22/04/2014 BBC News at Six

The dream job that turned into a nightmare - manager, David Moyes, is

sacked by Manchester United. During his ten short months at the helm, he

was much criticised and saw his team fail to qualify for the Champion's

League. The question is, is Manchester United in crisis? Because

they have not qualified for the Champions' League. They have lost a

manager, just before the transfer window starts. They are in a worse

situation than they were 12 months ago. We'll be looking at how it has

gone so wrong so quickly for Man U and who might want the job now. Also

tonight: And while UKIP tells voters foreign workers are taking their

jobs, its leader defends employing his wife, who's German. The

seven-year-old found on fire on a street in Aberdeen has died of his

injuries. The South Korean ferry disaster - how the first distress

call that it was sinking came not from the crew but a schoolboy on

board. And an iconic image from over 20

years ago, echoed today by William and Kate in Australia's outback.

Tonight on BBC London: Crime in the capital is down but critics say the

figures are misleading. And talks begin to try to avert five

days of Tube strikes over ticket office closures.

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six. It's the second most

valuable football club in the world, bringing in over ?350 million in

revenue last season. Which goes some way to explaining why Manchester

United have sacked manager David Moyes after just ten,

much-criticised, months. Following on from Sir Alex Ferguson who was at

the helm for 27 years, he'd spent just 295 days in charge. And during

that time won 27 of his matches, drew nine, but lost 15. That means

for the first time in nearly 20 years, the club have missed out on a

lucrative place in the Champions League, costing it an estimated ?25

million. Our Sports Editor, David Bond, is at Old Trafford for us

tonight. David, the axe has fallen quickly but it wasn't entirely

unexpected, was it? Yes. That's right. Really, from the moment the

story started circulating here in Manchester yesterday, it was clear

that the writing was on the wall for David Moyes.

What a blow for Manchester United and David Moyes. It's been almost

painful to watch. And as results have gone from bad to worse for

David Moyes, it was only a matter of time before Manchester United

brought his misery to an end. That could be the nail in the coffin for

Manchester United tonight. This was Moyes today - avoiding the cameras,

as he arrived back at his house after being fired at United's

training ground, just 10 months into the job. This statement, broken on

Twitter was almost as brief as Moyes's reign:

I think it is a shame. I think he could have done with a bit more

time. But, 7th is not good enough. I expected it to be honest with you. I

expected it for the last five or six games now. Get a new manager in now

and let's get back to where we belong, the top of the league. So,

what went wrong? Having had years to plan for the succession from Sir

Alex Ferguson, the club seemed under-prepared. After delivering the

last of his 13 Premier League titles last year, Ferguson was then allowed

to hand-pick his replacement but Moyes, dubbed the Chosen One had

little time to rebuild the team last summer and struggled to escape from

Sir Alex's shadow. He had a squad of players who seemed unable or even

unwilling to deliver for him. Those players he was able to bring in,

made little impact and he was faced with constant rumours of dressing

room unrest. There is no question Manchester United is a club in

crisis. They've not qualified for the Champions' League. They have

lost a manager, just before the transfer window starts. They are in

a worse situation than they were 12 months ago. Finally, there was the

question of United, the business. Ever since American owners, the

Glazers floated United on the New York Stock Exchange, commercial

revenues and profits have been going up, irrespective of results on the

pitch. The bigger concern for them was whether Moyes was really the

right man to entrust with a ?100 million war chest for summer

signings. The rebuilding programme this summer

needs to work. It's not a time to experiment. It's not a time to take

risk. It's a time to make sure they acquire the best players and get

them performing next season at the highest level. For now, United

legend, Ryan Giggs is in charge but the search is on for an experienced

manager. The Dutchman, Louis van Gaal is the favourite.

Whoever takes it on will be anxious to avoid the mistakes made by Moyes.

But from the start this has not been well handled and while he has

ultimately paid the price, this is a mess of more than one man's making.

Well, almost exactly 12 months ago it was left to Sir Alex Ferguson to

choose the new manager of Manchester United. That won't happen this time.

That will be responsibility of the American owners, the Glazer family

and their Chief Executive, Ed Wood ward. It is a huge decision for

them. One they cannot afford to get wrong and they won't be able to

blame anyone else for it, if it does.

As UKIP launches a nationwide poster campaign warning that millions of

Europeans are waiting to take British jobs, its leader, Nigel

Farage, has defended his decision to employ his wife, who is German, as

his secretary. He denied she is taking a job that could be performed

by a Briton, insisting no-one else could do it because of the long and

antisocial hours. UKIP is aiming to limit immigration to 30,000 to

50,000 people a year. Our Political Editor Nick Robinson has the story.

There is nothing Nigel Farage likes more than stirring up a row -

upsetting those he calls the Chattering Classes. Today UKIP's

leader strode into Sheffield to launch an election campaign which he

says he and his party are going to win. There we go. His aim, he says,

is nothing less than regaining control of our country. Starting

with our borders. We want to have close to you, a sensible, open

immigration that says we welcome people, but we have to control the

quantity and quality of who comes to Britain. Open and sensible are not

amongst the words his opponents are using to describe posters like this,

that suggest millions of potential immigrants from the EU are after

your job. I asked Mr Farage why unemployment was falling here and

elsewhere, just months after his last warning, that millions of

Romanians and Bulgarians were on their way? Your poster is saying

many millions of people are threatening people's jobs. And I'm

putting it to you, that since the borders were open, using your

language, unemployment is going down, and the number of jobs in the

economy are going up. It is a scare story. The #3w0rders opened in 2004

-- borders open and directly linked to unemployment in this country.

What happened to you will at Bulgarians and Romanians We don't

know. You don't know? We don't know at all. There are no official

figures. Another UKIP poster claims you are funding a celebrity

lifestyle for the eurocrats. I suggested to Mr Farage that could

include him as he and his wife had received several million in EU funds

since he became a member of the European Parliament. Your wife is

German. She is your secretary. Yes. Paid for by the British taxpayer She

came here as a highly killed person, earning a large salary, paying a

huge amount of tax. No-one must think we are anti-... Is she taking

anyone else's job. Nobody else would want to be in my house at midnight

going through e-mails to be briefed for the next day. Why is not not

taking a British person's job. No-one else could do it. No British

person could do that job. Not unless I married them. You You don't think

a British person is capable. What, of with marrying me? Of doing the

job I don't think anyone is capable. Watching and he can hadlings BNP who

caused an upset in the European elections five years ago, although

UKIP's appeal is far broader than theirs It was Tony Blair and Labour.

Before UKIP. But this is like, many, many years ago. What changed your

mind? Immigration. Some of his points are right, definitely. His

policies are right? Especially when it comes to laws being made here in

the UK. I think basically it is bordering on fascism at times. I

don't like... It is a very strong word. Really? Yes, yes, I do. It

isn't very long since David Cameron was dismissing UKIP as frup dss

cakes and loonies and closet racists -- fruitcakes. Now today Nigel

Farage says he believes he can win the European elections and at

Westminster, there are a lot of people who think he may well be

right. A seven-year-old boy discovered on

fire in a street in Aberdeen has died of his injuries. Preston Flores

had been in a specialist burns unit since Friday. He was found on fire

by neighbours. It's understood that petrol may have been involved but

police say it was not a deliberate act. Our Scotland Correspondent

Lorna Gordon is in Aberdeen. Lorna, this is a tragic and shocking story.

Are we any closeer to knowing what actually happened? Well, Preston

flouresce suffered horrific burns in what police have described as a

tragic accident with no evidence of criminality. The sequence of events

leading up to the incident is still unclear but neighbours have spoken

shortly after lunchtime on Friday afternoon, seeing this young boy

running out in the ally way between two blocks of flats with flames

covering much of his body. The eye witnesses say there were other

children in the area at the time. We know that the emergency services

were quickly on the scene, within three minutes of a 999 call being

made. The investigation is looking into whether petrol was involved and

whether that fuel came from the back of a council van or somewhere else.

Today his family have been speaking. They say he was a special little boy

who will always be missed and loved and that Preston Flores, their son,

meant the world to them. A man has appeared in court charged

with the murder of a two-year-old girl in Fife. Madison Horne died

after being taken to hospital in Kirkcaldy on Sunday. Kevin Park made

no plea and was remanded in custody. He'll appear in court again at the

end of this month. A major review into the near

collapse of the Co-op Bank is expected to blame poor governance at

the organisation. The BBC understands the report, due to be

published next week, will say the bank's ill-fated takeover of the

Britannia Building Society was another key factor. Former members

of the Co-op board are likely to challenge the findings.

Nearly 200 people, mainly children, who were on the South Korean ferry

that capsized last Wednesday remain missing, are presumed dead. It's

emerged that one of them, a boy on a school trip, was the first to alert

the authorities that the ship was sinking, before the crew made a

distress call to the coastguard. Data transmitted by the ship's

transponder may shed light on what caused the ship to make a sudden and

disastrous turn. Our correspondent, Lucy Williamson, has been speaking

to one of the survivors and sent this report from the island of Jeju,

where the ferry was headed. Day and night they are bringing in

the bodies. Each one precious, even after life. But these new arrivals

are too late to spark anticipation. No miracles here now. Just the

joyless reunions of families with their dead. This was where it was

meant to end, South Korea's holiday island, its beaches and volcanos a

treat for teenagers before their final school year. They never saw

it. Just before 9.00am last Wednesday, traffic controllers here

picked up their boat's distress call. It was the second request for

help that morning. Moments earlier, a boy on board had called emergency

services, shouting, "Save us, we are on a ship and I think it's sinking."

Workers at the ferry company here on shore were rushed into the office

but there was little they could do. One that was here that day told me

that he can't even walk down the street now without people blaming

him. His colleagues on board, he said, should have done more. This

man was on board the ferry, a truck driver who'd made that same journey

hundreds of times. He'd just had breakfast and gone up on the deck

for a smoke. TRANSLATION: All of a sudden the ship tilted and started

to sink. Containers started to fall off into the sea and I realised we

were going to capsize. I was clinging on to the handrail. I tried

to save some of the students in the cafeteria. They were sliding on

their knees around the cashier's desk. I threw them a fire hose but

the boat was tilting too much and then water started coming in. My

friend managed to save a six-year-old child who was trapped

inside. I think the parents and others inside were the heroes. They

were passing the child to each other, over their heads. By the time

my friend was holding her, the ship was capsizing and all those people

were stripped away in the water. He is still haunted by the students he

couldn't save, "They were all my daughter's age and the memories of

them won't go away", he said. Our top story this evening: The

Manchester United manager David Moyes has been sacked after a season

of poor results. He'd spent just ten months in the job. And a landmark

photo opportunity for William and Kate down under.

Later on BBC London: Made in the capital, sold across the world. How

this company's love of traditional coats has won it a royal award.

And can Chelsea reign in Spain? We are in Madrid ahead of the club's

Champions League semifinal. As the agreement to end the crisis

in Ukraine looks in danger of unravelling the US vice president,

Joe Biden, has accused Russia of sowing unrest in the east of the

country and threatened it with stronger sanctions. Speaking on a

visit to Kiev Mr Biden said the United States would work with

Ukraine to preserve its sovereignty. Tonight there is more attention in

eastern Ukraine with claims a prominent local prom at that

politician has been found murdered. Daniel Sandford reports. The

uncontrolled sorrow of a wife mourning today in the most militant

town in East Ukraine. Her husband was one of three men shot by unknown

gunmen while they were manning a rebel checkpoint. The deaths have

only further increased the strong feelings and tensions in a region

which is already brutally exposing the rifts opening up in Ukraine,

rifts that will get harder to bridge each time blood is shed. The rebel

Government are accused by the new pro-Europe Ukrainian Government of

being backed by a rash are determined to see them fail. Today

in Kiev the US vice president was giving the struggling Prime Minister

his very public support, though his words will have antagonised Russia

further. No nation should stoke instability in its neighbour's

country. We call on Russia to stop supporting men hiding behind masks

in unmarked uniforms, sewing unrest in eastern Ukraine. But it is still

not clear how much influence Russia has on men like the self appointed

Mayor of Sloviansk who have been fired up with hatred for the far

right activists of western Ukraine. TRANSLATION: With the nappies and

fascists we will only have one kind of dialogue, we will destroy them.

This is not a civil war yet, but as the number of dead mounts on both

sides, the time to resolve the crisis is running out. In the past

hour the former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has been speaking in

Glasgow urging voters in Scotland to choose to stay in the United Kingdom

in the referendum on independence later this year. He targeted

Scottish pensioners telling the audience that the UK underwrites a

?100 billion pension bill for Scotland's public sector and that

the country's ageing population will benefit from staying in the union.

You pay in your national insurance, you have paid in all your lives and

you get the benefit that is equally spread to mitigate the risks across

the widest pool possible, the United Kingdom. Our special correspondent

Allan Little is in Glasgow. How significant is that Gordon Brown has

at last decided to weigh in as part of the Better Together campaign? It

is important. Remember that while Gordon Brown led the Labour Party to

defeat at the last election, in Scotland the Labour Party increased

its vote. Gordon Brown remains a man respected in Scotland and the better

together campaign believes he carries some weight here. He gave a

very robust defence of what he sees as the benefits of the union, the

pooling of risk and benefits, stepping onto the territory that the

yes campaign have staked out for itself. They said an independent

Scotland would be a fairer, more socially just society. Gordon Brown

said the way to protect that is already inside the union. There is a

danger because the opinion polls are narrowing. The last opinion poll put

the no campaign just three points ahead of the yes campaign and the

danger is he will sound like another Westminster politician sounding

negative saying, your pensions will be at risk. He risks antagonising

more people than he persuades. The UK economy may be starting to

recover but the country's levels of debt still remain among the highest

in the developed world. Exclusive figures prepared for the BBC by the

consultancy McKinsey show how that debt burden is falling but some

experts believe the expected rise in interest rates next year could

jeopardise the UK's recovery. Here is our economics editor Robert

Peston. For many huge debts represent the

end of freedom, living in effect behind bars. What is true for

individuals has also been true for the country as UK indebtedness

soared to record levels in the crazy boom years. This is the old wall of

a notorious prison where Charles Dickens' dad was locked up. For the

past few years the British economy has felt constricted, imprisoned,

unable to thrive or grow because of the burden of its record debts. From

2000-2012, total UK debts, household, company, banking and

Government debts, soared from 304% of GDP, to an all-time record of

502%. They did not fall for ages, but recently they have been reducing

a bit, to 471%. This American professor warned that big debt can

make whole economy is poorer. There is substantial evidence first of all

that finance deepens in the economy and initially it grows and then

things can go too far and you can get too much debt and it becomes a

drag on consumers and businesses and on investors. The problem of the

potential for default is what brings things down. As a found in a market

in south east London, a story of less burdensome debt in general

leave some still struggling. Do your finances feel better or worse than a

few years ago? Better than a few years ago. Much worse. Probably the

same, maybe a bit better, but we are more cautious now. Why I had a

better? Have you paid down your debt? Yes. Keeping your head above

water is not easy in Cornwall. Mike Ainsworth borrowed a huge amount to

buy his dream house here. It was too easy to buy. But we just happened to

be very lucky that the interest rates crashed when they did. It

helped us a lot, really. Mike has been doing all he can to pay off his

mortgage, so his story to an extent is that of Britain. Households

increased their debt from 62% to 103%. But this has been declining to

90% of national income. There is one part of the economy where the story

of declining debt is not true, that is the public sector, the

Government, where borrowing is still very substantial. But even so, the

debt shackles that have been preventing our escape to rising

prosperity may, at last, be loosening.

It was the scene of a famous picture of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Today the aboriginal mountain Uluru, formerly known as Ayres

Rock, became the backdrop for a similar photo of their son Prince

William and the Duchess of Cambridge. The royal couple were

presented with an aboriginal spear on their visit to the landmark. Our

royal correspondent Nicholas Witchel reports.

It is the must do experience of pretty much every visitor to the

so-called red centre of Australia, Sunset at Uluru, or Ayres Rock.

William and Catherine posed for photographs in the evening light as

their trip to Australia starts to wind down. Earlier they had received

a traditional welcome from local aboriginal people. There is are said

to be the world's oldest surviving culture. Their lands have been

returned to them, but there are real problems in reconciling the culture

of Australia's original inhabitants with the direction of modern

Australia. William and Catherine were presented with handmade gifts,

a shield for him and wooden toys for George. Then in the temperatures

around the low 30s, they headed off to Uluru. Ayres Rock is a place of

great spiritual significance for the aboriginal people. Walking on the

great sandstone outcrop is frowned upon, so William and Catherine

walked around its perimeter. By now the sun was sinking and it was time

for the couple to view the sunset. And what of baby George? He is home

alone tonight, with his nanny at Government House in Canberra while

his mum and dad go off for a night to themselves. For them sunset that

is rock, followed by an night of what is called glamping, glamorous

camping at an exclusive resort. Time for a look at the weather.

Today we turned the sun down a notch and turned up the showers. This is

the story of the rainfall so far today. Showers in northern England

across to the Humber and some of those could be thundery. They will

continue in Scotland with outbreaks of rain and misty and murky in the

North East of Scotland. Plenty of cloud and temperatures do not go

down too far. This is the next area of rain in the South West in the

morning, very slowly moving east during the day. Many eastern areas

will have pleasantly warm spells of sunshine. At four o'clock we could

see thundery downpours in Cornwall and Devon, but rain affecting other

parts in England and Wales of varying intensity. The Southeast may

be dry, but the old, heavy shower in other areas. Northern Ireland is

brighter in the afternoon, but the risk of more intense downpours in

the evening. A warmer day for many of us in Scotland, although still

quite cool. The rain moves tomorrow night crossing to the eastern side

of the UK and lingering in the North East on Thursday. But behind it

there is a better day. But we still need to watch the development of a

few heavy and thundery downpours. A showery week with warm sunshine. No

worries about frost overnight. By the weekend it looks as if the

showers become more hit and miss. Our main story tonight: The

Manchester United manager David Moyes has been sacked after a season

of blue results. He spent just ten months in the job. It is time