Browse content similar to 16/12/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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It was very obvious to us that she was in intense pain, but | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
irrespective of how many times we tried to tell them, they insisted | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
that because she had dementia, it must be a behavioural problem. | :00:58. | :01:04. | |
As vibrant on the page as he was at the bar. Tributes to the writer | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
Christopher Hitchens, who has died. Scotland has been shivering for | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
days, now other parts of the UK get their first blast of winter. | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
Coming up in Sportsday: England players are told if they go to Euro | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
2012, they won't be picked for the Olympics, even if they don't | :01:22. | :01:32. | |
:01:32. | :01:43. | ||
actually play for the tournament. Good evening. The Deputy Prime | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
Minister Nick Clegg has told friends's Prime Minister that | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
recent remarks criticising the UK economy are not acceptable. Downing | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
Street has backed Nick Clegg saying that the comments are not helpful | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
in any way. Tension has grown between the two countries following | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
criticism between the figures, culminating in remarks that the | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
economic situation was very worrying. France's credit rating is | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
also under threat. For a second day, senior French | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
ministers have been criticising Britain and its economy. It has now | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
led to an open row between the two countries. This was the French | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
finance minister on national radio this morning. We don't have any | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
lessons to give, but we don't want to be given any lessons either. The | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
economic situation in Great Britain is very worrying and from an | :02:34. | :02:44. | |
:02:44. | :02:48. | ||
economic standpoint we prefer to be They should start by downgrading | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
Britain. And the French Prime Minister in Brazil said that the | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
ratings agencies don't seem to have noticed that Britain is more | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
indebted than us. It began to look like a coordinated attack on the | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
British economy. Later, the French Prime Minister placed a call to | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, too, in his words, clear | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
up misunderstandings. But Nick Clegg said the comments had been | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
simply unacceptable and that steps should be taken to calm the | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
rhetoric. And later, Number 10 Downing Street said the French | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
comments had not been helpful in any way. The French officials very | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
well know how acute their problems are and how damaging for this would | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
be. What they are trying to do is to deflect attention away from | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
their own problems. Here is the background to this. France has long | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
been sensitive about any downgrading of its credit rating if | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
it were to happen. It would be a vote of declining confidence in the | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
second most important economy in the eurozone, and it would force up | :03:50. | :03:57. | |
its borrowing costs. So how does the UK compared with France? This | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
year, British growth is forecast to be 0.8%. France is set to do better. | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
UK Government debt is 84% of annual economic output, and France is | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
about the same. But while the UK Government has to pay just over 2% | :04:12. | :04:18. | |
interest to borrow over 10 years, France has to pay almost 3%. Why? | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
Because financial markets in France's banks are more exposed to | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
the eurozone crisis. Relations between David Cameron and Nicolas | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
Sarkozy, chilled after last week's summit when Britain had vetoed the | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
new treaty to enforce greater budgetary discipline in the | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
eurozone. Tonight one ratings agency warned again of a possible | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
French downgrade and gave this negative assessment. A | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
comprehensive solution to the eurozone crisis appeared beyond | :04:45. | :04:53. | |
reach. Hugh Pym is here. While this goes | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
on, the debt crisis continues and some might argue that this is not | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
helping. Indeed. It is very telling that there has been this | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
undignified spat between France and the UK just a day after the head of | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
the IMF, Christine Lagarde, warned that countries had to work together | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
and they had to be international co-operation to deal with the | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
crisis, and if there was not we could lurch back into a 1930s style | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
downturn. Whatever France says that the UK and vice versa, it cannot | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
conceal the fact that there is a major debt crisis out there. We are | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
a week from the summit supposed to come up with a comprehensive | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
solution and there are still many doubters in the markets. As Gavin | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
referred to, one major credit rating agency, Fitch, has said | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
tonight that France can keep its triple-A rating but it has been put | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
on a negative outlook and it is worried about the future. It has | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
said it does not believe a comprehensive solution to the euro | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
crisis is politically achievable. There is doubt about a credible | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
financial backstop. As we head into Christmas and new year, there are | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
many unanswered questions as far as the markets are concerned. | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
The soldier accused of orchestrating the largest leak of | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
classified information in US history has appeared at a military | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
court house in Maryland. 23-year- old private Bradley Manning is | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
charged with aiding the enemy by allegedly leaking a quarter of a | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
million military and diplomatic secrets to the website WikiLeaks. A | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
military hearing will determine whether he should face a full court | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
martial and the possibility of a life sentence. From Maryland, Mark | :06:25. | :06:32. | |
Mardell sent this report. Private Bradley Manning divides | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
America. An atheist from a small evangelical town, an unhappy misfit, | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
gay in a macho culture, he exposed America's secrets. To some he is | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
being martyred for revealing the truth, to others he betrayed his | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
country. This is the first time he has been seen in public since his | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
arrest. A slight figure, flanked by civilian and military lawyers, he | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
said, yes sir, crisply to a couple of routine questions. Surprisingly, | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
it was the man in charge, the investigating officer, who faced | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
cross-examination. Bradley Manning's lawyer said he was biased, | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
a former military judge now prosecutor for the Government. He | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
called for him to step down and said his case would be that Bradley | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
Manning's actions were not serious. Whereas the damage? Where's the | :07:17. | :07:23. | |
harm, he said. Supporters outside say he did the right thing. He is a | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
military hero who should be given a medal of honour, should be released. | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
We should continue to try to bring about a transformation of our | :07:32. | :07:39. | |
government where secrecy is not over used. This was Bradley | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
Manning's first League, a classified video of the machine- | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
gunning from a helicopter of Iraqi civilians mistaken for insurgents. | :07:46. | :07:53. | |
-- his first leak. For him, it was only the beginning. There has never | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
been anything like it, the largest disclosure of secret information in | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
American history, a quarter of a million diplomatic cables from | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
embassies all over the world. Almost 500,000 military records | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
from Iraq and Afghanistan. Although there was no single, stunning | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
revelation, it ranged from details of American military tactics to the | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
names of Afghan informants. But the main impact was that US diplomats | :08:15. | :08:21. | |
were embarrassed, having their private thoughts made public. | :08:21. | :08:31. | |
:08:31. | :08:31. | ||
was a very unfortunate and damaging action that was taken, that put at | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
risk individuals and relationships. The case being heard here is not so | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
much about the facts of what Bradley Manning did, but about why | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
he did it, his motivation, whether he is hero or traitor, and how much | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
harm he has done his country. Bound up with that is how he was treated | :08:48. | :08:56. | |
after his arrest. This film, made by supporters, dramatises his | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
detention in solitary confinement, which Amnesty International called | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
harsh and putrid to -- punitive. PJ Crowley lost his job at the State | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
Department when he said it was ridiculous and counter-productive. | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
It was my judgment that the last thing the United States needed was | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
another retention issue, -- detention issue, even though this | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
involve one of our own citizens. We had already acquired enough | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
notoriety. This case is about the fate of one man facing life in jail | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
but also about how the world sees America. | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
A radical shake-up is needed in the way the NHS deals with patients | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
with dementia. That is the verdict of the first national audit of | :09:38. | :09:40. | |
dementia care in hospitals in England and Wales. A quarter of | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
hospital beds are occupied by people with dementia but the report | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
found that most staff feel they are not sufficiently trained to look | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
after them. The Government said that while there is some excellent | :09:50. | :09:52. | |
practice, far too many hospitals are failing to provide appropriate | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
care. With every passing year, the NHS is | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
treating more patients with dementia. People for whom hospital | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
can be a frightening and confusing place. Experts say a radical shake- | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
up is needed to cope. The NHS needs to move away from care that is | :10:13. | :10:19. | |
often impersonal, where in some hospitals patients do not receive | :10:19. | :10:26. | |
the specialised attention they deserve. We set up a tent, do you | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
remember? That was the experience of these women. They can look back | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
on many fond memories of their mum, but they are angry and bitter about | :10:33. | :10:40. | |
some of her hospital care. Mary had a broken bone and was in pain, but | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
staff on the ward believed her distressed behaviour was caused by | :10:44. | :10:51. | |
her dementia. Had the staff taken the time to listen to us, instead | :10:51. | :10:57. | |
of assuming they knew best, but listen, that we knew our mum best, | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
and we knew the kind of person that she was. And she was not the kind | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
of person that made a fuss, never. So, how widespread are the gaps in | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
dementia care being given to our elderly? Already 25% of beds are | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
occupied by dementia patients, but only 32% of staff in this research | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
said they had had enough dementia training. Just 40% of hospitals | :11:20. | :11:26. | |
have policies to keep families informed. And 26% of awards in this | :11:26. | :11:32. | |
study said there were not enough staff at meal times to help frail | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
patients to eat. Some experts say that the NHS has to adapt as soon | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
as it can. The population in the United Kingdom is living longer | :11:39. | :11:44. | |
with more and more elderly people. And if we are a civilised society, | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
we have to invest in the care of the elderly. Otherwise you're just | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
going to get a constant stream of these reports that we keep getting | :11:52. | :11:58. | |
on poor standards of care. Now with the time to act. Some hospitals are | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
now designing wards around patients with dementia. Simple homely | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
touches can make a hospital ward less frightening. Patients with | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
dementia are easily confused and become agitated. Keeping some of | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
their things nearby and family photos in sight can help. Health | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
officials accept more needs to be done. In Wales and England, | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
dementia has been made a priority for the NHS. For the families of | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
patients, change cannot happen fast enough. | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
A doctor who took maternity leave and was then hounded out of her job | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
has been awarded damages of �4.5 million by an employment tribunal. | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
Dr Yvonne Akale was dismissed by Pontefract General Infirmary in | :12:46. | :12:48. | |
2008 and is now suffering from what is described as a devastating | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
psychiatric illness as a result of a campaign of harassment and false | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
allegations against her. Labour has won the Feltham and | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
Heston by-election with an increased majority, but turnout in | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
the west London constituency was just 29%, the lowest for more than | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
a decade. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, described the victory as | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
a verdict on the Government's economic policies. The | :13:12. | :13:21. | |
Conservatives were second, the A coroner has ruled that a five- | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
year-old boy died as a result of gross failings by Milton Keynes | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
Hospital. Harry Mould died following an asthma attack. The | :13:29. | :13:36. | |
coroner said he would probably have survived if the doctors had | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
monitored him properly. Five years old, full of life. Harry | :13:40. | :13:47. | |
Mould was a bright, gifted boy. He and his twin sister Jessica were at | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
the centre of family life. But one month later, tragedy. Harry was | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
dead. His parents attended every day of the inquest into his death. | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
The court was told that he was admitted to Milton Keynes General | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
Hospital on March 26th, 2009, with breathing difficulties. Harry | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
initially responded well to treatment which was then reduced. | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
When his condition worsened dramatically, it was not picked up | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
by the medical team and he died on March 30th. After a two week | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
hearing, the coroner has delivered a damning verdict. He said there | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
was a gross failure to provide basic medical attention for Harry. | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
He concluded that had proper action been taken, he would probably have | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
survived. His mother and father told me that that is perhaps the | :14:38. | :14:44. | |
most difficult thing they have to deal with. We always believed that, | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
absolutely. It is the hardest thing to get into our heads and the | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
hardest thing to explain to our daughter Jessica, that when she | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
does ask these questions, and one day she will, we have to tell her | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
that they could have made a difference to his life. These are | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
troubled times for Milton Keynes hospital. A number of inquests into | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
the deaths of children have been highly critical. Today the hospital | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
has been told it was negligent in the case of Harry Mould. That has | :15:15. | :15:21. | |
upset me hugely. I am determined that we as a hospital will not go | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
back anywhere near to that status again. What do you say to the | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
family, the mother and father that have also sat through these two | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
weeks? I have apologised to the parents in court and also outside. | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
Following Harry Mould's death, Milton Keynes hospital says it has | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
made radical improvements to make sure that nothing like it can ever | :15:41. | :15:50. | |
happen again. Coming up on the programme: After | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
Scotland, an icy blast hits Wales and parts of England as the wintry | :15:54. | :16:02. | |
conditions spread. It is nine months since the giant | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
tsunami swept across north-eastern Japan, killing 15,000 people. It | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
also caused the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant, the | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The Japanese | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
Government says the damaged reactors are now stable and the | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
radiation leaks are sufficiently reduced. People evacuated from some | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
of the less contaminated areas around the plant may be at last | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
able to return home. Explosions as Japan's nuclear | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
crisis began. The plant had been engulfed by a huge tsunami, | :16:38. | :16:44. | |
crippling the cooling systems, pushing it into meltdown. The | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
workers became known as the Fukushima 50, men who risked | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
radiation to save Japan. Now the Prime Minister has announced they | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
have finally stabilised the reactors. TRANSLATION: Since I took | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
office, I have been saying for Japan to be reborn. Fukushima had | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
to be saved. The nuclear power plant accident needed to be | :17:08. | :17:15. | |
stabilised. Since 11th March, we have been working with our team to | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
get the reactors under control. News today is encouraging for the | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
authorities at the plant. Nuclear material, the heart of the reaction | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
process, is kept cool with water. Otherwise it will melt, and that is | :17:28. | :17:33. | |
what has at least partly happened already. Now the reactors are said | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
to be in cold shutdown, where cooling water remains below boiling | :17:36. | :17:42. | |
point. This prevents the nuclear material from heating up, out of | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
control. But the 12 mile exclusion zone around the plant is likely to | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
remain off-limits for years. Homes lying empty, farm animals left to | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
fend for themselves, a new generation born in a nuclear waste | :17:57. | :18:04. | |
land. The flat on the 26th floor of a Tokyo tower block is where | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
Tetsuko Takahashi lives now. The view is good but it cannot replace | :18:08. | :18:17. | |
the garden that they had planned to spend their retirement tending. | :18:17. | :18:26. | |
don't know where we belong. We cannot discard our own house and | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
garden. They are waiting for us, I believe. For Japan, the challenge | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
now is to keep the lights on in its great cities like Tokyo. Local | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
fears mean that nearly all of the country's reactors of line. The | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
Government must either persuade people they can be operated safely, | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
or find alternative sources of power. At Fukushima the plan now is | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
to dismantle the plant. But the workers who tamed the reactors will | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
be old or gone before the job is finished. It could take more than | :19:01. | :19:07. | |
30 years. In Egypt, at least three people | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
have been killed and more than 200 injured in the bloodiest violence | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
to erupt since the start of the first free elections in 60 years. | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
Clashes broke out in Cairo when the army tried to move protesters who | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
had been staging a sit-in for three weeks near Parliament. Soldiers | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
hurled concrete blocks that demonstrators. They were calling | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
for an end to military rule. The Prime Minister has defied the | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
axiom that politicians should not do God and has spoken about the | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
importance of Christianity in Britain. David Cameron said the | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
Bible had helped give Britain a set of values and morals that should be | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
actively defended. What more can you tell us about what the Prime | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
Minister said? Religion is territory that politicians | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
traditionally steered clear of. Tonight the Prime Minister gave a | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
speech saying that there is a close link between religion and politics. | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
He was speaking to an audience of clergy in Oxford. He said this is a | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
country that is a Christian country and we should not be afraid of | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
saying so. He said that Christianity and being Christian | :20:13. | :20:20. | |
does not mean you are doing down other faiths and people with no | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
faith were somehow less important. He said that the Christian message | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
and the way it prodded people and gave them a moral code was | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
particularly important in the light of the summer riots, the MPs' | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
expenses scandal and so on. This was really an attack on what he | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
regards as moral relativism. Many people will see this as quite a | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
bold speech in a way that he has stood up for Christian values. | :20:45. | :20:53. | |
Thank you. The controversial about spoken of the Christopher Hitchens | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
has died from cancer at the age of 62. The targets of his frequent | :20:57. | :21:02. | |
polemics ranged from Mother Teresa to Henry Kissinger to God. He | :21:02. | :21:04. | |
started his career in London but moved to the United States from | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
where he vociferous the supported the Iraq war. James Robbins looks | :21:09. | :21:15. | |
back at his life. Christopher Hitchens lived hard and | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
fast and wrote even faster. Being a writer is what I am, he said, | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
rather than what I do. He started on the left at the New Statesman in | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
1973. But a double with facts, always a fierce critic, often | :21:27. | :21:33. | |
hilarious. He wrote to provoke, most of all as an ardent atheist. | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
refused to be told what to think or how, let alone what to say or right | :21:39. | :21:46. | |
by anybody, but most certainly not by people who claimed the authority | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
of fabricated works of primeval mist and fiction and want me to | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
believe these are divine. That I won't have. In debate with Tony | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
Blair, Christopher Hitchens told him that believers were slaves to | :21:59. | :22:07. | |
celestial dictatorship, of the sort of divine North Korea. Christopher | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
was a total one-off, unique character, an extraordinary | :22:11. | :22:20. | |
polemicist, contrarian often. But an incredible inspirational writer | :22:20. | :22:26. | |
and thinker. Christopher Hitchens revelled in fights and chose many | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
targets. He called Bill Clinton a cynical, self-seeking, and vicious | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
thug. He scandalised many by accusing Mother Teresa offer | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
withholding proper medical care in favour of a cult based on death and | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
suffering and subjection. He was also fearless, calling 9/11 the | :22:44. | :22:50. | |
work of Islamic fascism. I knew Christopher in the 60s and 70s. I | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
knew him better in the 90s, actually, when we worked together | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
on a number of documentaries. So I will have fond memories of that | :22:59. | :23:05. | |
Christopher. But then you Christopher that emerged after 9/11, | :23:05. | :23:12. | |
as an apologist for the United States and its imperial wars and | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
policies abroad, I had very little sympathy for that. Christopher's | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
the support of George Bush ended some friendships but won new | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
admirers as well. As cancer took hold, he started thinking and | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
writing about dying and death and his certainty that it would be | :23:29. | :23:35. | |
final. Do you fear death? I am not afraid of being dead, per se. There | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
is nothing to be afraid of because I will not now I am dead. If I find | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
that I am alive in any way at all, that will be a pleasant surprise | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
and I quite like surprises. Christopher Hitchens, who died at | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
the age of 62. You can see one of the last television interviews with | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
him on Newsnight on BBC Two at 10:30pm. | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
Parts of Scotland have been shivering in the snow for some days | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
now. Today it was the turn of other parts of the UK to feel the icy | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
blast of winter. Areas of England, Northern Ireland and Wales saw | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
heavy snow and treacherous driving conditions. Collette Hume reports | :24:13. | :24:19. | |
from the Brecon Beacons. It was the day that winter came to | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
Wales. Heavy snow brought freezing temperatures to parts of the | :24:23. | :24:32. | |
country. Driving conditions were difficult and dangerous. Police | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
warned motorists not to travel in the worst affected areas unless | :24:37. | :24:44. | |
their journeys were essential. Drive with care and make sure you | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
have all the safety kit in a car, Dr mobile phone, top of windscreen | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
wipers, check the tyre pressures and the depth of them as well. | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
Brecon Beacons National Park is one of the most popular destinations in | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
the UK for walkers and climbers. Mountain rescue teams so that these | :25:02. | :25:09. | |
conditions would challenge even the most experienced. The snow began to | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
fall in the early hours. Parts of the A55, the main route across | :25:14. | :25:22. | |
North Wales, were close at times and motorist faced the long delays. | :25:22. | :25:28. | |
-- closed. Six centimetres of snow in Glasgow caused difficulties on | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
some roads. In England, the North was affected but disruption was | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
kept to a minimum. Back in the Brecon Beacons, those who could | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
make the best of the wintery conditions. Forecasters in Wales so | :25:41. | :25:44. |