Browse content similar to 17/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: More help for | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
victims ` the promise from the Prime Minister as he visits flood hit | :00:10. | :00:11. | |
areas of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. | :00:12. | :00:17. | |
People have shown incredible patience, and we're going to have to | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
be in this for the long haul. We'll be live in Upton`upon`Severn, | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
where some residents are still under feet of water. | :00:26. | :00:28. | |
Fears for safety in the floods as children start half`term holidays. | :00:29. | :00:39. | |
Floodwater is dangerous. It has got lot of the `` lots of debris in it. | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
Also tonight: As Benefits Street ends, what's the impact on those | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
who've appeared in the controversial TV series? | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
Everything has been OK. But I know other people are going through hell. | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
Bring back standing at football matches ` the campaign backed by | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
Midlands clubs. And a much better week in prospect, | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
but there are things to watch out for which I'll be highlighting in | :01:04. | :01:04. | |
the forecast later. Good evening. The Prime Minister | :01:05. | :01:18. | |
promised financial help to those who need it most, as he toured flood`hit | :01:19. | :01:21. | |
areas of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire today. ?10 million | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
will be available immediately. But it may come too late, so say some of | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
the hardest hit businesses. Takings in Upton`upon`Severn are reported to | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
be around 50% down, with some businesses fearful for their | :01:35. | :01:37. | |
survival ` whatever the politicians may promise. Ben Godfrey has this | :01:38. | :01:49. | |
report. The Prime Minister arrived in Upton | :01:50. | :01:58. | |
on a raft of optimism. While he may not stop the rain, he | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
praised the flood defences. The Severn has been held back but so | :02:04. | :02:06. | |
have some shoppers ` and trade is suffering. Personally in my | :02:07. | :02:16. | |
business, we have lost 50% of our trade. There might be a couple of | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
businesses, I am not going to quote them, which probably won't survive | :02:23. | :02:24. | |
this. The Prime Minister told me any | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
business struggling with the impact of flooding can claim money for a | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
clean up. We are making available ?5,000 grants to make them able to | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
better protect themselves in future, but this ?10 million and is today, | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
that is for businesses that have either been directly affected or | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
indirectly affected by the floods. The big problem has been access to | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
the town while Upton Bridge is closed to traffic. But the Army is | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
doing its bit with their big green shuttle bus. We hopped aboard, | :02:58. | :02:59. | |
strapped ourselves in and journeyed over the river. | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
This vehicle's wheels are six feet high, and since Friday 750 people | :03:05. | :03:12. | |
have used this vehicle operated by the while Irish regiment. | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
`` Royal Irish Regiment. Traders aren't just worried about | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
footfall ` it's also their stock. In Worcester, while the main bridge was | :03:21. | :03:23. | |
being cleared of debris, this hotel was being cleared of cash and | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
computers as looters struck. I am really, really livid. How can | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
somebody do that to someone when you have been flooded? We have already | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
lost business, and somebody has gone in there and Robert it. In the Cobra | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
meetings, we have stressed the importance of visible policing, and | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
obviously the presence of military personnel also provides that | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
reassurance, but anyone who commits a crime like that should know that | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
the authorities will be after them. This afternoon, the Prime Minister | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
was meeting Gloucestershire Police. Huge swathes of farmland across this | :04:03. | :04:04. | |
region are underwater, surrounding communities like Ashleworth near | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
Tewkesbury ` he insists everyone will get equal flooding support. | :04:08. | :04:16. | |
Some people here `` say you are only here because of the detrimental | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
flooding in the South. I do not think that is fair. When the bad | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
weather started before Christmas up in Norfolk, we had the emergency | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
committee meet them, here know we are in the West Midlands. I will try | :04:32. | :04:34. | |
to get to every part of the country that has been affected. | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
Back in Upton, people are getting by with good grace and humour ` despite | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
some frustrations, the signs of recovery are there. | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
So what's the picture across the region tonight? | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
Well, the Environment Agency tell us that we still have 33 flood warnings | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
in place and 18 flood alerts. While most bridges in our flood`hit towns | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
and cities have reopened, two remain closed. They're the Bewdley Bridge | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
and the road bridge into Upton`upon`Severn. | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
Worcester's main bridge reopened in time for the half term school | :05:09. | :05:11. | |
holidays, but there are concerns over safety, with so much flooding | :05:12. | :05:19. | |
still around. Ben Sidwell reports. The water may be going down in | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
Worcester, but there is still a lot of it around. With it being | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
half`time, there are no extra safety concerns. The rivers are earning | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
really fast. `` running. Floodwater has lots of debris in it, and there | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
might be manhole covers lifted in places where you will not see them. | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
So a dangerous place to be. Despite yet more rain today, there was | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
plenty keen on capturing the devastated scene. | :05:52. | :05:54. | |
This flooding has meant that Worcester has been seen around the | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
world, and you do is `` they do say there is no such thing as negative | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
publicity. So after one of the toughest week in the cities `` | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
toughest weeks in the city for years, could something positive come | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
out of this? At one of the region's biggest | :06:10. | :06:16. | |
tourist attractions, this was the biggest weekend. We did whether done | :06:17. | :06:29. | |
`` wonder whether people would come. I am not sure how many people came | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
because of the flooding, but actually our event was busier than I | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
feel it would be as Mike I feared it would be. | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
Some tourists have been undeterred. Emily and her family have come from | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
Northumberland for their half term holiday. We decided we would | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
travel. We had had some warning about how it was difficult to get | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
across the Severn Valley, but we decided to do it. I think there were | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
as many people as we would have expected on a Sunday `` sunny Sunday | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
night we had yesterday, and it was good to see they have not been | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
deterred by rumours of the floods. With the city starting to get Brown | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
`` back to normal, the hope is that these tourists will return again | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
after the water has gone. Ben joins us now from the closed | :07:19. | :07:21. | |
bridge in Upton`upon`Severn. As you were travelling around | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
Worcestershire today how did it compare with a normal half term? | :07:25. | :07:35. | |
I was actually here last Monday, and the levels have dropped, but | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
probably only by about that much. Many of the roads are still closed | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
including the main bridge just to the right of May. Let us find the | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
latest, Nick Green is from the Environment Agency. Everyone wants | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
to know, have we gone past the worst? River levels are run here are | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
still very high and remain higher. There is some water to come through | :08:00. | :08:07. | |
from Bewdley in Shropshire, and then hopefully we will see the rivers | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
start to fall down, but don't expect them to go very quickly. This water | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
just is not going anywhere, it is hanging around. Yes, it has been | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
around for a long time, since just before Christmas. Communities have | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
been impacted by these waters, and I think everyone is looking forward to | :08:27. | :08:29. | |
the levels going down. We were talking about tourism. Could it | :08:30. | :08:38. | |
affect tourism? I think when you have got defence such as this in | :08:39. | :08:41. | |
place you can find that people come to visit the town. The fact it is | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
here has meant the town has stayed dry and everything is open for | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
business. Where this flood barriers are concerned, if I was here in 2007 | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
I would currently be waist deep in water. That is a great relief for | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
the people. Whilst the floods have brought | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
misery to many, for some specialist businesses they've provided a boost. | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
Firms supplying equipment to the worst affected flood zones are | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
reporting sales which have more than doubled since Christmas. And as the | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
clean up gets under way, they're expecting to get even busier. Here's | :09:14. | :09:28. | |
Liz Copper. This company, near Woore in | :09:29. | :09:30. | |
Shropshire, makes, maintains and supplies pumps. It's been inundated | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
with orders. Flooding in basements, back gardens, office blocks, | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
everywhere we are getting calls. It's also been a busy time for firms | :09:40. | :09:42. | |
helping to drain waterlogged land. This contractor works mostly for | :09:43. | :09:45. | |
farmers and companies in the agricultural sector. There are | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
worries high ground water levels could lead to pollution. I am moving | :09:50. | :09:59. | |
a lot of dirty water because of all the rainfall, to stop the stores | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
overflowing and causing pollution problems. | :10:05. | :10:05. | |
These specialist businesses are reporting more than double the usual | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
number of enquiries for their services and products. | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
Pump still with the aftermath of floodwaters, but there is a growing | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
focus on what more can be done to prevent flooding in the first place. | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
And with concerns prolonged periods of extreme wet weather could become | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
the norm, there are business opportunities for firms involved in | :10:22. | :10:31. | |
designing flood`proof buildings. That is looking at hole developments | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
which are based around very eco`friendly environments, so it is | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
not just buildings but the way we live, how we live, what we do, how | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
businesses, schools, have a whole lot interacts. | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
`` how the whole lot interacts. As the task of draining rain`soaked | :10:52. | :10:54. | |
land gets under way, for some companies at least the deluge has | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
led to a surge in business. And you can see a special report on | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
the work of the Severn Area Rescue Association on Inside Out with me at | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
7:30 tonight here on BBC One. Coming up later in the programme, | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
poet Benjamin Zephaniah on the power of words to help ex prisoners go | :11:10. | :11:19. | |
straight. When you start thinking about poetry, and start being honest | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
in a way that you could question yourself. | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
And a unique tribute to the troops ` students in Birmingham have created | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
this amazing model of one of the bloodiest battles of World War I. | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
Jaguar Land Rover has started recruiting to take on an extra 1,700 | :11:37. | :11:47. | |
staff in the West Midlands. The luxury car maker is investing ?1.5 | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
billion in the UK, which includes increasing the workforce to 8,000 at | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
its plant in Solihull. Plans to extend the Midland Metro | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
system further into Birmingham have been approved by the city council's | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
Cabinet today. They've agreed to borrow ?3 million to pay for | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
developing and designing an extension to the system to include | :12:03. | :12:05. | |
New Street Station and Centenary Square. | :12:06. | :12:08. | |
Visitors are being urged to stay away from the Alexandra, | :12:09. | :12:09. | |
Kidderminster and Worcestershire Royal Hospitals due to an outbreak | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
of norovirus. The highly contagious virus causes vomiting and diarrhoea. | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
The NHS Trust is urging friends and family not to visit patients in | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
their wards unless essential. Millions have tuned in over the last | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
few weeks to see an ordinary Birmingham street become one of the | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
most famous addresses in the country. That's James Turner Street, | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
or Benefits Street in the Channel four series. The last episode is | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
followed by a live debate tonight. But does it paint a fair picture? In | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
a moment I'll be talking to one commentator who believes the show | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
should be viewed as entertainment and not reality. But first, Dan | :12:48. | :12:50. | |
Pallett has been looking back on one of the most controversial TV series | :12:51. | :13:02. | |
of recent years. You see this street here? It was one of the best | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
streets. Five weeks ago James Turner Street | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
was just another road in Birmingham. But its portrayal in the C4 | :13:11. | :13:12. | |
programme Benefits Street has sparked a phenomenon. | :13:13. | :13:20. | |
You have read the headlines, now it is time to tackle the issue head on. | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
And Channel 5's debate wasn't the only one. The BBC's Newsnight | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
tackled the programme, it's been all over radio and newspapers. And the | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
debate also spread to the House of Commons. Many people are shocked by | :13:34. | :13:42. | |
what they see, but the reality is that is why the public backs are | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
welfare reform package, to get more people back to work to end these | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
abuses, which all day actor when `` what the last Government left. `` | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
all date back to what the last Government left. | :13:57. | :13:58. | |
But Benefits Street hasn't just got Britain talking. | :13:59. | :14:00. | |
The programme even prompted debate on French television. But what about | :14:01. | :14:03. | |
those in the programme? Stephen Smith, known as Smoggy, was the 50p | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
man. He happy with how he was portrayed ` but others are upset. `` | :14:09. | :14:16. | |
he is happy. For myself everything has been OK, but others have been | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
going through a living hell. It is just not necessary, the show was not | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
supposed to disrupt everybody. It was supposed to just show what | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
things were really like. But like it or loathe it, James | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
Turner Street is now so famous that the street signs have been stolen. | :14:35. | :14:47. | |
Ellis Cashmore is Professor of Culture, Media and Sport at | :14:48. | :14:49. | |
Staffordshire University. The programme brought in the highest | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
ratings for Channel four since the Paralympics two years ago ` why? It | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
is phenomenal. You have to remind yourself that this is | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
entertainment, this is not sociology, it is no more a | :15:02. | :15:09. | |
reflection of Birmingham life than shameless is of Manchester. But it | :15:10. | :15:20. | |
is there to entertain. I am not dismissing the idea that some drama | :15:21. | :15:26. | |
does not educate us and enlighten us, and perhaps this is doing so, | :15:27. | :15:34. | |
but first and foremost it is drawing in 6.5 million viewers. Channel four | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
would dismiss the argument about entertainment. They describe it as | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
the series that reveals the reality of life on benefits. But is it | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
representative of life in Birmingham? Probably say no. This is | :15:49. | :15:56. | |
a fraction of people. But it has really stimulator debate. | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
Internationally and also in the Houses of Parliament. So has it | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
actually started to create a series `` serious debate out of something | :16:08. | :16:10. | |
which was purely entertainment? At one level, but anybody who feels | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
indignant about it, I understand why they feel indignant, but the bosses | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
of the utilities companies are giving themselves huge bonuses while | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
gas, electricity and water bills keep going through the ceiling. The | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
chief executives of the banks are giving themselves performance | :16:33. | :16:39. | |
related bonuses in the millions. The parasites do not only live on | :16:40. | :16:50. | |
Benefits Street, they are elsewhere. We are just concentrating on one | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
tiny corner of Birmingham, where there are a few people who are | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
exploiting the system. This is not representative of Birmingham. | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
Award`winning Birmingham poet Benjamin Zephaniah knows the powers | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
of words. He used his skills today to try to show offenders and | :17:08. | :17:10. | |
ex`offenders how they can take control of their own lives, turning | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
their backs on crime. Here's our arts reporter Satnam Rana. | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
Poetry saved his life, and poetry is what Birmingham's Benjamin Zephaniah | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
is using to help offenders and ex offenders. When you start thinking | :17:23. | :17:34. | |
about poetry and starting to express yourself, you start to be honest in | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
a way that you can question yourself. And I know that is what | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
poetry did for me, and I know it can work. | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
People like those taking part in today's workshop in Kitts Green in | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
Solihull. Others attending today have turned their back on | :17:54. | :18:01. | |
criminality for good. Jason, who now works for social enterprise iSore | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
Media. But five years ago he looked like this ` a heroin addict who'd | :18:07. | :18:09. | |
been convicted for a string of crimes from shoplifting to firearms | :18:10. | :18:12. | |
offences. I have never seen anybody `` I had never seen anybody getting | :18:13. | :18:24. | |
clean from drugs. Leona has turned her back on crime. | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
She was convicted for burglary two years ago. | :18:29. | :18:35. | |
Working with people such as Benjamin is such a good boost to remind | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
people to keep on going on that right path. There is light at the | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
end of the tunnel. It was here that Benjamin Zephaniah | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
served time as a young man. He is now hoping to inspire some of the | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
young offenders with his story. The hope is that those taking part | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
in the workshop will be inspired to look for training, education and | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
jobs. According to the Probation Service, offenders who are | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
unemployed are twice as likely to reoffend than those with a job. I | :19:10. | :19:17. | |
want to buy my family `` and my bread and feed my family. | :19:18. | :19:28. | |
If you are a drug addict, understood and start taking drugs, `` and your | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
children start talking `` taking drugs, you have generations of drug | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
addicts. I would rather create generations of poets. | :19:39. | :19:40. | |
Benjamin's rhythmic renditions and powerful poetry is the | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
Football clubs across the Midlands are backing a campaign to bring back | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
standing at matches. Legislation after the Hillsborough disaster led | :19:51. | :19:52. | |
to the introduction of all`seater grounds. A new safer design could | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
mean the return of standing in the Premier League and Championship. | :19:57. | :19:59. | |
Many fans believe that will lead to a better atmosphere at games, as | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
Nick Clitheroe's been finding out. Saturday afternoon at St Andrews, | :20:03. | :20:04. | |
and Birmingham City are battling Huddersfield in the Championship. In | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
this all`seater stadium, some fans prefer to spend the game standing. | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
It's not illegal but it is a breach of ground regulations. And even many | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
of those who do sit would rather stand. The atmosphere's better when | :20:17. | :20:24. | |
you are standing. Especially away days. The atmosphere's completely | :20:25. | :20:35. | |
gone. With everybody standing up in the seating areas, it can cause | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
problems. Bring back the standing. There is real pressure for change. | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
The Football League has agreed to lobby on behalf of its clubs for the | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
introduction of safe standing. Last week, a section of the rail seating | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
that would be used was installed at Bristol City. Made in Shrewsbury, | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
these are rows of seats that can be locked away to allow standing. | :20:54. | :20:56. | |
Behind each seat is a rail for every single supporter. | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
Although the football league are on board, the Premier league and the | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
Government still have to begin Vince as well. | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
It's a long way from the old`fashioned idea of terracing with | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
fans crammed into sections between barriers. But for those who lost | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
family in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, it isn't enough. We were | :21:16. | :21:18. | |
trying to be open`minded, we have gone to look at the seats and what | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
they want to implement, and we are still opposed against it. | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
One Premier League club that has supported the idea of safe standing | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
for supporters is Aston Villa. They've even offered to trial the | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
system at Villa Park. We have identified one or two areas that | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
could potentially be used for a small`scale trial, so the rest of | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
food bowl could see a safe standing works within Premier League | :21:43. | :21:43. | |
environments. But although there's growing support | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
for safe standing, the Football League have warned there's unlikely | :21:47. | :21:49. | |
to be overnight change. There will be many tributes paid to | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
the fallen on World War I in the centenary year, but this one is very | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
unusual. `` the fall of World War I. | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
It's been created by students, including some who lost relatives in | :22:05. | :22:19. | |
the fighting. `` the fallen. The first night of the Battle of the | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
Somme. Captured in stunning detail by the descendents of those who | :22:23. | :22:25. | |
fought. The agony on the soldiers' faces, the giant rats scuttling in | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
the mud ` all brought to life. All of this has been created out of | :22:32. | :22:39. | |
brown paper. But it really does capture the full horror of life in | :22:40. | :22:41. | |
the trenches. With a budget of just a few hundred | :22:42. | :22:44. | |
pounds, design students at Birmingham City University spent | :22:45. | :22:47. | |
four weeks making the war scene, carefully researching every last | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
detail. I am so proud of the students on | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
what they have achieved. They have captured such an emotion of being in | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
the trenches. If you look at the figures, they are all accurately | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
proportioned, there is a certain amount of accuracy in their | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
uniforms, facial hair, facial expression. | :23:13. | :23:14. | |
First`year student Grace Westwood from Sutton Coldfield was | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
responsible for making the soldiers. We literally had to start making | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
basic structures and building of them using newspaper to pad them | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
out. Hundreds of thousands of men died. | :23:28. | :23:30. | |
They were the same age as the students who've depicted their | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
suffering. For Grace, it's been a poignant journey. She's found out | :23:34. | :23:36. | |
how her great`great`uncle Eric from Oswestry died minutes after he was | :23:37. | :23:47. | |
hit by a shell. He was 22. He was sent to convalesce, and my great | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
great uncle went to visit him when he was convalescing. He went to | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
war, fought and at the age of 22 he did die. | :24:00. | :24:04. | |
The paper battlefield is open to the public at Birmingham City | :24:05. | :24:06. | |
University's Parkside building for the next two weeks. Then it'll be | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
torn up, consigned to history, like so many soldiers who gave their | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
lives to the Great War. We've been warned river levels could | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
continue to rise, but what's the prospect of some drier weather, | :24:21. | :24:21. | |
Shefali? continue to rise, | :24:22. | :24:30. | |
We have got prospects this week, but this is basically how the week is | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
looking in summary. It is not going to be as wet windy, and it is going | :24:36. | :24:42. | |
to be milder. `` wet or windy. But I would like to draw your attention to | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
something happening later in the week. This system is moving in from | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
the west, making it windier and wetter with it, but nothing compare | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
to last week. It is going to trigger a change during the second half of | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
the week, but it is a low`pressure week. As far as the temperatures go, | :25:02. | :25:11. | |
this is the area of mild air, warm air mass that is heading our way for | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
Wednesday, but even now the winds are lapping up but warm air and | :25:16. | :25:23. | |
wafting it our way. This evening however we currently have a weak | :25:24. | :25:25. | |
weather system heading eastwards, producing more in a way of showers | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
later tonight which will gradually ease into the early hours. 20 of dry | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
weather by that stage. Still a lot of cloud, but that will keep it | :25:37. | :25:43. | |
warm. The winds are still fairly light, bit of missed as well as we | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
head into the morning tomorrow. We will not see any increase in that | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
showery activity tomorrow, so scattering of showers, but some | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
decent spells of sunshine in between. Temperatures for Southern | :25:58. | :26:04. | |
counties could even rise into double figures of around ten to 11 Celsius | :26:05. | :26:07. | |
coupled with a light south`westerly wind. You may see that showery | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
activity increasing by the evening tomorrow. Some of these could be | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
heavy, but by and large I think we are looking at 20 of dry weather | :26:19. | :26:23. | |
through the night. `` plenty of dry weather. It is Wednesday that could | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
be more showery, but Thursday is going to be wet. | :26:29. | :26:31. | |
A reminder of tonight's top story: More help for victims ` the promise | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
from the Prime Minister as he visits flood hit areas of Worcestershire | :26:36. | :26:37. | |
and Gloucestershire. Back to Ben Sidwell in Upton ` | :26:38. | :26:40. | |
what's the overall feeling there tonight? | :26:41. | :26:49. | |
I have to say that most people are delighted by these flood barriers, | :26:50. | :26:52. | |
mainly because they have kept the town dry. Although I have spoken to | :26:53. | :26:59. | |
the landlord of the hotel just down there. He said even though he is | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
dry, traders `` trade has been decimated. He is now going to see if | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
he is eligible for any of that money that the Prime Minister has promised | :27:11. | :27:13. | |
for the flood victims. But as a whole here, most people seem to be | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
happy. That was the Midlands Today. I'll be | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
back at ten o'clock with the latest on the levels on the River Severn. | :27:22. | :27:23. | |
Have a great evening. Goodbye. | :27:24. | :27:28. |