hello it's friday, it's10:ooam, i'm joanna gosling. hello, it's friday, it's 10:003m, i'm joanna gosling. mps say the screening programme for breast, bowel and cervical cancers in england is unfit for purpose — and are concerned the screening service could actually get worse while it changes are made. we'll speak to a man whose mother didn't receive an invitation for a mammogram for over 1a years, and died of breast cancer in 2012. in 2011 a group of fishermen received long prison sentences for trying to smuggle millions of pounds worth of cocaine into the country. we've seen evidence suggesting those convictions were unsafe. well, there is nothing. there is nothing here whatsoever. they found cocaine — didn't know whose it was, where it came from, and we were just at the wrong place

at the wrong time. we have some school children we will speak to who are soon to have their break time shortened. researchers say this could have a serious impact on their well—being and development. we'll ask what they think. and the young royals team up to launch a mental health text—messaging service to help those in crisis. at the heart of shout will be an incredible national volunteer community — one which needs to grow to allow us to support more people in crisis. i hope that many more of you willjoin us and be part of something very special. hello. welcome to the programme. we're live until ”am this morning. we'll be talking about school breaks, which researchers say are shorter than 20 years ago. do your kids have fewer breaks than you had? do you think it's good for them to spend more time in the classroom?

let us know, #victorialive. if you're emailing and are happy for us to contact you — and maybe want to take part in the programme — please include your phone number in your message. if you text, you'll be charged at the standard network rate. first, carrie gracie has the news. the government's screening programme for breast, bowel and cervical cancers in england has been called ‘unfit for purpose‘ by mps. the programmes have consistently failed to meet targets and it failures have resulted in hundreds of thousands of women not receiving invitations to breast and cervical screening. the public accounts committee said it was "extremely doubtful" the necessary system upgrades would be completed by the nhs's december deadline. arsenal and chelsea have reached the europa league final — as english clubs complete a clean sweep of europe's top footballing competitions. chelsea triumphed in

penalties over german side eintracht frankfurt, while arsenal had a comfortable win against valencia in spain. the clubs face each other in baku in azerbaijan on 29th may. it's the first time clubs from one country have dominated the finals of europe's top club—football tournaments, after liverpool and tottenham reached the champions league final this week. tributes have been paid to comedian freddie starr who has reportedly died at the age of 76. the sun newspaper reported the comedian was found dead at his home in spain, but the bbc has been unable to verify the details. freddie starr was one of britain's most well known performers during the 1970s, but in recent years had suffered ill health. the united states has more than doubled tariffs on billions of dollars of chinese goods. it comes after negotiations in washington aimed at salvaging a trade deal between the world's two largest economies broke up without agreement. the talks are due to resume later today.

radical new ways to repair the climate and reverse global warming are being considered by scientists at the university of cambridge as part of a new research centre. among the ideas it will consider is a scheme to re—freeze polar regions, by reflecting sunlight away from the earth, using water sprayed into the atmosphere by ships. it's feared that current approaches to tackle global warming won't go far enough to stop irreversible damage to the planet. one in four teachers in england say they have witnessed pupils being removed from school, in an attempt to artificially boost a school's results and improve league table standings. a study from the schools watchdog, ofsted, found half of teachers believe the illegal practice of off—rolling is being used to improve school performance. pupils with behavioural issues were said to be most at—risk of being removed. the duke and duchess of cambridge and duke and duchess of sussex have launched the uk's first text

messaging service to give support for people experiencing a mental health crisis. the shout crisis line, in conjunction with the royal foundation, will provide free, 2a hour support, and is looking for thousands of volunteers. it connects people in difficulty with trained volunteers who can offer assistance. a beach in thailand that was made famous by its appearance in the film the beach is to remain closed until 2021. maya bay, on the island of phi phi leh, temporarily closed last year after officials said a sharp rise in visitors had damaged the environment. before it closed, up to 5,000 people were visiting the bay each day, causing much of its coral to die. that is the news summary. back to joanna. thank you very much, carrie. do get in touch with us throughout the morning —

use the #victorialive. if you're emailing and are happy for us to contact you — and maybe want to take part in the programme — please include your phone number in your message. if you text, you'll be charged at the standard network rate. mps have branded the government's screening programme for breast, bowel and cervical cancers in england as unfit for purpose, with all three programmes consistently failing to meet their targets. last year the government admitted that hundreds of thousands of women had not been invited for breast cancer screening who should have been. it then transpired there had been a similar issue sending out letters for cervical cancer screening. the nhs said it would end its contract with capita, who were responsible for some of the it errors and bring the it in house to replace the faulty system. the mps that monitor the spending of public money now say they are extremely doubtful that that system will be replaced by the nhs's december deadline and are concerned the screening service could actually worsen while the changes are made. these problems come as the government is trying to increase the number of women attending their cervical screenings.

as part of that campaign, chloe delevingne had a smear test live on the programme. pop your hands down by your sides and think about keeping your bottom down and breathing. if you are tense when it gets to the speculum that is when it gets to the speculum that is when it gets to the speculum that is when it hurts, so think about keeping your bottom on the bed. bottom down on the bed and breathe. and this is the point where some women feel some stretching type pain. yep. it's not painful. i'd describe itjust as... it's weird. it's a bit of an odd feeling. and then these are the brushes, and we will use thatjust to swipe some cells from the cervix. and at this point, some women will feel a period—type pain. slightly. it's dealable. and it's over. amazing. it's over really quickly. and the speculum comes out. 0ver really quickly. you did pull a face there. it's the waiting for something to happen. actually, it didn't happen. that was chloe delevingne, she was

brilliant coming on and doing that and we had an amazing response to it. now we can speak to lee towsey. his mother died of breast cancer in 2012 at 70 years of age. he says she didn't receive an invitation for a mammogram for over 1a years and thinks her life could have been saved if she'd been screened. meg hillier, the labour mp who is chair of the public accounts committee which has published damning criticism today, and jenny greenfield who works as a nurse manager at a gp‘s surgery, where they personally phone women who are overdue for their cervical smears. welcome to all of you and thank you for joining welcome to all of you and thank you forjoining us. meg, tell us more about what is going wrong. you are saying the screening system is not fit for purpose. there is a lot of problems, one is that there is a national system that decides who is ready for screening but there were 78 different systems that decided, that sent out information, there has been a problem with the central it system which has been well documented and now the government says it will take it over when you

look at cervical cancer screening, ita21 look at cervical cancer screening, it a 21 year low and we couldn't pinpoint why there is variation across the country and why the take—up rate is so low and they need to be able to understand that in order to encourage those not taking it up to do so and make sure they are invited in the first place. there are different strands to this, the it system meaning some people are not getting invited along. but the fact that there are people that don't want to take up the screening when it is offered, are you saying that the nhs is being complacent about it? to a certain extent, yes, this is a national programme delivered locally and in some areas better than others but if it is not being delivered the national body should challenge the local providers about what they are doing not well enough and also where it is going well, seeing what good practice there is. it might be if you are busy mum with toddlers, trying find time foran busy mum with toddlers, trying find time for an intimate medical examination can be challenging, it could be down to language,, what are

the reasons for this we are asking, they didn't have a grip of that. there is a major review going on about screening and they were putting a lot onto that but we are concerned the targets have not been met in most cases for at least four yea rs. met in most cases for at least four years. you are worried things could get worse before they get better? now the nhs is proposing to take over the central, and they acknowledge, not very good it system itself come over from capita, but i hope by 2020 the it will be sorted. well, forgive me for being skepta, but we've seen the nhs plus ‘s handling of big it systems and it is a big project to take on and we are not convinced it will be running and going smoothly by the end of the year —— forgive me for being sceptical. lee, your mother passed away when she was 70 from breast cancer and you said she had not been invited for a mammogram for 1h yea rs. invited for a mammogram for 1h years. what was the situation? nothing we can say today will bring

my mum back. all i know is that my sister had had a discussion with her about the fact whether she was asked to go for a about the fact whether she was asked to go fora mammogram about the fact whether she was asked to go for a mammogram and my mum said she never received any letters. after reading the report that i am coming back and saying it was a computer glitch and they still have the same computer system in place, this is insane, it is absolutely insane. it must be more than frustrating knowing that there is a screening programme that could have meant that your mum's cancer was identified sooner and she just wasn't invited to go along. do you think about how things could have been different? they could have been very different. she could still be alive today and my dad died shortly afterwards because he couldn't cope without her. things could have been very, very different. i still don't see anyone taking any responsibility in this report. all i see in this report is we are blaming the

computer but someone decided to use that system and someone paid for it. 0n that system and someone paid for it. on that point, meg hillier, should someone on that point, meg hillier, should someone take the blame? the thing is this was an old computer system that even the nhs recognises is not fit for purpose but i take that point absolutely, that they have known for some time it was not working on the problem that arose was very public last year, although that was a very big problem, it was a clunky system, and no one was taking a grip of the fa ct we and no one was taking a grip of the fact we have one big system and 78 other systems which was not delivering so there is responsibility at the head of the civil service but i think it's difficult to track back who did what in each bit of it system because it is so diffuse. the key thing is now we have said this can't keep going on and to some extent the nhs has accepted that but we are concerned the optimism about how fast they will change it is not realistic. are you concerned that could be many more like lee's mum who have lost their lives because of these failings? the government did an

analysis and found 122,000 women hadn't been invited for breast cancer screening hadn't been invited for breast cancer screening but originally they imagined it would be 400,000. the fa ct imagined it would be 400,000. the fact they couldn't even get those numbers straight was a real concern. that underlines how unfit the system is. we know that now and have known it for quite some time on the question we asked is why it hasn't been picked up earlier. the reality is we are where we are now and we have to push them to act quickly and move on, but also realistically. when they set false deadlines that sound good, we want to be realistic pics in the end of this has got to work because women's lives at risk. jenny, one of the things meg hillier was talking about is some authority is not being proactive enough in chasing the people when they're not responding to the invitations they get for screening. you are involved ina get for screening. you are involved in a system where women are phoned if they don't respond to the call for screening. explain what happens where you are. ok, so, iwork in

for screening. explain what happens where you are. ok, so, i work in a gp practice and we are very, very, obviously, aware that ladies aren't coming for their screenings, for whatever reason, whether they have received a letter, or whether they are too scared to come along, so we have tried to give a personal touch and one of my health care assistance has been phoning the patients. and we did an audit trail and picked up all of our ladies that had not been for screenings since that invites, some of them 20 plus years, and we have booked an awful lot of these ladies into come for their screens, and thankfully they are turning up as well. i wholeheartedly believe that because they are talking to someone that because they are talking to someone and she is on the phone making the appointment for them they then haven't got the excuse that time is too busy, we have found them, they haven't had to try to get through our telephone system to make their own appointments, and i think

that's obviously worked in our area. meg, that takes resources, having a nurse like journey making the calls, also obviously then if you get into also obviously then if you get into a situation where more people are taking up the offer of screening, but takes resources too. if the system was perfect everybody who should be invited was invited and everybody who was invited went and took up the offer of screening, could the system actually cope? well, it should be because this is the target, the target hasn't been met for at least four years in all the different screening areas. then sending samples to a lab. there is a temporary problem because there is going to be a change in the way cervical cancer is screened. but if you've got a target you've got to have the resources that match it so it shouldn't be a problem because it's not like every woman is having it's not like every woman is having it very regularly, usually every three years for women in certain age ranges and similarly a similar range for women with breast cancer screening. it is not like we are going every year, it is the eligible

women need it and the system should be set up so that eligible women samples can be tested and analysed. 0ne samples can be tested and analysed. one of the issues as there is a 14 day deadline for results to be sent out. that's not happening. no, only happening in 55% of cases where women get it nationally and it is variable across the country. what we we re variable across the country. what we were surprised about, especially the women on the committee and we are a majority women committee, we were surprised to realise that this is a customer service target, there is no medical reason for it to be 14 days. i would say to women if you are getting it three or four weeks later, what we have heard from the medical professionals is that is not going to affect your health, as long as once you have the result it is acted upon. that was something we didn't realise but it is a target they are setting and not meeting and thatis they are setting and not meeting and that is something they have to be challenging people on because women are worrying, people saying i haven't had my smear results. should they extend the target? we wondered why they put a target that they are so routinely missing that is not essential for so routinely missing that is not essentialfor medical so routinely missing that is not essential for medical reasons and if there is a stretch in the system

that would be an obvious way of smoothing some challenges out but in the end you still have a pipeline of things coming through and it doesn't make much difference if it is 14 or 21, but if they are routinely doing 21, but if they are routinely doing 21 days they need to explain to women that they shouldn't worry if it isa women that they shouldn't worry if it is a week late but at the moment most of us worry if it is not with us most of us worry if it is not with us when we expected to be. absolutely. lee, jenny and meg, thank you. we have had a response from the department of social care. it reads... do let us know your experiences. also coming up... new research suggests school break times in england have been getting shorter over the past 20 years. we'll speak to some a headteacher and primary pupils in the next half hour. and i'll be speaking to samantha 0wens who was repeatedly

raped by older men at parties as a teenager — and then discovered her best friend was making money out of it. this programme has seen new evidence that campaigners say proves convictions in one the largest drug smuggling cases in british history are unsafe. in 2011, a group of fishermen from the isle of wight were jailed for trying to smuggle £150 million of cocaine into the country. most of the group are still serving long prison sentences. all say they were completely innocent — just in the wrong place at the wrong time. 0ur reporterjim reed has been covering the case and he's here now. gym, tell us more about this case. good morning, joanna. we have followed this case for a number of yea rs followed this case for a number of years and it goes back to 2010 when there was an attempt to bring a huge amount of cocaine into the country, you mentioned in the introduction, £150 million was the street value,

so if you can imagine 12 large sacks of very pure cocaine, that is how much we are talking about and it was a significant operation, one of the largest drug seizures in the last ten yea rs largest drug seizures in the last ten years in the uk and at the time the authorities had intelligence that some drugs were coming across from south america from brazil on a container ship, and the allegations against the men here without the drugs were being dropped off the side of this container ship in the english channel and then picked up by smaller boats and then sailed back to, in this case, the south coast of the isle of wight, where they were then presumably distributed across the country. the men involved have always denied they we re ever men involved have always denied they were ever involved in this case whatsoever. they are five men, five fishermen were arrested, four of those were local men from the isle of wight, none had any serious criminal records whatsoever. they have been campaigning for their release for years and years and they are now represented by a criminal justice charity which is supporting them. they are about to lodge a new appeal, or they have just lodged a

new appeal in this case. so we have been speaking to some of the men and some of the people involved about the latest developments. it was a major drug smuggling case, a triumph for the police and the prosecution. stand by. in 2010, a quarter of a tonne of cocaine was found in the sea off the isle of wight. a group of local fishermen were arrested. the police said they'd picked up the sacks from a huge container ship in the channel and tied them to a buoy here in freshwater bay for someone to collect. these five men were later convicted and given long jail sentences. and then they're supposed to have dropped it... they're now being represented by the centre for criminal appeals, a charity which specialises in suspected miscarriage of justice cases. the fresh evidence that we're bringing before the court of appeal we think really cracks the case wide open and it shows exactly what happened that night.

and that is not what the court was led to believe at the trial. a key part of the prosecution case was based on navigational data. the jury in the men's trial was told it proved the fishing boat passed behind a container ship that night to collect the drugs thrown into the channel. now, though, the defence team have been given radar data not available at the time. it comes from a border agency vessel, the vigilant, that was monitoring the channel that night. raw data doesn't lie. this is data from the vigilant, which is the uk border agency vessel that was on duty that night and attempting to catch drug smugglers. the defence team says the radar data shows the fishing boat was never closer than 165 metres from the path of the container ship, so could not have picked up the sacks in rough seas that night.

the charity is being advised by this man — a former covert officer with experience in these kinds of operations. he still works in a similarjob and does not want his face shown. the new radar evidence is almost better than video. it tells times, locations, distances. it shows the border agency boat, the vigilant, was very near the spot where the drugs were allegedly dropped but didn't say anything, didn't record any drop—offs, didn't see any suspicious behaviour. and that's because the fishing boat, the galwad, just didn't collect the drugs at that location. last year, the youngest member of the fishing crew was released after seven years in jail. the other men are still serving their sentences. the evidence the prosecution was coming out with — we were thinking, well, there is nothing. there's nothing here whatsoever. they found cocaine — didn't know whose it was, where it came from, and we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. they had no—one else. a picture of a bag

recovered and brought... at trial, the jury heard a series of mobile phone calls were made to the fishing boat that night and two police officers watching the bay said they did see bags dropped off the side of the boat near to where the drugs were later found — though their stories were different and changed over time. stand by. at what point are you going to start pulling these things out of the water? now, though, the defence team says the new radar data appears to show a different boat moving at speed to exactly the same area an hour after the fishing boat left. the police watchdog has looked into this case and could find no serious wrongdoing. and in 2017, the body which investigates suspected miscarriage of justice, the ccrc, described the case against the fishermen as compelling. then turn away. written on the front... the men and theirfamilies are now hoping this new evidence will be enough to win a retrial. a single judge must now decide

if it's strong enough to send the case back to the court of appeal. so what are police saying, jim? this operation was significant, large enough to be led not by an individual police force but what is now called the national crime agency, the unit which specialises in very serious organised crime. they told us they cannot comment at the moment, or it is inappropriate to comment while this legal process, thisjudicial process is to comment while this legal process, this judicial process is ongoing. backin this judicial process is ongoing. back in 2011, the authorities called this a strong case that stopped hundreds of kilos, they said, of cocaine getting into the united kingdom. what are the next steps? i mentioned in the report, a single judge has to look at this new evidence and they then have to decide, he or she, whether it goes to the court of appeal, if it gets that far they would have three options. 0ne, they look at it and say the convictions are solid and the people have to serve their sentences. incidentally, some of the men were given sentences of up to 24

yea rs, men were given sentences of up to 24 years, so very long sentences. they could decide it goes back for a retrial and they could quash the convictions but it's all up to this judge, that's the next step in this process. thank you very much,jim. coming very much, jim. coming up, a new text service. we will talk to some of those behind the scheme. the young girl raped by men at a party who discovered that her best friend was making money out of it. lots of you getting in touch about the screening for bowel and cervical cancer. some mps have said it is not fit for service. pat said, couldn't women do as i did to make an apartment for a cervical smear? surely it is your responsibility.

another says, i've been asking my gp foran another says, i've been asking my gp for an earlier check, because of concerns i have, one of which is i have had two procedures in the past because of precancerous cells and i'm told that having a smear outside the routine recall is impossible. the text says this baffles me as the government keeps complaining that not enough women take up the test. i wa nt to not enough women take up the test. i want to but i can't. it doesn't make sense. peter on text says: the situation is indicative of the need to blame it for failures situation is indicative of the need to blame it forfailures in an individual‘s ability to take control of their own health issues. the amount of publicity that screening programmes get means that screening is not an unknown issue. thank you for those. keep those comments coming in. children are getting shorter breaks at school than two decades ago, giving them less time to exercise and make friends. researchers at university college london say there could be serious implications for pupils‘ well—being and development. children aged five to seven now have 45 minutes less break time, with secondary school children having 65 minutes less.

the government gives schools freedom to decide what they do with breaks, but expects them to include at least 60 minutes of time for exercise in the timetable each day. we can now speak to david fisher, who is a head teacher at the kings langley school near hemel hempstead in hertfordshire, with some of his year 7 and year 8 students. the school is proposing to cut lunchtimes down from 55 minutes, to 45 minutes, this september. they say this will allow students and teachers to finish earlier and take part in activity clubs. it will be their first change to the timetable since 2002. we also have students from herringthorpe junior school in rotherham. that school has 55—minute lunches and refuses to cut them down. we are joined by sam wass is a child psychologist and you may have seen him give expert analysis for channel 4‘s the secret life of 4, 5 and 6

year 0lds. david fisher, you are introducing shorter breaks for those at your school. what is that? good morning. when making a decision like this we ta ke when making a decision like this we take into consideration the students first and foremost, the staff and also our community, and to put it into context the school has this phase of day on a friday and speaking to all of those stakeholders, this day really works for them at our school, it allows them to go to do more clubs and enrichment after school. we have a number of children who walk home at the end of the school day and during the end of the school day and during the months when it is dark the numbers drop, by shortening down the friday which the school already has it allows them to do more enrichments during that time. what is really important is to put the school into context, the school has a large break time in the morning and it also has that lunchtime on a friday already. the school offers that time period in the morning and we have a number of clubs and a broad, balanced curriculum including pe, the arts, we are not a school

that in year 11 ignoring the pe programme to make sure they do english and maths, we make sure they have a balanced curriculum and it is a nationally recognised school and we develop that. kids, what do you think about this? i am assuming, feel free to be as outspoken as you like. 0bviously feel free to be as outspoken as you like. obviously you are sitting with your headmaster, so anyway, i don‘t know how you feel about that. but tell us what you think, may be left to right with a quick comment from each of you if that‘s all right. to right with a quick comment from each of you if that's all right.|j think that it's a really good and i support the idea of cutting the lunch time down by ten minutes because it still allows us to have time to do activities and play our sports and participate in our clubs, and it also gives us more time to catch up with homework after school, and we still get the opportunity to socialise with our friends and have a rest. i find it good as well because i walked to school every day so because i walked to school every day so it really helps me with a shorter school day to see my family and do

more clubs outside of school as well as inside. carry on. it allows us to socialise with friends outside school and we can spend more time with ourfamilies. school and we can spend more time with our families. do any of you not like the idea? you‘re all happy? 0ne of the things, david, that was raised, was more time to do homework. a lot of people would say that actually one of the things that puts pressure on kids and parents, families, is the fact they have a lot of homework after school. if you‘re making the date shorter, why not actually do it the other way around and cut the homework instead? i think it‘s finding the balance, that we meet ministers demands of gold standard but making sure the children have opportunities. the school is about developing the whole child and not just school is about developing the whole child and notjust academic rigour and exam results. it‘s about making

sure they get the combination. we have a bespoke exam homework timetable link to some software, which helps children organise their diaries. we like to make sure they don‘t get too much homework but make sure they are ready and well prepared for the exams later on in their lives. thank you all. we can go to the other school, mandy adam isjoined by three go to the other school, mandy adam is joined by three of her students. hello to all of you. welcome. mandy, you‘re refusing to cut the lunch hour, tell us why that is? we don't feel that we need to change our lunch hour. we currently have 45 minutes at the moment. the way we organise their time allows us to fit everything in. the break time... inaudible they have an opportunity to socialise, play games together. they can go and play football if they

wa nt can go and play football if they want to. we have gardening club. some of our other children... inaudible 0rdo inaudible or do extra learning... mandy, i really wa nt or do extra learning... mandy, i really want to hear from you and your children as well, obviously, but we are having some technical issues with the sound. so i am going to bring in our psychologist and we will come back to you, kids, don‘t worry! we will just will come back to you, kids, don‘t worry! we willjust sort out the sound issues. sam, what you think about this? researchers are saying cutting break times is not good for kids. but as we heard in one of those examples from david, at his school they are cutting the school day. i think there are three principal reasons in favour of cutting break time. the first is physical activity. kids have this phase where they have huge amounts of energy and if they don't get the

chance to let it out regularly, that can lead to all sorts of problems, both in terms of physical health and mental health as well. is break time, particularly in secondary school, a time when kids do run around? if you look, i've done some research measuring how heart levels change in children over the course of the day and they have this massive spike. you can see the kind of energy building up over the course of the lesson and then they let it explode during the break and then they come down quickly afterwards. i definitely would recommend short doses of regular breaks, just to let that energy go. if you talk to teachers after a wet day, when kids haven't been able to go outside, they really do say always the lessons on a wet day when children haven't had the chance to do that, don't go as well. that's a strong indication of how important it is. you said about more short breaks. some of these schools, i think most schools now don‘t have afternoon breaks. you are saying

cutting lunchtime may be isn‘t so bad but as long as there are other brea ks bad but as long as there are other breaks in the rest of the day? that's another thing coming out a lot, how everybody has their body rhythm and how they are different in children and how the school day is not necessarily structured around the natural body rhythms of a child. children have a dip, having problems staying awake and staying focused in the afternoon fostered a short break should help with that. let's go back to mandy‘s children. i hope we can hear from you properly. to mandy‘s children. i hope we can hearfrom you properly. kids, what do you do at break time? is it a good time to let some steam? yes! many activities to do and it's really fun at break time because most of us chat with our friends. inaudible gardening club. many different things. sounds good. i like the

sound of some gardening. what you do in the middle, i‘m sorry, i don‘t know your names, tell me your name and what you do at break time? my name is maisie. i like to stand around and talk to my friends. but there is also lots of other things to do, like lots of good equipment, like skipping ropes and hula hoops. yeah. ok. i feel like like skipping ropes and hula hoops. yeah. ok. ifeel like break is like skipping ropes and hula hoops. yeah. ok. i feel like break is good because it's a time when you can relax and socialise with your friends. inaudible thank you all, thank you. let‘s go back to sam. we have had people getting in touch, some saying kids haveit getting in touch, some saying kids have it a lot easier these days than it used to be. on facebook, too much pressure, all about meeting government targets are not the child. another, what about the fact they finish school earlier these days? i have a teenager who school send them home at 2:15pm. my other kids finish at three, it‘s too

early. and on twitter, true, it is adding to anxiety. i had one hour 15 minute our lunch breaks and two minute our lunch breaks and two minute 20 breaks that my teenager has 14 minutes for lunch and 115 or 20 minute break which is not long enough. sammy on facebook, our children‘s school have two breaks, one in the morning and one at lunch but if they haven‘t finished their work, they must playtime. my children are five and six. they can‘t have their breaks taken away at this age. paul on twitter says they leave earlier. in the 70s we never got to leave before 3:50pm. what is important here is if the changes are made to improve test performance, there is a huge amount of research suggesting physical exercise can help with children‘s mood and help with coping with things like stress and anxiety, associated with it. there is a risk that cutting break times to cram in

more lessons is counter—productive. it sends a message to kids that taking a break away from your studies doesn‘t improve performance? i have a friend that says they leave train sets, drawing activities and sandboxes out for the kids to go to. it's sandboxes out for the kids to go to. it‘s amazing how much of the older kids gravitate towards these activities you would link with younger children. it‘s like you have so much pressure put on to you, you have an opportunity to go back to a more innocent form. all these things are very important. thank you all, thank you kids. back to lessons, i‘m afraid. thank you. a department for education spokesperson says: "the government has given all schools the autonomy to make decisions about the structure and duration of their school day. however, we are clear that pupils should be given an appropriate break and we expect school leaders to make sure this happens. we recognise the importance of physical activity in schools to improve both physical and mental well—being." thank you for all your comments so

far. please do keep getting in touch in the usual ways of reaching us. the conversation with us doesn‘t just happen when we are on air. we love to hear from you at any time, particularly if you have a story you might like us to pick up on. some of the most important stories we have covered here on the programme come from things you at home have told us about after getting in touch on social media. it is a good way to keep that dialogue going with you. in the past hour we‘ve had more news about the state of the economy — this time the latest value of all goods and services produced in the uk in the first few months of the year. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity is here. what are the indicators? it‘s really interesting, these figures weren‘t just as predicted on one hand, 0.5% growth since the start of the year. compared to 0.2%, which it was, it looks pretty good. almost the levels we enjoyed before the big financial crash when we were used to levels of

2-3%. crash when we were used to levels of 2—3%. everything everything buys and sells, all our economic activities, every haircut, every car, all up and you get gross domestic product the size of the economy. how much it grows as a key determinant of how prosperous we are. you had some good growth in the first quarter of the year but i think it is what you might call a worry boom. i will explain what i mean by that. you had firms stockpiling ahead of the prospect of a new deal brexit. what they were doing, especially if they imported their key supplies, was getting more orders in, just in case borders shutdown or tariffs are imposed in the event of a new deal brexit. now they have built up lots of stock so it hasn‘t stopped them similarly in the figures with car dealers, they have been purchasing cards from abroad, it might be by now while stocks last. it could be that your car gets more expensive importing it if tariffs are imposed.

if we have no—deal brexit, the pound might fall if we have no—deal brexit, the pound mightfall in if we have no—deal brexit, the pound might fall in value, so buying in pounds on a car priced in euros will be more expensive. by now while stocks last effect with cars and also the stockpiling by firms. it all feeds into a picture of people being worried and therefore buying stuff to sort of soften their worries. something else which adds to that is the fact people were buying gold. when people are worried about something going wrong, they buy gold. the downer is, all those imports we made wide in the trade deficit. the trade deficit doubled from £9 billion to £18 billion. if you strip out services, it hit a record. this worry boom also has worrying effects. so it will be important to see the next set of figures, to see whether it is a blip or trend? yes, after march 29, brexit was delayed. people breathed a sigh of relief. that might mean those firms that have built up their stocks now then, don‘t have to worry

anymore and run them down and start to sell this off. therefore, they are not buying as much and that stockpiling effect is reduced and economic growth is lower. thank you very much, andy. aged just 13, given alcohol and drugs, sammy 0wens was repeatedly raped by older men at parties in sheffield. she had no idea that her supposed best friend amanda was making money out of what was happening to her. for three years, sammy went to these parties with amanda. she was raped hundreds of times. it was only later, when she was in a young offenders institution, that she realised amanda wasn‘t her friend at all, but her pimp. and a warning, some viewers may find this story disturbing. thank you forjoining us. you don‘t have to speak, because you have a com plete have to speak, because you have a complete right to anonymity but you have chosen to do this because you think it is important to tell people what you went through, because there are others who may be experiencing

similar? yes. take us back to your life before amanda came into it, what was it like? chaotic. i was life before amanda came into it, what was it like? chaotic. iwas in foster ca re what was it like? chaotic. iwas in foster care due to neglect, so social services save. it was quite chaotic. i wasn‘t going to school and stuff, so i didn‘t really do anything or have anyone. i was on my own, with my brother. then i met amanda and things spiralled out of control, really. you thought she was a man who had come into your life and would be a good thing, because she seemed to be somebody that cared? yes, she acted as my parents, my best friend, my family member. she acted as everything i needed, really. i think that‘s why i relied on her so much. in what sort of ways did she do that, what was she giving to you, what was she saying? everything a parent would be with a child. you are beautiful, you look so nice. i will buy you death or by you that. she acted as a mother role

andi you that. she acted as a mother role and i was her daughter, basically. in retrospect, you know that was grooming. i do now. in retrospect, you know that was grooming. ido now. but in retrospect, you know that was grooming. i do now. but he wouldn't have known at the time and it was a very seductive thing to somebody in the situation you were in. what was the situation you were in. what was the first moment, was there a first moment when she said or did something that made you feel uncomfortable? she talked about sex quite frequently. she wasn‘t shy about it. she would openly talk about it. she would openly talk about sex in front of me or anybody who would listen. so i wasn‘t really shocked, if you know what i mean? that when she offered the kind of position to me, i was a bit taken aback. what do you mean the position? suggesting i get involved with her and do what she was doing. so, yeah. ithink with her and do what she was doing. so, yeah. i think it was quite scary, actually. you were 13? iwas

a child, a very young child and quite immature, as well. i wasn‘t your average 13—year—old. i was very immature. i was younger, if that makes sense. what you mean, naive? very naive, very naive, looking for somebody, anybody that would listen, basically. and so, she suggested that you get involved with having sex in the way she was and it made you feel very uncomfortable? did it make you say something?” you feel very uncomfortable? did it make you say something? i didn't tell her because she was the only person in the world that i had. if i was to say no to her, what would happen? who would i have then? so she made out she was the only person in my world, so i only had her. if i was not to do what she wanted me to do, i would was not to do what she wanted me to do, iwould have was not to do what she wanted me to do, i would have had nothing again andi do, i would have had nothing again and i liked having someone. so i didn‘t say anything. and i liked having someone. so i didn't say anything. so she took you toa didn't say anything. so she took you to a party? she took me to plenty of

parties, yeah. what happened at those parties, what they like? there we re those parties, what they like? there were loads of men, sometimes women as well, dancing. there was drugs drink involved. sorry. just sex parties, basically, how she called them. it must have been completely bewildering for you as a 13—year—old, to walk into that environment. what did you think, do you remember how you felt and what you remember how you felt and what you thought the first time you walked into one? the first time is horrendous. i can‘t even describe my heartbeat. it was racing so fast. then shejust like heartbeat. it was racing so fast. then she just like left me on my own with five guys. i was on my own with them and i was panicking and i didn‘t know what was going to go on andi didn‘t know what was going to go on and i thought i was going to die. there were so many things going through my head. but i didn‘t dare just leave or walk away. ijust stayed there. did they know how old you were? did you know how old they

were? i didn't know how old they were, i assume they knew how old i was. they liked it when i said i was younger than i was forced one guy asked me how old i was and i said 13 and he called me a liar. i said 11 and he called me a liar. i said 11 and he called me a liar. i said 11 and he seemed to enjoy that, liked the fact i said i was younger. how long did this go on for? a couple of yea rs, long did this go on for? a couple of years, maybe three years. did you get used to it at a certain point?|j think you get that point where you just block things out, you are drinking and stuff, you it out. you don‘t see it is how you would see it now, if you know what i mean. it‘s just one of those things you do. did you ever see yourself as vulnerable, asa you ever see yourself as vulnerable, as a victim at that point? not at that point, no. i didn‘t at all. howdy did you feel about, about yourself? i thought i was quite

powerful, i thought i was quite popular and powerful and untouchable. i was just out there a little bit. i had a lot of friends, i was quite popular. so, yeah. it‘s different now, though, you see it differently now. as an adult, i see it as my child. i know how wrong it is now but back then i didn‘t know. was there anybody around you who knew what was going on who was worried? absolutely nobody. i didn't tell anybody. i confided in a few foster placements that i was sexually active and i was told to go and get the contraceptive pill and use condoms. there were no other questions, that was it. nobody said who, where, why? it wasjust contraception, that was it, basically. so, yeah. what was going on, what you now know is amanda was acting effectively as your pimp, getting paid for taking you to these

parties. getting paid to take others as well stop she has now been convicted of 16 charges of child prostitution and has beenjailed convicted of 16 charges of child prostitution and has been jailed for 12 years. one man, 68—year—old man, ian foster, has been convicted and jailed for 14 years past of three others were tried and acquitted. when you first, how did you find out that what was going on was she was being paid? for what was happening to you? i went to a young offenders institution and i met a girl. she confided in me about amanda. i didn‘t believe her. i said she was lying. but after speaking to her, it was the same story as mine, really. not the same, but relatively the same. then i think i started to realise actually, i‘m not the only one. i was fine with it because i was the only one that when i found out there were other people, that‘s

when i thought i needed to say something, stand up. and then, obviously, she passed away. she couldn‘t do that. so i took it upon myself. to tell my story and hope other people would come forward against her and other people. knowing that she was not your friend must have been quite hard to come to terms with because you said from a young age, she was the person that came along and you thought she was there for you. everything that was happening was not right for you at all but you still must have felt a bond, i would all but you still must have felt a bond, iwould imagine? because of that and it must have been quite complicated dealing with it? yeah, it definitely was, definitely. it was heartbreaking to find out. but i think when i realise, though actually, i don‘t, think when i realise, though actually, idon‘t, i think when i realise, though actually, i don‘t, i don‘t care, actually. i know what this girl has been doing to me now. i kind ofjust left it. i‘m glad she is where she

is now. she‘s been punished for what she did to me and other people. she deserves it. you've got a new life now. yeah, i could not be happier. i have two beautiful boys and a partner who inspires me, keeps me strong, keeps me going, keeps our family together. i couldn‘t want for anything else. i said at the beginning you are speaking because you want to. you feel it is important. i feel i need you want to. you feel it is important. i feel! need to you want to. you feel it is important. i feel i need to get my story out there to help other people, other survivors come forward. because it‘s important for people to come forward. there are a lot of people out there who are too scared to come forward and don‘t think they will be believed because they‘ve been in the system or been to prison. i don‘t think that‘s right, that people have to think that. i‘m trying to get my point out. i‘ve been to prison, i‘ve been in care. if i can tell my story, so can you, that‘s what i‘m trying to say. important as well for other

people to understand that when someone people to understand that when someone has a facade, it‘s not necessarily what‘s going on behind it. you talk about, you‘ve written a book and you talk about you being quite a street character. definitely. a hard person. that's what i mean. that‘s why i want people to come forward, some people have that about themselves and they think that... no one will believe them. i want people to know people will believe them and if someone coming from my background, if they are going to take me on and believe me, why won‘t they believe you? do you know what i mean? you have your kids. what are your hopes now for life? more children! definitely more children. 0ther life? more children! definitely more children. other than that, life? more children! definitely more children. 0therthan that, i life? more children! definitely more children. other than that, i think we are in a happy place. we have a nice home. we are happy together, all of us together. there is nothing that will come in between us. i know that will come in between us. i know that now. it‘s taken me a long time to realise no one is taking my

children away from me, they are my children away from me, they are my children now and we are a family, a network, and we keep each other together. i think that‘s what we will continue to do. it keeps us going, anyway. thank you very much for coming in, thank you. if you‘ve been affected by any of the issues in our discussion, there‘s a range of services that can offer you support. you can find them listed on the bbc‘s actionline website at bbc.co.uk/actionline. the duke and duchess of cambridge and the duke and duchess of sussex have teamed up to launch a text—messaging service for people experiencing a mental health crisis. they‘ve backed a helpline, called shout, with a £3 million grant from their charity, the royal foundation. it is the uk‘s first free 24/7 direct messaging service and is powered by a team of crisis volunteers. in a video, the duke of cambridge launched an appeal for people to apply as volunteers. over the last few months, shout has started working quietly behind the scenes. harry, meghan, catherine and i have been able to see the service working

up close and are very excited for its future. at the heart of shout will be an incredible national volunteer community, one which needs to grow to allow us to support more people in crisis. i hope that many more of you willjoin and be part of something very special. one of the volunteers is with me now, jo irwin who is a crisis volunteer for shout, also with me, victoria hornby, chief executive officer of mental health innovations, and emma citron, a consultant clinical psychologist. welcome to all of you. thank you for joining us. .jo you‘ve been volunteering, how is it? amazing. i‘ve been working behind—the—scenes to launch the pilot of the service. we‘ve helped over 60,000 people now on the service, which is brilliant.

i‘m a crisis volunteer so when someone i‘m a crisis volunteer so when someone texts in, they are paired up with someone who has had the trainingi with someone who has had the training i have had and we help talk them through their problems and feel cooler and calmer than when they first called in. what are the first texts like, a tentative few words? i imagine there is a whole spectrum. do some people put everything down straightaway? it's a complete mixture and it depends on the kind of issues they are texting about. that is a real variety, the ones we have seen on the platform. everything from people that are being bullied or struggling with school work, relationship problems, people thinking of self harming or taking their own lives. some people just send a quick hello with?. 0thers just send a quick hello with?. others say i‘m struggling, i feel overwhelmed, can someone help me? it's overwhelmed, can someone help me? it‘s a variety. it‘s a really obvious and natural thing that people can get in touch via text, victoria, because we all find it easier to sometimes write things down then say something or pick up

the phone. why has it taken so long? i don't know. i suppose sometimes the most obvious things don't happen instantly. we have been very lucky to be partnered with, working with crisis text line which has been operating five years. the technology that sits behind it is quite complex. it feels like quite a simple thing to do, tojust text but if you want to have the capacity which we will have to take several thousand texts a day there is a slightly more complicated bit of technology behind it. we spent the la st technology behind it. we spent the last day attesting that. it is being trialled and it will be rolled out? it is. emma, thank you forjoining us. when someone reaches out via text or conversation, however it is, it‘s very important for the person on the receiving end of that to respond in the right way, so they continue to open up rather than shut

down. what do you think about the process of texting and how it plays in that? i think it's an excellent idea. i think many of us will recognise that tendency to want to text as opposed to just speak to a best friend. sometimes it's easier to text anonymously, isn't it? which is why telephone call ins have been very popular over the decades, because people feel they can open up about difficult matters or sexual matters that perhaps they don't even feel comfortable talking to their gp about. i think anything that encourages us to reach out and get help is a fantastic idea. is it easy to divine through texting which route is best for an individual, or is that better done with a conversation? i think these

volunteers are hopefully going to be very well trained to recognise when perhaps it'sjust very well trained to recognise when perhaps it's just normal youngster anxious to, for example. she's wearing the same dress as me at the party or something, how to deal with regular tanks and reassure, and when it perhaps needs escalating in some way. —— regular angst. it perhaps needs escalating in some way. —— regularangst. iwould be interested to know if there is any follow—up, particularly with youngsters, miners, if there is any sort of follow up for them. jo, how does it work, is a text conversation that can go on as long as the person that can go on as long as the person that has got in touch once or does it quickly get escalated elsewhere? we have 25 hours training we undertaken we are constantly supervised by a clinical supervisor on the platform at the same time as us. we are trained to keep the conversations between 45 minutes— 60 minutes but sometimes they go longer

than that, sometimes they are shorter than that. there are management plans in place for people that text infrequently? regularly. i think we are very keen to make sure that when people text in, we take them through a process of making a plan. that plan could be anything. it could be to go and see a gp, it could be just to talk to a mother or teacher but our plan is always to give someone the confidence to take that next step. thank you, thank you so much all of us forjoining us. thank you for your company today. i will see you soon. your company today. i will see you soon. have a good day, bye—bye. hello there. good morning. some sunny spells out there at the moment. this is the scene at the moment. this is the scene at the moment in cornwall. some fair weather cloud developing. for some of us, those clouds will develop further and there will be some heavy, thundery and slow—moving

showers, particularly across wales, through the midlands, eastern and southern areas of england. those will drift further north and east words. further north, is a cloud around the stop some showery rain in north—east england, a bit of cloud toward scotland and northern ireland. temperatures varying from 10-13 ireland. temperatures varying from 10—13 degrees in the north, 13—16 further south. tonight, a glancing blow, some rain in the far south—west which will push through the channel isles into northern france. some showers across eastern areas into the start of the weekend. throughout the weekend, we keep a few showers across eastern areas of england during saturday. a couple cropping up elsewhere. temperatures are starting to rise a little bit. someday it will be largely dry, lots of sunshine around and those temperatures will creep up to about 13 or even 18 degrees. bye— bye to about 13 or even 18 degrees. bye — bye for to about 13 or even 18 degrees. bye—bye for now.

you‘re watching bbc newsroom live. it‘s 11am and these are the main stories this morning. growth is up — new gdp figures show the uk economy has grown by 0.5% in the first quarter of this year. the us more than doubles tariffs on chinese goods after last—ditch trade talks fail — beijing warns it‘ll retaliate. tributes are paid to freddie starr — following reports that the 76—year—old comedian has died at his home in spain. freddie starr ate my hamster! how would you like that for 20 yea rs ? 20 years! doesn‘t it give you a headache?