05/12/2011 South Today

$$N�WLINE I'm Sally Taylor. Welcome to South Today. In tonight's

programme: in constant pain and wanting to die

- a Sussex woman pleads for a change in the law of assisted

suicide cameras in cabs - taxi drivers

fight on to have them removed after losing an appeal. At least when I'm

asleep, I'm not in pain. So I wait for 8.00pm to come around until I

wake tomorrow morning, when it all starts again.

Cameras in cabs - taxi drivers fight to have them removed.

Helping to meet demand - the rise in food parcels for those

struggling to make ends meet. And is there a crisis in the camp?

We spend a night under canvas with campaigners in Brighton. We're

suffering from a lack of directed, sober protest, if you like. I

wonder if we should withdraw at some point.

"If I were a dog, you'd put me down." Those are the feelings of a

woman from Sussex, begging for a change in the law to allow her to

end her life at home surrounded by friends and family. Jackie Meacock

has a condition that's not life threatening, but she says it leaves

her in so much daily pain that she doesn't want to go on. She's kept a

video diary revealing the reality of her life to publicise a subject

that she says too many people in authority simply won't talk about.

We should warn you that you may find parts of John Young's report

upsetting. This is Jackie Meacock's story recorded on a home video

camera. She wants these pictures on her local news to keep alive a

debate about death. I'm not feeling that good. I'm in a lot of pain and

shaking, and exhausted already. I have only been up about an hour so

far. The pain and shaking comes from a condition called dystonia.

It's not fatal, but the pain relief injections barely work anymore.

at least when I'm asleep, I'm not in pain, so I count me out from

8.30pm until I wake tomorrow morning when it all starts again.

Jackie Meacock can just about cope outside. She stays with her

daughters some weekends, but says nothing is easy anymore. She's

contemplated suicide, but is frightened she'd mess it up. If I

was a dog, you would put me down. I can't die with dignity. I'm tired.

I am in pain every waking minute. SOBBING

I can't deal with it anymore. For Jackie Meacock, this could be

the way out - the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland where patients are

able to end their lives in a room like this by taking a mixture of

chemicals surrounded by their loved ones. Many in authority seem

reluctant to talk about this. Her MP says he'd be happy to raise it

behind the scenes at Westminster, but it was too emotive to talk

about on camera. The Dystonia Society said if they spoke about it

publicly, they'd risk associating a condition that isn't terminal with

suicide. I even spoke to the consultant who

gives Jackie Meacock her pain injections every few weeks.

He said that, yes, he probably would come on camera, but when he

discussed it with his bosses, they told me he'd changed his mind. It

has been left to the pressure groups to keep an eye on the

coverage and fill the vacuum. think what's going on is society

and people are talking about this. People are taking matters into

their own hands, but the decision makers are turning a blind eye.

mum has been down a lot of avenues regarding treatment. We've tried so

many things - Botox - she still has pain injections, which are not

working. She - her life is morphine, Jackie Meacock's powerful and

moving film. Earlier I spoke to Dr Trevor Stammers from Care Not

Killing, a campaign group opposed to assisted suicide.

In my experience as clinician I have had a few patients from time

to time who have asked me to kill them, and without exception on

exploration of what lies behind that request, is usually an

unfulfilled and an unmet need, be it physical pain or sometimes

psychological distress, and I think that even though one can understand

why someone like Jackie would want to die, I think it's quite

impossible for the law to be changed for her to die without

opening the floodgates for anyone who is in pain who wants to die.

She's not terminally ill, and none of us is guaranteed a pain-free

death. I might be involved in a car accident on the way back from the

studio and be crippled in carnage in the road. I have no right to ask

the ambulance people to put me out of my misery. It's quite

interesting she wanted to make this foimkeen, she says, the debate on

assisted suicide alive. Yet we have so many people in this film who do

not feel that they can talk publicly about it. I think that for

me the law is quite compassionate and clear, as it is at the moment,

and both as an ethicist and a physician, I really can't

understand from some points of view why every heartrending case like

Jackie is used as a platform to want to change the law. If her

relatives do want to take her to Dignitas in Switzerland, the

Director of Public Prosecution has made perfectly clear the things

he'll take into account in making an evaluation of that are we asking

the law be changed in situations unlike Jackies where maybe the

relatives aren't after the money or whatever there, should not be the

option of investigation and prosecution if it's appropriate. It

may not be in this case - probably is not, but it may well be in many

others. You can't use hard cases to make good law. I know we could talk

about this much further, but thank you very much for giving us your

opinions tonight. Pleasure. If you or someone you know is

affected by the issues we've covered here, the BBC Action Line

web site has details of organisations you can contact for

information, advice and support.. Taxi drivers in Southampton are

calling for a judicial review to overturn a ruling which requires

cameras to be installed in all city cabs. They say it's an invasion of

people's privacy because they can't be turned off, even when the cab's

being used for private purposes. The City Council says the cameras

are there for safety reasons. Rachael Canter reports. Under

surveillance from the moment the ignition is switched on - a CCTV

camera records images and all conversations in Southampton cabs.

It can't be switched off, even when a driver is not on duty. If you

have runners, they're used for safety reasons - you might as well

have the screen divide. If people own the vehicles, they should have

the choice to decide whether they should have it. It is expensive.

shouldn't have to pay to have it put in. We have the right to civil

rights. It is in the case of civil liberties of people being recorded

- no-where else do you have that. Last week a judge called the

cameras invasive and a violation of privacy, but he didn't have the

power to overturn the Council's policy. Albeit a technicality,

we're allowed within our rights to do this. The most important thing -

everyone is losing sight of this - we're trying to protect drivers and

their customers. There have been some hideous examples of taxi

drivers being assaulted and also passengers. All we're trying to do

is keep people safe. In 2007, taxi driver Derek Fletcher was strangled,

set on fire and left for dead after picking up a late-night fair in

Eastleig. In 2009 this driver lost his licence after hurling abuse at

three passengers. It's incidents like these that have

led to public support for the cameras. I don't think it would

bother me in the same way as an identity card wouldn't bother me.

I've got nothing to hide. I don't mind. I think that anything that

can help prevent crime... Some drivers are now calling for a

compromise. CCTV that's activated only when they feel threatened.

An inquest has heard the death of a Marine from Petersfield may have

been caused by an insurgent triggering an explosive device.

Marine Richard Hollington, of 40 Commando Royal Marines, died from

his injuries following the blast last June. A Sergeant told the

hearing he saw two men running away just after the explosion. He said

Marine Hollington and another colleague had checked the area over

and made it safe. The hearing continues.

Have you done your Christmas shopping yet? Judging by how busy

the South's shopping centres were this weekend, the answer is

probably yes. In Reading the car park at the Oracle was full by

11.00am. On an average weekend, the centre sees 90,000 people through

its doors. This weekend it was 160,000. Southampton's West Quay

welcomed 200,000 shoppers, and at Basingstoke's Festival Place there

was a 10% increase in footfall. In Bournemouth 65,000 shoppers visited

the Castlepoint Centre - about 10,000 more than usual.

But despite that, there's increasing demand for food parcels

across the south. In Reading, the Salvation Army says demand there

has almost doubled in the past two years. They're expecting to provide

800 boxes of food this festive season. Other charities across the

region are reporting a similar rise. Sarah Holmes reports. Busier than

Santa's elves. This busy team of volunteers spent the day packing up

more than 800 food parcels to send to people in the Reading and

Newbury area for Christmas. The people have been identified by

social services as those most in need. Two years ago we made 200

parcels up. This year we have 800. And it looks like it's going to be

more than that. So there are very, very many people out there that are

poor. For many people we're actually going to be giving this

food to, Christmas Day is just going to be another day - another

day of the year for them. We're actually going to be able to make a

little bit of a difference at Christmas this year. Among the

packers were children from a farm in TollHurst who collected the food

to be delivered in the parcels. public are extremely generous to us.

They give us a lot of their food anyway. They give us a lot of

donations, which allow us to subsidise and buy some of the food

we need to buy for these parcels. With the economic situation still

making life difficult for many families, Stuart Scott expects the

demand for parcels to be even greater next year, but he's

confident the Salvation Army will continue to meet the challenge.

Part of a building which was being demolished has fallen into a

Southampton city centre street. Police were called at 11.30am this

morning following reports of rubble falling into Grosvenor Square. The

adjoining road, Cumberland Place, was also closed to traffic. No-one

was injured, but police described the building as "quite unstable".

It's being assessed by structural experts.

Still to come in this evening's South Today:

they're getting into the Christmas spirit in Portsmouth. Danielle

Glavin is there. The Christmas lights are on. The choir is singing.

Christmas has come to Portsmouth tonight, so keep watching to soak

A shipping firm based in Singapore has gone on trial accused of

causing yellow lumps of palm oil to wash up on beaches in the south.

The prosecution allege it happened when the tanker Pretty Time was

cleaning its tanks and pipes while off the Isle of Wight. The tanker's

owners deny causing the pollution. Steve Humphrey reports. These are

the lumps of bright yellow wax discovered along the south coast.

Analysis showed it was non-toxic solidified palm oil. An

investigation by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency discovered the

Pretty Time, which recently unloaded a shipment of this had

unloaded at the Isle of Wight. The prosecutor said they were in the

right place at the right time with the right substance onboard. He

said the ship had been having trouble cleaning its pieches

discharging palm oil in Rotterdam and Hamburg. He said he found lumps

onboard the ship when they went on a few days later.

Scientific tests link the substance found onboard with the yellow

substance found on the beaches, but the defence question that analysis.

A barrister also told the court that slop tanks on the tanker had

plenty of spare capacity for waste material. The tankard's owners,

Pretty Time Shipping based in Singapore, deny making a discharge

into the sea in contravention of shipping regulations, and the case

continues. Students in Brighton, who are angry

about the rise in tuition fees, are continuing their protest at the

University's art gallery. 30 people took over the building on Thursday

and made demands, including a guarantee that no courses would

close. The protestors say they will continue their occupation as long

as necessary. Meanwhile, on Tonight's Inside Out

programme, we meet members of another protest group, the Occupy

Brighton movement. Reporter Jon Cuthill pitched a tent and spent

the night with the campaigners who have been camped in the centre of

Brighton. As he learned more about their camp, it seemed many of the

dynamics had changed. This site on the main route into

Brighton has been home to a handful of campaigners for more than a

month now, but some feel because it's attracting more and more

homeless people, it's facing a crisis. We have kind of become like

Care in the Community almost because there is a lot of homeless

people. There is a lot of people with drink and drug issues, but

we're not qualified to do this. We're trying to outreach to the

working groups around Brighton to see what help they can offer

because it is a huge issue. Some long-term supporters feel the

changing nature of the camp means the original protest is losing

focus. Occupy Brighton, we're suffering from a lack of sort of

directed sober protest, if you like. I see this camp actually as

changing into a much more sort of welfare-based site, but I wonder if

we should withdraw at some point. This could be good news for the

local MP, whose -- who's campaigned to get the site cleared. Lot of the

people here are on benefits. Half the people are working. Half aren't.

It's just something they seem to want to do. I don't stop anyone

doing the lifestyle they want, but not on public spaces we're paying

for. Last week the protesters announced they'd step up their

campaign and say they're determined to stay put until the economic

We're on to sport now. Jo Kent is here along with cold. How are you

feeling? I don't sound my best tonight. I'll stand by in case

anything happens. We'll start with Tottenham. We all had great hopes

for them. Their dreams were dashed. I even put them down for a 1-1 draw.

How wrong was I? Such a pity. Crawley now face Bristol City in

the third round. To to theen's credit there, wasn't a lot they

could do. Bristol went on to add a fourth after the break. Sherbourne

found the back of the net for the Stags, but Bristol went on to score

another two. It's not all bad news for Totten. They stand to earn

around �100,000 from the clash. It's a lot of money. It means we

cannot be under so much pressure to generate those funds, but we can't

stand still. That's the important thing. Keep moving in the right way

and don't go stupid with it. There's enough non-league clubs in

the graveyard that do that and get themselves in trouble.

Elsewhere, Crawley wiped the floor with their non-league opposition.

They put five past Redbridge. There was a hat-trick with two coming

from the penalty spot. Salisbury are our only non league side left

in contention, but now face a trip to Grimsby after their home tie

ended goalless. And Aldershot are out after losing by a single goal

Our Championship sides were in action over the weekend. It was a

game to forget for Southampton, who lost to bottom-placed Doncaster.

Here is a roundup. Southampton fans aren't that used

to losing. This was something of a shock defeat - only their fourth

loss in the league and to bottom- placed Doncaster. Sharpe's goal

came in the 60th minute, enough to lift the hosts from the bottom, but

Saints stay top thanks to a West Ham defeat.

Gregg Halford scored from the spot to put Pompey ahead. Behind the

scenes, their financial troubles may be back to haunt them, but on

the pitch it didn't show. The visitors equalised after the break,

but Ward quickly put things back on track netting a 2-1 win, Appleton's

first in charge. The players are under adverse circumstances - they

tend to roll their sleeves up and meet it head on. I think they did

that today and with abundance. Seagulls left it late to upset

Nottingham Forest. Substitute Will Buckley, who has been out for some

time, making sure he made an impact on the pitch with an injury-time

winner. It was good for him. He's going to have the chance to play

quite often from now, and he make us win the game. The manager called

it the worst decision he's seen in many a year after Simon Church's

early offering was ruled offside. Things didn't improve for the

Royals at Blackpool where a second- half goal condemned Reading to

defeat. Away from football, now, then, the

Difficult conditions. It's a good way to start, but a lot of hard

work ahead. Rugby now. London Irish winger Topsy Ojo has

signed a new two year contract. He was one of the stars for Irish last

season scoring ten tries. Meanwhile on Saturday, the club were beaten

at Saracens in a game dominated by penalties. David Paice scored the

game's only try after a video review but it wasn't enough to

prevent Irish being beaten by 15 points to 11.

That's the sport. Good news for Ben Ainsley. He's got

his start, but some are still fighting for a place.

We're going to go to Portsmouth in a moment because the city is

getting into a festival spirit. Have you done your Christmas

shopping? Just nod or shake your head. A bit of Christmas shopping -

next week for the tree. No half measures in Portsmouth.

They have the tree, lights, Santa. School children are singing carols,

and Danielle Glavin is in Guildhall Square for us. I hope you're in

good voice to join in. There is no danger of me singing. I wouldn't

want the complaints to come in. I am going to leave that to the

experts. There is 12,500 of them. They have come from all across the

city. They're doing well. Just think of the man who has to keep

them all in time. They have had a great night so far. They have had

the Christmas tree lights switched on. There was a bit of a hitch.

They went off, came on again. But they're on now, and it was

fantastic. It's looking all Christmasy here. We have also had

Santa making a quick visit through the square. He didn't have any

reindeers, but he did have some rather nice horses, which the

children all loved. They were very happy to see him. Some councils may

be cutting back a bit on their cs mass celebration, but I have been

told this show will always go on. You're not talking about a huge at

of money. You just want people to wrap up and turn out on a cold

night. That's all you need. You have to have a tree and get staff

around to help and dish out some hot chocolate, but I think that's a

small price to pay because it makes people feel good. This evening you

get a sense of community in the Guildhall Square. The square is a

great place for people to get together. I think that's what it's

all about - the community getting together, singing. What we pay is

worth every penny. Well, they're just about to start their next

carol. They're going to start especially for us. I am hoping

they'll start soon. They're about to be cued any second. We Three

Kings we're going to have. You can see the conductor starting, and you

can see these 1500 children singing. They're about to start. So enjoy

(MUSIC: WE THREE KINGS). We were all enjoying that it was

such a pity we couldn't hear anymore of it. You get the idea

they're going to have a fabulous night. You have been boasting about

the Christmas presents you have. Lovely picture, but a very chilly

night to come, very like last night. This week is cool in general. There

will be a breeze coming in from the west or north-west, and showers at

times, perhaps some rain on Thursday. More on that in just a

second. Clearing skies tonight, a frosty feel to things and one or

two showers dotted around, so where temperatures in the countryside dip

below freezing, there is the risk we could have a spot of ice on

untreated roads and pavements. These are the values in our towns

and cities - 2-5 Celsius, cooler in the countryside, perhaps down to

minus figures. Tomorrow will be day like today, sunshine, patchy cloud

here and there and the odd shower, particularly along the south coast

and for the Isle of Wight. Highs tomorrow of around 7-8 Celsius, but

those temperatures still struggling, and that keen westerly breeze will

be key, but not as strong as today. Further showers possible through

the early hours of Wednesday morning. Temperatures a touch

higher than tonight's values, 4-8 Celsius, so the outside chance of a

spot of frost first thing on Thursday morning. Wednesday daytime

there will be a squeeze on the isobars. The winds are coming in

from the north-west, but this Area of high pressure builds a ridge, a

less settled day, more of a chance of a shower. This is heading

towards us on Thursday. For Thursday daytime, a damp and dismal

start. Dry period through the middle part of the day before

another weather front edges its way towards the end of the day and

stays with us Thursday night into Friday morning. It stays with us in

the near continent, so sunny spells. There will be a keen wind. That is

the feature through the week. It remains strong also on Thursday and

Friday. Tuesday - in fact, tomorrow we'll see some sunshine. There is a

chance of a shower. The risk of a shower on Wednesday as well, but