anyway, mr dougie beattie at school, he is now. if he was my teacher, i would go.s us now and ayesha ali khan about all of this. well, bobby, i think i've got to go to you first, mate, to really try and discover what the mood is. i understand, i understand people having a problem with school and not wanting to go. i understand that, but how normal is this? i mean, it was an abnormal thing in my day. how normal is it today? >> sadly, school absence is something that more and more teachers, heads of years, head teachers, heads of years, head teachers have to consider when they're trying to think about school strategies and how to improve performance. because ultimately, as an educator, as parents, the reason why we're so insistent on attendance is ultimately, the higher the attendance, the more likely children are to do well academically, and that boosts their life chances. so we as teachers and parents, we want children to have the best chance in life. but if you look at this survey here, it's been conducted with, i think, 2000 families. what they found is that the

dougie beattie gb news, belfast. >> thank you douglas.theo usherwood, a political commentator, joins us in the in the studio now to talk about this. and it really never ceases to amaze me just how indifferent politicians are. and we're going to be debating it in the programme later this morning. we've got a guy coming in and really they couldn't care less. they do not see how the food chain works. and i would say to anybody, because i've been up close and personal with this, if you would be a farmer, good luck to you because there are very, very few people that would have a go at it. >> it's a tough job. you're up. you're up at 2 or 3:00 every morning. and of course walking, working through right until late into the evening and then a little bit of sleep because you have to then get back up. it's a really hard job. and this exemption exists for a reason. the reason it exists is because actually, whilst farmers may be asset rich, they may have tractors which cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, or harvesting or harvesting or of course, th