boris johnson's "confidence in williamson draining away."ay in scotla nd away." borisjohnson‘s on holiday in scotland at the moment and is still recovering from coronavirus, but calls from him to personally lead the back—to—school campaign because not only have we got gcses results on thursday, but goodness knows how many millions of kids going back to school. that is something which has been set in stone by the government. yes, it is very important that youngsters do go back to school in september — partly because they need to get back to school so their pa rents to get back to school so their pa re nts ca n to get back to school so their parents can go back to work and the economy can pick up a bit. but also for the sake of children, they've had four months out of school, we are hearing in the rise of mental health problems. they've lost so much learning, and teenagers especially need to be socialised, they need other teenagers around them to grow up. so very important that kids get back to school. the front pages are really putting the bo

so it is no good for the prime minister, hanging gavin williamson out to dry, and mr williamson out toying to shake the blame onto the regulator when you have a command and control downing street like we have at the moment, the prime minister ultimately must take responsibility. and it is significant that he's kept a very, very low profile. he is supposed to be on holiday, but prime ministers are never really on holiday. be on holiday, but prime ministers are never really on holidaylj realise are never really on holiday.” realise that the picture was outside the department for education after the department for education after the news was announced. interesting also, the guardian picking up that the government is now lifting the cap on english university admissions. so despite all the inconvenience and the trauma of this and the pandemic, i suppose the good thing is they can lift the cap because a lot of other foreign stu d e nts because a lot of other foreign students won't be coming to study this year in the uk, so the capacity might well be there. that's true, but there's also a bi

churches purdue just said marianne williamson the presidential campaign. and marianne williamson she is a pre-internet figure original sheet rises to prominence in the 1980s. but she is a parenting updated news thought kind of figure. if you look in the 19th century there be a church founded by marianne williamson. would be huge but it would have 200,000 people the resort of chapels around the country. that doesn't seem to happen to anything special over the last couple of generations. have a little stuff in the 70s and 80s but especially lately. and how much of that is the internet? how much is that is an ambient skepticism of institutions? why isn't one of paltrow i guess connie west has sunday services wise and third sunday service. [inaudible]

now a majority think gavin williamson should resign.this mess, but borisjohnson seems very reluctant to force out any of his ministers out, regardless of how incompetent they are. then you have this water point that i find fascinating, how aggressive the daily mail, a newspaper which used to bea daily mail, a newspaper which used to be a cheerleader for boris johnson, has become towards the prime minister. there have been editorials in the daily mail this week which could easily have been written in the daily mirror, the paperl written in the daily mirror, the paper i work for. written by you. i would be delighted to have written that well. tim, you are a conservative. do you share this sentiment from the daily mail?|j conservative. do you share this sentiment from the daily mail? i do, i'm afraid. i think it would be fair to say that jason's paper and him, coming from the left of politics, you can understand why they would be attacking a conservative government. we do surprise you. but why are people like me, who are conservative, and

after education secretary gavin williamson declared there would be no change and no u—turn. says the prime minister told the education secretary to scrap the algorithm for this summer s exams results — following the outcry. the daily mirror describes it as another government "screeching" u—turn, but note that education secretary reamins in his job. according to the daily telegraph, gavin williamson is blaming the exam regulator for the exam results chaos. the ‘i' describes how some students, parents and teachers are breathing a sigh of relief after days of confusion. while the daily mail suggests the story is worthy of laurel and hardy — calling it ‘another fine mess.‘ is blaming the exam regulator for the exam results chaos. the ‘i' describes how some students, parents and teachers are breathing a sigh of relief after days of confusion. while the daily mail suggests the story is worthy of laurel and hardy — calling it ‘another fine mess.‘ so, let‘s begin. shall we start with the express? obviously, for the british papers, it is all about the u—turn on the results. victory f

gavin williamson has said there will be no u-turns.the first minister in scotland and our government, who seem so unable to read the atmosphere. never admit they're wrong. the mistakes that we re they're wrong. the mistakes that were made with covid, they blame it i'iow were made with covid, they blame it now on were made with covid, they blame it now on the scientists. gavin williamson, not in my view, a man who should ever be a minister or secretary of state, is now deciding that what happened was right, that board members on quual are saying step back, think again, let's go back to teacher assessments. teachers know the pupils. this is an extraordinary year. let'sjust teachers know the pupils. this is an extraordinary year. let's just deal with it. the numbers are even higher with it. the numbers are even higher with gcs he's coming up. the chaos is going to be greater. —— gcses. i feel so bad for all these pupils having to go through all this. andy, are you surprised borisjohnson has remained silent so far? he's made a public state

williamson has made over the grading system? there williamson has made over the grading system ?y been announced. this is a game where this government showed that lack of leadership. they have no foresight. they don‘t seem to be aware of the problem is coming down the track towards them. it is like it is their blind spot. we will give gavin williamson the opportunity to answer some of those questions you have raised when we speak to him at 7:30am alive on this programme. do you think he should resign? well, i know if i was in charge of the government he wouldn‘t be in my team. that is a massive white boris johnson. gavin williamson needs to focus on how we ensure students have the best possible experience when they go to university in september and maybe not be focusing so much on saving his ownjob. and maybe not be focusing so much on saving his own job. good to talk to you, thank you so much. the shadow universities minister talking to us from hull this morning. so many questions still needing answering about a—levels and universities. we will try to get to the bottom as many a

is a gavin williamson?hem. this get made. wrong policy decisions get made, we saw it in scotla nd decisions get made, we saw it in scotland book and how the scottish government dealt with that compared to the uk government. as i say, they tried to dig in, they try to defend the indefensible and indefensible was this, that working—class kids and those from game communities, they were going to our them to be discriminated against for some —— from bame communities they also in my few left an impression that they don't touch the teaching profession. they all them all on apology but they also need to set out how they are going to rebuild trust amongst teachers, parents and of course students. andy burnham, we must leave it there. former shadow education secretary for labour and mayor of manchester. lovely to talk to you, thanks. let's get some more put a correction to the government pots i change in policy from the liberal democrats spokesperson for education, leila moran and thank you for joining education, lei

this of course, nigel, is that education secretary gavin williamson, who's been in charge whilst the exam results. mps are furious about it, that the olympians called forth these regulation —— the lib dems. now some labour mps regulation —— the lib dems. now some labourmps arejoining regulation —— the lib dems. now some labour mps are joining her, regulation —— the lib dems. now some labour mps arejoining her, i think they bought a very good point. gavin williamson has proven himself to be totally incompetent and unable to handle something like this. especially given he's had five months in which to do it. i'm not surprised at all that mps are calling for him to go. i think one thing that the tory party will start to be worried about is they could remember how the lib dems were wiped out after going back on student tuition fees, and students would never vote for them again. you can't see 18—year—old now wanting to actually vote for the tories either, and there's another generation of gcs the students likely to be in the same boat next week —— gcse. gcs the students likely to be in th

and gavin williamson liked a lot of the pictures on facebook. what do you make of that?ns and need a break and everybody needs a holiday of course. this rather blows gavin back to scarborough where he grew up out of water. pictures from august 6th to 18th, right before the a—levels and until after this. gillian keegan, the minister for apprenticeships and skills, jointly responsible for post 16 education, was having an amazing time, i'm very jealous looking at these pictures. but you know it does look bad, everybody needs a holiday, but think needed to have sorted this stuff out properly before they went away and to see this when my son and other childrens had uncertainty and upset is galling and that gavin williamson did find the time to like some of the posts on instagram, but not to know about the problems about the algorithm which i knew about weeks ago and, hay, aim not education secretary. now the theme of people being on holiday, the papers are interested in it. the mail have a big splash of borisjohnson on holiday in scotland. he put up that tent. apparently he a

this may turn out to be the biggest mistake gavin williamson ever made.l, like public health england is now being blamed for the failures of covid—i9. they have got to get a grip. 0k, for the failures of covid—i9. they have got to get a grip. ok, so they are talking of a u—turn —— talk of a u—turn, to return to the front page of the daily mail, the? of what is going to happen on thursday. yes, this is the gcses, looking at whether it would make sense to delay gcse results so they can look again at the algorithm and get ahead of these problems rather than, as they have shown this weekend, with guidance allegedly being published and then not being published, with tweets at 930 saying they were still working on saying this and the department for education, frankly press office is not always been the most helpful of what is going on, clearly looking ahead to thursday and whether or not they're going to annoy another tranche of the parents. the one thing i disagree with jasmine parents. the one thing i disagree withjasmine on as i think the tories cannot regat

it's just, the scale of it is unenviable for gavin williamson. but it is on his watch.member when we got our results will either wait a tough day for anyone who got their results. let's move onto front page of the daily express. big headline there, seeing... it is talking about there, seeing... it is talking about the increase in fines for those who refuse to wear face coverings, it will now be £3200 if you refuse to wear a mask and faiza this has come in at the same time as relaxed some of the restrictions around coronavirus when it comes to sport, beauty salons can do close contact treatments, that kind of thing. let's stick with the masks for now. do you think that this is going to change the game? certainly, when i came in today, i did not see that many people wearing masks. probably 50-50. for any others using public transport it has been a bit of a mixed bag. there's no question about whether people are taking seriously or not. the police are saying it's ha rd or not. the police are saying it's hard for them to go in and check and e nforce hard for them to go in a

and it did take gavin williamson at the best pa rt it did take gavin williamson at the best part of ats, action —— and pupils. there are many parents, teachers and pupils in that time who would have been because a great deal of stroke stress —— distress. many mps are questioning how much longer mr williamson can see in hisjob least an eight we have finally some clarity for those people who are hoping to go to university. nick with the latest on westminster there. stay with us on outside source — still to come. we'll look ahead to the beginning of the us democratic national convention — where the democrats will firmly selectjoe biden as their presidential challenger. across the world the number of new coronavirus infections continue to soar. the us and india are among the worst affected countries — recording tens of thousands of deaths. here's fergus walsh. there are now more than 21 million confirmed coronavirus cases around the world. that figure is rising by more than 250,000 new cases every day. the global death toll now exceeds 750,000. in the past 2a hours, the world health organ

they expect gavin williamson to be out of hisjob they expect gavin williamson to be out of his job atthe future. they sayjob spec out of his job at some point in the future. they say job spec for the soon—to—be vacant role of education secretary. according to the daily mail today, other conservative mps have told them that borisjohnson will wait before it sacking gavin williamson, in order to potentially, they say, take the rap for any gcse results chaos and any chaos as schools reopen? that's right. if the newspapers decided on gavin williamson's political career, he would be gone by now. the daily star talk of farce and humiliation. usually supportive papers for the government, including the sun, have been weighing in as well. certainly there are big challenges for the education secretary ahead, the difficulty of actually getting people into universities with limited capacity, even though the cap on admissions has been lifted. very difficult if people have already been turned down for university places. that is the most immediate challenge. then it is about getting children inning e

according to the metro, the uk education secretary, gavin williamson is managing to cling onto hisjobscrambled for university places and gcse pupils faced more uncertainty over their exam results on thursday. the ‘i' reports that borisjohnson has rejected the minister's offer to resign — while senior conservatives call for regulator ‘0fqual‘ — to be abolished. the daily mail says gavin williamson has enraged tory mps with a desperate bid to shift the blame for the exams fiasco, in an attempt to cling on to hisjob. and the daily telegraph reports universities have told the uk government they will need more money, if they are to take more students this year following the climb—down over a—levels results. so let's begin... welcome to you both. should we kick off with the metro? the paper says he is clinging onto hisjob. is that how you see it education editor? yes. i think so. it is quite clear in the headline. you are gabbing a life of think that is how people say it. three times this morning on television or whether he was going to resign and he evaded the question be time. i think he'

confusion over a few things that gavin williamson was seeing.ion. this is to do with the number of students which the education secretary gavin williamson has assured us this morning will get either the grade they were predicted by their teachers or are within one grade of that. he gave different figures in different interviews this morning so to be clear the department for education has said it is in fact 97% of a—level students in england will get the grade predicted by their teachers are a result within one grade of that. that is clearly the overwhelming majority but of course it still includes a significant number of stu d e nts includes a significant number of students who will see their grades reduced by one. the by one. and a small number will see their grades resulting in a higher result than the ones they were aborted by their teachers. as the results are coming out this morning a lot of attention on the detail and in the flurry of activity we see this morning as stu d e nts activity we see this morning as students open their results an

that's the question that will be to gavin williamson, —— after scotla nd that will be to gavin williamsoning ourselves in exactly the same situation. lots of questions will be asked. well that put pressure on his position? the liberal democrats called for as resignation —— will that put pressure? we know this administration is quite keen to keep its cabinet ministers. changing the education secretary in the middle of a pandemicjust one month before schools are supposed to reopen would be very difficult. helen, thank you. zainab ali from east london lost out on a place at her first choice university because of her exam results. i'm delighted to say she joins us now. thanks for speaking to us again. remind us what you are predicted and what you got and what this change will mean for you.” predicted and what you got and what this change will mean for you. i was predicted a star, a, c from the school and was dropped a grades on each one. i was then not able to get into my first choice university and had to go into the unconditional offer which was my second choice at westminster. and i had al

today, gavin williamson has lifted that cap on numbers. many more students. but of course there are other considerations. we are going into a university term where universities will have tobacco individual secure and they're thinking about how many they can fit into seminar rooms, or lecture theatres. many lectures have moved online. but one thing that has not is student accommodation and they have limits on the numbers that they're putting into their accommodation, often a key part of the experience of going away from home for the first time is being with other students. it is not clear how they're going to manage those difficulties. and six form college like this are now scrambling to write their own admissions policies. come thrs and friday and next monday they could be facing a lot of stu d e nts they could be facing a lot of students with very similar looking gcse grades, they're going to have to find some way of deciding which ones of those to let on a limited number of places for a—level courses. and of course as vicky said, there w

there are huge numbers of events all coming together but whatever, gavin williamson and the educationch seems to be just serious the whole time. dave, the mirror is saying he should be sacked, the sunday express are much more sympathetic. he has written the article himself, ijust noticed the deputy political editor byline on this is david williamson, i don't think they are necessarily related. it says he is making a passionate plea to get back to school and presumably he would be quite keen for people to concentrate on the next school term, not what has gone on over this year. yes, as anne rightly said, he has the gcse results coming up next week, the biggest on with 7000 to relax 700,000 students getting their grades. bodies 20 tonne into the express. . . grades. bodies 20 tonne into the express... when he is about to get kids back to school and he is launching a back—to—school safety campaign to try to convince parents that it campaign to try to convince parents thatitis campaign to try to convince parents that it is safe to go back to school and in his article he argues that it is

gavin williamson has this human shield of of coal, the exams regulator.d about how they would deal with people is by a cross— party would deal with people is by a cross—party group of mps in the education select committee. they worried about the effect of disadvantaged pupils, those from ethnic minority backgrounds. all these concerns were raised with 0fqual at a meeting onjuly the 16th. concerns were raised that he could not devise an algorithm himself and he is saying he did everything he could to try and put fairness into the system and make the appeals process more robust. any mess up if you like is that of 0fqual and not his. mess up if you like is that of quual and not his. does that put an end to the pressure? no, it does not. lib dem mps have called for him to go. most significantly, many conservative mps are scratching their heads as to why he is still there. one of them said an education secretary who makes children cry is not a good look. 0ne secretary who makes children cry is not a good look. one reason they are concerned is not about whether

here's lucy williamson.ucy: he was bught in last month to get france back to school, back to work. but how, when coronavirus is picking up speed across the country? the prime minister confirmed the new cases multiplied threefold since the end of lockdown, with thvirus actively circulating in 21 red zones across france. what stopped at last time was lockdown. >> our objectivedos obviously to verything possible to avoid another lockdown from especially a general, lockdown avoid a massive influx of patients into intensive care units, as we have seen already. i want to teob you that this ctive is within our collective reach, provided we are all mobilized and lucy: answering a question from journalists, the prime minister said masks would become compulsory in all public aree of paris, the worst-hit areas. they are already compulsory across the whole of marseilles. the number of cases in the population there has climbed to 177 per 100,000 for tes avs of wedny night, bars and restaurants have been forced to whole o

boris johnson street is defending gavin williamson this morning. that waiting to further problems. and then they return to school for pupils at the start of term in september, both big tests still to come for gavin williamson. this afternoon we'll be answering your questions on the government u—turn on how a—level exams will be graded. simon mccoy will be joined by grainne hallahan from the time educational supplement and mary curnock cook, former chief executive of ucas. that's coming up at 3.30 this afternoon. the democratic party convention has got under way in the united states. but like everything these days, it looked very different, with none of the razzmatazz usually on show when america's major political parties meet to elect their presidential nominee. instead of speeches in front of cheering crowds, during a two—hour televised event, there was series of live—streamed and pre—recorded appearances by the party's — and some republican — big names. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, reports. remote, virtual, and very unconventiona

lucy williamson has more.eporter:er the gent has been expanding its precautions over the last few weeks and months. masks are now compulsory in shops and offices. it has given permission to local authorities to make masks compulsory in some crowded streets. there are hundreds of places across france wear masks are compulsory in public. but this is another move again, thinking about it me time.n th work minister met unions en she came out, it was confirmed.

the sunday express has the education executory gavin williamson vowing to get children back to schoolext month because he says the risks of not returning are too high to ignore. the sunday mirror reports that some mps are calling for the education secretary to quit in the wake of the a—level results issues. according to the sunday telegraph, public health england is to be scrapped and replaced by a new body early next week, specifically designed to protect the country against a pandemic. the daily mail says priti patel is embroiled in a row to say that... the sunday people predicts the country won't recover from the current recession till 2023. let's

a lot of people looking at what gavin williamson is saying and doing as education secretary, saying heresults and on the system that has been set up despite quite a lot of unease from teachers and teachers unions. this article of quual they have basically said that the us teachers have over marked and marked too high. —— you, as teachers, full i would dispute that this isjust because of covid—19. of course young people missed exams that we could see this coming and teachers were raising issues with the algorithm for some weeks and we onlyjust last week so the fallout in scotland, so you would have thought that we might have made sure that we were in a better position and scotland was la st better position and scotland was last week and we have not. as a consequence, a lot of young people are very upset today and i think the real scandal here

very interesting that gavin williamson is offering an apology to stu d e nts williamson is offering an to students and now these changes after what happened in scotland with the results. definitely something he will be defending today? results. definitely something he will be defending today7m results. definitely something he will be defending today? it is an gavin williamson is defending that model, that the exam regulator has used to standardise a level grades in england. a—level ——he sang without it, we would have seen a great shoot up and he has gone on to say in his piece in the daily telegraph this morning that it would devalue the results for the class of this year, meaning they would lose out in the future and also devalue the results of last year's students and next. worse than that, he goes on to say, would mean that students this year would lose twice over both in terms of the results and future prospects. it is a results day like no other as the education secretary acknowledged. the nerves and anticipation are there but also the unknown because the grades are not asa unknow

and therefore, it would be very difficult to blame it on gavin williamson. the civil service and a government has taken place. think about a former education secretary david blunkett, who used to complain endlessly that he wanted to deliver radical policy and he was thwarted. but that is slightly different from who ultimately loses theirjob if it all goes wrong. it is interesting that coronavirus is the undoing for education policy, thomas. we had the situation in the european commission, of course, where for several days, phil hogan, the irish trade commissioner, was resisting efforts to get him to go. he had attended a golf dinner and had 80 people there, and the social restrictions because of coronavirus had been introduced and it proved a huge embarrassment. the irish government could get rid of their agricultural minister at the dinner and just sacked him. the prime minister and the deputy prime minister spent days privately and publicly urging mr hogan to go, and he dug in his heels. eurosceptics would say that's one of the things we didn't like about

the sunday express has the education executory gavin williamson vowing to get children back to schoolthe risks of not returning are too high to ignore. the sunday mirror reports that some mps are calling for the education secretary to quit in the wake of the a—level results issues. according to the sunday telegraph, public health england is to be scrapped and replaced by a new body early next week, specifically designed to protect the country against a pandemic. the daily mail says priti patel is embroiled in a row to say that... the sunday people predicts the country won't recover from the current recession till 2023. let's make a start with the sunday telegraph, hancock faces, alex's failing public health body. what is it going to be replaced with, public health england? well, it is going to be replaced with something that is a p pa re ntly be replaced with something that is apparently going to be much more geared to finding a pandemic. public health england is a huge body that employs many, many people. it has come in for a lot of criticism over the years. it was set up byjeremy hu

just on the point of gavin williamson, where does this leave him? few days ago seems to have been shot by 0fqual anyway, so who is making the decisions here? that is an interesting question, and i think it is probably emblematic of what is happening across government. you have government agencies that are delivering to what they understand to be their statutory objectives. in 0fqual‘s case i think not very well, but leave that aside for a second, and you have those agencies put under huge pressure by government. these agencies are very often headed nowadays by political appointees and it creates an appalling conflict of interest. so my guess as to what happened last night was that 0fqual was under intense pressure to support the government's policy call for a better appeal system, so it put up that blog, and then somebody at 0fqual worked out that actually it was unlawful for them to do what they had done, and so it was taken down again, pending a review of the legal position. the legal position is complicated, undoubtedly, but ultimately 0fqual is

i think that very well sums up the way williamson has handled this crisis. him as a teacher i give him enough. i think it‘s been highly destructive, it‘s just damage the life chances of a whole generation of youngsters for them i‘m very angry about it. i know they did learn and they went with the teacher‘s predictions instead but the universities are overwhelmed with applicants and it is a complete fiasco. whether they can turn things around quickly enough to get the kids ready for school in less than a week, in some cases, i don‘t know. i really hope that they do but given his past record i very much doubt it. joe? what this highlights is the difficulty that the government has with so many different aspects of the education system as a result of covid—19. and having to choose the lesser of two evils. of course the difficulty that they've had is, they've dealt with things up until this point so badly. but this is not the end of their problems. in many ways it is only the beginning of their problems. we have the a—levels and the gcs e results. this year we ha

was also booted out and a lot of people in whitehall looked was the education secretary, gavin williamsoney decisions about masks and schools, the grading fiasco and and schools, the grading fiasco and a lot of people in whitehall and beyond are asking the question, how is he still there? because ministers are there to decide, he made the decisions that turned out to be flawed and did a and did a very detailed essay about all the reasons why the fact that you have lost the permit of a mess really been there should be new political leadership as well and boris johnson should be new political leadership as well and borisjohnson has decided that he is backing the education secretary all the way and asi education secretary all the way and as i new of this behind mr williamson but the fact that you've now got thousands of officials across whitehall and the whole of the uk civil service who now know that ministers are happy to shoot the blame off of them when it was their own fault and for government, it isa their own fault and for government, it is a pretty dangerous place to be in that they w

marie williamson manages this refuge in london.five refuges out of the seven refuges that were available, and they have all declined. i am going to ring up one other and after that i've got no other options. 19 days after lockdown began, the government announced it would give an additional £2 million to domestic abuse helplines. the timing was dreadful. it should not have taken 19 days to mobilise any sort of action. what it highlights is that it wasn't a priority for the government. it's a poor effort. were you too slow to act? i don't think we were because when we were talking to charities in the very, very earliest days, we were very much responding. we said to them, what do you need for us to help. can i tell you how many people were killed in an alleged domestic abuse cases in the three weeks between lockdown and when that announcement was made for 2 million for the helplines? it was 11 women and two children and one man. in those three weeks. the charities, the police, we all work incredibly hard to keep victims and survivors

the education secretary, gavin williamson, has sidestepped questions about whether he will resign, andrsities minister michelle donelan said the grading system devised by the exams regulator 0fqual was "grossly unfair." the government was forced to abandon 0fqual‘s computer modelling for a level and gcse results, after an outcry when 40% of entries were downgraded. wales and northern ireland also reversed their policies. 0ur education editor, branwenjeffreys, has the latest: natasha is still looking for a place to study medicine. her hopes had beenin to study medicine. her hopes had been in tatters and now results downgraded by computer have been replaced by top grades from her teachers. i'm very pleased about the u—turn the government has made because i feel more secure my future but it has been a stressful couple of days because i thought i had got into university. good afternoon, you are through to clearing. because today to clearing the students checking their place is secure. the courses have been filling up at this university is honouring every offer. the legal situation i do not

lucy williamson, b news. laura: summer isn't what it was anywhere.ther news from around the world, jn carlos, the former king of spain, says he's leaving the country weeks after being nked to an investigation into corruption. juan carlos that he had taken the decision to help his heir carry out his duties as monarch. he abdicated in 2014 after a series of scandals. the manhattan district attorney trying to get pre tdentmp's tax returns told a judge he was justified in demanding them, citi extensive criminal conduct in the trump organization. mr. trump saidha is presidential harassment. last month, the supreme court rejected claims that the president could not be criminally investigated while in office. the italian city of genoa has opened a new brie almostwo years after 43 people were killed when the previous one collapsed. the new structure was designed by the renowned arc otect, a natithe city. mark was at the inauguration and has more. reporter: it has taken jusover a year to build a bridge in a company --ountry where infrastructure projects are n

gavin williamson who joins us now live on education secretary gavin williamson whojoins us now liveplay are you a clip from interviews we had on monday. two days ago. one is the schools minister, nick gibb, the other is the deputy chief medical officerjenny harries. we put to them why the government had changed its advice given what was published on friday and this is what they said. provided schools are adopting all the measures that i talked about, the hygiene, the cleanliness, the bubbles and so on, in schools, then they are not recommending use of face masks in school. it does inhibit the process of being taught and the process of education in school. they do have to wear masks on public transport and on dedicated home—to—school transport. so children over 11 will be required to wear masks in those circumstances. but where children are with the same consistent group of people each day, the current scientific advice is it is not necessary to do so. we are recommending in public settings, public transport, children over 11 wear face coverings. that who report also noted that child

you've mentioned you've called for gavin williamson to resign over the exams controversy.johnson controversy. apparently he overdid an borisjohnson rejected it which i find extraordinary. you mentioned ki rsty find extraordinary. you mentioned kirsty williams who is the education ministry in wales, a liberal democrat. you didn't call for her resignation and she too had to apologise to students for the mess 7 apologise to students for the mess he apologise to students for the mess up? the difference between england and wales as they have a different system, she put flaws in place, they we re system, she put flaws in place, they were using this algorithm but she said no one would get less than they would have got with their as—level, we change that in england, we didn't have the same checks and balances in the system. —— she put floors in place. sheep follow joyce to appear sleep for the mess. she should stay in post? even though there is a mess and wes? what she has done differently, it's not the same, the same level of risk, is not true, i have to say this. all i ever want

lucy williamson, bbc news, calais.er news the debate on whether or not send kids back to school continues in the deep south. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a huge job of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutalformer dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: strikes spread across belarus as unrest over the disputed presidential election grows. the european union is moving closer to imposing sanctions. there have been queues at the french port of calais — as britons scramble to return home before new uk quarantine measures come into force. in the united states, president trump has

we just had marianne williamson in the presidential campaign. in marianne williamson, she's a pre-internet feature originally. she was prominent in the 1980s. but has updated new thought kind of figure. i feel like in the 19th century there will be a church founded by marianne williamson. it wouldn't be huge. but you have like 200,000 peopl people. there'd be sort of chapels around the country. and that doesn't seem to happen to anything like that especially of the last couple of generations. you have a little stuff in the 70s and 80s. but especially lately. and i think how much of that is the internet, how much of that is an ambient skepticism of institutions. why doesn't gwyneth paltrow have -- i guess connie west has sunday services right, a jet wasn't there a sundays service? >> host: i am not sure it be successful lease initially. i think the label of church or making something a church as you would say would be met with a degree of suspicion. i think as well the fact that there is such a willingness to mix and match, that we, we will let t

if you look in the 19th century there be a church founded by marianne williamson. would be huge but it would have 200,000 people the resort of chapels around the country. that doesn't seem to happen to anything special over the last couple of generations. have a little stuff in the 70s and 80s but especially lately. and how much of that is the internet? how much is that is an ambient skepticism of institutions? why isn't one of paltrow i guess connie west has sunday services wise and third sunday service. [inaudible] >> i'm not sure it would not be successful at least initially. i think the label of church or making something a church would be met with a degree of suspicion. i think as well the sort of fact that there is such a willingness to admit and try mix and match that we will let it, the broader we hear. >> me personally. so much of contemporary is about that kind of precise individualization breeds of that in the end we can't necessarily get away from the end point being that we are all the end of our church. we trust not only in our religious institutions

an open letter from the education secretary gavin williamson to parents.ou are worried, don't be worried. in fact, the bigger danger, he says, to the long—term health of people is as if they don't go back to school. the message goes deeper. gavin williamson is, he says, listen to the experts. he says the risk to stu d e nts the experts. he says the risk to students is very, very small. even then, look at the measured schools have taken, for example, keeping primary school pupils in groups, more cleaning, better hygiene, more protective equipment when there are outbreaks, more testing, better travel, more money for travel for those who have to travel to school and public transport. he says that should reassure parents. but you feel the nervousness from government as well. they now after recent weeks that they need to get this right. education is one of the fields where the government have been accused of making too many u—turns and some tory mps are getting fed up with the u—turns. tory mps are getting fed up with the u-turns. some, privately. today a senio

lucy williamson, bbc news, calais.r people to quarantine if they're arriving from spain to cover the whole of the country, apart from the canary islands. it comes as the number of infections in spain continues to remain high, despite orders closing bars and nightclubs, and restricting smoking in open areas in some regions. new zealand prime minister jacinda ardern has announced a 12—day extension of the country's covid—19 restrictions. that's after an initial cluster ofjust a few cases in the city of auckland has now grown to 29. the country has been a world leader in containing coronavirus — new zealand went 102 days without a community transmission, before these cases were discovered. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: strikes spread across belarus as unrest over the disputed presidential election grows. the european union is moving closer to imposing sanctions. there have been queues at the french port of calais — as britons scramble to return home before new uk quarantine measures come into force. you the uk g

the education secretary, gavin williamson, has insisted there is little evidence that coronavirus istted in schools, as the government pushes forward with plans to get all children in england back into classrooms in september. but there's concern from unions, with one suggesting that week—on, week—off teaching could be required as a way of dealing with local lockdowns. schools in scotland are getting ready to go back, with some children returning tomorrow. leigh milner has this report. schools in england were preparing to welcome children back into the classroom before the summer holidays. that plan failed. but the prime minister insists things will be different in september. and his education secretary, gavin williamson, says research to be published later this year, makes clear there is little evidence the virus is transmitted at school. the children's commissioner for england to support a return to the classroom, if the correct safety measures are put in place. i would like to see testing and tracking very, very often within schools, so that's something which i think has to contin

now gavin williamson points to two things.ten to the experts, listen to the four chief medical officers of the united kingdom, all of whom say, the risk to students, to children is extremely low from coronavirus and all the scientific evidence backs that up." he says also, "look at the work schools are doing to keep staff and children safe. for example, extra cleaning and hygiene protocols, keeping primary school children together in groups, protective equipment in case there is an outbreak." "all that," he said, "should reassure parents it is safe for their back to school." it is back to school for mps as well. some juicy rumours among tory ranks about the government not really getting a grip over the past few months. the real concern is u—turns. too many u—turns. there are some concerned mps, some saying it privately. what we had today was one very prominent backbench conservative mp saying it publicly, sir charles walker. known as a borisjohnson loyalist. in an interview with a sunday newspaper, he said, "it seems as if the