Browse content similar to 01/08/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The first gold for Great Britain at the London 2012 Games, as Helen | :00:08. | :00:18. | |
:00:18. | :00:19. | ||
Glover and Heather Stanning win the women's pair rowing. COMMENTATOR: | :00:19. | :00:29. | |
Great Britain into the record books and fab -- fabiously well done. And | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
they make history too as they become the first British women ever | :00:32. | :00:41. | |
to win Olympic gold in rowing. so overjoyed. I wanted to collapse. | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
Tears on the podium as Great Britain's new golden girls enjoy | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
the glory. Are they on the road to more medals? The women's individual | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
time trials are under way. High hopes for Lizzie Armitstead and | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
Emma Pooley. And golden hopes for Bradley Wiggins in the men's race | :00:52. | :01:02. | |
:01:02. | :01:04. | ||
this afternoon. That's unforgivable. Charged - eight Olympic badminton | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
players are accused of not using their best efforts to win a match. | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
The conflict in Syria - President Assad says the fate of the nation | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
is at stake. Hoping to boost the economy and the property market - a | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
new scheme to get banks lending to businesses and homeowners comes | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
into force today. And the celebrated American author and | :01:20. | :01:30. | |
:01:30. | :01:30. | ||
political commentator, Gore Vidal, has died at the age of 86. Later - | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
there will be no change to London's Olympic strategy, as businesses | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
claim a sharp drop in trading. We'll have the roundup of the | :01:39. | :01:49. | |
:01:49. | :02:01. | ||
Afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One from our studio at the | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
Olympic Park in East London. Good And it's gold at last for Team GB | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
after Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won the women's pair | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
rowing in impressive style. They also made it into the history books | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
as the first British women ever to win Olympic gold in rowing. Their | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
win was all the more extraordinary given that 26-year-old Helen Glover | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
only starting to row four years ago after being picked out as someone | :02:22. | :02:32. | |
:02:32. | :02:32. | ||
with potential for her height. There's been more success for Team | :02:33. | :02:42. | |
:02:43. | :02:45. | ||
GB with a bronze in the men's eight. They waited beside a lake built for | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
rowing. In Afghanistan they shared the same anticipation. The Royal | :02:50. | :02:55. | |
Artillery willing on their team- mate, Captain Heather Stanning. By | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
rights, Stanning in the cap and Helen Glover should still be | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
learning to row together. Glover only got into a boat for the first | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
time four years ago, recruited because of her height, almost six | :03:07. | :03:16. | |
feet tall. Inside two minutes they had a clear lead in lane three. | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
That's their style - go hard from the start. Their lead over the rest | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
was nearly three seconds with a quarter of the race gone. At half- | :03:23. | :03:32. | |
way the gap was even better. Even the world champions from New | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
Zealand in second were in a different race. Logic suggested the | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
British pair couldn't sustain that level of performance, maintain | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
their dominance, but the gap told you they were getting better and | :03:44. | :03:50. | |
better. Forget the days Britain had been waiting for a gold at these | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
Games. Never before had there been female British rowing champions. | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
COMMENTATOR: The crowd are roaring them on again. Over the final | :03:59. | :04:04. | |
metres the other closed, but -- the others closed, but never to | :04:04. | :04:12. | |
threaten the outcome. A triumph of team work, stamina and utter | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
commitment. Glover and Stanning, Britain's first Olympic champions | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
of 2012. The recent history of British rowing is famously | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
successful, but there's so much to live up to. The presence of Sir | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
Steve Redgrave was almost too much for Helen. That's a powerful | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
shoulder to cry on, but they summoned their composure to talk | :04:34. | :04:40. | |
about the race. Shattered and overjoyed. I want to jump around. I | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
don't know. I'm probably talking rubbish now. Matthew and Steve were | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
watching and you smiled with 250 to go and they were saying, don't | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
smile, you haven't won it yet. was probably a grimace. I never | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
thought we had this. We went through the orange buoys and then I | :05:00. | :05:07. | |
thought we've got this. Suddenly for Team GB as a whole, the | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
burden's lifted. This was the reaction at team headquarters in | :05:10. | :05:19. | |
East London. No longer the nagging question for the first gold. It was | :05:19. | :05:28. | |
delivered on the lakeside at Eton Dorney and this is what a gold | :05:28. | :05:36. | |
medal looks like around a British neck in 2012. Andy Swiss is there | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
for us now. Everyone really still catching their breath after a quite | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
extraordinary morning here. An extraordinary performance by Helen | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
Glover and Heather Stanning to win gold in the most emphatic fashion | :05:50. | :05:56. | |
possible. I'm joined by the five- times Olympic gold medallist, Sir | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
Steve Redgrave. Wow, what a performance? It's been a great | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
morning. The girls have done us proud and shown a lot of promise | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
over the last couple of years. I was quoted in the New Zealand press | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
when the world championships were out there two years ago, they've | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
done a fantastic job to make the final, but that's as good as it | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
gets and they went on to win silver that time. Repeated that last year, | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
after dominating the circuit and this year, have taken the circuit | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
apart. I've been telling everyone they'll win gold. There's no-one | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
else who will put them under pressure. I kept saying to myself, | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
you can't say that. You've been in the situation before, you can't say | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
that. They've just blown everyone away. I was standing next to Matt | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
and he was concerned at one stage that they were going to win by more | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
than five seconds when Matt and I first raced with each other in the | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
Barcelona Games they could have won by much more, but the emotion and | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
the crowd, that they knew they had just not consciously eased off, but | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
they knew they didn't need to gun it to the line. What can you tell | :07:02. | :07:08. | |
us about them and their careers? Helen, four years ago, watched the | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
Games on TV and thought, "I fancy doing that. I could be a rower." It | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
was around the same time I launched a programme in this programme for | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
looking for tall people within rowing, handball volleyball and she | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
was one that came through the programme. It shows you that if you | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
get the right people in the right sports, they can achieve great | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
things. The first Olympic gold medal for Great Britain here in | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
London. How will their lives change, because as you know, winning gold | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
is something that changes your life? Tomorrow, all the papers will | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
have their picture on it. There's a few chances with cycling going on | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
with the time trial, so we could have multiple golds tomorrow, but | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
to be the first gold of the Games is pretty special, but the first in | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
the women's rowing crew at the Games. We've had a couple of | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
chances, but nobody's done it yet and I think in a couple of days' | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
time we have Kathrine Grainger and she'll do it as well. The men's | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
eight, who won a bronze. Greg Searle at 40, another medal for | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
him? I feel for him in some ways there was a silver up for offer for | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
them. They said they were going for gold and they did everything all | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
the experts said they should do to try to beat the Germans and put | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
everything on the line and one stage I thought they would do it. | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
The Germans were hugely impressive and very, very impressive. They | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
rowed away. They have a bronze. I saw it being put around their neck | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
and I was thinking that could have been a silver. It doesn't make a | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
difference. As a country we should be hugely impressed by their | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
attitude, determination. It was gold or nothing. They've got a | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
bronze. Thank you very much indeed for talking to us. There we have it, | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
an extraordinary morning here. Britain has its first gold medal of | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
the Games and two new sporting heroes in Helen and Heather and it | :09:05. | :09:10. | |
could be the start of a golden week for rish boroughing. Thank you very | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
much. I'm joined by someone who knows Team GB's rowers very well, | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell, who was in the men's eight rowing squad for | :09:16. | :09:24. | |
the last four years. It was gold or nothing and it really did look like | :09:24. | :09:31. | |
they could do it. They got the lead they were looking for into the | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
final last quarter and they just ran out of gas. They risked | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
everything. A real defiant factor of the crew is before the Beijing | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
race they didn't want to lose the silver and the last four years has | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
been everything we won't be the nearly men and it will be all about | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
the gold and they put everything in. They risked all sorts of things, | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
physically, things with family, at work, all those commitments and | :09:58. | :10:04. | |
they put it out there and they put themselves into that position. The | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
German crew is phenomenon. They haven't been beaten in the last | :10:09. | :10:16. | |
Olympiad. The guys should be proud, because it takes real guts. | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
Absolutely. They have a bronze medal. You know them very well. | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
What will they be going through right now? They'll be disappointed. | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
They will be really disappointed and it will take time, but they'll | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
know that it's been a huge achievement and I think the manner | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
in which they raced, the manner in which they put themselves into that | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
position, they will be proud that they did it like that. They didn't | :10:38. | :10:45. | |
shy away. They stepped you and took that risk and you have to put | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
yourself in those sorts of positions. Huge determination. | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
We'll talk about Helen Glover as well. An extraordinary story, given | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
she only started rowing four years ago. Picked out because of her | :10:55. | :11:03. | |
height. She was the right height. There is the world-class star | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
programme and they look for well- trained people and so she knew | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
sport and transfer the skills she had learnt elsewhere and she's had | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
fantastic ability to be able to learn very quickly the boat skills | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
needed and to be able to then bring in her experiences from other | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
sports and achieve what she has achieved today. Incredible. Thank | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
you very much for joining us. So now Team GB's next medal hope is in | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
the cycling with all eyes on Bradley Wiggins. Fresh from his | :11:33. | :11:35. | |
historic victory in the Tour de France, he's favourite to win the | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
men's time trial this afternoon. The women's event is already under | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
way with medal hopes resting on Emma Pooley and Lizzie Armitstead, | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
who'll be aiming for her second medal of the Games. The races | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
finish at Hampton Court and our sports correspondent, Dan Roan, is | :11:47. | :11:57. | |
:11:57. | :11:59. | ||
there. As you say, Bradley Wiggins is very much the king of the Tour | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
de France, after he became the first Briton in history to win the | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
biggest bike race in the world, just a couple of weeks ago. Today, | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
he could become Olympic Royalty, because he already has six Olympic | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
med alds to his name, three golds, two bronze and one silver from the | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
Olympics at Sydney, Athens and Beijing. If he wins a seventh here | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
today, he will overtake Sir Steve Redgrave and become the most | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
decorated Olympian in British sporting history. In the very | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
appropriate and palatial surroundings of Hampton Court | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
Palace. Huge crowds here ahead of the men's time trial, which gets | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
under way in a short time. He will be going for gold, and he's | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
favourite and it will be his fourth and it would become the second gold | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
of the day for Team GB. Bradley Wiggins has been speaking to the | :12:51. | :13:01. | |
:13:01. | :13:07. | ||
BBC. The The country has gone Wig - tastic. It's good that it has that | :13:07. | :13:14. | |
effect. It's a bit strange for me. Ultimately I only do it to be | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
individual, but it's good. biggest name in cycling, you're the | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
winner of the Tour de France. bigger than Cavendish now I haven't | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
done the head and shoulders shot yet! The scale of the win and | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
reaction in this country, do you pinch yourself? It was a bit | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
overwhelming. I was so used to see that happen to others like Chris | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
Hoy coming back from Beijing and I guess I don't think any of us | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
appreciate what cycling is going through at the moment, because you | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
are concentrating on your performance and we are all pretty | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
down-to-earth guys by the nature of the sport. We don't fully | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
appreciate what it's doing for the profile of sport. To win the Tour | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
de France takes many sacrifices. What did you have to do to get | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
where you are? A lot. Apart from the training and physical side, I | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
have to six weeks of the year live on top of a mountain in Tenerife | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
and I miss children's birthdays and the kids break up and you are | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
leaving over Easter. They don't know where you are and I sleep in | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
the spare bedroom and in the tent for weeks on end, so having a | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
family and being a father and husband and all that isn't | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
conducive to trying to win the Tour de France. The two don't go | :14:32. | :14:40. | |
together, but if you've got a support -- a supportive family like | :14:40. | :14:49. | |
I have, you can do it. I don't know how long you can do it for though. | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
This is your fourth Olympics. You've won six medals and you are | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
steeped in Olympic history. What do the Games mean to you? This is like | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
something that I always come back to every four years. Because it's | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
not every year you don't ever miss them. To come back here for the | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
same people and staff and it's good. Every four years I get a bit older | :15:10. | :15:16. | |
and a bit more successful. From the 19-year-old lad in Sydney and some | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
people think I haven't changed a bit I'm looking forward to going | :15:19. | :15:29. | |
:15:29. | :15:35. | ||
out and trying to win the fourth in Bradley Wiggins there, who today | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
goes for his first ever Olympic medal on the road. His previous six | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
have been on the track. A big day for him. A big day for Team GB. Now | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
the women's time trial is under way. We'll show you live pictures in a | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
moment. Let me tell you about the course. Behind me is Hampton Court | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
Palace. Thousands of cycling fans have made their way here, many of | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
them on the bridge across the Thames. The women come over the | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
bridge and carry straight on. The men will bend around this road and | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
then loop along the river. Their route is a few miles longer than | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
the women's time trial and that will begin in a short time. Bradley | :16:12. | :16:20. | |
Wiggins will begin his time trial at 3.07pm. Let's show you live | :16:20. | :16:25. | |
pictures now. They're under way. The competitors are on the road. | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
The big British hopes are Lizzie Armitstead, who of course, won | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
silver in the road race on Sunday. Regarded as the bigger contender, | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
the specialist is Emma Pooley who won silver in Beijing and who got | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
under way as well a short while ago. The course isn't perhaps as hilly | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
as she would like. According to the experts Emma Pooley stands a very | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
good chance of a medal. All eyes however will be on Bradley Wiggins | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
as he tries to secure historic achievement, his first medal on the | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
track, his seventh medal overall. It would be a great day for him and | :17:02. | :17:08. | |
for Britain if he can deliver. Eight women badminton players have | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
been disqualified from the Olympics for not trying hard enough to win | :17:11. | :17:18. | |
their matches. Four players of players had already qualified for | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
the quarter finals. Then it's claimed that they deliberately | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
tried to lose in order to get an easier draw later in the | :17:24. | :17:28. | |
competition. Today Lord Coe called the incident depressing and | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
unacceptable. Let's speak to our Olympics correspondent James Pearce | :17:31. | :17:38. | |
in the park now. That decision to disqual the players has been | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
announced in the past half hour. In the end the decision taken to | :17:43. | :17:46. | |
protect the integrity of the competition and to punish players | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
who gave spectators who'd paid to come in and watch them nothing | :17:49. | :17:57. | |
worth watching at all. An Olympic match which descended | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
into farce. If you're one of the world's best players, you'd be | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
expected to be able to serve into the court. The Korean and Chinese | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
pairs simply took turns to the shuttlecock into the net. The crowd | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
booed and eventually the referee came onto the court and threatened | :18:14. | :18:22. | |
to disqualify them. The following match and a similar story. This | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
time it was South Korea against Indonesia. The problem was these | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
pairs had already qualified for the knock-out stages and had decided | :18:29. | :18:36. | |
that they'd get a better draw if they lost. I was dismaid and | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
disgusted. I couldn't believe what was going on last night. It was | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
incredible scenes in. All my badminton career I've never seen | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
anything like it. Spectators at the venue last night took to the air | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
waves to vent their frustration. Just really frustrating. You come | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
here to watch entertaining badminton and all you see is them | :18:54. | :19:01. | |
serving it into the net. We thought they'd got somebody off the car | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
park to play. We hit it over the net more. Pathetic. You would | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
expect more from professionals. sport's governing body met this | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
morning to consider what action to take. Other condemned what happened | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
Yeah, depressing. Who wants to sit through something like that? The | :19:18. | :19:24. | |
sadness of it is I was at badminton yesterday and I saw you know a | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
British competitor narrowly fail to progress, but the games were | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
incredibly competitive in front of really large, enthusiastic | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
audiences. Unacceptable. I know the badminton federation really well. | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
They will take it really seriously. It is unacceptable. An evening of | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
shame for the sport of badminton. The tough action take been in | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
throwing them out of the Olympics sends out a clear message that this | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
won't be tolerated but also deprives the competition of some of | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
its most talented players. So tough action taken by the | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
federation. But there is a debate, because the problem is this, | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
although they haven't played within the spirit of the rules, they | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
haven't actually broken rules of the competition. Some people, for | :20:08. | :20:16. | |
example, one of Britain's Olympic rowers Zac Purchase tweeting, "What | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
have they done wrong?" Many other woz have done the same in their | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
position, by realising they get a better draw by losing. But it is | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
about winning an Olympic Gold Medal. about winning an Olympic Gold Medal. | :20:30. | :20:40. | |
:20:40. | :20:50. | ||
Let's look at the overall medal Our top story this lunch time: It's | :20:50. | :20:56. | |
gold number one for Team GB, as Helen Glover and Heather Stanning | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
win the Women's Pair rowing in impressive style. They become the | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
first British women rowers ever to claim Olympic gold. Coming up: | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
Tributes to the American author and commentator Gore Vidal who's died | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
at the age of 86. Later on BBC London: We hear from | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
the gardener keeping the Olympic Park in bloom for the Games. And | :21:17. | :21:27. | |
:21:27. | :21:36. | ||
we'll have all the latest travel In Syria the battle for control of | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
Aleppo continues, opposition forces say government aircraft are still | :21:39. | :21:49. | |
:21:49. | :21:53. | ||
pounding rebel positions in the The battle for Aleppo continues | :21:53. | :21:59. | |
unabated. The army again shelling rebel strong holds to regain | :21:59. | :22:07. | |
control of this crucial city. It's the largest in Syria. With the army | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
offensive now in its fifth day, the number of casualties is getting | :22:12. | :22:19. | |
ever larger. Amongst them, many civilians trapped inside the city. | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
From what we're hearing from opposition activists across the | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
border inside Syria is that the battle for Aleppo could be about to | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
become much more intense. They are saying that a big column of | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
military vehicles is now on its way to Aleppo to reinforce the army | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
units already fighting inside the city. But the rebels remain | :22:41. | :22:47. | |
confident they can hold out against the army. This unverified video | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
shows a large haul of assault rifles taken from captured troops, | :22:51. | :22:59. | |
who the rebels say are demoralised and willing to defect. This is a | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
rebel fighter who's been battling government forces inside Aleppo. He | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
says they've captured heavy weapons in recent days. | :23:09. | :23:15. | |
TRANSLATION: We make a tactical checkpoint and we take eight tanks | :23:15. | :23:24. | |
and also we are using everything to fight the army. Already tens of | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
thousands of civilians have fled Aleppo. Some crossing the border | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
into Jordan and Turkey. With the Syrian government determined to win | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
the battle for Aleppo at any cost, there could soon be a flood of | :23:38. | :23:48. | |
refugees pouring into these camps. A new scheme starts today to make | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
more money available to home owners and businesses. The funds will come | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
from the Bank of England and will be borrowed by banks at below | :23:55. | :24:03. | |
market rates, but only if they pass it on to businesses and consumers. | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
It's a plan hatched by the governor of the Bank of England and the | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
Chancellor designed to get more money flowing round the economy in | :24:09. | :24:14. | |
the shape of new loans to businesses and consumers. And since | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
details were announced last month, some mortgage lenders have already | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
started cutting their rates in anticipation of the cheap funding | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
which comes on stream today. couple of weeks ago, the cheapest | :24:26. | :24:32. | |
five-year fixed rate was 3.69%. We've now got three lenders offered | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
the same time below 3%. Though you need a 40% equity to get the | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
cheaper rates that gives an idea of the impact. The scheme called | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
Funding for Lending will provide cheaper credit to the banking | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
system. The Bank of England hopes to lend around �80 billion to banks | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
and building societies with an interest rate of 0.75%, as long as | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
they maintain or increase lending to companies and households. But if | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
lending falls, there'll be penalties with the bank's borrowing | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
cost rising as high as 2%. For the last few months, the Treasury's | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
been advertising the National Loan Guarantee Scheme, a Government plan | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
designed to encourage business lending by banks. It was only | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
launched in march. Now we're told it's going to be wound down because | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
of the new initiative which started today. Labour claims George | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
Osborne's previous scheme, which was launched with a lot of | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
publicity, has been axed because it wasn't working. This is policy | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
making on the hoof. It's a shambolic way of making decisions | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
to announce a scheme in a March budget and then U-turn and drop it | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
a few months later. But the Treasury argues the new scheme will | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
be more attractive to the banks and that the previous initiative did | :25:45. | :25:52. | |
succeed in boosting lending and is not being abolished. | :25:52. | :25:57. | |
Roulz Rausing, one of Britain's richest men, has pleaded guilty to | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
preventing the lawful burial of his wife eva. It's thought her body may | :26:03. | :26:09. | |
have lain for up to two month's in their home. | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
The American writer Gore Vidal has died at the age of 86. He was one | :26:13. | :26:19. | |
of the country's most distinguished authors, but was well known for his | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
outspoken comments on sex, religion and politics. | :26:24. | :26:30. | |
Gore Vidal was a brilliant writer, with an acid tongue and assured | :26:30. | :26:35. | |
sense of style. Here he is in a single chat show appearance with | :26:35. | :26:42. | |
whit sixes about politics and why he ran for office himself. I like | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
crowds. I have depths of insincerity as yet unplumbed. | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
There's nothing like a crowd to really inspire that. I ran the | :26:50. | :26:54. | |
first time only out of greed and vanity, the two things which drive | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
my character. I'm unlike other people as you know. I suppose you | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
write about what interests you. I have always liked politicians | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
better than people. Do you find you've been able to influence | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
politics in America by your writing? Are you joking? Nobody | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
reads in America. LAUGHTER | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
APPLAUSE He'd been born into one of | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
America's most famous dynasties. His grandfather founded the state | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
of Oklahoma. Advice President Al Gore was a cousin, Jackie Kennedy | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
was his step sister. His first novel in 1946 was an immediate hit. | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
There after he was constantly in demand for film scripts like Ben | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
Hur, newspaper articles, books, a series of masterful historical | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
novels traced American history from the war of independence to the Cold | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
War. He thought the US had become an empire controlled by the few and | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
had forgotten its democratic and republican roots. For years he | :27:53. | :28:00. | |
lived in Italy but visited America often, a biting satirist, a man of | :28:00. | :28:06. | |
formidable intellect who spoke his mind with francness and originality. | :28:06. | :28:10. | |
The American writer Gore Vidal who as died. Now the weather. Chris has | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
the latest for us. Wet and rainy the latest for us. Wet and rainy | :28:14. | :28:16. | |
here at the moment. That's right, hour-by-hour the | :28:17. | :28:21. | |
cloud thickening up over the lidge pick -- Olympic Park. The cloud is | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
producing spots of rain, just showers really. Those showers will | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
ease away through the rest of this afternoon here. Whereas further | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
west we will see further outbreaks of rain from a cold front. You can | :28:34. | :28:39. | |
see this cold front is the rain moving into Wales and south-west | :28:39. | :28:42. | |
England. That rain will be heavy at times as it moves across the | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
Midlands and Wales through this afternoon. To the south we have a | :28:45. | :28:51. | |
clutch of showers working in across the English Channel. They're | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
working in the south-east. A lot of that rain is evaporating so spots | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
of rain here and there. Increasingly through the rest of | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
afternoon, we should see things becoming drier and brighter. So the | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
weather set fair for example, Bradley Wiggins gets on in the | :29:07. | :29:13. | |
cycling in the next 45 minutes or. So later, we'll see Andy Murray | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
with Laura robson in the tennis. The weather should be drier and | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
brighter with a low risk of a shower at Wimbledon. For the rest | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
of the country, patches of rain through central southern England | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
and in the Midlands, heavy for a time in the Midlands. North West | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
England is cloudy and damp. There will be further heavy outbreaks of | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
rain particularly into say sterlingshire, north of the central | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
low lands. In Northern Ireland, one or two showers knocking around. For | :29:44. | :29:47. | |
the football, the men's football taking place at the Millennium | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
Stadium in Cardiff, it's a bright prospect here with sunny spells. | :29:51. | :29:56. | |
Taize mild evening as well. During this evening, we see the rain | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
clearing away, could be an odd spot across East Anglia maybe the far | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
north of Scotland. But it's dry across most parts of the country, | :30:05. | :30:09. | |
temperatures 11 to 15 degrees or so. Tomorrow morning, it starts off | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
bright, most areas see decent sunshine to start the day, however, | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
we're going to see showers quickly across Wales and south-west England. | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
Through the day they push north and eastwards. There's thunder storms | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
into the afternoon. It looks like the worst of the showers will stay | :30:23. | :30:26. | |
to the north and west of London, so for London it's a low risk of a | :30:26. | :30:29. | |
shower, essentially it will stay dry. In the sunshine temperatures | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
into the high teens, if not the low 20s. Friday, another day of | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
sunshine and showers. Again most of the showers will be favoured across | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
western parts of the British Isles. That's where the low pressure is. | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
The London area staying dry and bright. Into the weekend, the low | :30:44. | :30:47. | |
moves over eastwards and that brings increased threat of down | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
pours to the Olympic Park this weekend. | :30:51. | :30:57. | |
A reminder of our top story - Team GB has won its first Gold Medal of | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
the London 2012 Olympics. Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won the | :31:01. | :31:05. |