Browse content similar to 28/11/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Louise, thank you. That's all from the BBC | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Hello and welcome to the programme. The headlines tonight: 950 jobs to | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
go in the Midlands as energy firm NPower closes sites in Stoke on | :00:10. | :00:17. | |
Trent and Oldbury. We are looking at cutting costs and | :00:18. | :00:20. | |
improving customer experience but there are a lot of people impacted | :00:21. | :00:22. | |
by that. I'm live in Stoke, where unions have | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
accused NPower of "serving up a Christmas nightmare". | :00:26. | :00:28. | |
Also tonight, catastrophic failures at Walsall Hospital. Staff failed to | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
follow basic child protection procedures which could have saved a | :00:32. | :00:42. | |
baby's life. It seems the smallest mistake they have made and it had | :00:43. | :00:44. | |
the biggest consequences. Breaking new ground ` the Swedish | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
safety firm investing millions and creating new jobs in a technology | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
park in Nuneaton. From the Sydney Opera House to the | :00:51. | :00:53. | |
Regal Cinema in Evesham ` violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy. | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
And as shortlived as it was, it was nice while it lasted, but it's out | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
with the mild now and back to the cold. But for how long? I'll have | :01:04. | :01:05. | |
the answers later. Good evening. | :01:06. | :01:18. | |
A major blow to the Midlands, as the energy firm NPower cuts nearly a | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
thousand jobs. 950 employees will be made redundant at sites in | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
Stoke`on`Trent and Oldbury. The company employs just over 2800 staff | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
at ten sites across the region. Earlier this year, the firm cut 300 | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
jobs at Kingswinford. In a moment we'll be assessing the impact of | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
today's news and I'll be speaking to a director of NPower. But our | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
coverage begins with Liz Copper, who has been following today's | :01:45. | :01:52. | |
announcements. Arriving at Fenton at first like to | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
hear the news they had been braced for. 550 jobs will go here by June | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
next year. Disappointing, but inevitable, I think. I think | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
everyone expected it. That does not make it feel better. It would have | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
been nice if it had been handled better. I am gutted. Out of work. It | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
will be a hammer blow for the area as an economic entity. And at | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
Oldbury, 400 more jobs will be lost with the closure of one of the | :02:26. | :02:28. | |
country's three officers in the Black Country. The government is | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
promising help. We need to work closely with NPower, understanding | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
their proposals in more detail and then work with the local authority, | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
local MPs and other agencies to make sure those affected can find job at | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
it Jack `` job opportunities that are out there. This is where the | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
jobs will go, outsourced to India. They say they hope to get better | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
customer service. I find it hard to believe they will get better | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
customer service in Bangalore than in Fenton when it comes to meter | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
reading, helping customers, the kind of human conversations that we know | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
customers want. But the company disagrees. It says the changes will | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
drive more efficient customer service. We work in a competitive | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
environment and our job is to keep energy bills low and improve | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
customer service, which is why we are doing this. In Stoke`on`Trent, | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
the economic intact will be keenly felt. Just weeks before Christmas, | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
this is bound to lead to an uncertain festive period for workers | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
and their families. Unions have been critical of the company's timing. | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
Coming a few days before their prices to consumers are going up I | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
over 10%, I feel gobsmacked by what they are doing. We had no idea they | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
would offshore almost 1500 jobs across the UK to India in order to | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
cut costs. The unions have missed helpful staff, who will be facing | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
the New Year looking for new jobs. `` they have promised help for | :04:03. | :04:10. | |
staff. Sarah Falkland is outside NPower's offers tonight. One man who | :04:11. | :04:20. | |
lives just up the road has just said what has been happening today is out | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
of order. I have spoken to some staff this evening. One woman said | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
there were tears in her department and there is a lot of | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
disappointment. But mostly, people did see this coming. Not scale, | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
perhaps, but they saw job losses coming. They were hopes on the | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
introduction of Project Atlas, the new computer system, but that was | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
not to be. Nobody thought the entire call centre would shutdown, and the | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
manner in which they were told has been the twist of the knife. They | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
sat in front of a video message lasting 15 minutes this morning and | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
that is how they found out. Unions say it is a slap in the face for a | :04:58. | :05:00. | |
loyal British workforce. Stoke on Trent and the Black Country | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
have been unemployment black spots for years. Currently 8.5% of people | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
living there are unemployed, that's well above the national average of | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
7.6%. So how can these areas recover? Ben Godfrey reports. | :05:10. | :05:21. | |
Stoke`on`Trent and Oldbury were once the engine rooms of our region's | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
Manufacturing growth. Today's job losses, in the service industry, | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
remind us of its difficult demise. 950 staff are wondering what is next | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
for their careers, and those of their bosses. You are the head of | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
sight. Are you losing your job? I will be going through the same | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
management restructure as the rest of NPower. Places like Oldbury and | :05:45. | :05:51. | |
Stoke are industrial heartlands but they lost thousands of jobs in | :05:52. | :05:53. | |
manufacturing over the last 20 years. It was the service sector, | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
jobs like at NPower, that reinstalled a sense of confidence | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
and employment. But people are worried the bubble is about to | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
burst. We need to bring industry into the area, not services. It is | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
going overseas. What can you do? It is hard to get into work. People | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
will continue to work NPower at two other sites and Oldbury. Business | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
leaders are trying to stay positive. It is bad news, but in the overall | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
context we have an area that has created 2000 jobs in development, | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
and more companies applying and succeeding in at light `` in | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
applying for the regional growth fund. Recruitment companies are | :06:38. | :06:45. | |
preparing for a busy few weeks. They should take heart that the job | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
market has been picking up since August. We have seen a huge number | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
of vacancies coming to the West Midlands. The West Midlands is the | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
fastest`growing job market in the whole of the UK. So the employment | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
landscape is changing again. NPower's restructuring has reignited | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
a debate. Should an improved customer experience come at the | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
expense of local jobs? Joining me now is NPower's | :07:12. | :07:18. | |
Communications Director, Guy Esnouf. Good evening. Customer bills will go | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
up I over 10% on Sunday. Not great timing. You are making more money on | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
that and saving money on job losses. We have to put that in context. | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
People are worried about bills going up, so this action will help to keep | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
bills down. We only control a small amount of the bill, but we have to | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
be responsible to get those costs now when we can. It will also help | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
to improve customer service. I would like to correct a couple of things. | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
Whenever you are in NPower customer and you ring up, you will still get | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
someone in Britain when you call. Firstly, all British voice calls | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
will be from here. Secondly, it whole lot of companies already do | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
this sort of model that we have got. BMW, Marks Spencer, The National | :08:06. | :08:13. | |
Trust, they have exactly this model. But we need to concentrate on the | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
impact on people working for you in the Midlands. We heard some of the | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
employees saying it could have been handled better. Your employees heard | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
they were going to lose their job in a video. We are a major Midlands | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
employer. After this we will still be that all stop we will have 500 | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
people in Oldbury. 950 people will have lost jobs. Yes, sadly. That was | :08:37. | :08:43. | |
a hard decision because that is part of our heartland. We wanted to get | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
everybody together today. We are such a diverse company, which has | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
been one of the problems. We needed to get a uniform message. Today, | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
what matters is clarity. There was so much speculation yesterday and a | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
lot of what was said was wrong. We thought we needed absolute clarity. | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
We have a huge unemployment problem in the areas of the black country | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
and in Stoke. Should improve customer service, which is the | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
message you are keen to put out, come at the expense of local jobs | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
and supporting the local economy? Improving customer service is one of | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
the reasons. The other one is keeping down energy bills. We have | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
to balance the interests of customers and employees. That has | :09:30. | :09:32. | |
been hard to do. One of the reasons it has taken so long is that we | :09:33. | :09:35. | |
wanted to make sure we got it right and it did improve that experience. | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
We are still a major employer in the Midlands and we are proud to be. | :09:42. | :09:43. | |
This will actually help that continue. Is there support you can | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
offer these people? We will definitely be helping them. Those | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
who can move to another location in the company, we will certainly help | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
them do that. We can start working with job centres. The government has | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
already said they will be rallying round to try and help and we will | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
play our part where we can. Thank you. | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
And there's more on the NPower job losses and what it means on the BBC | :10:08. | :10:10. | |
News website. Coming up later in the programme: | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
Sentenced to eight years, the former Gloucestershire coroner who stole | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
nearly ?2 million from vulnerable clients. | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
An independent investigation is to be opened into the death of a | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
16`month`old baby, following catastrophic failures at a Walsall | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
Hospital seven years ago. Kyle Keen's father was never told that | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
staff failed to follow basic child protection procedures, which could | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
have saved his life. Michele Paduano reports. | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
Robert Keen says he is over protective of his daughter, Larissa, | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
and there's an empty space they can never fill. Kyle died from a brain | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
bleed after being abused by his stepfather. But Mr Keen was never | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
told that the hospital had found suspicious bruising on Kyle's back | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
and shoulder, but failed to report it to social services. I don't want | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
anybody to go through what I have had to go through, me, my daughter, | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
my family. We do not want anybody else to have to go through this. We | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
want the hospital to follow the procedures and stick to them. | :11:20. | :11:22. | |
It might have made a difference. Mr Keen had also seen bruises on | :11:23. | :11:25. | |
Larissa and baby Kyle. Instead, Tyrone Matthews was sentenced to | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
four and a half years for manslaughter. It started with | :11:29. | :11:35. | |
bruising on his face, all over his head. His arms, his legs. I took | :11:36. | :11:47. | |
pictures. Why did you do anything at the time? I didn't know who to go | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
to. A junior doctor at Walsall Manor | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
Hospital warned a consultant on two separate occasions that Kyle should | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
have been referred to social services the week before his death. | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
In 2007, after Kyle's death, the hospital's board minutes wrongly | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
suggest bruising was due to sepsis. In 2009, the findings of a | :12:03. | :12:05. | |
safeguarding review did show the consultant overruled nurses. But it | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
wasn't until 2013 that the hospital finally obtained the complete | :12:10. | :12:18. | |
safeguarding report. The Chief Executive, Richard Kirby, | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
was in it `` not here at the time. He said recommendations were acted | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
upon. The new review is to better establish how this incident was | :12:28. | :12:30. | |
dealt with and whether there are further lessons that can be learned. | :12:31. | :12:32. | |
Dr David Drew was clinical director in the children's department and | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
treated Kyle on the day of his death. He says a second | :12:37. | :12:38. | |
investigation into the whole children's department was carried | :12:39. | :12:41. | |
out in 2010 by the Royal College of Paediatricians, but he was the only | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
doctor allowed to see it. Kyle never figured in their report and we have | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
never been able to find out why, because six months after the review | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
reported, it was suppressed. The trust board was never allowed to see | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
it. And we have now found out that the whole panel was made to sign | :13:03. | :13:04. | |
gags. Robert Keen hopes this independent | :13:05. | :13:07. | |
review will finally establish what happened and whether the trust was | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
sufficiently open. A Coventry man has been jailed for | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
life for stabbing a family of four to death at their home in April | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
2011. 54`year`old Anxiang Du, who also owned a business in Birmingham, | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
was convicted of murdering the Deng family at their home in Northampton. | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
A court was told he'd carried out the attack after losing a ten`year | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
legal case against them. He's been ordered to spend a minimum of 40 | :13:32. | :13:44. | |
years in prison. The former coroner for | :13:45. | :13:47. | |
Gloucestershire has been jailed for eight years for stealing nearly ?2 | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
million from weak and vulnerable clients. The judge said Alan | :13:51. | :13:52. | |
Crickmore's crimes were the worst case of dishonesty he'd ever seen in | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
a solicitor. Giles Latcham reports. Once a pillar of the Gloucestershire | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
community, Alan Crickmore arrived at Southwark Crown Court, his disgrace | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
complete. Court heard that at his solicitor's practice in Cheltenham, | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
targeted elderly and infirm clients, habitually overcharging and | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
plundering their estates. He built personal relationships with some | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
victims, exchanging birthday cards and gifts. He would bring them back | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
gifts from holiday. Little did they know that they had paid for his | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
holiday with money he had stolen from them. He pilfered nearly | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
?900,000 from a trust set up by a wealthy pensioner to benefit his | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
family after his death. He became a personal friend to the family and we | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
thought he was up standing as a solicitor and County coroner of | :14:43. | :14:45. | |
Gloucestershire. When this came to light, it is horrendous. From the | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
estate of a Polish war veteran, you stole ?25,000, the money funding a | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
luxurious lifestyle. Expensive holidays, fine wines and food. | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
Throughout the enquiry, he continued to draw his ?60,000 per year | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
coroner's salary. It was very frustrating. It does not do any help | :15:08. | :15:10. | |
to my budget to pay someone for three years not to work. He | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
eventually admitted the theft and another court hearing is planned to | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
establish whether assets owned by his family can be sold to compensate | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
victims. A new scheme to help women who would | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
have been sent to prison has been given extra funding to expand its | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
service. More than half the women in prison last year served sentences of | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
less than six months, but now there is an alternative, as rehabilitation | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
courses are being offered for the first time in England and Wales at a | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
farm near Bridgnorth. Liz Roberts has more. | :15:46. | :15:52. | |
Just four weeks ago, Donna was facing a prison sentence. A homeless | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
alcoholic, she had breached the terms of the license. But instead of | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
custody she was brought to Willowdene Farm. You get therapy | :16:02. | :16:04. | |
twice a week, pretty intense therapy. I have done quite a few | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
courses, and I have certificates to take away. It has given me | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
confidence. I have done my CV, so it has been really good. The farm has a | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
history of providing training and rehabilitation from male offenders, | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
but this is the first time a residential course has been offered | :16:24. | :16:26. | |
for women to keep them out of was an altogether. The majority of female | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
offenders also have children. This enables us to work with them, | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
addressed the issues with therapeutic resources and break the | :16:37. | :16:39. | |
generational effect of offending which gives the children a hope of | :16:40. | :16:42. | |
living a better purposeful lifestyle. The majority of women | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
offenders pose no risk to public safety, and a prison sentence is | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
frequently an ineffective response. So far, just ten women have gone | :16:51. | :16:57. | |
through the programme. It has now been awarded ?48,000 by West | :16:58. | :17:00. | |
Mercia's police and crime commission, so it can double in | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
size. It is down to a partnership with West Mercia probation trust, | :17:06. | :17:07. | |
but there are fears that local expertise could be lost when | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
government plans to privatise the service are brought in next year. It | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
has taken three or four years for us to develop to the point that we have | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
this women's residential programme. It is really making a difference. I | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
will hope whoever wins the contract and succeeds the probation trust | :17:27. | :17:29. | |
want to continue this, but we simply do not know if they will want to, or | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
if it will fit their business plan. The funding will increase capacity, | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
enabling up to 30 female offenders to come here each year. The hope is | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
that this will continue to give more women the chance of a better future. | :17:43. | :17:52. | |
Our top story: 950 job losses/ energy firm NPower | :17:53. | :18:00. | |
is to close site. The weather shortly for the Midlands. Also | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
ahead, nearly six decades at the track`side, Barry, the loyal money | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
to an Harriers member is up for an unsung hero award. | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
Boarded up and abandoned, the sin are now swirling with the sound of | :18:16. | :18:26. | |
Nigel Kennedy. `` the cinema. This is the motor industry research | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
Association near Nuneaton, which is slowly expanding. Today, Swedish | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
firm Haldex announced it is setting up a technical centre on site. The | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
enterprise is expected to grow until 2020, creating new jobs. | :18:41. | :18:49. | |
A specialist in safety systems for heavy goods vehicles, Swedish firm | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
howled X was showing off its latest breaking system. The test tracks and | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
technology make this an ideal site or its future growth. We took a | :18:58. | :19:04. | |
global decision to consolidate our facilities and the UK was high up | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
there because of the services offered on site, and the second | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
point is the quality of the engineers within the region, of | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
which we have managed to secure several. Famous for its role in | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
testing new cars, this site is getting an additional role, helping | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
create new jobs. Costing around ?300 million over the next ten years, the | :19:27. | :19:29. | |
site will be developed and is set become one of Europe's leading | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
research and development sites for the automotive industry. We have | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
created 242 so far, high`tech jobs, highly skilled jobs. It also brings | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
on apprenticeships and graduate training programmes, so ringing in | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
young people and giving them skills. Enterprise zones are designed to | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
attract business to an area by offering things like reduced | :19:56. | :19:57. | |
business rates and a streamlined planning process. Here, they are | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
expecting to create 2000 jobs by 2020. Some have already been created | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
and more will follow as a result of today's announcement. Yet more | :20:08. | :20:10. | |
inward investment for the West Midlands, promising new jobs and | :20:11. | :20:14. | |
helping the region maintain its position as a centre of excellence | :20:15. | :20:22. | |
for advanced automotive engineering. He has been a loyal member of the | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
Nuneaton Harriers for almost 60 years, and during that time, Barry | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
has coached hundreds of athletes. Now he is one of five finalists in | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
our search for the BBC Midland sport's unsung hero. | :20:37. | :20:45. | |
It is fine and dry, cold and crisp, perfect for Barry's training night | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
at Nuneaton Harriers. This evening, the focus is on the 400 metres and | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
the eager bunch are champing at the bit. Got it? He was only 15 when he | :20:54. | :21:01. | |
first ran for the Harriers. He finished last in a four mile road | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
race and nearly threw in the towel. But a club member persuaded him to | :21:08. | :21:10. | |
carry on, and so he did, for the next 59 years. He is my hero because | :21:11. | :21:18. | |
he does everything for the club. He does not think about himself, it is | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
just for the members. He is great, like royalty of the track. Everyone | :21:24. | :21:32. | |
loves him. The stadium is Barry's second home. Five days a week, over | :21:33. | :21:38. | |
59 years, equals countless happy hours spent coaching, cleaning, | :21:39. | :21:41. | |
painting and pushing athletes to achieve their potential. Now the | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
club resident, Barry simply cannot see what this unsung hero fuss is | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
all about. There are times when I think, I have to go down again | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
tonight, oh, no, but when I get here, it is different. There is | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
always a lot of answer, as you might have noticed. Friends that I have | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
made in the sport since being involved with the club, all over the | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
country. Unsung until now, but unappreciated, never. Barry's | :22:12. | :22:18. | |
lifetime of loyal service guarantees the future of Nuneaton Harriers will | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
run and run. We will meet the remaining finalist | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
tomorrow. As one of the world's most famous | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
classical musicians, Nigel Kennedy is more used to performing at huge | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
concert halls, so you would not expect to play in a small cinema in | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
Worcestershire. But that is what he has been doing this week. | :22:42. | :22:48. | |
For the people of Evesham, it was hard to comprehend. It is unheard of | :22:49. | :22:57. | |
before today. This is the first time we have had anything so big here. We | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
are delighted it has been refurbished, and to have such great | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
names is a brilliant opportunity. Forget the Royal Albert Hall, this | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
week, Nigel Kennedy is performing at the Regal Cinema. Fantastic | :23:12. | :23:19. | |
atmosphere, a beautiful, warm audience. It is lovely to be close | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
to the people. It is unusual to be closer to the balcony than you are | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
to the stalls. Five years ago, the Regal Cinema was set to be turned | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
into flats. It now attracts 20,000 people each month, with more than | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
half coming from outside the town. It is the best thing that has ever | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
happened here. It is proof that it was all worth while and if you get | :23:44. | :23:46. | |
your act together, you can create something exceptional. Nigel Kennedy | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
has proved that is possible tonight. But it is not just the fact that | :23:53. | :23:55. | |
they are attracting people like Nigel Kennedy. It is also giving | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
Evesham a much`needed boost. During the four concert run, nearly every | :24:03. | :24:11. | |
hotel in town is full. Nigel is performing at the Regal Cinema until | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
Saturday. Sounding as good as ever. It has | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
been a big day for our former colleague K Alexander, officially | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
made an MBE by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. She was a | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
familiar face on Midlands today for more than 30 years, until her | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
retirement last year. The award is for her services to broadcasting and | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
for her charity work. Let's turn to the weather. At the | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
beginning of the programme you warned that cold weather is coming | :24:43. | :24:43. | |
back. warned that cold weather is coming | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
The shrine and I was not lying. The way that it felt today is how it | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
should feel for this time of year. If you felt the cold recently, it | :24:53. | :24:55. | |
has not been your imagination. We have provisional figures for | :24:56. | :25:04. | |
November and they bear out that it has been colder than normal but also | :25:05. | :25:07. | |
sunnier than usual, for the Midlands at least. But it has also been quite | :25:08. | :25:14. | |
dry. As I said, the cold is making a comeback in the next couple of days. | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
At the same time we should finally get rid of some of the cloud. What | :25:19. | :25:25. | |
is doing this for us is a rush of north`westerly wind that is flowing | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
in behind this incoming cold front. Being a cold front, it would also | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
bring colder air. We will see the changes occurring tonight. The wind | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
will mix everything up. Because we have the cold front passing through, | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
it will introduce more cloud and some light outbreaks of rain or | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
drizzle. But it is not going to amount to much. Under the cloud | :25:49. | :25:51. | |
temperatures will remain above freezing, well above freezing. The | :25:52. | :25:59. | |
wind is also partly responsible for keeping temperatures up. But a lot | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
of the cloud will overlap into the morning, so a fairly dull start to | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
the day. Why the afternoon, the wind will start to take effect and we | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
will see sunshine breaking through. `` by the afternoon. The range | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
should be out of the way but we will see showers flowing in through the | :26:17. | :26:19. | |
Cheshire cat and clobbering the north of the region. Some of these | :26:20. | :26:28. | |
could be heavy. You will find that tomorrow night, everything changes, | :26:29. | :26:31. | |
and into the start of the weekend it will turn cold. | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
Our top story ` the loss of 950 jobs here in the Midlands. Energy firm | :26:38. | :26:44. | |
NPower is to close sites in Stoke`on`Trent and Oldbury. Sarah | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
Falkland is in Stoke`on`Trent. What is the future for the workers? In | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
the short`term, unions will meet with management on Monday. What can | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
they salvage? I don't know. Stoke City council have announced this | :27:02. | :27:03. | |
afternoon that they are launching an emergency task force to help | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
workers. Somebody has launched a Facebook site urging people to | :27:10. | :27:12. | |
boycott NPower if they are angry with the outsourcing to Mumbai. If | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
you are a commuter into Stoke, have a look at the road behind me. It is | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
a very busy road. You could say the writing has been on the wall for a | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
while, because this building always used to carry it illuminated job | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
vacancies. That disappeared a few weeks ago. I did not want a new | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
staff, and sadly they did not want any staff. `` they did not want new | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
staff. I will be back at 10pm. There is | :27:41. | :27:46. | |
plenty more on the BBC News website. Have a good evening. | :27:47. | :27:47. |