hello it's friday, it's ten o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire... on the programme today — aged 1a and 15 years old two women were shot on the schoolbus alongside malala yousafzai six and a half years ago. kainat riazand and shazia ramzan are here to tell us about that day and talk about the work they're doing to try and make sure girls around the world get to go to school. the british—iranian mum who's been in prison accused of spying in tehran for two and half years, is being given diplomatic status by the uk government. her husband will explain if that will help secure her release. parent protests are growing over lessons about lgbt rights at a school in birmingham.

this no outsiders no toxic programme is indoctrinating our children and we are against this. are we against this indoctrination? but why are the protests continuing when parkfield community school says it stopped the lessons at half term? if your children go to that school, get in touch. how much food do you chuck away every week? it's about the same weight as the shard. wow! what? that's the amount of food waste which we are generating in the uk each week from our consumer homes. wow! we challenged six students to halve the amount of food waste they produce — as part of our sustainability challenge. hello.

that is friday, always excellent news. later on in this half hour, how have changes to your benefits, including the introduction of uc affected your mental health? today, mental health professionals say all the changes have increased demand for mental health services. so what impact have those changes had on you? use the hashtag #victorialive. send us an email, or text 61124 — texts are charged at standard network rate. now time for the news. the government is to give diplomatic immunity to a british—iranian woman, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, who is serving a five yearjail sentence for spying in iran. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, said it wasn't a magic wand but would send a message to tehran, that ms zaghari—ratcliffe was clearly innocent. and a little later this hour victoria will be interviewing nazanin‘s husband richard ratcliffe about whether he thinks this latest move may help in securing his wife's release. a second arrest has been made by police investigating the fatal

stabbing of 17—year—old jodie chesney in romford. jodie was stabbed in the back while sitting on a park bench in east london last friday. scotland yard says a man was arrested in london this morningon suspicion of murder. a 20—year—old man arrested in leicester on tuesday remains in custody. theresa may will appeal to the eu to give concessions on brexit, when she gives a speech in lincolnshire today. the prime minister is expected to say that decisions in brussels in the next few days will have a big impact on the fate of the withdrawal deal, which faces another commons vote on tuesday. labour says her speech is an admission of failure. parents are being urged to lobby the government for an increase in education funding. more than 7000 headteachers have written a joint letter to millions of families warning that cuts are affecting class sizes, staff numbers and resources.

the department for education inisists it's negotiated an extra £750 million for schools. the operators of one of the uk's oldest nuclear power stations in north ayrshire say they still hope to restart it, despite finding hundreds of cracks in the bricks which make up its core. it's now been a year since reactor 3 at hunterston b power station, which is owned by edf, last generated electricity. president trump's former campaign chairman, paul manafort, has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for banking and tax fraud. prosecutors had pressed for a sentence of up to 2a years but the judge said that would be excessive, adding that manfort had led an otherwise blameless life. his downfall stems from the inquiry into suspected collusion between the trump presidential campaign and russia. police in the us state of colorado have launched an internal probe after an officer drew his gun on a black man, who was only holding a rubbish picker, collecting

trash outside his own home. the whole incident was filmed by a neighbour and shows the man being confronted by three officers after the first policeman called for back—up, he can be heard shouting "i don't have a weapon. this is a bucket, this is a clamp." eventually, the officers believed him. america's new astronaut capsule has undocked from the international space station at the end of its six—day test mission. the unmanned space x dragon craft is due to splash down in the atlantic around lunchtime today, if everything goes to plan then it could start being used to carry people later this year. some breaking news, just coming into us. some breaking news, just coming into us. three males, three men aged 18, 17 and 15 have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 17—year—old boy was stabbed to death in west kensington. so, three

arrests of three men, boys, youths, i guess you would call them, aged 18, 17 and i guess you would call them, aged 18,17 and 15, i guess you would call them, aged 18, 17 and 15, arrested on suspicion of murder after a 17—year—old boy was stabbed to death in west kensington. that just was stabbed to death in west kensington. thatjust in from the metropolitan police. that is a summary metropolitan police. that is a summary of the main news. on october 9th 2012 a bus full of girls was travelling home from their school in the swat valley region of pakistan when two gunmen stopped the vehicle, got on, and shot three of the girls at point blank range. incredibly they all survived. one of them was 15—year—old malala yousafzai, who was shot in the head for publicly speaking out on the behalf of girls and their right to learn. the attack catapulted her into the spotlight and she became a household name worldwide. but you may not have heard of the other two teenagers who were also hit by bullets that

day in the shoulder, arm and hand. kainat riaz was 15 at the time, and shazia ramzan was 1a. they are both here today, in their first in—depth interview on uk television, to tell us about their campaign to make sure girls across the world are able to go to school. good morning. thank you very much for coming on our programme. for anybody watching right now, it is absolutely inconceivable that a school bus would be stopped on its way home, full of pupils that had done exams that morning, and a gunman would get on and shoot at the children. i wonder if you could tell the audience about those moments?- you mentioned, it was exam day will stop we finished our exam and every child wanted to go back and meet their mother, have food, because they were hungry. we sat down and we we re they were hungry. we sat down and we were about to leave. we waited for some girls, because it is always different girl sitting on the same bus. and then we left the school,

because we always crossed the road. suddenly the bus was stopped. we we re suddenly the bus was stopped. we were continuing as usual, we thought, because we were not worried. we did not think about what is going to happen. we continue talking about our exam, how did he examine go, what questions were there? malala was talking to her best friend. after that, the man came at the back of the bus, and he said, who is malala yousafzai? we all looked at each other. but nobody said a word, that she is sitting right in front of you. she was very near to right in front of you. she was very nearto him. and he right in front of you. she was very near to him. and he shot malala in the forehead. and then he shot me on my shoulder and the hand. this is where i was hit by the bullet, and kainat as well. and we were taken to the hospital by the bus driver. how

did he know how malala was? she had done a lot of work about girl's education and she was going a long time, her vision was to get every girla high time, her vision was to get every girl a high quality of education in swat valley. that is why they were trying... that is how they knew it was malala. she was not covering her face. did you know you had been hit bya face. did you know you had been hit by a bullet? when i saw malala full of blood on the floor, i don't know, what happened to me? everything was just blurred in front of me. i couldn't see everything properly. i wasjust screaming couldn't see everything properly. i was just screaming and couldn't see everything properly. i wasjust screaming and shouting. i didn't know what i was saying. i was covering my face. by the time my scarf, i was wearing it, covering my face. by the time my scarf, iwas wearing it, it covering my face. by the time my scarf, i was wearing it, it was not on my head, literally, i don't know

what happened to me. but after when the driver took us to the hospital, he took shazia and malala, but he was asking, has anybody been injured as well? i knew that i felt numb, but i was so scared, because of the fear, i couldn't go to the hospital. so you actually run home, i think? despite having been hit by a bullet? yes. shazia, you had to undergo serious surgery, yes. shazia, you had to undergo serious surgery, i think. tell us about the nature of your injuries question not afterwards i was taken to the hospital, the same as malala. ididn't to the hospital, the same as malala. i didn't know who else got injured. there was a lot of blood, and as kainat said, we all wear white scarves. our white scarves were read, we could not see any white anymore. we took them to hospital, the doctor searched, they could only see my hand. it is our culture, you

do not go straight, ok, let me see where you are hurt. they say, yes, you have been hit by a bullet and it is your hand. they said, do you have any where else? i said i feel numb, my shoulder, i don't know what it is. they cut through my sleeves and they found out that i had been hit bya they found out that i had been hit by a bullet here as well. at this point, did you think malala was dead? i asked my doctor, he was trying to help me. there were a lot of people in the room. i asked, where is malala ? of people in the room. i asked, where is malala? he said, she is in the next room, she is being addressed as well, the same as you. but malala was not conscious. that is what worried me. at that time, is she alive or dead? that was the only question. but then i didn't have the courage to say, i didn't want her to be dead. they were, like, she is fine, she is being taken care of. you just need to call your parents.

you just need to call your parents. you need to inform them that you are in the hospital, so they can come back. the whole thing must have been absolutely terrifying. it was. after i got back home, my mother was in hospital, the first thing i was saying was crying and saying that malala is dead. again, 99% possible when you get shot in the head, there are very few possibilities... it's very dangerous. to survive? exact, i was screaming and crying, she is dead. my brother was saying, what has happened? everything is ok. they gave me water, my sister—in—law and brother gave me water and said, what is happening? i could not speak. because of the fear that i was so scared and shaking. i said, malala is dead. he said, take a breath. by that time, yes, i thought there wasn't much possibility. but

luckily, we were all praying for her to get better. she is fine and we are really proud of what she is doing. malala came to the queen elizabeth hospital in birmingham for her safety, and also because she needed specialist treatment. tell our audience how you both came to britain. malala was taken first to hospital, and then i was moved to the same hospital. that was the army hospital? is that when you first saw malala? that is when i saw her. what did you think? nobody was allowed to actually enter the room because of strict security and all of that. but then when i was entered, i was in a wheelchair. the doctor took me first to that room and then she was lying on the bed. he asked me, do you know who that person is? i did stare at

her, but i didn't know who that person is. you couldn't recognise her? i could not recognise, because it was her face where she was hit. it was sullen, and very hard to recognise her. the malala i know was not that person anymore. so he told me that it is malala. i could not find the right words to say, because i had no words, what should i say at that moment? but then i met her father as well. that was the first time he saw me as well. they knew that other girls had been injured as well. and... , sorry, i interrupted, you were going to say how you came to britain? it was hard to continue with our education, because people are very with our education, because people are very scared to take us to the school and nobody would agree to ta ke school and nobody would agree to take us. every day, sometime kainat‘s father, sometimes somebody else's father would take us. so

gordon brown and sarah brown played a very big role. we are very thankful. malala's father, we got a call from gordon brown, a college would like to offer you a scholarship, so it would be a safe place to continue with your education. they asked for my father's permission. they said, they are your daughters, we would like daughters to get an education, like other girls are doing, and it would help in the future for other girls to achieve their dreams as well. where is the college? in wales. was that a difficult decision for you? it meant leaving your family. yes, it was difficult for my parents, we are from the north and it was difficult for my family to send your daughter to a different country. you know, it was really difficult. at what happened after the incident, we had a bomb blast behind my house, and there were two people that died.

so it was my friend and her grandmother. the community response to the bomb blast was they should not live between us, because they don't feel safe because of me. the bomb blast was potentially related to the fact you are living there and you are still being targeted? or are not necessarily, but that is what the community felt? exactly, i don't know what the reality is. that is what they were trying to say, and again and again with my father, that you should not live here. it is difficult to go somewhere else and live there. what happened after we got a phone call from gordon brown, my father and mother, they were really worried that we don't have any other options. sol really worried that we don't have any other options. so i think it would be better if i come to the uk and continue with my education. i think that will be the right decision. for my family it was very difficult. you are both 21 now, was at the right decision? yes, it was.

it was very hard. to send a 14—year—old out of the country where you do not have any relatives, you don't know anyone, basically. the language was different, we couldn't speak english. basically flying to another country. but my father a lwa ys another country. but my father always said that i believe in you. so, i know that you can do it. this is the right thing to do. you will get a safe enrolment and you will continue with your education. the education part was what they said, yes, you can go there. you are both studying in edinburgh. in nursing. i think you both would like to go back... or is it you that would like to go back? i am so sorry, i knew one of you wanted to go back to tra nsfer one of you wanted to go back to transfer those skills when you finish studying. but you are also campaigning to make sure that girls

around the world, wherever they live, can go to school, and there are plenty of countries where it is very, very difficult. south sudan, niger, chad, mali, how can you change things. i was saying, it is a very limited option for myself, medicine, engineering. design. that's it. but what i wanted to be was a gynaecologist. it after i came here and experienced getting more education, in a very open... here, i have a lot of experience. i found that i have more opportunity to do different things. so, i changed my mind. iwant different things. so, i changed my mind. i want to be a nurse now. the reason i want to go back to pakistan, because i will go to the swat valley for 45 days, and realise that we need more nurses to change the system. and notjust helping the patients, but all of the systems.

that is the reason i want to go back home. and shazia and i have continued our education in the uk. therefore, we can show an example of how those people who cannot speak for themselves. if they want to get an education, because of family and society they are not getting the opportunity, so we can support them to get a high level of education. a lot of the opportunities that they do not yet have access to, the things that they don't have. as you said, this is mostly girls that are facing these problems in developing countries. so, this would be like we wa nt countries. so, this would be like we want to be an example to them and show them that you can do everything. you can face the fear and you can fight for what you want. this is your right, and you should fight for it. would you say, finally, shazia, that your horrific experience as a young teenager is guiding you, is driving you now to

make sure that girls go to school and getan make sure that girls go to school and get an education? yes, yesterday we we re and get an education? yes, yesterday we were talking about the same thing. what had happened to us, before that, i wasn't very confident person to speak, and go forward, i a lwa ys person to speak, and go forward, i always wanted to speak, but inside my heart i would not say out loud this is my right, or this is a human right, we should do it, we should fight for girls‘ education. but the incident happened to us. it was sad. no one deserved that. none of the girls in the world deserved that. but it is also the reason we fight now. because we know this is a human right and everybody deserves an education. what malala is started, and she has gone far and we are very proud of her, because she helped a lot of girls to get an education, because she realised that if no one speaks for them, i will speak for them. if i am there, and she has the

confidence, she can choose the role. altogether, girls, we can bind with her. because bonding and coming together, that is what also helps, communities, and bringing others to the ground and getting an education. thank you very much for talking to our audience, thanks for coming on the programme and all the best with yourcampaign. still to come... a warning from health professionals that changes to benefits — including the introduction of universal credit — are damaging people‘s mental health. parent protests are growing over lessons about lgbt rights at a school in birmingham we find out why when the school says they stopped the lessons before half term. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe — the british—iranian mum who‘s still injail in iran after two and a half years, accused by the regime of being a spy — is to be given given diplomatic protection by the uk government.

the foreign secretaryjeremy hunt says it means the case will now be treated as a formal legal dispute between britain and iran. the rare procedure hasn‘t been used in more than 100 years. earlier, jeremy hunt explained what it meant. it legally makes it a state issue. it is not a magic wand that will solve things overnight. but it does create a different legal and political context. it sends a very strong message to iran, you are a great civilisation, you may have disagreements with the uk, but at the heart of this is an innocent woman, vulnerable, unwell and scared, she has a four—year—old daughter. you have heard how devoted her husband is. she should not be paying the price for whatever disagreements you have with the uk. i‘m joined now by richard ractliffe, nazanin‘s husband, how do you react? really pleased. it is something we

have been asking for for a long time andi have been asking for for a long time and i am really pleased he has done it. it is a big deal, changes the sta kes, it. it is a big deal, changes the stakes, it is now a formal dispute between iran and the uk. it is a bit unclear what that means in practice as to what happens next, but it is great the foreign secretary has specifically taken a clear stand, as he said there, about nazanin‘s innocence and that she shouldn‘t be involved in what else is going on. does your wife know yet? not yet. well, i haven‘t told her. she can call me tomorrow so i can tell her then. she knew a week ago. she was askedif then. she knew a week ago. she was asked if she still wanted it. she might geta asked if she still wanted it. she might get a letter inside the prison. how do you want iran to react to this? well, we wanted the government to do it, to make a clear signal that this needs to be sorted. and obviously what we want iran to do is to release nazanin home. we discussed with the foreign office what we thought might happen. i

think when the foreign secretary summoned the iranian ambassador back injanuary, summoned the iranian ambassador back in january, the reaction summoned the iranian ambassador back injanuary, the reaction was hostile, initially, and there were state m e nts hostile, initially, and there were statements to say, listen, she is an iranian citizen, you have no right. so we were kind of expecting to see what happens next from the iranian side. the iranian ambassador tweeted overnight to say she is an iranian citizen and the uk has no rights under iranian law. that is not actually true, but we were expecting some rhetorical pushback. but then hopefully there will be an attempt to try to solve this. might this new legal status for her get her better access to medical treatment, for example? the letter that went to the iranian embassy, what that was asking them was firstly that the ambassador now be allowed to visit, because he hasn‘t in three years. secondly that an independent doctor can go in and assess that she is ok.

of course, we have been battling for a long time, the foreign office have been battling for a long time that she be given medical treatment. it is hoped that this big stick make some progress. what are the medical issues for your wife? for a long time she has been complaining about pain in her neck, causing numbness in herarms and pain in her neck, causing numbness in her arms and legs, causing her to colla pse in her arms and legs, causing her to collapse sometimes. she saw a neurologist who said this was a problem. recently, he looked again at the scans and said this is a real problem, i am surprised you are in prison, you need to get this text —— checked again. also there are lumps on her breasts, which hopefully are just cysts, but she needs to get those looked at. the thing that worries me is the mental effect of having being solitary for so long. the panic attacks, the loss of control, really up and down. and she was seeing a psychiatrist and then

that got blocked. i think there will be scars if she came home tomorrow. the longer this goes on, the deeper the scars are. certainly, it has been a tough process for her.|j remember saying to me, i hope she will be home for christmas. was last year. obviously you maintain hope all the time, but you must have difficult moments? today is a good day, but you are right. we go back a couple of weeks, when it was looking bleak, she was on hunger strike, promises made, nothing happened. she was getting very low on the telephone and asking, and i didn‘t have any positive news to offer her. it has moments where it is very tough. it is a long, attritional process for me, for nazanin, for all of ourfamilies process for me, for nazanin, for all of our families and the people that keep us supported. how is your daughter? 0k. how old is she now? four and daughter? 0k. how old is she now? fourand a daughter? 0k. how old is she now? four and a half. you know, asking more questions. i was asking about when she was arrested, why the men

had masks, things that are upsetting to talk about, but she was still a bit too little to understand. thank you for coming on. mental health professionals say changes to benefits including the introduction to universal credit are increasing demand for mental health services. the trade association nhs providers — which represents most nhs trusts — conducted a survey of its members, and its findings suggest loneliness, homelessness and financial hardship are also adding to pressure. in a moment we‘re going to talk to three people with a direct experience of the benefits system and its effect on claimants‘ mental health. one of those people isjoy dove, whose daughterjodey whiting took her own life after her benefits were stopped. here‘sjoy on our programme last year, talking about the letters sent by the department for work and pensions to jodey after her death. we phoned him. she died on the 21st

of february and on the 23rd we told him that she died. so, "ok, we‘ll tell all departments". the 25th of february, they sent a letter out, even though we said she was dead, and they sent a letter out once again saying you are fit to work. now, if she hadn‘t have done it then, i think she would have done it whenever. they were giving her no hope at all. and she was laid in the undertaker‘s, then, not even buried. let‘s talk again tojoy dove, also to neil macvicar, who says his experience trying to get help from thejobcentre made his depression worse. and here with us is gary vaux, who manages a benefit advice team. is that how we pronounce your surname? it is close enough. thank you for coming on the programme. joy, you for coming on the programme. joy, let‘s talk aboutjodey, she took her own life after her stopped for missing an appointment. we know that people who take their own lives

often have a multitude of reasons, she was recovering from pneumonia and had bipolar. how did you see her mental health decline as she tried to get her benefit sorted? in the six weeks from the letter coming, saying, why did you not attend that medical, she was recuperating, convalescing, and i could see she just felt there was no hope after the first letter came, saying you are fit to work, after not seeing her face. it was disgusting. for six weeks... sorry, go ahead? so, the six weeks, i was doing everything i could, phoning them up, helping her to write back and everything. when i look back on it now, the little things that i have pieced together, she just gave up hope. because her body couldn't take no more, and her mind, because of what they were doing to her. they were saying, no,

you are fit to work. like i say, we found all of these failings, through the independent case examiner. five different failings. they should have visited her, they should have phoned her, got in touch with her doctor. and i've got proof here, saying... this is the apology letter. and most of it says, i am writing to you to offer my sincerest condolences on the death of your daughter, jodey, i can only repeat my apologies that despite being informed of the death we failed to update our systems, and they found her three months after they found her three months after the death, and this is clearly unacceptable. —— phoned her. when she did not attend her appointment, we should have attempted further contact with jodey before closing herclaim. contact with jodey before closing her claim. that contact with jodey before closing herclaim. that is contact with jodey before closing her claim. that is the main thing in this apology letter. how do you take that apology?

how do you take that apology7|j don't, how do you take that apology?” don't, really, but the only thing is they are admitting their own failings and the procedures they did not follow, so i will take this as farasl not follow, so i will take this as faras i can. not follow, so i will take this as far as i can. meaning what? i have had all these different people help me through my campaign, i have got to this inquest and it is about working for the truth. this is after an inquest, it doesn't matter how long after, working for truth, justice and accountability. i have been assigned a caseworker and they will find me all the legal help. i would like to get them up in court for culpable manslaughter, cruelty. you wouldn't do that to your next—door neighbour or a jog, what they did to my daughter, i am not leaving it at that. and myjustice

forjodey petition has gone through the roof since the apology letter was put out. i have over 7000 now, and anyone who can, please can you signjustice forjodey and anyone who can, please can you sign justice for jodey and and anyone who can, please can you sign justice forjodey and 38 degrees. good morning, neil mcvicar. you say your experience trying to get the right benefit made your depression worse. what happened? good in myjournal i would be asked to supply a new tenancy agreement in the next three days or i would be liable to sanctions, so i was racing across london trying to get my landlord to sign a tenancy agreement. they didn't assess me for agreement. they didn't assess me for a year, they didn't do a lot of things they could have done to help. i was recovering from a brain tumour and would have been valid for a freedom pass, they did not help with that. there was no real help at all, i got all my healthy charities, like

the one i work for now. they were not really interested in helping me at any stage —— i got all my help through charities. after i spoke to the programme last time they reached out, but it was ridiculous, they should be ashamed. the way they word letters and treat people is absolutely awful. they do an assessment with someone and they say, if you maintain eye contact and you smile, you do not have a mental health issue, which isjust ridiculous. lots of people who do these assessments have no training in mental health and it is absolutely insane, the whole system. i think it has been broken for a long time. gary, you have been the

manager of a benefit advice team for over two decades. why did you decide to put benefit advice helpers in a community mental health unit? we had discussions with our suicide team from public health, they said one of the big issues for them was the number of people where economic factors were involved in self—harm and suicide. so i said if we put advisers directly into the community mental health team, we can work alongside the community psychiatric nurses, the psychiatrists and social workers and give people benefits advice when we turn they need it. what difference has made?‘ advice when we turn they need it. what difference has made? a huge difference in two ways, it has helped people to get their benefits sorted out more quickly and accurately, people have had money in their pockets, a huge difference, but it is also relieved pressure on the nhs staff themselves. they were having to chase up thejobcentre and dwp officers when they do not know how to do it. my benefit advisers are experts in knowing who to speak

to, what to say, and they make sure things like the personal independence payments, the employment support allowance and universal credit are paid accurately. you have relieve pressure on the nhs and got money to people. in situ you have seen psychiatric nurses phoning the department for work and pensions to try to sort out benefit problems for patients? yes, and the feedback we get from the clinical nhs staff is that our advisers are crucial to their work, because it relieves the immediate pressure of finance so people can concentrate more on their mental health issues without the day worry of where the next meal is coming from. the work and pensions secretary has made a number of cages changes to universal credit, she would argue she has made a number of changes due to listening, more universal credit payments will have rents paid directly to a landlord, they have

axed the two child cap. a government spokesperson said: "mental health is a key priority for this government. our nhs long term plan included an extra £2.3 billion to further transform mental health services and commits to growing investment in mental health services faster than the nhs budget overall for each of the next five years. universal credit tailors support to people‘s individual needs and where challenges remain we will continue to make improvements." gary, are there changes you would still like to see? yes, some had been made, earlier this week amber rudd mentioned merging the assessments for employment support allowa nce assessments for employment support allowance and personal independence payment, which includes universal credit. we are not talking about merging the benefits, we are talking about merging the assessments, which might relieve some pressure. amber rudd said herself people feel like they are on trial when they go for benefit assessments. there is more to be done. in the first instance, the safeguards meant to be in place

for vulnerable adults should be followed more closely, the safeguards we heard about were not followed with jodey, safeguards we heard about were not followed withjodey, they safeguards we heard about were not followed with jodey, they are safeguards we heard about were not followed withjodey, they are there. they are often not followed and people slip through the net. there is more to be done in the short—term and lots in the longer term to ensure that people are treated with more dignity and respect. ciaran says my life has been made hell by the dwp. they took my pip away from the months before my award was due and have almost driven me to suicide numerous times. if it was not for quick action from my mumi if it was not for quick action from my mum i would be dead now, the whole system has made my life a misery and i‘m constantly in fear of what the department for work and pensions will do next. eric says, i don‘t know about you but zero point awards for pip, esa, assessments of

incurable, progressive disabilities and looming universal credit for the roll—out gives me a massive psychological boost, not! another viewer says i have try —— quite more about this than my diagnosis of terminal breast cancer. the punitive assessment processes, handing the sick. thank you all for coming on the programme, gary, neil and joy. it‘s the end of week three in our month long sustainability challnege, where we‘ve tasked six students from loughborough university to live in a more enviromntally friendly way. so far we‘ve covered fashion, plastics, and this week was food. they were given the goal of reducing their food waste by 50% whilst also drastically changing the way they eat and what they eat. so how did they get on? michael cowan reports. our food waste expert dr elliot woolley has taken the students to london‘s borough market. we wanted to test their knowledge of how different foods impact the planet when it comes to emissions.

so, what we have got on the table in front of us are five different types of food. i want you to identify which one is the least impactful in terms of carbon footprint and which ones are the most impactful in terms of carbon footprint. so we have got an 800 gram loaf, we‘ve got an apple, we have got 200 grams of cheese, we have got 125 grams steak and we have got a punnet of strawberries. so if we switch those two, i reckon that's second most. and then cheese. the cheese, apple and the strawberry. yes, that way around. that way around. so, let me tell you the apple‘s carbon footprint is about 80 grams of co2. the punnet of strawberries is about 150 grams. the cheese is actually in the wrong place. oh, the cheese is the least one? the cheese, we will save that for later. the bread is about 800 grams, so about the same weight in bread as co2. the next one then is the steak.

and then the cheese. that is about two kilograms of co2 for this piece of steak. and then the cheese is about three kilograms for that bit of cheese. i thought the cheese would be one of the least, actually. because it is an animal—based product and typically animal—based products have the highest impact. this is a box of 40 apples, symbolising the uk‘s annualfood production. elliot wants to show them how much food we waste each year in the uk. ok, so if we take these seven apples out, this represents the amount of food which we throw away from our homes and actually if we take these five, this is the amount of food waste which is avoidable. if i told you each of these apples represents a million tonnes, so there is seven million tonnes, we want to get a sense of perspective, is about the same weight as the shard. wow! what? each week. that‘s the amount of food waste that we are generating in the uk each week from our consumer homes. wow!

every week in the uk, we are generating the weight of the shard in food waste. back at the student house, they‘re delving through a week‘s worth of food waste. i‘m going to put the avoidable food waste this side and the unavoidable food waste that side. 0k. oh, it's all wet! banana skins. sandwich meat, some ham, take the grapes off, make sure you eat them. what's this. sausage? a chicken bone. 0k. go on. that is almost useable. look at that. that is pie. oh, no! it is lovely spinach, this spinach is still fresh. so, guys, now we have got our two piles, we have got our unavoidable food waste here and we can see the much larger pile of the avoidable stuff.

in the unavoidable side, we‘ve got some lemon skin, eggshells, banana peel. some tea bags in there. then on the avoidable side, we‘ve got things like a lettuce. most of the lettuce in fact. sandwich meat, which doesn‘t look like it‘s even tried to be eaten. loaves of bread, or slices of bread rather and some garlic bread as well. looking at the amount that could be eaten, especially seeing how fresh some of it is, it's like a week old or so, it is surprising. a lot of it is actually mine, like the ham and the bread. i didn't realise that i was contributing to this much food waste. ok, guys, so moment of truth — let‘s go and weigh this and see how much food waste was generated during that week. all right, here we go. and 3.5 kilograms. wow, that's a lot. that‘s the amount of food waste generated by this household in just one week. if we can reduce this food waste by 50% so, we are looking at1.7, 1.8 kilograms of food waste next week,

then of course we will have made some great improvements. i think we've got this. i think we can, yeah. all right. challenge set. off we go. in addition to halving their food waste, the students will also be following the planetary health diet. it is essentially a move towards plant—based eating, but allows for small amounts of meat and fish. plant—based eating is becoming more popular in britain and we asked vegan chef rachel to show them some staples. we are going to make a vegetable spaghetti, kind of like a vegetable bolognaise. it‘s really, really tasty and we are going to use lentils. it‘s good because it‘s got your fibres and your proteins. i think we have got a natural chef here, i‘m not going to lie to you. no, i'm a step behind. wait and see. what do you say when people say to you when people say would you try veganism? i would say a straight no. especially because i'm actually anaemic, so i need a high amount of iron there is a lot of iron in beef and meat. fun fact, seaweed is way

richer in iron than beef and steak. what? i didn't know that. fun fact. i buy load of vegetables and have a good meal idea and i use like a half of all of them. and then you don‘t know what to do? yeah. a couple of days later i'm like, wait, i've got so much food now. i tell you what to do. you're contributing to food waste. to be fair i probably will do that. do that. i really believe in plant—based diet for the animals and wanted to share what i was making. a lot of my friends and family, one, they didn‘t believe i would be vegan, because i ate chicken all the time and, two, they just thought i was eating celery, kale, spinach and i was, "guys, my meals they are banging, they are delicious." this actually is really tasty. are you guys surprised by this? i'm100% surprised. if i went to a restaurant, i would never order a

vegetarian meal, i would never even think about it. i thought it would be like a little incomplete without any meat in it, but it's fine. it tastes really nice. i would definitely make it again. yea! when it it comes to waste, though, how can we actually reduce it? so, our challenge for the week is to get our food waste down to 1.7,1.8 kilograms. there are three main things, the first thing is planning. so, you have got to plan what you‘re going to eat, write a shopping list, make sure that you‘re not duplicating things you already have on the list. storage, so make sure that you‘re storing your food appropriately. so, if it needs to go in the fridge, most fruit and veg will last longer in the fridge. if things are partly eaten, then making sure they‘re in sealed containers and making sure that you‘re aware of your best before dates and your use by dates and you know the difference between the two. the third tip is about preparation. so, you need to be cooking the right amount for the amount of people that are going to eat. if you‘re over—cooking then you‘re likely to generate waste, or even end up over—consuming.

so, today we're going to be cooking rachel's lentil spag bol for dinner tonight for the house. should i put it in the pan? no, not yet. voila! pass your plate, kids. this looks spaghetti—fied! you ready for this? not really. you were going to... i'll try it. stop picking it. just eat some of it. i know what a carrot tastes like. it tastes just like some random casserole. you have done a good job, bearing in mind i didn't think this was actually going to be eaten at all and everybody else is eating. it‘s much easier to get down me than i thought it would be. it's quite good. it's a little bit mushy.

it‘s easier to finish than i thought it would be. it's a new kind of lifestyle, not eating meat for weeks. i reckon if you found the right recipes and actually put work into it, you could actually deliver veggie meals. it's not like you need to go and buy cook books, because now social media is so wide ranging, they have got so much vegan or vegetarian food, everyone's doing it. as food week draws to a close, is a sustainable diet something they‘ll stick with? initially, i found the week quite easy, because it was simple stuff that i had around the house. but as the week went on, i found it harder and harder to find new things to eat which were different to before. i moved on to stuff like quorn mince, which, it was ok, but it wasn't that nice, i don't think i would do that again. so, i don't think i would be able to do this diet for the foreseeable future. initially, i found this very difficult, because i have meat in all my meals

and also i'm a picky eater and there's a lot of things that i don't like. so, i think the most challenging part for me was finding non—meat alternatives that i could use to replace the meat with. for example, instead of making a ham sandwich, i had an avocado sandwich. instead of having a chicken stirfry, i madejust a vegetable stir fry. so, i think it's quite easy to substitute meat products with non—meat products, it isjust about finding things that you enjoy eating. you can follow all the top tips from our experts on how to live more sustainably on our website and social media channels. and join us on monday as we find out whether the students did manage to half their food waste — and launch the fourth and final week of our sustainable student challenge. thank you for your many messages about the impact on mental health when sorting benefits. dave on facebook: "i have anxiety and have self harmed. in dealings with dwp pip benefit it drives me to self harm. they are not fit for purpose and make people worse." lucy on email: "i was in hospital

in 2016 after trying to take my own life after losing my esa after a flawed assessment. i won on appeal, but is was the worst time of my life, the dwp contribute a whole lot to people like me living every day with depression and anxiety as we worry about money and losing it all the time." chrissee on twitter: "my son had his benefits stopped because he missed an appointment he had no money from mid december to mid january, he has bipolar and schizophrenia. this caused his illness to worsen and he ended up being picked up by the police and sectioned under the mental health act." do get in touch with us throughout the morning — use the hashtag victorialive. e—mail addresses on screen as well.

parents protests are continuing at a school in birmingham over lessons about lgbt rights. parkfield community school in alum rock says it‘s suspended the "no outsiders" lessons — which it says teach children to accept differences in society — at half term. but in the lasrt 24 parents have held a rally outside the school, calling for the lessons to be permanently banned in every school, everywhere. this footage was filmed by the protestors. let‘s make one thing very clear. this programme is not just about telling people that other families, other types of lifestyle exist. it‘s actually aggressively promoting them, giving it a positive spin. and telling people that it is ok for you to be muslim and for you to be gay. crowd: shame! shame, shame, shame! shame, shame! mr moffat, i did not want to make this personal, but mr moffat has decided upon his own self to reinterpret our religious scriptures.

yeah, shame! and i don‘t know... i don‘t know... i don‘t know where he gets his religious education from, when he became mufti moffat. laughter and applause. but our religious beliefs are not here to be changed. we don‘t send our children to school to be indoctrinated. that‘s the word that parents have been saying again and again and again. this is an aggressive indoctrination that is going on that we are speaking against. if there was no aggressive promotion then you would not have had all these parents come out in the street. and, as i‘ve said to you, this programme is very toxic and not only are we aiming to have it abolished at this school, but we‘re going to have it abolished in every school in birmingham, every school in the country, and that‘s

going to happen with a grassroots movement of parents coming out in the streets. that is what is needed, parents coming out and fighting their corner, and fighting for their children‘s rights. and also... and also just remember, we may not have had an issue if this was being taught to perhaps ten and 12—year—olds or 15—year—olds, but for five—year—olds who barely know how to wipe their bottoms, you want to teach them about relationships? cheering. it‘s disgusting. absolutely disgusting, and we‘re not going to put up with this. are you going to put up with this? crowd: no! we invited the group of parents to come on to the programme — but they declined. as did the school. if you‘re a parent at

the school — do get in touch during this interview. joining me now is lgbt rights campaigner, shamal waraich. shamal is a muslim, and gay, and says if he had had lgbt education in school, it would have changed his life for the better. good morning. how do you respond to that footage? i am quite shocked. it is really hurtful to hear that from pa rents, is really hurtful to hear that from parents, especially muslim parents. i will quite openly say that i am 937 i will quite openly say that i am gay and muslim and it is ok to be muslim and gay, i do not believe in what these people are aggressively trying to protest about. they say the lessons equal aggressive indoctrination. they say it is toxic, as we heard, disgusting?” think it is absolutely not true. i think it is absolutely not true. i think if they look at the outsider

programme, many parents have attended those classes and jitters about inclusivity, and diversity. they are being aggressive about this, this is not indoctrinating children, it is teaching them that may be a classmate has to mothers or fathers. in 2019 we can accept other people from different backgrounds and this is what the classes are about. they worry it is, quote, promoting the engage. about 20 years ago in primary school, if i had something like that it would have made me more open to understand my sexuality. -- they worry it is, quote, promoting the engage. the way these parents are reacting as backwards. devi and facebook says teaching lgbt backwards. devi and facebook says teaching lg bt rights backwards. devi and facebook says teaching lgbt rights is the right thing to do. these parents are teaching it is ok to hate. kids are more intelligent than people think that they need to know it is ok,

they may be lgbt themselves. this text says i fully support the school as they are trying to teach acceptance, tolerance and diversity, which is the law in this country. it is ridiculous to suggest they have an lgbt agenda, these values should be taught from birth that may result in the country being less bigoted and more accepting. cj on twitter says the school protesters are homophobes who do not understand what the programme was actually teaching. we exist and are more that what happens in our private life. is it just muslim parents what happens in our private life. is itjust muslim parents protesting? as far as itjust muslim parents protesting? as farasi itjust muslim parents protesting? as far as i know it is a minority, and a large part of the minority is muslim parents, but from the videos we saw yesterday there has been jewish and christian communities joining in. this is about equality and regeneration understanding how damaging it can be to their children by creating this animosity around the programme you have not understood what it is about. it is about equality, diversion and

inclusion, that is what we are trying to teach our children. the primary school concerned said it stopped the lessons that have tempered protests are continuing and it would seem the aim is to halt these lessons in primary schools up and down the country.” these lessons in primary schools up and down the country. i have heard they will be put back in after easter, i am championing the school and andrew moffatt‘s hold no outsiders programme, it must be part of the curriculum in primary schools throughout the country so that children who are at a young age can accept equality, diversion and inclusion. billy says i have no issue with being gay whatever your religion or ethnicity, i think it is disgusting they are discussing this with little children, it is for much older children. let children be children. lots of these parents think this is maybe an attack on their beliefs and what they think,

but it is not. this is about as living in modern britain, accepting the values of modern british lifestyles and the equality act, it is about teaching children from a young age, that is not happening at home, i guarantee muslim parents are not teaching children about equality. how old were you when you came out? about 18 but i had moved to university and away from that community to independently grow, but i knew from four or five that something was a bit different about me. had i had bad, i might have felt more comfortable to maybe even approach my teacher when i was being bullied in school for having friends that were girls or playing with dolls, whatever. it is about acceptance and tolerance. jody says the horrific homophobic talk outside the school in birmingham is dreadful, saying people like me are allowed to exist

is not aggressive promotional bringing shame. the rate of lgbt children to know they are not awful trumps the rights of parents shouting outside. smiffy says i don‘t know whether to be angry or sad. this radical hate speech. just know it is ok to be gay and muslim, the who you want to be. thank you very much, shamal. thank you for your company. have a lovely weekend. bbc newsroom live is next. good morning. we started this morning with some sunshine, but the cloud has been filling in from the west. it has not quite reached eastern parts of england, so in essex you can see the higher cloud

moving on, but still bright skies and sunshine. quickly the cloud will move in. the cloud is thickening from the west, raining to northern ireland and scotland, some moving into northern england and wales, patchy rain moving in to the midlands and eventually into the south—east of england, maximum temperatures of about seven to 11 degrees. the rain clears away towards the east tonight, some clearer spells across southern areas but in the north west, wintry showers moving on, quite a breezy night to come. temperatures not as low as last night, between three to about 708 celsius. windy conditions on sunday, feeling cold, rain, hill snow and only a bit of sunshine.

you re watching bbc newsroom live. it‘s 11am and these are the main stories this morning: relatives of ten people killed in west belfast during the troubles call for the northern ireland secretary‘s resignation after her controversial remarks about the shootings. on this international women‘s day, karen bradley is an insult to women and if she has any decency in her at all, she will do the right thing and she will resign. in a last attempt to get mps to back her brexit deal, theresa may will urge eu leaders to agree to legally binding changes to the irish backstop. a crisis in school funding — more than 7000 headteachers from across england write to parents warning that their schools are under threat. the government will grant formal diplomatic protection to nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe — the british—iranian woman who‘s