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American Morning

Headlines Making News 'Over There'

Aired September 20, 2002 - 07:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It's time now to take that leap of faith that we do once a week across the pond and see what's happening "Over There."
We are joined by our pal, Richard Quest, live from London, where there is a controversy over fixing the test scores, a debate about fox hunts, and a rumor that Virgin Atlantic might have to change its name.

Good morning -- Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "More experienced than the name suggests," as they used to say.

CAFFERTY: That's right.

QUEST: Good morning to you.

Listen, Jack, Britain's -- excuse me -- Britain's education system is in absolute chaos. You would not believe it. At the age of 18, people take an exam in this country called the A-levels. The grade you get at A-levels depends on which -- or if indeed you get into universities -- a bit like the SATs that you take in the United States.

CAFFERTY: Right.

QUEST: The only problem this year, they got the grades wrong. They let -- they marked them badly (ph). So too many people, they thought, were getting A's and B's.

Well, what was the solution? Pull the grades down gratuitously and automatically. People went from A's and B's to unclassifieds and fails.

CAFFERTY: Oh, that's horrible!

QUEST: Not surprisingly, universities faced chaos. One newspaper: "You cheats." Another newspaper: "The education secretary pledges university places." Oh, look at this one: "Exams- fixing, college of disaster."

Jack, this is absolutely -- there are thousands of students who have been promised places at British universities who have literally been cheated out of them...

CAFFERTY: What are they going to...

QUEST: ... because the Examining Board cheated.

CAFFERTY: What are they going to do about this?

QUEST: Well, they're busy marking hundreds of thousands papers all over again, but universities have already given the places to other people, and the whole thing is about to -- it's a mess, and it could well cost major jobs in the education department.

CAFFERTY: All right. What about the fox hunt? They have been hunting foxes over there for -- what -- a thousand years. Now, all of a sudden, we've got protests and debate and all kinds of things.

QUEST: Right. Tally ho! Yes, 300,000 protesters from the countryside alliance, the so-called Green Wellington Brigade. You know, they wear Barbour coats, green wellies and a flat gap (ph). They are going to...

CAFFERTY: What are wellies?

QUEST: You know, wellies -- Wellington boots. You wear them on your -- gun boots.

CAFFERTY: Why don't you just say "boots" -- "green boots."

QUEST: Well, we call them "wellies," and you'll just have to lump it.

CAFFERTY: Oh.

QUEST: The fact is, they're going to be in London mixing with those horrible urban folk, who are grubby and rather nasty, and they're going to take over London, because they want to protest (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

And the interesting thing, and we're going to be looking for, to see whether Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince Charles' -- what are we calling her at this point?

CAFFERTY: Friend.

QUEST: Mistress.

CAFFERTY: Friend.

QUEST: Prince Charles' mistress. Call a spade a shovel, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Yes. Careful.

QUEST: She is going -- he doesn't want -- even though he supports fox hunting, he doesn't want her to go, because it's a political debate. She will probably turn up. There will be hundreds of thousands of them cluttering up the streets. They should stay in the countryside shoveling manure where they normally are.

CAFFERTY: Also, there would be a risk if she went that the hounds would tree the wrong prey. QUEST: I knew you were going to suggest that somebody might jump on her back and ride around.

CAFFERTY: See, I couldn't miss that.

QUEST: Yes, yes.

CAFFERTY: I know, all right.

Tell me about what this naughty stuff going on, on these airplanes.

QUEST: Right, it is a little ugly (ph). Now, Virgin Atlantic, on their new A340 long distance planes, has a mother -- or a parent and baby changing room, where you can obviously do it in private and close the door. Unfortunately, it has a fold-down table.

According to reports, which I have to say Virgin Atlantic denies, they have had to change the table, because too many people are going in there for other things.

What one person said, "It's all against air regulations."

CAFFERTY: What sorts of other things are you talking about, Richard?

QUEST: Well, they're obviously...

CAFFERTY: Let's clarify it.

QUEST: Well, they're obviously removing things and getting it on.

But next time, Jack, you see a plane flying through the air, smoothly, and suddenly a bit of air turbulence is going on...

CAFFERTY: Yes.

QUEST: ... you'll know what's really happening.

CAFFERTY: Yes, the advertising campaign could be something like, "no longer Virgin Airways," huh?

QUEST: Well, when Virgin launched, that's what they said, "More experience than our name suggests." But it's all to do with joining the mile-high club, and I must say, although everyone in Britain was talking about it this week, Virgin said people haven't been doing that sort of thing on their planes.

CAFFERTY: Heaven forbid. Richard, it's good to see you. Have a nice weekend. I'll talk to you Friday.

QUEST: Thanks, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Richard Quest in London.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired September 20, 2002 - 07:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: It's time now to take that leap of faith that we do once a week across the pond and see what's happening "Over There."
We are joined by our pal, Richard Quest, live from London, where there is a controversy over fixing the test scores, a debate about fox hunts, and a rumor that Virgin Atlantic might have to change its name.

Good morning -- Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "More experienced than the name suggests," as they used to say.

CAFFERTY: That's right.

QUEST: Good morning to you.

Listen, Jack, Britain's -- excuse me -- Britain's education system is in absolute chaos. You would not believe it. At the age of 18, people take an exam in this country called the A-levels. The grade you get at A-levels depends on which -- or if indeed you get into universities -- a bit like the SATs that you take in the United States.

CAFFERTY: Right.

QUEST: The only problem this year, they got the grades wrong. They let -- they marked them badly (ph). So too many people, they thought, were getting A's and B's.

Well, what was the solution? Pull the grades down gratuitously and automatically. People went from A's and B's to unclassifieds and fails.

CAFFERTY: Oh, that's horrible!

QUEST: Not surprisingly, universities faced chaos. One newspaper: "You cheats." Another newspaper: "The education secretary pledges university places." Oh, look at this one: "Exams- fixing, college of disaster."

Jack, this is absolutely -- there are thousands of students who have been promised places at British universities who have literally been cheated out of them...

CAFFERTY: What are they going to...

QUEST: ... because the Examining Board cheated.

CAFFERTY: What are they going to do about this?

QUEST: Well, they're busy marking hundreds of thousands papers all over again, but universities have already given the places to other people, and the whole thing is about to -- it's a mess, and it could well cost major jobs in the education department.

CAFFERTY: All right. What about the fox hunt? They have been hunting foxes over there for -- what -- a thousand years. Now, all of a sudden, we've got protests and debate and all kinds of things.

QUEST: Right. Tally ho! Yes, 300,000 protesters from the countryside alliance, the so-called Green Wellington Brigade. You know, they wear Barbour coats, green wellies and a flat gap (ph). They are going to...

CAFFERTY: What are wellies?

QUEST: You know, wellies -- Wellington boots. You wear them on your -- gun boots.

CAFFERTY: Why don't you just say "boots" -- "green boots."

QUEST: Well, we call them "wellies," and you'll just have to lump it.

CAFFERTY: Oh.

QUEST: The fact is, they're going to be in London mixing with those horrible urban folk, who are grubby and rather nasty, and they're going to take over London, because they want to protest (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

And the interesting thing, and we're going to be looking for, to see whether Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince Charles' -- what are we calling her at this point?

CAFFERTY: Friend.

QUEST: Mistress.

CAFFERTY: Friend.

QUEST: Prince Charles' mistress. Call a spade a shovel, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Yes. Careful.

QUEST: She is going -- he doesn't want -- even though he supports fox hunting, he doesn't want her to go, because it's a political debate. She will probably turn up. There will be hundreds of thousands of them cluttering up the streets. They should stay in the countryside shoveling manure where they normally are.

CAFFERTY: Also, there would be a risk if she went that the hounds would tree the wrong prey. QUEST: I knew you were going to suggest that somebody might jump on her back and ride around.

CAFFERTY: See, I couldn't miss that.

QUEST: Yes, yes.

CAFFERTY: I know, all right.

Tell me about what this naughty stuff going on, on these airplanes.

QUEST: Right, it is a little ugly (ph). Now, Virgin Atlantic, on their new A340 long distance planes, has a mother -- or a parent and baby changing room, where you can obviously do it in private and close the door. Unfortunately, it has a fold-down table.

According to reports, which I have to say Virgin Atlantic denies, they have had to change the table, because too many people are going in there for other things.

What one person said, "It's all against air regulations."

CAFFERTY: What sorts of other things are you talking about, Richard?

QUEST: Well, they're obviously...

CAFFERTY: Let's clarify it.

QUEST: Well, they're obviously removing things and getting it on.

But next time, Jack, you see a plane flying through the air, smoothly, and suddenly a bit of air turbulence is going on...

CAFFERTY: Yes.

QUEST: ... you'll know what's really happening.

CAFFERTY: Yes, the advertising campaign could be something like, "no longer Virgin Airways," huh?

QUEST: Well, when Virgin launched, that's what they said, "More experience than our name suggests." But it's all to do with joining the mile-high club, and I must say, although everyone in Britain was talking about it this week, Virgin said people haven't been doing that sort of thing on their planes.

CAFFERTY: Heaven forbid. Richard, it's good to see you. Have a nice weekend. I'll talk to you Friday.

QUEST: Thanks, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Richard Quest in London.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.