19/12/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten: Heavy criticism of BBC management in the wake of the

Jimmy Safile scandal. New night's decision to drop its Savile

investigation was not a cover up says the Pollard report, but it was

wrong and led to turmoil. The BBC's management system proved completely

incapable of dealing with it. The level of chaos and confusion was

even greater than was apparent at the time. The BBC faces criticism

that no-one's been sacked because of the failures, but the chairman

of the Trust says the lessons will be learned. The BBC will be able to

rebuild its trust. But it has to do so by facing up to some of its

failings as honestly as possible. second report accuses Newsnight

staff of a grave breach of standards when they wrongly

implicated a senior Conservative in allegations of child abuse.

Also tonight - a new police inquiry ordered into the Hillsborough

football disaster and new inquest will be held for the 96 victims.

It's a huge step for the families and I think a lot of us will have a

much happier Christmas. Almost 4,000 British troops in

Afghanistan, nearly half the current total, will be brought home

next year. The Swiss bank UBS fined nearly �1

billion after traders manipulated interest rates.

And the magical sound of a family Christmas in London more than a

century ago. Later in the hour, we'll have

Sportsday on the BBC News Channel, with all the latest reports,

results, interviews and features Good evening. BBC managers have

been heavily criticised after the shelfing of a Newsnight

investigation on Jimmy Safile. An independent report found no

evidence of a cover up, but it said managers were incapable of deefl

with the chaos that followed. Newsnight's editor has been

replaced. A senior manager has resigned and another moved. But no-

one's been sacked. Mark Easton reports.

Chaos and confusion, leadership and organisation in short supply, the

inquiry into the BBC's handling of the Jimmy Savile scandal has

revealed a scorpgs in crisis. the full force of the affair broke

this year the BBC's management proved incapable of dealing with.

It the level of chaos and confusion was greater than was apparent at

the time. Good evening, ladies and gentleman. At the heart of today's

report is the question why the BBC abandoned an investigation that had

evidence Jimmy Savile was a predatory paedophile, before

broadcasting four tribute programmes to him in the Christmas

schedule last year. E-mails reveal how the future Director-General,

George Entwhistle, was warned about Jimmy Savile's dark side before his

death and before the Newsnight "We didn't prepare an obit because

of a darker side of the story ". Later Thomas Bowdler told George

Entwhistle about the Newsnight -- Jayne Boden told George Entwhistle

His response was un necessarily cautious and he took no steps to

review his Christmas schedule. not going to get into the details...

At the launch of today's report, its author said he found no

evidence that BBC's Newsnight's investigation was pulled to protect

the corporation or its Christmas schedules. The decision by their

editor to drop the original investigation was clearly flawed

and the way it was taken was wrong. Though, I believe, it was done in

good faith. It was not done to protect the Savile tribute

programmes or for any improper reason. After the truth about Jimmy

Savile emerged in October this year, the report said the BBC was thrown

into dais ray. A blog by Newsnight's editor explaining why

they ditched their investigation was full of errors and breached

editorial guidelines. Pollard is absolutely right in saying that the

BBC will be able to rebuild its trust, but it has to do so by

facing up to some of its weakness as and failings as honestly as

possible. One of those weaknesses is giving George Entwhistle

�450,000 in a payoff when the report reveals that he ignored e-

mails which might well have prevented the tributes to Jimmy

Savile going out last year. alternative was constructive

dismissal which would have cost more and taken longer. A �2 million

inquiry into what's described as one of the worst management crises

in the BBC's histsery ah, middisarray chaos and a lack of

leadership. Critics will be quick to poipbtd out that the response

from the board of of the corporation is to sack no-one.

Today the BBC also published a second internal report into how

Newsnight managed to implicate the former treasurer Lord McAlpine in a

scandal. Basic cheps were not carried out, the BBC concluded. The

BBC's deputy head of news Steve Mitchell resigned today. The editor

of Newsnight Peter Rippon will be moved to a new role. The deputy

head of Newsnight, who had overseen the McAlpine report is also being

moved to a new job. Will we have a situation where people are moved

around, some are even promoted. Nothing happens. Nothing changes.

That would not be acceptable here. That would damage the BBC and

people's trust in it. corporation's executive board today

stressed the importance of not forgetting the victims abused by

Jimmy Savile. A separate BBC investigation focusing on that will

report next year. The risk to further damage to the BBC are far

from over. Let's pick up on a point there in

the report, the question being is it possible to rebuild trust if no-

one loses their job or is sacked as a result of this scandal? Some

people would say it's not enough. It's interesting, though, what the

BBC Trust said here. They said this is not about who sits in which

chair. It's not about structures, management structures and silos.

It's not about cliepbs. Making sure people follow the editorial

guidelines. It's about management culture. Senior executives need to

behave better and set an example. Staff at all levels need to stop

leaking to the newspapers. They need to stop distrusting each other.

There needs to be less ipbs larity. What they're talking about here is

a complete change in management culture. They say Tony Hall will

have three months to create that change. Cultural change is hard at

any time. Three months is a very short time frame. He's going to be

having to do this. Frankly, when there is still a lot of turmoil and

a lot of acrimony after this whole Savile affair. Easy thing to say, a

very hard thing to achieve. Thank you very much.

In another development in the Savile scandal, a former BBC Radio

one producer, who worked with the presenter has been bailed tonight

after being arrested this morning. 76-year-old Ted Beston is the

eighth person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree.

Verdicts of accidental death on the 96 football fans who died in the

Hillsborough disaster have been quashed in the High Court. New

inquests will now take place. The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has

announced a new police investigation into what happened.

Judith Moritz reports. These families and their supporters have

waited nearly a quarter of a century for this moment. When they

learned that their relatives who died at Hillsborough would get a

new inquest, the relief and emotion were obvious. The actual depth and

the length of the judgment, we couldn't have written it better if

we'd written it ourselves. So when you get the Lord Chief Justice, and

I think he used the term "vindicated" yet again. Justice is

on its way. We could come out with something like a small step for

mankind, but it's a huge step for the families. This was a

particularly big day for Anne Williams. She's been as far as the

European Court before trying to get a new inquest for her 15-year-old

son Kevin. She's been turned down at every stage, until today.

didn't they just give us the truth from the outset? We would have

still mourned our children, but we wouldn't have 23 years of

Hillsborough and fighting the system. 96 Liverpool fans were

fatally crushed in the disaster in April 1989. The youngest was just

ten years old and more than a third were teenagers. At their inquests,

controversial verdicts of accidental death were returned. The

Coroner suggested that all of the deaths were inevitable by 3.5pm on

the afternoon of the disaster. As a result the emergency response has

never been examined. As he gave his ruling, the Lord Chief Justice said

over the years there have been a profound and almost palpable sense

by the families that justice had not been done. He praised their

determination and they responded as the hearing ended, breaking out

into spontaneous applause, one woman shouting, "Thank you, your

honour." The catalyst for the decision was the publication of the

Hillsborough Independent Panel's report. It found new medical

evidence that many fans might have been saved. When I read the

Hillsborough Independent Panel's publication of documents, it was

overwhelmingly clear that the inquest had proceeded on some

seriously flawed base yis. The Home Secretary announced today that

there will be a new police investigation into the disaster

focusing specifically on the 96 deaths. After two decades these

families feel they're getting closer to justice.

The Swiss banking giant UBS has been fined nearly �1 billion by

American, British and Swiss regulators for attempting to

manipulate inter-bank lending rates. It's more than three times the fine

imposed on Barclays this year for similar offences. Regulators say

the behaviour of traders had been shocking. Our business editor

Robert Peston reports. UBS, a giant global bank, caught trying to

manipulate important interest rates and punished by regulators with

�940 million of fines and confiscation of ill-gotten gains.

This is some of the most shocking misconduct we've seen to date. This

was prevalent across the firm for a period of five years, where people

were seeking to manipulate an internationally used bench mark,

used for millions of trillions of pounds worth of contracts in order

to benefit their own trading positions. UBS traders colluded

with other firms in the market rigging. One UBS banker said to a

broker, "I will f-ing do one humungous deal with you. I'll pay

you $50,000, whatever you want. I'm a man of my word." The bank has

been punished by regulators in Switzerland the UK and the US.

no mistake, for UBS traders, the manipulation of Libor was about

getting rich. As one broker told a UBS derivative trader, "Mate,

you're getting bloody good at this Libor game. Think of me when you're

on your yacht in Monaco, won't you?" Is a �1 billion fine too much,

too little or about right? I'd say it's not about the fines. What

we've got to see is criminal sanctions. The money is really

meaningless. It's tax deductible. Certainly the Government is

amending the financial services bill. To make sure the fines in

future go to good causes not back to the regulator. But it's got to

be about sanctions. The market manipulation was so widespread and

systematic that it's now impossible to have confidence in any of the

main Libor prices over a period of years. Now that really matters

because Libor rates underpin the prices of more than $300 trillion

of financial products sold to investors and people. As those

investors start to sue, they'll be looking for huge damages, damage

that's could turn out to be a multiple, even of the huge bank

fines. More than a dozen big banks are being investigated for rate

rigging. Barclays this year was hit with �290 million in fines and

penalties. Martin Taylor was Barclays' boss before the rot set

in. We had an absolutely rotten culture in a number of institutions

in the pre-crash City. No question about that. The real issue is - are

these so dreadful and I believe they are, that the people in charge

of the banks will now get a grip. After the humbling of UBS will come

the spanking of RBS, also implicated in the Libor scandal and

early in the new year, due to be 30 police officers are now

investigating allegations that a serving officer falsely claimed to

have heard a row between the former Government Chief Whip Andrew

Mitchell and police officers in Downing Street. Mr Mitchell

resigned from the Government over the incident, admitting that he did

swear at officers but denied that he called them plebs. The Prime

Minister called the matter very serious and has backed the new

investigation. On the advice of British military

leaders, ministers have decided to reduce the size of the UK force in

Afghanistan by 3,800 to 5,200. They'll return home next year. All

combat troops will be withdrawn by the end of 2014. The Defence

Secretary, Philip Hammond said the Afghan Army and police were

increasingly able to take responsibility for security.

Just a few days ago they were out on patrol in Nad Ali Helmand. It

was quiet no, obvious threat. Perhaps a sign that their job's now

done. Last night those same soldiers were getting ready to come

home early. They're among the first 500 British combat troops to be

leaving Afghanistan, never to return. But with mixed emotions.

want to,back. Three times is enough. You don't want to come back.

Definitely not. Leaving three months in, was a bit disappointing

but we have to be sensible and look at the bigger picture. Transition

going faster than expected can only be viewed as positive. This is a

clear sign that the war is winding down. These are among the first 500

to leave the country for good and soon they'll be joined by thousands

more. Today the Prime Minister announced

that just under 4,000 more troops would be making this same journey

by the end of next year. It was presented as progress. Because of

the success of our forces and the Afghan National Security Forces and

the fact that we are moving from meant org at a battalion level, to

mentoring at a brigade level, we'll be able to see troops come home in

two relatively even steps, 2013- 2014. The British presence in

Afghanistan peaked in 2009 with 9,500 troops. The 500 on their way

home brings it to 9,000 that. Will go down to just over 5,000 to the

end of next year, with all British gapstrooth troops out by the end of

2014. -- British combat troops out. Some British bases are already

being dismantled much dozens more have been hand over. A drawdown in

step with Allies, including the Americans, who've already sent

30,000 troops home. But doubts still remain as to whether the of a

begun Army is ready to fight an insurgency that's still not been

defeated, all on its own. They are concerned about losing some of our

intelligence assets, and our surveillance assets. Those are the

things this they heavily lean upon this they can't replicate. But

their own inteleljns and understanding of the population is

far better than ours will ever be. -- intelligence. I'm sure they will

be fine. Tonight Ned inborough some of those first 500 were welcomed

back into the warm embrace of loved ones, but many have still not made

it home and there is no guarantee that it's been worth the sacrifice.

Still to come: discovering the sound of Christmas from a century

ago. We've had a splendid time and a jolly Christmas in 1904. Experts

believe this is the first-ever recording of a family Christmas.

Now, ministers have announced more funding cuts for local authorities

in England next year with their budgets reduced by an average of

1.7%. Council tax will be frozen for a third year. The Communities'

Secretary, Eric Pickles, said that the settlement was "a bargain" and

suggested ways that councils could save more money.

Mike Sergeant reports from Birmingham, where hundreds of job

losss are already in the pipeline. Will councils still provide all of

these services with less and less money from central government?

Ministers think they can but only if they become more efficient and

better at generating money locally. This settlement recognises the

responsibility of local government to find sensible savings and to

make better use of its resources. It marks a new settlement for local

government, based on self- determination and financial

independence. Town halls are now two years into this spending

squeeze and they say they've made a lot of the easy savings already.

Protecting services is getting harder. Are people starting to

notice the impact of the cuts? certainly has. He works for the

City Council in Birmingham. Are you in fear for your job? Definitely. I

don't see myself any different to anybody else. I have seen colleague

over the last two years go, some good, skilled people. It's sad.

Many others seem much less concerned about council finances.

To me personally I don't see a massive change to my daily life

because of the council cuts, to be honest. Personally it, hasn't

really affected me yet, I'm very happy to say but I feel it will do,

shortly. But the leaders of some of

England's biggest cities are demanding an urgent meeting with

the Secretary of State, they are warning of a looming financial

crisis. There are disadvantaged areas and communities across

Birmingham who will see services cut. You can't get away with this.

This is not about solving a budget problem through efficiency savings.

We'll have to make cuts that will affect livelihoods and quality of

life of residents of this city. what happens if the funding just

isn't there? This training centre for social workers in Birmingham

gets by with no council money at all. One of its directors had this

message for those looking for other sources of funding? Think outside

the box, guys, you can do it. We can do it, you can do it. It is

just about using your imagination. Councils in Wales and Scotland are

getting a small increase next year but with costs increasing all the

time, local authorities in England are today facing hard choices about

how to keep services going on an ever-tighter budget.

In the United States, President Obama has called for concrete

proposals on gun control by the end of next month following the school

shooting in Connecticut last week. The President said the majority of

Americans back changes to some gun laws after the atrocity which left

26 children and too muchers dead. This should be a wick-up call for

all of us -- a wake-up call. To say this if we are not getting right

the need to keep our children safe, then nothing else matters.

And it's my commitment to make sure that we do everything we can to

keep our children safe. Let's go to Washington and talk to our North

American editor Mark Mardel. Mark, very strong words from the

President and there have been over several days Rthey likely to lead

to some proposals and progress? -- are they likely? I think they'll

lead to some actions it is a question of whether it is hard

actions. The President is tackling something very big. He's saying it

is not about the massacre, he is saying there is an epidemic of gun

violence. When you look at the figures, more than an average of 30

Americans a day die from firearms. That's a huge figure. He is saying

there has to be a commission to look into this. Not just gun

control, but also video games, the culture, mental health and so on.

And as in Britain people say - well a commission that's kicking it into

the future. He is saying he wants firm proposals on his Des income a

few weeks' time so he can put them in his speech at the end of January.

-- desk in a if you weeks' time. I'm sure in that there will be

plans to been assault rifles. If he does do that, that's taking on a

very big political battle that will go on for the rest of the year.

Mark, thank you very much. The incoming Governor of the Bank

of England, Mark Carney, will get an accommodation allowance worth

�250,000 when he takes up the post next July. The payment is in

addition to his salary of more than �600,000 a year, significantly more

than is earned by the current governor, Sir Mervyn King. Curators

at the Museum of London have discovered what they believe are

the first-ever recordings of a family Christmas. They were made

110 years ago by the Wall family, who lived in north London. Experts

say that the sound quality of the music especially is outstanding.

This wax cylinder contains events that took place more than 100 years

ago. When it was played by curators at the Museum of London, this is

what they heard. BOY SINGS Force The record something from 1904, of

a seven-year-old boy singing to his family. The scene here recreated by

his grand-grandson, Leslie. When I first heard the recordings,

I have to say that the hairs on my arms stood on end. It was fantastic.

It was really like a window opening into the past and like being in the

same room. The recordings are of the Wall family who lived in north

London. Cromwell in the middle was the head of the family. He, along

with his wife Minnie, on the right, and their nine children, loved to

sing, especially at Christmas. The family would gather tharned

graph phone to make their recordings. -- would gather around

this graphophone. The oldest one is this one from 190 2. It's thought

to be the oldest-ever recording of a family on Christmas day. Here we

are again, another Christmas, 1904. It was only recently that the dep

sendents of the Wall family heard the recordings. -- descendants.

Some rather that the grand parties went on for years to come. That

would have been typical of my grandfather making them sing like

that. We've had a splendid time, and a jolly good Christmas in 1904.

Here, here. The recordings are a tale of

Christmas past, of warm gatherings. A Christmas that Cromwell Wall's