Browse content similar to 16/06/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Shop till you drop April gives way to miserly May - new figures on a | :00:09. | :00:14. | |
high street slump. Retail sales fell by twice as much | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
as expected last month - shoppers cut back as they cope with higher | :00:17. | :00:27. | |
prices. At the moment it I do not need to | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
spend than I do not spend. The opposition say it's time for | :00:31. | :00:39. | |
emergency action - a cut in VAT to get us spending again. | :00:39. | :00:48. | |
My suggestion to George Osborne if he will not reverse his mistake on | :00:48. | :00:54. | |
VAT permanently, he should at least reverse it temporarily. | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
Also on tonight's programme: England's 200 worst performing | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
primary schools will be taken out of local authority control - | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
they'll become academies. The BBC watchdog orders Panorama to | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
apologise - it says the programme on child labour used footage that | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
was probably faked. Why this is an increasingly rare | :01:12. | :01:18. | |
sight - as car crime drops to record low levels. | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
And as we get ready for Wimbledon fortnight is investment in the | :01:20. | :01:30. | |
:01:30. | :01:55. | ||
British game delivering the stars Hello and welcome to the BBC News | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
at Six. There's been a much bigger than | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
expected fall in high street sales. After the feel-good factor of the | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
Royal Wedding boosted shopping in April, last month saw a drop by 1.4 | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
percent. Citing the figures, the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, said | :02:10. | :02:12. | |
the government should introduce an emergency cut in VAT, to boost the | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
economy and consumer confidence. Here's our chief economics | :02:17. | :02:27. | |
correspondent, Hugh Pym. The bunting was out before the | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
royal wedding, the retailers had plenty to celebrate. But now the | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
picture is looking very different. There has been a dampener on | :02:36. | :02:45. | |
consumers' spending, the mood shifting from sunny took over cast. | :02:45. | :02:52. | |
There was a 1.4% drop in retail sales in May. This independent | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
department store chain in York has been trading for 100 years so has | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
experienced its ups and downs. How did things feel right now? Since | :03:02. | :03:09. | |
the end of the winter sales it has been ebbing and flowing. Now when | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
there are price increases on essentials like fruit, it is biting | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
into disposable incomes and people have less to spend on perhaps | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
clothing. What about shoppers are out in Glasgow today? They told us | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
how they felt about their spending. If I do not need to spend their | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
time I'm not going to spend. I will still buy it if I like it. | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
latest evidence on the state of consumer spending comes on the date | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
when the government economic policy is again under scrutiny. The | :03:42. | :03:49. | |
question is is that programme of public spending cuts and tax rises | :03:49. | :03:55. | |
damaging the economy? For Ed Balls the answer is yes. He said the | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
government was harming the economy and called for an emergency cut in | :03:58. | :04:04. | |
VAT. By putting money directly into people's pockets that would boost | :04:04. | :04:09. | |
consumer spending for people feeling the squeeze. Especially | :04:09. | :04:15. | |
pensioners and those on low incomes. But the Prime Minister said that | :04:15. | :04:22. | |
borrowing had to come down. Tax cuts were not practical. Those who | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
say you what to go and/taxes or spend more money, all you would be | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
doing if you did that would be making the problem of your deficit | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
worse. The outlook is not all gloomy. On employment has fallen. | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
Some companies are doing well. But consumers are under pressure. A | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
debate about what the government should or should not do it will | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
affect everybody. Our political correspondent, Laura | :04:49. | :04:56. | |
Kuennsberg, is at Westminster. Ed Balls has chosen quite a moment to | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
call for a tax cut. He certainly has. The idea of more cash in your | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
pocket can sound quite appealing. It could encourage people to spend | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
but there's not much agreement about whether a tax cut that would | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
take a penny off a bar of chocolate would really make that much | :05:16. | :05:23. | |
difference to how the economy is going. There was not any consensus | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
about the kind of effect that it had went Labour tried it out in the | :05:28. | :05:37. | |
:05:38. | :05:39. | ||
teeth of the recession. And the Conservatives have argued that | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
there contradicting themselves. There's little chance right now but | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
the Chancellor will take heed of the advice of Ed Balls. But what is | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
interesting about today is that Labour has been struggling in | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
recent months to get across a clear idea of how they would rebuild the | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
economy. And whether he's right or wrong with this idea, Ed Balls has | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
perhaps at least made a start. And the first job of opposition is to | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
get people to pay attention. 200 of England's worst-performing | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
primary schools are to be closed down and re-opened as academies. It | :06:14. | :06:16. | |
means they'll no longer be controlled by local authorities and | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
head teachers will have more power. The Education Secretary, Michael | :06:19. | :06:21. | |
Gove, says English children should not be allowed to fall behind | :06:21. | :06:23. | |
international standards. Here's our Education Correspondent, Reeta | :06:23. | :06:31. | |
Chakrabarti. Michael Gove once every English | :06:31. | :06:37. | |
school to shine and academies are his key to success. There are | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
independent of local authorities and can set their own curriculum | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
and staff pay. Now Michael Gove wants successful secondary | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
academies to take over struggling primary-schools. Knight's Temple | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
growth in London used to be known as Merlin primary. It was | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
struggling but a successful group which runs a chain of local schools | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
took over. A new name and a new and uniform, a big improvement in | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
performance. The quality of teaching is central to what we do. | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
But you also have transformed the mindset of both the children, but | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
parents, the whole school. government will close down 200 | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
primary-schools and forced them to become academies run by other | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
schools next year, focusing on those who failed consistently to | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
meet targets for 11 year-olds in maths and English. These are | :07:31. | :07:36. | |
schools where young people are leaving without a secured | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
Foundation in reading, writing and maths. We what to make sure they | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
are taken over by organisations with the track record of success | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
who can turn them around. Michael Gove has wanted to take on his | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
critics who say that his policy on academies is too focused on schools | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
which are already successful. But getting good schools to take over | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
bad schools was one started on to the last government. Some are | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
asking what is new. Critics say Labour provided millions of | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
additional funding for its academies programme. Money that the | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
coalition does not have. The notion that it pulls all all the problems | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
straight away is a myth. It is about developing the school over a | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
period of time. It takes time to work on the teaching and learning. | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
Labour made much of the news that an error has left many academies | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
weaving -- receiving too much money. As much as �300 per pupil in | :08:36. | :08:46. | |
:08:46. | :08:56. | ||
Hampshire. The government and local The BBC Trust, which governs the | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
corporation, says there was a serious breach of accuracy and | :08:59. | :09:06. | |
fairness. It investigated after a complaint from the company. | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
A little deeper into the squalor, and another run down the ladder of | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
exploitation. It was a key part of Panorama's ex -- investigation into | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
claims that their sub-contractors employed child labour in India. | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
But today the BBC Trust concluded that these pictures of boys are | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
supposedly working on Primark garments in a Bangalore slum were | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
probably faked. The trust said it had examined a substantial body of | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
evidence including tapes from the programme, e-mails and witness | :09:34. | :09:44. | |
:09:44. | :09:53. | ||
BBC news today except that that the programme was flawed. Any time we | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
make a mistake it is damaging. But the BBC news Brant and the Panorama | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
brands are strong and robust because when we make a mistake we | :10:03. | :10:09. | |
own up to it and learn from it. That is why the audience Trusts us. | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
By the journalist responsible rejected the finding vigorously. In | :10:14. | :10:24. | |
:10:24. | :10:27. | ||
a statement he said: the BBC said that Primark used these three boys | :10:27. | :10:34. | |
to make these three tops. It was a lie. Concocted by this man, | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
producer Dan McDougall. Cream market used its own video in | :10:38. | :10:47. | |
response today. It welcomed what it called the Trust's inescapable | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
decision that the footage was faked. It said that millions of people had | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
been deceived by Panorama. But tonight's BBC and Primark are still | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
at odds over the programme and the finding of the Trust. The Trust | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
said there was clear evidence that work was being outsourced against | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
the ethical trading principles of the shop. And they obtained other | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
footage of people working in a refugee camp. But Primark insisted | :11:17. | :11:25. | |
it was completely untrue to say that evidence had been planted that | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
child Labour was being used. A woman who was serving on the jury | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
at a drugs trial last yearhas been sent to prison for contacting one | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
of the defendants on Facebook. Joanne Fraill burst into tears this | :11:35. | :11:37. | |
morning as she was jailed for eight months for contempt of court, the | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
first time anyone's been convicted for using the internet. She | :11:41. | :11:43. | |
contacted Jamie Sewart while the jury was still deliberating on its | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
verdicts. Two men have appeared in court in | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
Exeter in connection with an alleged plot to rob the singer, | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
Joss Stone. Junior Bradshaw and Kevin Liverpool, from Manchester, | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
are accused of conspiracy to commit robbery and grievous bodily harm. | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
They'll appear again next month. No action is to be taken against | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
the Conservative MP, Andrew Bridgen, over allegations of a sexual | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
assault. The MP for Leicestershire North West vigorously denied any | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
wrong doing when he was arrested last Thursday after a 29-year-old | :12:09. | :12:16. | |
woman made a complaint to police. The American congresswoman, | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in January has been | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
released from hospital. The congresswoman was injured and six | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
others died in the shooting at a constituency event in Tuscon, | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
Arizona. The man accused of the shooting has been declared mentally | :12:29. | :12:39. | |
:12:39. | :12:45. | ||
unfit to stand trial. New figures show the number of NHS | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
Trusts across England breaching waiting time limits has doubled in | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
the last year. Earlier this month, David Cameron promised to keep an | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
18 week limit on waiting for hospital treatment for most | :12:52. | :12:53. | |
patients. Our Health Correspondent, Branwen Jeffreys, is here. Branwen, | :12:53. | :13:01. | |
what do the figures show? That 18 week limit was the time between | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
your GP deciding need the operation and you receiving that treatment in | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
hospital. Across England the average shows that figures are | :13:10. | :13:16. | |
holding up. But it is the detail that is interesting. Last year in | :13:17. | :13:23. | |
25th April areas were failing to meet that limit of 18 weeks. This | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
year in April 1951 areas were failing to meet that target, so | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
twice as many seeming to struggle with meeting their promised to | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
patients to treat them quickly. And when you look at hospitals, a | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
similar pattern emerges. Although some areas are doing well, which is | :13:40. | :13:46. | |
helping keep the national average up, some other areas are doing | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
badly and you could face longer waiting times spent a year ago. | :13:52. | :13:54. | |
Car thefts have fallen to just over 100,000 a year according to new | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
figures. It's thought improvements in security systems and alarms have | :13:58. | :14:04. | |
helped deter would be car thieves. The figure is more than five times | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
lower than 20 years ago, when more than half a million cars were | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
stolen annually. Our transport correspondent Richard Scott has | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
been to the UK motor industry's research centre in Thatcham to find | :14:12. | :14:20. | |
out more. Most car crimes are committed but | :14:20. | :14:29. | |
opportunists. The war against car crime has been going on for decades. | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
In this car's day that he had it pretty easy. He could just break | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
the window and Hot Wired the car and drive off. But with modern cars | :14:38. | :14:44. | |
it is a very different situation. Even though the window has been | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
broken, there is an alarm going off and he cannot open the door because | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
the handles do not work without the key. And even if he gets into the | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
car he cannot drive it away because the engine will not start without | :14:57. | :15:04. | |
the key. That is because modern keys have a chip unique to the car | :15:04. | :15:10. | |
that they belong to. Car us are so Secure now so the key is the best | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
way to deter criminals. It is important that we can communicate | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
that message to the consumer, be careful with your key. That is | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
something that Keith Ridge knows all too well. His house was broken | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
into just to get his car keys. our neighbours with their almost | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
immediately and told me that the car had been stolen from the drive. | :15:32. | :15:38. | |
The whole thing took less than 12 seconds. Very professional theft. | :15:38. | :15:44. | |
Over the last decade, car crime has fallen sharply. More than 300,000 | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
cars were stolen in 2003 but that had dropped to just 107,000 by last | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
year. Around three-quarters of those were stolen with the key. It | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
is still possible to steal cars, it keeps can use high-tech equipment | :16:00. | :16:05. | |
to bypass the security. But that costs money and as one former fief | :16:05. | :16:11. | |
told me, it is simply often not worth it. I asked technology moves | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
on for the manufacturers, it moves on for the car thieves and that is | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
a heavy investment. Only a select few will do that now. Although the | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
technology has changed, the message has not. Car crime - together we | :16:26. | :16:35. | |
As retail sales for, Labour says it is time for a temporary cut in VAT | :16:35. | :16:43. | |
to get a spending again. -- get a spending again. Coming up, as the | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
wait for a British men's singles champion at Wimbledon goes on, is | :16:46. | :16:56. | |
:16:56. | :17:10. | ||
investment in grassroots tennis The budget cuts are affecting all | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
of us as services are scaled back and councils try to help more | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
people, but with less money. But what about the people on the very | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
margins of our society? In the second of our series looking at | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
tough times, Richard Bilton has travelled to Manchester to see how | :17:23. | :17:32. | |
some of the city's poorest are coping. | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
These are the desperate, looking for food. The soup kitchens of | :17:37. | :17:46. | |
Manchester are busier than ever. Jason lost his home a month ago. | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
it weren't for this centre and other ones, I would be starving and | :17:49. | :17:56. | |
committing crime because there is no alternative. This is a city | :17:56. | :18:02. | |
where �110 million is being cut from council budgets. There was | :18:02. | :18:12. | |
:18:12. | :18:13. | ||
tension here, and a fight starts. These people have nothing, and more | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
and more are looking for help. Those who run this place say this | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
year, there has been a large rise in those who come to use it. The | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
average used to be about 60 a night. This year, it is up to 80, | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
sometimes 90 a-night who come here because they have nowhere else to | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
go for food. We are not opposed to the cuts. We understand that they | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
need to happen. But they are happening far too quickly. We are | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
getting people coming here who have not had their benefits, and they | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
are starving. I across town, another sign that the very poor are | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
struggling. This charity is being asked for more food parcels. It is | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
a charity funded by donations, but they say the cuts are driving more | :18:58. | :19:04. | |
and more people to their door. have had a sharp intake of people | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
who are referred to us. And can you handle that? No. Are not at all. | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
There are plenty of positives here. Janice is a single mum with five | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
kids. All of her children are either working or in training. | :19:19. | :19:25. | |
never give up. It was either that or the dole, and they do not want | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
the dole. So they have no choice but to keep looking. We heard that | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
it was a recession, but we tighten our belts anyway. So I just carried | :19:35. | :19:42. | |
on doing what we was doing. Across town, Jason prepares for the night. | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
He has not got a hostel, and will sleep in a bus shelter. He thinks | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
life is getting harder for those on the streets. They want to get | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
everyone back into work, but it is easier said than done. There are | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
people who have not got problems. How can you get a job when you are | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
scruffy and you smell? J son is not here because of the cuts. But on | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
the streets, you can fill their impact. | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
And tomorrow in the last of his series, which it looks at how | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
middle Britain is coping in these tough economic times. | :20:14. | :20:16. | |
The terror group Al-Qaeda has appointed Ayman Al-Zawahiri, a | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
long-time associate of Osama Bin Laden, as its new leader. In a | :20:21. | :20:23. | |
statement, the group vowed to continue what it called the holy | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
war against the United States, Israel and their allies. But | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
tonight one US official said Al- Zawahiri would have a hard time | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
leading Al-Qaeda "while focusing on his own survival". Our security | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
correspondent is here. Well, Al-Qaeda's new leader is | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
already a familiar figure. He worked hand-in-glove with Osama Bin | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
Laden for many years. He has given Al-Qaeda much of its strategic | :20:47. | :20:57. | |
direction, and he has long been the group's most visible spokesman. | :20:57. | :21:02. | |
Here he is just last week, saying the war with the West will go on. | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
His appointment has largely been welcomed on extremist websites. Bin | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
Laden and Al-Zawahiri collaborated closely. Both had been on the run, | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
both with huge patches on their heads. Al-Zawahiri is seen as the | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
natural successor. Today the Defence Secretary, visiting | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
Afghanistan, said Al-Qaeda's new leadership would change little. | :21:23. | :21:29. | |
Whoever happens to be heading Al- Qaeda is in many ways, an academic | :21:29. | :21:37. | |
issue, because our resolve is undiminished. We need to rid | :21:37. | :21:43. | |
ourselves of violent extremism under whatever guise. So what do we | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
know about Ayman Al-Zawahiri? He is a lifelong Egyptian extremist who | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
will be 60 this Sunday. He was the one who radicalised Osama Bin Laden | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
in the '90s, and got him to think global. He was the operational | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
brains behind the 9/11 attacks, and the US has long had a $25 million | :22:01. | :22:07. | |
bounty on his head. Al-Zawahiri was radicalised long ago, imprisoned by | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
the Egyptian state after President said that's assassination. Extreme | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
violence perpetrated by Al-Qaeda is often attributed to his strategic | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
direction. His supporters want more such attacks. But in an era of | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
democracy and liberalisation, Al- Qaeda's critics say Al-Zawahiri | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
will struggle to prove it has anything to offer. Financially, its | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
resources are drying up. Its operational spaces have been | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
confined by the drone strikes. Its leadership is being picked off. Al- | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
Zawahiri has inherited an organisation that is struggling to | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
carry out transnational attacks. And yet this Al-Qaeda opera to | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
killed last week in Somalia was carrying early plans for an attack | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
on London's Ritz Hotel and on Eton College, David Cameron's old school. | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
The plans were not advanced and it is not yet known if Al-Qaeda's new | :22:59. | :23:01. | |
leader even knew anything about them. | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
So Al-Zawahiri is taking over Al- Qaeda at a crucial time for the | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
organisation. Critics say it is fragmenting and getting left behind | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
in the Middle East. Others say it's down, but now out, still capable of | :23:11. | :23:20. | |
:23:21. | :23:21. | ||
lashing out against the West. It has been the first day of | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
cricket at the Rose Bowl and Hanshin. England have had the best | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
of it, winning the toss and putting the Sri Lankan is in to bat in | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
conditions helpful to the bowlers, but rain has had the upper hand for | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
most of the day. The visitors were 39 for four a short time ago. | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
We are just days away from the world's best tennis players | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
converging on Wimbledon. But apart from Andy Murray, there are no | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
senior British players in contention and within the sport, | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
people are beginning to ask why. The sport's governing body has had | :23:48. | :23:50. | |
�250 million to spend on development over the last five | :23:50. | :24:00. | |
years. Our sports editor looks at where all that cash has gone. | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
The supplies are arriving, the weather has arrived, but despite | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
all the money it generates for British tennis, the long wait for a | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
Wimbledon men's champion goes on. It is now 75 years since Fred Perry | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
last won the most sought-after prize in the sport. And as each | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
year passes, so the pressure builds on the game's governing body to | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
unearth a new champion. The Lawn Tennis Association invests millions | :24:26. | :24:32. | |
of pounds each year in centres like this one in Telford. But critics | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
say far too much money has been wasted on helping elite players. | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
The man in charge for the last five years insists that his approach | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
will pay off. You only have to look at any sport to say you have got to | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
have continuity and stick with your strategy. Whether you are Alex | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
Ferguson or Clive Woodward, you need time and you need to hold to a | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
long-term vision. The vision when Draper started in 2006 was to have | :24:59. | :25:05. | |
five men or women in the top 100 within two years. But today, | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
Britain has just Rhys singles players in the top 100, and only | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
Andy Murray challenging for Grand Slam titles. And that is despite | :25:13. | :25:19. | |
receiving more than �250 million in revenue. For all the money the LTA | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
spends on developing the game, it is ultimately here on Centre Court | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
where British tennis is judged. But the challenge in this country is to | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
break free of the annual obsession with the Wimbledon fortnight and | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
instead focus on trying to change the image of a sport which are | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
still seen as cosy and elitist. For the man who beat Murray to this | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
year's Australian Open, winning is about much more than financial | :25:44. | :25:51. | |
support. It all comes down to mental strength and desire to | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
succeed and the hunger to become a professional tennis player and the | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
best. Many believe Andy Murray has that hunger. But even a repeat of | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
his Queen's triumph at Wimbledon will not answer all the questions | :26:03. | :26:12. | |
over Britain's lack of world-class The weather was looking more for | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
this time yesterday. Let's see if Darren Bett can improve on things. | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
It is safe to say that there will be rain delays at Wimbledon next | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
week, at the least. That is because the weather pattern is not changing. | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
We are back to thick cloud tomorrow coming up from the south-west, | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
bringing rain across many parts of the country. The cloud is a long | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
way off, but there is a lot of it coming from the south-west to bring | :26:36. | :26:42. | |
us the rain tomorrow. Ahead of it, some sharp showers. Those will fade | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
quickly this evening. Many eastern areas will be dry and clear. For | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
the West, the cloud arrives and we see rain coming in by the morning. | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
A bit chilly in northern Scotland and north-east England. A bright | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
start tomorrow for some eastern areas. The wettest weather will be | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
in the West, quickly moving into Scotland and eventually drifting | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
eastwards. In the afternoon, not a great deal of rain to the east of | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
the Pennines, but a lot of cloud around here. It will turn wetter | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
through the afternoon in the south- east of England. It is suppressing | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
those temperatures as it turns wetter. Cooler further towards the | :27:23. | :27:28. | |
West. In the evening, we get late sunshine in Cornwall and Devon. But | :27:28. | :27:34. | |
most of the day will be wet. Across Wales, a wet day. Some heavy rain | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
over the Brecon Beacons. It will be cloudy and wet for most of the day. | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
The rain is mainly in eastern parts of Northern Ireland to begin with. | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
Then we are back into bog-standard sunshine and showers. It will turn | :27:47. | :27:54. | |
wetter across Scotland. But not bad in northern Scotland. There is | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
still rain on Saturday for Scotland. Elsewhere, some sunny intervals, | :27:58. | :28:03. | |
but also showers. Some blustery winds across southern parts of | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
England and Wales. On Saturday, we are back into this familiar mix of | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
sunny intervals and heavy showers. Sunday looks better. It should be | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
drier and brighter. But an improving story as we head through | :28:16. | :28:26. | |
:28:26. | :28:26. |