:00:00. > :00:08.Surprise as Britain's top diplomat at the EU quits just months before
:00:09. > :00:13.tough Brexit negotiations are due to begin.
:00:14. > :00:16.Sir Ivan Rogers had faced criticism for warning that a post-Brexit trade
:00:17. > :00:23.His departure prompts a mixed reaction.
:00:24. > :00:28.It is a spectacular own goal, because the only way we're
:00:29. > :00:32.going to deliver a workable Brexit, is with people like Ivan Rogers.
:00:33. > :00:41.My only regret is that he didn't go the day after the referendum.
:00:42. > :00:44.Tonight the BBC has seen Sir Ivan's resignation email to his staff
:00:45. > :00:46.in which he criticises muddled thinking and ill founded
:00:47. > :00:54.The 28-year-old man shot dead by police on the M62 last night -
:00:55. > :00:57.police say a firearm was discovered in his car.
:00:58. > :01:00.Trump's tweet turns up the heat on the US car industry.
:01:01. > :01:03.Now Ford says it will cancel a new plant in Mexico and build
:01:04. > :01:10.Four Chelsea fans are ordered to pay more than ?8,000 to a black French
:01:11. > :01:13.commuter who they racially abused in Paris last year.
:01:14. > :01:15.And the lucky escape for a couple who got lost in Cairngorms
:01:16. > :01:25.And coming up in Sportsday on BBC News...
:01:26. > :01:29.Arsenal had the chance to go third in the Premier League with victory
:01:30. > :01:31.at Bournemouth but could they come back from 3-0 down
:01:32. > :01:55.Britain's most senior diplomat at the European Union,
:01:56. > :01:58.Sir Ivan Rogers, has resigned just months before he was due
:01:59. > :02:00.to play an important role in the complex negotiations
:02:01. > :02:08.Sir Ivan faced criticism last month when it emerged that he'd warned
:02:09. > :02:11.the Prime Minister that securing a post-Brexit trade deal
:02:12. > :02:25.Tonight the BBC has obtained his resignation email to his staff
:02:26. > :02:28.in which he urged them to continue to speak truth
:02:29. > :02:31.them to challenge muddled thinking about Brexit.
:02:32. > :02:34.More on that in a moment but first here's our Political Correspondent,
:02:35. > :02:37.Behind the darkened windows, at the Prime Minister's side,
:02:38. > :02:40.as she arrived at last month's EU summit, Sir Ivan Rogers tried
:02:41. > :02:47.But his warning that it could take the UK ten years to get a new EU
:02:48. > :02:49.trade deal overshadowed what was already a difficult
:02:50. > :02:54.He was criticised for being too pessimistic, though Downing Street
:02:55. > :03:00.said he was just relaying the views of other EU members.
:03:01. > :03:03.Some who've worked with Sir Ivan believe his departure is a real
:03:04. > :03:08.The only way we're going to deliver a successful, workable Brexit
:03:09. > :03:11.is precisely with the expertise of people like Ivan Rogers, who's
:03:12. > :03:16.now been forced to the margins, forced to the sidelines,
:03:17. > :03:19.because of the angry zeal of Brexiteers who just won't accept
:03:20. > :03:22.anyone who says anything different to what they so happen
:03:23. > :03:26.Theresa May is losing a figure who knows the corridors of EU
:03:27. > :03:31.He worked for a former British Commissioner in Brussels,
:03:32. > :03:35.David Cameron appointed him as ambassador to the EU in 2013
:03:36. > :03:38.and he was a key member of the former Prime Minister's team
:03:39. > :03:41.as he tried to get agreement on a new relationship with the EU
:03:42. > :03:49.In an unusually outspoken tweet, the former top civil
:03:50. > :03:51.servant at the Treasury, Lord Macpherson, said "Ivan Rogers,
:03:52. > :03:53.huge loss, can't understand wilful and total destruction
:03:54. > :04:01.But leading Brexit campaigners are delighted he's gone.
:04:02. > :04:05.Sir Ivan is part of the establishment that, frankly,
:04:06. > :04:07.haven't accepted the referendum result and are hoping that, frankly,
:04:08. > :04:11.I'm sorry to say, but the Foreign Office is stuffed
:04:12. > :04:13.full of these people, from top to bottom.
:04:14. > :04:16.For decades, they've been taking Britain in completely
:04:17. > :04:18.the wrong direction, and I hope Sir Ivan's departure
:04:19. > :04:26.Whilst Downing Street is determined to convey a positive Brexit message,
:04:27. > :04:29.sources who know Sir Ivan well and know Brussels well
:04:30. > :04:33.believe his warnings of the difficulties ahead
:04:34. > :04:36.were dismissed because they did not fit that narrative and they fear it
:04:37. > :04:38.will be difficult to find a replacement who knows
:04:39. > :04:40.enough about how Europe works and is acceptable
:04:41. > :04:45.And whoever takes over as the UK representative to the EU
:04:46. > :04:53.It's important that we have someone in the job, as Sir Ivan was doing,
:04:54. > :04:56.and no doubt his successor will do as well, who will report back
:04:57. > :04:58.to the British Government, and through the Government
:04:59. > :05:00.to Parliament, about what the other member states
:05:01. > :05:06.Because in a negotiation it really pays to know where the other
:05:07. > :05:10.Theresa May has said she'll trigger Article 50 by the end of March
:05:11. > :05:12.and it won't be easy to get a new representative
:05:13. > :05:15.to the EU in place and ready for the start of those crucial
:05:16. > :05:21.Carole Walker, BBC News, Westminster.
:05:22. > :05:26.With me is our Diplomatic Correspondent, James Landale.
:05:27. > :05:28.You've obtained his resignation email to staff -
:05:29. > :05:34.just how strong a parting shot is it and who's it aimed at?
:05:35. > :05:40.Ostensibly this is just an e-mail to his staff in Brussels but the target
:05:41. > :05:47.is clearly the government it does not take that much decoding. He
:05:48. > :05:50.says," I hope you will continue to challenge ill founded arguments and
:05:51. > :05:53.muddled thinking, that he will never be afraid to speak the truth to
:05:54. > :05:57.those in power. I hope you will support each other in the difficult
:05:58. > :06:00.moments when you had to deliver messages that are disagreeable to
:06:01. > :06:05.those who need to hear them." The clear implication is that this is
:06:06. > :06:08.the experience he has had as ambassador in Brussels sending
:06:09. > :06:13.messages to London, that those messages have been falling to some
:06:14. > :06:17.in Downing Street on deaf ears and he is not being listened to. That is
:06:18. > :06:21.why we think he has resigned, because of this frustration that he
:06:22. > :06:25.has felt that he has been speaking what he considers to be truth of
:06:26. > :06:30.power. He is clear in his unhappiness but in this long e-mail,
:06:31. > :06:35.four or five pages longer he also makes clear his own unhappiness with
:06:36. > :06:39.other parts of the government's preparation for Brexit, particularly
:06:40. > :06:43.in the says the structure of the negotiating team needs rapid
:06:44. > :06:48.resolution. He is critical of other part as well. This is a document
:06:49. > :06:53.that will become almost the set text of where Britain's ambassador sees
:06:54. > :06:56.our preparations for these extra merry negotiations that are about to
:06:57. > :06:58.happen and his own unhappiness and why he will not be part of it. Thank
:06:59. > :06:59.you. The Independent Police
:07:00. > :07:01.Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting
:07:02. > :07:04.of a man by armed officers on the M62 motorway,
:07:05. > :07:06.says a firearm was found in his car. Yassar Yaqub, who was 28,
:07:07. > :07:09.was shot dead in what police have called a "pre-planned
:07:10. > :07:12.operation" at Ainley Top, just Our correspondent Danny
:07:13. > :07:21.Savage has the details. For much of the day,
:07:22. > :07:26.the cars involved in the incidents remained exactly where
:07:27. > :07:29.they stopped last night. The two dark coloured vehicles
:07:30. > :07:32.and the silver Mercedes in front The two white cars were
:07:33. > :07:37.the target of the operation. As police boxed them
:07:38. > :07:41.in and stopped, shots were fired. Bullet holes can be seen
:07:42. > :07:45.in the windscreen of a white Audi. One man was killed and investigators
:07:46. > :07:48.tonight confirmed a non-police issue firearm was found in the car
:07:49. > :07:53.he was in. Yassar Yaqub was a 28-year-old
:07:54. > :07:58.father from Huddersfield. He was cleared of trying to shoot
:07:59. > :08:02.dead two people, eight years ago. One friend on Facebook wrote,
:08:03. > :08:04."You were no angel, The incident happened just outside
:08:05. > :08:10.Huddersfield as the cars came off At around 6.00pm, they drove
:08:11. > :08:17.on to this slip road and were hemmed Shortly after that, shots were fired
:08:18. > :08:23.and Yassar Yaqub was killed. Three people were
:08:24. > :08:27.arrested at the scene. At the same time, in Bradford,
:08:28. > :08:30.another vehicle was stopped as part of the same operation
:08:31. > :08:35.and two others arrested. As the busy motorway junction
:08:36. > :08:37.was closed down last night, many people were caught up
:08:38. > :08:42.in the chaos. There were these rapid response
:08:43. > :08:44.vehicles that kept pulling up, big large vehicles, then a couple
:08:45. > :08:48.of ambulances turned up. As soon as the ambulance pulled up,
:08:49. > :08:51.some of the policemen ran up and told the ambulance they had
:08:52. > :08:54.to get down, as quickly as possible, to where
:08:55. > :08:56.the incident had took place. It looked like somebody needed
:08:57. > :08:59.urgent medical help. At Yassar Yaqub's family home
:09:00. > :09:01.armed police arrived this Friends and relatives
:09:02. > :09:10.who were visiting soon left. The operation related to information
:09:11. > :09:13.received about a criminal possession of a firearm and I've been fully
:09:14. > :09:15.updated by the Chief Constable. The incident is not
:09:16. > :09:23.terrorism related. Tonight, more than 24 hours
:09:24. > :09:25.after the shooting, the vehicles are finally being taken away
:09:26. > :09:29.for further examination. It includes the car Mr Yaqub
:09:30. > :09:33.was in and in which a gun was found. The Independent Police
:09:34. > :09:34.Complaints Commission is now One of the questions
:09:35. > :09:40.they'll be asking is - did Mr Yaqub pose an imminent
:09:41. > :09:43.threat to life? What they won't have are images
:09:44. > :09:46.from body cameras as firearms officers in West Yorkshire
:09:47. > :09:50.don't wear them. Danny Savage, BBC
:09:51. > :09:52.News, Huddersfield. The main suspect in
:09:53. > :09:55.the New Year terror attack on a nightclub in Istanbul
:09:56. > :09:58.which left 39 people dead Turkish police have detained more
:09:59. > :10:02.than a dozen people so far. Our Turkey correspondent,
:10:03. > :10:04.Mark Lowen, has been allowed into the club
:10:05. > :10:11.where the massacre took place. Three days ago, this
:10:12. > :10:14.place was full of joy, Today, Reina nightclub is a crime
:10:15. > :10:24.scene, scarred by terror. We were the only British media
:10:25. > :10:28.allowed in, briefly. A rare glimpse of where 39 people
:10:29. > :10:33.were killed on New Year's Eve. Imagine the horror as 180
:10:34. > :10:43.bullets were sprayed here. People jumping into the freezing
:10:44. > :10:46.Bosphorus to escape. The owners of Reina say they will
:10:47. > :10:49.re-open the nightclub, it's a sign Yes, people are sombre,
:10:50. > :10:52.yes, they're fearful, but Turks have lived with a terror
:10:53. > :10:54.threat for decades, albeit on a smaller scale,
:10:55. > :10:57.and they're determined not to let Watch the right hand side of this
:10:58. > :11:03.footage from the attack. A man jumps over a low fence outside
:11:04. > :11:07.the nightclub to avoid the bullets. Then the gunman runs up to the door,
:11:08. > :11:14.shooting his way into Reina. That man on the right of the video
:11:15. > :11:17.was nightclub manager, Ali Unal, TRANSLATION: I felt bullets
:11:18. > :11:25.explode next to me. I threw myself over the fence,
:11:26. > :11:27.but tripped and fell. The bullets went
:11:28. > :11:31.centimetres over my head. When I fell, he must have
:11:32. > :11:34.thought he had hit me, so he went inside and I heard
:11:35. > :11:40.the terrible sounds. The suspect still hasn't been
:11:41. > :11:43.caught, new pictures show him at a bus station in the central city
:11:44. > :11:45.of Konya before So-called Islamic State
:11:46. > :11:51.called him "their brave soldier." The Turkish authorities have given
:11:52. > :11:57.no more information about him. Raids tonight in a part of Istanbul
:11:58. > :12:01.from where he's thought to have Security is being tiightened
:12:02. > :12:06.amid fears IS could strike again here in revenge for Turkey's
:12:07. > :12:08.operations against There have though been others
:12:09. > :12:17.detained, including two foreigners It's not clear what link if any
:12:18. > :12:22.they're thought to have Those tired of terror went
:12:23. > :12:28.to the scene of the massacre today, Tributes were laid and thoughts
:12:29. > :12:34.gathered about how their country can rebuild and how the next generation
:12:35. > :12:41.can regain a sense of safety. I don't want to cry any
:12:42. > :12:43.more while I'm watching It makes me really sad and I don't
:12:44. > :12:53.want my daughter to grow up in this kind of environment,
:12:54. > :12:55.you know, with this news And so a nervous wait to see
:12:56. > :13:05.if those who protect this country are really closing in on the man
:13:06. > :13:07.who brought horror The US President-elect, Donald
:13:08. > :13:16.Trump, had the American car industry in his sights today when he fired
:13:17. > :13:19.off the latest of his often Mr Trump criticised GM motors
:13:20. > :13:26.for importing one of its models of cars from Mexico and threatened
:13:27. > :13:28.to impose a "big Just a few hours later,
:13:29. > :13:34.the car giant Ford then announced it was cancelling plans
:13:35. > :13:40.for a ?1.5 billion plant in Mexico and said it
:13:41. > :13:43.would invest in the US instead. So, is Mr Trump's Twitter
:13:44. > :13:44.strategy working? Here's our North America
:13:45. > :13:53.Editor, Jon Sopel. Not yet the president but the new
:13:54. > :13:57.way of doing business is clear. If Donald Trump has something on his
:13:58. > :14:02.mind, you will read about it in a tweet or two. Today out of nowhere
:14:03. > :14:16.it was the executives of GM getting a kicking from the President-elect.
:14:17. > :14:22.That left the American car giant scrambling for a response. The
:14:23. > :14:27.company pointed out that the model is actually made in a fire while the
:14:28. > :14:33.car is built in Mexico -- cars built in Mexico were for the global market
:14:34. > :14:37.but 4500 had made their way to America dealerships. This is the
:14:38. > :14:41.issue that Donald Trump made his own in the campaign. We are living
:14:42. > :14:47.through the greatest jobs theft in the history of the world. Our jobs
:14:48. > :14:51.are going to Mexico. And he is not giving up on it with no US
:14:52. > :14:55.corporation immune from the naming and shaming. And it seems to be
:14:56. > :15:01.yielding results. Today Ford announced that it planned to do a
:15:02. > :15:06.$1.6 billion plant in Mexico was being shelved and instead an
:15:07. > :15:10.existing plant in Michigan would be expanded, creating 700 new jobs. The
:15:11. > :15:17.CEO admitted that it was largely down to trump's policies. The
:15:18. > :15:20.announcement we are making today of $700 million investment here in
:15:21. > :15:24.Michigan and adding 700 jobs, one of the factors we put into that was the
:15:25. > :15:29.more favourable US business environment that we seek under
:15:30. > :15:33.President-elect 's trump. And bullying by tweet scored another
:15:34. > :15:37.victory as he rounded on Republicans for wanting to strip Congress's
:15:38. > :15:39.independent ethics committee of its powers. He went on social media to
:15:40. > :15:55.say... After this it tweet as House
:15:56. > :15:59.Republicans gathered, word came out they had abandoned their plan.
:16:00. > :16:05.Democrats warned this couldn't be presidency by tweet. The Making
:16:06. > :16:13.America great again requires more than 140 characters per issue. The
:16:14. > :16:17.With all due respect, America cannot afford a Twitter presidency. The
:16:18. > :16:20.Republicans had wanted to show unity of purpose today, but at times
:16:21. > :16:25.looked more united with the Democrats on the other side. With
:16:26. > :16:29.this PR disaster, they seem to have hit the ground stumbling. Jon joins
:16:30. > :16:33.me now from Washington. It certainly shows the power of his tweets. Is
:16:34. > :16:39.that what we're going to have to get used to? I think it is the new
:16:40. > :16:41.politics that we are in. If you are a politician, a diplomat, a
:16:42. > :16:46.businessman, a journalist, you have to start your day now, not with a
:16:47. > :16:52.cup of coffee, look at Donald Trump's Twitter feed. If you look at
:16:53. > :16:57.what he said in the past few weeks, various different countries have
:16:58. > :16:59.been in the cross hairs. He has rewritten American nuclear policy
:17:00. > :17:03.settled for 40 years. He has gone after individuals and
:17:04. > :17:06.gone after corporations. With the two examples we have seen today
:17:07. > :17:09.there have been successes. He promised to drain the swamp,
:17:10. > :17:14.Republicans look like they were going back on that. He whacked them
:17:15. > :17:19.one, they caved in. Likewise, Ford announcing it's moving its plant to
:17:20. > :17:22.Michigan, not Mexico. The So it used to be the case that with the
:17:23. > :17:26.President you would scratch your head and say - I wonder what they
:17:27. > :17:30.really think. With Donald Trump you know exactly what he thinks. How
:17:31. > :17:34.seriously do we take it? There was a really good comment by someone, a
:17:35. > :17:38.journalist a little while back he said, the mistake the establishment
:17:39. > :17:43.makes is it takes Donald Trump literally, but not seriously.
:17:44. > :17:46.Whereas the public take him seriously, but not literally. I
:17:47. > :17:50.think that everyone has got a lot of learning to do in this new
:17:51. > :17:58.presidency. Jon Sopel, in Washington, thank you.
:17:59. > :18:00.There's been more fighting in Yemen, with 11 civilians,
:18:01. > :18:03.including five members of one family, reported to have been killed
:18:04. > :18:05.in clashes between pro-government forces and rebels.
:18:06. > :18:09.It's believed they're supported financially by Iran.
:18:10. > :18:16.They managed to take over the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
:18:17. > :18:18.A coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, began an air
:18:19. > :18:25.But the rebels still retain control of large parts
:18:26. > :18:29.of Yemen and the front-lines shift constantly.
:18:30. > :18:31.Nawal al-Maghafi has been to the country
:18:32. > :18:34.and reports on the danger for civilians caught in the middle.
:18:35. > :18:37.This is where the battle to retake the capital begins.
:18:38. > :18:40.The mountains ahead are all that stand between the army
:18:41. > :18:49.Their commander is taking us high up into the front-line positions.
:18:50. > :18:52.He tells me the terrain makes it a natural fortress for the Houthi
:18:53. > :18:54.rebels and his men are always exposed to death.
:18:55. > :18:56.It's the first time any international broadcaster has
:18:57. > :19:08.The army are just 40 miles from the capital.
:19:09. > :19:10.But the closer they push into the mountains,
:19:11. > :19:13.TRANSLATION: Every day we make some progress,
:19:14. > :19:19.People are lost, but at least land is liberated.
:19:20. > :19:24.The rebels are retreating on a daily basis.
:19:25. > :19:32.But both sides have reached a stalemate.
:19:33. > :19:34.Despite arms and air support from the Saudi-led coalition,
:19:35. > :19:39.these fighters from the national army haven't made any major gains.
:19:40. > :19:42.And, as they fight for ground, the situation in Yemen has
:19:43. > :19:52.As the front lines shift, landmines have been left behind.
:19:53. > :19:55.The army say that the Houthi rebels have planted tens of thousands
:19:56. > :19:57.of them in both military and civilian areas.
:19:58. > :20:00.The scale of the problem makes Yemen one of the worst affected
:20:01. > :20:06.Despite a lack of training, the army say they've defused over
:20:07. > :20:14.The locals in this area say all their farmland was mined.
:20:15. > :20:17.This is one of the areas that the Houthis had control
:20:18. > :20:20.of as they were trying to take over Marib.
:20:21. > :20:31.The national army and the people of Marib then pushed them out.
:20:32. > :20:34.As they were doing so, the Houthis planted
:20:35. > :20:36.landmines, scattered all over these fields.
:20:37. > :20:38.Sul and his family fled once the fighting started,
:20:39. > :20:40.they thought it was safe to return to their home.
:20:41. > :20:43.TRANSLATION: My wife was praying here in the room and my son
:20:44. > :20:48.They had lunch and my son asked my wife to pass him a blanket.
:20:49. > :20:57.As she pulled the blanket, there was a huge explosion.
:20:58. > :21:00.The mine planted in his home killed his wife, 22-year-old son
:21:01. > :21:03."It hurts to remember what happened", he says,
:21:04. > :21:10.The Houthis strongly deny the use of landmines in civilian areas.
:21:11. > :21:13.They say they only target military vehicles and accuse the coalition
:21:14. > :21:21.Regardless of who's responsible, the prospect for a lasting solution
:21:22. > :21:23.remains distant and the Yemeni people, stuck in the middle,
:21:24. > :21:38.A brief look at some of the day's other news stories.
:21:39. > :21:43.A British soldier, who was killed in Iraq yesterday, has been named
:21:44. > :21:45.as Lance Corporal Scott Hetherington of 2nd Battalion The Duke
:21:46. > :21:50.He died at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad.
:21:51. > :21:52.It's understood that he'd been shot after the accidental
:21:53. > :22:00.Tributes have been paid to a former chef from West Sussex who's been
:22:01. > :22:05.killed fighting the Islamic State group in Syria.
:22:06. > :22:08.Ryan Lock, who was 20, had told his family he was going
:22:09. > :22:10.on holiday to Turkey, but instead joined Kurdish militia.
:22:11. > :22:15.He died during an assault on the city of Raqqa in December.
:22:16. > :22:17.Some British Airways cabin crew are to stage a 48-hour strike
:22:18. > :22:21.Members of the Unite union have rejected a new offer aimed
:22:22. > :22:35.A previous walk-out, planned for Christmas Day and Boxing Day,
:22:36. > :22:39.BA says it plans to ensure that all their customers can travel
:22:40. > :22:44.A court in France has given four Chelsea fans suspended sentences
:22:45. > :22:47.for racially abusing a man on the Paris Metro in 2015.
:22:48. > :22:50.The four were also ordered to pay more than ?8,000 in compensation
:22:51. > :22:55.to the black Frenchman who was filmed being pushed off
:22:56. > :23:05.A routine journey home, two years ago, that became a national scandal.
:23:06. > :23:08.Frenchman Souleymane Sylla pushed off his train three times that
:23:09. > :23:15.night by Chelsea fans singing racist chants.
:23:16. > :23:19.We're Chelsea, we're racists and that's the way we like it.
:23:20. > :23:25.TRANSLATION: Because of them I had problems.
:23:26. > :23:27.Because of them I wasn't able to ride the subway.
:23:28. > :23:32.Because of them I was held back in my job and my future was changed.
:23:33. > :23:46.Avoiding the cameras at a Paris court today,
:23:47. > :23:48.the two youngest accused Joshua Parsons and James Fairburn
:23:49. > :23:50.denied their actions that night had been racist.
:23:51. > :23:52.Another two men, including a 52-year-old former police officer,
:23:53. > :23:56.The panel of judges found all four defendants guilty of violence,
:23:57. > :23:57.aggravated by racism, handing down suspended sentences
:23:58. > :24:00.of between six and 12 months and awarding ?8,000 of damages.
:24:01. > :24:03.TRANSLATION: My client was found guilty because he was in the wrong
:24:04. > :24:08.The court did not take into account individual responsibility.
:24:09. > :24:10.This is a misunderstanding and I think this decision
:24:11. > :24:18.It took just a few hours for judges to find the four men guilty,
:24:19. > :24:21.three have already been banned from matches in Britain.
:24:22. > :24:26.French football has had its own taint of racism in recent years,
:24:27. > :24:29.but this episode, randomly caught on camera, has also tarnished
:24:30. > :24:30.the image of British football in France.
:24:31. > :24:48.A Government initiative on starter homes for first-time
:24:49. > :24:50.buyers in England is due to get underway this year.
:24:51. > :24:53.But the housing backlog is so big that it could take
:24:54. > :24:56.The roots of today's housing crisis in Britain are often traced
:24:57. > :24:58.back to the sell-off of the nation's council houses.
:24:59. > :25:01.Back in 1981, almost a third of English households
:25:02. > :25:13.Today, that number has dropped to less than one in ten.
:25:14. > :25:15.As our correspondent Jeremy Cooke reports.
:25:16. > :25:17.New homes for housing crisis Britain, and not
:25:18. > :25:19.just any new houses, these are council houses.
:25:20. > :25:21.They're a rare sight, but this is Birmingham,
:25:22. > :25:24.where they've built more council houses in the past seven years
:25:25. > :25:27.than any other local authority - on a mission to tackle a housing
:25:28. > :25:32.waiting list that stands at 18,000 people.
:25:33. > :25:35.The Osmonds' have been in their flat for eight years,
:25:36. > :25:37.but the family has long outgrown the space available.
:25:38. > :25:40.If we want to play, we have to just like play there for 10 minutes
:25:41. > :25:45.Now, they've heard it's their time to move into one
:25:46. > :25:52.We've been trying and trying and trying to get a house.
:25:53. > :25:57.We never expected to get a new house.
:25:58. > :26:00.Cambridge is one of a handful of local authorities who've just
:26:01. > :26:03.qualified for Government money to start building council houses,
:26:04. > :26:07.but there are warnings that it will take 20 years to fix a problem
:26:08. > :26:11.that's already been around for decades.
:26:12. > :26:13.The fundamental problem is that Government stops us
:26:14. > :26:18.The total value of all of our housing is ?1.5 billion,
:26:19. > :26:21.if they just gave us the freedom to borrow against that,
:26:22. > :26:26.we could build 10,000 homes over the next 20-30 years.
:26:27. > :26:29.The Government insists that the number of council houses
:26:30. > :26:32.being built today is at its highest rate since 1996 and that there
:26:33. > :26:36.are billions of pounds available to fund them.
:26:37. > :26:39.But the numbers are creeping back from an all-time low in 2004,
:26:40. > :26:41.when the UK built just 130 council homes.
:26:42. > :26:47.Hard to believe that in 1953, that number was a high of 245,000.
:26:48. > :26:55.Homes for the baby-boomers and beyond.
:26:56. > :26:57.NEWS REEL: ARCHIVE: Even by present standards,
:26:58. > :27:12.The dinette has a serving hatch to the kitchen.
:27:13. > :27:15.Ageing tower blocks, once the future, are being torn down,
:27:16. > :27:18.clearing the way for a new approach to modern, social housing.
:27:19. > :27:22.There are people living in these already?
:27:23. > :27:25.New council houses and new houses for sale.
:27:26. > :27:27.Now, in Birmingham, it's back to the future -
:27:28. > :27:32.We're also bringing empty properties back into use
:27:33. > :27:34.in the city and we're also, where necessary, using
:27:35. > :27:40.So we're using all the tool kit, really.
:27:41. > :27:45.But when council homes are built, they do change lives.
:27:46. > :27:47.The Osmonds get a first look at their house and,
:27:48. > :27:55.But for most of the 1.4 million on England's council
:27:56. > :27:57.house waiting lists, this is still a distant dream.
:27:58. > :28:07.It's one of Scotland's most beautiful mountain ranges,
:28:08. > :28:12.but a couple from Leicestershire, who disappeared after setting off
:28:13. > :28:23.with their dog on a New Year's day walk in the Cairngorms,
:28:24. > :28:24.have been speaking of their lucky escape.
:28:25. > :28:26.Bob and Cathy Elmer, both experienced hill walkers,
:28:27. > :28:29.were caught out after miscalculating the length of their walk.
:28:30. > :28:31.They were forced to spend the night in a white out
:28:32. > :28:34.after the cloud suddenly closed in and it began snowing.
:28:35. > :28:36.Our Scotland correspondent, Lorna Gordon, has the story.
:28:37. > :28:43.The brutal conditions of a Scottish winter.
:28:44. > :28:46.Out on the hills - 50 mph winds, freezing temperatures and deep snow.
:28:47. > :28:50.Bob and Cathy Elmer had become disorientated in the appalling
:28:51. > :28:52.weather and had realised their only option was to hunker down
:28:53. > :28:57.Their footprints and those of their dog, spotted
:28:58. > :28:58.from a helicopter, helped narrow the search.
:28:59. > :29:09.Then this, the moment a mountain rescue team found them and then
:29:10. > :29:13.The snow was, at times, up to our waist.
:29:14. > :29:16.We eventually got out onto the plateau with the intention
:29:17. > :29:23.of trying to find the summit of Cairngorm, and then my head lamp
:29:24. > :29:26.gave up, so we decided that we couldn't go on any further
:29:27. > :29:28.because we didn't know really where we were going.
:29:29. > :29:31.You couldn't see a hand in front of your face,
:29:32. > :29:34.so we decided to get the survival bags out and get down
:29:35. > :29:37.It was a move rescuers believed saved their lives
:29:38. > :29:39.and that of their dog, Meg, who had her own
:29:40. > :29:44.Conditions were Arctic and in the area they were, you know,
:29:45. > :29:52.no matter which way they walked, there was steep ground
:29:53. > :29:55.there and in the dark, with one head torch and disorientated, it
:29:56. > :29:58.would have been so easy to take a very, very serious tumble.
:29:59. > :30:01.This is one of Scotland's's highest mountains and conditions further up
:30:02. > :30:03.towards the summit can close in quickly, catching out even
:30:04. > :30:07.And the couple's close call underlines just how dangerous
:30:08. > :30:13.It's like they say, if we hadn't had the right equipment,
:30:14. > :30:17.It is a grim place up there in the winter time, especially
:30:18. > :30:22.And, you know, if you're not prepared for it,
:30:23. > :30:24.you can seriously run into some serious situations.
:30:25. > :30:26.Safely down, but not put off and determined to return
:30:27. > :30:39.We'll definitely be back, but we'll probably be a little bit
:30:40. > :30:43.Willie's a very careful driver, he'll look after you.
:30:44. > :30:45.Keen, but certainly more cautious after their New Year's Day walk
:30:46. > :30:52.Lorna Gordon, BBC News, Cairngorm mountain.
:30:53. > :31:03.Ten questions for 2017, and we'll have eight guests
:31:04. > :31:14.Yes, we'll be looking at the year ahead -
:31:15. > :31:16.Here, on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.