16/12/2011 BBC News at Ten

It was very obvious to us that she was in intense pain, but

irrespective of how many times we tried to tell them, they insisted

that because she had dementia, it must be a behavioural problem.

As vibrant on the page as he was at the bar. Tributes to the writer

Christopher Hitchens, who has died. Scotland has been shivering for

days, now other parts of the UK get their first blast of winter.

Coming up in Sportsday: England players are told if they go to Euro

2012, they won't be picked for the Olympics, even if they don't

actually play for the tournament. Good evening. The Deputy Prime

Minister Nick Clegg has told friends's Prime Minister that

recent remarks criticising the UK economy are not acceptable. Downing

Street has backed Nick Clegg saying that the comments are not helpful

in any way. Tension has grown between the two countries following

criticism between the figures, culminating in remarks that the

economic situation was very worrying. France's credit rating is

also under threat. For a second day, senior French

ministers have been criticising Britain and its economy. It has now

led to an open row between the two countries. This was the French

finance minister on national radio this morning. We don't have any

lessons to give, but we don't want to be given any lessons either. The

economic situation in Great Britain is very worrying and from an

economic standpoint we prefer to be They should start by downgrading

Britain. And the French Prime Minister in Brazil said that the

ratings agencies don't seem to have noticed that Britain is more

indebted than us. It began to look like a coordinated attack on the

British economy. Later, the French Prime Minister placed a call to

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, too, in his words, clear

up misunderstandings. But Nick Clegg said the comments had been

simply unacceptable and that steps should be taken to calm the

rhetoric. And later, Number 10 Downing Street said the French

comments had not been helpful in any way. The French officials very

well know how acute their problems are and how damaging for this would

be. What they are trying to do is to deflect attention away from

their own problems. Here is the background to this. France has long

been sensitive about any downgrading of its credit rating if

it were to happen. It would be a vote of declining confidence in the

second most important economy in the eurozone, and it would force up

its borrowing costs. So how does the UK compared with France? This

year, British growth is forecast to be 0.8%. France is set to do better.

UK Government debt is 84% of annual economic output, and France is

about the same. But while the UK Government has to pay just over 2%

interest to borrow over 10 years, France has to pay almost 3%. Why?

Because financial markets in France's banks are more exposed to

the eurozone crisis. Relations between David Cameron and Nicolas

Sarkozy, chilled after last week's summit when Britain had vetoed the

new treaty to enforce greater budgetary discipline in the

eurozone. Tonight one ratings agency warned again of a possible

French downgrade and gave this negative assessment. A

comprehensive solution to the eurozone crisis appeared beyond

reach. Hugh Pym is here. While this goes

on, the debt crisis continues and some might argue that this is not

helping. Indeed. It is very telling that there has been this

undignified spat between France and the UK just a day after the head of

the IMF, Christine Lagarde, warned that countries had to work together

and they had to be international co-operation to deal with the

crisis, and if there was not we could lurch back into a 1930s style

downturn. Whatever France says that the UK and vice versa, it cannot

conceal the fact that there is a major debt crisis out there. We are

a week from the summit supposed to come up with a comprehensive

solution and there are still many doubters in the markets. As Gavin

referred to, one major credit rating agency, Fitch, has said

tonight that France can keep its triple-A rating but it has been put

on a negative outlook and it is worried about the future. It has

said it does not believe a comprehensive solution to the euro

crisis is politically achievable. There is doubt about a credible

financial backstop. As we head into Christmas and new year, there are

many unanswered questions as far as the markets are concerned.

The soldier accused of orchestrating the largest leak of

classified information in US history has appeared at a military

court house in Maryland. 23-year- old private Bradley Manning is

charged with aiding the enemy by allegedly leaking a quarter of a

million military and diplomatic secrets to the website WikiLeaks. A

military hearing will determine whether he should face a full court

martial and the possibility of a life sentence. From Maryland, Mark

Mardell sent this report. Private Bradley Manning divides

America. An atheist from a small evangelical town, an unhappy misfit,

gay in a macho culture, he exposed America's secrets. To some he is

being martyred for revealing the truth, to others he betrayed his

country. This is the first time he has been seen in public since his

arrest. A slight figure, flanked by civilian and military lawyers, he

said, yes sir, crisply to a couple of routine questions. Surprisingly,

it was the man in charge, the investigating officer, who faced

cross-examination. Bradley Manning's lawyer said he was biased,

a former military judge now prosecutor for the Government. He

called for him to step down and said his case would be that Bradley

Manning's actions were not serious. Whereas the damage? Where's the

harm, he said. Supporters outside say he did the right thing. He is a

military hero who should be given a medal of honour, should be released.

We should continue to try to bring about a transformation of our

government where secrecy is not over used. This was Bradley

Manning's first League, a classified video of the machine-

gunning from a helicopter of Iraqi civilians mistaken for insurgents.

-- his first leak. For him, it was only the beginning. There has never

been anything like it, the largest disclosure of secret information in

American history, a quarter of a million diplomatic cables from

embassies all over the world. Almost 500,000 military records

from Iraq and Afghanistan. Although there was no single, stunning

revelation, it ranged from details of American military tactics to the

names of Afghan informants. But the main impact was that US diplomats

were embarrassed, having their private thoughts made public.

was a very unfortunate and damaging action that was taken, that put at

risk individuals and relationships. The case being heard here is not so

much about the facts of what Bradley Manning did, but about why

he did it, his motivation, whether he is hero or traitor, and how much

harm he has done his country. Bound up with that is how he was treated

after his arrest. This film, made by supporters, dramatises his

detention in solitary confinement, which Amnesty International called

harsh and putrid to -- punitive. PJ Crowley lost his job at the State

Department when he said it was ridiculous and counter-productive.

It was my judgment that the last thing the United States needed was

another retention issue, -- detention issue, even though this

involve one of our own citizens. We had already acquired enough

notoriety. This case is about the fate of one man facing life in jail

but also about how the world sees America.

A radical shake-up is needed in the way the NHS deals with patients

with dementia. That is the verdict of the first national audit of

dementia care in hospitals in England and Wales. A quarter of

hospital beds are occupied by people with dementia but the report

found that most staff feel they are not sufficiently trained to look

after them. The Government said that while there is some excellent

practice, far too many hospitals are failing to provide appropriate

care. With every passing year, the NHS is

treating more patients with dementia. People for whom hospital

can be a frightening and confusing place. Experts say a radical shake-

up is needed to cope. The NHS needs to move away from care that is

often impersonal, where in some hospitals patients do not receive

the specialised attention they deserve. We set up a tent, do you

remember? That was the experience of these women. They can look back

on many fond memories of their mum, but they are angry and bitter about

some of her hospital care. Mary had a broken bone and was in pain, but

staff on the ward believed her distressed behaviour was caused by

her dementia. Had the staff taken the time to listen to us, instead

of assuming they knew best, but listen, that we knew our mum best,

and we knew the kind of person that she was. And she was not the kind

of person that made a fuss, never. So, how widespread are the gaps in

dementia care being given to our elderly? Already 25% of beds are

occupied by dementia patients, but only 32% of staff in this research

said they had had enough dementia training. Just 40% of hospitals

have policies to keep families informed. And 26% of awards in this

study said there were not enough staff at meal times to help frail

patients to eat. Some experts say that the NHS has to adapt as soon

as it can. The population in the United Kingdom is living longer

with more and more elderly people. And if we are a civilised society,

we have to invest in the care of the elderly. Otherwise you're just

going to get a constant stream of these reports that we keep getting

on poor standards of care. Now with the time to act. Some hospitals are

now designing wards around patients with dementia. Simple homely

touches can make a hospital ward less frightening. Patients with

dementia are easily confused and become agitated. Keeping some of

their things nearby and family photos in sight can help. Health

officials accept more needs to be done. In Wales and England,

dementia has been made a priority for the NHS. For the families of

patients, change cannot happen fast enough.

A doctor who took maternity leave and was then hounded out of her job

has been awarded damages of �4.5 million by an employment tribunal.

Dr Yvonne Akale was dismissed by Pontefract General Infirmary in

2008 and is now suffering from what is described as a devastating

psychiatric illness as a result of a campaign of harassment and false

allegations against her. Labour has won the Feltham and

Heston by-election with an increased majority, but turnout in

the west London constituency was just 29%, the lowest for more than

a decade. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, described the victory as

a verdict on the Government's economic policies. The

Conservatives were second, the A coroner has ruled that a five-

year-old boy died as a result of gross failings by Milton Keynes

Hospital. Harry Mould died following an asthma attack. The

coroner said he would probably have survived if the doctors had

monitored him properly. Five years old, full of life. Harry

Mould was a bright, gifted boy. He and his twin sister Jessica were at

the centre of family life. But one month later, tragedy. Harry was

dead. His parents attended every day of the inquest into his death.

The court was told that he was admitted to Milton Keynes General

Hospital on March 26th, 2009, with breathing difficulties. Harry

initially responded well to treatment which was then reduced.

When his condition worsened dramatically, it was not picked up

by the medical team and he died on March 30th. After a two week

hearing, the coroner has delivered a damning verdict. He said there

was a gross failure to provide basic medical attention for Harry.

He concluded that had proper action been taken, he would probably have

survived. His mother and father told me that that is perhaps the

most difficult thing they have to deal with. We always believed that,

absolutely. It is the hardest thing to get into our heads and the

hardest thing to explain to our daughter Jessica, that when she

does ask these questions, and one day she will, we have to tell her

that they could have made a difference to his life. These are

troubled times for Milton Keynes hospital. A number of inquests into

the deaths of children have been highly critical. Today the hospital

has been told it was negligent in the case of Harry Mould. That has

upset me hugely. I am determined that we as a hospital will not go

back anywhere near to that status again. What do you say to the

family, the mother and father that have also sat through these two

weeks? I have apologised to the parents in court and also outside.

Following Harry Mould's death, Milton Keynes hospital says it has

made radical improvements to make sure that nothing like it can ever

happen again. Coming up on the programme: After

Scotland, an icy blast hits Wales and parts of England as the wintry

conditions spread. It is nine months since the giant

tsunami swept across north-eastern Japan, killing 15,000 people. It

also caused the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant, the

world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The Japanese

Government says the damaged reactors are now stable and the

radiation leaks are sufficiently reduced. People evacuated from some

of the less contaminated areas around the plant may be at last

able to return home. Explosions as Japan's nuclear

crisis began. The plant had been engulfed by a huge tsunami,

crippling the cooling systems, pushing it into meltdown. The

workers became known as the Fukushima 50, men who risked

radiation to save Japan. Now the Prime Minister has announced they

have finally stabilised the reactors. TRANSLATION: Since I took

office, I have been saying for Japan to be reborn. Fukushima had

to be saved. The nuclear power plant accident needed to be

stabilised. Since 11th March, we have been working with our team to

get the reactors under control. News today is encouraging for the

authorities at the plant. Nuclear material, the heart of the reaction

process, is kept cool with water. Otherwise it will melt, and that is

what has at least partly happened already. Now the reactors are said

to be in cold shutdown, where cooling water remains below boiling

point. This prevents the nuclear material from heating up, out of

control. But the 12 mile exclusion zone around the plant is likely to

remain off-limits for years. Homes lying empty, farm animals left to

fend for themselves, a new generation born in a nuclear waste

land. The flat on the 26th floor of a Tokyo tower block is where

Tetsuko Takahashi lives now. The view is good but it cannot replace

the garden that they had planned to spend their retirement tending.

don't know where we belong. We cannot discard our own house and

garden. They are waiting for us, I believe. For Japan, the challenge

now is to keep the lights on in its great cities like Tokyo. Local

fears mean that nearly all of the country's reactors of line. The

Government must either persuade people they can be operated safely,

or find alternative sources of power. At Fukushima the plan now is

to dismantle the plant. But the workers who tamed the reactors will

be old or gone before the job is finished. It could take more than

30 years. In Egypt, at least three people

have been killed and more than 200 injured in the bloodiest violence

to erupt since the start of the first free elections in 60 years.

Clashes broke out in Cairo when the army tried to move protesters who

had been staging a sit-in for three weeks near Parliament. Soldiers

hurled concrete blocks that demonstrators. They were calling

for an end to military rule. The Prime Minister has defied the

axiom that politicians should not do God and has spoken about the

importance of Christianity in Britain. David Cameron said the

Bible had helped give Britain a set of values and morals that should be

actively defended. What more can you tell us about what the Prime

Minister said? Religion is territory that politicians

traditionally steered clear of. Tonight the Prime Minister gave a

speech saying that there is a close link between religion and politics.

He was speaking to an audience of clergy in Oxford. He said this is a

country that is a Christian country and we should not be afraid of

saying so. He said that Christianity and being Christian

does not mean you are doing down other faiths and people with no

faith were somehow less important. He said that the Christian message

and the way it prodded people and gave them a moral code was

particularly important in the light of the summer riots, the MPs'

expenses scandal and so on. This was really an attack on what he

regards as moral relativism. Many people will see this as quite a

bold speech in a way that he has stood up for Christian values.

Thank you. The controversial about spoken of the Christopher Hitchens

has died from cancer at the age of 62. The targets of his frequent

polemics ranged from Mother Teresa to Henry Kissinger to God. He

started his career in London but moved to the United States from

where he vociferous the supported the Iraq war. James Robbins looks

back at his life. Christopher Hitchens lived hard and

fast and wrote even faster. Being a writer is what I am, he said,

rather than what I do. He started on the left at the New Statesman in

1973. But a double with facts, always a fierce critic, often

hilarious. He wrote to provoke, most of all as an ardent atheist.

refused to be told what to think or how, let alone what to say or right

by anybody, but most certainly not by people who claimed the authority

of fabricated works of primeval mist and fiction and want me to

believe these are divine. That I won't have. In debate with Tony

Blair, Christopher Hitchens told him that believers were slaves to

celestial dictatorship, of the sort of divine North Korea. Christopher

was a total one-off, unique character, an extraordinary

polemicist, contrarian often. But an incredible inspirational writer

and thinker. Christopher Hitchens revelled in fights and chose many

targets. He called Bill Clinton a cynical, self-seeking, and vicious

thug. He scandalised many by accusing Mother Teresa offer

withholding proper medical care in favour of a cult based on death and

suffering and subjection. He was also fearless, calling 9/11 the

work of Islamic fascism. I knew Christopher in the 60s and 70s. I

knew him better in the 90s, actually, when we worked together

on a number of documentaries. So I will have fond memories of that

Christopher. But then you Christopher that emerged after 9/11,

as an apologist for the United States and its imperial wars and

policies abroad, I had very little sympathy for that. Christopher's

the support of George Bush ended some friendships but won new

admirers as well. As cancer took hold, he started thinking and

writing about dying and death and his certainty that it would be

final. Do you fear death? I am not afraid of being dead, per se. There

is nothing to be afraid of because I will not now I am dead. If I find

that I am alive in any way at all, that will be a pleasant surprise

and I quite like surprises. Christopher Hitchens, who died at

the age of 62. You can see one of the last television interviews with

him on Newsnight on BBC Two at 10:30pm.

Parts of Scotland have been shivering in the snow for some days

now. Today it was the turn of other parts of the UK to feel the icy

blast of winter. Areas of England, Northern Ireland and Wales saw

heavy snow and treacherous driving conditions. Collette Hume reports

from the Brecon Beacons. It was the day that winter came to

Wales. Heavy snow brought freezing temperatures to parts of the

country. Driving conditions were difficult and dangerous. Police

warned motorists not to travel in the worst affected areas unless

their journeys were essential. Drive with care and make sure you

have all the safety kit in a car, Dr mobile phone, top of windscreen

wipers, check the tyre pressures and the depth of them as well.

Brecon Beacons National Park is one of the most popular destinations in

the UK for walkers and climbers. Mountain rescue teams so that these

conditions would challenge even the most experienced. The snow began to

fall in the early hours. Parts of the A55, the main route across

North Wales, were close at times and motorist faced the long delays.

-- closed. Six centimetres of snow in Glasgow caused difficulties on

some roads. In England, the North was affected but disruption was

kept to a minimum. Back in the Brecon Beacons, those who could

make the best of the wintery conditions. Forecasters in Wales so