Browse content similar to 05/03/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The head of the NHS admits that patients were not the priority | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
during the scandal at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. There are | :00:14. | :00:16. | |
calls for Sir David Nicholson to stand down. He says he's staying | :00:17. | :00:22. | |
put, but admits he got things wrong. The leadership of the NHS lost its | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
focus, and I'll put my hands up to that, and I was part of that - it | :00:27. | :00:32. | |
went - but in a sense, my learning through all of that is never to let | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
it happen again. In need of a health check - why the | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
UK needs to do more to tackle preventable diseases. | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
Bankers' bonuses - George Osborne flies to Brussels, saying he won't | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
support EU plans for a cap because it would harm the City. | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
Bringing our forces home - 16,000 troops will return to the UK from | :00:49. | :00:54. | |
Germany, but at what cost? An announcement shortly. | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
And a Bieber backlash - a wave of criticism after the pop star turns | :00:58. | :01:04. | |
up on stage for his young fans two hours late. | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
On BBC London, Ealing Council vote unanimously for an independent | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
panel to scrutinise plans to downgrade four A&E departments. We | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
look at the impact of next month's benefit changes on low-income | :01:16. | :01:26. | |
:01:26. | :01:45. | ||
Hello. A very good afternoon. Welcome to the BBC news at 1.00pm. | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
The head of the NHS has admitted patients were not the priority | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
during the scandal at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust which led | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
to the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of patients. Sir David | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
Nicholson had been under pressure to resign since last month's public | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
inquiry which said there'd been years of abuse and neglect at | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
Stafford Hospital. But this morning he told MPs he was "absolutely | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
determined" to carry on leading the Health Service. And now there are | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
calls for an emergency commons debate into the matter. Our health | :02:11. | :02:18. | |
correspondent Branwen Jeffreys reports. | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
The failures at Staffordshire Hospital have raised questions | :02:20. | :02:25. | |
about the NHS. How were money and targets put ahead of care? Did | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
pressure from the top create the wrong culture? Today, Sir David | :02:28. | :02:34. | |
Nicholson, who runs the NHS in England, was grilled by MPs when he | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
visited Stafford, why did he not notice problems? It's a funny old | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
trick. It's something that people do when they go on the witness | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
stand, say, "I can't remember. I can't remember." You seem not to be | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
able to remember lots of things that go on. There is this at page - | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
paragraph 116, "I cannot recall what we specifically discussed with | :02:53. | :03:01. | |
regards to any recovery plan." don't - is that a trick? No, no. | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
was responsible - I was responsible for 56 - or 54, 56 organisations. | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
At Staffordshire Hospital, there were warning signs - unusually high | :03:12. | :03:16. | |
death rates, patients and families complaining. Those who lost | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
relatives due to the appalling failures are still angry. Sir David | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
Nicholson now admits he should have met them to discuss their concerns, | :03:25. | :03:32. | |
but they want him to go. Inside Parliament, he faced similar | :03:32. | :03:34. | |
questions. Do you think on reflection that you're the right | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
person to take it - the NHS forward in the long term, or do you feel | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
that there is genuinely a concern that you could be personally | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
conflicted in actually - now that we have other hospital trusts also | :03:47. | :03:56. | |
where we're investigating? I - obviously, I set out before how | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
important it seems to me - I think I have a duty and a responsibility | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
to manage the organisation over these great changes. The NHS in | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
England is going through another massive reorganisation. Can it | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
afford to lose its top manager now? Could it be damaging for the Health | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
Service if he stays? Let's talk to our political | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
correspondent, Norman Smith. It was an uncomfortable grilling, to say | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
the least, but he's adamant he wants to keep his job. Can he? | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
was told at the start of the session this is not a trial, but | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
that's exactly what it turned out to be, as he was pretty much | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
bounced around the walls by MPs, many of whom clearly take the view | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
that as head of the regional health authority responsible not for | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
running mid Staffs but for overseeing it, he should go. His | :04:43. | :04:51. | |
defence, to quote him, "I didn't know. I had no idea -" left MPs | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
incredulous, accusing him of turning a blind eye, seeking to | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
bury bad news, failing to look at that most basic of indicators, the | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
mortality rate, failing to talk to patients' groups. On the plus side | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
for Sir David, though, this lunch time, Jeremy Hunt and Downing | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
Street have, as it were, thrown a comforting arm around him, and it | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
seems to me at the moment - I stress at the moment - the | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
calculation in Downing Street is whatever his performance this | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
morning, whatever the likely torrid headlines tomorrow, whatever the | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
disquiet amongst MPs, for the moment, the calculation in Downing | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
Street is that such is the change the NHS is going through at the | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
moment, they absolutely do not want to throw overboard the man at the | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
top. OK, normalan. For now, thank you. | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
Heart disease, stroke and cancer - they are some of the biggest | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
killers in the UK, and a major study says we're lagging behind | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
many Western countries when it comes to stopping people dying | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
prematurely from them. But the report in the medical journal the | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
Lancet says average life expectancy is rising sharply too. Our medical | :05:51. | :05:58. | |
correspondent Fergus Walsh has been looking at the figures. | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
The health of our nation is improving. In just 20 years, | :06:02. | :06:10. | |
average life expectancy has jumped four years to 79.9 years, and | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
Britons can expect to live 68.6 years in good health, which has | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
also improved, but on both measures, we're below average for leading | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
European countries. If you look at the comparison between different | :06:23. | :06:25. | |
countries, it's countries like Greece, Spain and Italy that are | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
doing better than us, so I don't think any analysis would say this | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
is about money. It may be about what we do with the money. It's | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
about how we configure services, how we work together, how we get | :06:37. | :06:44. | |
different services working together. Despite all the - tobacco, smoking | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
renains biggest cause of ill health followed by obesity, poor exercise, | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
high blood pressure and alcohol. Among the most starting increases | :06:54. | :07:02. | |
in the last 20 years are deaths from Alzheimer's disease, up 137% | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
and deaths from cirrhosis are up 67%. We have seen in the last 20 | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
years an increase in the affordability of alcohol, so | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
alcohol has become relatively much cheaper than it ever has been | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
before. We have also seen an increased accessibility of alcohol. | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
It's quite easy to pick up a bottle of wine when you go to the | :07:20. | :07:28. | |
supermarket to pick up a bottle of milk, so these contributors are | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
contributors that lead to heavy conshumption. The Government | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
accepts the UK is lacking behind other developed nations and has | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
launched plans to cut deaths from heart disease and other major | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
causes. The jury in the trial of a couple | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
accused of killing their six children in a house fire have been | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
hearing from forensic experts. Mick and Mairead Philpott and their | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
friend Paul Mosley deny manslaughter. A petrol analyst told | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
the court that all three defendants had traces of different types of | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
petrol on their clothing. Our correspondent Jeremy Cooke is | :08:00. | :08:07. | |
outside the court. Jeremy. Yes, today's evidence has been very much | :08:07. | :08:13. | |
about petrol. Now, we know the jury's previously been told that | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
the fire at the Philpott family home started in the hallway, and it | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
was started, they had been told, with petrol, but today, this | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
morning, they have been given a lot more detail about the science - | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
PROBLEM WITH SOUND The court has been told that the | :08:28. | :08:34. | |
fire spread quickly through the house at Victory Road within | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
minutes of it starting in the hallway. And investigators have | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
concluded that it was started with petrol. Today expert witness | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
Rebecca Dual spoke about the detailed analysis of samples taken | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
from the scene of the fire that made it possible, she said, to | :08:49. | :08:56. | |
identify which brand of petrol was used. This is the 16th day of the | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
trial in which Mick Philpott and Mairead Philpott and their co- | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
accused deny six counts of manslaughter. The expert witness | :09:04. | :09:11. | |
said samples from the hallway were a match for fuel and residues of | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
total petrol were found in the U bend of the kitchen sink. Later the | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
jury was told traces of total petrol were found on the clothing | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
of all three defendants. Mick Philpott's trainers also tested | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
positive for low levels of additives from Shell fu. All six of | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
the Philpott's children died as a result of the blaze last May. The | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
jury has been told they would have been overcome by smoke as they | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
slept in their beds. The expert witness will be back on | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
the stand this afternoon. It's expected that she will be cross- | :09:45. | :09:47. | |
examined by - PROBLEM WITH SOUND | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
. All three defendants deny the counts of manslaughter against them. | :09:53. | :09:54. | |
The case - PROBLEM WITH SOUND | :09:54. | :09:56. | |
Apologies for the breakup on that picture there. | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
The Chancellor, George Osborne, says he cannot support European | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
Union proposals to cap bankers' bonuses. The legislation, which is | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
backed by the rest of the EU, sets a limit at one year's salary. But | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
Mr Osborne told a meeting of EU Finance Ministers in Brussels that | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
the UK wanted more negotiations. Well, our Europe correspondent | :10:12. | :10:21. | |
Chris Morris is in Brussels. Is he going to get it? I think he'll get | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
more negotiation, but I don't think he can stop the overall package | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
going through. It only needs a qualified majority, and that | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
majority is clearly there, so we will see a cap on bankers' bonuses | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
of one year's salary, rising to two if a majority of bank shareholders | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
agree to that. What he might be able to do is chip away at the | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
edges somewhat, maybe change some of the terms, create some | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
exemptions because other countries would like to seek consensus with | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
the UK, but they're only prepared to go so far. Is he really as | :10:55. | :11:02. | |
isolated as he appears on this? is isolated in many ways because - | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
I suppose for two reason, really - other countries don't need to take | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
such account of the financial sector because it is a much less | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
significant part of their economy, and secondly, because a cap on | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
bankers' bonuses is politically very popular. Take Germany, for | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
example, a country which often sides with the UK on matters of | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
financial regulation. It's got an election coming up later this year. | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
The opposition has made a cap on bankers' bonuses a key election | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
issue, so the Government of Chancellor merk is in no mood to | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
hand them a pre-election gift, so I think those two things combined - | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
there are those who see this as the shape of things to come, a more | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
united eurozone gagging up on the City of London, but I think those | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
immediate imperatives are what's at play here. | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
For over 70 years British forces have had a presence in Germany. Now | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
the MOD is bringing them back to the UK at a cost of nearly �2 | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
billion. 16,000 troops and their families will have to be rehoused. | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
In the next few minutes, the Government is due to announce how | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
that it affect bases here in the UK. Our defence correspondent Caroline | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
Wyatt has been to one British barracks in Germany, where the move | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
is already underway. The historic move out of Germany has already | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
begun. British forces have been based here since 1945, but the pace | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
of their return is quickening. Now 7 Regiment Royal Logistics | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
Corps are to swap this for Rutland back in the UK. | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
Had a good day? Lance Corporal Stephen Cross and his wife have | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
lived here for a year-and-a-half in Germany, but both are keen to move | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
back home, closer to their families in Huddersfield. It's nice to | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
sample a different country, but I would be glad to get back home now | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
I think, back to the UK. Yes, I am very much looking forward to going | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
back now and being quite close to my family, so it's a bonus. | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
they happy about it as well? Yes, very happy, especially my mum. She | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
can't wait for me to come back. move itself is a huge logistical | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
challenge, ensuring that work can continue until the last minute, | :13:17. | :13:24. | |
even as kit vehicles and office are moved. It is difficult, but we've | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
got a lot of units that are here to support us and to make sure we've | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
got the right advice, the right equipment the right vehicles and | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
transport to get the regiments back toot UK. It's still a huge task, | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
but it's not impossible. There are dozens and dozens of these | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
isocontainers full of kit that have got to come back to the UK. That's | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
not just for this unit alone, but across Germany something like 5,000 | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
soldiers plus their families, so perhaps 30,000 people in all, will | :13:54. | :14:01. | |
be moving back to the UK ending in 2020. | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
For many who are moving, a key concern remains their children's | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
education and whether the schooling and the health care will be as good | :14:09. | :14:19. | |
:14:19. | :14:27. | ||
as it has been in these small The head of the NHS has admitted | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
that patients were not the priority at the Staffordshire health Trust. | :14:32. | :14:42. | |
:14:42. | :14:53. | ||
Coming up, a stargazer's paradise Coming up in London - teachers say | :14:53. | :15:01. | |
they are being bullied in Northolt. The most senior judge in the UK | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
says he fears cuts to the legal aid budget, due to come into effect | :15:05. | :15:12. | |
next month, could undermine the rule of law. Lord Neuburger, the | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
President of the Supreme Court, says he is concerned that some | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
people could be tempted to take the law into their own hands. If the | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
Home Secretary is unhappy with the decision of a judge, or group of | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
judges, the sensible course is to appeal that decision. If, as a | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
result of an appeal, the Home Secretary still gets an answer they | :15:32. | :15:39. | |
do not like, then they can change the law. For ministers to attack | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
judges in public undermines public confidence probably in both | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
ministers and judges, and is unfair, because the judges and certainly | :15:48. | :15:54. | |
should not reply. So it becomes a one-way argument. To explain more, | :15:54. | :16:00. | |
Home Secretary -- our legal correspondent, Clive Coleman, joins | :16:00. | :16:07. | |
us. Yes, a fortnight ago, the Home Secretary made some criticisms of a | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
group of immigration judges who she said were flouting the will of | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
Parliament by applying human rights laws in a way such that serious | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
criminals, who had committed serious offences in this country, | :16:17. | :16:23. | |
could not be deported because they don't right to a family life was | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
being upheld by judges in a way that Parliament had not intended. | :16:27. | :16:32. | |
We get these arguments occasionally between judges on the one hand, a | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
powerful part of the constitution, and on the other hand, the | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
Government, the executive ministers, gets upset if there will is not | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
being enforced. It is considered bad form for individual judges to | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
answer ministers directly. However, occasionally, you will get a senior | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
judge, like Lord Neuburger, who will come out to defend the judges, | :16:52. | :16:58. | |
if you like. On the issue of legal aid, he did go on to say that | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
despite the fact that this was intended to cut costs, it would | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
actually cost more to make these changes, and people would not be | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
getting the justice they deserve. This is what he had to say. If the | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
Home Secretary or any government minister is unhappy with a judge or | :17:13. | :17:18. | |
group of judges, the sensible course is to appeal that decision. | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
If as a result of that appeal, the Home Secretary or other ministers | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
still gets an answer they do not like, then they can change the law. | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
For ministers to attacked judges in public undermines public confidence | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
probably in both ministers and judges, and it is unfair, because | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
the judges cannot and should not reply. So it becomes a one while | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
demand. Sorry, that was the same piece of tape that we saw earlier. | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
On the delayed, what he said was that he was very concerned. On the | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
1st April this year, major cuts to legal aid come into force, �350 | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
million the Government wants to cut from the budget, and they are doing | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
that by taking entire areas of civil law out of legal aid, areas | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
like family law, divorce, people trying to sort out custody and | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
access in relation to children. From 1st April, people on modest | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
incomes who were entitled to legal aid will no longer get it. What | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
Lord Neuburger was saying is that he fears that as a result of that, | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
there will be less access to justice, and that people may, if | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
they cannot get the problems resolved in court, be tempted to | :18:30. | :18:37. | |
take the law into their own hands. After the Eastleigh by-election | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
last week, there is another constituency in the political | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
spotlight this weekend. In Northern Ireland, voters will be deciding | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
who will be taking on Martin McGuinness's former seat, Mid | :18:49. | :18:59. | |
:18:59. | :19:03. | ||
Ulster. There are the usual pledges and promises on the doorstep, but | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
the campaign in Mid Ulster is rather different to other by- | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
elections. It is not just about the future of his constituency, it is | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
also about the past in Northern Ireland. More than 30 years ago, | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
Eric Lutton was shot dead by the IRA because he had been a police | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
officer. His son is one of the candidates in this campaign. | :19:22. | :19:28. | |
Another is a man who was named in Westminster under parliamentary | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
privilege as being a suspect in his murder. Sinn Fein's Francie Molloy | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
has always denied any part in the attack. But he knows that the | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
killing his casting a shadow of the campaign. I think people will see | :19:41. | :19:48. | |
through it, and I have probably done as much for reconciliation and | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
dealing with the issues of victims here as anybody else in the | :19:51. | :19:58. | |
constituency. Nigel Lutton is not used to the cameras. The only | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
unionist candidate is new to traditional campaigning. And many | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
believe he has only been selected because of the past. No matter who | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
had stood, I think I would have taken the challenge on board. It is | :20:09. | :20:18. | |
not about his past or my past. cross-community Alliance Party says | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
the real concerns are jobs and the economy. I met a lady the other day | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
who was devastated by the fact that all five of her children are living | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
and working abroad. She wonders what on earth she will see them | :20:29. | :20:35. | |
again. As they campaign in the streets, the nationalist SDLP say | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
voters want to talk about the future. People say, we do not want | :20:40. | :20:46. | |
the past being raked over, we want to talk about the present. But in | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
Northern Ireland, political and personal history is not forgotten, | :20:49. | :20:55. | |
which has added an age to this by- election campaign. | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
Retail sales grew last month at their fastest rate for more than | :20:59. | :21:02. | |
three years. The British Retail Consortium said they were up by | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
2.7% compared with the same month last year. With the details, our | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
business correspondent Emma Simpson. That sounds pretty positive - is | :21:10. | :21:16. | |
it? It is a surprisingly good set of figures from the trade body for | :21:16. | :21:23. | |
the industry. The key figure is that increase of 2.7%. That is in | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
like-for-like sales, compared with the previous February. These are at | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
stores which have been open for more than one year. This is the | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
strongest sales growth we have seen in more than three years. It breaks | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
down like this... Food was sluggish, so it is non-food which is seeing | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
the strongest growth, sales of electronic items, like tablets, as | :21:47. | :21:54. | |
well as clothing and home were. Once again, it is online which has | :21:54. | :22:01. | |
been the stand-out performer, up by nearly 11% on the year. In fact, | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
just about every part of retail has been up in this survey. That brings | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
me to the next point - is it really a true picture, with online up, and | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
yet some of the big names on the high street actually having gone | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
under? That's right. Retail has become incredibly polarised. We all | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
know about the recent high-profile administrations, and much of that | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
is to do with structural problems in the business model, because of | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
the rise of online. Here's what the British Retail Consortium had to | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
say about it. We have seen a number of significant retail failures over | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
the last 12 months, which would appear to be at odds with the | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
decent spending growth which we are now seeing for a second month in a | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
row. What has happened is that is slight revival in willingness to | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
spend on the part of customers has come too late for some retailers, | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
and it is also the case that the retailers who have survived have | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
benefited from some of the spent that would have gone to those who | :22:58. | :23:05. | |
failed. Of course, this is only one survey, and we are talking about | :23:05. | :23:15. | |
:23:15. | :23:16. | ||
have painted a different picture since the start of the year. And as | :23:16. | :23:18. | |
for the apparent upturn, the question is, will it last? Business | :23:18. | :23:25. | |
of another kind, show business, and the Michael Jackson has apologised | :23:25. | :23:32. | |
after Justin Bieber was late on stage last night. -- the O2 Arena | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
has apologised. Parents were furious that he had kept young fans | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
waiting on a school night. In the past few minutes, the pop star has | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
said sorry and promised that tonight's gig will be on time. This | :23:45. | :23:50. | |
report from Lizo Mzimba. He is one of the best singers in the world, a | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
19-year-old who has taken the music industry by storm. He has more | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
Twitter followers than anybody else on the planet. He has millions of | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
devoted young fans, and for them, he can almost do no wrong. But | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
being late last night upset many, who had saved up for weeks and had | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
to leave before the event had even finished. Those still there when he | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
appeared were delighted that he was finally on stage. But for many, | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
that did not make up for the delays. These parents had a particular | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
message for the star. Make my nine- year-old daughter happy. It was her | :24:29. | :24:36. | |
birthday apartment -- present, and you have upset her. The kids I took | :24:36. | :24:42. | |
were 14, but there were a lot there who were much younger. They were | :24:42. | :24:48. | |
either falling asleep or they had to be taken home. This afternoon, | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
Bieber used Twitter to say sorry to his fans, blaming technical issues | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
for the delayed start, saying that he was 40 minutes late on to the | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
stage, but adding that there was no excuse for that and apologising to | :25:00. | :25:06. | |
anybody who was upset. The singer will be playing the O2 again this | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
evening as part of his world tour. He has promised that tonight will | :25:10. | :25:20. | |
:25:20. | :25:26. | ||
run on time. Just how dark can do night sky get? The skies over the | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
Northumberland National Park certainly fit the bill. The local | :25:29. | :25:31. | |
authority is bidding for it to become the largest dark sky reserve | :25:31. | :25:39. | |
in Europe. Our correspondent went to investigate. In a remote part of | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
the Border forests in Northumberland, high on a hill sits | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
a strange looking wooden building. People travel many miles to get | :25:46. | :25:51. | |
here to look out at the sky. This is the award-winning Kildow | :25:51. | :25:57. | |
Observatory, one of the best places in the UK to see the stars. It is | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
at last cool to be an astronomer. For 25 years, I kept it secret! But | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
now, of course, it is cool to be an astronomer, which is brilliant. | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
People ask you questions about the universe, which is great. And this | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
is what they come here to see through the telescopes - | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
extraordinarily clear use of galaxies and stars, at a mind- | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
boggling distance from Earth, things which cannot be seen in most | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
parts of the UK. It is dark and you can hardly see me, but that's the | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
point of this place. The authorities here are not complacent. | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
They are now bidding for this part of the UK to become a dark sky | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
reserve, and if successful, it will be the biggest of its kind in | :26:43. | :26:48. | |
Europe. But to be given such status means that the few people living | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
here have to minimise their light pollution. Alistair Murray has | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
already adapted his farm so it does not shine like a beacon in the | :26:56. | :27:03. | |
landscape. All I had to do was a just one light fitting. I was | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
really surprised how little I had to do. But how big a job is it to | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
get hundreds of square miles dark enough to be recognise as one of | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
the best places on the planet for the night sky? Often, it is a case | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
of adjusting the lights that you have on the outside of your | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
property. If you have got them angled upwards across the porch, | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
then you can just simply correct it by turning them to one side and | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
literally shining the light onto the ground. And it is not just the | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
stars which stand out here. A few months ago, the beautiful northern | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
lights could be seen dancing across the sky. Northumberland will soon | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
find out if it meets with international approval. It could | :27:46. | :27:52. | |
then join Exmoor, the Brecon Beacons and south-west Scotland as | :27:52. | :28:01. | |
being the perfect location to ponder our place in the universe. | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
On that note, speaking of the weather, which has been wonderful, | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
or so I am told - you told us or so I am told - you told us | :28:08. | :28:14. | |
yesterday that it would be... Yes, for most places, this could be | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
the warmest day of the year so far. Most places will be dry and sunny | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
for the rest of the day, but not everywhere. Make the most of your | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
sunshine, because looming large, all of this cloud in the Atlantic, | :28:27. | :28:37. | |
which is heading a strong way. -- heading a strong way. This was the | :28:37. | :28:47. | |
:28:47. | :28:50. | ||
scene in York this morning. -- heading our way. Quite cold around | :28:50. | :28:58. | |
the North Sea coast. Inland, temperatures are soaring. It could | :28:58. | :29:04. | |
get up to 15 degrees today just to the north of London, making it the | :29:04. | :29:08. | |
warmest day of the year so far. This is a sign of things to come, | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
but it should not spoil things too much this afternoon. Again, 15 | :29:13. | :29:20. | |
grees possible across northern parts of Devon. A much better day | :29:20. | :29:26. | |
in Northern Ireland, at long last. And also, sunshine in Scotland, | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
away from the north-west of the country. Things changing overnight. | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
Firstly, that cloud coming up from the south-west, bringing patchy | :29:35. | :29:41. | |
rain or drizzle. Secondly, low cloud coming in off the North Sea. | :29:41. | :29:47. | |
Here, a bit chilly tonight. Going further south, it will be | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
significantly milder than it was last night. A big change on the way | :29:51. | :29:58. | |
overnight and tomorrow. This low pressure is throwing ahead some | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
weather fronts, which will bring cloud and rain. It looks like it | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
will be mainly the western side of the UK which would get rain. It | :30:07. | :30:16. | |
will be a very different day from today. With an easterly wind, it | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
will be cold for eastern Scotland and the north-east of England. | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
Further south, that's where we will get the highest temperatures, | :30:23. | :30:30. | |
although not as warm as today. On Thursday, maybe some brightness in | :30:30. | :30:40. |