13/12/2012 BBC News at One

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

The controversial gas exploration technique known as fracking is to

restart. The process involves using high-pressure liquid to shatter

rock, to release shale gas trapped inside. The Government's agreed to

the resumption eighteen months after test drilling was stopped

following two small earth tremors in Lancashire. John Moylan reports.

Spring last year, drilling for gas near Blackpool in Lancashire sets

off a series of earth trem tremors. The sites were closed down as

experts considered whether work to resume safely. The Secretary of

State said it could. Based on the latest evidence and

expert advice and having considered the responses to a public

consultation, I have concluded that in principle, fracking for shale

gas can be allowed to resume. Fracking takes place place

thousands of feet underground, multiple wells are drilled into the

rock. Then water, sand and chemicals are forced in at high

pressure. It is this process that led to the Earth tremors. It seems

simple and some claim it could revolutionise our energy market.

This is one of a handful of sites that Cuadrilla has been exporg. The

shale gas is contained within rocks which are a mile beneath my feet.

The company claims the thickness of the rocks is bigger than one would

see for example in the United States. So it is making big claims

about the potential for shale gas here in the UK.

In Cuadrilla's licensed area, we have estimated there is 200

trillion cubic feet of gas within the shale rocks below. If we could

take out 10% of the gas, we could make up 25% of the UK's gas

consumption over the next 30 years. Dot risks outweigh the rewards?

Anti-fracking groups took their protests to Westminster. Their

concerns include fears that fracking may pollute our drinking

water. Others warn of the impact of this new industry upon the wider

environment and that it could leave us reliant upon gas for decades.

It is too soon to be giving it the green light. It is outrageous that

the Chancellor has been offering tax breaks to the shale gas

industry. All of this could keep a lid on our

energy prices too and make us less reliant upon imported gas. Fracking

is expected to resume resume here next year, and it could be come to

go a Sheffield near you. -- a field near you.

Elswick in Lancashire was one of the places where shale gas was

extracted until last year. Ed Thomas is there. Yes, Sian, the

Prime Minister is calling this a gas revolution and this place is at

the centre of that revolution. Lancashire, around a mile below my

feet now we have got over 200 trillion, trillion cubic feet of

natural gas. It is clear the Government believe this is a game

changer. But after two tremors last year and houses and villages and

towns not far from me, many people This part of Lancashire is being

offered a new future. One of jobs of and investment. A county at the

centre of the shale gas industry, but after after two earth tremors,

it is news not everyone wants to hear.

As regards the the benefits, I think that there are going to be

negative. It will provide some employment, most of these companies

are foreign based companies so the profits will disappear out of the

region anyway. Yeah, yeah, it is really pos tich

for the air -- positive for the area. There is a lot of of pubs and

shops closing down. For us, it is a good thing as we sell work wear.

This is one campaign group against fracking. They say they feel like

guinea pigs. We are guinea pigs. The suck and see. They have had two

Wells and two failures. One an earth tremor and the other one the

cement would not set. The Government says the shale gas

industry will be regulated and tremors monitored and there is the

economic impact. Something needs to be the catalyst

to kick start the economy to get us out of this recession. This is a

new industry that is being brought here from this area and it will

make us more sufficient on our own gas rather than being reliant on

Baltic gas. It could be several years before

shale gas has a real impact. But it is clear fracking will go ahead and

campaigners will continue their protests.

Opinions matter, Sian because fracking and shale gas goes further

than just Lancashire. Sites Sites could be opening in Southern

England, in Wales, in Northern Ireland so the debate over fracking

and the arguments for and against looks set to continue.

Ed, thank you. If you'd like more information on

how shale gas extraction works, you can find it on the BBC News website

More details have emerged about the death of Jacintha Saldanha, the

nurse who unwittingly transferred a prank call from two Australian

radio DJs, who'd rung the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was

being treated for acute morning sickness. Mrs Saldanha was found

dead in her nurses quarters three days later. Nicholas Witchell is

outside Westminster Coroners' Court where the inquest into her death

opened today. Sian, this was a short, five minute hearing, the

opening of the inquest at which a detective chief inspector gave a

brief outline. Outline of the circumstances of Mrs Saldanha's

death. It is the place where the tragic

details of a tragic death began to be recorded. Westminster Coroners'

Court heard how last Friday morning, Jacintha Saldanha was found by work

colleagues hanging in her room. There were injuries to her wrist.

Two notes were found, a third was in her belongings.

A detective told the court how colleagues at the King Edward VII's

Hospital were being interviewed to establish the sequence of events

which as he put it, may have led to this tragic death. He said the

Metropolitan Police were also in touch with police in Australia to

gain statements from the radio presenters who made the hoax call

to the hospital where Mrs Saldanha answered.

The MP Keith Vaz has been in touch with Mrs Saldanha's family.

The family are grateful to the Coroners' Court for the way in

which they have dealt with this matter. They are They are extremely

grateful to the Metropolitan Police. They will await the postmortem

which will be isn't to them in four days. In the meantime, there will

be a memorial service on Saturday in the chapel at Westminster

Cathedral. The inquest into the death of

Jacintha Saldanha was adjourned until a full hearing which will

And as she adjourned the inquest until March, the coroner turned to

several of Mrs Saldanha's colleagues and asked them to convey

her sympathies to all those she said who had been touched by this

Scotrail staff are to hold two 24 hour strikes in the days before

Christmas in a dispute over the sacking of an employee. The RMT

union says industrial action will be held on the 22nd and 24th of

December. RMT members voted last month by more than two to one in

support of a campaign for the worker's reinstatement.

A man has been remanded in custody charged with threatening to kill

the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson. The court

heard that 34-year-old Darren Scott had consumed 12 pints of cider

before calling 999 twice. He will appear in court in January.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has opened an inquiry

into expense claims by the Culture Secretary, Maria Miller. It follows

a complaint lodged by a Labour MP that she had claimed more than

�90,000 in second home allowances towards the cost of a house where

her parents lived. She says the Parliamentary Fees Office was happy

her expenses were in political order. Ross Hawkins is in

Westminster. Tell us more about this, Ross? This is about the time

after she was first electeded when Maria Miller was claiming for a

house she shared with her parents. As you mention some �90,000 worth

and the complaint is that her parents could have benefited from

that tax payers money. The watchdog, who looks at MPs standards has

decided there is enough evidence to make it worthwhile running an

inquiry into could last for some months, a Labour MP faced similar

allegations and ended up having to pay back thousands of pounds. Maria

Miller say her expenses have been audited twice and found to be

proper and above board and there is a wider debate here too too between

the Government and the Daily Telegraph which broke this story

about her expenses, the Telegraph says her spindoctor pointed out to

them what she was in in charge of consequences of Leveson Report.

They clearly felt warned off by that spindoctor. None of that is

accepted in Government, but this lunch time, the Telegraph must feel

justified in running that original report.

European Union finance ministers have agreed a deal on creating a

single supervisor to oversee banks. Under the plan, the European

Central Bank would supervise around two hundred of the Eurozone's

biggest banks to try to prevent them failing and leading to further

economic crisis. Britain will continue to have a say when key

decisions are taken. Matthew Price Yes, Sian, I haven't had the chance

to say this in the last couple of years in Brussels, but the general

feeling is this is a good day for the eurozone. Those Finance

Ministers discussions last night form part of the wider discussions

that the EU leaders are going to have having later today and

tomorrow and what it boils down to is how it fit the eurozone, how to

create a better single currency. And banking union is one part of

Banking union may sound like a switch-off, but if it works, it

could save the single currency and therefore, Europe's depressed

economy. It was the banks that helped cause Europe's debt crisis.

They lent too much and had to be rescued by their governments.

Leaving those governments with massive debts. The system failed.

Banks were supposed to be regulated at the national level. Now, after

months of argument, the regulation will happen here, at the European

Central Bank, a powerful institution that just got more

powerful. In just over a year, it is hoped, the ECB will supervise up

to 200 of the biggest eurozone banks. It will be able to intervene

in smaller banks that get into trouble, to grant and revoke

banking licences, it is a massive change to how the system works now.

It is a major step forward in the European scone European con --

European construction, we will have a single supervisery mechanism

through the European Central Bank. All the the banks will have to

implapment the -- implement the same rules and the same supervisery

practises in the eurozone. What does this mean more the City

of London? Not too much the Government hopes. Britain's vital

interests were protected and we pro protected the single market so

businesses can go on selling their goods and services into the rest of

Europe and I think it is a model for the way Britain's relationship

with Europe is going to work in the future which is the eurozone are

going to did more integration, but Britain will protect its interests

and it is not going to give anymore rights and powers to Brussels.

happy for now, but more difficult difficult negotiation on other

crucial aspects of banking union lie ahead. This isn't the last you

And I think the big picture in this is how this is an illustration of

how the countries within the eurozone, within the the single

currency are beginning to co- operate more closely, beginning to

integrate much more both economically and politically and of

course, that's going to have massive implications for the way in

which the wider European Union works and especially for countries

like the UK that are outside the Surgeons say many babies born with

a cleft palate are being diagnosed too late. Last year, more than a

quarter of cases weren't picked up within the first 24 hours, which

led to some newborns having difficulties feeding and gaining

weight. The figures come from a register covering England, Wales

and Northern Ireland, but the Royal College of Surgeons says there are

similar problems in Scotland. Adam Thomas Lewis was born 16 months ago

with a cleft palate, a gap in the roof of the mouth. It took four

days to spot the problem. He cowl not feed properly and lost weight

it was distressing for the family. I was not able to feed him and give

him the important nourishment he needed. That is hard. You blame

yourself. You are thinking you are doing something wrong. That there

is something wrong with your child. It is awful. I would not wish it on

anyone. National standards say that a cleft palate should be diagnosed

in one day of birth to ensure quick treatment by specialists. The

latest figures indicate that last year more than one in four were

missed. Even after a month, one in 20 still had not had the problem

diagnosed. The Royal College of Surgeons sies that guidelines for

examining new-born babies how old be reviewed.

We are asking people to examine the mouth, using a torch and a spatula

to get the tongue out of the way. Obviously a baby is small. It is

not that easy to see. Once diagnosed, Thomas had good

specialist care and corrective surgery. The Royal College of

Surgeons said that carrying out proper checks at birth could

prevent a great deal of suffering and distress for babies and parents.

Our top story: The controversial gas extraction

tech feek -- technique, known as fracking has been given the go

ahead in the UK. Why Margate is one of the top ten tourist spots in the

world. On BBC London. Two years in jail

for the man who had to face -- defaced this painting in the Tate

Modern. And should we look to the United

States for a greener way to deal The Paralympics had record-breaking

ticket sales and massive support for athletes, but four months on,

what legacy have the Games left. A poll suggests that three quarters

of British people feel that disceptions of disabled people have

improved, but the figure is higher among those without disabilities,

than those who have them. They became national heroes.

The Paralympians, whose achievements, it seems, go far

beyond the pitch or the pool. Can you share nicely? Take Philip

with Down's Syndrome. His family say that something has changed.

It is very much about what people can do.

The more that I learn through this journey with Philip, he shows me

what he is capable of doing. People are beginning to embrace that. It

is so encouraging. It is estimated that one in five

people in the UK have a long- standing mental or physical

disability. Since the Olympics, 75% of people we questioned say that

they feel more positive about the role those people play in the

British society. Overall, a similar number believed

perceptions of disabled people have improved, but off those questions,

those with disability were less likely to agree.

Rhona Slater fears that she has been seen as lazy. She has had

multiple sclerosis for nearly 20 years.

There are people who think if I can get a Gold Medal -- if she can get

a Gold Medal, why can't that person work? What is needed is not just

concentration on the sport and building on that, but all of the

other things that are needed for disabled people to be able to

fulfil what they can do. I think there has been a positive

uplift in terms of disabled people and how they are viewed, but it is

whether it goes beyond the year, that will be interesting. I think

that a lot of disabled people don't see as much change as the rest of

the population expect there to be. There is still a lot of low-level

discrimination. It is believed that two thirds of disabled people

experience hostility or verbal abuse and are more likely to live

below the poverty line. A leading charity claims that more than 2

million fear they cannot afford to heat their homes this Christmas.

For fill quip and his family, though, the Olympics remain a

powerful memory. Every time that somebody won a Gold

Medal for Britain, I thought I hope that is Philip in 20 years.

-- par Olympic s. The Games challenged a mindset and

for some this is just the beginning. Ministers from Syria's most

powerful ally, Russia, said that Bashar al-Assad is losing control

of his country. It is the first time there has been official

recognition from Moscow, that the rebels may win the Civil War. In

Syria itself, meanwhile, 16 people are reported to have been killed

and more than at that wounded, including women and children after

a car bomb hit south-west of Damascus.

The after math of this morning's bombing in the Damascus suburb of

Qatana. Syrian official media said that a car packed with explosives

blew up near a school in this district to the south-west of the

capital. That at least half of the casualties were women and children.

TRANSLATION: We were going to the school when the explosion took

place. I do not know anything about my parents. They may have died.

TRANSLATION: The victims were all students or people going to their

places of work. After the explosion happened, the ground was full of

bodies. The state news agency blamed the

explosion on terrorists. That is the usual label for the rebel who

is are intensifying attacks on the government of Bashar al-Assad. This

was the latest in a string of bombings in and around Damascus.

Today, for the first time, one of Bashar al-Assad's most valuable

allies, Russia, acknowledged the possibility of the rebels winning

the Civil War in Syria. That Bashar al-Assad were losing control of

more of the territory. An opposition victory could not be

ruled out. It is unclear if there is a U-turn in the offing in

Russia's practise of so far vetoing the UN Security Council resolutions.

Mosque yes are arguing that a rebel victory would be long, drawn-out

and bloody it is calling for a compromise.

Also, Medecins Sans Frontieres warning that in the isolated town

of Dera Zor in the east, tens of thousands of people are trapped as

a result of the fighting. Medecins Sans Frontieres says there

is an urgent need for the sick and the wounded to be evacuationed.

More than 50,000 fewer students were accepted to universities this

autumn, koordzing to UCAS. That is down 11% on last year. The biggest

drop in England following the introduction of higher tuition fees.

Now, Rita, is that all about the tuition fees? In part it is, yes,

according to the UCAS, but that is one of the factors at play here.

There were fewer gap-year students last year. Possibly because of the

higher tuition fees and fewer 18- year-olds overall in the population,

so a demographic dip. This will have had a part to play. England

had the sharpest fall, but uls where in the UK where the students

pay -- elsewhere in the UK where the students pay less, the numbers

held up, in Scotland a rise, in Wales a little fall. The poorest

school levers, their numbers have held up as they are well supported

with burse Aries and part-fee reductions. So huge relief from the

ministers over that. Although some say that the overall numbers

represent a failure of government policy.

And news out about England's primary schoolchildren, what is

being said? These are the primary school league tables, showing

performance of primary schools. They show a marked fall in the

number of underperforming schools. Last year 1300, this year 521. This

is based on tests that 11-year-olds do in English and maths. Why the

improvement? Well, it could be partly that there is no writing

tests. That will have made it easier, but ministers have required

a school that consist eptly underperforms to become an academy.

So, taken over by a private sponsor. That may have concentrated some

minds it is worth pointing out that the Head Teacher's Union, is saying

that improvements are being carried account across the boards and

saying that what matters is not the sort of school, but what happens in

the school. , Now, England's batsmen have been

made to work hard in India. They lost early wickets. Then Kevin

Pietersen made 73 to help his side recover to 199-5 at the close of

play. England lead India 2-1. They own need a draw in the final Test

to win. In Nagpur every street bring as

surprise, every prm sis must be used if you are preparing for a

close shave, who can you trust? India look to the bowlers.

England, for once, they won the toss. Nick Compton was gone for

three. Then the shock, Alastair Cook out for just one and lbw that

was debatable. When Kevin Pietersen is at his best

he can dominate. It is all in the timing. Kevin Pietersen passed 50

after lunch. India ememployed four spin bowlers and England del dealt

with them, but a momentary lapse can end in embarrassment, Jonathan

Trott dismissed and then Ian Bell endured a military series.

He gave them a gift. Kevin Pietersen tried to be patient,

but past 70, he threw off the shackles. A low catch and a low

moment, England, 139-5. Then Matt Prior reach ing a recovery, England

199 at the close. There were steady strides towards

the big prize. If England beat the Indian team or

draw the Test Match then England take the series. They've been

waiting to do that here for nearly 30 years. There is no need to rush

now. Now, what has Margate got in common

with north-east Iceland, puert Rico and dub rov nick Well, it is said

that they are -- it is part of one of the best places to see in the

world. But the inclusion of Margate in

this review has raised a few eyebrows.

ARCHIVE: There is laughter. Margate in the heyday. The jewel in

south-east England's crown. Packing holiday-makers on to the beaches

every summer. But cheap flights to mother exotic

destinations have taken away many of the tourists, and years of

economic decline have taken away many of the shoppers. Over a third

of Margate's shops are empty. But things are looking brighter on

the High Street. Art installations are one idea from

retail guru Mary Portas who helped to get it on to the Rough Guide

list. There is a lot going on. The local

community are really getting behind everything. Every time you go down

something new is opening. A new boutique, cafe, restaurant. So that

is why it is great at the moment. Part of Margate's success has been

replacing the lost beach goers with modern art lovers flocking to the

new Turner Contemporary Gallery. Since being opened by the Queen,

Thanet Council estimate it has brought in almost three quarters of

a million visitors. A third making an overnight break

for it. The poster girl is artist Tracey Emin, chosen to run the

Olympic torch through her home town. Now the poster town for seaside

regeneration is Margate itself. Well, it would be nippy to go down

to the seaside, but let's see what more Peter has to say about the

more Peter has to say about the weather.

A bit nippy, but a change on the way.

Definitely in the freezer today, temperatures struggling to get

above freezing, but at the weekend it is all change. The sun will come

out and temperatures then in double figures so a big change.

The mild Atlantic air is waiting in the west behind this line of cloud.

It will bring rain tomorrow, bun then a dry afternoon for most. Snow

over the Highlands of Scotland, but the temperatures struggling in most

places to get more than a degree or two above freezing. Freezing fog

lingering, but it changes overnight. The winds pick up over the west.

Bringing in cloud and rain. Lifting the fog up on to the hills. Central

and northern parts of the UK misty by the end of the day. A wet start

tomorrow, the rain yet to reach the London area first thing. With the

strong wind still feeling raw and foggy conditions over the Pennines

with the fog lifting into the hills. The temperatures are still below

freezing in Scotland and snow there to watch out for this time in the

east. There is the rain beginning to move

into Northern Ireland by 8.00am. It will be a very wet day here.

That rain affecting a good part of Wales and the south-west of England.

Of course, that is not good news. We have had several days of dry

weather, but things are still soggy. So localised flooding to be

expected and with the winds, there could be coastal flooding over some

of the coasts of the south-west. The rain pushing to the north and

the east. Not getting into the north of Scotland, there is more

snow there, but chilly here and then the higher temperatures in the

south by the afternoon. One thing to watch out for on Friday night is

very strong winds over the Northern Isles. Severe gales, perhaps storm

force winds for a time. Otherwise clearer skys with a few showers

feeding in. That sets the scene for the weekend. Bright and breezy is

the scene for all through Saturday and Sunday. Winds coming from the

south-west, that bringing in the milder air. So sunny intervals and

showers for Saturday. The strong winds clearing in the Northern

Isles. Double figure force the south and for Sunday as well.

Breezy and lots of sunshine to come through. One or two showers, but

the temperatures much nearer where the temperatures much nearer where

they should be. Now let's bring a reminder of the

top story: The controversial process of

fracking to extract gas is to be re-started in the UK.