Former Bond girl Gemma Arterton will play Joan of Arc later this year in a London production of George Bernard Shaw's 1923 play St Joan.

The 30-year-old, recently seen as Nell Gwynn on the West End stage, will play the teenaged warrior from 9 December to 18 February at the Donmar Warehouse.
Arterton, who starred in 2008 Bond film Quantum of Solace, told the Daily Mail that Shaw's play had "a lot of soul".
Yet she admitted that she was not "the obvious choice" to play the title role.
"It's not the type of thing I usually play," the actress told the Mail's Baz Bamigboye. "My characters have usually got a bit more sass."
Notable past Joans include Dame Sybil Thorndike, Dame Joan Plowright and Jean Seberg, who played Shaw's martyred heroine on film in 1957.
Arterton was nominated for back-to-back Olivier awards for her roles in Nell Gwynn and West End musical Made in Dagenham.
The Gravesend-born actress also played the title role in The Duchess of Malfi at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London in 2014.
Josie Rourke, the Donmar Warehouse's artistic director, said she was "thrilled" to be directing the "luminous and compelling" Arterton at the Covent Garden venue.
Other plays in the theatre's 2016 autumn season include One Night in Miami, which recreates a real-life encounter in 1964 between boxer Cassius Clay, activist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and American Football player Jim Brown.
Rourke said the recent death of Muhammad Ali - the name Clay adopted in 1964 - had given Kemp Powers' 2013 play "a new and added poignancy".
One Night in Miami, to be directed by actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, runs at the Donmar from 6 October to 3 December.
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Queen's University Belfast is cutting 236 jobs and 290 student places due to a funding reduction.

The move is in response to an £8m cut in the subsidy received from the Department of Employment and Learning (DEL).
The cut in undergraduate places will come into effect from September 2015.
Job losses will be among both academic and non-academic staff and Queen's says no compulsory redundancies should be required.
There are currently around 17,000 full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students at the university, and around 3,800 staff.
Queen's has a current intake of around 4,500 undergraduates per year.
The university aims to reduce the number of student places by 1,010 over the next three years.
The BBC understands that there are no immediate plans to close departments or courses, but that the cuts in funding may put some departments and courses at risk.
The Education Minister Stephen Farry said he recognised that some students might now choose to study in other areas of the UK because of the cuts facing Northern Ireland's universities.
"Some people will now be forced to look to opportunities in other parts of Great Britain and may not return to our economy," he said.
"Defunding our investment in skills, particularly at a time when we're trying to grow the economy does not make a lot of sense. What's happening is we're going backwards.
"The loss of any place is damaging to our economy, all subjects teach our young people critical skills."
Queen's vice-chancellor Patrick Johnston said the cuts had the potential to damage the reputation of the university.
"The potential negative impact, not just on the university but on the local economy is very significant," he said.
"It's the last thing we want to do, but we have to begin to focus on those areas where we can grow the organisation and develop it - it's clear we can no longer depend on the public purse to fund tuition.
"If we're not competitive we will not attract the best students, and we will not attract the best staff."
Just under £100m, a third of the university's income, comes from the Northern Ireland Executive.
DEL's budget was reduced by £62m earlier this year, and its budget for higher education institutions fell from £203m to £186m, a reduction of 8.2%.
Ulster University announced in February that it was dropping 53 courses.
It will be cutting jobs and student places, but it has not yet revealed how many.


Tony Blair's Labour government made a mistake in promoting diesel cars as they are now "killing people", former science minister Lord Drayson has said.

In 2001, the then Chancellor Gordon Brown introduced lower vehicle tax for diesel cars, on the grounds that they were less polluting.
That tax break remains in place today.
Lord Drayson, whose own business invests in clean energy, now wants the current government to act to change driver behaviour again.
"We have a much better understanding than we did just a few years ago of the health effects of the products of diesel, and they are literally killing people.
"It is is clear that in retrospect that it was the wrong policy ... we have got to take action really quite quickly," he said.
His comments come in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal in which the German car maker was found to have rigged tests to make its diesel vehicles appear to emit less pollution.
About 11 million vehicles worldwide are affected, of which almost 1.2 million were in the UK.
Lord Drayson - who has raced electric cars - served in several ministerial roles between 2005 and 2010 and was the science minister from 2008 to 2010 in Gordon Brown's government.
He said: "I think we should have things like a car scrappage scheme where people who want to trade in their diesel get an electrical car or hybrid. I think that's something the government should support.
The peer also called for more rigorous independent testing of emissions and diesel exclusion zones in cities.
"The car industry has got to accelerate the development of electric vehicles and we are going to see the need for a greater adoption of hybrids," Lord Drayson said.
The former minister's views will further alarm drivers of diesel cars, many of whom bought them believing they were less damaging to the environment.
The City of London Corporation - the local authority for the capital's financial district - called for urgent action on cutting diesel emissions.
Wendy Mead, chairman of the Corporation's environment committee, said: "Diesel was sold as an environmental solution but it is in fact an invisible killer. There are a range of proposals for reform of the UK's air quality strategy, but we urgently need to move further and faster on reducing pollution from diesel vehicles."
She added: "We urge the Government to consider wider actions that can be taken to reduce emissions from diesel vehicles in the short term."
Defending diesel
Government officials and business leaders are attending the National Air Quality conference in Birmingham on Thursday.
Mike Hawkes, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders chief executive, told delegates it was wrong to penalise all diesel engines.
"The latest diesel vehicles are the cleanest ever, with particulate emissions all but eliminated by filters and sophisticated after-treatment systems effectively reducing nitrogen oxide levels by 92% compared to earlier generations," he said.
"Given that diesel cars emit 15-20% less carbon dioxide (CO2) than a petrol equivalent, they also make a significant contribution to climate change targets - an environmental challenge which cannot be ignored in this debate."
Richard Folkson, president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said there should not be a rush to scrap diesel cars given their contribution to reducing carbon emissions.
"If all new fossil fuel cars were to be solely petrol tomorrow for example, our average carbon emissions would increase by 16%," he said.
"What we need is a rapid introduction of a new testing regime that much more accurately reflects driver behaviour. Diesel has many attractive characteristics ... this is not the time to restrict our choices by casting it aside."


Does the world's oldest textbook of erotic love need to be redeemed and accorded its proper place as a literary landmark of India's rich heritage?

American Indologist Wendy Doniger, who teaches at the University of Chicago and has written nearly half a dozen books on Hinduism, believes so.
But why? After all, Kama Sutra, written in Sanskrit - the literary language of ancient India - by Vatsyayana, who claimed to be a celibate himself, is possibly the most celebrated treatise on love and sex.
Google Kama Sutra and it spits out more than 14 million results in less than a second. There are Kama Sutra condoms, toys, wristwatches, apps, chocolates, a TV series and films. Cosmopolitan magazine published Cosmo Kama Sutra, offering "12 brand-new mattress-quaking sex styles".
This may be part of the reason why Doniger, who has also written a translation of the Kama Sutra, is looking to rescue the book from the "enormous misunderstanding in which most people hold it".
"They think it is a silly book about sexual positions, or a dirty book about sexual positions, and they are embarrassed to read it," Doniger tells me.
"I want the reading public to know that it is a fascinating book about the subtle interactions between men and women in a highly civilised world, that it is full of profound psychological observations and very good advice about how to get married, how to stay married, and, yes, how to commit adultery."
The result is Doniger's compelling new book The Mare's Trap, published by Speaking Tiger, which attempts to change the conventional understanding of Kama Sutra as a kooky book on sex and improbable sexual positions.
In her telling, the Kama Sutra is a sophisticated and courageous text, which assumes a kind of sexual freedom for women that would have raised the hackles of today's puritanical censors.
For one, for most of  his book, Vatsyayana ignores the idea of sex for procreation and is only concerned with the sexual goal of pleasure.
In a way, he challenges the dharma (the moral duties and responsibilities of a Hindu) of fertility, laid down in an ancient Hindu text, the Manusmriti, which says the man has a duty to have sex with his wife during her fertile period.
Kama Sutra is also less judgemental about adultery, writes Doniger.
Vatsyayana actually devotes a whole chapter to "acute instructions to the man who wishes to commit adultery, detailing hundreds of stratagems by which he may sleep with the wives of other men".
At the same time, he is conflicted about adultery, pulling back at the end, and warning the men not do it, and guard their wives.
Kama Sutra, says Doniger, is also far more "open-minded" than Manusmriti about women's "access to household funds, and about divorce and widow remarriage". The absolute power that the wife in Kama Sutra has in running the household's finances stands in contrast with Manusmriti's statement that a wife "should not have too free a hand in spending".
Also, she argues, that Vatsyayana's arguments in favour of the female orgasm are "far more subtle than views that prevailed in Europe until very recently".
He also rejects traditional patriarchal line of ancient texts that recommend cruel punishment for any woman who sleeps with a man other than her husband. Kama Sutra is equally informative about women's thinking about ways of ending an affair, reveals surprisingly modern ideas about gender, is completely non-judgemental about homosexuality and has remarks that point to bisexuality.
"The Kama Sutra's ideas about gender are surprisingly modern, as we have already seen, and its stereotypes of feminine and masculine natures are unexpectedly subtle," Doniger writes.
"It also reveals attitudes to women's education and sexual freedom, and non-judgemental views on homosexual acts, that are strikingly more liberal than those of other texts in ancient India - or, in many cases, contemporary India."
So is Kama Sutra a feminist book of erotic love?
"I wouldn't call it a feminist book in the strict sense, as its primary purpose is not to argue for women's rights, and much of it is addressed to men, with advice to them about ways to manipulate women," she tells me.
"But it is also useful, I think, for feminists in its arguments about the equality of women, their equal claim to sexual pleasure, a woman's right to live with a husband who is compatible with her interests and talents, and much else."
Doniger believes that this "astonishingly sophisticated book" - which was already well known in India at a "time when Europeans were still swinging in trees, culturally and sexually speaking" - is very relevant today.
"The basic psychology strikes true again and again, and the level of sexual violence in our world cries out for a book like this to teach us how to control the dark side of sexual impulses and respect the feelings of our sexual partners; in particular, it cautions men against precisely the sort of uncontrolled sexuality that is too often expressed in rape. So yes, I feel it is very relevant to the 21C."


Modern foreign language learning in secondary schools in Wales is "declining rapidly" according to a major study.

Budget cuts, overloaded school timetables and Welsh government assessment systems were blamed.
The number of pupils taking French and German at GCSE has halved since 2002.
The education minister has now announced "a radical and new approach" including schools which will be centres of excellence.
The report by the British Council and CfBT Education Trust found "no sense of dynamism" and little prospect of improvement.
In 2005, 12,826 children studied a language at GCSE, but by 2014 the number had fallen by a third to 8,601.
Nearly two-thirds of secondary schools took part in the survey.
Although there has been a decline in the study of foreign languages in other parts of the UK, England and Scotland have both introduced policies to increase the provision.
Since September 2014 every child in a primary school in England has to learn a modern or ancient language.
Scotland has recently announced increased funding to ensure that all pupils not only start learning a foreign language by the first year of primary school, but also begin to learn a third language later in primary education.
According to the report: "Languages other than English and Welsh are not part of the primary curriculum in Wales, making Wales, along with Northern Ireland, the countries with the shortest period of compulsory foreign language learning in Europe."
"Wales is very likely to fall even further behind in future, with serious implications for the comparability of Welsh and English GCSEs in foreign language subjects."
In the first three years of secondary school in Wales, all pupils have to study a foreign language. But according to the report "many pupils are receiving only a minimal or fragmented experience of language learning".
The report finds "little prospect of improvement or of the decline being stemmed" as things stand.
SCHOOL OPTS FOR SPANISH
Pupils at Abertillery Comprehensive have the option of learning Spanish as the only modern language on offer, with French and German no longer available.
They were seen as difficult, while Spanish was a subject pupils could "latch onto" and similarities with learning Welsh was another factor.
Melanie Gill, head of languages, said there was still much to do.
"Pupils seem to link languages with working abroad. They don't seem to link it with local companies, that they can get jobs here too.
"We're having to work much harder to make it more fun, desirable - they don't see languages as being as important as the core subjects and I don't think that schools do generally either with literacy, numeracy and science seen as more important over subjects like languages."
LANGUAGE SKILLS 'PARAMOUNT' BUT LACKING LOCALLY
Electro magnetics firm Eriez, based at Bedwas, Caerphilly county, has a small sales team but has to recruit workers who are UK-based from around Europe because they have the necessary language skills.
Sarah Grain, exports sales manager, said it was "soul destroying" that they were unable to hire home-grown staff because the schools were not producing pupils qualified in modern languages.
She added: "The only place we can found those skills are young people who have come to the UK from other European countries and have multiple language skills."
Education Minister Huw Lewis said language skills were important for jobs and Welsh business and Wales could not "just carry on with business as usual".
His new approach includes:
Mr Lewis said: "This problem is not unique to Wales, but it is one I am determined to tackle.
"I want to ensure that more and more of our young people actively choose to study a modern foreign language as part of their school education, and develop the skills they need to thrive in a modern global economy."


Classmates of a 15-year-old pupil who died following a crash at a school have paid tribute to their "good friend".

Ashley Daniel Talbot was struck by a minibus, which was on its way to a rugby game, at Maesteg School in Bridgend county.
Another pupil, 13, was injured and police are investigating the incident.
PE teacher Chris Brooks, who was driving the minibus, said: "All my thoughts, wishes and prayers are with Ashley's family."
Ashley's classmates wrote a touching tribute which was read out by Keith Edwards, chair of governors at the school, on Thursday.
They paid tribute to his "bubbly" and "infectious" personality and said the gap that Ashley leaves can never be filled.
South Wales Police officers were at the school to speak to witnesses before lessons began on Thursday.
The school said it was co-operating with the police investigation and the Health and Safety Executive had been informed.
Head teacher Anne Carhart said the tragedy had rocked the school, and a crisis team of counsellors, educational psychologists and youth workers were helping pupils.
In a statement, she said: "The loss of a pupil is always a sad affair, but especially so when it involves such sudden and tragic circumstances.
"Ashley Talbot was a popular child with lots of friends.
"Maesteg Comprehensive School has always been a strong, close-knit community, and pupils, teachers, staff and governors are all supporting one another in the wake of yesterday's tragic accident.
"As ever, the welfare and well-being of our pupils remains our primary concern, and a range of support services have been put in place to ensure that their needs are being met."
Mr Edwards said a member of staff was driving the minibus and was heading for a rugby match when the crash happened.
Calling the incident a "deep tragedy", MP for Ogmore Huw Irranca-Davies said on Thursday it was "doubly tragic that someone so young has been snatched away".
He added: "It's hard to imagine the deep grieving of the family of this young man. It's going to take a lot to get through this."
Director of education for Bridgend council, Deborah McMillan said: "We're going to try and make the day as normal as possible but also provide some space for children who need some time out."
Ashley's family are being supported by specially trained officers, police said.
Statement from classmates:
"The gap that Ashley leaves can never be filled. Every morning Ashley would make us smile; his bubbly personality was infectious.
"Ashley was so carefree and would always make us laugh. He was always good company and such a good friend to everyone who knew him.
"He was passionate about his motorbike and fixing cars. Ashley always looked for the good in everyone.
"He will always be in our hearts. He will never be forgotten."


One in four women living in a key platinum mining area in South Africa has been raped in her lifetime, a survey by medical charity MSF has said.

About half of women in Rustenburg had been subject to sexual violence or intimate partner violence, it said.
The charity said the findings of its survey were "shocking but not uncommon" in South Africa.
South Africa has one of the highest incidences of rape in the world and a low prosecution rate.
Based on its survey of more than 800 women aged 18-49 in Rustenburg municipality, north-west of Johannesburg, MSF said only 5% of the approximately 11,000 women and girls raped each year reported the incident to a health worker.
The research also suggested that a very low number of these women were aware of how to prevent HIV transmission and even pregnancy.
MSF said survivors of sexual violence faced numerous other barriers to seeking care.
"Stigma within communities is high and options are few for accessing well-resourced, dedicated sexual violence health services," it said.
Despite lying at the centre of South Africa's platinum belt, Rustenburg is home to many poor communities.
The area attracts both men hoping to work in the mines and women from across South Africa and abroad who hope to benefit from the local mining economy.
MSF said unemployment was particularly high for migrant women "creating conditions that promote dependency on men who are more readily employed by mines in the area".
The charity said there was a need to increase the number of staff trained in sexual healthcare in the area.
The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says the authorities hope ongoing awareness campaigns will encourage rape victims to seek medical attention and even legal recourse.
The survey was published on the fourth anniversary of the shooting by police of striking workers at the Marikana mine in the Rustenburg municipality.
Thirty-four people died in what was the worst violence in South Africa since the end of apartheid 20 years earlier. The incident led to intense scrutiny over the roles of the police, mining companies, unions and the government.


Hate crime prosecutions in England and Wales fell by almost 10% last year even though the number of recorded incidents increased, figures have suggested.

Freedom of Information figures suggest hate crimes increased by 20% last year, to more than 60,000 - yet police referrals to prosecutors fell by 1,379.
Experts say hate crimes are now at a more "predictable" level since a spike was reported around the EU referendum.
The Home Office said it had published a new action plan to boost reporting.
However, concerns remain that prosecutions in England and Wales have failed to keep pace with increasing reports over the past two years.
Data obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism from 40 of 43 police forces in England and Wales suggested reported hate crimes had increased by 20% last year, from 50,288 reports in 2014/15 to 60,225 in 2015/16.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Crime Survey for England and Wales there were about 52,000 in 2014/15. The crime survey has not published its figures for 2015/16.
Based on responses to the survey, the ONS suggested there was actually an estimated 222,000 hate crimes per year.
But the CPS hate crime report showed the number of racially aggravated and homophobic hate crimes referred by the police to prosecutors in 2014/15 was 14,376. That number decreased by 9.6%, to 12,997, in 2015/16.
The UK saw a spike in reported hate crimes before and after the EU referendum on 23 June - when the UK voted to leave the European Union.
Abuse peaked on 25 June - the day after the result was announced - when 289 hate crimes and incidents were reported across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A further 3,001 reports of hate crimes were made to police between 1 and 14 July - more than 200 a day.
Figures for the past three weeks will be published on Monday.
However, True Vision - the joint police and Home Office hate-crime reporting portal - told 5 Live Investigates that recorded levels of hate crime are now similar to the levels seen in 2015.
Dr Leander Neckles, from the Race Equality Foundation think tank, said: "These figures are saying you have a one in four chance if you report hate crime of someone being prosecuted."
New Home Office guidance is due to be issued to prosecutors on racially and religiously aggravated offences to encourage tougher sentences in hate crime cases and to boost reporting rates.
However, Dr Neckles suggested it did not take a tough enough line.
"It does not analyse why we're in the position we're in and it doesn't analyse what has worked and what hasn't worked in the past.
"It doesn't give a proper prescription for moving forward nor does it address the fact that race hate crime forms more than 80% of the hate crime reported to police."
She suggested pressure on police resources could be one reason for under-recording by forces.
Paul Giannasi, from the National Police Chief's Council - which represents forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - admitted forces still had a long way to go in terms of recording and investigating hate crime.
He said the gap could be the result of poor recording or because hate crime victims had not described their assault as a hate offence when they first spoke to police.
"We will continue to examine that data to make sure if there is a shortfall in the police response to it then we will address that," he said.
"No victim should face hate crime and not have the protection of the criminal justice system."
Home Office minister Sarah Newton told 5 Live Investigates a new hate-crime action plan - which was published in July - would boost the reporting of offences and support victims.
"The government is absolutely committed to stamping out hate crime and making sure Britain is a country that works for everyone," she said.
"There is no place in this country for hatred targeted against any race, religion or community."


A man with learning disabilities died after he was repeatedly beaten over a prolonged period of time, Newcastle Crown Court has heard.

Lee Irving, 24, was found dead next to a footpath in Fawdon, Newcastle, in June 2015. Police have not revealed how he died.
He had 27 rib fractures and a broken nose and jaw, the prosecution said.
James Wheatley, 29, of Studdon Walk, Newcastle and Barry Imray, 35, of no fixed address, deny his murder.
The pair, along with Julie Mills and Nicole Lawrence, are also accused of causing or allowing his death.
All four deny the charges.
It is alleged Mr Irving had been sedated rather than taken for medical treatment by the defendants who were all living at a house in Kenton Bar at the time.
The court heard how Mr Irving's body was found about half a mile from the house.
Robert Smith QC, prosecuting, told the court Mr Imray had used a pushchair to move the body.
Mr Imray, than rang the emergency services and told them he had found a man lying on the footpath, he said.
Ms Mills and Ms Lawrence are also accused of perverting the course of justice, which they also deny.
The case continues.


An investigation has been launched after man was found dead in a field at a farm following an incident which is believed to have involved a chainsaw.

North Wales Police are not treating the death in Llandyrnog, near Denbigh, as suspicious but the Health and Safety Executive is looking into it.
Officers were called to the farm on Wednesday.
The man has been named locally as 48-year-old Aled Jones. His next of kin have been informed, as has the coroner.


Josh da Silva has become the first player from England Handball's post-London 2012 performance programme to turn professional.

The Great Britain international, 19, has joined AC Fafe, who play in Portugal's top division.
"I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I'll be competing with some of the best in Europe," said Da Silva.
England Handball has supported the programme since the GB team lost its UK Sport funding after London 2012.
After a break of two years, and unable to go through the Rio Olympics qualifying process, GB men returned to the international stage in June 2015.
The GB men's team is now overseen by England Handball and the women's side is run by Scotland Handball.
England Handball CEO David Meli said: "Josh is an example of the great strides forward handball has made in this country over the last five years.
"Legacy was a buzzword of London 2012 and Josh is a true example of that legacy."


Lewis Hamilton said he was "proud" to have joined Alain Prost and Jim Clark as the record holder for most British Grand Prix wins.

The Mercedes driver's victory at Silverstone on Sunday was his fifth - and it moved him to within one point of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the championship.
"It has taken me a long time to get there but I am so proud to be up there with the greats," Hamilton said.
"Still a long, long way to go, so new heights hopefully will be set."
Hamilton was cheered throughout a dominant performance on Sunday as he took his fourth victory of the year and he crowd-surfed and high-fived the fans after coming off the podium before making an appearance on stage at the fan zone after completing his engineers debrief and media commitments.
"It is almost impossible to describe how amazing it is the reception from the crowd," he said.
"It spurs me on and pushes me and that love really inspired me this weekend. Anyone who was here or at home supporting me, I want them to know how grateful I am."
Hamilton was criticised in some sections of the media for missing an F1 promotional event in London on Wednesday that was attended by all 19 other drivers. He preferred to spend some days in Greece relaxing to get himself in the right mindset before coming to Silverstone.
"There is no reason to question my preparations," he said. "I have more poles than most. I am building up the wins that I have. My performance is second to none.
"If you don't know now that my preparation is mostly on point, than I guess you never will."
He added: "I did something I felt was right for me and I performed the best I have all year, in terms of the championship."
Hamilton cut his deficit to Vettel in the championship by 19 points after the Ferrari driver suffered a late puncture that dropped him from fourth to seventh.
"I did not expect to come away only one point behind," he said. "Maybe seven or 10 or 12. We kind of needed this today.
"I couldn't have dreamed or imagined today he would have the problem at the end. So to have that close up at the British Grand Prix, that's fantastic. So happy."
But he said it would be premature to call the British Grand Prix result a key moment of the season.
"It's difficult to ever say it's a turning point," he said. "Ultimately, there's constantly turns and the pendulum goes back and forth.
"Obviously the pendulum swung a little bit this weekend and I think that's only good for F1. It's only good for the fans, probably super-exciting for them to see the close battle that we're continuing to have.
"Without a doubt we hope it stays the way it's swung this time, but we're just hoping we can be on our toes to react to whatever is thrown at us in the next races."
Hamilton said he expected the title race to go to the final grand prix of the season.
"It's going to be a close race," he said. Its going right down to the wire, clearly."
Vettel said that Mercedes' upturn in pace in qualifying in the last four races had been a "game changer". But he added: "There is no reason to panic or to worry. but for sure we need to be aware. There are a couple of advantages we need to work on and then it could be a different picture."


Former First Lady Michelle Obama appeared to rule out running for elected office during her first public remarks since leaving the White House.

The Q&A at an architecture convention in Orlando came days after her husband made his first public comments as ex-president at a Chicago university.
Mrs Obama, who left office with a 68% approval rating (10% more than her husband) said "politics is tough."
"It's all well and good until you start running, and then the knives come out."
It's hard on a family, she said. "I wouldn't ask my children to do this again because when you run for higher office, it's not just you. It's your whole family."
But "public service will always be in our blood", she added.
Although Mrs Obama had played down her political ambitions before, while first lady, this is the first time she has done so since the election campaign, when she was widely viewed as the most effective weapon in the Democratic armoury.
She did not openly discuss President Donald Trump by name during the 45-minute event, but she did make mention of "the new president" who marks his 100 days in office on Saturday.
"So far, so good," said Mrs Obama when asked about her own family's last 100 days, which included a yacht holiday near Tahiti.
She described how her dogs become confused by the sound of a doorbell, which is not a sound you hear at the White House. And now her two daughters can open their windows.
She also described fighting back tears when leaving the place where she had lived the longest in her entire life, saying: "I didn't want to have tears in my eyes because people would swear I was crying because of the new president."
Until this week, the Obamas had kept a low profile since the election, but they are each writing separate memoirs in a book deal worth $40m.
Mr Obama has drawn criticism from fellow Democrats over a $400,000 (Â£309,000) upcoming speaking engagement to a Wall Street investment firm.
Progressive senator Elizabeth Warren, who is seen as a possible 2020 presidential candidate, said she was "troubled" by Mr Obama's decision.
Senator Bernie Sanders, a 2016 Democratic presidential contender, said Mr Obama's speech was "distasteful", the Vermont Independent reports.


Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is to remain in prison after his request for a royal pardon was turned down.

Anwar was jailed for five years in February after a final appeal against a sodomy conviction was rejected.
He and his family - who filed for the pardon - have always maintained the long-running case was brought to keep him out of politics.
The pardon rejection means Anwar has lost his seat as an MP.
Malaysian media said that the Pardons Board made the decision on 16 March, though it is only now being reported. Anwar can still file for a judicial review.
Latheefa Koya, a lawyer for Anwar, told Reuters the family would appeal against the rejection and "we will be asking for further information as to what is going on".
Sodomy is illegal in Muslim-majority Malaysia, though very few people are ever prosecuted.
Anwar - who has already served one six-year term for another sodomy conviction that was later overturned - has always insisted he is innocent.
Anwar had widely been seen as the only real threat to the ruling coalition, which insists that his conviction was fair.
His People's Justice Party (PJP) has held a series of rallies to protest against his jailing.


Former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer has warned British PM David Cameron not to be too sure of German support in his bid to reform the EU.

It comes a week after German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to try to find a solution to the UK's drive for reform.
Mr Fischer, an architect of European foreign policy, told the BBC that the UK was not a priority for Mrs Merkel.
Mr Cameron is starting renegotiation of the terms of Britain's EU membership ahead of a referendum.
But Mr Fischer said his advice to David Cameron was: "Don't lose yourself in wishful thinking.
"Angela Merkel will do nothing which will endanger the basic principles of the common market, of the EU," he told BBC Europe editor Katya Adler.
"And she has a much bigger problem to address - how to find a compromise in the currency union with Greece. That's her priority number one now."
Mr Fischer said it would be an "illusion" to think the UK would get special treatment because it is a major contributor to the EU budget.
He added: "What will the UK be without the EU? Go to Washington, ask them. The answer is very clear, very negative."
Last week, Mr Cameron made a whistle-stop tour of Europe trying to gather support for changes he wants before holding the UK's EU membership referendum.
After talks with the UK prime minister in Berlin, Mrs Merkel said she did not rule out future treaty changes in Europe.
"We would like to be a part of the process that is going on in Great Britain at the moment and we would like to be a constructive partner in this process," she said.
Mrs Merkel said her "clear-cut" view was that the UK should stay in the EU.
Mr Cameron has not set out in full detail the reforms he wants but analysts say they will include tougher rules to prevent migrants claiming benefits.
He also wants safeguards to protect the City of London in the event of closer eurozone integration and an exemption for Britain from the EU drive for "ever closer union".
The UK's in/out referendum will take place before the end of 2017.


An estate agent has been jailed for five years for taking more than £450,000 from elderly clients in Cumbria.

The judge at Carlisle Crown Court said "devious and selfish" Donald Scott, 62, from Wigton, abused his position of trust to take money from his customers to pay off his own debts.
He admitted 13 charges of fraud.
Scott forged signatures to sell off his clients' land entitlements and kept the profit for himself.
Judge Peter Davies told Scott a custodial sentence was inevitable because of the vulnerability of his elderly victims.
He said: "It's not a just a case of money, it goes beyond that. It was their businesses, their lives were affected, their health was affected.
"They entrusted you with large sums of money and you betrayed that trust."
The court heard Scott's victims trusted him with their retirement funds and paid him to help them claim EU subsidies.
But, as his business fell into debt, he started selling off their land entitlements which they had used to claim the money.
He also told clients he could get them good returns on investments but he took the money to pay off debts.
One victim, a retired farmer, lost all his savings of £200,000.
Scott committed the crimes between 2010 and 2015.
Speaking after Scott was jailed, Det Con Duncan Watson, from Cumbria Police, said: "It's a despicable crime."


The 19-year-old goalkeeper of Gambia's national women's football team has drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe.

Fatim Jawara was on board a boat that ran into trouble last month while crossing from Libya to Europe, the country's football federation says.
Her family confirmed news of her death, according to association president Lamin Kaba Bajo.
Many of the undocumented migrants who arrive in Italy are Gambians.
The Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh has been accused of intimidating the opposition - charges he denies.
Jawara made her debut with the national women's side a year ago, after playing in the junior team.
"She will be remembered for saving a penalty kick in a friendly encounter involving the national soccer team and the Glasgow Girls from Scotland," Mr Bajo told the AFP news agency.
In a Facebook post, the federation said the manner in which she had died was "shocking".
The coach of the Red Scorpions, a local team she played in, described Fatim as a very lovely person who always smiled.
Chorro Mbega told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that Jawara was a member of the squad that represented the Gambia in the 2012 under-17 World Cup in Azerbaijan, having first joined the team in 2009.
"Fati was a player who can play anywhere on the field. I'm really sad about this because she fought so much to be number one," Ms Mbega said.
She said she was not aware of Jawara being frustrated but added that Red Scorpion players were not paid salaries.
More than 4,200 migrants fleeing conflict and poverty have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean this year, figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) show.
Fatim Jawara's absence was nationally noticed when The Gambia national female team was schedule to play Senegalese club Casa Sports during celebrations to mark a girls football festival recently.
She played for local club Red Scorpions FC in Serekunda town, just outside Banjul, where she made her way to being first-choice goalkeeper, leading to her selection for the national team.
Her death in the Mediterranean has shocked Gambians and brings back the issue of illegal migration facing the country into a shaper focus.
Rumours started flying that Fatim had gone on the "Back Way", the now famous name for the boat journey across the Mediterranean to Italy, according to Red Scorpions captain Fatu Fatty.
"A few days later we confirmed from her family that an agent had contacted them to say Fatim was among those on the boat that capsized," Ms Fatty explained in tears.
"She was everyone's friend in the team. Jovial and funny to an extreme," Ms Fatty said.
A Gambia Football Federation official noted she was not the first footballer to have suffered such a fate but she was one of the most high-profile to have died this way.
Migrant crisis: 'Hundreds dead' in shipwrecks off Libya
Migrant deaths hit record in 2016
Aboard the migrant rescue boat


A curfew has been imposed in parts of Indian-administered Kashmir, a day after three protesters were killed in firing by security forces.

Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in Handwara, where the shooting happened.
Two men and a woman were killed and five others injured while protesting against the alleged molestation of a teenage girl by a soldier.
The army and police have ordered investigations into the deaths.
Curfews were imposed in Handwara and Srinagar following the violence, and shops and businesses were closed.
The BBC Urdu's Riyaz Masroor in Srinagar says hundreds of protesters had thronged the town square in Handwara following allegations that a soldier had attempted to molest a schoolgirl.
"When the protesters marched toward the central market and tried to storm a bunker, the soldiers indiscriminately fired at the procession," NA Sofi, an eyewitness, said.
However, our correspondent says that there is a lack of clarity on where the bullets came from with another eyewitness saying that the first round of firing came from the police.
Police said the firing injured seven men who were taken to a local hospital where two of them later died of  bullet injuries.
A 70-year-old woman who was also injured died in Srinagar on Tuesday night, reports said.
Authorities say the situation in Handwara is tense and a large number of security forces have been deployed to maintain order in the town.
Jammu and Kashmir is India's only Muslim-majority state and has been the scene of a violent insurgency against Indian rule since 1989.


A zoo has been urged to make safety improvements to sliding gates after a senior keeper was injured by a rhino.

The recommendation from Central Bedfordshire Council follows an accident at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo in 2014.
The incident left a senior zookeeper, in his 50s, with injuries to the chest, abdomen and pelvis.
However, the zoo said it deemed the recommendation "unnecessary", adding that no improvement measures or statutory changes had been imposed.
The heavily redacted report did not detail exactly what happened to the zookeeper, but it revealed he was found immersed in water by colleagues.
It said the council "will not be taking the matter further" but did deem it "necessary" to "discuss concerns" with the zoo.
It said: "Additional safety mechanisms, such as the use of the pin to secure the sliding gates whilst in a closed position, should be incorporated in the risk assessment to mitigate any residual risks with animal contact."
Kate John, spokeswoman for ZSL said: "We worked closely with Central Bedfordshire Council to assist with their review of the incident that occurred in 2014.
"Their investigation concluded that no further action was to be taken, and no improvement measures or statutory changes were imposed.
"The general recommendation of an additional pin mechanism in gates was reviewed and is currently deemed unnecessary, but all suggestions will be continually reviewed.
"We continually review our procedures and policies. We have reviewed and updated staff induction processes, issued a new staff handbook and have reviewed all existing training documents."


So a pavement is just sitting there as per normal, minding its own business as the world passes by.

Then boom, it suddenly explodes or catches fire. Sounds mad doesn't it? Mad... but very possible.
One road in central London is still closed after exactly that happened on Wednesday. The underground fire started just after midnight.
Five-thousand people were evacuated from nearby buildings after smoke came out of a manhole in Holborn.
Dozens of pavements have also exploded in London in the last five years.
The cause of this latest fire isn't yet known but under London's pavements alone there are around 36,000km of cable and 100,000 link boxes, containing electric connections.
Blasts and fires can be caused by electrical faults, often when water's leaked through to exposed cables.
They can also be caused by gas leaks ignited by sparks underground - or gas coming into contact with faulty cables.
The force of explosions can dislodge manhole covers and even small sparks can make really big explosions, especially if there's gas involved.
UK Power Networks, which maintains cables in much of the south and east of England says there can also be problems if other people have contact with their equipment, for example someone digging the street.
It's investing million of pounds a year in dealing with what it calls a "global problem for the industry".
Sand can be used to help insulate cable, absorb water and starve fires of the oxygen it needs to burn.
But UK Power Networks said very few incidents have had an impact above the pavement and the number of explosions should be put in context.
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An emergency call handler has been sacked after firefighters took more than 90 minutes to reach a fatal blaze.

The man, who has not been named, was dismissed following disciplinary proceedings, Devon and Somerset Fire Service said.
Molly Wigmore, 76, died in the fire at her Plymouth home in October last year.
The first 999 call was made at 05:17 GMT but none had arrived by the time a second call was made at 06:44, ahead of a fire engine arriving at 06:50.
Ms Wigmore's house, in Sussex Road, is about a mile and a half from Camels Head Fire Station.
An inquest is expected to examine whether the delay played any part in her death, on 19 October.
The fire service said in a statement it was unable to comment on the case until the inquest was over.
"We continue to offer the family of the deceased our deepest condolences," the service added.
Tributes left at the house said Ms Wigmore was an "inspirational, kind, gentle and sweet lady".


Brett Pitman hit a stunning late winner as Ipswich inflicted a fifth straight Championship defeat on Bristol City.

Kevin Bru flicked in Tom Lawrence's cross from six yards to give Ipswich a half-time lead.
On-loan striker Tammy Abraham seized on a mix-up between Ipswich's Bartosz Bialkowski and Christophe Berra to stab in the equaliser from close range.
But Town clinched the points when Pitman scored with an overhead kick from Freddie Sears' cross.
Pitman's fourth goal of the season - against his former club - earned Ipswich their second win in three games and lifts them to 14th in the table.
Bristol City, who have failed to win in their last 12 visits to Portman Road, have now lost eight of their last nine league games - their only points in that time coming from a 2-0 victory over Ipswich at Ashton Gate earlier this month.
After Abraham's second goal in two games had cancelled out Bru's opener, it seemed that Ipswich would be left to rue their luck as the game headed towards a draw.
Robins midfielder Marlon Pack hit an attempted clearance against his own bar and substitute Sears had a shot cleared off the line by Joe Bryan as the hosts went close before Pitman struck four minutes from time.
Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy: "I thought it was an excellent team performance with the only mark being the goal we gave away - we seem to get punished for every mistake we make.
"But it was a terrific performance. I said we needed to get back our identity, to be harder to play against and be more forceful. I think we did that.
"It was a gutsy performance coming back from conceding a goal like that - but we showed great team spirit and Brett Pitman showed what a finisher he is.
"We got some great support tonight. When I was walking to the dugout, I got some cheers and also a few boos. But only we can turn that around."
Bristol City manager Lee Johnson told BBC Radio Bristol: "It's another loss, it hurts, it's disappointing but we'll endeavour to get it right.
"It was a really young group out there at the end, we played some good stuff in the second half and were unfortunate not to come away with a point.
"But this league is relentless, it doesn't feel sorry for anybody and we have to maintain confidence and aggression in our play, which we didn't do enough of in the first half."
Match ends, Ipswich Town 2, Bristol City 1.
Second Half ends, Ipswich Town 2, Bristol City 1.
Tom Lawrence (Ipswich Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Tom Lawrence (Ipswich Town).
Callum O'Dowda (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Luke Varney (Ipswich Town).
Joe Bryan (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Luke Varney (Ipswich Town).
Taylor Moore (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Ipswich Town. Luke Varney replaces David McGoldrick.
Brett Pitman (Ipswich Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Luke Freeman (Bristol City).
Foul by Cole Skuse (Ipswich Town).
Luke Freeman (Bristol City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Goal!  Ipswich Town 2, Bristol City 1. Brett Pitman (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Freddie Sears with a cross.
Corner,  Bristol City. Conceded by Myles Kenlock.
Attempt blocked. Luke Freeman (Bristol City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Lee Tomlin.
Attempt missed. David McGoldrick (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Andre Dozzell.
Attempt missed. Freddie Sears (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Brett Pitman.
Foul by Myles Kenlock (Ipswich Town).
Taylor Moore (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. Freddie Sears (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is saved in the bottom left corner.
Attempt blocked. Freddie Sears (Ipswich Town) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Ipswich Town. Freddie Sears replaces Grant Ward.
Attempt saved. Brett Pitman (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Tom Lawrence with a cross.
Corner,  Ipswich Town. Conceded by Joe Bryan.
Attempt blocked. Luke Chambers (Ipswich Town) header from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Tom Lawrence with a cross.
Corner,  Ipswich Town. Conceded by Joe Bryan.
Attempt blocked. Adam Webster (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt saved. Tom Lawrence (Ipswich Town) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt missed. Tammy Abraham (Bristol City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Aden Flint with a headed pass following a set piece situation.
Foul by Adam Webster (Ipswich Town).
Lee Tomlin (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Brett Pitman (Ipswich Town).
Taylor Moore (Bristol City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Ipswich Town. Andre Dozzell replaces Kevin Bru.
Luke Chambers (Ipswich Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Tammy Abraham (Bristol City).
Attempt missed. Tammy Abraham (Bristol City) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Callum O'Dowda with a cross.
Offside, Ipswich Town. Tom Lawrence tries a through ball, but David McGoldrick is caught offside.


Rail bosses have agreed to hold formal talks with unions in a bid to resolve the Southern rail dispute that has left the network at a standstill.

The Aslef union announced the move on the first day of a 48-hour walkout by its train driver members.
It is hoped talks at conciliation service Acas will yield a breakthrough in a row over driver-only trains.
The BBC understands the planned meeting follows face-to-face conversations between interested parties on Tuesday.
Wednesday's strike and a further 24-hour stoppage on Friday are still due to go ahead.
Travel on one of the UK's busiest commuter routes has been effectively shut down since the 48-hour strike began earlier.
The latest action has closed most Southern routes, although there is a limited Gatwick Express service to and from London Victoria and Thameslink services continue to operate via Blackfriars station.
Aslef, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and Southern have been coming under increasing pressure to settle bitter disputes over driver-only trains and changes to the role of guards.
The long-running dispute has escalated into a war of words between Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, the unions and Southern's parent company, Govia Thameslink (GTR).
Mr Grayling accused the unions of a "deliberate act of militancy", saying Aslef had warned him at a meeting in September to expect "10 years of industrial action".
He accused the union of "deliberately trying to bring [the railway] to its knees" and said he could consider banning strikes on the railways.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: "The strikes this week are not, whatever Mr Grayling tries to suggest, politically motivated.
"We have a trade dispute with GTR Southern, and only a poor government would seek to spin it any other way."
RMT general secretary Mick Cash accused the government of being "hell bent on confrontation".
Southern strikes: Latest live updates
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GTR chief executive Charles Horton said he welcomed the "opportunity to discuss a way forward" with both Aslef and the RMT at Acas.
He said: "The travelling public are suffering misery and inconvenience and the impact on the regional economy is significant.
"We assure everyone we are committed to trying to find a solution to the unions' dispute."
The rail company said it looked as though many of Southern's 300,000 week-day passengers had chosen not to risk further travel disruption on Tuesday by not travelling to work.
A GTR spokeswoman said: "Our stations have been a little quieter than usual because passengers have been heeding our advice not to travel.
"The services that have run (on Gatwick Express and Thameslink) have been well-used and the services that we have put in place have operated well."
MP Tim Loughton, who represents East Worthing and Shoreham, one of the areas worst-hit by the dispute, welcomed news of the breakthrough.
"I hope it is light at the end of the tunnel. This could have happened ages ago," he said.
Shadow transport minister Pat Glass said: "It is good that they are getting round the table. But Southern rail was an absolute disgrace before the dispute. It will continue to be a disgrace.
"The Secretary of State for Transport needs to be here at the table because he is controlling it. After that he needs to take a real hard look at Southern."
00:01 Tuesday 13 December to 23:59 Wednesday 14 December (Aslef)
00:01 Friday 16 December to 23:59: Friday 16 December (Aslef)
00:01 Monday 19 December to 23:59 Tuesday 20 December (RMT)
00:01 Saturday 31 December to 23:59 Monday 2 January (RMT)
00:01 Monday 9 January to 23:59: Saturday 14 January (Aslef)


The silver Mercedes train marches on, but the first grand prix of the 2016 Formula 1 season will be remembered as one that Ferrari threw away.

The podium in Melbourne had a very familiar feel - a Mercedes one-two, with Nico Rosberg leading Lewis Hamilton home after the world champion made a poor start, and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel third - but it was a race Ferrari let slip through their fingers.
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene was asked directly whether he viewed it as a race the team had lost through their own decisions, and he said: "No."
Others were less charitable. "They messed it up," said a senior figure from a rival team.
After a flying start, Vettel was leading the race until it was stopped after 18 laps following a terrifying accident from which McLaren's Fernando Alonso mercifully emerged unhurt despite barrel-rolling following a 180mph impact with Esteban Gutierrez's Haas.
Vettel had only recently stopped to fit a fresh set of super-soft tyres and Ferrari chose to remain on them, knowing there was no hope of making it to the end of the race and that the German would have to make an extra stop.
Mercedes took a different route, one that one engineer said was "a no-brainer". Hamilton, stuck in traffic after a bad start, had already been put on mediums at his stop with the aim of going to the end of the race on them.
The red flag gave Mercedes strategists, led by James Vowles, the chance to put Rosberg on the same strategy. It was borderline, but they were confident they could make it work.
Sure enough, Rosberg lost almost no time in the 17 laps before Vettel's final pit stop and when the Ferrari peeled into the pits, the race was in the bag.
In one decision, Ferrari had turned a victory into a third place. Vettel came back at Hamilton in the closing laps but passing was always going to be difficult on this track and it became impossible when he spun with two laps to go.
The Ferrari party line was clear after the race. "If you want to look at the glass not half-empty," Arrivabene said. "We were there [with Mercedes]. This is the news."
Arrivabene did have a point, though. "The pace in the race was very good," he said. "We need to continue to push because every race has its own story."
After qualifying, it would have been easy to jump to the conclusion that the pre-season indications that Ferrari had reduced their deficit to Mercedes were wrong - Hamilton was 0.8 seconds up the road from Vettel and there was an all-Mercedes front row.
But there were extenuating circumstances. Ferrari had chosen to do only one run on the softest tyres in the final part of the controversial new qualifying format, preferring to keep a new set of super-softs for the race.
It was a fateful call, as it seems to have influenced their thinking on strategy, as we have seen. But it also influenced the final gaps, because both Mercedes drivers did a second run, and both improved.
Before that, Vettel was only 0.5secs behind Hamilton - which is twice as close as he was in Australia last year.
Equally, the cool conditions of Saturday are ones in which Ferrari have tended to be weak in recent years - the car struggles to heat up its tyres. As indeed happened again in Melbourne.
Vettel said that Ferrari had "had a bit of rough session". Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen added: "People get all crazy because the qualifying lap time difference was quite big but it was very odd circumstances and conditions.
"I don't think the time difference you saw at the end of qualifying is true. They did an extra run compared to us and the conditions were pretty cold so we struggled a bit with the [tyre] warm-up.
"We knew we would be pretty OK after [pre-season] testing and today it seems to be more normal with the hotter conditions."
Ferrari were indeed stronger in the race, but the circumstances of the strategy made it difficult to make a definitive call on just how close to Mercedes they really were.
Rosberg sat right behind Raikkonen in the first stint, clearly very comfortably able to keep pace.
After the re-start, with Vettel on super-softs with only four laps on them and Rosberg on mediums he had to make last for 38 laps, the Ferrari pulled out 3.9secs in seven laps before the Mercedes started to come back at him.
It's hard to be completely definitive about what that says about the relative pace of the two cars, but it does suggest that the Mercedes is still the quicker car - but certainly by no more than 0.2-0.5secs a lap.
In other words, after the first race of the year, the picture looks very similar to that after testing - Ferrari are not "there" yet, but they are close enough to cause some trouble.
"Hopefully," Hamilton said, "we have some exciting races coming up ahead of us."
It is notoriously hard to get 11 team bosses to agree on anything in F1 - which is partly why the sport finds it difficult to make rule changes.
So it is a mark of just how bad the new elimination qualifying format was deemed to be that, only 18 hours after it first took place, a unanimous agreement for change is exactly what happened.
An emergency meeting was held on Sunday morning to discuss what to do after the final four minutes of qualifying ticked by with no cars on the track and all the teams and governing body the FIA agreed to revert to last year's system for the next race in Bahrain on 1-3 April.
According to Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff, the sport's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has also agreed.
That means the decision should pass smoothly through the next stages of the legislative process, even if Pirelli - which has a vote in a decision that needs to be unanimous at the F1 Commission - did throw in a curveball after the race.
Its motorsport boss Paul Hembery said he "hadn't heard all the arguments", adding: "Most people would just like to understand what we are trying to achieve. Going from one to the other so quickly needs explanation."
Many F1 insiders were amused to read Ecclestone's comments on Saturday following the unanimously negative reaction, saying he had never wanted the new system.
In fact, it was solely down to the 85-year-old that any change was made.
He was determined to make a change to qualifying in an attempt to make races less predictable and he told the teams that they had two choices: either they could accept some kind of reverse-grid system for the top cars; or the knock-out format that was eventually agreed.
As Wolff put it, without naming Ecclestone: "Two proposals were on the table. One was reverse grid and the other was that one; we voted for the least worst."
Not everyone, though, feels that going back is the right decision in the long term.
Hamilton pointed out that "we made a change because it wasn't good enough". And Wolff said that at least one other driver had seen some positives in the new system.
"Lewis' opinion is interesting," Wolff said, "and Max Verstappen said the same - it is quite a challenge to be out there, you need to perform. You can't really let go because you could be out. So some drivers liked the challenge.
"It is an exciting format, a shoot-out, as long as you are capable of transmitting that in the right way on the television. The spectator needs to be able to follow, and the feedback we had from the guys watching it is that was very difficult. And about Q3 we all have the same opinion - it is rubbish."
But Wolff also made another very prescient point.
"This is a global sport," he said, "and we have to acknowledge we have a responsibility and changing the rules every week is not the right way forward.
"There are for sure ways of optimising qualifying and maybe even the race. But what we need is to properly assess what is right and wrong and not have erratic decision-making."
Australian GP results
Australian GP coverage details


England slumped to a 34-run defeat in the second one-day international against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Tigers captain Mashrafe Mortaza took 4-29 to back up his performance with the bat as England were dismissed for 204.
England's bowlers performed well on a slow pitch to restrict Bangladesh, before 44 from Mortaza and a fine 75 from Mahmudullah pushed them to 238-8.
Jos Buttler was the stand-out for England but his 57 was not enough to help them overcome a poor start.
The three-match series is tied at 1-1, with the final match to be played in Chittagong on Wednesday.
Spin has been England's weakness in the past and Bangladesh made their intentions clear as slow left-armer Shakib Al Hasan opened the bowling, while the hosts looked sharper in the field than in the previous ODI, and England's early struggles with the bat gave them confidence.
Bangladesh thought they had trapped Jason Roy lbw with the first ball of the innings but a loose drive from James Vince cost England their first wicket, before Ben Duckett and Roy were both beaten for pace and Friday's centurion Ben Stokes played around a straight delivery to leave England in trouble at 26-4.
A 79-run partnership between Buttler and Jonny Bairstow gave England some hope, as Buttler combined power with patience to register a 48-ball half-century.
Once Bairstow fell, edging a fine Taskin Ahmed delivery to the keeper, it was left to stand-in skipper Buttler to urge England over the line as he pulled Taskin through mid-wicket.
Tempers frayed when a frustrated Buttler was trapped lbw by Taskin, with the England captain left visibly angry as the Bangladesh players celebrated his dismissal.
Both Buttler and Chris Woakes were agitated, with the umpires stepping in to calm the situation, and the tension continued at the end of the game as Stokes exchanged words with Bangladesh players.
Ball and Adil Rashid batted with some aggression in the final few overs to give England thoughts of a surprise victory, but Ball hit a Mortaza delivery to extra cover to ease Bangladesh's worries and ensure victory.
Mortaza was dismissed for just one run on Friday, but he backed up Mahmudullah's mature knock with some composed hitting at the end of the innings.
After winning the toss, England's bowlers performed well on a slow pitch and their accuracy was rewarded when Imrul Kayes, another century-maker in the first ODI, pulled Woakes to a fielder in the deep.
England's seamers mixed up their pace and length throughout to stop Bangladesh from settling, and it was only in the final stages - when the humidity had risen to 70% - that the tourists' fielding faltered.
Bangladesh were struggling at 39-3 as Tamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman fell to short deliveries from Woakes and Ball, but Mahmudullah took the initiative by pushing for singles as England increased the pressure in the middle overs, and had just begun to accelerate when he was trapped lbw by Rashid.
Mortaza, who did not reach double figures during the Tigers' recent ODI series against Afghanistan, took an aggressive approach and counteracted the spin Moeen Ali achieved with two heaved sixes over long-on.
He rotated the strike well at the end as he built a 69-run partnership with Nasir Hossain and helped Bangladesh to a total that was ultimately enough to secure the win.
England captain Jos Buttler: "What disappoints me the most is that we were tentative in the way we went about it. I want us to go on the front foot. It was a chaseable total. We bowled fantastically well and could have bowled them out for 190. 240 was attainable, though.
"I was disappointed in the way they celebrated but it was an emotional game. We are grown men so that was disappointing.
"It is just a blip. 240 is one of those targets you can go about chasing down in 49 overs or 42. I would rather we go after it in 42. I want us to go on the front foot and attack."
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza: "If you look at the other match on Friday that we lost, it was not that professional I guess, but this was really professional.
"I just slogged, but luckily it helped the team and I was more than happy to get some wickets for the team. The wicket was not gripping much for our batting and I tried to play my natural shots and luckily the ball hit the right areas of my bat."
Charles Dagnall, BBC Test Match Special commentator:
Mortaza was the deciding factor. England did not bowl badly but it was almost as though it was Mortaza's day. Some of his shots could have been caught but they crept over the boundary. It was inspired and he took it upon himself to take the attack to England more than anybody had.
I loved that they opened with Shakib as England immediately didn't have the answer. It allowed Bangladesh to dictate the game.
It was nice to see England showing fight right through to the end. I wasn't expecting much from Ball, but Rashid shepherded him well. Their roles seemed to reverse - Rashid seem to say to him to "continue playing your way".
As regards to the spice in the middle, - if you give it, you have to be able to take it. I have never seen Buttler or Woakes react like that. Two classy characters, riled in such a way.
It makes the third ODI in Chittagong interesting. You've got to say well played Bangladesh. I think we've seen two very good ODIs so far.


World champion Stuart Bingham set up a China Open quarter-final tie with fellow Englishman Ricky Walden after easing past Rod Lawler on Thursday.

Bingham won 5-2 in the third round in Beijing, while Walden edged China's Tian Pengfei by a single frame.
Scotland's John Higgins saw off David Gilbert 5-3 and will meet Noppon Saengkham, who knocked out Graeme Dott 5-1, on Friday.
England's Judd Trump and Mark King also go head-to-head in the last eight.
Trump was a 5-1 winner against Marco Fu, with King completing the only whitewash of the round in his success over Martin O'Donnell.
Stephen Maguire and Alfie Burden complete the quarter-final draw, winning 5-1 against Dominic Dale and Rory McLeod respectively.
Full China Open scores and schedule


Visitors flying into Johannesburg's airports gaze down upon the small, seemingly regular hills that ring the city that is known in Zulu as eGoli, "place of gold".

These mine dumps are testament to the millions of tonnes of earth that have been shifted in the search for gold around the city over the past 130 years.
But the gold mining industry that gave rise to one of Africa's biggest cities is now in crisis.
Costs, including wages, have escalated over the past two decades and the gold itself is getting harder to get to.
Some analysts describe the gold sector as in terminal decline - a sunset industry.
Crucial wage negotiations start in South Africa's gold mining sector on Thursday, the outcome of which, some analysts say, will determine the future of the whole industry.
Billions of dollars in exports and tens of thousands of jobs are at stake.
It's been a turbulent 18 months for South Africa's entire mining industry, not just gold, with workers across several sectors staging wildcat strikes.
The tensions over the mines has often boiled over into violence, including the most infamous day in South Africa's post-apartheid history last August, when 34 miners were shot dead by police near Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine.
The South African government is so concerned that it tasked Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to try to broker a stability pact for the industry. The ruling ANC faces elections next year and is keen to avoid another flare-up of violence.
While mining only contributes about 6% of South Africa's GDP (financial services and manufacturing command larger slices), it generates nearly 60% of the country's exports.
But the opening positions of the players involved seem to be so far apart that the negotiations are likely to be racked by tension, deadlock and possible walkouts.
The two big unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), have demanded pay increases of 60% and 100% respectively.
The gold mining companies say that double-digit increases are unaffordable.
Analysts expect months of industrial action on a scale that could be worse than that seen last year.
That would leave the entire sector in a precarious position and would have severe knock-on consequences for the South African economy as a whole.
The ratings agencies Standard & Poors and Moody's downgraded the country's debt last year, partly due to worries over the mining sector.
The Chamber of Mines, which represents the mining houses, says a widespread strike in the gold mines would mean a loss of 349m rand ($34m; Â£23m) for each day of lost production.
Meanwhile, the loss of miners' wages in a strike would result in the government losing 9m rand in tax revenues every day.
Much of the easily accessible gold has already been taken out of the ground. That which lies in the deeper reefs is becoming increasingly costly and dangerous to get at.
In addition to this, over the past five years, wages have increased by an average of 12.3% per year, compared with an average inflation rate of 5.9%.
During the same time, gold production fell by 21%. Last year, the average worker produced 1.18kg of gold. In 2007, that figure was 1.49kg.
Last month, the World Gold Council released new guidelines for calculating the true cost of producing the metal.
The new "all-in" measure takes account of capital expenditure and licensing for the first time, as well as the day-to-day running costs.
This significantly raises the cost of producing an ounce of gold.
Gold Fields chief executive Nick Holland said the new method would mean an ounce of gold would cost nearly $1,400 to produce. At a time when the gold price has fallen to about $1,200, this makes many mines unprofitable.
But Loane Sharp, a labour analyst with Adcorp, says the complaints made by the mining companies about the price of gold (over which they have no control) are somewhat overdone. For example, 10 years ago the price of gold was closer to $300 an ounce and many mines were still profitable.
"In many cases complaints about the gold price are a ruse, since the uncontrollable gold price allows mine management to divert attention from their own role in mine profitability, namely control of costs," he says.
Analysts say if the mining companies are forced to grant high wage increases, they will simply counter this with massive layoffs.
Firms have also embarked on programmes of mechanisation, basically replacing workers with machines.
Loane Sharp points out that while mine production between 1990 and 2012 increased, the labour force shank from 1.2 million to 514,000 - the result of mechanisation.
Both sides in the wage negotiations recognise the need to reach common ground.
"We believe the minerals of this country must now benefit the people," AMCU said in its demands to the gold companies.
"But unless the wage talks reach an outcome that reflects the balance sheet realities, neither companies nor workers can salvage a gold industry crushed between a toppling price and climbing costs."
While Mark Cutifani, chief executive of Anglo American and the president of the Chamber of Mines, said: "The future of the mining industry is in our collective hands and by working together we can ensure its sustainability and return it to profitability for the benefit of all South Africans."
But while the public statements by the players talk of solutions found collectively, there will be hard bargaining and tough decisions made in the coming months. Much is at stake in an industry that could be entering its twilight years.


Chris Rogers and James Hildreth made centuries before title-chasing Somerset collapsed on the opening day at Taunton against relegated Nottinghamshire.

They shared a partnership of 269 after England paceman Jake Ball removed both openers to leave the home side on 33-2.
Rogers hit 18 fours in his 132 before edging Ball to wicketkeeper Chris Read.
Hildreth, who had to bat with a runner, was taken at slip for 135 in the next over and Ball claimed 6-47 as Somerset slumped from 302-2 to 322-9 at stumps.
Somerset began the game in third place, 10 points behind Middlesex, but can win the title for the first time in their history providing the leaders do not beat second-placed Yorkshire in their game at Lord's.
The loss of wickets in the final session was costly as the task of scoring 78 in 13.2 overs on the second morning to collect all five batting bonus points looks beyond their final pair of Dom Bess and Jack Leach.
Ball bowled an impressive opening spell at the start of play and had Marcus Trescothick caught behind for 25 before Tom Abell chipped to mid-wicket in his next over.
He then struck Hildreth a painful blow on the ankle when he had made only seven, forcing the right-hander to call for a runner. But, there was no further breakthrough for Notts until their double success with the new ball.
They then dropped chances offered by Peter Trego and Lewis Gregory, although neither proved expensive as Somerset's lower order were unable to cope with the rejuvenated Notts attack. Five wickets went down for no runs after Gregory was bowled by Imran Tahir.


Almost half of American households with at least one internet user have been "deterred" from online activity recently because of privacy or security concerns, a survey has said.

Their concerns had stopped them either using online banking or shopping or posting on social media, the survey by a Department of Commerce agency said.
The study asked 41,000 households about their activity in the past 12 months.
A US official said mistrust about privacy was causing "chilling effects".
The agency that carried out the study, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), called for encryption and security to be improved.
The report, based on data collected by the US Census Bureau in July 2015, said 45% of online households had refrained from at least one of the activities identified in the survey, and 30% had refrained from at least two.
Asked about the activities individually, 29% of households responding said they had avoided conducting financial transactions online; 26% avoided buying goods or services; 26% avoided posting to social networks and 19% said they had stopped themselves expressing a controversial opinion on social media because of privacy concerns.
When respondents were asked what concerned them the most about online privacy and security, 63% said identity theft.
The respondents, who were allowed to give multiple answers, also cited credit card or banking fraud (45%), data collection by online services (23%), loss of control over personal data (22%) and data collection by the government (18%); 13% also said they were concerned about threats to personal safety.
The data suggested 19% of US online households had been affected by an online security breach in the previous year. The NTIA said this represented about 19 million American households.
The survey also suggested that households with more internet-connected devices were more likely to suffer a security breach online - 31% of those using at least five different internet-enabled devices were hit by a breach, it said.
"For the internet to grow and thrive, users must continue to trust that their personal information will be secure and their privacy protected," NTIA policy analyst Rafi Goldberg said in a post accompanying the report.
"[Our] initial analysis only scratches the surface of this important area, but it is clear that policymakers need to develop a better understanding of mistrust in the privacy and security of the internet and the resulting chilling effects."
Andy Mulcahy, editor at UK-based online retail association IMRG, said transparency was the key to increasing participation online.
"Businesses often avoid drawing attention to the fact they track data on people, which isn't as underhand as it sounds," he said.
"The nature of how this technology works is that we leave a trail of data whenever we interact with sites, but being more transparent about what they have, how it is used, and why, could actually... build trust."


A UK national has died in Spain and a number of Britons have been arrested, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

It comes amid reports of a man being stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle in a fight in a bar used by expatriates in a Costa Blanca resort.
The incident allegedly occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning in the bar in Villamartin Plaza, in the resort of Orihuela Costa, south of Alicante.
The Foreign Office said it was ready to provide consular assistance.
"We can confirm the death of a British national in Alicante, Spain on 16 January 2016," a spokeswoman said.
"We are in contact with the local authorities and stand ready to provide consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."
On the arrest of the Britons, she added: "We can confirm the detention of four British nationals in Alicante, Spain, on 16 January 2016. We stand ready to offer consular assistance."
The BBC understands that three of those arrested face charges in connection with the man's death; the fourth person is being held on suspicion of a related offence of conspiracy.
Local news reports spoke of three Britons - two men and a woman - being arrested.
Leader, an English newspaper in the Costa Blanca, said the case was being dealt with by the Judicial Police in Pilar de la Horadada, a town in the Alicante province.


Hundreds of bikers have turned out to mark the "final ride" of a worker killed in the Didcot Power Station collapse as his funeral is held.

Mike Collings, 53, also known as Whitby Mick, was killed on 23 February while preparing the site for demolition.
The keen biker, from Brotton in Teesside, was a member of the Tees Riders Motorcycle Club, many of whom accompanied his funeral cortege.
The ceremony was held at Kirkleatham Memorial Park near Redcar.
Mr Collings' widow Lynn invited fellow bikers to join him on his last journey from their home to the crematorium and had responses from riders across the country who wanted to pay their respects.
Shortly after his death, a statement from his family said: "Mike was a much loved husband, father, granddad, son, brother and friend.
"He had a huge enthusiasm for life and will be remembered for his kind and friendly nature."
A family obituary said: "Always happy and smiling, Michael loved everyone.
"He always lived life to the full - working to provide for his family, making improvements to his home, keeping in close contact with his family and friends, organising rock music events and attending motorbike rallies throughout the UK and Europe with his wife Lynn, his 'best lass'.
"This wonderful man is no longer with us and has left a huge void in all our lives."
Tees Riders Motorcycle Club chairman Joe Johnson said: "It's a very, very sad day. I just wish we were riding out for a different reason rather than seeing Mick off on his last ride.
"He was a really good guy, he was one of those blokes that everything he did was 110%.
"Whether he was killed in Didcot or on the road, he would have got the same send-off, because that's what sort of bloke he was."
Club committee member Craig Ransom, added: "We are all devastated, he was a good friend, someone you would be proud to call a friend.
"This is something we always do for a biker funeral, to giver respect to that person.
"It's an escort, a procession, it's their final ride so we all ride together."
Mr Collings was working at the power station for Coleman and Co Demolition when the building collapsed.
Three more men are still missing in the rubble.
Their families held a "peaceful protest" on Sunday expressing anger at the time it is taking to recover them.
Fellow demolition workers Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61, both from Rotherham, and Chris Huxtable remain missing.
Christopher Huxtable, 34, from Swansea, Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61, both from Rotherham, are still missing in the rubble.
The emergency services have previously said it would take "many, many weeks" to recover the men's bodies.
There are safety concerns over the stability of the rubble, which is 55m (180ft) long, 30m (98ft) wide and 25m (82ft) high.
In a joint statement on Friday Thames Valley Police and the Health and Safety Executive said site owners RWE is producing a plan "for a safe method of working before the next stage of recovery can begin".
Specialist officers are supporting the families.
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue's chief fire officer Dave Etheridge defended the speed of the operation and said:  "We did everything we could to try to make our way into that rubble pile.
"What we have to make sure of course is that we minimise the risk to our own people as well, and that's an enormously difficult thing to balance."


A same-sex couple have been married in Bournemouth, in what is believed to be the UK's first gay wedding ceremony held in a church.

Jan Tipper and Barb Burden were married at the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) on Sunday.
Gay marriage became legal in England and Wales last month but the move was not supported by the Church of England.
Reverend Dwayne Morgan, who officiated, said the church had "taken pride in celebrating diversity".
While many same-sex couples have married since the law changed on 29 March, he said this was the first ceremony to be conducted in a religious building.
The couple said it was "very significant" to them to be married in the church they had attended for 15 years.
Ms Burden said: "Even though we've been together for almost 19 years, it didn't feel right for us to have just a blessing or even a civil partnership.
"We've hoped for years for the opportunity to legally marry and, once it became possible, we knew it was time for us to tie the knot and to do it before God in our church with our friends and family."
MCC was established in Bournemouth in 1979 and is associated with the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, which has churches in over 40 countries.
Mr Morgan said the government had "finally caught up with us" as the church had been blessing gay couples for more than three decades.
He said: "Through years of homophobia and oppressive laws against gay people, MCC has taken pride in celebrating diversity and striving to include everyone. We do our best to get the word out that while many of Jesus's followers discriminate, Jesus himself does not."


It has been an industrial revolution on steroids.

China has done in a few short decades what it took other countries the best part of a century to complete. And if the pace is extraordinary, then so too is the scale.
Britain had a population of around 10 million when its industrial revolution began - China's today, is more than a hundred times that size.
In the five years to 2013, China's construction industry poured as much cement and its banks lent as much money as the US did in the whole of the 20th Century.
So it should come as no surprise that the social dislocation accompanying this economic upheaval is of a degree that Charles Dickens couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams.
And nothing highlights the human cost quite like the issue of China's left behind children.
Tang Yuwen's story in the animation above is just one among many, many such stories.
His parents work in the textile mills in the city of Chengdu, dragged away from the village by the same forces that took their latter day British counterparts to Manchester a century ago.
The best current estimate suggests that more than 60 million children are growing up in the Chinese countryside while their parents live and work elsewhere, manning the assembly lines and operating the construction machinery at the heart of China's economic miracle.
That's one fifth of all the children in China and, in recent years, the country's state-run media appears to have been given license to discuss the tragic consequences.
In June 2015, four siblings - the youngest just five-years-old - whose parents had left home to work elsewhere killed themselves by consuming pesticide. The China Daily report makes clear it is not an isolated case.
Tang Yuwen lives in the county of Sixian in Sichuan province with his grandmother, his younger brother and his two cousins.
During the week, they spend the time in a one-room apartment a short walk from school.
They're poor. They bathe in a metal tub placed on the floor in the centre of the room and they share a toilet with their neighbours.
All four boys are "left behind children" and over the decades, as millions of workers have streamed out of remote, rural Sichuan, theirs is a common experience.
In Sixian's primary school up to 80% of the pupils are live without their mums or dads.
Modern day China may have been built on the hard graft of its internal migrant labourers, but it has taken a heavy toll from their children too.
The bereavement is all too plain to hear in Tang Yuwen's interview.
"I know it is hard for mum and dad to earn money," he tells me, "but I miss them so much, it is very painful."
In Guizhou province, not far from where the 2015 pesticide poisoning took place, we find 14-year-old Tao Lan, living with her 11-year-old brother, Tao Jinkun.
They are among perhaps China's most shocking child welfare statistic: more than two million left behind children are thought to be living alone, without the support of a close relative.
In a two-room home, with the wind blowing through the gaps in the wooden boards, Tao Lan helps her younger brother with his homework, she grows their own vegetables on a small patch outside and she cooks their meals.
The two take it in turns to wash the dishes.
Their parents live and work more than a thousand miles away, and come back just once a year.
"If you've had a bad day at school it must be very hard not to be able to talk to your mum and dad about it," I suggest to Tao Lan.
"I can't tell them," she replies, and then, wiping tears from her eyes: "Mum and Dad live a hard life, I don't want them to worry about me."
There is, of course, a now accepted view in the West that deprivation and childhood neglect can increase the likelihood of anti-social and criminal behaviour later in life.
But what strikes me when talking to the children we meet in Sichuan and Guizhou is not anger or resentment.
It is instead their readiness to accept with extraordinary maturity that their parents have had to make difficult choices out of economic necessity.
Even so they can't always hide the emotional cost, a tension most visible perhaps in our interview with nine-year-old Zhan Jiayue, a school-mate of Tang Yuwen's.
Spurred on no doubt by the mounting public concern, the government has decided that it needs to be seen to be acting.
It recently issued a new directive, reiterating existing laws against child abandonment and reminding local authorities of their duty to protect vulnerable children.
And now the authorities have announced that they will conduct a nationwide census, the first of its kind, in an attempt to gain a proper account of the number of left behind children.
But the truth is the efforts to enhance enforcement and to gather better data will not do much to address the root causes of the problem.
The textile factories in the city of Chengdu are just a few hours drive from Tang Yuwen's home village.
But the long hours and the need to save money mean his parents are able to travel home only two or three times a year at best. And yet the obvious solution, taking their children, with them is not an option.
Despite years on the production lines it is almost impossible for them to lose their official migrant status.
China's household registration system means that although they can work wherever they choose, they and their children can only exercise their welfare rights, including access to health care and education, in their home village.
It is a strict system that has allowed China to manage its population flows and, arguably, prevent a common scourge of other industrial revolutions elsewhere; slum developments as whole families flood into the cities in search of a better life.
In a restaurant close to their factories, we show Tang Yuwen's parents the interview we recorded with their son.
It feels an uncomfortable and somewhat cruel device, the kind beloved of TV news reporters in search of dramatic effect, but both parents are keen to see the video.
After all, they haven't seen Tang Yuwen for five months.
Tang Yujun laughs when he sees his 12-year-old boy dressed in formal attire, something I'd taken to be a small, personal flourish of eccentricity amid the drabness of village life. It turns out he's been rifling through Dad's wardrobe.
"That's my tie!" Mr Tang exclaims.
But again, the emotion is just below the surface and we soon glimpse the pain of the enforced separation, this time from the parents perspective, a pain multiplied tens of millions of times across this vast country.
"I'm so worried, because I'm not with him," his mother Liu Ting tells me through her tears. "I worry about his safety. If there were no legal barriers, we would bring him with us."
There is talk about reforming the household registration system, but it will be slow and selective and it is likely to keep the megacities of Beijing, Shanghai and even Chengdu where Tang Yuwen's parent work, out of the reach of many rural families.
The government admits the problem of left behind children is urgent. But for everyone who buys a made-in-China product, or who invests in this still-growing economy, there is a question worth asking.
If this super-sized industrial revolution had taken place within more democratic constraints, might the migrant workers at the centre of it all have been able to demand something fundamental, and so often taken for granted elsewhere?
And might they by now have won that right to a family life?


A falling tree has killed at least 13 people and injured 49 at a religious ceremony on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

A video shows the tree crashing down on a crowded square in a suburb of the main town, Funchal, spreading panic among people enjoying the festivities.
Two children are reported to have been killed, and some of the injured are said to be foreign nationals.
Reports suggest the tree which fell was an oak that was about 200 years old.
As the island declared three days of mourning, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa arrived in a display of solidarity, telling reporters that "all Portuguese people" shared their shock.
He was due to visit the scene of the disaster as well as a hospital and a civil defence facility.
Madeira, a popular destination for European tourists, is the largest of a group of Portuguese islands in the north Atlantic Ocean, south-west of the Portuguese mainland.
People had gathered outside a church in a village in the hills overlooking the town to celebrate the Roman Catholic Feast of the Assumption, which takes place on Tuesday and is a public holiday. The Lady of the Mount festival is the island's biggest.
The tree came down just after midday (11:00 GMT) on Fountain Square, which has a Catholic shrine and other monuments, and is shaded by plane trees, according to the Funchal town website.
"I heard a great noise and when I looked at the tree it was already falling but was too fast and people started to run and those who couldn't run stayed under the tree," one unnamed eyewitness said.
"It was something we will never forget," said another. "It sounded like shots and it just gave us time to look and run away when we realised there were people under the tree."
Emergency services flooded the area after the disaster, tending to the injured.
Pedro Ramos, health secretary of the local government of Madeira, said the injured included German, Hungarian and French citizens, the Portuguese news site Publico reports.
Witnesses quoted by Portuguese broadcaster RTP say the tree that fell had been shored up for at least two years because the trunk was hollow.
President de Sousa said it was not for him to give an opinion on responsibility for the disaster as that was a "matter for the regional authorities".
"The president of the republic is conveying the clear, total and unconditional solidarity of the Portuguese," he said.
This year's festival would have been all the more special because, Portuguese news site Publico notes, last year's event had to be cancelled due to forest fires.
Danny Savage, BBC News
High above Funchal, looking out across the Atlantic, is the village of Monte. Last night, the Catholic church, which attracts thousands of tourists, stood out like a beacon above the town, floodlit for the Feast of the Assumption.
The cable car linking the town and the church worked late into the night taking thousands of people to and from the festivities. When we visited last week, parishioners were decorating the church altar in beautiful flowers.
Friendly, cheerful, trying to make this year's festival special after wild fires destroyed the surrounding countryside last year leading the event to be cancelled.
Today, thousands of people had gathered around the church again for a procession. A small square, close to where buses drop visitors, was busy when the tree came down.
The crowd would have been mainly Portuguese but there are thousands of people from many other countries here at the moment, some of whom may have been caught up in this disaster.


A man who absconded from an open prison near Dundee has been found by police.

Allan Strachan was reported missing at 00:20 on Thursday after breaching the terms of his licence while on home leave from HMP Castle Huntly.
He was traced in the Glasgow area on Boxing Day.


Dozens of people were left stranded on a rollercoaster at Alton Towers when heavy rain caused it to stop.

The park's new Galactica ride, which simulates space travel using virtual reality headsets, came to a halt at the Staffordshire theme park on Monday.
Twenty-eight riders were stuck lying face down near the top of the highest drop of 20m (66ft) for 20 minutes.
A spokeswoman for Alton Towers said heavy rain had obscured a sensor and the ride automatically stopped.
"This is a standard safety feature on this ride and the ride was working exactly as it is designed to do," she said.
Amelia Watkins, from Shrewsbury, had attended the theme park with a friend the day before her 14th birthday.
Her mother Debbie went to meet them at Galactica and watched as the ride was halted.
She said: "I thought 'oh dear they're up there'. I could see all these people just hanging there."
The friends said they were able to take off their virtual reality headsets when they felt the carriage stop, before realising they were stuck.
People in front of them were crying and shouting for help, they said, but staff climbed up to reassure them.
Mrs Watkins said: "They were shaken and wet because it was hammering it down with rain. Their hands were icy cold."
Galactica opened last month and is a Â£12m upgrade from a previous rollercoaster attraction called Air.
Monday's incident comes less than a year after the Smiler rollercoaster crash, which left two women needing to have legs amputated.
The theme park's owner, Merlin Attractions, later admitted a health and safety breach.