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Good evening, welcome to BBC Newsline. Here, are the headlines. | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
Two arrest after an investigation into the financial abuse of | :00:27. | :00:33. | |
vulnerable a dulls at a care home. The police have approached the | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
Parades Commission over Belfast City centre Saturday flag protests. | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
Housing associations could buy up millions of pound worth of empty | :00:41. | :00:47. | |
homes here. A warning women here are among the least aware at | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
recognising ovarian cancer symptoms. I feel that six weeks could have | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
made a difference. I might not have, but it might have, I will never | :00:56. | :01:05. | |
know that, because now it is too late. �1 million is to be spent | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
encourage people back in to Belfast, especially at night. I am here in | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
one of the newest restaurants to learn more about that advertising | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
message and predictions for its success. We have the goals from | :01:17. | :01:24. | |
Crusaders Irish Cup win against Linfield. And less fresh snow but | :01:24. | :01:33. | |
ice is a major hazard, I will have more for you shortly. BBC Newsline | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
has learned that a couple could be banned from operating two care | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
homes, after the regulator found they had been responsible for what | :01:42. | :01:49. | |
it called significant financial abuse of six vulnerable adults. The | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
regulator's investigation focused on the care home in County Armagh. | :01:55. | :02:05. | |
:02:05. | :02:13. | ||
The police are investigating. We And we will try and bring you that | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
report later in the programme. But moving on to senior officers from | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
the Metropolitan Police who ran the operation in response to the London | :02:22. | :02:28. | |
riots are helping the PSNI with the flag protests here, it has merged | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
the police are in discussion with the Parades Commission about | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
whether it should make a der nag about the weekly parade to Belfast | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
City Hall. The Parades Commission says it is taking legal advice on | :02:40. | :02:50. | |
:02:50. | :02:55. | ||
And I am sorry sweem to be having a few technical problems with the | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
first two story. Donna will join us with news of a poup 1 million | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
response to the economic damage caused by the flag protest and | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
riots and we will try and bring you those opening two reports later in | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
the programme. But for the first time housing associations here will | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
be able to offer houses for sale, rather than just providing social | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
housing for rent. It is part of a new �12 million scheme, which aims | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
to turn empty houses into a affordable homes. Our business | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
correspondent has been finding out more. Refurbishing derelict houses | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
like these and bringing them back in to use is one of the key aims of | :03:33. | :03:39. | |
this new �12 million scheme. Until now, housing associations normally | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
only provide rented accommodation. But a fund has been made available, | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
which will give them an enhanced role. | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
PROBLEM WITH SOUND . Here on BBC Newsline we are | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
having some fairly serious sound problems, which we will try and | :03:56. | :04:02. | |
resolve as soon as we can. Now, more than 150 investigations into | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
allegations of criminal activity and misconduct by police officers | :04:06. | :04:14. | |
are to resume. The investigations by the police ombudsman were | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
inspected, after officers said the independence of the office had been | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
compromised. Many of the cases involve allegation of collusion, | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
the majority were refurred to the ombudsman by the historical | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
inquiries team. Which was legally barred from investigations. Our | :04:32. | :04:42. | |
:04:42. | :04:54. | ||
Home Affairs correspondent reports. Well, as you can tell we are having | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
some more technical problems this evening. Apologies for that, we | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
will try and cross to Donna, who is in our Belfast City centre | :05:03. | :05:11. | |
restaurant. Yes, a lot of glitches tonight. In the wake of the union | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
flag protests, I am in a part of the city that has been rejuvenated | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
over the past couple of year, it has lots of new restaurants and | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
hotels, and also a theatre. Now, January is normally not a great | :05:25. | :05:31. | |
time for this type of business, but over the past eight weeks or so, | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
BBC Newsline has seen how people have been discouraged because of | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
the demonstrations from coming into this city centre to shop and also | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
to socialise. Now, two gentlemen who are behind a big marketing | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
campaign to get Belfast buzzing again, so to speak are with me. | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
People who are involved in the protest have told our reporter, | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
journalists, that you in a sense, and people like you, are making | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
them a scapegoat, post-Christmas and in a recession people aren't | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
going to come into the centre. have never commented on the protest. | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
We are not talking about being down on normal trade, we have adjusted | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
the figures we know what to expect and we are down on those. You have | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
to remember we are also down on the hospitality sector, it earns its | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
keep for quarter of year's turn over is done in the five-weeks of | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
Christmas, we didn't get that, that impact is crippling the industry. | :06:27. | :06:34. | |
How many jobs have been lost, how many are in jeopardy? Well, I mean, | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
in actual fact one company paid off 506789 I was ringing round before | :06:38. | :06:45. | |
we came here, that has hit the 100 odd. We asked them to hold the line, | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
we were coming with this campaign, because we need to make sure when | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
people come into Belfast, we have the staff. The places are ready to | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
go, so the industry has come up to the channel. We are holding staff. | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
We are going to be here. Belfast is going to be fun, it really s we are | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
back in business. We are back in Belfast. This will be up to a �1 | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
million marketing campaign, John. What is the message? The simple | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
message to the people of Belfast and first and foremost, Belfast is | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
open for business. It's the same great city, lots of crack, great | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
offer, fantastic offers in the bars and restaurants and in the retail | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
environment. The only thing that has been missing has been the | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
citizens coming back into town. You are right, there are a lot of | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
reasons but all of them together, it has been a difficult time. | :07:31. | :07:36. | |
are you targeting the message too? It is just local people? Working | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
with the City Council and through Belfast visitor bureau and with | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
Colin and the pubs of Ulster, we are targeting greater Belfast. The | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
people who live and work there. If we can get them to stay in town at | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
night. Come back in and enjoy what it has to offer, that is a start. | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
We do have to move further out, but for now, between now and certainly | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
the end of February, the concentration is the people of | :08:01. | :08:08. | |
Belfast. Yet as I said frugal times, yet we saw the post-Christmas sale, | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
one anchor tenant had record bids. Perhaps people are holding back on | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
their money. They don't want to spend so much. They don't want to | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
spend in a pub or restaurant. is fair to say retail hasn't been | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
as badly hit. Which is why the council is supporting the evening | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
economy and the entertainment economy. If you didn't get a chance | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
to get into town to buy a watch today, you can go back tomorrow. If | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
you didn't sit in a pub, that day has gone. If you didn't lie down on | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
a bed in a hotel that evening is gone. It is vital for the economy, | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
for the jobs and the sense of the place. We need the vibrancy back. | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
Colin, how big and how quick a turn round do you need this to be? | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
need it overnight, and we are saying we started a viral campaign | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
ourself, last weekend, and we seen an upturn. It is turning into a | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
movement, the number of people contacting us. This will turn round, | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
I have no doubt. We will have people back in. The problem is we | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
have to recover, keep going and rebuild what we lost, but we are on | :09:08. | :09:14. | |
the move. OK. I must leave it there so �600,000 has been secured from | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
Stormont for that marketing campaign. More money has still to | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
be finally approved by Belfast City centre, the traders are hoping that | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
the effect of that marketing campaign will happen sooner rather | :09:24. | :09:31. | |
than later. Thank you. Now, we will return to tonight's top story. Let | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
us hope we have fixed the sound issues we had at the start of the | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
programme. We have learned a couple could be banned from operating two | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
care homes, after the regulator found they had been responsible for | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
significant financial abuse of six vulnerable adults. The regulator's | :09:49. | :09:55. | |
investigation focused on a care home in County Armagh. The police | :09:55. | :10:03. | |
are investigating. It was concerns about possible financial abuse of | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
vulnerable adults that sparked an investigation by the social care | :10:08. | :10:15. | |
trust, here at this care home and here at its sister home a few miles | :10:15. | :10:23. | |
away. Both are owned and run by Norman and Mildred Wiley. The | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
independent body with responsibility for inspects health | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
and social care services is the -- regulation and Quant quality | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
improvement. It has moved against the couple, deeming them to be | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
unfit. It says on the balance of probability, significant financial | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
abuse of six vulnerable adults did take place. This took the form of | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
unjustified and significant overpayment, in relation to meals, | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
the same in respect of the home's transport scheme, and unjustified | :10:55. | :11:01. | |
and significant supervision charges. When I called I was told nobody was | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
available for interview. This afternoon I have spoken to several | :11:06. | :11:12. | |
people close to inquiries into the care home here, and the other one. | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
One man who had a relative there said the vast majority of families | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
were supportive of the owners. They say they didn't believe anybody had | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
been duped. However, another source close to the inquiry told me that | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
while that did reflect the position of some of the families, it wasn't | :11:30. | :11:36. | |
the view of all of them. The police confirmed to me they were aware of | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
the allegation and an investigation was under way. They confirmed man | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
and woman had been arrested, questioned and released on bail, | :11:42. | :11:49. | |
pending further inquiries. Two senior officers from the | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
Metropolitan Police who ran the operation in response to the London | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
riots are helping the PSNI with the flag protest here. It has merged | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
that the police are in discussion with the Parades Commission about | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
whether it should make a determination about the weekly | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
loyalist parade to Belfast City Hall. The Parades Commission says | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
it is taking legal advice on the matter. The police have said | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
publikely they are only part of the answer to the flags' issue. Today | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
they repeated that they would pursue people who had been involved | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
in criminal acts during that dispute. And that a team of 70 had | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
been set up to do the work. It is understood the police feel there's | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
is a public appetite for a firmer response after seven weeks of | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
disruption. They have promised that and in addition they say they will | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
be searching through hundreds of hours of CCTV for pictures of | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
people attacking their Officers, and blocking roads. Blocking the | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
road is a criminal act. If you are obstructing the high way we will | :12:49. | :12:55. | |
investigate that. If you want to attack police, if you want to throw | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
petrol bombs at them, fire fireworks at them. Those are | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
criminal acts. Through our work with the public prosecution service | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
and the various mechanisms we have for disposing of the different case, | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
we will come to some arrangement where by as many people as possible | :13:11. | :13:20. | |
feel and understand the Some of the protests have drawn | :13:20. | :13:28. | |
large crowds. So far, 174 people have been arrested. Two senior | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
officers from the Metropolitan Police, who oversaw the London | :13:33. | :13:41. | |
riots to no good years ago, are now working alongside the PSNI. -- two | :13:41. | :13:49. | |
years ago. The PSNI is currently 7,000 strong. The part social media | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
has played in this is also believed to have caused some difficulties. | :13:55. | :14:05. | |
:14:05. | :14:12. | ||
So far, comments have been referred, but none have been charged to have | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
been in relation with their protests. The police have been in | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
contact with the Parades Commission to establish whether there should | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
be a determination made about any decisions made. Go for the first | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
time, housing associations here will be able to offer houses for | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
sale, rather than just offer social housing for rent, are as part of a | :14:38. | :14:45. | |
new scheme that will turn empty houses into affordable homes. | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
Refurbishing derelict houses like these and bringing them back into | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
use is one of the key aims of this new �12 million scheme. Until now, | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
housing associations normally provided rented accommodation, but | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
now they will have an enhanced role, and that -- allowing them to buy | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
repossessed houses and, for the first time, sell them on to members | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
of the public. The affordable housing sector is immensely | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
important, because for some people, it is the only option. We need the | :15:20. | :15:25. | |
help from all of the different sectors of society. It will show | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
that housing associations can set - - step up to the mark and be | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
innovative. We need a strong housing association sector in | :15:33. | :15:40. | |
Northern Ireland. Most of the �12 million will go towards building | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
new homes for sale through shared equity schemes, but the remainder | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
will go on empty properties. Some of the money will be spent by | :15:49. | :15:54. | |
housing associations buying vacant properties like these. Contractors | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
will then be on hand to refurbish them. The scheme will bring some | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
employment along the way. The houses will be sold on to people on | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
a coal ownership tied basis, which will make them more affordable, but | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
not everyone is convinced the scheme is a good idea. This | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
apartment went on the market today for �25,000. The continuing slide | :16:17. | :16:25. | |
in property prices, one expert says, is because people cannot get | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
finance. -- financing. That money could be spent giving 1,000 first- | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
time buyers money to go out and get their properties. They would be | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
better off writing a first-time buyer a cheque and telling them | :16:39. | :16:46. | |
that they could go get a home and said of trying to put properties. | :16:46. | :16:53. | |
Some housing associations are already have their eyes are on some | :16:53. | :17:03. | |
:17:03. | :17:05. | ||
vacant homes they want to refurbish. More than 150 investigations into | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
allegations of criminal activity and misconduct by police officers | :17:07. | :17:14. | |
are to resume. The investigations by the Police Ombudsman were | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
suspended 16 months ago after inspectors said the operational | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
independence of the office had been compromised. Many of the cases | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
involve allegations of collusion. The majority were referred to the | :17:22. | :17:24. | |
Ombudsman by the Historical Enquiries Team, which is legally | :17:24. | :17:26. | |
barred from investigating allegations of misconduct by police | :17:26. | :17:35. | |
officers. This man was a Catholic police officer, shot dead in 1977. | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
It has been claimed that or you see colleagues helped his killers. The | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
investigation into those claims was more than 150 cases suspended by | :17:45. | :17:51. | |
the Police Ombudsman 16 months ago. Michael Maguire was appointed last | :17:51. | :17:57. | |
summer. In his previous role, he produced a hearty critical report | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
about the office he now leads. He said the way historical | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
investigations were carried out had compromise the independence of the | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
Office from the police. He said that the relationship between the | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
Ombudsman and the police had become too cosy. Some inspectors have said | :18:15. | :18:20. | |
that a number of reports into historical events had been altered | :18:20. | :18:26. | |
to produce criticism of the police. One report said that the reports | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
and to historical events should be suspended and will problems had | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
been addressed. Another report today said that enough improvement | :18:34. | :18:44. | |
had been made to resume those investigations. Some people have | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
come into the organisation with significant investigative | :18:47. | :18:55. | |
experience. That gives us a lot of confidence within forward. | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
Office of the Ombudsman has been given �12 million for a dedicated | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
team of 40 investigators to complete more than 150 historical | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
cases during the next six years. Michael Maguire has welcomed the | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
green light to resume the investigations, but will the time | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
and money he has been given be enough? I think it is an achievable | :19:16. | :19:23. | |
-- I think it is achievable. It is ambitious. I do not have resources | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
to address all of the concerns. Sinn Fein has welcomed the move and | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
says it will help restore public confidence in the Ombudsman's | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
Office. But the DP takes a very different view. We remain of the | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
few that these cases should not be dealt with by the Police Ombudsman. | :19:42. | :19:49. | |
The Ombudsman was made to deal with current cases. We feel it | :19:49. | :19:54. | |
undermines the Ombudsman. These historical cases require a large | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
amount -- amount of time and resource, and we feel it would be | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
better if they were dealt with elsewhere. I think Michael Maguire | :20:02. | :20:09. | |
is up to the task and has made the changes that are necessary. We are | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
very much up for that. This is the right place to do these | :20:13. | :20:21. | |
investigations into wrong doings in the past. We will also be dealing | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
with present issues as well. Michael Maguire knows he cannot | :20:26. | :20:36. | |
:20:36. | :20:37. | ||
afford to make the mistakes he said were made in the past. | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
A woman who is terminally ill with ovarian cancer says more needs to | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
be done to raise awareness of the disease especially among GPs in | :20:43. | :20:45. | |
Northern Ireland. According to the latest statistics, 119 women died | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
here from the cancer last year. With poor early detection rates it | :20:48. | :20:58. | |
:20:58. | :20:59. | ||
is felt that many lives are being lost unnecessarily. | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
This woman is getting ready to hit the road, having produced her own | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
album, through music, she is spreading her knowledge of ovarian | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
cancer, a condition she was diagnosed with three years ago. She | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
first Duchy had irritable bowel syndrome, -- she first thought she | :21:19. | :21:29. | |
:21:29. | :21:30. | ||
had irritable bowel syndrome, when a tumour was released -- discovered. | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
I think there could have been a difference if the diagnosis was | :21:35. | :21:42. | |
made earlier. A part of the problem is that sentence of ovarian cancer | :21:42. | :21:49. | |
at similar to other conditions. Among them are or a pain in the | :21:49. | :21:56. | |
pelvis or abdomen. Those involved in current research say that more | :21:56. | :22:03. | |
cases must be detected sooner. recognise that survival is better | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
if the disease is picked up at an earlier stage, however, many of | :22:08. | :22:15. | |
these women, the survival figures, comparing them with 10 years ago, | :22:15. | :22:22. | |
have changed dramatically. Last year, 119 women died of the disease. | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
Criticism that GPs are ill-equipped to spot different types of cancer | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
has been rejected by the BMA. feel that the GM's -- GPs are very | :22:32. | :22:40. | |
aware of cancer. This is the silent killer, and we as GPs have for many | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
opportunities to learn, online and through small learning groups, and | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
I believe that we have improved how we learn about all sorts of | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
conditions, but this is very important to women because it is a | :22:52. | :23:01. | |
silent killer. Off the five Belfast women who the support men that | :23:01. | :23:07. | |
during her treatment, she is the last one remaining. She is hoping | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
to strike a chord with health professionals and women across | :23:11. | :23:21. | |
Northern Ireland. I'll Enfield in danger of finishing this season | :23:21. | :23:31. | |
:23:31. | :23:34. | ||
without a trophy? It is a possibility. There is still the | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
Setanta Cup to come. But David Jeffrey's side are 16 points behind | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
leaders Cliftonville in the league. And their defeat to Crusaders in a | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
fifth round replay suggests Linfield's grip on the domestic | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
trophies has well and truly loosened. This defeat was a bitter | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
pill to swallow for Linfield. Not only was at one of their former | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
players who made the goal, it was yet another sign that the balance | :23:56. | :24:03. | |
of power in the local game may have switched from Belfast's traditional | :24:03. | :24:12. | |
big two to North Belfast's Club, Crusaders and Cliftonville. We won | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
this trophy six of the last seven years. The FT does not rest easy | :24:16. | :24:26. | |
:24:26. | :24:29. | ||
with us. You cannot do it every year. -- de feat. You can take | :24:29. | :24:37. | |
defeat on the chin. There are some things over which you have no | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
control and it is pretty hard to take. Things had started so well | :24:42. | :24:49. | |
for Linfield. A decision came which for Linfield. A decision came which | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
annoyed the Linfield manager. He felt this was a clear penalty. | :24:53. | :25:02. | |
Instead, the referee booked this player for diving. A penalty was | :25:02. | :25:09. | |
given shortly after. Gary Mackay action step up to dispatch on the | :25:09. | :25:16. | |
spot. Then the winner set Crusaders spot. Then the winner set Crusaders | :25:16. | :25:23. | |
are -- sent Crusaders through. There is a winning mentality here. | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
Everyone just believes they can win every trophy we go for. That is the | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
way we approach every game. Crusaders now face Glenavon and the | :25:33. | :25:38. | |
next round. The more immediate aim for Stephen Baxter's side is a | :25:38. | :25:48. | |
:25:48. | :25:48. | ||
League Cup final against Cliftonville on Saturday. | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
This year's Six Nations championship was officially | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
launched in London today. Ireland's campaign will begin with an trip to | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
Cardiff on Saturday week to play Wales. The Welsh won the | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
corresponding game in Dublin last year. Ireland will have a score to | :25:59. | :26:01. | |
settle. However, the coach today found himself fielding more | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
questions about his decision to switch the captaincy from Brian | :26:04. | :26:06. | |
O'Driscoll to Jamie Heaslip. needed to give Brian O'Driscoll | :26:06. | :26:12. | |
some space so he could get up and going. Sometimes you have to do | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
what do you think is right for the player. Hopefully, by giving him | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
this time and space, he will be stronger when he comes back. You | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
always a need him as a player more than union -- more than you need | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
him as a captain. I know you like to belt out a tune, but some people | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
do not have a musical note in their head. Others are naturally talented, | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
like Steven Bell. He spent last year composing a song for every | :26:41. | :26:47. | |
single date in 2012. Why? We found out when we went to take a look at | :26:47. | :26:57. | |
his remarkable audio diary. Some people find an achievement in | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
writing one song, but Steven Bell wrote one for every day last year. | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
He explains why he did it. John Lennon said that a song should be | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
Britain on one day, a record at the next day, pressed the next day, | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
promoted the next day and released the following day. I wanted to do | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
all of that in one day. That is where the idea came from. It was | :27:22. | :27:29. | |
just a moment of madness, really. His two children were among many | :27:29. | :27:35. | |
things that gave the full-time dad inspiration. Just from what I was | :27:35. | :27:41. | |
doing, those days, sometimes you pick up the paper and read | :27:41. | :27:47. | |
something or you just hear a phrase, and sometimes you write out of | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
frustration. If you were trying to write a diary for a year, every day, | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
it would be difficult. Putting a song together every day is fraught, | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
and there would be times when he would have to come to our House to | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
work on his songs and record at 12 o'clock at night. It has been very | :28:05. | :28:12. | |
difficult. It takes a lot of commitment and hard -- hard work. | :28:12. | :28:17. | |
Along with pursuing a career in music, he hopes to perform all of | :28:17. | :28:27. | |
:28:27. | :28:30. | ||
The winter is still very much here. At least no more snow today. Yes, | :28:30. | :28:38. | |
things are at a good deal, then they were. Not much and the way of | :28:38. | :28:45. | |
fresh snow. It did not get the chance to fall, really, either. You | :28:45. | :28:51. | |
can see in this picture, the waterlogged day. It is not really | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
until the end of the week that we will see a decent bowl. We have | :28:55. | :29:01. | |
lost the snow, but we have seen some ice causing some pretty major | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
problems on our roads. The ice is likely to cause a fair bit of | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
disruption. Tonight, another bitterly cold night to calm. We | :29:11. | :29:20. | |
could see -- another cold night to come. We have got some freezing fog | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
patches around, and they might be quite slow to clear in the morning. | :29:25. | :29:30. | |
It will certainly be a cold start and an I c one as well. Probably | :29:30. | :29:38. | |
the best day to get out and about, though. Through the afternoon, the | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
breeze will pick up, and we have got some FTSE thickening up, and | :29:43. | :29:48. |