Its been a testing first day back after the Summer Recess for the government, now mired in the controversy over crumbling concrete. Ministers say a list will be published this week of all the schools affected in england, as rishi sunak rejected claims he oversaw budget cuts as chancellor that meant Raac Concrete couldnt be replaced in as many schools, as the Department For Education had wanted. Its also been a testing day for the Education Secretary, who had to apologise for her frustration, expressed in salty language, after being questioned over the governments handling of the situation. And remember, in the middle of all this are thousands of children, still unsure whether their schools will be fully open for the start of the new term. We will talk to parents and teachers and analyse the finances around School Maintenance and rebuilding. But first chris mason In Westminster on the politics of crumbling concrete. You probably hadnt heard of it until the other day but this stuff, conc
First line of russian defences and part of the south. Now mine fields have been blocking the troops for weeks. That means when they are blocked, of course they are vulnerable to russian shelly. Its been dangerous, but careful my Clearing Operation has been making it where they can advance. Ukraine says gains have been made in the south and have expanded their units towards the town of tokmak, Logistics Centre for russian forces. In the last hour or two we have these pictures into the newsroom of zelensky there visiting with troops on the front line. This is it donetsk. I spoke to drjenny mathers. She is a Senior Lecturer at the department of International Politics of the Aberystwyth University in wales. I asked just how significant this is. I think its potentially very significant both symbolically and in material terms because i think weve known for the last several months that the russian defences were very formidable. They would be difficult for the ukrainians to get through, and th