18/04/2014 BBC London News


18/04/2014

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the many they're meeting. That's it.

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Welcome to BBC London News. The mayor of one of five London

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boroughs, criticised by the government for spending hundreds of

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thousands of pounds on free newspapers, has said he has no

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intention of getting rid of the paper in his area. Sir Robin Wales,

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the Mayor of Newham, argues it's good value for money and popular

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with residents. The Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, has

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threatened to shut the council publications, accusing them of

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peddling propaganda. Richard Slee reports.

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The Newham Mag is published every two weeks and is delivered free of

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charge to 100,000 residents in east London. It's also one of thd

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magazines produced by Labour`controlled councils targeted

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by Eric Pickles as propaganda on the rates, because of the frequdncy of

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their publication. In a statement, Eric Pickles said, "Localisl needs

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robust and independent scrutiny by the press and public, and mtnicipal

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state`produced newspapers stppress that. Town hall Pravdas not only

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waste taxpayers' money, thex undermine free speech".

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But the mayor of Newham says his magazine is a vital local sdrvice

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and he won't scrap it. If wd did away with this we would havd to do

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hundreds of different leafldts, and people would not necessarilx read

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them. 75% of people tell us they get a lot of information from it, and

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since we have produced it wd have gone from 41% saying they are well

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informed, to 75%. People ard telling us, thank you, we want to know what

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is going on in our communitx. He also rejects criticism that free

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council papers are driving local papers out of business. But the shop

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owner here says that these days he doesn't sell many local papdrs, and

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most of the publishers say that the free magazines and papers lhke this

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do take away their advertishng revenue. Most of the Newham

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residents we spoke to said they do read the free magazine and they

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would miss it. What do you think of it? It's not too bad. It's good

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information. A lot of peopld put it in the bin but I have a read. It is

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interesting to see what is going on. The five councils, Newham,

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Greenwich, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets, have two weeks to

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justify their publications `nd explain why legal proceedings should

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not be taken against them. Concerns have been raised over the

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Environment Agency's decision to grant a new licence to a wood

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recycling company at a wastd site in Hertfordshire where a large fire

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broke out in 2012. Protestors claim the new company has links to the

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former operators who were fhned for breaching safety rules. The

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Environment Agency insists there are "no operational links" betwden the

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two companies, and the site will be strictly monitored.

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For the fifth year in a row, Trafalgar Square has been

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transformed into the Jerusalem of 2000 years ago for a perforlance of

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the Passion of Christ. The Wintershall Players' show fhrst

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started as a play in a barn in Surrey but now attracts thotsands.

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Tarah Welsh reports. It might be one of the oldest

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stories, but thousands came along to see it brought to life. It's rare to

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see a crowd of this size sitting quietly in the centre of London but

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for 90 minutes young and old seemed focused on the action. Which, quite

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graphically, tells the Bibld's story. He is killed, murderdd,

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crucified. I think one has to show that, as unpleasant and terrible as

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it was, otherwise you could argue it is almost blasphemy to pull the

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punches. It started as a nativity play in a barn 23 years ago but now

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the Wintershall Players perform all over the world. It's wonderful. I'm

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beginning to see familiar f`ces We've been here four years `nd we

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are seeing some old friends, but a lot of new people. We are gdtting

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more people from abroad comhng to celebrate here in Trafalgar Square.

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James is a professional actor but the rest are volunteers. Evdryone

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may know how it ends but it seems this is one story that conthnues to

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move people. And a quick look at the weather It

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will stay dry and mostly cldar through the evening and tomorrow

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will be another fine day for the most part with sunny spells,

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although patchy cloud will hncrease, perhaps with some showers for a time

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in the afternoon. That's it for tonight. We'rd back

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tomorrow evening at around 6.50pm. For now, have a very good nhght

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Hello. We are still expecting the weather to change for many of us on

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Sunday. Before then clear skies light winds, it's another cold

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night. These are the numbers in towns and cities. In rural areas

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it's going to be widely close to or below freezing. The north-west of

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Scotland not as cold. It's cloudy and wet here. We have more cloud

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across some eastern parts of England. The breeze will move that

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cloud further towards the west through the day. Clouds will be

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well-broken and most places will be dry with sunny spells. The odd

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shower can't be ruled out in the south-east but the sunshine will

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hang on in Scotland and Northern Ireland and western areas.

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Temperatures sclar to today. -- sclar to today. It's -- similar to

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today. This weather front comings in, it's around an area of low

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pressure

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