29/12/2011 Midlands Today

Good evening. Hundreds of businesses across the region say

they're confident of a better 2012. What's more, almost a third of

those questioned in a survey by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce

expect to take on staff in the New Year. Cath Mackie reports. This

machine it is one of our machines... Steve Britton shows off a machine

bound for oil exploration in China. Just one of several export orders

secured by BSA Machine Tools in Birmingham and it's looking good

for 2012. As a company, I am feeling confident. We have got a

good overseas market now and the promise of more orders to come and

I think that whilst the first quarter might be quite, from their

men, things will pick up. - mac from thereon in. He's not the only

one's who's confident. Of 1,000 businesses questioned across the

region, just over half believe their fortunes are going to improve

in the New Year. The manufacturing sector is quite optimistic. They

have had a tough time and we are talking about figures starting

fairly low but there is a slight uptown and we hope they may be able

to take on some more jobs. -- a slight up term. A lot of the

optimism's been generated by the success of Jaguar Land Rover, and

the knock on effect for car component firms. But not everyone's

optimistic. Businesses overall are saying they are expecting a tough

2012 with inflation the biggest concern among the region's

manufacturers. So there's caution attached to the hope. Not least

because 2011 saw unemployment rise to its highest level in 16 years as

jobs were shed by virtually every sector. BSA, though, have just

secured an order for the American oil sector worth three quarters of

a million and are hoping to take on an apprentice in the New Year.

Seven men have now been arrested following the death of a 23-year-

old in Shropshire. The victim, Jason Cook, also known by his

nickname Scottie, was stabbed on Tuesday after a dispute involving

up to twenty young men in the Monkmoor area of Shrewsbury. He was

taken to hospital, but died a short time later.

And a murder investigation is underway after a woman's body was

found at a house in Wolverhampton this morning. She'd been stabbed. A

man was discovered at the same address with stab injuries and he's

being treated in hospital. Police say they're not looking for anyone

else. The West Midlands has more

companies specialising in Tele- health, that's remote medical care

or monitoring in your own home, than anywhere else in the country.

And with an ageing population and shrinking health budgets, those

firms could see business growing. Here's our health correspondent,

Michele Paduano. Four-year-old Thomas Moore has

autism and developmental delay. One of his obsessions is turning on

taps, but new technology stops him flooding the bathroom or escaping

from home in Wolverhampton. haven't got the stress of wondering

where he is, what he is doing by having the gadgets we have got

meaning we can monitor Thomas and, at the same time, it is also giving

him the independence that he needs in order to grow and flourish as he

gets older. At this house in West Bromwich, Alvolution shows off an

array of gadgets. Like this fingerprint access to the home.

Welcome home. I will put the kettle on. There is a change needed in the

culture that actually care should be and can beat delivered at home.

Or even outside of the GP's surgery. Are you OK? I am OK. Clinical

trials show this system can stop death by 45%. It can save money as

well as lives. Safe Patient Systems has won a �1.4 million contract in

Bristol that allows 3,000 patients up to the age of 104 to monitor

themselves. It uses mobile phones. They follow the instructions, this

device then follows -- takes some readings, then it uploads

automatically via Bluetooth that reading to the device. The results

are then sent to a computer. It cuts down on cost and the patients

tend to manage their health better. That's why the Government is

encouraging such innovation. 12 months ago, the discovery of the

remains of more monuments buried in the landscape around Stonehenge

created international interest. Since then, researchers at the

University of Birmingham have continued to examine the data

producing extraordinary results. Our Science Correspondent David

Gregory has been catching up with progress at the University's high-

tech archaeology lab. Amazing as the stones are for

archaeologists, what is going on underneath them is just as

important and last year an international team including the

University of Birmingham used the later scanning equipment to examine

what is going on under the surface without having to lift a spade. So

this is an Ordnance Survey map and these are the Stonehenge stones

themselves, this is the car park, and all of this grey area, that is

all the data the scientists have taken. That is an enormous amount

of information. When you put it together, it is not just a couple

of kilometres but seven square kilometres of data. In three

dimensions as well. To analyse that, it is beyond the capacity of

individuals and we have to automate the process now to get the most out

of it. We were the first revealed one of the project's discovers, a

second wooden Stonehenge. Other features of the landscape have been

discovered as well. Two pits have been discovered. It is at least a

month -- a metre deep. We don't think we have got to the bottom. It

is quite a significant structure. One theory is these pits could have

contained giant bonfires. That links to a much earlier monument of

Stonehenge itself which suggests Stonehenge is becoming important

before the monument that people know so well actually came into

existence. And that is important. There is much more data to look at

and this laboratory will be revealing much more of Stonehenge's

It has been a grey day, let us see what we have been so store.

It has been a blustery day to day. Those winds will feed in showers

for the first part of tonight and it will be cloudy. Those showers

died out with a dry end to the night but it was there a cloudy

with temperatures dipping to around five. Tomorrow we start off with

dry weather than a band of rain moves in from the West. Then this

band of rain spills in across the region for tomorrow afternoon

bringing a spell of very wet weather. Temperatures, eight, so a

touch higher. The winds will be lighter as well. New Year's Eve,