hello, it's friday, it's ten o'clock, i'm joanna gosling. this programme has found evidence that banks may be forging signatures on repossession documents to get people out of their homes. once that signature‘s under, whoever‘s it is, that is it. whoever‘s it is. yeah? because you have no power against that signature. the banks involved strongly deny the allegations, but a member of the influential treasury select committee is calling for an investigation into whether the practice is widespread. the labour mp jess phillips is to leave her son on the steps of downing street today to highlight school funding cuts that mean his school will start closing at lunchtime on fridays from september.

hundreds of children, teachers and parents are travelling to london to take part in the protest. we'll talk to samira dar and her eight—year—old daughter leena patel. and we'll hear from the boy who's been reunited with his kidnapped dog, fern — six years after she went missing. i feel very ifeel very happy, i feel very happy, because ifeel very happy, because i can snuggle her again. hello, welcome to the programme. we're live until 11 this morning. a major new report into climate change says the government must act now, if it's to achieve its aim of cutting carbon emissions to zero injust over 30 years. later in the programme we'll be talking about what changes we, as individuals, can also make

to tackle climate change. have you changed your lifestyle to try to help the planet? do you fly less? or have you given up meat? do get in touch on all the stories we're talking about — use the hashtag #victorialive. if you text, you'll be charged at the standard network rate. first carrie has the news. thanks, joanna. representatives of a government—owned bank are suspected of forging signatures on court documents in repossession cases, this programme has been told. in the united states, such practices — on a very large scale — led to billion—dollar fines and millions in compensation. the allegations relate to uk asset resolution — which owns mortgages from northern rock, bradford & bingley and mortgage express — and lloyds banking group. the companies strongly deny the claims. and we'll have full details with our economics correspondent andy verity just after this news summary. jaguar land rover has confirmed it's to build a range of electric cars

at its castle bromwich plant in the west midlands. a six—week shutdown will be needed before three electric cars can be developed, including a version of the xj model. the firm said around 2,500 jobs have been secured by the investment. in january, it announced 4,500 jobs were being cut with the majority coming from the uk. bbc news has learned that downing street attempted to withhold some secret intelligence from borisjohnson when theresa may made him foreign secretary three years ago. the move caused concern among senior intelligence officials, who were worried he could approve operations without being given all the relevant information. a source close to mrjohnson insisted he'd seen everything he needed to see. both the foreign office and number ten say they do not comment on intelligence matters. eight former senior police officers — including five former heads of scotland yard — have warned there is a feeling that britain has descended into lawlessness and the public has lost confidence in the police. it's being blamed on the amount of knife and drug crime. in a letter to the times

newspaper, the former police chiefs say that resources are at dangerously low levels. the home office says, police funding has increased by more than £1 billion this year and there are plans to recruit more than 3,500 extra officers and staff. australian surgeons have rewired the nerves inside paralysed people's bodies to restore movement to their arms and hands. patients can now do everyday tasks themselves, like turning a key and typing at a computer. a study, published in the lancet, says the technique could have a life—changing impact for patients. the procedure was successful in 13 of the 16 patients who took part in the study. southern california has been hit by the strongest earthquake in two decades. the epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude tremor was near the city of ridgecrest, which is about 150 miles north—east of los angeles. a state of emergency has been declared as firefighters provide medical assistance. the quake caused fires and damage to some buildings.

a state of emergency has been declared as firefighters provide medical assistance. the quake caused fires and damage to some buildings. back to joanna. here's a question for you. do these three signatures look like they've been signed by the same person? now have a look at this signature. does it look likely to have been signed by the same person as this? and here's another example. what if we told you that a very similar—looking signature appeared over a different name? here are two examples of that. handwriting experts have told us it's highly likely that the same person has been signing in different names — and also that different people have been signing over the same name. that's serious because these signatures are on documents used to repossess people's homes — including statements of truth and witness statements submitted to the courts.

some of them are by representatives of a government bank — uk asset resolution — and others by representative of lloyds bank. the bbc‘s economics correspondent andy verity has been investigating this and can tell us more. andy, how did this all come out? not through official channels, this is through ordinary borrowers doing something truly unusual — reading the documents chasing their debts really closely. most of us wouldn't think of it as their favourite pastime. but some of the people facing repossession became concerned that routine forgery of signatures in repossession actions, which happened in millions of cases in the united states, has also been happening here. the banks strongly deny that. however, in growing numbers bank customers have been checking back on their documents and campaigners have now gathered a growing body of evidence of dodgy signatures. the banks in question include

uk asset resolution, the government—owned bank. there's also evidence about lloyds banking group. i went to lancashire earlier this week to find out more. i was just determined that this wasn't going to kill us, so to speak, to finish us off. so i was just thinking about keeping going and keeping going and keeping going. for brenda and john wright, it may have been years ago, but the memories are still raw and painful. in 2013, when brenda was 71 and john was 7a, they were coping with a lower income than they'd been used to, but enjoying retirement, living in a rented flat, here, in southport, lancashire. yeah, there were two vans parked there, wasn't there? and one here. all the bailiffs. but then, lawyers for the government's own bank — mortgage express — started sending letters. there'd been a dispute between the bank and the flat‘s owner over some mortgage arrears. they were served notice

of repossession. they offered to pay more rent to help clear the arrears, but mortgage express wasn't interested. you could see that there was no way out of this situation, even paying a little bit of higher rent for a short while. repossession is meant to be a last resort, but was the government's own bank observing that? never. i don't believe it. it was the first result in... yeah. in february 2014, the bailiffs came to evict them from their flat in this house. they had no home to go to. i went down with shingles and i firmly believe that was down to all the stress that we'd suffered. did the lawyers for mortgage express know that they were kicking two pensioners in their 70s out of a home? on all the applications they could see... obvious what the dates of birth were. but that's just one of a pile. so it doesn't make any difference.

mortgage express was part of bradford & bingley in the noughties property boom when it lent heavily in the buy—to—let market. along with northern rock, bradford & bingley was bailed out by taxpayers and nationalised during the 2008 banking crisis. in 2010, its £112 billion of loans were put in a newly—formed bad bank called uk asset resolution or ukar for short, owned by her majesty's treasury. this is the old headquarters of bradford & bingley in west yorkshire. today, what's left of it wants to be lending as little money to its borrowers as possible. what's unusual about ukar as a company is that its job is to put itself out of business. its instructions from the government are to get rid of as many loans as possible, either by selling on the right to collect the repayment money to another

company, or byjust pulling out of loans, just like the one used to buyjohn and brenda's flat. the question is, have those orders from the government led this taxpayer—owned bank to forget a crucial principle, often repeated by ministers in public, that repossession must only be used as a last resort? john and brenda saw something odd about the signatures on the documents from legal representatives for mortgage express. it is not right if there is a discrepancy. it looked like different people were signing over the same name on statements of truth used to evict them. but once that signature is on there, whoever‘s it is, that's it. whoever‘s it is. yeah? because you've got no power against that signature. we showed some of the signatures to a top handwriting expert who gives evidence in court cases about alleged forgery. so, adam, these three signatures

were all over the same name. how likely are they to be the same person? i think very unlikely, because they're very different in their structure. you've got this movement, if you look at the pressure in that direction, and it's over to the right. you've got a covering stroke here, and coming down quite strongly. though that thickness of stroke could be, and you can't really tell, that it could be similar to that stroke, this is all putting the letters in the middle. there's no reaching up. i see, whereas this person is a bit more... well, this person is lifting. do you see the difference? well, i mean, this one is definitely lifting and this could be actually coming in the opposite direction. so the whole movement and the fluency of the signatures look different. john and brenda aren't alone. julian watts came across similar dodgy signatures on documents used in repossession actions by mortgage express and by lloyds bank.

a former partner at the business consultants kpmg, he suspected it had become a business process, as it had in the united states, where banks and their professional helpers were taking illegal short cuts, forging signatures in other people's names to plough through multiple repossession actions. in the states, how it was all discovered was a customer realised that signatures in the name of a particular person may have been forged and connected with some other people, and that eventually led to the investigation by the attorney generals. and when the attorney generals investigated it, they found that hundreds of thousands of bank court documents had been forged in the name of the same person. so one person's name had been used on hundreds of thousands of court documents and all the signatures in that name had been forged. julian's made it his mission to expose what he alleges is systematic, industrial—scale forgery, here, in the uk, launching a campaign to gather more evidence — the bank signature forgery campaign. because as a result of the campaign, we've already identified over

a dozen names of people in the uk, where it appears that multiple people are forging signatures in the name of that person. in the states, they started off with one name. we've got 12 names alreadyjust from what the members of the public have been sending in. how did the bank respond when you tried to raise awareness of this? i wrote to the non—executive directors of the bank, and seven days afterwards they restarted a case against my wife helen, which had been paused for six years. so, seven days after the letter, they restarted a case and then they offered to walk away from the case completely if helen signed a non—disclosure agreement, gagging herfrom talking about the alleged forged signatures. and what do you think about all that? well, it's outrageous, isn't it, when people raise allegations about the conduct of the bank? particularly, you know, an allegation which has already been shown in the states and resulted in a $25 billion fine, and their response to that was try and silence the customer who's raised the issue.

now, as lloyds pursuesjulian's wife helen through the court, the bank's putting pressure on by raising its estimate of the legal cost tenfold, and warning julian's wife will have to pay. that could ruin them, but they won't give up. people in life sometimes have situations that are bigger than they are, and they're confronted with these, and they have a choice ofjust walking away from it or walking towards it to try and fix it. and we sat and had a very deep conversation about what to do. i'm sorry... and... ..we realised we just had to do the right thing. so that's why we did it. mps are now listening. after the all—party group on fair business banking backed julian's campaign, more members of the public sent dodgy signatures in. they included a remarkable find — a signature just like the one used to evictjohn and brenda in 2013, but signed as recently as last year in someone else‘s name. julian showed it to our

handwriting expert. so, adam, these two signatures — this one here and in the top right—hand corner — were both signed in different people's names — one in the name of someone called g, and one in the name of someone called d. and what's your view of the signatures? well, i think it's very interesting that this is g and this is d. and yet, it looks very much as if they're the same signature. and the reason for that is the beginning and the end, which are critical when you're examining signatures that are very similar, and it's interesting that the fluency is very similar. so i would say there's a high chance that these two were written by the same person. mps now want the allegations of forgery properly investigated by the treasury select committee. well, i'm quite shocked by the brazen creation of signatures which are not the correct signatures, which effectively seem to be forged signatures. so it's very clear that firm action is needed. we need to know how widespread this problem is, if it's like america,

or if it's just small pockets here and there. we need to know if anyone has lost out from this, and i think this is an important area that the treasury select committee should investigate to make sure that consumers have not been losing out, and to make sure that consumers are properly protected. if banks and their representatives could be compelled to produce a much larger sample of signatures so they could be compared, allegations of forgery could be proved right or wrong scientifically. for years, though, the banks have consistently refused to supply that signature comparison information. ijust think it is their attitude, the way they deal with people. these are human beings and there's sort of nojustice, there's no... compassion. john and brenda fear many people have suffered the same fate as them, theyjust don't know it yet. their hope is that mps will be able

to force banks to hand over the signature comparison information to show whether or not they and possibly many others were illegally thrown out of their homes. we asked the economic secretary to the treasuryjohn glen to be interviewed about ukar, for which he is officially accountable. he declined. ukar, which rejects the allegations, said treating customers fairly is a priority. it said it repeatedly asked the bbc to show evidence of the practice, but it had refused to do so. we did not share names of the signatories due to concerns over privacy. a spokesman for lloyds said, "we strongly refute the allegations made by mr watts on behalf of his wife. they have been investigated by the bank and found not to be true. the law firm which produced the documents the watts says the person who signed was at work on the relevant date and the signatures were genuine. they say their non—disclosure agreements don't stop customers raising concerns with police or regulators and urge customers with evidence of wrongdoing to put

it before them and the competent authorities without delay. we wrote asking lloyds for a response to the wider allegations — other signatures — but they said they didn't have enough detail to respond. the bank added that "we are fully committed to doing everything reasonably possible to support mortgage customers in financial difficulty." thank you very much, andy. well, we can talk now tojulian watts — who you saw in andy's film there — and conservative mp kevin hollinrake. he's co—chair of a cross—party parliamentary group on fair business banking. welcome, both. julian, we saw you in our report. what alerted you to this in the first place? i know you have a background in process management, did it make you hypervigilant?m did. the investigation by the attorney generals in the us highlighted this issue first and the banks were fined $25 billion, and 4

million court cases by banks against customers were reviewed. when i found out about that i went back to court documents in cases that we have been involved in and found that some of the signatures appeared forged. you were the first person to start looking into this in this country and you have come across cases since? as far as i'm aware, i was the first, along with my wife. we started connecting with others and as people went through their own file template to the documents we gathered more and more evidence and it got through the point where we set upa it got through the point where we set up a campaign asking the public to send photos of the banks peer signatures on any documents they had received from the banks. you have been fighting for their son some time, he want the fight to continue and formps to time, he want the fight to continue and for mps to look into it. it was described as the largest consumer

fraud in american history, if the same thing has happened in the uk it is clearly appropriate for mps in the treasury select committee to investigate. lets bring in kevin hollinrake, thank you forjoining us. hollinrake, thank you forjoining us. what is your reaction to what has been claimed? i thankjulian for his hard work and bravery, we have worked with him since february on this and his evidence is very concerning. this is about breaking the law. the law should apply equally to everybody, nobody should be above the law. we would like this evidence properly investigated. why should it be left tojulian to do this? the regulator should be going through the files, lawyers should be providing the evidence and we should establish how widespread the problem is. there are calls for the treasury select committee to investigate, a matter for the chair of the treasury select committee, but one member of the committee thinks it should

happen, presumably so do you? yes, i don't mind who investigates, but the person best place to is the regulator. i think we have experienced financial feudalism in the sector, that these bankers, whether it be ppi or the swaps scandal or the wilful mistreatment of thousands of small businesses, nobody is held to account. we want the people responsible for this, if evidence shows these allegations are correct, and all the other things i mentioned, we want those people how to account. julian, cavan says the regulator should be looking at it, have you had any conversations with the regulator, have you tried to trigger an investigation? the main factor is trying to get the treasury select committee to look into it, it isa

select committee to look into it, it is a huge potential national scandal and the treasury select committee is represented in parliament, evidence can be provided to them by the customers themselves all the evidence sent to us, also because they can go to the banks and similar chief executives to appear before the treasury select committee and talk about what has been going on and provide evidence. thank you both, julian watts and kevin hollinrake. still to come: switching to electric cars will not be enough to solve our transport problems or cut carbon emissions — a report on greener energy says we need to fundamentally reassess car use altogether. we'll get reaction from a travel writer who doesn't fly and the man tasked with implementing the recommendations from the committee on climate change for hackney council in london. welcome to the bbc. i'm erica arnalee. are robots going to replace us in the workplace? we've a special report onjapan which has an ageing population and not enough skilled workers to fill thejobs —

so robots are part of the solution. the bbc has learned that downing street attempted to withhold sensitive intelligence from borisjohnson when he became foreign secretary. but sources close to mrjohnson say there was no row about being denied access and he saw everything he needed to see as foreign secretary. our security correspondent gordon corera has more. tell us more? god this was when borisjohnson was tell us more? god this was when boris johnson was appointed tell us more? god this was when borisjohnson was appointed foreign secretary in july 2016. from a number of sources i was told there was an attempt from downing street to not let him see a specific category of secretive. there were concerns from intelligence agencies about this, even though the prime minister is in charge of national security, the foreign secretary authorises operations. legal advice was taken to work out how to cope with this tension. number ten says

it will not comment on intelligence matters and borisjohnson says there was no row and he so what he needed to. how unusual is this? i think it is, and the idea that people had concerns about this reflect that. it is trying to understand it happens, i think you had a prime minister he would one person's phrase was exercising control freak behaviour, and also a foreign secretary hit someone and also a foreign secretary hit someone else said was known for ill discipline, and you had personal hostility between those two people, andi hostility between those two people, and i think this led to some of this tension, i understand, overwhat would be seen in terms of sensitive intelligence. which trim switch, downing street or mi6? ultimately downing street or mi6? ultimately downing street or mi6? ultimately downing street calls the shots and a compromise agreed. there is a conservative leadership election

going on, boris johnson conservative leadership election going on, borisjohnson is a candidate and could end up being prime minister in charge of intelligence and security, this story did not come to somebody with a political axe to grind in terms of that leadership campaign, i have to say. thank you, gordon. the labour mp jess phillips, is to leave her ten—year—old son doing his homework on the steps of downing street this afternoon to highlight the school funding cuts which some schools say have forced them to close at lunchtime on fridays. the save our schools group claims at least 250 schools across the country have no choice but to send children home early and hundreds of children, teachers and parents are expected to take part in the protest today. the institute for fiscal studies reported last year how total school spending per pupil fell by 8% in real terms between 2010 and 2018. samira darand her eight—year—old daughter leena patel are travelling down from birmingham and have just stopped at the services to talk to us. leena goes to the same school

asjess phillip mp‘s son. we also speak thai hope to speak to the lead campaigner, kate taylor. catherine fisher, from brighton, fears her son's primary school will soon close on friday lunchtimes. she's here with five—year—old milo. gary lewis is an executive head teacher in hertfordshire and also a government policy advisor. welcome, all, thank you forjoining us. welcome, all, thank you forjoining us. samira and leena, we will continue first, leena's school will close at lunchtime on fridays from september. how do you feel? we have been really upset. it was imposed onerous and it seems to have come from central government and it has caused a load of logistical problems for us all. i work full time and i have had to put on a flexible working request to work because we don't have any family locally, so we don't have any family locally, so we

don't have a network we could easily support us with these changes. don't have a network we could easily support us with these changesm there not an after—school club to sort out that issue? there is, we have not had any details, but the school is trying really hard to help working parents, but it is not an ideal situation because we still wa nt ideal situation because we still want the teaching to carry on, we wa nt want the teaching to carry on, we want full—time education. want the teaching to carry on, we want full-time education. but in terms of logistics, you can leave leena at school until 3:30pm, but it will not be lessons, it will be called an after—school club? will not be lessons, it will be called an after-school club? yes. watched eu thing, leena?” called an after-school club? yes. watched eu thing, leena? i don't really like it, i like learning in school. i don't know. really like it, i like learning in school. idon't know. -- really like it, i like learning in school. i don't know. -- what do you think, leena? do you know what you will be doing in the out—of—school club? not really. samira, was that

much consultation? how did you find out about it? a couple of meetings and some letters, the school tried ha rd to and some letters, the school tried hard to find other solutions but this is the last option they could put forward because of funding. kate, you are one of those leading the campaign, how many schools do you think are doing this? we know i'iow you think are doing this? we know now of 27 schools in birmingham. we know that because we have carried out extensive research and spoken to people, had people contacting us and letting us know. across the country, we put the figure of 250 but we genuinely believe there are many schools doing this, just not in the public talking about it. this primary school is incredibly brave in speaking out and raising awareness, which is what we need schools to do, we need them to let us schools to do, we need them to let us know how bad it is. in terms of why, the government says that in birmingham funding for an average primary class of 28 is £125,000,

above the national average of £115,000 for an equivalent class, the government says those amounts cover a full five—day week in term time and also the per—pupil funding and burning and is 8% higher than the national average, so why is this happening if that is the case? burning and is a massive local authority with lots of deprivation, lots of children special—needs —— birmingham is. the money spent on those children, spent on schools. we had to listen to the heads, the parents, the children. they are not making this up, schools do not have enough money. they do not have enough money. they do not have enough to provide teaching assistants, support for vulnerable children, not enough money for pencils and now they're closing early on friday afternoon, they are not lying. the government needs to provide more money for all of our schools across the country, it is not a schools across the country, it is nota birmingham schools across the country, it is not a birmingham issue, it is a

national problem and the government are a generation. —— an apathetic generation. catherine, you thiem mylo's schoolmates are closing on fridays, why? they have taken a huge hit in terms of theirfunding, it is an they have taken a huge hit in terms of their funding, it is an 8% loss. have you had conversations? schools in brighton and hove, we were talking to head teachers and they say they have cut everything they can cut. when your staff budget goes to more than 100% of your budget, you have to cut the amount of stuff you have to cut the amount of stuff you have. they said it is likely the schools will close on friday? you have. they said it is likely the schools will close on friday7m you have. they said it is likely the schools will close on friday? it is likely for all schools, i think. obviously you are concerned about your school, have you been told specifically? i am concerned about all schools across the board. let's bring in comments from people watching at home, step on twitter

says i am a teacher in birmingham and three out of the five primary schools i visit close on a friday lunchtime. so glad jess phillips has brought this to the public eye. christine says, our school still giving parents fines for taking kids out of school for holidays and perhaps the schools should return the favour and pay the government for denying their children an education. with us is a gary lewis, head teacher in hertfordshire and you are closing the school early but for different reasons? that is not entirely true, we not reducing teaching time at all, we are reducing lunchtime by ten minutes, but it is in order to balance what we are doing with both staff and students, to allow to do extracurricular activity after school. full schools generally, and i have been a teacher for many years, we are facing a real acute crisis in terms of teacher recruitment and trying to balance their work life balance with the needs of the students. as a head

teacher and you have 1100 students and 75 teachers, any decision you make is about the balance and what is best for people on average. you have previously been an adviser to the government? i still am, actually. the government is putting out figures saying the schools have enough money to be providing full—time education for all of the peoples, where is the disconnect? when you look at a global picture of the financial situation, that is the case, it is true. but each individual school will have different financial pressures. if i was to look at the last 18 years, the amount of money schools are spending on front—line services, they are providing social service support, mental health nurses and so oi'i. support, mental health nurses and so on. they are being funded by schools. it may be that technically there is as much money or slightly more even in the pot than previously, but schools are no longer spending it on front line

teachers and in the classroom. as long as the government's view is enough money for this not to be happening, do you think things will change? could you see a situation if it is rolled out and it becomes routine? i don't think it will be routine, parents will not allow it, quite rightly so. head teachers are determined to do the very best for the children in their school. they will be looking to minimise any impact on education. i don't think there is any head teacher in the land he would want to reduce teaching time for their children. but if they can amalgamate preparation time into one slot so they don't need other cover, teaches at that particular time, that needs money and technically it won't have such a big impact on the children. kate, what do you difference do you think it will make? we are going to make a really big noise and people are made aware of the problems schools are facing. when i tell people what we are doing today, they

cannot believe schools haven't got enough money to stay open on a friday afternoon. they are stunned. we need more people to know about this. it's not common knowledge or known. we need to raise awareness that schools are in crisis and it is the government's fault and they need to fund schools properly. thank you all very much indeed forjoining us. let us know your thoughts at home as well. are robots going to take ourjobs? japan has one of the oldest populations in the world and that means not enough young workers to power its economy. the government has a plan to deal with its workforce crisis — get more women into work, bring in foreigners. and robots. but are they really ready to replace us? here's stephanie hegarty. welcome to the bbc. i'm erica. some people worry that robots will take ourjobs, but other people worry that they won't. in places where there just aren't enough workers they're trying to make that happen.

hello, unibo, do you speak english? hello! konnichiwa! i'm sorry, i could not find a word. but would you let a robot read you the news or look after your children? or even take you on a date? i'm on the way to meet someone in ginza, a fancy part of tokyo. kohki—san. hey, how are you? want to walk down this way? 0k. but my date is actually 300 miles away.

kohki, why are you so interested in cars? do you want to drive this one? wait, wait — this one is really cool.

kohki—san took part in a pilot project, where he was able to work in a cafe for a day, using a different version of orihime. why is the avatar so important? we're told the number of people on the planet is exploding... ..but not everywhere. japan has the oldest population in the world.

that means not enough young workers to power the economy, and it doesn't want to bring in many foreigners. robots are one alternative. but are they really ready to replace us? i feel like we're in a chat show here, but i'm not sure who the presenter is. meet erica, the first robot newsreader in the world. hi, i'm erica. nice to meet you. you, too. where are you from? i am from ireland. i love you very much. 0h! you can return to your child's heart. mr kawakami is erica's engineer.

erica mines the internet to learn how to speak. tofu. ilike him. i like tofu. i can't eat it. i'm not sure you can. i can't eat. ok, if you insist. ai mode still needs some work. are you confident that she'll be able to have a normal conversation one day? japan makes and develops more robots than almost anywhere else in the world, which makes sense because it is kind of obsessed with them. where else would parents be happy to let a robot look after their children?

this is vivo. 0h! so aside from being super cute, vivo also greets kids when they arrive and takes their temperature. he records how much they've had to eat and how much they've slept and then he tells the parents that when they come to pick their kids up. aside from that, at this point, he doesn't do much else. joe set up a series of care homes and nurseries when he was in his 20s. now it's a multi—million dollar business. but they have one major struggle.

how long d'you think it will be before the whole nursery is run by robots? 15, that soon?! for the moment, vivo is more of an idea than a revolution. injapan, there's an ancient shinto belief that everything has a spirit. a lot of the robots being developed injapan seem to look like humans, or like cute cuddly things. and while androids look cool, most of them aren't really that useful. but there is a lot of research going into robots that do things that it's difficult to find humans to do. and one of those is picking vegetables. within the next ten years, the number of japanese farmers are going to decrease by half, actually. the robot has this special type of camera, so they will sort of observe the shape of the asparagus and whether it's

long enough so that it can be picked or not. i'm guessing this is a lot slower than a human. so we're not aiming to make it fasterthana human, but rather we cover it by operating longer. the idea is that it will cost a little less than human labour. a robot designed to replace humans could also help smallhold farmers to survive. there's a fear that automated machines will put billions of us out of work. but even in a place where workers are desperately needed, people are proving that even if robots could replace us, they don't have to.

if the government hopes to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 it must act now. that's the advice of an extensive new report into the way the country uses its energy and how it will have to change. that mean change for all of us and not just that mean change for all of us and notjust government policy. in a moment we'll talk about how that change can be delivered and what we as individuals will need to do. let's talk now to one of the report's researchers, andrew smith. evelina utterdahl is a travel writer who doesn't fly. shejoins us from sweden this morning. and jon burke a cabinet member for energy at hackney council. we need to look at what has been done technically in sociology to hit those targets? the government has declared a climate change emergency. the thing with emergencies is, they

need urgent and radical action, they need urgent and radical action, they need to be as effective as possible, as fast as possible. we look that could to two net zero just by cleaning the we use? in theory, we can come only by changing the fuels we use and the energy we use. said that's things like electric cars, sustainable, renewable energy and that sort of thing? and getting rid of oil, coal, petrolall those fossil fuels out of the economy completely. but that will be the most difficult way to do it. there is an easier way which is where we clea n is an easier way which is where we clean the supply side and change how we use energy. we change the demand side as well. that means by doing both in tandem we get there faster and cheaper and we can make it easierfor and cheaper and we can make it easier for ourselves at the same time. what does that mean in terms of lifestyle changes, the messages are coming through and becoming more

widely known like eating less meat, flying less. what would you say everybody at home needs to be thinking about actively changing? we are asking people to look at how we can improve the polity of our lives and use less energy at the same time. electric cars are one way to do that. for the same trip they will use one quarter of the energy of a fossil fuel car. the use one quarter of the energy of a fossilfuel car. the moment we switch to electric vehicles, we save large amounts of electricity. with no change to quality of life? no change to quality of life and no change to quality of life and no change to quality of life and no change to patterns how we use the energy. however, that does not solve congestion. if electric cars, when electric cars become cheaper, we will have more traffic and more congestion. it doesn't stop the way that busy roads because severance and then stop people talking to each other on the street and getting to know their neighbours. on busy roads, fewer people talk to their neighbours. it doesn't go along with

lots of car use and the electric vehicles on their own will not solve it. we have a lot of space used up in our towns and cities for parked ca rs. in our towns and cities for parked cars. a car spends 98% of its life park. it is expensive and probably your second most expensive purchase. everything you are saying about the abuse of cars and the impact on congestion, people might think you are talking about improving quality of lives, but you also talking about saying basically we will have to get used to living without cars because all these reasons, aside from the missions mean they are not good for society going forward. where does that us, is it turning back the clock from when we used to live with less car ownership? i think it will mean less car ownership? i think it will m ea n less less car ownership? i think it will mean less car ownership but wider car availability. shared commuting? that means a lot more shared use. one in three cars doesn't get used.

the busiest times of day, an 10% of ca rs are the busiest times of day, an 10% of cars are in use. obviously it's not just cars, all forms of transport, and you are a travel writer but you don't use aeroplanes, tell us how you go about getting about? first of all, i used to fly until i learned just how big the carbon footprint is. then i decided to quit the same day because i cannotjustify that. so instead, i get around by using buses and trains, public transportation, car sharing, even sailing. you go all over the world, you have been to iran quite recently, but when you don't fly, obviously you need to have time to do those journeys, obviously you need to have time to do thosejourneys, because obviously you need to have time to do those journeys, because they are going to take a lot longer and not everybody has the time to spend

doing that? absolutely, and that is why right now i am focusing travelling where i am and the surrounding area. so this summer i am exploring sweden, where i am from. because that is where i am and i don't need as much time to explore it. i think it's very common to take your home country for granted and when thinking about going on vacation to go somewhere far away, but we need to consider you know, just changing our behaviour and our look on things because we are in such a state of emergency and you cannot really put a price on that. to me,| cannot really put a price on that. to me, i could notjustify my personal holidays, being at the cost of what actually is going to be human lives. you are from hackney

council and you are part of the team responsible for energy waste and transport, so what is hackney council doing? not only are we the top recycling borough but we have a comprehensive plan for transforming the local energy system from our own consumption of energy, if we switch to 50% renewable energy as a council this year. 100% next year. we are replicating a plan as to what the climate change committee recommends. there are things that councils and governments can do that change the way that things are powered or whatever it is and the ordinary person, it doesn't impact on the ordinary person having to change their behaviour. when it comes to things like recycling, that is totally reliant on people going with

you, where do you see the balance of responsibility and how difficult is it to take people with you?m responsibility and how difficult is it to take people with you? if you put the right in you produce better outcomes. we need to waste and recycling systems and hackney has just submitted it recycling plant to all of its targets to get to 50% re cycled all of its targets to get to 50% recycled waste in london by 2025 and it is only through those structural changes rather than educational programmes that will fundamentally alter behaviour. we will be considering reducing the number of residential waste collections for on street properties because there has been... that is controversial because people don't like it when their collections are caught? two thirds of local authorities now have fortnightly waste collections. it is more normal and the top 30 municipalities in the country for waste collection and recycling have residual waste restriction. we are doing work on our estates because it

is more difficult to recycle than if you live on an estate and if you have a bin outside your front door. we have a green champion programme whereby we use residence on those particular estates to engage with other residents to talk about how they can reduce the overall amount of waste they are producing in the first place and also the amount they re cycle. first place and also the amount they recycle. but you have also got to think about the fact that a lot of that waste material is being forced upon consumers that waste material is being forced upon consumers in that waste material is being forced upon consumers in the first place. that is why people get frustrated when waste collections are cut because it is difficult. yes but it makes people think about the amount of material they are consuming. the government waste resource strategy is focused on producing responsibility and should have a big amount of impact on supermarkets. good to hear from you and amount of impact on supermarkets. good to hearfrom you and do amount of impact on supermarkets. good to hear from you and do let us know what you are thinking at home as well. some good news to finish the programme with — the story of one family,

and their dog, who've they've just been reunited with, six years after she went missing. fern the sprocker spaniel was suspected stolen from her owner's driveway in chessington in 2013. for more than 2000 days the family hoped for her return. and then the call came, from a vet near reading to tell them she'd been found. a little earlier i spoke to ownerjodie and her eight—year—old son ethan — who was just two years old when fern went missing. it's just amazing. such an emotional time. so we will go back to what happened, but tell us how you got the call and discovered that fern was alive and well and was coming back to you six years after she disappeared ? well after replaying that call in my head and hoping it might come, i was cooking the dinner yesterday, sorry tuesday at az30pm and a phone call came through.

they left a message on my answerphone and listen to it and thought, no that can't be right. so i called them back. the lovely nurse at twyford veterinary practice said to me, are you mrs ferrier? i said yes. she said, i think i've got your dog. at that point i think i just fell to pieces. incredible, did you ever give up hope that you get her back? we never gave up hope, no. we pushed the campaign all the time, we try to get her out on social media and in the press and where ever we could, if anybody spotted her to get her here. our biggest hope was that her microchip would be scanned and that's exactly what happened. so ethan, you are nodding your head and i know you were part of the campaign, you wrote a letter didn't you? tell us what you said in your letter. i can't quite remember it but i know that it was something for the people who stole fern could bring her back. it must have been very upsetting for you, you were so young when fern was taken, i think you were just one? he was two, yeah. you were very little, was it very upsetting for you at the time?

yes. did you think you'd ever get her back? well it depends how long it was. if it was a long time, maybe not but if it wasn't that long, yes. how do you feel now that you've got her back and you can give her nice big cuddles? i feel very happy, because i can snuggle her again. jodie, tell us then what you've been able to piece together about what happened to fern? we think from the vet, she has definitely been breeding, probably several litters of puppies. it appears that she was found in bracknelljust wandering down the road and she was scooped up by a really lovely guy who managed to get her in his car.

he asked around to see if anybody was missing this dog and nobody knew anything about her. so he took her to the vets in twyford and got her scanned. so we think maybe she's been used for breeding and now that she seven, maybe she's not quite useful anymore and was either let loose or she managed to get away. because from what i can gather, nobody has come forward looking for her since. so do you think she was stolen effectively to order to be used for breeding? it's always been how i thought it played out. and sadly, that does appear to be exactly what has happened. we are just so thankful, six years, six days, six months, it doesn't matter, you keep going, you keep trying. she's here now and that's all that matters. she looks so gorgeous and healthy. and very happy to be back with you, did she recognise you, do you think?

i think so. when the door first opened and she came towards me, she went to walk straight past me. then you can see her recoil and she just walks back a couple of steps, i don't know if she sniffed me or if there's something just sparked and then her tailjust started wagging and she's been so happy ever since and that tale has been going nonstop. so does it feel almost doubly precious that having lost her you've now got her back? it's more than double. anybody that has a dog, just squeeze them a little bit tighter and just try and think how that felt, that day when she was taken and we've gone all this time not knowing and now she's here, she's never going out of my sight again. life has changed a lot for you since you lost her, you've got more kids, obviously ethan has got older, how has she slotted into the new situation there? we played it really carefully. essentially, this

is a new dog to us. she is six years on and she was only a year old when she was taken. there's three children in this household now and you've got to play that really carefully with a new dog. but to be honest, she has sat herself in all of their laps and she's more than happy to be around them and so far not shown any sign that stressing her out at all. she's playful, she's so happy and our dog that we have now as well, gus, he'sjust let her in and share his toys, it's like she's always been here. ethan, what's the best thing for you about having her back? well, sometimes she comes up into my room and lays on there for a bit until i go to sleep and then i can hear her going back downstairs. it's fabulous, it's so great that you got her back. delighted to be able to talk

to you and see everything has resolved so well. thank you very much indeed forjoining us. have a good day. thanks for having us. goodbye. bbc newsroom live is coming up next. thank you for your company today. have a good day. have a lovely weekend and i will see you soon. have a lovely weekend and i will see you soon. goodbye.

england but cloud will filter in from the north as the day wears on and a cooler feel to things behind it with some sunny spells. the temperature is noticeably cooler in the south—east. highs around 23, 20 four celsius.

you're watching bbc newsroom live — it's 11 am and these are the main stories this morning... jaguar land rover pumps hundreds of millions into their west midlands plant — where a new electric car will be produced — securing thousands of jobs. borisjohnson denies downing street attempted to withhold secret intelligence from him when theresa may made him foreign secretary. in the last few minutes it's been announced that the racing pundit, john mccririck, famous for his his ebullient personality, has died at the age of 79. five former police chiefs warn that the public has lost confidence in the police — and drug and knife crime have created a feeling that britain has descended into lawlessness.

everywhere we look, there