16/08/2011 East Midlands Today

This is East Midlands Today with Anne Davies and me Quentin Rayner.

Tonight, just how thin can the thin blue line get?

After dealing with rioters as young as 11, a warning of police

overstretch. The scale of savings is too much. The government already

doesn't need to think again in that area.

Also, the university's students stare -- jailed for a serious of

armed muggings. Plus of the computer game which

actually improves some children's health. I play it really well

normally. Did you know your father has helped develop of us? What you

think of him? I love him. And the surprise silver medal.

still letting it sink in. It was Good evening and welcome to

Tuesday's programme live from the East Midlands.

First tonight, a stark warning that the thin blue line is in danger of

being stretched to breaking point. The words of caution came from the

chairman of the Nottinghamshire Police Authority a week after riots

began breaking-out across the country.

The number of people arrested in the East Midlands during the

disturbances is approaching 250 and the courts are still dealing with

them. In one city, almost a third were under 18. Mike O'Sullivan

reports. The firebombing of this police

station in Nottingham last Tuesday night. One of five police stations

in the City to come under attack. Today, a warning that millions of

pounds of cuts to the police budget coming over the next four years,

could stretch the thin blue line too far. We are arguing with

government that the scale of savings being asked of the police

is too much. The government really does need to think again it in that

area. They police have been working hard to restore law and order to

our streets. In Nottinghamshire, 122 arrests have been made. 177

This court's complex in Nottingham sack from 8am to 8pm last Thursday.

They heard about violent disorder, burglary, theft, threatening

behaviour. Many of those appearing were juveniles and they included

one year end -- 111 year-old child. This is police video of the 11

year-old girl trying to smash windows in Nottingham. She pleaded

guilty to criminal damage and has been referred to a youth offending

panel. Their way -- there may well be economic and social reasons for

these children coming out on to this treat but after that, it is

claimed, a mob mentality can take over. The confidence exuded came

from a sense of group and togetherness. As a group, we are

stronger. That is something that essentially we need to address,

that sense of being connected to way group which is much more for

good than four Hamas was in this case. In the aftermath of the

disturbances, many people are still due to appear before the courts.

Traders in Leicester have decided to take their own tough stance

against the troublemakers involved in last week's disturbances.

Businesses in the city want to name and shame convicted offenders and

ban them from their premises. Victoria Hicks is there for us

tonight. Good evening. It is great to be

back in Leicester city centre and to see it busy and vibrant again.

But traders here are not being complacent. They are calling for

the police to pass on information about convicted offenders and

photographs to enable them to ban them from their premises. They are

part of an organisation which aims to fight crime in last a.

-- been at Leicester. When you are being dealt with at court, you

might get a short sentence but when you get out, you will not be

allowed into our members' premises for two years. In some cases, you

will not be allowed in our members' premises... What we are talking

about here is civil action. A bar or restaurant has the power to ban

whoever they want and to find that ban is an act of trespass. Police,

who are part of the scribe, are supportive of the idea but sake

legally they need to look into what powers they have to distribute this

kind of information and to help enforce any such ban.

Presumably, trade has just want to prevent a repeat of last week's

disturbances. They most certainly do. This

afternoon, we were talking to traders who were caught up in

disturbances last week. I think it is an excellent idea. If people are

prepared to do the crime, they need to understand that they are going

to come across consequences. People are now more aware of it and people

asked more scared -- are more scared. To restore public

confidence, I think the naming and shaming of these people is

essential. Hopefully, it will discourage people from doing things

like this in future. But the problem is, if this ban goes ahead,

it will only deal with adults and not children. The majority of the

people that last woman saw were between the ages of 10 and 16 years

of age. The police the Saturday and told me that most of the people who

have already appeared before Court, have already been banned from the

city centre as a condition of their bail.

Later, the man who was walking the Two university students have been

jailed for a series of street robberies in Nottingham. Their

victims were were threatened at knifepoint, or with broken glass.

Jeremy Ball can tell us more. Where did it happen?

Well, these attacks all happened near the University of Nottingham.

Two of the victims were students there. So was one of the attackers.

He's Youcef Zeinden. Who was on civil engineering course. His

partner in crime was David Izamoje, a politics student at Manchester

University. They're both 19. Today they've both been given three-and-

a-half year jail sentences. And that means moving from top

universities, to the cells of a young offenders centre.

And what exactly did they do? They've been found guilty of

committing three robberies last December, on Derby Road in Lenton.

The victims were all ordered to hand over their money and mobile

phones. The first two were mugged at knifepoint, very early on a

Friday morning. The third was threatened with a broken bottle, in

broad daylight, two days later. In each case, the pair took what they

wanted, then drove off. And Nottingham University say they've

been working closely with the police. And supporting the students

who were victims. Four men have been arrested in

connection with an assault on a 43- year-old man in Derby who later

died in hospital. The attack took place on Sunday afternoon on

Brunswick Street. The man, who was seriously injured, died in hospital

yesterday. A post mortem examination is due to take place.

Police have begun a murder investigation.

Next, an example of how computer games can improve the health of

children. Experts at the University of Derby have developed programmes

to help children with cystic fibrosis cope better with treatment.

Four-year-old Alicia is the first to try out the software which her

father had a hand in designing. Our Health Correspondent Rob Sissons

reports. Alesi his family were going around

in circles, trying to get her to do daily physiotherapy to clear mucus

from her lungs. It is caused by cystic fibrosis. We were finding

for physiotherapy, which involves her breathing into a device,

arduous. There were a lot of tantrums. The pirates came to the

rescue, it is a computer game. Two of the girl, it is child's play.

The breathing tube is doing vital work, controlling action on screen,

keeping her interested enough to clear her lungs. She has already

got her favourite. I play the flowers. Is that the best game? Did

you know your father has helped develop of this? What you think of

him? I love him. Flowers are only pushed onto the screen when she

exhales a she has to exhale at a certain pressure to make that

happen. Cystic fibrosis is a life threatening, inherited disease. It

clogs the lungs with thick mucus. 9000 people in the UK have it. Only

half of those living with the condition are expected to live past

their late thirties. The team know they will have to keep coming up

with a new games to keep the kids interested. Kids kept bored with

pretty much every game eventually. Again is a system and once you've

learned that system and beaten up again, you want a new challenge.

Her family say the game has helped extend her life.

What a little sweetheart! And how clever his daddy as well?

It's exactly 100 days since Leicester made history and voted in

it's first ever elected mayor. Sir Peter Soulsby used to be a Member

of Parliament in the city but quit to fight the campaign for the new

job. He promised to complete 100 pledges

within his first 100 days. And our political reporter Eleanor

Garnier's been finding out how he's got on.

The Labour Party candidate, 46,000... Sweeping to victory on a

Labour landslide. With his new- found power, he promised to

complete 100 pledges in his first 100 days in office. So, how has he

done? I am absolutely delighted because we set ourselves a tough

challenge when we set ourselves 100 pledges in 100 days. We will have

to live and 99 of them. There will only one which will not be

delivered, that is the new council offices, but that will be delivered

by Christmas. If promises completed include preparing -- repairing

potholes, working with shock holders to improve the Golden Mile

and a campaign to tackle street drinking. But some have criticised

for mayor for including pledges too easy to achieve, whilst others say

he has ignored fundamental issues. Peter has spent a lot of time

criticising the previous council's budget and the funding but he has

not got to grips with his main priority, which was to sort out the

financing of the council. We've had all of these announcements of extra

spending but at no point has he explained where that money is

coming from and which services he will be cutting down the line.

Peter has been involved in politics in Leicester for Neelie 40 years.

As a city councillor, leader of the council and as a local MP. But is

he making his mark in his new role? Do you know who the mayor is?

He is an MP. Is he a sportsman? I've heard the name... Last week's

riots are a reminder of how tough the job can be and a warning that

it may not be so easy to tick off the bigger decisions up ahead.

Well, the government wants all of our big cities have elected mayors.

But in Nottingham, there's determined opposition. Our

Political Editor John Hess can tell us why. John, what's the problem?

Next May, voters in 11 of England's biggest cities, including

Nottingham, get the chance to decide on following the example of

Leicester or London in having a directly elected mayor to run their

city. Labour leaders in other Midland cities such as Birmingham

are enthusiast about the idea. But not in Nottingham. The reason?

Labour estimate the cost of setting up a mayoral system in Nottingham

would be just over �1 million. At a time when budgets are being

squeezed, they say the city just can't afford having what they're

calling a "millionaire mayor". We will have to have the referendum.

We would have to spend a quarter of a million pounds on it or more.

Once people realise we will be paying someone �114,000 for the

privilege of being a mayor, they will not wanted. A Nottingham has

had some run-ins with this coalition government already. Is it

heading for another battle? depends on whether the government

feel that the city council is obstructing the progress towards a

referendum next month. Nottingham's political leadership believes that

this referendum is a point -- complete irrelevance. The

Government believe that having elected mayors make things more

focused, give better leadership and they are more accountable. Peter

will buy into that straightaway. In our other East Midlands City, Derby,

it doesn't matter to them at all because the government don't think

the City is big enough to be included in its plans.

The we will leave it there for now, thank you.

One of the companies behind the Tramlink Nottingham consortium has

won the contract to redevelop Nottingham train station. Network

Rail has confirmed that developer Vinci Construction has been

appointed to complete the �60 million upgrade. Vinci is currently

building a new 950-space car park which marks the first stage of the

station's redevelopment. The work's due to be finished by the end of

2014. A Leicester man who's been cleaning

up the environment by collecting discarded cans has reached a new

milestone. Adrian Ablett scours the west end of Leicester for aluminium

cans and recycles them at his local supermarket. He's now collected

over 15,000 of them, and is closing in on his target of 20,000 by

Christmas. Go, Adrian! The scenes of people brandishing

brooms wanting to clean-up after the riots or the increasing numbers

of people volunteering to be special constables shows many of us

want to get involved in our communities.

One man who's certainly putting his best foot forward when it comes to

helping others is Matt Wallace from Nottingham. He's leaving his job

and flat behind to walk the length of the country for charity. Jim

Harris reports. Matt Wallace is giving it all up.

His job, his flat and a comfortable life. It is to raise money and

awareness for the charity Cancer Research UK. Leaving just after his

30th miss-roke, he will be walking the length of the country from John

O'Groats to Land's End. -- 30th birthday. Can see UK is an

important cause to me and to millions of other people across the

country. -- Cancer Research UK. As much money as possible should beam

made for this charity. He will be a visiting some of the charity's

special research centres. I will be meeting each of the research

centres and producing short videos, all about who they are and what

they do, tried to get a better understanding to my blog and

YouTube and everything else about what the actual work involves and

what the money goes towards. He has made a clever system to film

himself on the move. We decided to try it. This is me, with Jim from

East Midlands today. This is my first bit of media coverage. It is

going to be great. Best of luck. The thank you. A Plenty more on its

way here on BBC East Midlands Today. In fact our cup overfloweth as we

tell the historic tale of the man who accidentally saved millions of

lives by sorting out Nottingham's Coming up, how spaghetti carbonara

helped one sports stars to his best ever performance. But first,

Leicester City's latest target. They've made a bid of around �3

million for striker Jermain Beckford from Premier League

Everton. No word yet from Everton. Two games tonight. In League One,

Notts County are at Tranmere. The Merseyside team have won both of

their games so far. And Nottingham Forest are looking for their first

league win and their first league goal under new manager Steve

McClaren. Forest are at Doncaster. Commentary on both games on BBC

Radio Nottingham. So Forest are in Yorkshire. And one of the best

known Yorkshiremen to play for Forest has just finished a book

about his time in Nottingham. Goalkeeper Mark Crossley was

different to most. He kept a dictaphone with him throughout his

career and has been ploughing through hours of recordings to come

up with some very special memories. It was the place where his 20 year

footballing career began, courtesy of a manager who spotted potential

in the Yorkshire teenager. first words he spoke to me were, if

you want to play for me, young man, get your hair cut. I used to have

really long hair! Sure enough, the next morning, I got a short-back-

and-sides. The contract negotiations were anything but

straightforward. I looked at it and it was blank. It was empty. I said,

there is nothing on it. And he looked about me and he said, signed

at, or off you pop and played for Barnsley. So why signed it! Only

when I got out of the office, I thought, what of Haydn? I have just

signed a blank contract. It turned out to be a four-year deal on it is

better than he had expected. He went on to make almost 400

appearances for the reds and to play for 21 different managers. A

lifetime of footballing memories he is sharing in his new book. I have

been paid for something that I love doing. I still do love doing it. I

remember a quote from a coach that I once worked with, a once acted --

asked him the time and it was a stupid question because he turned

round and looked at me and said, it is the time of life, you're a

football player. But is something that has always stuck with me.

has finally hung up his boots for a career in coaching, inspired by one

man in particular. He was like a second father to me. He was there

when I looked up to and still do. I had he present above my bed, a

canvas painting of him, and I got it above my bed. He is probably

looking down on me, keeping an eye on me, keeping me in line.

chances are Brian Clough would like what he sees.

We mentioned yesterday but it it is time to hear from our star of the

moment. Nottinghamshire's Chris Adcock shocked the world of

badminton by winning silver at the World Championships Mixed Doubles.

He and his partner Imogen Bankier have been together less than a year

and went into the tournament unseeded. This morning, I found him

still buzzing from the triumph. Yeah, this is what I won. It is

heavier than I thought it would be. Every day I wake up and look at it,

thinking, this is mine. It is out of my dreams and I cannot believe I

am holding it now and are still pinch yourself. It is a great

feeling. It's very hard to overstate the impact of this moment.

To take silver, when you are not even seeded and your partner should

are still fresh, is a truly remarkable. Nothing is impossible

in sport. If you had said I would get any medal at the start of the

week, I would have snatched it. To come out with a silver medal, that

is something out of my wildest dreams. A Chris has had to work

hard for it. He has been playing since he was four years old. His

leg was once broken in three places. Three years ago, he was serving

pre-Olympic drinks too bad Minton's the top stars. Now he is hoping to

follow Nathan Robertson as an Olympic medallist in London.

thing I would take out of this most his confidence. We are now some of

the world's best players. I've heard a level of superstition might

have played a part. I must have had about seven or eight spaghetti

Kavanagh is this week. I'm a bit sick of that at the minute. Maybe

at my next tournament, I'll be back on to it. I'm not a superstitious

person but anything that helps last week was going to be done.

spaghetti Kavanagh or has fuelled this world finalist. We definitely

think we've got more to come! Hopefully one more than a silver

medal next year. A spaghetti never helped anything for me, except my

waistline! Now, for the third in our Historic Holmes series where

John Holmes uncovers the industrial legacies of the East Midlands.

This time it's the story of how one man's obsession to make sure

Nottingham was supplied with constant water, accidentally saved

millions of lives worldwide. This is Britain's finest working

Victorian pumping station and this This mighty marble provides a

temple to Victorian ingenuity and also to a great architect and

engineer. The legacy he left us is A this is where he was born.

Hauxley had an obsession, to get a supply of constant fresh drinking

water into the town on tap. To do that, the water had to be under

pressure so he needed to move it to reservoirs up on the top of the

hill. To get it there, he needed a huge pump. His original pump house

was here in Nottingham. Us and replaced it. The first was

completed in 1832. Coincidentally, that was at the same time as a

worldwide cholera outbreak. Millions died. When the next

outbreak occurred, platinum remained unscathed. Oxley had

accidentally saved the town. -- Hauxley. His water was never

stagnant. Towns and cities across the land rush to follow his example.

This led to international recognition and his company put in

installations all over the world. He was knighted and given the

international honours in Austria, Brazil and Sweden. The pumping

station is next opened on the bank holiday. Make sure you pop down to

the newly renovated -- renovated reservoir. It looks like a

And his legacy? Many of his dams and reservoirs still serves it is

like Leicester, cities like Birmingham. The most important is

the millions of lives he saved from We will be seeing some lovely sunny

spells this evening and overnight tonight, it will be dry and clear.

Find you very much, Mary, for this photograph. It was taken at the

weekend and if like Mary, you would like to Sanderson of your weather

pictures, sent them to this address. We had rain in earlier today and a

few showers this afternoon. That cleared with the cold front pushing

away. As we go into the season, if we are starting to see that cloud

breaking to give some sunshine and it will continue to give a sunny

spells. Then for cloud will start to, only -- start to break, and it

will be a Cole denied them what we have been used to. Those

temperatures are expected to fall down to 10 Celsius. It will be

colder in rural spots. You might just noticed a little bit of mist

and fog first thing tomorrow morning and then it is a beautiful

start, almost cloud free through the morning. We will see that cloud

increasing through the day. He might see one or two sunny spells

in the afternoon. -- you might. A top temperature of 19 Celsius.

Thursday, low-pressure is coming near us and we concede the reign of

moving its way East. It will bring some quite significant rainfall,

10-20 mm widely-expected. The good news is that rain will clear on

Thursday night and on Friday, high pressure starts to build. We are in

for a fright -- a dry and sunny day. 21 Celsius. Warmer still on

Saturday, 22 degrees, when it is By the way, if you want to follow