Browse content similar to 04/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This is East Midlands Today with Dominic Heale and Anne Davies. | :00:03. | :00:06. | |
Losers in the battle for Christmas shoppers, and the cities going head | :00:06. | :00:11. | |
to head to keep our custom. Some stores lost out, others did well | :00:11. | :00:18. | |
but the uncertainty remains. We're not expecting an easy year. However | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
we'll do everything we can do to make sure that we're as successful | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
as we can be. And tit-for-tat car-parking war as | :00:24. | :00:33. | |
two of our biggest cities compete for the night-time economy. | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
Also, the street where not one but six houses were burgled in one | :00:37. | :00:38. | |
night. And as 2011 is provisionally named | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
as the second warmest year on record, I take a look back at the | :00:42. | :00:52. | |
:00:52. | :01:02. | ||
year's weather and its effect on Good evening, welcome to the | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
programme. First tonight, another sign of how | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
tough it is out there on the high street. The giant fashion chain, | :01:08. | :01:10. | |
Next, based at Enderby in Leicestershire, says sales in the | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
run-up to Christmas were disappointing as competitors | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
slashed prices. And that gloomy picture is also being reported by a | :01:17. | :01:23. | |
long-established independent department store. In a moment we'll | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
be speaking to a retail expert to get his analysis of consumer | :01:26. | :01:36. | |
:01:36. | :01:36. | ||
confidence. But first, this report The sales signs were out early as | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
some retailers discounted heavily before Christmas. But Bennett's of | :01:41. | :01:47. | |
Derby have been around a long time, 277 years in fact. It held its | :01:47. | :01:53. | |
nerve and decided not to discount. Sales of 5% down in one year with a | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
dip in the final two months. November and December sales were | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
down a bit on last year which was a bit disappointing but we did not | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
discount on the run-up to Christmas and a lot of the big boys did, and | :02:04. | :02:09. | |
heavily. Around 80% of in some cases and I think that attracted | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
people to discount stores. giant Next chain based at Enderby | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
also chose not to discount in the run-up to Christmas. The company | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
says that sales in November and December were disappointing. | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
Between August and Christmas Eve in the shops were down by about 3% but | :02:26. | :02:35. | |
online sales were up by around 17%. It is not all doom and gloom, the | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
company is on target to make profits of �560 million. John Lewis | :02:40. | :02:47. | |
described its Christmas period as outstanding. And that the High | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
Cross shopping centre in Leicester, there's a feeling that shoppers | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
have turned out in force. I don't think we went over budget at | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
Christmas, we were quite good. Although I have to say that I am | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
not the best at setting budgets. lost my job just before Christmas | :03:02. | :03:09. | |
but we are OK. I had about �700 to spend on Christmas presents, I | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
would about �400 over budget. 2 million people through the doors | :03:13. | :03:21. | |
in December. On the 27th, we had 95,000 people through. We were 20% | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
up on last year so a really significant foot fall and this, | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
people were spending. Back at Bennett, they say it will be | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
another tough year but with a track record stretching back to the 18th | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
century, they are taking the long- With us now is Professor Joshua | :03:40. | :03:47. | |
Bamfield, the director of the Centre for Retail Research. This | :03:47. | :03:57. | |
:03:57. | :03:58. | ||
phrase, FC -- footfall, that must be good news? I think it is but we | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
also need to be cautious because the fat you are in the City does | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
not mean that you are spending money. -- the fact that you are. | :04:08. | :04:16. | |
Not much has happened to the city centres, it has been a lonely | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
experience, all those retailers in shopping malls have done very well. | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
Some shops were really fall before Christmas and some were empty. Have | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
there been any specifics? It is too early to say that this is what | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
happened, but independent stores I think have had difficulties. | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
Suburban stores have had difficulties. People selling | :04:41. | :04:48. | |
fashion have often had a lonely experience. It is often that half | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
of the city centre does well rather than the whole. A lot of the sales | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
started before Christmas. Did that help? All this discounting is | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
presumably not good for business. Retailers had to discount in order | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
to bring business in but customers were playing a game with them. | :05:06. | :05:12. | |
waiting. That is right. We did not see the boost in retail spending | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
until about 10 days before Christmas leave. And then it went | :05:18. | :05:25. | |
stratospheric. It did extremely well. But of course, some retailers | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
from their point of view, Christmas is a two month period rather than | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
just a ten-day period so the fact that those 10 days were very good | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
does not mean that the rest of the time has been good. Briefly, | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
looking forward to 2012, lots of people in our City have invested in | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
retail, can they look forward to a good year or could we expect | :05:48. | :05:55. | |
something else? I am sorry to be pessimistic, but at best it will be | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
flat, probably more likely it is going to be a fall in sales. | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
Unfortunately more redundancies and so it will be a very, very | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
difficult year for retailers, customers and the cities in general. | :06:09. | :06:18. | |
:06:19. | :06:19. | ||
We have to leave it on a SAT note, As we heard earlier, one of the big | :06:19. | :06:21. | |
growth areas this Christmas was internet shopping. That's prompted | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
one retailer in Leicester to close one of his shops. He reckons online | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
sales will continue climbing while those on the high street will fall. | :06:27. | :06:33. | |
But is he right? Helen Astle reports. | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
If Irish clothing has been on the streets in Leicester for 13 years - | :06:38. | :06:44. | |
- Irish clothing has been. But the shop is closing. If we did not | :06:44. | :06:52. | |
pursue the internet, it would be dramatic. It has affected trade on | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
the high street. Stock here is now on sale and some has been relocated | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
to another branch down the road. Tom predicts the been online is the | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
way forward. We believe the internet is the way to go so that | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
is the way we will push more into that. Closing one of the shops is | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
not what anybody wants to do but it is a tough decision. It seems life | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
on the high street is pretty tough but is everything happening on- | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
line? Where do you part with your money? You feel for the retailer | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
but at the end of the day, the differentials are really | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
significant. It is something like tens of pounds so online seemed a | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
lot better. It is easier to come and try it on in the high street. | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
looked at the products on internet, and then bought them in store. It | :07:41. | :07:47. | |
is there in front of you. A bit of both? Yeah. Meanwhile, at this | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
coffee shop, he is excited about the new year. 2012 is the lot of | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
another new business for me which will be men's luxury food where | :07:55. | :08:02. | |
basically. 80% of those will be sold online. It is 247. In terms of | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
the high street, you cannot do that -- it is 24/7. The operating costs | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
being on the high street are obviously huge compared to online. | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
Here you are going purely on price, then obviously the internet has a | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
place but if you want to touch and feel and look and compare, the city | :08:21. | :08:29. | |
So the face of the high street is changing. For retailers, it seems | :08:29. | :08:36. | |
if he will not online, you are of course. -- off course. | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
Meanwhile, a tit-for-tat war over parking charges is emerging as | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
cities fight over what's been dubbed the late-night economy. | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
While Nottingham has extended on- street parking charges into the | :08:46. | :08:48. | |
evening and Sunday mornings, the city of Leicester has decided to | :08:48. | :08:58. | |
:08:58. | :09:01. | ||
Talking through concert dates for the Nottingham harmonic, they are | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
expecting 150 singers for their next rehearsal but the introduction | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
of evening charges for city centre street parking has struck a | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
discordant note. The worst-case scenario, people will come up and | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
said they were not be able to carry on coming to the choir because | :09:16. | :09:22. | |
there will be in excess of �150 per year to park. One option would be | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
to relocate out of the city centre and that would be a real blow | :09:25. | :09:35. | |
:09:35. | :09:37. | ||
because we have been a city centre choir four years. A Leicester is | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
lifting evening parking restrictions to attract more people | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
in. That frustrates Nottingham's business community, they have | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
commissioned their own inquiry into the impact. Chris has just opened | :09:50. | :09:58. | |
and wants the council to think again. I think they should think at | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
reversing their decision and until that has been commissioned by a | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
those in the retail and private sector and they come up with a | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
defined solution of what would be the best way forward for parking | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
for all parties involved. City- centre churches want some | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
concessions after their protest over the introduction of Sunday | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
parking charges. Three passes for bell-ringers and class -- clerics, | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
but for worshippers, the offer of an annual parking permit, at a cost | :10:27. | :10:33. | |
of �50. Legal action has blocked Sunday and late night street | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
parking in central London for the moment. There's no talk of legal | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
action in Nottingham but the city council's Labour leadership may | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
struggle to Park this controversial issue. | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
Still to come, why 2012 is a case of deja vu for one East Midlands | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
Olympian. Don Scott won the silver in boxing at the 1948 London Games. | :10:51. | :11:01. | |
:11:01. | :11:05. | ||
We'll catch up with him at his home The trial of a police officer has | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
started, accused of having sex with vulnerable women while he was on | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
duty. Constable Jasbir Dhanda is alleged to have met women while | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
patrolling a red light district in Derby. It's also claimed he misused | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
police computers to find out information about the women. He | :11:19. | :11:29. | |
:11:29. | :11:32. | ||
denies the charges. Simon Ward 52-year-old Jasbir Dhanda faces a | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
total of 12 charges involving sex, misusing personal data and drugs. | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
His trial began at Nottingham Crown Court today. He is accused of | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
misconduct in public office. The prosecution applied its case today | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
and say he met the women through his police work and had sex with | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
them while on duty. It is claimed that two women were vulnerable, | :11:52. | :12:02. | |
they were prostitutes, had drug problems and lead chaotic lives. | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
Jasbir Dhanda who is currently suspended from Derbyshire Police | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
worked at Peartree police station. He patrolled a red light district | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
in an area of Peartree Crescent. It is claimed he found out that when | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
the warrants were issued, of a prostitute's houses, he would then | :12:18. | :12:25. | |
look for them. A third woman also claims they had consensual sex but | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
she would turn up -- he would turn up in police uniform and claimed he | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
was on a break. It is claimed that he used police computer to find out | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
addresses of women. It is claimed this was not in line with his usual | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
police work and instead used to pursue sexual relationships. Jasbir | :12:46. | :12:54. | |
A woman has pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
being armed with a knife at a school in Loughborough. Claire | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
Pladgeman, seen here on the left in the grey jacket, threatened staff | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
at De Lisle College on the phone after her son was expelled. The 45- | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
year-old was arrested by police on school grounds after officers | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
discovered a knife in the glove compartment of her car. She'll | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
appear in court for sentencing next month. | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
The Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police has announced his retirement. | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
Richard Crompton joined the force in 2004. He says he made the | :13:24. | :13:26. | |
decision for personal and professional reasons and believes | :13:26. | :13:32. | |
now is the right time for someone else to take up the reins. | :13:32. | :13:34. | |
Derbyshire-based adventurer Bryony Balen is in the final stages of her | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
polar expedition. The 21-year-old from Melbourne is hoping to become | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
the youngest person to trek to the South Pole. The team celebrated the | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
New Year with a small tipple. They have around 350 kilometres of | :13:46. | :13:56. | |
:13:56. | :13:57. | ||
skiing left until they reach the pole. That is still a fair way! | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
Next tonight, who would you choose to make sure the police do their | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
job? This year we'll get to vote for the first police and crime | :14:04. | :14:06. | |
commissioners. They'll set priorities for your local force, | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
and make sure they serve the public effectively. It's controversial and | :14:09. | :14:19. | |
:14:19. | :14:23. | ||
some people are very worried about Policing is a tough at balancing | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
act, protecting the streets, catching criminals and preventing | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
serious crime as well. The new police and Crown Commissioners will | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
be in charge of setting priorities. Rick more will stand for election | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
as Leicestershire's commissioner, he has been a magistrate for more | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
than 20 years. The obvious thing for me is called | :14:45. | :14:51. | |
anti-social low-level crime. It really impact on people's lives and | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
I would bring my business knowledge, my legal knowledge, my knowledge of | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
the criminal justice system to bear in terms of shaping the strategy. | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
The winner will replace the police authority which currently holds | :15:04. | :15:06. | |
Leicestershire's Chief Constable to account. The Government thinks the | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
new elected commissioner will have a lot more cloud but police | :15:09. | :15:17. | |
officers think that they are an expensive waste of money and fears | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
about a low turnout are bound. have got two universities in this | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
town. If they run a campaign and all the students turned out, that | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
could swing an election. You could have somebody who is doing it for a | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
project or somebody with political aspirations could get elected. That | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
would affect the policing for the entire county. Whoever wins, the | :15:40. | :15:48. | |
new police and crime Commission -- commissioners could have a great | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
level of responsibility. Jeremy Ball is with us in the | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
studio. Just how controversial is this shake-up? It is pretty | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
controversial. There are worries the police could be politicised if | :15:57. | :16:03. | |
party politicians get in. Or someone might get elected by | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
pledging to put a lot more police on the beat, for instance. But that | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
might force Chief Constables to move them off other important jobs | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
like solving murders. And this really boils down to worries about | :16:15. | :16:17. | |
meddling and interference. Isn't that a danger? Well, in a way | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
that's the whole point. They've got a system like this in the States | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
and one Government advisor told me it will only work if the | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
relationship isn't too cosy. Because these elected commissioners | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
might have to bang their fists to make the police focus on what the | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
public want. If you don't like what they're doing, you can always vote | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
them out. The police in Leicester are warning | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
people to be especially alert after six houses in one road were burgled | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
in one night. It's believed the thieves got in through insecure | :16:47. | :16:49. | |
windows or doors. One man had his children's Christmas presents taken, | :16:50. | :16:59. | |
:17:00. | :17:02. | ||
Peter strive on the east side of Leicester. The residents told me it | :17:02. | :17:09. | |
has been an unremarkable Street up until now. Not one but half a dozen | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
families work up yesterday morning to find they had been burgled. | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
Bobby work at about 3 o'clock yesterday morning to find light on | :17:16. | :17:23. | |
downstairs. Event in his car. took my kids' stuff, everything. I | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
can't believe it, it is really bad. The first time I heard this in | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
Leicester. Six burglaries, really bad. All the burgled houses were on | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
one side of the street. This family who run a nearby shop found their | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
house raided just after returning from a wedding in India. All the | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
kitchen cupboards were open. And then we looked into the side room, | :17:47. | :17:54. | |
all the suitcases were open and everything was scattered. Other | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
residents are worried that the burglaries happened while many | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
people were inside their own homes. Everybody was in bed. Anything | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
could have happened. I am very upset about it and I hope it will | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
not happen again. One would be too many but for us to have six | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
occurrences on a quiet, suburban street, that is very difficult or a | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
major impact for the community. Four of those were insecure doors | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
to the property so we are urging residents to do the final security | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
checks and make sure their doors are locked and windows locked. | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
police say this number of burglaries is unusual and | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
burglaries overbought are going down in Leicestershire but they say | :18:36. | :18:42. | |
anyone with information should ring the emergency 101 number -- | :18:42. | :18:52. | |
:18:52. | :18:59. | ||
burglaries overall are going down. It is time for the sport. Some | :18:59. | :19:05. | |
lovely Olympic work coming up later The former Nottingham Forest | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
manager Steve McClaren may soon be back in work. He's confirmed today | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
he's in talks to return as manager to the Dutch side FC Twente. | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
McClaren was at Forest for less than four months. | :19:14. | :19:16. | |
It's angering the fans. But next months's game between Leicester | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
City and Derby County at Pride Park has been switched from Saturday | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
afternoon to a Thursday evening. The game's been chosen to be shown | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
live on Sky. The switch may be causing complaints but there are | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
few grumbles about Derby at the moment. They were the only team in | :19:28. | :19:34. | |
the country to win all three games over the Christmas holidays. It is | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
a great effort from the lads. They are working hard with each other. | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
When you put everything into the mix together, it is obviously all | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
the right ingredients and you come up with the result. | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
In rugby, there's a double injury blow for the Leicester Tigers and | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
England. Manu Tuilagi's likely to be out for a month, and Louis | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
Deacon for up to four months. Meanwhile the Tigers seem set to | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
sign Worcester wing, Miles Benjamin. The 23-year-old averages around a | :20:00. | :20:10. | |
try every other game. We have spoken to Miles Benjamin but | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
nothing is signed or sealed. He is one of several players we are | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
talking to at the moment because after the 1st January, you are | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
allowed to speak to players from other clubs and we will see what | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
comes. But, you know, he is a good player and there's lot of good | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
players and lots of guys on the market as you well know. | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
It's been a great start to the Olympic year for badminton hopeful | :20:34. | :20:36. | |
Chris Adcock of Nottinghamshire. He and his partner Imogen Bankier have | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
beaten the World Champions in straight sets in the first round of | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
the Korean Open. There'll be no Olympics for one of | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
Rebecca Adlington's training partners at the Nottinghamshire | :20:44. | :20:50. | |
Nova Club. 25-year-old Kathryn Wyld is giving up the sport because of a | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
hip injury. And an injury blow too for | :20:52. | :20:54. | |
Nottinghamshire gymnast Sam Oldham. He'll miss next week's Olympic test | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
event in London. $NEWLINE Sam is one of many competitors aiming for | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
London 2012. But some of our viewers have been there and done it | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
before. They were at the last London Games in 1948. Tonight we'll | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
hear about a silver medal-winning boxer from Derby. His speech is | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
affected by Parkinson's disease. So he asked his daughter to share his | :21:17. | :21:27. | |
:21:27. | :21:28. | ||
Awarded to the City of London. is the moment Britain's athletes | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
began dreaming of winning Olympic medals in front of a home crowd. | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
Just like Derby's Don Scott did in 1948. He was a 20-year-old light | :21:39. | :21:45. | |
heavyweight boxer then. It was just after the war fare, berry or steer. | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
Not much was made of it like it is now. They were not given as much | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
time to train as they do now. There are facilities were not there. -- | :21:54. | :22:04. | |
:22:04. | :22:05. | ||
very austere. He did have a friend that went around with him just | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
because of the extra rations! extra meat did the trick. He | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
returned with a silver medal and the chance to be a hero. He was | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
quite a well-known local boxer anyway. But to come back with the | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
silver medal was amazing at the time. It did not last very long and | :22:21. | :22:28. | |
he went back to work at the foundry as a grinder. Don could have his | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
moment to shine again when the torch relay heads to Derby in June. | :22:31. | :22:37. | |
My dad has been nominated to carry it for one of the legs. Whether he | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
will get there is another matter but I don't think he will be | :22:42. | :22:46. | |
running very far but we will make sure he has got some mobility | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
scooter or wheels of some description to help him along. If | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
he gets chosen. New heroes and new memories are about to be created | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
this summer. Don's family though will certainly not forget his | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
achievements in a hurry. It is part of my childhood. My dad went to the | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
Olympics and every four years, the metals come out and everybody will | :23:08. | :23:17. | |
want to see them. But I didn't win! Don't say you are not proud, we are | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
all proud of you. Wasn't that lovely? | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
And tomorrow we hear from a 1948 gymnast and take him on a visit to | :23:25. | :23:35. | |
:23:35. | :23:40. | ||
1948, how wonderful. You are with us now because of the really weird | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
weather last year. Everybody thought so. It was a bit unusual. | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
We had a very warm spring, a very warm autumn and now it has been | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
named as one of the second warmest years on record. That is using | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
provisional figures. As we go back to look at 2011, we look at the | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
effect on the wildlife. Last winter saw lots of snow in the | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
East Midlands and temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees. Even this | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
total below seemed surprised. Fast forward to a mild spring and then | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
this. An autumn bonus. He would not think this was the last day in | :24:18. | :24:23. | |
September. Just look at the forecast there. One of the hottest | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
September's on record. A blue sky yet again to get round | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
off a cracking week. Hot sunshine, temperatures could possibly top 29 | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
degrees. So what happened to 2011? And how | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
is it affecting things now? I popped down to Attenborough nature | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
reserve to find out. We went from a situation where this time last year, | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
this area was completely frozen over and we were having to bring in | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
fish from the fishmonger's to feed to the rarer birds. And then in | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
springtime, we had a very warm spring and then the flowers out at | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
least one month earlier. A shock to the system? Yes, the weather has | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
been changeable for the past few years. The breeding season got off | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
very early and things started very well. And then we had the dry month | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
of June, July and August. Yes, the birds struggled to find enough | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
insects for their chicks. Problems with some of the war blows. -- some | :25:24. | :25:30. | |
of the birds. The fact it was warm right through last year has meant | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
that we have had butterflies flying round in the last couple of weeks | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
and now we have got things like blackberries, brambles trying to | :25:37. | :25:45. | |
flower and set fruit now in January. It does turn -- if it does turn | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
cold, hopefully things will be OK. So these second warmest year on | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
record provision made for the UK, also the third driest on record for | :25:55. | :26:05. | |
:26:05. | :26:08. | ||
These are the differences, it was all down to high-pressure blocking | :26:08. | :26:15. | |
the wet weather systems and sending them up to Scotland. We will | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
continue to have stronger St winds as we go through this evening. | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
Thank you to Mike for this picture of a little Robin sheltering from | :26:22. | :26:28. | |
the wind. We have a yellow warning in place for these gale force winds | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
we are expecting this evening. We could get gusts of up to 60 mph and | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
that continues into the early hours of Thursday morning. We are | :26:37. | :26:39. | |
starting to see the rain coming in and it is fairly heavy and | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
persistent. We will notice those winds picking up further as we go | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
through the next couple of hours. The rain will start to break up as | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
we go through the night and temperatures holding up quite | :26:50. | :26:57. | |
nicely. Six Celsius is your minimum. The winds will still be gusting at | :26:57. | :27:05. | |
around 35 mph in Thursday morning. Later on it becomes drier in the | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
afternoon. Some wintry sunshine, I am sure you will welcome that. A | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
bit of breeze, with a top temperature of eight Celsius. | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
Thursday night with the lighter winds and clear skies, we are | :27:17. | :27:26. | |
expecting frost. And then Friday, the isobars much further apart. My | :27:26. | :27:35. |