02/12/2013 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today, I'm Rob Smith.

And I'm Natalie Graham. Tonight's top stories.

Coming to create a better future, we have an exclusive report from

Romania asking what kind of migrant workers might want to come here from

next month. I will go to England in order to save enough money to buy

house or a piece of land. I will do anything, even manual labour.

We'll be talking live to Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK

Independence party and South East MEP. She was told she might die from

the superbug, the woman who says a pair of copper pyjamas saved her

life. Also in tonight's programme.

He'll be back, Ed Miliband comes to Crawley, vowing to win back lost

voters. Medals of a hero up for sale, left

for dead in the horror of Passchendaele, the Sussex soldier

who went on to serve with distinction in the Second World War.

The busiest town for Christmas shopping online. If the bright

lights of Brighton struggle to compete, can any of our high streets

keep going? Good evening.

Experts in Romania say the South East shouldn't fear a mass influx of

migrants next month when its citizens will be free to travel to

the UK to work. Critics argue potential immigrants will be

attracted by the benefits they might be able to claim here. But some

migration specialists in Bulgaria and Romania say their countries

might suffer a brain drain of their brightest and best workers. Our

special correspondent Colin Campbell has been to Romania's second city to

find who is planning to come, and whether there will be a Romanian

exodus. This is Cluj`Napoca, Romania's

second`largest city, Transylvania's cosmopolitan capital. In a hidden

corner of this EU city, there is extreme poverty.

But amongst the squalor and dirt, there is hope that a better life can

be obtained elsewhere. An unemployed labourer, a father of two, a proud

Roma gypsy, this man says that if he has to, he will walk to England. He

believes it's the only opportunity has create a future for kids

children. TRANSLATION: I will go to England in order to save enough

money to buy a house or a piece of land. I'm willing to do anything,

even manual labour. There are 500 Roma gypsies living in this

shantytown. It's one of a number in Cluj`Napoca, but in just a few

months time, this place will be demolished. The people living here

have got no idea where they could go. Local government say they will

do their best to rehouse this community. Unemployment might force

them to move further afield. How many people in this community know

about England? How many people here would like to go to England?

TRANSLATION: This community leader told me many here want to go to

England. A country where you can earn money. A university city, the

highly skilled here are also looking to England for work opportunities.

This woman is a pharmacy student. I speak English pretty well. The

language would not be a problem for me. And I would like to try a new

place, a different place from Romania, for a couple of years,

maybe. This trainee doctor told me he will go to England when he

qualifies. If you are being educated here, shouldn't you stay in Romania

and use your skills here? That would make sense. But the working

conditions for doctors in Romania are not the best. We don't get paid

very well. England has much better opportunities. Another graduate,

this 27`year`old has just quit his job working in a hotel. He flies to

England on Friday. His wife is already working in the UK. I always

liked England. It was my dream to work there. What would you be trying

to do when you get there? To work in the same field as I was working in

Romania, in a hotel. The green light to work but some Romanian experts

say there will be no invasion, no wave of mass migration. I don't see

the UK comes as a prime destination, put it like that. It is an important

destination for a brain drain, so talented people will go to the UK,

but not a large labour migration to the UK.

Music, free food and national pride, yesterday, Romania celebrated

unification after the First World War. In less than a month, they will

gain a new freedom within the EU. Freedom many here believe could have

the power change lives. Colin joins us from Cluj`Napoca. The

big question of course, the big unknown, is how many Romanians will

actually come to England. Well, it depends who you talk to but

experts, academics, politicians in Romania and the UK suggest figures

between 10,000`50,000 Romania over the next 45 years a year. I have

been here in Cluj`Napoca in the north`west of Romania for the last

three days and many people I've spoken to say they want to come to

the UK to work because they believe the working conditions, the wages

and the job opportunities are better in the UK. It will be difficult for

some because the average monthly wage here is ?200. It will be

difficult for them to make their way to the UK. Interestingly, England is

not the number one destination. That remains to be Italy and Spain. That

could possibly change over the next year or so.

We're joined by Nigel Farage MEP, leader of UKIP. Thank you for being

with us. You are deeply worried about the number of Romania and

Bulgaria 's who might come over to the UK but the reality is nobody

knows how many will. What we do know is that in 2004 the government told

us that an extra 13,000 people a year would come from Poland and the

other former Communist Party is that joined the European Union. We said

that figure was rubbish. Over a million have come unsettled. We are

talking today about Romania and Bulgaria. Countries even poorer,

countries that are even more corrupt than those countries that joined in

2004. It is a fairly good, intelligent estimates that at least

a quarter of a million people will come to Britain from those countries

over the course of the next five years. The County Council has

estimated there will be a total of 8600 people coming to Kent, at a

cost of some ?3 million. That is a much smaller number, isn't it? It is

a different situation to 2004. If Kent County Council alone are

prepared to admit that up to 8,000 might come, multiply that across all

the different counties and towns, and you reach a very large figure. I

hear this academic argument that they will go to Spain, they will go

to Italy, because linguistically those countries are closer. Remember

this ` we made the wise decision of not joining the Eurozone and our

economy, although not brilliant, is a darn sight better than that in the

Eurozone. If you are a doctor in Romania, you can earn more money

working as a minicab driver in this country, and if you come here from

Romania and you've got two kids back in Bucharest, the child benefit

alone that you can claim it is worth more than you will earn doing menial

job. Logic says large numbers will come. We have from people who are

very highly skilled and competent. If they come over to the UK, they

won't be looking for minicab jobs, but highly proper skill highly paid

jobs. They will be positively contributing to the economy. It will

be a combination. We will get some very good skill highly trained

people that will come to Britain and that will constitute a brain drain

coming from Romania and Bulgaria. We will also get a large number of

people who are unskilled workers who will take jobs, jobs, frankly, that

British people should do. But, the real worry, because of the exclusion

of the Roma communities in those countries, they haven't got jobs,

they haven't got anywhere decent to live, what we will also get is a

criminal wave coming to this country. That's kind of language is

dangerous, isn't it? A criminal wave, that is setting up potential

trouble. In Victorian England, we got rid of Fagin and the pickpocket

gangs. And now in London 92% of crimes are being committed by

Romania 's. There have been 27,000 Romania arrest in the space of the

last five years, and because we are members of the European Union, we

are powerless not just stop criminals coming to Britain, we

haven't even the power to put them away. Everyone wants to brush this

under the carpet, but this matters. Let me put one more statistic back

to you. 17% of British nationals receive benefits. 7% of non`UK

nationals receive benefits. There is far less a bigger problem with

benefits than is initially perceived. Of course there are more

Britain is in percentage terms that claim benefits because we have

people living in this country who are disabled, who have got mental

illness problems, and, by definition, are not mobile and stay

in this country. I would welcome skilled foreign workers coming to

Britain from all over the world on a work permit. But every single one of

them should have health insurance, and nobody should be able to claim

unemployment benefit, housing benefit, child benefit, or any other

form of benefit until they've been here for five years and paid into

the system. Nigel Farage, thank you for being with us.

Tomorrow, we'll be looking at the potential social impact of Romanian

and Bulgarian migration in the South East.

In a moment, the trial begins of two women accused of murdering a Kent DJ

in a planned and sustained knife attack.

A mother who contracted MRSA after giving birth says her life was saved

by a pair of copper pyjamas. At first, the super bug couldn't be

brought under control after Gemma Wilby from Caterham had a caesarean

section. Within days of wearing the copper infused pyjamas, her

condition improved, tickly. The doctors say they are now planning a

medical trial to see if other patients can benefit. A cocktail of

drugs and even maggot therapy made no difference to the huge wound gem

will be had developed until she says her friend suggested she tried

copper infused pyjamas. I was feeling really down, I couldn't

leave the house because the infection nurse was coming in, the

wound smell, it was painful, struggling to pick up my baby. With

the pyjamas, it cut the recovery time, I was better by Christmas,

when they told me it was going to be a year. A BBC science show recently

demonstrated how copper displays superbug that a link would own for.

If we look what happens on copper after five minutes, you see the

difference. The company behind the copper infused clothing say that

also helped treat an underarm infection in another patient. There

is no bacteria that can live on copper. It stands to reason that if

we put it in clothing, socks, bedding, pyjamas, it will kill any

bacteria. Medics at Croydon hospital are planning further tests saying

there are overwhelmed by the potential benefits. They could

minimise infection at a national and possibly global level. Talking of

the need to evaluate these products in controlled clinical trials.

Because MRSA can be spread so easily in the community, it can represent a

real burdens the health care services, so there is an enthusiasm

to try to test anything that could help potentially bring cases down.

Copper does kill the MRSA bug, so it would help it from spreading in the

first instance, and if she had already been treated with

antibiotics, the two things have a cumulative effect. It is unlikely

indeed. They might have given the patient peace of mind, but I don't

think it would've done much. But Gemma believes she could be a

pioneer in the long battle against superbugs.

Police are appealing for help after a teenage girl was raped in

Brighton. They've released images of a man they'd like to speak to after

the 19`year`old victim was dragged into a flat near Norfolk. Her

attacker is described as being of Middle Eastern descent, stocky and

aged between 30 and 40. Two women slashed the throat of a

man with learning difficulties, and then claimed he tried to rape them,

a court heard this afternoon. Michael Kerr's body was found in a

car in Capel`le`Ferne near Dover. Alicia Davis and Charlotte Coulson,

who are both 22, are accused of killing the 30`year`old DJ in April.

Paul Siegert is at the Old Bailey now. What more can you tell us about

the proceedings today? The man was 30, he had learning

difficulties, and on the day in question, he paid Alicia for sex.

Both women found themselves back in his car, and Charlotte claim she was

on the back`seat and woke up to find Michael trying to rape Alicia. The

two women say they found a knife on the floor of the car and stabbed him

11 times in the neck and throat to stop the rate continuing. Sarah

White horse from the prosecution told the court that the accounts

given by mistake as and this course and...

The prosecution went on to say that the friends are killed and is would

back it up along with a series of text messages sent between the two

women who were in the time. The text messages said...

The two women both deny murder, the case is expected to last four weeks.

The Labour Party suffered catastrophic losses in the last

general election. Left with no MPs in the region and all. The Labour

leader Ed Miliband has been meeting apprentices at a nursery in West

Sussex and pledging further support for them if his party wins the next

election. He has vowed to put red back into the blue map. Our

political editor reports. Getting down with the kids, the

Labour leader Ed Miliband came to caterpillars Nursery in Crawley to

highlight the importance of apprenticeship schemes in helping to

build a strong economy. A Labour government would say to companies

that if you want a major government contract, you've got to provide

apprenticeships. It is why we say that if you want to bring in skilled

worker from outside the EU, you've got to provide apprenticeships. And

it would say to the young people that there is a future, a high

waged, high skilled future for you. These apprentices have benefited

from the existing government scheme but would welcome more support. We

get paid minimum wage, but most apprenticeships are only paid ?2 50

an hour, which needs to be changed. It needs to be advertising that

people actually know what apprenticeships there are out there.

But it's not just young peoples futures Ed Miliband is worried

about. It is his own party's. Labour had seven MPs in Kent and five in

Sussex in 2005. In 2010, they were wiped off the map and currently

don't have a single MP here. He is determined to change that. Crawley

is one of your target seats. Is this you gearing up early saying, we know

we've got work to do? I'm going to be here a lot right across the

region, talking that Labourmessage, how we can make a difference to the

country. We've got really important things to say to people who are

worried about train fares, child care, energy bills. That is where

labour is. Talking about issues that matter to people. Some people might

say he's wasting his time in the South East, but if you didn't use

this `` to this, he would be accused of being lazy. Labour strategists

are saying to themselves, we will not get many here. But all we have

to do is get our basic boat out and we've got the election in the bag.

The next election might be 18 months away, but they's visit means that

the South East will be a crucial battle ground in the next election.

This is our top story tonight. Experts in Romania say the South

East shouldn't fear a mass influx of migrants next month when its

citizens will be free to travel to the UK to work. Critics argue

potential immigrants will be attracted by the benefits they might

be able to claim here. But some migration specialists in Bulgaria

and Romania argue their countries might suffer a brain drain of their

brightest and best workers. Also in tonight's programme. Had you

done yours? How Brighton is the busiest shopping city in the South

East not on the high street. And after a quiet and dull start, things

will turn brighter but significantly colder as we go through the week.

Join me later for the forecast. Robert Collie served in both world

wars. He took part in Passchendaele in 1917 and was left for dead on a

pile of corpses. A doctor happened to notice a famed twitch and search

`` saved his life. He went on to serve in the Second World War and

married a nurse. Their son is now selling his medals at auction. Peter

Whittlesea reports. These medals tell the story of a

military career that spanned two world wars and Robert Collie's acts

of bravery. It is a story he recounted to his son of his

extraordinary survival in Flandersand field that highlights

the horrors of war. He was shot in the stomach, thrown on the mode of

dead bodies, and an Indian Doctors Sorkin to which, he was pulled out

and he recovered. He went back into the trenches. By this stage, Robert

Collie had fought at the Battle of the Somme and Ypres. By all

accounts, he was a tough Scotsman who joined the Army as a private

soldier, ending his career as a major after fighting in the Second

World War. His medals are now being auctioned in Eastbourne. He had to

fight through both world wars, and to have mentioned dispatches in both

world wars and to get an MBE during the wars, it is unique. It will go

into the hands of a very serious private collector, I think. During

the two world wars, Robert Collie was posted to India where he became

heavyweight boxing champion and an accomplished billiard player. He

carried the scars of trench warfare all his life. He said he was jolly

lucky to live. He suffered from hernia life after that because his

stomach was shot up. He says he wants his father 's medals to go to

a good home so this extraordinary story of survival is never

forgotten. It's Cyber Monday and if you're not

watching this, or more likely while you are watching this, then the

chances are you might be hunched over your laptop or tablet ordering

your Christmas presents online. It's been revealed Brighton and Hove is

the busiest in Kent and Sussex for online shopping. Mark Sanders is in

the city tonight. Brighton is known for its huge variety of shops, so

this is something of a surprise? I think it is a pricing, especially

when you consider a specially in tonnes of online, Brighton and Hove

Albion is busier than the West End of London. Those festive fingers are

busy right now as we move into the peak period tonight for online

shopping. People are clicking their way

towards Christmas. In Brighton and Hove, it is an increasing trend to

go online rather than on the high street. The Royal Mail puts the city

among the top ten places in the country for online shopping. And it

is top of the table in the South East. Online. Why is that? Easy. You

can get everything you want. Browse at night when the mood takes you.

You look on your laptop, but what about getting out and getting in the

Christmas mood? You make it sound healthy! It should be, should let?

How will you do it? Online? Usually send my daughter. It's the easiest

way. So, the third way. Getting somebody else to do it. One business

organisation is stressing to note that even the smallest independent

retailers are having to invest in an online presence. What we are seeing

is those retailers that are surviving, not being taken down by

the recession, those that have bought him into this clicks and

mortar. They have got an online presence as well as a shop on the

high street. In a digital age, it might seem easier to send Santa and

e`mail rather than a letter. Amazon is developing unmanned drones

to deliver packages. The idea of Santa Claus coming down the chimney

this Christmas sounds positively old school.

It is a changing world, isn't it? The weekend's football now. A bit

disappointing. It was a disappointing weekend for

the south east's leading teams with just two goals and one point between

them. The only good news was that point was good enough to extend

Brighton's unbeaten run and, as Neil Bell reports, the Albion's equaliser

at Bournemouth was a bit special. Brighton found themselves a goal

down midway through the first half thanks to this powerful low shot.

Once again, they showed their battling qualities and picked up a

deserved point courtesy of this folly. It leaves Brighton two points

of the play`off places. We deserved more. We kicked the ball, we had the

ball, and we played much better in the second half. Charlton's

indifferent season continued. This was enough to give Ipswich all three

points. Only one, chilling were overwhelmed at Rotherham after this

goal. Then there was a second. And they found themselves 3`0 down when

Ben Pringle scored from distance. Rather rum restored their lead

thanks to a fierce finish. Crawley appeared on course for another

goalless draw until this header. With the new manager, possibly John

Gregory, to be appointed tomorrow, Reds fans will be hoping that there

goal drought will be over. Gillingham ladies came out on top in

yesterday's top of the table clash with Brighton, winning 3`0. And the

highlight of today's draw for the FA trophy sees lowly Whitstable Town

take on 2008 winners Ebbsfleet United.

Now, we don't often do happy birthday, but tonight we are making

an exception for the longest living man in Sussex. He's been celebrating

his birthday today. He is 106 years old. Reginald sprang, born in 1907.

The suffragettes were arrested after storming the Houses of Parliament.

He has been entertained by his local mayor. Reginald says he puts his

long life down to an active life as a boy. Happy birthday. Well, what is

the weather doing? A relatively mild for Reginald's

birthday. We do get to see a bit of sunshine by the end of the week, and

there will be some snow around as well. Even for us, we could see the

odd wintry shower. Earlier, lots of cloud cover around, grey and dull

start to working week. Highs of eight or nine, not particularly

mild, just about getting into double figures. Going through tonight,

still plenty of cloud around, particularly through the first part

of tonight. Temperatures staying above freezing. A frost free night.

More cloud in the beginning of the night. We have some clearer skies

and with the lighter winds, some mist and fog patches forming,

temperatures dropping to three or four. Still high pressure around

tomorrow morning. The mist and fog will linger, seven by the afternoon

we might see some rain and drizzle, but lots and lots of cloud cover

with temperatures struggling. Highs of six or seven. Still very light

winds from the westerly direction. Through tomorrow night, another

cloudy night. Mostly staying frost free, temperatures staying above

freezing, lows of two or three. Mist and fog on Wednesday, initially

dry. We have this weather front, behind it much cooler breezes. It

will start to feel very much cooler and colder as we get into Thursday.

By Friday, temperatures struggling to get above three or four. There is

a risk of some wintry showers on Friday. It is getting closer!

Christmas is coming! Yes, we will get the rain, won't we? I will be

back with the late bulletin. For now, goodbye.