwards. he has many faults. in the end, appeasement failed. in the end, he got it wrong. i am not sure that any prime minister would have done anything different, to what he did. i think he was aware, at least there was a pretty strong chance, that the agreement would not hold. the british by 1939, under chamberlain, were spending 50% of government revenue on rearmament. imagine if we were to do that now. so part of the idea of the book, we have plenty of representations in fiction and on film of winston churchill, but i thought it would be interesting to try and represent chamberlain, what he was like. robert harris, author of munich, thank you very much. good evening. over the past few days

the weather has not been changing much. we have had that continuing theme of sunshine and heavy showers. sunday was no exception. these humourless crowds brought thunder and hail across parts of the country. sharon was easing away. low— pressure country. sharon was easing away. low—pressure sitting towards the east but higher pressure taking charge from the north—west. many western parts of the country will have some light wind and will be chilly. breeze coming in of the northsea on the east side. a fresh autumnal start to the day tomorrow. in the countryside, particularly across northern and western parts of the country, likely to bea western parts of the country, likely to be a bit of frost first thing monday morning. as we had through

the course of the week, we start the theme of sunshine and showers. rain through the middle part of the week for some of us but temperatures on the rise. so we lose the risk of frosty night late in the week. heading through monday, this breeze coming in of the title at northsea. some showers in england and perhaps eastern scotland. further in the west you are likely to avoid the showers but there could be the odd one. temperatures about 15—18 for most of us but cooler with the breeze around eastern scotland and north—east england. monday evening, cloud and showery rain further south. sky is clear again through the early hours on tuesday morning. it could be a fresh start. temperatures in towns and cities a bit lower tuesday morning. similarto bit lower tuesday morning. similar to monday with a lot of dry and settled weather around. a bit of breeze around the far north—east but many places staying dry with fairly

light winds, too. rain working into the far north—west late in the david temperatures 15—18d. slightly cooler than average but still warmer in the sunnier weather. on wednesday, things turn wet and windy from the west but eastern parts a bit warmer, even up to 20 degrees in the sunshine. the this is bbc news. the headlines at 8:00pm. deterrent threat level has been lowered from severe to critical after friday's attack on the london should. put your hands yet! this footage shows this moment when they read the homes of two elderly forest