15/07/2013 BBC News at Ten

comes into force across England, Wales and Scotland. Nonworking

households will get no more than �26,000 a year. Ministers say it is

encouraging more people to look for jobs. Polling suggests it is the

most popular reform the Coalition Government has made to the welfare

system. I think people get too much on benefits. I think to cap it is

right. I would be happy with �350 per week, I would be able to live

like a king. Take it off the MPs and bankers. We will be reporting on the

housing cost of housing. A highly criticised method of dealing with

dying patients is to be abandoned. More bankers in Britain and at least

1 million euros in Britain than the rest of Europe combined. The new oil

boom, how the USA is heading for mega production.

America may be on course to produce as much oil as Saudi Arabia.

Tyson Gay! And some of the biggest names in world athletics facing

allegations of doping. Tonight on BBC London: Scrap

Heathrow and build on the Kent coast. Boris Johnson makes his

final pitch on airport expansion. And police hunt a killer on day

release from prison after a murder to claim on benefits? It is a

question the government hopes will dominate the next election. A

question to which they hope they have got the most popular answer. A

cap of �26,000 a year. People on welfare that are not in work, apart

from the exemptions such as those that are disabled acceptor. They

should not actually be earning more than the average earnings after

tax, which is fair to taxpayers who, themselves, are often struggling on

low and average earnings and do not want to see people on welfare, not

working, getting more than they are. It covers out of work benefits like

jobseeker's allowance and housing and child benefit. It will affect

only 40,000 households, mostly in London. It will save only �110

million this year, less than a 10th of 1% of the whole welfare budget.

But those large families that are affected, critics say, will be hit

hard. Here in Manchester, there were some concerns. To see other people

that have been in this situation through no fault of their own, they

need to be able to fund a lifestyle, well, not even a

lifestyle, they need to get off the breadline. That's nothing, nowadays.

Take it off the MPs and bankers. the welfare cap is hugely popular,

backed by 70% of people according to a new opinion poll. A third of those

who oppose it do so because they think the cap is too high. I think

people get too much on benefits and to cap it is right. I would be happy

with �350 per week, I would be able to live like a king. That is why the

Conservatives are going to try to make welfare a key issue at the next

election. They believe they have an advantage over Labour, branding at

the welfare party because of its historic reluctance to cut benefits.

But Labour is fighting back, no longer saying that the cap is wrong,

just that it will not work. I think it is a good idea in principle. It

is a shame that today's cap has proved such a shambles and practice.

We have learned today that would there are 4000 families, about 10%,

with big numbers of children that would not come under this cap when

it is introduced. It was left to a coalition MP to question the cap in

principle, saying that some of the poorest would pay a heavy price.

is about the worst kind of politics, chasing populism at the expense of

children's well-being is not something I care for. I don't think

we do ourselves as politicians very much service by following that line.

Benefits are now a key political battle ground, with no party willing

to appear soft, where public opinion is so hard line. The challenge for

ministers is to make sure the cap fits. If it doesn't, they will pay a

price at the election. As we mentioned, one of the biggest

costs for any family, on benefits or not, is housing. According to a new

study, homes and a third of Britain are now too expensive for people on

lower incomes. As Mark Easton explains, much of southern England

appears to be beyond the reach of poorer families.

Hunting for a modest home for your family. Great swathes of southern

England are now, it is claimed, beyond the reach of low-income

households. For workers looking to stay cool in the capital, trying to

find a decent place to live is a hot topic. We are spending up to 50% on

rent. I think I am spending more than half of what I earn on rent.

Many of you live at home with your parents? You all do? You can't

afford to get anywhere? I would like to move out, but I can't. I'm trying

to save for a deposit, but the rent is so extortionate that there is no

chance. Where can you afford to live? Using the housing calculator,

let's assume that you want to rent a modest two bedroom home. By modest,

we mean cheaper than three quarters of similar properties in the area.

Paying a monthly rate of �1000, you can afford most of Britain, the

green areas. But you cannot afford to live in most of London. At �700

per month, much of the south-east is beyond your pocket. Reduced that to

�500 per month and most of England is out of reach. These are working

families, on modest incomes, and they are still struggling to afford

housing in large parts of the south-east. We used to think it was

a London only problem. But it is spreading beyond London and the

south-east to other parts of the country. The Mayor of London has

described the shortage of affordable housing as the gravest crisis facing

the capital. The government has promised to build 170,000 more homes

and loan people money to buy. focused on building that 170,000 now

and ramping that up so that we get to the fastest rate of house

building we have seen for 20 years. When will house prices in the

south-east come? When we get a better balance between supply and

demand, and that is something that will take a little time. We have

taken 25 years to get to this problem, it will not be sold in one

Parliament. We are determined to turn it around. Private renting is

often the most expensive type of housing. What about buying?

Repayments may be cheaper, but you need to have a deposit. If you have

�25,000, you can buy a two bedroom property in most areas. But London,

or parts of it, are going to be beyond you. If you only have

�15,000, the south-east is a problem. With a deposit of �10,000,

you will struggle to get on the housing ladder in large parts of

Britain. With half as many homes being built each year as are

needed, the housing crisis has grown over decades. Achieving

affordability may take as long again.

If you would like to find out more about housing costs is in different

parts of the UK and whether it is cheaper to rent or buy, there is a

calculator on the website, bbc.co.uk/wherecanilive. All of the

links and background information is there for you.

A framework for dealing with dying patients, known as the Liverpool

Care Pathway, is to be abandoned. Doctors had claimed it could offer

some patients a peaceful, pain-free death. An independent review

suggested the care plan was often incorrectly and lamented and

frequently used as an excuse for poor quality care. -- incorrectly

implemented. Dignity for the dying. That was the

aim of the Care Pathway, designed in Liverpool and widely used in the UK.

But the review found it was misused and misunderstood by some

hospitals, with shocking reports of poor treatment. They thought it was

OK for junior doctors in particular to put people on the pathway in the

middle of the night, weekends or bank holidays come with no senior

people involved. I think communications tended to be awful.

In some places, the quality of care was very poor and sometimes lacking

compassion. Their report found echoes of the appalling negligence

revealed by the Mid-Staffs scandal. Dying patients desperate for a

drink, being denied fluids, despite the pleas of relatives. The family

of 82-year-old Philip Charlesworth said they only found out he was on

the Liverpool Care Pathway when they were told not to give him a drink,

but let him some water from a sponge. They argue his death

amounted to euthanasia. Looking at him, you wouldn't let a dog go

through this. That is exactly how he felt. We thought it was cruel,

inhumane, he clearly was fighting to survive. The review says that the

Liverpool Care Pathway should be phased out within a year and

replaced with personalised end of life plans. Senior doctors must be

involved in decisions to withdraw treatment. And there should be an

end to incentive payments for hospitals using the system. The

Department of Health in England says that the changes will be made.

Scotland and Northern Ireland will review their use of the Liverpool

Care Pathway. Wales has its own system. The question is whether all

hospitals can replace what became a tick box culture, with personalised

and compassionate care with the swimming the English Channel for

charity. Susan Taylor, 34, was nearing the end of her 21 mile swim

when she got into difficulty. Since her death, there has been a surge in

donations to the two charities she was raising money for.

Now, there are more bankers in Britain earning over 1 million euros

per year, around 2500, done in the rest of the European Union put

together. Figures have been compiled by the European banking authority,

which wishes to impose a cap on bank bonuses. Some people are saying that

this bonus than answer is over, is that right or wrong? First of all, I

don't think we should be that surprised that there are so many

more bankers earning these sorts of figures. About �860,000 or more.

That is per year, more than the rest of Europe in combined. Finance is

global and it gravitates to these financial centres. New York, for

example, would have more highly paid bankers than the rest of north and

south America combined. It is the nature of globalisation. What is

interesting is, based on my own experience, probably less than half

of these highly paid bankers are actually British. They come from all

over the world, the rest of Europe, Africa and North America. This is

where they want to work. I have also done some fiddling around with these

numbers. Although that million euros is a lot of money, what bankers were

paid in 2011 was a lot less than in previous years. The average pay of

these 2500 bankers was 1.3 million pounds. That was in 2011. It was 2.5

million the previous year. It has come down. There is one other point

that might make a lot of people quite angry. The European Union, the

banking bit of the European Union, gathered this date because it wanted

to justify a limit on bonuses, which is being imposed. But the bankers

that I mix with tell me that this limit, being imposed, is having an

interesting impact. It is encouraging banks to push up the

fixed salary that bankers receive. Now, what would you rather receive?

A bonus that can fall or a fixed salary that you receive for ever? I

know what I come and I think most of our viewers would rather get. It

salary is much more attractive than big bonuses. And that is what the

bankers are getting as a result of this reform. One of two servicemen

who died on Saturday during an army training exercise in the breeBG

conbeacons has been named as Lance Corporal Craig Roberts. Two were

taking part in the selection process for the SAS reserves. In all, six

soldiers collapsed during the hottest day in Wales this year.

Exhausted and in danger. These photographs show the soldiers

waiting to be rescued from the Brecon Beacons, after the -- after

five of the group collapsed. They've been used by the British army for

decades as a place to test endurance. A walker who saw the

exercise on Saturday says it was clear they were feeling the effects

of the heat. They did look very hot. They were tired in the afternoon.

But it did seem you would normally see the soldiers when you are

walking up there. One of the soldiers who died was Lance Corporal

Craig Roberts. A maths teacher from Lewisham who had served with the TA

for five years. Along with 70 others, he was being tested for a

place in the elite reserve regiments of the SAS. The area is known to

test recruits. They trek for hours weighed down with up to 80 pounds of

equipment. Only 10% are chosen to join, putting huge pressure on the

soldiers. There's an overwhelming desire not to fail. They have spent

months and months preparing for this. This isn't something they

would have walked straight into. There would have been months of

training for this, so they will be totally determined to actually get

to the end of it. These aren't the first military deaths on these

mountains this year. In January, an army captain died during a similar

SAS test. Tonight, the MoD is investigating alongside the police,

to see whether more should have been done to protect its recruits.

Britain's future oil supplies and the costs involved are likely to be

affected by the latest developments in the USA. A new front fear is

being opened up from Alaska in the north, to Texas in the south, where

vast quantities of oil are being drilled. This year the US is set to

produce an average of 7. 3 million barrels of oil a day. That's not far

behind Saudi Arabia, which is pumping out 9. 7 million barrels,

but by 2020 America may be on course to match that. David Shukman has

been to California, to some of the most extensive drilling areas that

are taking place. The river of pumps pulling oil from the ground and the

beating heart of any modern economy. This is California, but not as most

people know. In one of the largest oilfields, the baked ground is swept

bare. It is given over to the extraction of oil from the rock

below and it keeps producing. It's an incredible sight, with more of

10,000 of the pumps drawing up the oil. The field has been producing

for more than a century and whenever anyone thinks it might run dry and

someone comes up with a new way of getting at it. The result, as in

many parts of the world, there's more oil than previously thought.

The owner of one of the oilfield here takes me to one of his sites.

We are been pumping wells like this for 100 years year. This is big oil

country and Fred has the stuff in his blood. His grand mearge and

father worked in the wells. He owns 600 of the pumps. He says there's

still a lot of oil. There's enough here in this country for another 100

years with the present technology and a lot of natural gas and around

the world there's a lot of oil to be found yet. Oil, once burst from the

ground here. This well gushed uncontrollably for months in 1910.

Over the decades, the oilfields have kept active and new technology means

that America is on course, amazingly, to produce as much oil as

Saudi Arabia. International experts say America's oil fortunes suddenly

have been transformed. It's really occurred in a very short period of a

couple of years. If you look at the forecasts of two years ago, most

people expected continuing decline in production and now it's very,

very different situation. It's very different outlook and it really

happened very, very quickly. Where does this leave alternative energy?

This farm of wind turbines stands not far from the oilfields. A new

flood of oil could undermine moves to get away from fossil fuels.

need to win the battle against this big, new oil boom in California. We

have to win it in California, where we pride ourselves on being a leader

in responding to the climate crisis. Because, if we can't win it here,

where in the United States can we win it? But huge new reserves of oil

are being developed. The stuff itself is in hot demand. It is

becoming harder to get oil out of the ground. You have to dig deeper

and it costs more and takes more energy, but here's the key thing -

there's plenty left. It's not running out. The latest sources of

oil may not be all that easy to exploit, but the oil era that dawned

in the hills is far from over. Tomorrow night, David will be

reporting from Texas, on the gas supplies produced by the

controversial process of fracking due to be sold to Britain.

China's economic growth has slowed for a second successive quarter. In

the past three months the economy grew by 7. 5%, but that is down from

7. 7% in the previous quarter. Over the past five years, the economy

there grew by an average of 9. 3%. We'll talk more about this with

Stephanie Flanders. Even 7. 5% sounds pretty impressive, so what's

the significance? Well, as you know, China has been the force of nature

the last few decades. The economy is doubling in size every eight years

and as you mentioned, even in the last five, where it hasn't been able

to rely on as much growth in exports to the US and Europe, because we've

been doing so badly, it's managed to sustain this very high rate through

a domestic investment boom. Now, it is slowing down and that's because

the Chinese authorities want the economy to slow down. They are

worried that that investment boom has gone too far and that economies

have run up too much debt on cheap credit, invested in dodgy projects.

They want to slow down that part of the economy and make this long-term

shift that we are always talking about, to an economy like ours, more

dependent on spending by households, which will mean a slower rate of

growth. They've been pretty successful. Even the rate that we

see today, it looks good. It's very much in line with what the

authorities are talking about, moving towards. People are aa bit

sceptical there. They are not -- they are worried that the economy

will be slowing faster than the Government wants. You can see why.

They are trying to do something that no Government has ever really

managed. It's like re-engineering a jumbo jet in mid-air without

crashing. It may pull it off. The authorities have been good at this

in the past, but it's such an important part of the global economy

now, people are worried that sooner or later we'll get a hard landing.

Thank you. There's been a fourth consecutive

night of violence in Northern Ireland. Trouble flared in several

parts of the city. Bombs have been thrown at police in East Belfast and

a pipe bomb exploded in the north of the city. The rioting started when

police enforced a decision to prevent a marsh from passing by a

nationalist area. Officials in northern India say that

nearly 6,000 people are still missing after devastating floods

last month and they are now presumed to be dead. The disaster hit large

parts of the state of Uttarakhand. Our report reporter has this report

from the area. All that remains of what was once the bustling down of

Sonprayag. A stop for thousands of Hindus on a pilgrimage. Men, women

and children driven by faith to the holy town less than 20 kilometres

away. Today, there's a deathly silence. Broken only by the sound of

the river. This used to be the road to Kedarnath. When the floods came,

the river waters gushed in carrying with them stones and boulders and

devastating towns and killing thousands of people. Days of heavy

rain burst a glacial lake and the waters surged with unstoppable

force. Swallowing everything that got in the way. Nearby, in this

area, 54 men have died. All of them worked in the temple town, six

months of the year. This lady's husband and two teenage sons are

missing since the floods. She told me that she has no hope they will

return. And she has nothing to live for any more. A month since the

disaster, people are trying to salvage what they can from their

destroyed lives. Still in disbelief as how a river that gave them life,

has also taken away so many. The sports firm Adidas has suspended its

advertising contract with the American sprinter Tyson Gay, one of

the biggest names in world athletics, after he and after sa

Powell tested positive for a banned substance. They said they were

shocked by the recent allegations and would be waiting for the results

of further tests. David bond reports on the impact of the -- Bond reports

on the impact of the news. They are the latest athletes to be caught by

the drug testers. Asafa Powell and American Tyson Gay, the fastest man

in the world this year. After years of damaging doping scandals, their

failed tests have placed track and field under fresh scrutiny. Tyson

Gay will miss his 100 metre showdown with Usain Bolt at the world

championships in Moscow next month, after testing positive in May.

Today, his kit sponsors suspended their deal with him. Powell will

also miss Moscow, after a sample in June revealed traces of a banned

stimulantment both deny cheating and are awaiting further tests to

confirm the initial results. For those helped deliver a relatively

clean Olympics in London last year, it's a reminder that the sport

cannot afford to drop its guard. we take out a cheat, it gives the

opportunity for a clean athlete to pursue a career with integrity and

that's what we want. It's the clean athletes that we are fundamentally

protecting here. Is the sport prepared to accept the hit, the bad

headlines, in return for knowing in the long run the sport will be clear

en? The sport is prepared to accept bad headlines, because we are simply

not going to negotiate on this. This is not a battle we can lose. It's

not a battle we will lose. It's been a bad year for doping in athletics.

In Jamaica, there have been four positive tests. Eight Turkish

athletes have tested positive, but there could be more to come. But in

Russia, 42 athletes are currently banned. A big embarrassment for the

world championships hosts. Cycling's tainted past haunts its present.

Just ask Britain's Tour de France leader Chris Frome and his Sky

team-mates, constantly fending off suspicions that their extraordinary

performances must be linked to drugs. I know what it's like to deal

with all of this all the time, day in and day out and I think athletics

is obviously bad news and you have to believe in those who are clean

and back the good guys. And really back them and that's how the sport

will survive. Athletics says the latest spate of drugs tests enhance