25/10/2012 BBC News at Six

The UK is out of recession - the latest figures show the economy

grew between July and September. Olympic ticket sales helped growth.

Ministers say the economy is on the turn. We still have a long way to

go and there's still difficulties ahead, but I think these figures do

show that we are on the right track. We've got the right approach.

been a tough time up and down the country. We report on how people

have coped with the recession. just cannot afford it any more at

all. It is just ridiculous the prices of things. We've managed to

buck the trend and keep employing people, and increasing our staffing

level. We'll be asking if this means

Britain is out of trouble. Also on tonight's programme: Police

investigating the Jimmy Savile scandal now say they're dealing

with around 300 victims. 1,400 jobs go at Ford - two plants

in Southampton and Dagenham will close next year.

Army medic Channing Day is named as one of two British service

personnel killed in Afghanistan, and the third female of the

conflict. The deadly fungus threatening

Britain's ash tree population - the Hello and welcome to the BBC News

at Six. The UK is out of recession. The

latest official figures show that the economy grew by 1% between July

and September. The period included the Olympics, which analysts say

helped to increase growth. The Chancellor, George Osborne, said

the economy is back on the right track. But Labour's Ed Balls, who

welcomed the figures, says growth remains weak. Our economics editor,

Stephanie Flanders, looks at the figures. We had nine months of

recession but now there's growth. The ONS thinks our gross domestic

product, the sum total of everything we produce in the UK,

was 1% larger in the three months to September than it was the

previous quarter. That's the fastest growth since 2007. We still

have a long way to go and there's still difficulties ahead, but I

think these figures do show that we are on the right track, we've got

did right approach, we can see that with the unemployment falling. Also

with the quarter of the deficit paid down in the last two years.

There's more to do but these figures are good progress.

The Olympics helped. All the ticket sales are included in this

quarter's GDP for example, no matter when they were bought. That

factor alone may have boosted output by 0.2%. It is not just the

Olympics. In the last three months you will also have had companies

trying to make up the output lost from that extra Jubilee bank

holiday. With all these special factors pushing up output it

would've been a shot if the economy hasn't managed to expand in this

quarter. But those distortions also mean this number may not tell us

very much about the real state of the economy. Still, we are moving

forward, not back. Like this manufacturing company in County

Durham. The boss has grand plans for the future, making washing

machines here in Britain is just one of them. It is probably going

to take us about two years, 18 months to two years to get the

first washing machine but it should double our number of staff here. We

currently employ 200 people. Over the next 20 years we stants to

start making all appliances. That's going to be massive. This is what

has happened to our national outsince 2008. Today's news means

we've now made up the ground we lost since last autumn. But the

economy still is significantly smaller than it was before the

crisis. I don't think today is any day for complacency. We've had a

really difficult two years with the recession. Borrowing is rising.

Going for the there's real risks in our economy, so I think the

complacence thing to do was for the Government to cus its fixers and

hope -- cross its fingers and hope for the best. The big surprise came

from the services part of the economy, which includes retailing.

Sales at John Lewis are up 12% on last year. The question is whether

that can continue. Our customers I think are more confident than last

year. What really lies behind it is they are getting used to what might

be described as the new normal. They've understood what it means

for them and we are seeing them willing to spend a lol more. John

Lewis can hoping -- a little more. John Lewis is hoping for a smooth

transition from the Olympics to Christmas. Ministers know that 1%

growth is going to be a tough act to follow.

Today's figures will be welcome news for families and businesses

across the country. Many have faced hard times during the double dip

recession we've just left behind. Our North of England correspondent,

Judith Moritz, has been to Holmfirth in West Yorkshire to see

how people have coped, and their hopes for the future. TV buffs know

Holmfirth as Last of the Summer Wine country. To locals it is a

hard-working Yorkshire town which has done its best to weather the

recession. News today that the country is officially in recovery

was met with a mixture of surprise and disbelief. There is enough

money here to keep cafes busy but... People here are telling us one

thing but the normal people who live here, nothing has changed or

it is so light you can hard I will be a change. It doesn't seem to me

that we are coming out of recession. For normal working people in the

middle of it every day it is not evident. There are gift shops here

where you can buy your own bling. But bargain goods sell especially

well, as this discount shop has found. We are definitely coming out

of the recession, I'm pretty sure. Is that because you are selling

discount goods? Possibly yes. Shoppers here are careful with

their money. It is just ridiculous the prices of things. So to hear we

are out of recession is not something that you are feeling

personally? No, I'm not. It does feel as though there's economic

hope in Holmfirth. New businesses have opened here recently and trade

in some shops has been brisk today. But employment opportunities often

lie further afield. People who live in this area may have to be

prepared to travel for work and commute the 25 miles or so to Leeds

or Manchester. Just outside Holmfirth is a business which has

made the most of local talent. They make drom bones here and feel --

tromdoens here and feel positive about the future. -- trombones.

Because we have a niche product we haven't laid people off. We have a

global market. We've managed to buck the trend and keep employing

people, and increasing our staffing level.

There is no fanfare for the end of the recession here. Just hope and

determination that things will keep getting better.

Let's talk to our political, our deputy political editor, James

Landale, in Downing Street. James, that is how people are feeling. How

will the Government be feeling tonight? George, I think no-one can

argue with any certainty that today's figures mark either a

turning in the tide or a false dawn. The response from Downing Street

has been incredibly cautious, but I think the return to growth does

change the terms of political debate as it relates to the chi. --

to the economy. What today's figures do is gives people a chance

to get back in the game, to try and push back against all the

accusation of political and economic incompetence, the chance

to remake their fundamental argument that they have a plan A

for the economy. And the opposition can no longer say there's a

recession made here in Downing Street. Do they say now? What

matters is how people feel. Do they feel it is growing? Economic growth,

technical economic growth, doesn't automatically pay political

dividends. Sir John Major had three years of economic growth in the

run-up to and it didn't do him much good.

Thank you. Police examining claims of abuse by

Jimmy Savile say they're now dealing with 300 victims of the TV

star. Detectives say they've found no evidence of an organised

paedophile ring, but it's thought they are looking at who might have

helped Savile or covered up his abuse. As Nick Higham reports,

police believe their inquiry is a watershed moment in dealing with

child abuse. Jimmy Savile, entertainer, ech ten trick,

energetic do-gooder and now according to police one of the most

prolific sex offends ers in history. Police say they know of 300 victims

of abuse, but not all victims of Savile. They've spoken to many

people in phone conversations lasting up to 4 hours. They say

it's a watershed moment. expense of the public in this case

has been astounding. It is quite staggering the numbers of people

that have come forward. Primarily they are talking about Savile but

there are three categories of offenders we are looking at. We've

got Savile on his own, the majority of what we are dealing with. We

then have allegations about Savile and others, and then a separate

category of others. Scotland Yard also revealed that a retired police

officer had been in touch to say he investigated an allegation of sex

abuse by Savile at the BBC in the 1980s but hadn't had the evidence

to proceed. Meanwhile at the BBC itself there were more questions

today about last year's Newsnight investigation of Jimmy Savile, and

why the chairman of the BBC Trust was misled about the real reasons

for dropping it. On 2nd October this year news night's editor,

Peter Rippon, wrote a blog giving his reasons for dropping the item,

a blog which the BBC has since disowned. There was a meeting with

David Jordan to tell him that Peter Rippon's version was incorrect. The

next day the producer e-mailed George Entwistle, the new Director

General, saying the same thing. Yet it wasn't until last Sunday that

Lord Patten, the chair of the BBC Trust, was told the Rippon version

had been challenged: he insisted a correction be issued as soon as

possible. I've been involved in quite a few crises over my

political life and life in other forms of public service. I don't

think I've ever before been involved in one which felt so much

like being washed over by a political reputational tsunami. I

think it has been very difficult. So why did it take so long for the

BBC's top management to admits its original accounts of what happened

at Newsnight was wrong, not only to the public at large but its own

chairman? George Entwistle told MPs this week it had taken nearly a

fortnight to reconcile the conflicting accounts. Others may

see it differently. The family of a BBC journalist who

is thought to have committed suicide have claimed he was a

victim of harrassment. They've asked for an inquiry into how the

Corporation handled his complaints. They say Russell Joslin, who was 50

and worked as a reporter for BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, was

harrassed by a female colleague. David Sillito reports.

Peter Joslin was a BBC journalist who worked for many years in the

West Midlands. He decides this week in hospital. It appear he's took

his own life. His family believe there are questions to be answered.

His father, Peter Jocelyn, a former Chief Constable of Warwickshire

politics said he didn't blame the BBC but management did not save him.

Peter Joslin had been working at the radio station BBC Coventry and

Warwickshire. His family say he complained of being harassed bay

female colleague. That colleague today expressed her sore at his

death but said there was no complaint, no harassment. He had a

history of depression and at one point, she said, she had been asked

to talk to him. Others spoke of their loss of their friend and

former colleague. He was a great character, full of life himself and

of interest in other people. That's what made him quite unique in terms

of local journalism. It is not known if there's a formal complaint.

The BBC said our thoughts and condolences are with Peter Joslin's

family at this sad time. The BBC is committed to working constructively

with the family to ensure their concerns are vigorously addressed.

This comes at a time of intense scrutiny of the BBC, especially the

way it handles allegations of sexual harassment, following

revelations about Jimmy Savile. A female soldier who died alongside

a male colleague in Afghanistan yesterday has been named as 25-

year-old Channing Day. She's the third woman to be killed in the

conflict. Their families have been informed. Caroline Wyatt reports

from Kabul. The female British soldier has been named as lance

Corporal Channing Day. She was 25 and from Come ber in Northern

Ireland. Her friends say she was proud to be in a front line role as

an Army medic. She went on work experience with the Army ten years

ago. She was totally committed, fully enthusiastic. I think the

commanding officer said if she was to join the Army she would do very

well and make a good career. was on foot patrol with a Royal

Marine from 40 Commando, who hasn't yet been named by the MOD. They

were hit by gunfire and fatally wounded. An Afghan policeman was

also killed. But the MOD says he wasn't in uniform or with the

patrol. The Afghan police say they was fired on first. The MOD has

said in a statement the British patrol were not working with any

Afghan partners at the time. They add at this stage they don't know

what initiated the exchange of fire. An investigation is ongoing. The

first female soldier from the UK to be killed in Helmand was Corporal

Sarah Bryant, from the intelligence Corps, killed in 2008. Last year

Captain Lisa Head became the second. Just 29 when she died defusing a

Taliban bomb. Now Channing Day has become the third. Her death and

that of the Royal Marine commando brings the total of UK forces

killed in Afghanistan as 435 since the war Afghan.

The UK is out of recession. And coming up, the search for two

Olympic bronze medals allegedly stolen from Team GB. And in

business on the news channel, as the country moves out of recession

be get the view on how the economy really feels. And new legislation

could make it tougher to get a mortgage.

Carmaker Ford is to close two UK plants with the loss of at least

1400 jobs. The transit van factory in Southampton that employs 500

people will shut next summer. Up to 1,000 jobs will go because of the

part closure of the engine plant in Dagenham next year. Our industry

correspondent is in Southampton. News that this plant was to close

have leaked over the past 24 hours and staff were sent home at

lunchtime having been told their jobs will go by next summer but few

expected quite so many job losses on a day when Ford confirmed it

would be ending vehicle production in Britain after 100 years.

They are the iconic cars driven for decades, Midlands were built in

Britain. Today, Ford confirmed it was cutting 1400 jobs and ending

vehicle production. In Southampton, this plant will close. It is home

to the transit van, they have built more than 2 million in the past 40

years. Today 500 workers were told they will be out of work by next

summer. I am 46 with no job to go to and no prospects. I considered

going back to unemployed if I cannot find another job. A hard

work we have put into the place seems to have been a waste of time.

There was bad news at Dagenham where this plant will also close.

The news came out of the blue and there was dismay among 800 workers

who will lose their jobs. They have made a lot of efficiency is at the

plant. As recently as a few weeks ago we were promised a long-term

future. They feel they have been stabbed in the back. Ford's iconic

vehicles have kept millions on the road and thousands in work. It has

been using cash in Europe in the wake of the eurozone crisis and

4000 workers in Belgium were told yesterday their jobs were going as

part of restructuring. The European market is having a bad time because

the economy is going badly and the big downturn in Greece and Spain

and it is now affecting northern Europe and companies like Ford are

being drawn into that. Everybody will have to cut costs and

restructured. Ford said it is also investing and confirmed a diesel

engine will be developed and built in Britain. We have been aware they

wanted to expand engine production in Britain. The Government has

provided 10 million in funding through the Regional Growth Fund.

We were aware of their general plans but not the immediate threat

to Southampton, that was bad news. It has been brought on by the

deteriorating situation in the eurozone. You unions accused Ford

of betrayal and warned that the plans could put up to 10,000 jobs

in the sector at risk. It is worth saying other parts of the automatic

-- auto industry are doing better with Jaguar Land Rover and

investment at Nissan. Tonight unions call on the Government to

intervene to help manufacturing and they say the knock-on effect of

this could mean up to 10,000 jobs could go as a result of this

decision. It is being billed as the Battle of

the computer giants. Microsoft is unveiling its latest Windows

software and a tablet computer designed to give Apple and its

popular iPad a run for its money. As our correspondent reports, the

chief executive of Microsoft acknowledged it was a pivot --

pivotal time. This is what computing has looked -

- looked like it for decades. But now we are entering a new era and

Microsoft needs to catch up. If enthusiasm for his company accounts,

Steve Ballmer can make that happen. I love this company! Yes! We have

re-imagined windows in Windows 8. decade after that, the boss is

still excited, this time about Windows 8, designed to bring his

company, rather late, in to the touch screen age. The launch of the

Windows 8 and Windows phone his epic for Microsoft, up there in the

top two or three big moments, including Windows 95. It really

starts us on a new era of computing. My close off has been slow to turn

ideas into products. Bill Gates was showing off tablet computer as a

decade ago but it was Apple with the iPad that made money from the

idea. Five years ago Apple was worth a quarter of Microsoft, now

the tables are turned. The company behind the iPad is worth 2.5 times

the windows firm. Microsoft remains a giant. It is still generating big

profits from Windows and Office. What the clever people working here

have not done in the last ten years is to produce anything that has

changed the world and made consumers go wow. But this surface

tablet powered by Windows 8 is designed to show the company moving

forward in a mobile world. We have seen a revolution in the dive --

devices we carry around, the mobile phone, it has a touch screen and is

like a computer. Microsoft so far has not established itself as a

leader in that market. It is an exciting day. At the launch tonight,

Steve Ballmer enthused again about Windows 8. If consumers do not

share his excitement, there will be trouble for him and his company.

Police are still searching for two Olympic bronze medals allegedly

stolen from Team GB rower Alex Partridge and hockey star Hannah

Mcleod. They were out celebrating after a Buckingham Palace reception

when the medals went missing. 829 year old man has been questioned at

a London police station. This is the metal by won in Beijing, the

silver. For the Olympic rower Alex Partridge there is no souvenir of

winning a bronze medal in London, only an empty box. Without the

bronze medal I won. The 31-year-old has dedicated a decade of his life

to rowing for Great Britain and now his prize bronze medal has, he

believes, been taken from him. He said it hit him when he went to

collect his daughter from Nasri. picked her up and realised, when

you are old enough to understand this, I will not have an Olympic

medal to show you. You see their eyes light up when you take them to

their school. You are the Olympic medallist! I want to be able to do

that for my children and grandchildren. He and fellow rowers

won the medals after a close race, coming third. Hannah Mcleod won her

a medal at it and it was her first taste of the Olympics after missing

out on Beijing. Both believe the medals disappeared from an

exclusive nightclub where they were enjoying a night out after a

reception at Buckingham Palace. They appealed on Twitter and this

morning a jacket was handed to a police station and a man was

arrested. Police are still searching for the missing bronze

medals. Britain is to ban the import of ash

trees from next Monday, aimed at stopping the spread of a disease

that has devastated the species in Europe and has been found in East

Anglia. Our rural affairs correspondent has more from Norfolk.

An ancient Norfolk woodland, beautiful autumn colours. But this

place has a dark secret. An outbreak of ash dieback, a

potentially devastating disease. noticed signs of ash dieback five

weeks ago. This tree, for example, is showing symptoms of the disease.

Dark, spreading marks down the park. And here you have leaves that have

died before they have turned yellow. They ever since that case was

reported five weeks ago, hundreds more trees in this -- woodland have

been found to have the disease. The question is, can the spread of the

deadly fungus be stopped? The stakes are high. In Denmark it has

killed 90% of ash trees. A theory is infected trees from Europe have

been brought in to this country. The Government is moving to ban

such imports. We know the -- has been suffering on the Continent.

The Forestry Commission have confirmed some of the seedlings

have had the disease and we need to look hard at how we work together

to keep disease is out of native woodland. The it has echoes of

Dutch elm disease which effectively wiped out the elm population in the

Seventies. Now there are fears that cash, 30% of the woodland, could

also be lost on the British landscape. We should find out the

extent of the infection first and then decide what to do after.

Our we are confident we can stop it? We are hopeful. That is not the

same thing. No. The woodland is now under threat from an increasing

variety of imported diseases. The challenge is how best to protect

forests in her time of global trade and global-warming. -- in a time of.

and global-warming. -- in a time of. It is now time for the weather.

The sunshine will come out tomorrow after a drab few days for most

parts of the country. The pay off is the first taste of winter. As

temperatures plummet, the cold weather with us in northern parts.

In the south, still another mild, misty night. The cold air with us

further north quite widely. Frosts potentially also in Northern

Ireland and northern England. There will be possibly wintry showers

overnight. And almost certainly icy patches. Otherwise, sunshine.

Further south, drab weather. But the good news is the wind is

strengthening from the north, which is a cold direction, but it will

blow the cloud away and it will brighten up gradually in southern

areas. It will be a strong north wind. The snow showers packed in

for the North and Northern Isles. We will seize centimetres building

are particularly over the hills. And a cold day. Tomorrow evening we

could even have snow on the Yorkshire moors. Much colder start

on Saturday, even in the south, but it looks like a lovely day. It is

the north-west with the snow coming in that will change the complexion.

Saturday looks like the sunny day, although cold with more rain coming

although cold with more rain coming in for Sunday. More on the website.