13/01/2017 BBC News at Ten

Struggling to cope - a major alert in almost half

of all NHS trusts in England in the first week of the year.

No beds were available, routine surgery was cancelled,

There have been moments in the last two weeks,

like the whole country has had, where it's been quite frightening

for the members of staff, for the nurses, doctors,

for the ambulance crews who are bringing patients in.

And six trusts issued the highest alert -

meaning patient safety could be at risk.

As a storm surge hits the east coast of England,

thousands of people are evacuated from their homes.

Twitter storm - Donald Trump blames US intelligence again,

for releasing allegations linking him with Russia.

The Labour MP Tristram Hunt resigns - triggering a potentially difficult

And Lord Snowdon, the former husband of Princess Margaret and celebrity

And coming up in Sportsday on BBC News:

Diego Costa is dropped by Chelsea.

The striker has been left out of the Premier League leaders' squad

for their match at Leicester, amid rumours of a big

There's been further confirmation of the difficulties within the NHS,

as it's emerged nearly half of all hospitals in England

declared a major alert in the first week of the year.

That means they had no more beds available,

all routine surgery was cancelled, and doctors were

Four out of ten trusts were forced to raise the alarm,

as hospitals and accident and emergency departments

NHS England says six of the trusts overall issued the highest alert,

meaning patients' safety could be at risk.

It's still sore but a lot better than it was.

Here a fractured wrist is dealt with.

Patients waiting and NHS staff doing the best they can

The story here at Northwick Park Hospital in London

Things are a little quieter today, but they know bad weather

could bring a surge in patients this weekend.

This A consultant told me it was the busiest she'd known

There have been moments in the last two weeks,

like the whole country has had, where actually it's been quite

frightening for members of staff, for the nurses, for the doctors,

for the ambulance crews who are bringing patients in,

and there have been moments where it has been very sticky.

But we have managed as best as we can and everybody has

Today's figures from NHS England showed that last week 43%

of hospitals had declared a major alert.

That means when help's required to handle patient numbers

16% faced this serious pressure every day of last week.

After a difficult few days, the Prime Minister was asked again

We have acknowledged that the NHS is under pressure.

We always see increased pressures in the NHS over winter periods.

That is why in preparing for winter the period this time ?400 million

was put in to ensure that winter preparedness.

But the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will argue in a speech tomorrow

that the government must invest more in social care to ease

the pressure on what he calls a danger zone for the NHS.

In Northern Ireland, nearly four in ten patients waited

more than four hours in A during the Christmas period.

In Wales, latest data showed nearly one in five patients were waiting

Scotland was performing better than those levels and England's

in the holiday week, but at this Glasgow hospital

pregnant women were turned away yesterday and sent to other

maternity units, because of a high level of general admissions.

Management said safety was maintained at all times.

Back at Northwick Park, a traffic light style

screen monitors hospitals across the capital,

As you can see there are some hospitals under

real pressure right now, and that's indicated by the black.

This is the sort of thing you will find in most

hospitals each day - ambulance crews queueing

in a corridor with patients, waiting to hand them over.

They are in a safe situation, but there is no room in the accident

and emergency unit at this stage for them to be treated or assessed.

The message is they're coping for now, but they know a flu

outbreak could make life even tougher on the front line.

Thousands of people living on the east coast of England have

been evacuated and had an anxious wait, as the emergency services

prepared for severe flooding caused by a tidal surge.

Preparations have been underway since yesterday,

with the Army helping police forces and volunteers to bolster

But tonight, as high tide has peaked along most of the coast,

Sophie Long reports from Great Yarmouth.

Right along the east coast of England waves battering seaside

towns. Streets have been submerged in water, as the tidal surge

breached the wall. Hearing Great Yarmouth people build sandbags late

into the evening. Last-minute precautions to protect their

properties. From early this morning people

in Great Yarmouth braved the cold and snow to prepare for worse,

potentially life-threatening, Emergency services knocked

on thousands of doors, A little bit worried,

but this happened a couple of years ago and we got evacuated

and it was all OK, thankfully, because they'd

built the defences up. Fingers crossed the Environment

Agency have done a good job and built the defences well enough

to protect us, but who knows? We live over the road and we do get

flooded quite a bit. As long as we've got

the sandbags for now... We've moved everything upstairs

so it's a waiting game. In Essex, police activated a full

evacuation plan at Jaywick, And emergency services were poised

to assist anyone in need. The Environment Agency warned people

not to be complacent. The issue with a storm surge is it

really is about the high winds coinciding with what would be

high tides anyway. And if you get that,

you get really high levels, but that can be very changeable

through the day. So we're forecasting as closely

as we can and watching it through, but it is really important that

people stay alert because some of these high tides will happen very

late through tonight. Police urged people to comply with

their instructions, to head to centres like this one, in the

relative safety of daylight. Some needed less persuasion than others.

There was no question, the moment I needed to go, I left, I left my

phone behind, everything else, more or less. As long as I was safe, that

was all that mattered. Earlier, waves crashed over the lighthouse

here and breached the walls in Scarborough, forcing those who chose

not to stay away to run for cover. And much of Whitby has been drenched

in water, as communities up and down the country battle against the

elements. You can see how high the water got here but that is now

starting to recede. And tomorrow, people will be able to return to

their homes and hopefully breathe a sigh of relief. Further down the

coast, to the south of here, people are still bracing themselves. In

Essex high water is not due until after midnight. People there are the

worst still could be to come. Sofia Great Yarmouth, thank you.

Donald Trump has accused political opponents -

including members of his own Republican Party -

of putting together a dossier of what he called "totally made up"

In a series of tweets, the President-elect

described those behind the allegations as "sleazebags".

He also singled out the former British intelligence officer

believed to be responsible for the dossier, calling

From Washington, Nick Bryant reports.

They are storylines that could easily come from a Cold War spy

thriller and plot twists involving sex allegations and potential

Russian blackmail that even the TV series House of Cards might baulk

But this is reality, not a show, and the first episode of Trump,

The Presidency, airs in just one week's time.

At Trump Tower today, he was commending his nominees, many of

whom have been fiercely critical this week of Russia.

I could have said, do this, say that.

Before dawn came a gale force Twitter storm.

It turns out the phoney allegations against me were put out by my

political allegations, totally made up facts by sleazebag political

operatives, both Democrats and Republicans. Russia says nothing

exists. Footage has come to light

of Christopher Steele, the former MI6 officer who produced

the dossier, at an event He is now in hiding,

apparently fearing for his life. Former colleagues have

defended his professionalism. It is certain that what he has

reported is something He recognises that this is raw

intelligence and needs validation, and it needs

further explanation. On Capitol Hill today,

lawmakers received a behind closed doors briefing on the unverified

dossier, and Russia's alleged interference in the

presidential election. And many left demanding

more answers. The American people

are owed the truth. And there is a great deal

of evidence to say that this is an issue of high interest

to the American people, the strength, the integrity

of our own democracy. And there is yet more intrigue,

a senior US official confirming today there were frequent contacts

between Donald Trump's top national security

adviser and Russia's ambassador here in Washington, and that the contacts

took place on the day that President Obama expelled dozens

of Russian officials in retaliation for

the alleged hacking. It again raises questions

about the Trump team's All this as Barack Obama

performs his final acts, one of which took his deputy

completely by surprise. I am pleased to award

our nation's highest civilian honour, the

Presidential Medal of Freedom. Joe Biden couldn't

contain his emotions. It was a parting

presidential gift that I can say I was part

of the journey of a remarkable man who did remarkable

things for this country. It has always been a city

of political farewells, and this time next week, this

capital, this country, will be under This time next week Donald Trump

will have taken his oath of office, delivered his inaugural address, sat

behind his new desk in the Oval Office. We got a clear sense tonight

of how dramatically things will change. The house of Representatives

voted to start the process of dismantling and destroying

Obamacare. Now that was the signature domestic achievement of

his presidency. What he hoped would be the centrepiece of his

legislative legacy. Now arguably to be a truly transformative president,

your major reforms need to stay on the books, to stand the test of

time. But the Republicans set a deadline tonight for preparing the

legislation to repeal Obamacare and that timetable is two weeks. Nick

Bryant in Washington, thank you. Labour's former education spokesman

Tristram Hunt is resigning as an MP, triggering a by-election

in his Stoke constituency, an area which voted for Brexit

and where Ukip came second Mr Hunt, who's leaving to become

director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London,

had been critical of Today, Mr Corbyn said he was looking

forward to the by-election campaign. Stay with Labour, convinced

they will lose, or walk away His leader doesn't like it

but for this famous TV historian, when I caught up with him in Stoke

today, this job offer It's a very tough decision

to leave Stoke-on-Trent. But being director of the Victoria

and Albert Museum, the greatest museum of art and design,

was my dream job and was not You have been clear that Labour

is heading for trouble You haven't changed

your mind, have you? I have had differences with Jeremy

in the past but I am off to be a museum director,

an impartial director of a great museum, and so it is not the time

to rehearse those differences now. You told Jeremy Corbyn you were

stepping down earlier today. I spoke to Jeremy this morning

and he was incredibly gracious, he was interested in the job,

he was interested in the Victoria... And also, I imagine,

rather disappointed? He was pulling his punches today

but his verdict on Labour's leader We are facing an historic wipe-out

of the Labour Party. Today, Jeremy Corbyn is glossing

over troubles ahead. No, I do not want anyone to resign,

I don't want to lose MPs but he has taken this position as director

of the V Good luck to him, and we

will have a by-election. Yet here in the Staffordshire

potteries, Stoke is just the kind of industrial city where many

working class voters feel overlooked, on the wrong side

of the global economy. Most voted for Brexit

here and Ukip came second by 5500 Labour has never lost

here but ask anyone, this will be a hard test for Labour

and its leader. Ukip, Labour, it will

always be in the balance Is Labour going to have a tough

time holding on here? Traditional Labour voters do not

know how to vote now, Tristram Hunt has left fundamentally

because he feels he has a brighter future away from Jeremy Corbyn

and the Labour Party. We are confident there

is a large number of voters in the Stoke Central constituency

that will feel exactly the same way. For Labour, this is a difficult

time for a by-election. It is in a tough place,

and it is not the only one. Some Labour MPs I have spoken

to have told me they are either preparing to quit politics before

the next election, or resigned Labour will have to throw

everything into this campaign, which, if they fail,

will make losing all Just now, this fight will gauge,

can Labour hold its ground, or are traditional supporters

turning their backs Lord Snowdon, the former husband

of Princess Margaret and celebrity The first commoner to marry a king's

daughter for 450 years, the then Anthony Armstrong Jones

married Princess Margaret in 1960. Theirs was the first royal

marriage to be televised. But they separated after 16 years

and eventually divorced. Nicholas Witchell looks

back at his life. He was the society photographer

who took pictures of the royal family, and who married one

of its leading members. It was in 1960 at the start

of a decade of considerable social change, that the then

Anthony Armstrong-Jones married the Queen's younger

sister, Princess Margaret. He was an untitled commoner,

she was the princess who, a few years earlier,

had had to renounce her love for a royal official

because he was divorced. With unbounded enthusiasm, acclaimed

Princess Margaret and her husband, The couple brought glamour

to the British royal family. This was them on a visit

to San Francisco. A-list celebrities before the term

had really been invented, presenting an image of Britain more

in keeping with the Although he became the Earl

of Snowdon, he continued This was a portrait he took of his

wife wearing a tiara in the bath. He photographed many

showbiz figures. One of his proudest achievements

was the aviary at London Zoo. The Queen wanted above all else her

sister's happiness and her sister seemed to have found happiness

with this very different young man who was extremely artistic,

very talented, and I think people By the late 1960s, the couple had

two children, but their marriage was in serious difficulty -

both were having affairs. In 1976 Lord Snowdon announced

that he and Princess Naturally, desperately

sad in every way. Throughout his life he campaigned

on behalf of disabled people and in latter years,

despite his own increasing frailty, he retained his

passion for photography. I like these ones

because they are simple. He could look back on a life

notable for his marriage into the royal family,

but which had also produced many Memorable images, among them

this one of the Queen, which ended up on Britain's postage

stamps, or this relaxed 80th birthday portrait,

taken at his home. As for the photographer himself,

he shared the view of many I'm always relieved

that they come out! Lord Snowdon, who has

died at the age of 86. A brief look at some of the day's

other other news stories. Turkey has ruled out withdrawing

all of its troops from Cyprus as part of any reunification deal,

unless all Greek troops The two sides have been

holding talks aimed The island was divided

between Turkey and Greece in 1974. The FTSE 100 index of leading shares

has closed at yet another new high. It's finished the day

up 45 points, at 7338. It's the 12th record

high in as many days. The record-breaking run has been

driven by the weakening pound, due to the ongoing uncertainty over

Brexit. French authorities have launched

an investigation into Renault, over allegations they tried to cheat

emissions tests with some A newborn baby girl abducted from a

hospital in Florida 18 years ago has been found safe and well. Police say

DNA tests have proved her true identity. Her real family cried with

joy when told she had been found in a house in South Carolina. A

51-year-old woman has been charged with her kidnap.

Theresa May is expected to deliver a key speech on Brexit next week,

with just two months left until she's expected

to trigger the formal process of leaving the European Union.

One of the areas up for negotiation is freedom of movement,

which allows EU citizens to live and work here, and vice versa.

Many who voted Brexit oppose it, claiming it costs British jobs.

It's a debate that's also being played out in the Netherlands,

where the Deputy Prime Minister has told the BBC he believes

the system is open to abuse and needs reforming,

500 years old, a fort in Amsterdam and a reminder of a time

when Europe's borders were the subject of wars, not

Those borders are open now, open to workers who live

in the EU to work within any other member state.

But that has led to controversy over wages being undercut,

I met one of the Netherlands' top politicians and asked him why

You can find a Romanian or Portuguese painter doing

the exact same work as a Dutch painter who is standing

right next to him, who is allowed to earn 200,

300, 400 euros less than the Dutch worker.

But that means, of course, that the Dutch painter is out

And it means that the support for the principle,

which is in essence good, is eroding.

Immigration is not a new issue for Europe.

This hotel was built 100 years ago to house economic migrants

from Eastern Europe on their way to South America to pick coffee.

The search for an economic better life is as old as history.

But today history is dominated by that search, a core part

The free movement debate has become increasingly controversial.

It is one of the four principles of the European Union.

The other three are free movement of money, goods and services.

Agreeing to all four principles is necessary to be

a member of the economically important single market.

For some sectors, like flower picking, immigrants are necessary,

but union leaders say there is a problem of cheap Labour

The Polish worker is hired by a Dutch employer in the Netherlands,

there is full and equal treatment, according to Dutch

But if this Polish worker is hired by a temporary agency based

in Warsaw and then he is brought with a bus to work in

the agriculture, then all of a sudden he is falling under

different rules and that is really creating havoc.

With leading politicians in the Netherlands at least willing

to have a debate about free movement, could Theresa May

find some willing allies as she launches her battle to keep

open trade relationships with the EU without keeping open borders?

We have always been allies and we are very important trading

We should not go out there to punish the Brits.

He wants Europe to reflect on why Brexit happened.

He doesn't want to close borders, he doesn't want Britain

But he does want to make reform of free movement a key

part of the UK's exit from the European Union.

It was intended as a light-hearted drama about a rumoured road trip

which Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor

But the choice of a white actor, Joseph Fiennes, to play Jackson,

The programme prompted criticism from the late

pop star's daughter, an online petition, and today,

Sky decided to drop the show, as Colin Paterson reports.

I sensed danger. This is all that audiences are going to see Joseph

Fiennes playing Michael Jackson, two clips from a trailer for a new sky

show, urban myths. Today, sky announced they will no longer be

broadcasting the episode. The reason, concerns expressed by

Michael Jackson's immediate family, adding that they never intended to

cause any offence, and that Joseph Fiennes fully supports the decision.

Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris, was asked on Twitter what she made

of a white actor taking on the role of herb black father. She said she

was incredibly offended and it made her want to vomit. The Scottish

actor, Brian Cox, plays Marlon Brando in the show and thinks the

decision for it to be dropped is ridiculous, especially when this

year's hottest ticket is Hamilton, a musical where a predominantly black

and Hispanic cast play America's White founding fathers. It is a

celebration of a historical event from a very extraordinary

perspective, so it is telling an amazing story, but doing it in a

diverse way. So the idea that people get hot under the collar about

Joseph Fiennes playing Michael Jackson, I think is truly, truly

ridiculous. It is almost a year since Michael Jackson died but he

still has legions of devoted fans, many of whom come to the National

football Museum to see this statue, which used to be outside Fulham's

ground. Stories about him make headlines around the world, but this

is far from the first time a white performer has played him in a

comedy. Lee Francis' take on Michael Jackson was a huge part of a Channel

4 comedy show. While one of the biggest names in US comedy, Amy

Poehler, regularly impersonated him on Saturday Night Live. It's just

the flu, Liz Taylor, I'll be back on my feet soon. When probably the most

famous black performer certainly ever is being cast, they still cast

a middle-class white guy. I can understand why people would be

annoyed by that. It's believed that the decision for Sky to drop the

episode was made at the top of the organisation. They insist it is a

matter of taste, not censorship. Now on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.