22/11/2012 BBC News at Six

A new boss at the BBC - his job to lead it out of the crisis that's

followed the Savile scandal. Tony Hall, a former head of news, was

hand-picked by the BBC Trust. He has to restore the Corporation's

reputation. It's been a really tough few weeks for this

organisation. I know we can get through it by listening patiently,

by thinking carefully about what to do next.

Also tonight: Tough-talking ahead for David Cameron over the EU

budget. He's fighting plans for an increase in spending.

Clearly at a time when we are making difficult decisions at home

over public spending, it is quite wrong for there to be proposals for

this increased extra spending in the EU.

A man's been cleared of a fatal stabbing in Oxford Street last

Boxing Day. We have a Special Report on what the case says about

gang culture. The referee accused of using racist

language by Chelsea won't be facing charges from the Football

Association. Roads cut off, homes evacuated and

train services cancelled. Yet another band of severe weather

sweeps across the country. Rafael Benitez starts as Chelsea's interim

Welcome to the BBC News at Six. Less than two weeks after the BBC

lost its Director-General over the Savile scandal, the Corporation has

a new boss. Tony Hall currently the Chief Executive of the Royal Opera

House was hand-picked by the BBC Trust which represents licence fee

payers. Lord Hall, who ran the BBC's News Division for five years

after 2001, said he's committed to restoring the BBC's reputation for

world-beating journalism. Our correspondent is outside New

Broadcasting House. 12 Days, one phone call, four meetings and one

candidate. There is a sense of haste and determination about all

of this, but for the BBC, these are difficult and unusual times.

With a perhaps uncharacteristic swiftness, the BBC has appointed a

new leader. Tony Hall, Lord Hall of Birkenhead, has been in charge of

the Royal Opera House. Before that, was a long BBC career beginning in

1973 in which he worked his way up to becoming head of news. He's also

been Deputy Chairman of Channel 4 and the talk today was that after

weeks of crisis, the BBC felt they had found a safe pair of hands.

It's been a really tough few weeks for this organisation. I know we

can get through it by listening patiently, by thinking carefully

about what to do next. I am absolutely committed to our news

operation as an absolute world beater. His in-tray is bulging.

There are the inquiries, one looking into the BBC and Jimmy

Savile, another asking why Newsnight didn't broadcast an

investigation into Savile. Tonight, this programme apologises. Then,

the fallout from the wrongful allegations made against Lord

McAlpine. It is about repairing the BBC's reputation. No wonder the BBC

Trust has moved fast. REPORTER: No the shortlist, it

flies in the face of every BBC policy on appointment? It has to be

an open process? I don't think anybody seriously would suggest

that we would have been well-served by having to spend another four

months looking for a Director- General. There were other questions

for the BBC today. At the Public Accounts Committee, MPs were

questioning the Trust about the pay-off for the previous Director-

General, George Entwistle. �450,000 plus payments for legal fees,

private healthcare and �10,000 for dealing with the press.

demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of how this is viewed

in the public domain given that it is licence fee payers' money.

Tony Hall will only take up his post in March, there was a feeling

today amongst some that a corner had been turned. To have somebody

like him, who looks and sounds human, which is a distinct help,

and also who looks and sounds not afraid, which is also a big help

and people look at him and think, "Do I trust him to run the most

important cultural organisation in the country?" I think they will say,

"Yes, I do." The phrase that's echoed around the BBC over the last

few days was the desire to get a grip. Well, today, the BBC has

certainly shown a turn of speed. So the question is if he is so good,

why didn't he get the job in the first place? He was asked to apply,

but he felt at the time it was the moment for a younger man to take

over. But now all the words they are using are wisdom, experience, a

safe pair of hands - they hope. Thank you.

Lord McAlpine has accepted �125,000 to settle a libel claim against

ITV's This Morning programme. It relates to an incident in which the

presenter, Philip Schofield, handed David Cameron a list of alleged

paedophiles found on the internet which is thought to have included

Lord McAlpine's name. Earlier this month, the BBC agreed to pay Lord

McAlpine �185,000 in relation to a discredited Newsnight investigation.

David Cameron is in Brussels for two days of talks over the EU

budget. The EU Commission, backed by several member countries, wants

to see the budget increased. Mr Cameron is arguing for a freeze

saying it would be wrong to increase spending in Europe when

people at home face cuts. As the leaders swept into Brussels,

the question was had they come to argue, or had they come to agree on

a new seven-year budget for the EU? All eyes were on David Cameron,

regarded as the potential spoiler, the leader who insists on a budget

freeze, or a cut. We are going to be negotiating very hard for a good

deal for Britain's taxpayers, and for Europe's taxpayers, and to keep

the British rebate. The Prime Minister was first in to see the

key European officials to make his case. A scheduled 15-minute meeting

became 35 and the prediction afterwards - there was a long way

to go. Outside, other leaders were arriving and their message to

Britain? Be ready to compromise. all have some preconditions and we

all must be ready for compromises otherwise we don't have a

compromise. David Cameron did have allies, like the Swedish leader.

are like-minded in the view we want the overall spending levels to come

down. It has been a day of trying to build alliances. But even the

Dutch Prime Minister warned against using a veto - keep your loaded gun

in your pocket, he said. There is here a fundamental divide. On one

side are the big contributors - Germany ends up paying in 11

billion euros. The UK is next with over 7 billion euros. Others get

more out than they put in. Poland receives nearly 11 billion euros

and Greece over 4 billion euros. Those countries which receive being

EU grants are lobbying for a budget increase. The original proposal

envisaged the budget of over 1 trillion euros. A later plan

reduced that by 80 billion euros and does involve a slight cut. The

British say that this latest proposal is a step in the right

direction, but doesn't go far enough. They are having to resist

calls to reduce the British rebate as part of any potential deal. The

problem is that the closer EU officials get to the British

position, the more it alienates others. Already, farmers are

protesting, fearing that a smaller budget will lead to reduced farm

subsidies. The key role may be played by the German Chancellor.

She is committed to reining in spending. She too has called for

compromise. Nick Robinson is in Brussels for us.

Tough-talking there as Gavin was suggesting. But even tougher at

home if David Cameron gets it wrong? Absolutely which is one of

the reasons he was the first leader into this building. The big

question in this town, not just today but for weeks, is is he going

to be the first to leave it having vetoed a deal? One of the reasons

he wanted to be the first man to meet the chair of this summit is to

reassure him that he has come looking for a deal and not set on

vetoing one. Of course, the other thing he was trying to do is set

down his conditions. Now, Britain is a bit closer than people might

have expected to getting that promise that the EU budget won't

increase in real terms. It is a long way, though, from getting the

deal it wants to protect Britain's rebate. Bear in mind, whatever the

deal is, Europe's budget will increase, maybe only with inflation,

and Britain's contribution will increase, too. So David Cameron's

arguing for more cuts, cuts to the administration here, he says people

should work longer before they get their pensions. They shouldn't get

a bonus simply because they are non-Belgium staff working in

another country. The question is whether he has any hope of

achieving that. He is negotiate, not just with the leaders here, but

in his head with all those Tory backbenchers who he defeated on the

budget a couple of weeks ago. For more background, you can go to

our website at: The ceasefire between Israel and

Hamas which was announced last night after a week of fighting

still appears to be holding. Israeli troops began to withdraw

from the border area, but schools in southern Israel remained closed

as a precautionary measure. More than 160 Palestinians and six

Israelis lost their lives during the eight-day Israeli air operation

directed against Gaza militants firing rockets into Israel.

Ten Tottenham fans have been injured - one of them seriously -

during violence at a bar in Rome, ahead of tonight's match against

Lazio. Italian police say around 30 men armed with iron bars went on

the rampage in a pub where the Spurs supporters were drinking.

Five Italian men have been arrested. A man accused of fatally stabbing a

teenager in Oxford Street last Boxing Day has been found not

guilty of murder and manslaughter. The Old Bailey heard that Jermaine

Joseph, who's 23, was acting in self-defence after being chased

into a shop by 18-year-old Seydou Diarrassouba. Both men were gang

rivals and the case highlights the violence that still poses a real

threat on Britain's streets. When two former gang rivals met by

chance on Oxford Street last Boxing Day this was the bloody result, a

teenager dying in front of shoppers with a fatal knife wound. He is

Seydou Diarrassouba, a big name in a South London street gang and no

stranger to knife and gun crime. The man who stabbed him inside this

shoe store, Jermaine Joseph, was cleared today because he had been

trying to get away from his gang past, but had been forced to defend

himself. Young people in London have been telling us how the gang

culture takes over their lives before they have even grown up.

I had been walking through here at night, what would have happened?

Probably would have got mugged. This young man is 16, so we are

hiding his identity and his voice. He was convicted after another boy

was stabbed. Went up to him, punched him, kicked his face.

life got him young and crucially his friends became as important as

his parents. I felt protected. If I wanted something, I would ask them

and I would get it. Rather than asking my Mum, I knew I wouldn't

get it. They are like your parents, they are like your family, aren't

they? When you start doing stuff, everyone is on your case, everyone

has respect for you. By "stuff" he means crime. And in gangs, respect

is where the real trouble starts as members get older and try to

maintain their position by hitting back when attacked. That is what

Razaull Ahmed's friends wanted him to do when he was attacked with a

machete. They were saying they would sort it out for me. When

something as big as that happens to you, you don't think about

retaliating. It is like the saying, "an eye for an eye". If someone

takes out your eye, you take out theirs! I have a fake eye. That is

a glass eye? Yes. An eye for an eye. It is the cause of much of the

violence. Though Razaull Ahmed never did retaliate. So what can be

done? Does arresting the gangs work? The Metropolitan Police has

one key strategy. They don't go after the whole gang, they go after

individuals, the most dangerous ones within the gang. In Croydon,

we joined a raid on an alleged drugs gang. Come on, man. 2,000

senior gang members have been arrested since the Met's gun

command Trident took on the problem. Because they join people together,

they create tensions, that generate further offending, we have not paid

enough attention to that in the past. So since February, we have

given much more attention to the concept of the gang and the crime

that emanates from it. It might be a positive thing. You also need to

get in, change the lives and deal with the root causes of gang

involvement and gang crime that. Is about belonging, about the fact

they can earn thousands of pounds in gangs in a way they could never

earn at the local supermarket. Everyone we spoke to said this sort

of thing was also needed, places for potential gang members to go,

people able to speak the language of the streets offering themselves

as role models, mediators to step in when the bad blood rises. It is

happening, they said, but it should Our top story tonight: A new boss

at the BBC. Tony Hall says he is determined to restore the BBC's

reputation. And coming up, there may be 32

shopping days left until Christmas, but we'll be reporting on why two

of our supermarkets want to stay open for longer.

Later in the business news the Bank of England Governor says there are

signs of a cultural change in investment banking. And how

shopping around for a cheap solicitor is only a mouse click

Once again heavy rain and wind are battering much of the UK. North

Wales and south-west England are bearing the brunt of the severe

weather, with roads blocked and homes evacwait. The train company

First Great Western says it is dealing with some of the worst

conditions in a decade. The Environment Agency is urging people

to remain vigilant and to stay away from swollen rivers. Jeremy Cooke

is in Congresbury in Somerset. George, there's growing

PROBLEM WITH SOUND Even before tonight's predicted

downpour the misery has begun. The rain which has already fallen means

a,000 people being evacuated from their caravans in Northamptonshire,

cold and uncomfortable but a job better done in daylight. It was

scary, because I'm a business disabled with osteoarthritis, and

having to climb in and out is a bit awkward. I can't manoeuvre my legs

easily. Purely a safety precaution so I'm told. At north Curie in

Somerset they are preparing once again for the worst. But painfully

aware that it is not always possible to hold back the floods.

I'm just sandbaging the door. I'm a bit worried because we've seen the

forecast for tonight and the weekend. The stock room was flooded

yesterday quite badly. Across south-west England the wind's been

a striking fief of today's weather. Many bridges have been closed. But

far more significant perhaps is the heavy rain in the forecast. The

problem is not just all the rain that's fallen in the past 24 hours.

The more rain that's predicted over the coming day. It's a fact the

water is falling on the countryside which is already sodsen. All this

water just has nowhere to go. In Wales the weather has already

brought traffic chaos, with hundreds of motorists struck on the

flooded A55 near Bangor. And on Anglesey they are dealing with the

aftermath of this morning's torrential rain. Scotland too

stands in the path of the coming storm. The village in Perth and

Kinross putting up last mint defences Dumfries a landslide

blocked rail lines on a day when there was trouble across much of

the network. Tonight's storm threatens the ratchet up anxiety

levels in hol verton in Devon, where part of the grand western

canal has collapsed. Urgent work is needed to stop a problem becoming a

disaster. The problem is there's a lot of surface water coming off the

farmland and highways into the canal. We are bringing in

additional punts to regulate the level where is we can.

predicted rain is now falling across much of the country. River

levels rising once again. Apologies but the weather seems to be

impacting on our own audia equipment here. If you can hear me,

shy tell you this ongoing problems means that the Bath and Somerset

Council is urging Parish Councils across the area to stand by in

their village halls, to prepare those village halls for any

evacuations that may be necessary in the coming hours. That is the

feeling across much of the country as the United Kingdom essentially

braces itself for this torrential rain which is forecast for the

coming hours. Jeremy, thank you.

It is the issue that David Cameron said made him feel physically sick

- the controversial question of whether prisons should get the vote.

European judges say the Government should scrap the current ban, but

the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, said Parliament should

decide. Here's James land Dale. When you are thrown in here for

your crimes, should you automatically lose your vote as

well as your freedom? The European Court of Human Rights has said now

and ordered Britain to change its law. Today Britain said Parliament

should decide. It remains the case that Parliament is sovereign.

Hear, hear. The currents law passed by Parliament remains in force

unless and until Parliament decides to change it. But the keep the

Strasbourg court happy he published a draft Bill with three options.

Give the vote to prisoners serving less than six months, less than

four years or keep the current ban. MPs knew which option they liked.

It is an affront to the British people that countries from such A-

list countries as Andorra, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg should

seek to usurp this Parliament. Won't the whole of the British

people welcome the Secretary of State for Justice coming to this

dispatch box and putting their views first, making this Parliament

sovereign and ignoring the Mickey Mouse court in Europe? Aren't we in

great danger in insisting on the British way in a relatively

insignificant matter and giving an open invitation to other oppressive

countries in Europe to mistreat their prisoners? Not only is it

fundamentally wrong for prisoners to be given the vote, but British

courts that see all the evidence and take away the freedom of these

people, so why on earth should it be European courts that overrule

us? Nothing though is going to happen quickly. The and committee

will be set up, another Bill will be introduced. It could be months

or years before MPs vote on this, and almost certainly vote to keep

the ban. The question is what the European Court of Human Rights does

then. The judges here in Strasbourg could still rule that the UK was

breaking the European convention and some lawyers fear that could

damage Britain's human rights record and cost the taxpayer

millions in compensation. Each of those prisoners may be awarded a

few thousand pounds in compensation and costs. Those sums build up.

There are an awful lot of prisoners who can't vote. One man who may

claim is John Hirst. He was convicted of killing a woman with

an axe but persuaded the human rights court he should have been

able to vote when behind bars. Justice delayed is justice barred.

The bottom line is who should make policy in this country? A

Parliament in Westminster or a court in France? The Government has

made its choice and bought some before facing any consequences.

The referee accused of using racist language by Chelsea last month,

Mark Clattenburg, will not face charges by the Football Association.

But it has decided to charge the player he was accused of abusing,

John Obi Mikel. Our sports editor is at Stamford

Bridge for us now. David, how damaging is it for Chelsea to have

the case rejected like this? George, it is hugely damaging. This was an

extremely serious allegation involving the most sensitive

subject in football at the moment. The FA announced today that there

was absolutely no evidence to back up the claim made by Chelsea that

one of their players, John Obi Mikel, was racially abused by the

referee, Mark Clattenburg, during a Premier League match here at

Stamford Bridge on October 28th. In fact the evidence was the second-

hand evidence of a player who heard it and reported it to John Obi

Mikel, so the player who was actually supposedly racially abused

by Clattenburg didn't even hear it mim. Mark Clattenburg in a

statement via the Prospect Union, the referees' union, said this was

a case based on the flimsyest evidence. He is demanding a full

apology and compensation. But it really gets to the heart of what's

going on at this club. In fact Rafa Benitez is being unveiled as the

new Chelsea manager. He's just been appointed, having just replaced

Roberto Di Matteo, who was only in post for seven months. Serious

questions about the way Chelsea is run by Roman Abramovich I think.

David, thank you. With just over a monthing to before

Christmas, supermarkets are calling for the relaxation of Sunday

trading rules. December 23rd usually one of the busiest shopping

days falls on a Sunday this year and the bosses at two of the

country's biggest retailers want an extension of trading hours that day.

Danny Savage is in Harrogate for us. George, here in Harrogate they've

switched on the Christmas lights this evening. There are 32 shopping

days left until Christmas but two of our biggest supermarkets are

asking to stay open for longer. It may not even be December yet, but

in the shops it is already Christmas. It is weeks to the big

day, but two of the biggest snuments the UK - Asda and

Morrisons - are asking for longer opening hours on the last Sunday

before Christmas. 23Rd December is always the busiest day of the year.

They believe it will be just too busy if they are only allowed to

open for six hours on 23rd. We are not look for a whole change in the

Sunday trading laws. We do think for this one day, which is quite

exceptional, when most people are going to be looking to buy their

food shopping, it will be sensible to take the stress out of it to

give us an extra few hours of trading. But with hundreds of hours

of shopping time left between now and Christmas, do peel wants more

time to buy? I don't agree with it, sorry. Do you think there are

enough hours already? Yes, I do. It's a good idea, because if you

work 9 to 5 or whatever you don't have time normally during the week.

Perhaps it is a good thing. raises the question over

consumerism versus what many people see as the real meaning of

Christmas. The advantages is it provides a service for people who

are doing a last-minute shop and that might be a good thing. The

disadvantage is that they might spend more time in the supermarket

aisles than aisles of the church and that would be a pity. So don't

panic buy yet. There's still plenty of time. But don't bank on getting

those extra hours on December 23rd. The Government says new legislation

would be needed. And that legislation is unlikely to come in

before cross-examine. What they are looking for is reassurance perhaps

from Trading Standards that they won't get into trouble if there are

big queues at closing time that Sunday. They say they want to make

the businessiest day of the year a the businessiest day of the year a

more pleasant experience. It really has been atrocious out and about.

For some areas it could get worse. There is an amber warning from the

Met Office, particularly for parts of Wales and the south-west of

England for that rain. But there are rain warnings out widely,

compounded by the winds. You can see a broad band of rain. Really

intense rain for a time of the it has given 40mm of rain widely,

hence the problems that we've seen. And today we've also got the added

problem of widespread gales downing trees and damaging buildings. We

are not out of the woods yet. More intense rainfall and strong winds

for the next few hours. As we approach midnight the worst should

be over in western areas, but the rain still has to make its way into

the river systems. Weather-wise a quieter to the night. A touch of

frost in the north, even the odd icy patch. It looks drier for

Scotland. The showers will be quite heavy. Lively ones into the

afternoon, with hail and thunder, even snow on the Highlands. For

Minister it looks a lot drier. A good drying day for parts of

northern England, the Midlands, Wales and the South West. Slightly

different complexion further south and east, where we've seen

brightness today. The rain does drag its heels through the morning

rush. Quite soggy. The cloud will be strong to clear. On the whole

the dry weather lasts for many. Tomorrow night it will be colder

still. A chilly day for most of us tomorrow. Unfortunately the dry

weather doesn't last. As we look towards the weekend, the South West,

the Bay of Biscay, another storm to develop. There is some uncertainty

how quickly lit come, but it is set to bring more wet and very windy

weather, which could compound the problems seen today. The flood