Browse content similar to 08/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Women soldiers in the British Army could be allowed for the first time | :00:07. | :00:14. | |
to serve on the front line. A review has been brought forward which could | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
see women alongside men in close combat by next year, a move backed | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
by some MPs. Increasingly we are accepting that certain jobs require | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
certain abilities and physical aptitude. And if you meet those | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
requirements, you should be able to do the job whether you are a man or | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
a woman. It is the right move. We will look at why this move has taken | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
so long when many other countries have led the way. Barclays is to cut | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
19,000 jobs in a radical shake-up of its business. | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
The grief of the mothers of missing schoolgirls as international | :00:51. | :00:52. | |
pressure grows on the Nigerian President. | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
Tea and policy with the Prime Minister as he hits the local and | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
European election campaign trail. And the scientist who is -- whose | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
mission to land a spacecraft on Mars has died. | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
In London: Police officers are fitted with cameras attached to | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
their uniform. Abu Hamza tells a US court he is not a radical. | :01:18. | :01:36. | |
Good evening and welcome to the BBC News At Six. Women soldiers could be | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
allowed to fight on the front line for the first time by next year. The | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond says a planned review of whether | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
women in the British Army should be allowed to fight in close combat has | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
been brought forward, sending the message the armed forces are fully | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
open to women. Female soldiers already fight on the front line in | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
America, Canada, France and Israel. Carole Walker has more. The Defence | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
Secretary admits the military has a macho image and he wants to send a | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
signal that the army is open to all who can meet its demanding | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
standards. Philip Hammond has seen the challenges facing troops in | :02:18. | :02:19. | |
Afghanistan and he stresses there will be no compromise on fitness or | :02:20. | :02:25. | |
military capability. He believes recruits should be judged on their | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
ability and not their gender. I think it is a good move. | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
Increasingly we are accepting that certain jobs require certain | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
abilities and physical aptitude and if you meet those requirements, you | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
should be able to do the job whether you are a man or a woman. It is the | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
right move. At the moment women are allowed to serve on the front line | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
in many roles including the medical Corps and the bomb disposal unit, | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
but they are not allowed in the infantry or armoured Corps, where | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
their role is to attack the enemy. The Prime Minister is keen to | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
highlight the role of women fighting around the world. If they were to | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
take on front line combat roles, it would mean more women putting their | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
lives at risk, and some in the military believe that is a step too | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
far. In my judgement the point of principle overrides what women may | :03:17. | :03:20. | |
or may not wish to do. To be in a unit that is given orders to attack | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
a hill, town or village, that is a role not for women. United States | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
has already lifted restrictions on women in combat roles. Barack Obama | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
said it was a historic step and would reflect the greater service of | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
women and strengthen the armed forces. And EU rules, the Government | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
was already due to review the ban on women in combat roles by 2018 but it | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
is clear the Government does want to lift the ban. Now it will be able to | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
make a firm decision soon after the combat role in Afghanistan and that | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
the end of the year. The move comes as the army is struggling to recruit | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
enough new soldiers and morale has been hit by moves to cut the size of | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
the army. There may not be many women who want to take up combat | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
roles, but those who are willing may soon be able to do so. Carole | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
Walker, BBC News. Jonathan Beale joins us now from the | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
Ministry of Defence. As we heard in that piece, this move would bring us | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
into line with many other countries. Why has it taken so long? For the | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
simple reason that the British armed forces were the preserve of men for | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
centuries, but over the last 30 years we have seen Barry is slowly | :04:34. | :04:36. | |
breaking down. Now there are women sub mariners and fighter pilots but | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
the most important thing is that over the last decade, in Iraq and | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
Afghanistan, women have been serving on the front line. Not in infantry | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
units but as medics bomb disposal experts, showing up the lie that | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
they are not up to the challenge physically and mentally. I think it | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
is inevitable that there will be women are allowed into infantry | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
units in the near future. It will not happen overnight. There will | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
still be people in their nodding their heads in disagreement. There | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
was one MP who disagreed with what Philip Hammond said today. The real | :05:13. | :05:15. | |
issue is not just about equality, which is important for Philip | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
Hammond. It is also about recruitment. Some of the units in | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
the military are not meeting targets. If you open the door to | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
women, that will help the numbers. Thank you. | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
Barclays has announced it is cutting thousands of jobs in a radical | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
shake-up of its business. 19,000 jobs are to be lost across the | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
company by the end of 2016. 9000 will go in the UK, most of them from | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
investment banking arm which has been making heavy losses. Kamal | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
Ahmed reports. The big player cut down to size. | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
Today Berkeley is to reality, announcing thousands of job losses | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
after revenues in its investment bank collapsed and shareholders | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
demanded better performance. -- Barclays. The chief executive said | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
they had to become more straightforward. Regrettably for our | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
staff, we have to size the business appropriately for the environment | :06:13. | :06:15. | |
that we are in but I commit to all of them that they will be treated | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
with respect and care if they are affected by the job losses we have | :06:20. | :06:22. | |
announced today. The bank says it will now focus on supporting the | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
British economy. For some that is welcome news. Any job loss is | :06:28. | :06:30. | |
regrettable but we do want banks that are supporting the British | :06:31. | :06:40. | |
economy and I think Barclays could be part of that. Barclays is | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
following a number of other global banks, like the government-owned | :06:44. | :06:45. | |
Royal Bank of Scotland, slashing jobs and divisions to focus on what | :06:46. | :06:47. | |
is profitable, everyday banking. When Antony Jenkins took over | :06:48. | :06:50. | |
Barclays in 2012, he made it clear he wanted to change the bank. Now he | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
is trying to prove it is more than trendy word sculptures in the London | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
headquarters. He wants a simpler bank, based on bread-and-butter | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
services, mortgages, current accounts and business lending. It is | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
the end of swashbuckling trading in the investment bank. He says he | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
wants something more sustainable. The chief executive wants the bank | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
to concentrate on four areas in the future. High Street banking, the | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
credit card business, a small investment bank, and a new African | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
division to take advantage of what could be the next global economic | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
power. In the City, they know there could be more trouble ahead. It is | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
only going to get worse. High risk, high returns. It is what you expect | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
with the job. Making the investment bank smaller will certainly take the | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
pressure off one area, pay. Investment bankers are expensive. | :07:44. | :07:50. | |
And there could be other areas. Will you be cutting the number of | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
branches in the UK? I don't think there will be broad-scale branch | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
closures or additional losses in retail banking that over time there | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
will be more and more delivery of our services through technology. | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
Shareholders appeared pleased with the headlines. Barclays's share | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
price rose by 8%. The question will now be about execution and making | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
Barclays a more profitable bank. Announcements are easy. Following | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
through, less so. The Nigerian President has pledged | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
to find more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist extremists. | :08:29. | :08:30. | |
Gooduck Jonathan said their abduction would mark the beginning | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
of the end of terrorism in Nigeria. Addressing delegates at the World | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
Economic Forum for Africa, he thanked China, the UK, the US and | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
France for the offers of help. It has been more than three weeks since | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
the teenagers were taken from the town of Chibok. John Simpson has | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
sent this report from the capital, Abuja. Gradually and even now with a | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
surprising degree of slowness, the Nigerian authorities are starting to | :08:58. | :09:00. | |
deal with a crime that has shocked the world. Add Chibok, the relatives | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
of the missing girls are still in shock but at least the Government is | :09:06. | :09:12. | |
making an effort. In the capital, Abuja, one of the daily protest | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
gatherings is taking place. Quietly, peacefully, but with grim | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
determination, the organisers of this movement are keeping up the | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
pressure. There is a sustained advocacy and effort by everybody | :09:30. | :09:32. | |
around the world. Everybody must look and see this is not acceptable, | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
ignoring the abduction of 200 girls. That is primarily the pressure that | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
is working on the Government. We think they have ignored this issue | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
initially. In fact, until just a few days ago, no real effort seemed to | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
be being made at all. It was only earlier this week that a reward was | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
offered for information about the whereabouts of the girls. Now the | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
whole situation seems to be changing. Today should have been a | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
memorable one for Nigeria. At this hotel in Abuja, the World Economic | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
Forum is taking place. Instead everyone even here was thinking | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
about the missing girls. The forum started with a minute's silence for | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
them. As President Gooduck Jonathan been too preoccupied with economic | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
to pay sufficient attention to the crime? Afterwards when he spoke to | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
the BBC, Gooduck Jonathan showed he was clearly taking the problem a lot | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
more seriously. I believe with assistance and the investment we are | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
making now, we can bring terror to an end in Nigeria. Four days now, | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
relatives of the missing girls have been revisiting the school they were | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
taken from. -- for many days. If so many girls had not been kidnapped, | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
maybe it would not have stirred up this worldwide response. John | :10:57. | :11:03. | |
Simpson, BBC News, Abuja. Two women have told the jury in the trial of | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
the veteran broadcaster Stuart Hall that they were raped by him | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
repeatedly at the former BBC studios in Manchester. | :11:12. | :11:13. | |
Stuart Hall is 84 and already serving time for indecently | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
assaulting girls. He denies 20 fresh charges of rape and five of indecent | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
assault. Judith Moritz spent the day at Preston Crown Court. Tell us more | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
about what was said. Stuart Hall was a television celebrity for more than | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
50 years but today two women here said that it was in the Star's | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
dressing rooms that repeatedly he raped them. One of the women is now | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
49 and said that when she was 14 she went to see him at the studios, and | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
that time and again, up to 16 times, she said, he raped her there, on | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
occasion locking her in the dressing room when he went away filming. She | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
also says that when he went to report on football matches, he took | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
her with her own, raping her at a flat nearby. -- with him. Another | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
woman said she had been raped around 30 times at the BBC. Tonight she | :12:06. | :12:12. | |
denied that she came forward solely for the purposes of claiming | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
compensation. Supermarkets have been defending the | :12:19. | :12:21. | |
way they label them eat after revelations that most animals have | :12:22. | :12:24. | |
been slaughtered according to halal practices without it being mentioned | :12:25. | :12:31. | |
on the packaging. The animal is stunned and slaughtered while and | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
Arabic prayer is recited. Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons and Marks | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
Spencer have all said they have used halal practices. They say welfare is | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
high. Inspecting labels has become second nature to most of us but was | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
supermarkets will tell you about salt and calories, they often will | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
not in the case of meat tell you how the animal has been killed. Does it | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
matter? It is an important issue at this Birmingham butchers. It's -- | :13:05. | :13:13. | |
the owners only sell halal meet and make sure it is slaughtered | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
correctly. Before I purchase it, I see how the slaughter is performed | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
before I used the supplier and they are all certified. Five leading | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
supermarkets are selling halal meat without telling customers what it | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
is. It is controversial but how different is it from non- halal? | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
There are two different sort of halal meat in the UK. 15% of it is | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
sorted differently with the animal conscious well kill. The rest is | :13:42. | :13:44. | |
produced in the same way as regular meat, with the animal stunned first, | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
the only difference being the prayer that is set over it. There is no | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
requirement for halal meat or kosher meat to be labelled and Downing | :13:54. | :13:56. | |
Street made clear today that the Government was not going to | :13:57. | :13:59. | |
intervene to change this. Full supermarkets, the issue of labelling | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
is about the art of the possible. We have to get the right balance of | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
information for customers. There is some standard information that all | :14:09. | :14:10. | |
customers are looking for but there is a limit to what you can put on a | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
label and we need to get right information on the right label. For | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
some shoppers out today, this was an emotive issue. It is important to | :14:21. | :14:23. | |
label the packaging but as long as the meat is clean and acceptable, it | :14:24. | :14:31. | |
is fine. I don't mind. It is their responsibility to make sure they | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
label it correctly. I imagine people looking for halal meat will go to | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
the right place, so I actually don't think it is massively important. | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
Most customers do want information about what they are consuming, but | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
for the supermarkets some details seem to be judged less important | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
than others. Reeta Chakrabarti, BBC News. Women soldiers in the British | :14:52. | :15:00. | |
Army could be allowed to serve alongside men in, for the first | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
time. Still to come, tributes to the scientist whose Michigan it was to | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
land a British spacecraft on Mars. On BBC London, saving the lives of | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
liver disease patients. How King 's College has conducted a record | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
number of transplants. And the Thames Barrier celebrates 30 years | :15:18. | :15:19. | |
of protecting London from flooding. British-made hovercraft are the | :15:20. | :15:35. | |
latest weapons being used in the battle against Colombian insurgents | :15:36. | :15:37. | |
and cocaine traffickers. The government there is in talks with | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
rebels from the FARC organisation to end its involvement in the drugs | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
trade. FARC started in 1964 as an anti-government terrorist | :15:45. | :15:45. | |
organisation and became heavily involved in the drugs trade. Over | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
200,000 people have died in the last 50 years. And still the fighting | :15:50. | :15:52. | |
goes on. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner reports from the | :15:53. | :15:55. | |
remote Amazon settlement of Puerto Leguizamo, to see how the military | :15:56. | :15:57. | |
are fighting the insurgents with British-made hardware. | :15:58. | :16:08. | |
Deep in the jungle of southern Colombia, there's something new on | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
the river. They are fast, heavily armed and they can reach places | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
ordinary boats can't get to. These British-built hovercraft have been | :16:17. | :16:19. | |
brought all the way from Southampton to the Amazon jungle, and the | :16:20. | :16:22. | |
Colombian Navy is hoping it's going to give them a crucial advantage in | :16:23. | :16:24. | |
chasing drug smugglers and insurgents here in the heart of the | :16:25. | :16:32. | |
world's coca industry. We watched them practice a river borne assault. | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
They are operating in areas where much of the jungle is infiltrated by | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
the main rebel group, the FARC movement. Both sides in this | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
conflict have committed human rights abuses. With no cease-fire signed, | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
the war goes on. TRANSLATION: These hovercraft are | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
going to change the whole dynamics of the war with the FARC here. | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
Because up until now we've only been able to operate for half the year. | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
From October to January we can't move because the river level stops | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
so far that our boat hit the rocks. But these hovercraft don't need high | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
water, so now we can cut off the rebel supply lines. Peace talks with | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
the FARC are under way but there's no cease-fire. And if the deal is | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
signed, will that mean an end to Colombia's drug problem? We should | :17:25. | :17:27. | |
suspect, as we have seen in the past, that some crimes and some | :17:28. | :17:30. | |
criminal gangs might pop up, might appear in some areas, trying to keep | :17:31. | :17:37. | |
the kind of business. The new hovercraft are unlikely to stop that | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
happening, but they may just hasten the end of Latin America's | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
longest-running insurgency. Frank Gardner, BBC News, in the Colombian | :17:47. | :17:56. | |
Amazon. David Cameron has made a direct appeal to UKIP voters, saying | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
he shares their concerns but warning that Britain needs what he calls the | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
party of Ansar rather than anger. Out campaigning just two weeks ahead | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
of the European and local elections, he told Nick Robinson he understands | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
voters are frustrated. It is 630 a.m. On the flat above the shop, | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
work is just beginning. I normally get up and sign things and then | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
shove, but this morning I'll do it the other way round. David Cameron | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
knows that in exactly a year from today, he may no longer be able to | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
sign letters as Prime Minister. He may be packing his bags to leave | :18:34. | :18:35. | |
Downing Street for the very last time. Long before then, in just two | :18:36. | :18:43. | |
weeks' time, he faces European elections in which the Tories fear | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
they could come third, behind Labour and UKIP. I won't be Prime Minister | :18:48. | :18:55. | |
after the next election and their site can be absolutely certain that | :18:56. | :18:58. | |
the pledge of an in-out referendum will be delivered. That, he says, is | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
the politics of answers, not the politics of anger, which he thinks | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
Nigel Farage represents. The question is, how many will be | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
listening? This is your country, you should make the choice. Here are the | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
arguments, and you should make the decision. You call it a plan but you | :19:16. | :19:31. | |
have no control over the outcome at all know whether Europe will agree | :19:32. | :19:34. | |
to what you want, you don't know whether the British people will vote | :19:35. | :19:36. | |
for it. So aren't British jobs, isn't Britain's economy on the line | :19:37. | :19:39. | |
as you try and buy off anger about Europe? I wouldn't be taking this | :19:40. | :19:41. | |
step if I didn't believe the outcome I seek to achieve is achievable. | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
It's a hope. It's not. Europe is changing, the eurozone countries | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
need changing, they are going to have to change their treaties. Not | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
only is this the right thing to do for the country, to have a | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
referendum, but it is now achievable, deliverable, perhaps in | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
a way it wasn't in past. The Tory leader is on a charm offensive, | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
trying to heal the rift between himself and his party's traditional | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
supporters. So will the ladies Thursday lunch club back him or Mr | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
Farage? I'm not committing myself. What is the issue that you worry | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
about when it comes to Europe or in these elections? With Europe, like a | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
lot of things, the number of people coming in. He once described UKIP as | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists. Now he says he understands | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
those tempted by their promises. I understand the things you find | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
frustrating, the things you care about. We are delivering. Don't | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
waste your vote on a party that can't deliver. It may come up with | :20:44. | :20:46. | |
phrases or expressions that attract you on some of these issues, but | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
they can't actually deliver the answers. When workers at this | :20:52. | :20:53. | |
factory were given the chance to ask the premonition of questions | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
revealingly, two were about Nigel Farage. In exactly a year you may be | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
packing your bags in that flat we filmed you in. After a brief but | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
visible gulp, David Cameron told me he knew who was in charge of his | :21:11. | :21:18. | |
future. At the end of those 364 days, I know who the boss is. It's | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
the British people. They have the ability in that election to back | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
what I'm doing and stick to this plan, or to get rid of it and get | :21:26. | :21:29. | |
somebody else. It's called democracy, it can be painful, but | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
it's a very good thing. After first insulting UKIP backers then ignoring | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
them, the Prime Minister is now pleading with them to come home. | :21:38. | :21:47. | |
Nick Robinson, BBC News, Stroud. The British National Party has launched | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
its campaign for the European Parliamentary Elections. The BNP | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
leader, Nick Griffin, said the party offered voters a clear alternative | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
by proposing an immediate withdrawal from the European Union, without a | :21:58. | :22:00. | |
referendum, and a complete halt to immigration. Mr Griffin predicted | :22:01. | :22:02. | |
what he called the "UKIP bubble" would soon burst. The space | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
scientist Colin Pillinger, who's best known for leading a mission to | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
try and land a British spacecraft on Mars, has died at the age of 70. He | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
began his career with NASA, before becoming the driving force behind | :22:17. | :22:18. | |
the Beagle 2 mission. The Royal Astronomical Society said he "wasn't | :22:19. | :22:21. | |
afraid to challenge the establishment and get things done". | :22:22. | :22:23. | |
Our science editor David Shukman looks back now at his life and | :22:24. | :22:30. | |
achievements. With his trademark whiskers and a sharp eye for | :22:31. | :22:33. | |
publicity, Colin Pillinger was no ordinary scientist. Who else would | :22:34. | :22:41. | |
wheel a replica of his spacecraft in a supermarket trolley? A unique way | :22:42. | :22:44. | |
of firing the imagination of reaching Mars. To actually say I was | :22:45. | :22:53. | |
part of a mission that wen to and landed on Mars, and if it was the | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
one that found life on Mars that would be even more phenomenal. | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
Against all the odds, using humour and determination, Professor | :23:01. | :23:02. | |
Pillinger raised the money for the mission. He started his career | :23:03. | :23:05. | |
studying moon rocks, now he was hunting for life on Mars. The launch | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
was flawless but far harder would be achieving a landing on Mars. The | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
tiny spacecraft was named Beagle 2, after the ship that had carried | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
Charles Darwin. The risks were high, but this was all about British | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
derring-do. We are the only country in the world who would send a man to | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
climb the highest mountain with brown boots and a tweet suit on, so | :23:24. | :23:26. | |
I have every faith in British ingenuity to get people to Mars. | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
Alex James of Blur, one of many stars enthused by Colin Pillinger. I | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
joined him on a visit to the radio telescope at Jodrell Bank. Few other | :23:39. | :23:41. | |
scientists had this kind of appeal. He was a very passionate man. He | :23:42. | :23:48. | |
listened... To a degree. He was very keen to get his point of view across | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
as well. With that came a certain irascibility, a certain glint in his | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
eye. Sadly, the mission to Mars failed. You could see the agony on | :23:57. | :24:02. | |
Colin Pillinger's face. But his technology lives on in other | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
spacecraft. He will be remembered as a pioneer and as someone who brought | :24:06. | :24:08. | |
home the excitement of space exploration. The space scientist | :24:09. | :24:21. | |
Colin Pillinger who died yesterday. It has been a rather wet and windy | :24:22. | :24:23. | |
day for many. Is it here to stay? Here is the picture right now. Some | :24:24. | :24:38. | |
very heavy rain. Be aware of that. The main focus of rain has been | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
across the more southern and central parts of the UK. But the focus turns | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
to north-western areas through the night. Turning pretty wet, | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
particularly western Scotland. Further south, one or two showers | :24:52. | :24:54. | |
blowing in on the breeze, but not a cold one. Tomorrow, a different day | :24:55. | :25:01. | |
for some, certainly across the more southern and southwestern areas, a | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
better day, bright and breezy with a few showers. More rain further north | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
and west, some could be prolonged. Some thunderstorms possible across | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
the Highlands of Scotland. A cloudier zone for parts of southern | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
Scotland and Northern Ireland. Feeling quite cool. Further south, | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
there will be some sunshine, sharp showers for a time across eastern | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
counties, but the trend will be for the showers to fade away. Mostly | :25:29. | :25:31. | |
sunny end to the day across southwestern parts of England and | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
Wales. That will be tempered by a gusty wind. I'm afraid tomorrow | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
night more wet weather looms large. It will sweep across many areas | :25:41. | :25:43. | |
through the morning of Saturday and get hooked up again through many | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
northern areas for a time to east Scotland. Further, sunshine | :25:49. | :26:03. | |
returning on Saturday but heavy, blustery showers once more. It | :26:04. | :26:05. | |
doesn't get much better as we go into Sunday. The low-pressure | :26:06. | :26:07. | |
lingers across the North Sea and areas closest to that no one will | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
see further quite frequent showers on Sunday. Quite cool, too. The best | :26:11. | :26:12. | |
of the sunshine and temperatures across more southern parts of | :26:13. | :26:15. | |
England and Wales. Be prepared. There will be wet weather, quite | :26:16. | :26:18. | |
windy at times but there will also be some sunshine. A reminder of our | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
main story tonight. Women soldiers in the British Army could be allowed | :26:26. | :26:28. | |
to serve alongside men in front-line combat for the first time. That's | :26:29. | :26:31. | |
all from the BBC News. | :26:32. | :26:32. |