Dispatches

With primary schools across the country being stretched by the violent and disruptive behaviour of a small minority, Dispatches reveals the results of an extensive, in-depth survey of teachers to identify the impact on their ability to teach, and documents the efforts of five schools which are tackling the problem head on. The survey, the largest if its kind ever undertaken and supported by the teaching union NASUWT, reveals the extent of deteriorating standards of behaviour in classrooms across the UK. With millions of teaching hours being lost; it's the majority of well-behaved kids that are paying the price. But while the crises in classrooms appear to be escalating for many schools, Britain's Challenging Children follows the efforts of five primaries trying innovative methods to regain a calm teaching environment. Filmed as observational documentary, in Glasgow, Wigan and Luton, Dispatches explore what works by focussing on their most challenging pupils.

Fiona Phillips investigates the struggle of Alzheimer's sufferers and their families to get adequate care and support. Monday 11 January 2010In this update, Fiona returns to the issue, examining whether there has been any improvement in the provision of financial support and respite care available for them and their carers. Fiona's father has Alzheimer's and her mother died after developing an aggressive, early-onset form of the disease. Fiona continues to face her own dilemma about how best to care for her father as his condition deteriorates. Mum, Dad, Alzheimer's and MeThe number of people suffering from dementia, the majority with Alzheimer's, is projected to rise from 700,000 to over 1 million by 2025 and 1.7 million by 2051. Fiona investigates whether the level of financial support for sufferers, and respite care for those looking after them, is adequate. And with numbers set to increase, is the Government prepared to cope? Fiona's father has been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's and her mother died after developing an aggressive, early-onset form of the disease. As Fiona faces her own dilemma about the care of her father, she talks to families around the country about the difficulties they have faced in obtaining help, from both the NHS and local authorities.

As the credit crunch bites, thousands of families are cutting back by swapping expensive premium-range food for cheaper budget lines - but at what cost? Food critic and author Jay Rayner examines what goes into these budget products and asks why, too often, low cost means low quality.

With reporters unable to enter Gaza, attempted media manipulation from both sides and strict regulations governing what images that can be shown on British TV, Jon Snow asks a range of journalists from at home and abroad about the challenges of getting the full story.

Former Minister of Trade Digby Jones examines how the Government is tackling the unemployment crisis. He analyses each of Gordon Brown's pledges to help people retrain for work, to see whether the system for handling the newly unemployed will be a success, and unpicks statements and statistics to reveal the true scale of the problem.

Jane Moore highlights the findings of a report about how the government wastes billions of pounds of taxpayers' money each year

Award-winning Pakistani journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy investigates how the war on terror is creating a generation of child terrorists in her homeland - children prepared to kill both inside and outside Pakistan. Sharmeen investigates how the Taliban are recruiting increasingly younger fighters to their campaign. She meets a 14-year-old boy in her home city of Karachi who is desperate to become a suicide bomber. She then follows the elite unit of the anti-terror police squad - who warn that the Taliban are hiding out in the city's sprawling slums and recruiting children from small madrassas in deprived neighbourhoods. Sharmeen also interviews a Taliban commander responsible for child recruitment, who reveals that children as young as five are now being used by the Taliban.

As patient numbers and pressures increase, Dispatches investigates the reality of work for nurses around the country and examines whether patient care is being compromised in NHS hospitals.

In May 2008, freedom-of-information campaigner Heather Brooke won a court battle that should have prompted the release of all politicians' expense claims. A year later, with those expenses still to be published and the flow of leaked information ever increasing, Heather studies the information that is available to piece together a forensic insight into how public money is being spent.

Just before he became Prime Minister in 2007, chancellor Gordon Brown congratulated the city on their ingenuity and creativity during his tenure: 'An era that history will record as the beginning of a new golden age for the city of London'. He couldn't have been more wrong. Now, thanks to the financial crash, Britain is facing economic catastrophe. The debts the UK is incurring will take generations to pay off. But how did the economy get from boom to bust? In this two-part special, economist and author Will Hutton gives the definitive insider's account of what went wrong. Talking to the key players in government, Wall Street and the City, Hutton unveils the true extent of the greed, ambition and reckless risk-taking that is now carrying the economy into the worst recession for a century. Is it really true that no one saw it coming? Or could the recession have been prevented?

In the second half of this special two-part Dispatches, economist and author Will Hutton continues the definitive insider's account of how Britain's economy went from boom to bust. Hutton reveals how those who tried to warn of the impending financial disaster were shouted down, ignored or fired. As a result, the repercussions of the collapse of Lehman Brothers hit an unprepared and vulnerable UK, and left the government frantically trying to prevent a banking collapse from turning the UK into an economic wasteland. Despite the collapse of Northern Rock a year before, the government, the regulators and the banks had largely ignored the warning signals that more collapses would follow. Hutton looks at the weeks that followed Lehman's collapse: weeks that will go down as some of the most crucial in Britain's economic history.

Part of the Britain's Forgotten Children season, this programme reveals the scandals of the British care system and asks, is it working or failing our children?

Britain's top bankers helped bring the economy to the brink of ruin; their gambling triggered thousands of job losses and exposed taxpayers to over a trillion pounds of possible risk. In this edition of Dispatches, journalist Jane Moore investigates exactly how much these former bosses have been rewarded for these failings - and how much they are still raking in.

As Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, faces trial by the country's military government, this timely and remarkable Dispatches film follows the lives of eight Burmese orphans as they struggle to survive the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Filmed covertly over the course of a year by two Burmese cameramen, who risked an instant 30-year jail sentence if caught, Orphans of Burma's Cyclone exposes the official intransigence of one of the world's most brutal and secretive regimes and, for the first time, reveals what day-to-day life is like for the ordinary people of Burma.

In the first account of its kind on television, award-winning journalist Andrew Rawnsley presents the inside political story of the credit crunch. The programme features exclusive interviews with senior figures close to the economic crisis, including cabinet ministers, senior politicians and former treasury insiders. As Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has presided over the biggest recession in 75 years. Rawnsley examines the key moments, showing how Brown as Prime Minister inherited the economic problems of his own 10 years as chancellor. The programme charts the roller coaster journey of Brown's fortunes from the moment the credit crunch began.

Journalist Sorious Samura examines gang rape in the wake of two recent high-profile cases, investigating why such violent attacks are now happening in the UK. He uncovers the extent of the problem by meeting four victims who describe their traumatic experiences, learns the shocking truth about a group of teenagers' attitude to sex and relationships, and hears from youth workers, police officers and academics

The untold story of 2008's terrorist attack, in the words of its victims and the gunmen. The programme contains graphic images and descriptions of the atrocity which may upset some viewers. Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Dan Reed, Terror in Mumbai tells the story of what happened when 10 gunmen held one of the world's busiest cities hostage; killing and wounding hundreds of people while holding India's crack security forces at bay. Featuring footage of the attacks and interviews with senior police officers and hostages, including the testimony from Kasab - the sole surviving gunman, Dispatches reveals what happened, hour by hour, from the perspective of the security forces, the terrorists, their masterminds and the victims.

Almost 10 years after the death of Victoria Climbié, Dispatches investigates the failures still present in Britain's child protection system. With a child being killed by their parent or carer every seven days in the UK, and over 160 child killings since 2004, journalist Peter Oborne examines how such horrific murders might be prevented in the future. The death of Baby Peter in 2007 focussed attention on the failures of social services but as Dispatches demonstrates, the failures in child protection reach beyond the realms of just social work departments to include police forces, health services and - as one mother claims - even the family court system.

Dispatches goes undercover to investigate one of Britain's least loved but booming industries - the debt collection business. Presented by Jane Moore, the programme reveals some of the tactics deployed to get debtors to pay up, and talks to those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of this treatment. Reporter Tom Randall gets a job as a debt collector inside one of the UK's fastest-growing agencies. He discovers that in recession-hit Britian some of the biggest high-street businesses are cutting their losses and selling on their bad debts to agencies for as little as 16 pence in the pound. Agencies who buy up these debts are entitled to pursue debtors for the full amount. In this multi-billion pound industry the stakes are high; Dispatches reveals the lengths that collectors will go to to recover their debts.

Dispatches investigates how Robert Mugabe and politicians in his ZANU-PF party are still clinging on to power in Zimbabwe, focusing on the businessmen who are benefiting from or supporting his campaign of political violence. According to opposition politicians in Zimbabwe, those businessmen include well-known figures and companies based in the City of London. Following last year's disputed elections and political violence, a power-sharing 'National Unity Government' was established in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe remains as President, with the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai , Prime Minister. Tsvangirai has been touring the world trying to get aid to Zimbabwe to help its hungry people and restart its decaying economy. However, working undercover in Zimbabwe, Dispatches reporter Aidan Hartley discovers that Mugabe has maintained his grip on the police, army and central bank, enabling him and his allies to continue carrying out violence and corruption on a vast scale.

As British forces fight on two fronts in military operations, award-winning filmmaker David Modell examines the devastating trauma suffered by many soldiers - which leaves no visible scars, but great psychological injury. The programme tells the moving stories of four soldiers as a result of their experiences in combat zones. To many here, the conflicts may seem remote, but this film provides an intimate portrait of its impact on the lives of individual soldiers and their families. Examining the consequences of long and repeated tours of duty, the film raises serious questions about the adequacy of existing support structures to help returning soldiers cope with any trauma they may be suffering. In addition to the film, this website details more individual cases, plus information and research into the key issues of alcohol, mental health, relationships and suicide.

Dispatches examines one of the biggest surprises of the credit crunch: middle-class unemployment. From company directors to university graduates, this film follows the experience of several people who have found themselves out of work and desperately in search of a job, with some going to extraordinary lengths to try to secure one. Dispatches highlights the practical realities of trying to find work, even when armed with a degree or a glowing CV.

They're known as 'Blunkett's Bobbies' or 'Plastic Police'. There are 16,500 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) walking the 'beat', costing the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds per year. Critics have always attacked them for providing policing on the cheap and a political gimmick, but their supporters say they have been useful in curbing antisocial behaviour and visible reassurance to the public. Filming with PCSOs at work on the streets of Lancashire, Dispatches investigates whether PCSOs have proven to be a policing success story or an expensive mistake.

Alex Thomson investigates how MPs have spent their 82-day summer recess, and what is expected of them during this time. With publicly funded trips jetting off all around the globe, who are the frequent fliers and how accountable are these visits? Dispatches travels around the world in 82 days to look at what is on offer during the summer break and how open and transparent our elected representatives really are. Thomson examines whether taxpayers are getting value for their money from their elected representatives, with politicians desperate to regain trust after the expenses scandal in May 2009.

Dispatches lifts the lid on the pensions crisis. The programme names some of the blue-chip companies that have abandoned final salary pension schemes. It shows how widespread the problem of underperforming pensions is, and how difficult it is to get full compensation if things go wrong. Dispatches also reveals the extent to which public sector pensions are under threat, and how far private pensions have failed to deliver in the recession. The programme asks whether the government has failed to protect pensions, and examines their ideas for tackling the crisis in the future.

The death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in April 2009 and the images of police batons raining down on protestors have put the spotlight on the tactics police deploy during public demonstrations. The programme looks at how the police are taught to judge the level of force required to suppress disorder, and examines controversial crowd control tactics like 'containment', which brings protestors face-to-face with heavily-protected and armed police officers. Dispatches asks why, if the vast majority of protests pass off peacefully, police training still focuses on the worst-case scenario of riots and petrol bombs, and hears from critics of the current training who argue it is out of step with 21st century protest. The programme examines the evolution of this training and asks whether the requirements of health and safety legislation have had an adverse effect on policing public order.

In this edition of Dispatches, reporter Jane Moore reveals how nutritious the nation's breakfasts really are and the marketing techniques employed by this lucrative industry. Dispatches investigates the evidence provided to support these claims and asks if some of the healthy-sounding cereals and pro-biotic yoghurts are all they are cracked up to be. Moore finds that the unwillingness of retailers and manufacturers to adopt the traffic light systems recommended by food standards authorities is confusing things further. Even if you want to eat the right thing, it is not always easy to tell what that is. She also tests the regulators' rules on 'healthy' branding by baking a cake that could still make many of the health claims made by cereals. Moore examines the recent shifts in cereal marketing which enable manufacturers to stay ahead of the regulators. Moore discovers that their marketing has moved to prime-time TV and the internet.

Dispatches investigates one of the most powerful and influential political lobbies in Britain, which is working in support of the interests of the State of Israel. Despite wielding great influence among the highest realms of British politics and media, little is known about the individuals and groups which collectively are known as the pro-Israel lobby. Political commentator Peter Oborne sets out to establish who they are, how they are funded, how they work and what influence they have, from the key groups to the wealthy individuals who help bankroll the lobbying. He investigates how accountable, transparent and open to scrutiny the lobby is, particularly in regard to its funding and financial support of MPs. The pro-Israel lobby aims to shape the debate about Britain's relationship with Israel and future foreign policies relating to it. Oborne examines how the lobby operates from within parliament and the tactics it employs behind the scenes when engaging with print and broadcast media.

In 2008 a Bafta and Emmy Award-winning Dispatches told the story of how children in Africa's Niger Delta were being denounced by Christian pastors as witches and wizards and then killed, tortured or abandoned by their own families. The film, which prompted international outrage against a practice conducted in the name of Jesus, forced the Nigerian authorities and the UN to act. Child rights legislation came into force making it illegal to brand children as witches and some pastors were arrested. Financial support also poured in to assist a small British charity (Stepping Stones Nigeria) providing the only safe refuge for hundreds of youngsters attacked after claims that they were possessed by the Devil. In Return to Africa's Witch Children, Dispatches reveals what happened to some of the children and church leaders who originally featured, and discovers that even now children as young as two are still being stigmatised as witches and treated as outcasts. Gary Foxcroft of Lancaster-based charity Stepping Stones Nigeria also returns to Nigeria and discovers that since his last visit the rescue centre that houses many of these children was the target of an attack. He also learns that the number of children living there has in fact risen. Two-and-a-half-year-old Ellin is one such child. She was found at the side of the road, her body having been severely burnt with boiling water. Nwanakwo Udo Edet, around eight years old, wasn't so fortunate. He had acid poured over him after being labelled a wizard and later died.

As banks and building societies close their doors to all but the least 'risky' borrowers, Dispatches reporter Jane Moore investigates a highly lucrative financial industry that has stepped in to provide loans to the millions of people denied credit elsewhere. She discovers that many of the loans offered by some of these doorstep operators, payday lenders, and rent-to-buy companies come with sky-high interest rates that can financially overwhelm families already steeped in debt. And the sting in the tail is that these loans are entirely legal. The programme asks why the Government has resisted calls to impose interest rate 'caps' on the various loans on offer, allowing the market to be so under-regulated that foreign loan companies are switching their operations to Britain. In the run-up to Christmas, the impact of these high interest rate charges can be financially devastating for some families.