24/11/2012 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. The Government is to investigate

the decision of a Labour-run council to remove three children

from their foster parents because the couple of members of the UK

Independence Party. Rotherham Metropolitan Borough

Council said it was concerned about the party's opposition to multi

curlism. Nigel Farage described the decision as appalling.

The couple who have not been named have been fostering for almost

seven years and described as exemplary foster parents N

September they began to care for three children in a placement

arranged by the Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The

boy and the two girls are described as being from an EU-migrant

background. Then the couple say that the children were removed from

them as they belonged to the UK Independence Party. The woman said

she was told by a social worker that the views on immigration made

them unsuitable carers for the children. She asked what UKIP had

to do with having the children removed and said that the

implication was that they were racist.

The council say it is does not believe that UK Independence Party

is a racist party, but that the views of immigration must be taken

into account. In terms of practise issues we have

to think about the statement on ending multiculturalism. These

children from EU-migrant back grounds and the UKIP has statements

on multiculturalism. I have to think about how sensitive I am to

the beliefs for those children. UK Independence Party describes

itself as a non-racist party. They were giving those children,

love, stability, all that they need to go on and proceed in life. They

have been discriminated against by a Labour-run council on the basis

that they support a party that says we should not be a part of the

European Union and we should control our borders.

Labour says there has been an investigation into the removal of

the children. Michael Gove has described the decision of the

council as indefensible. Alan Soady is with me in the studio.

What has the reaction been to this? Well, we have heard from the

Rotherham Koun council, that they are launching an investigation into

this. The council leader say that the decision was taken by experts,

but they have to get to the bottom of what happened. Earlier on, Ed

Miliband said that there should be an investigation into this as well.

This is a Labour-run council. He said that it would be wrong for

anyone not to be allowed to be a member of a political party and to

adopt or foster children. Also, from Michael Gove, the Education

Secretary, he too is going to launch an investigation and he has

described this as indefensible. You can see the sort of arguments that

are beginning to develop as a result of this, but in terms of

both Labour and the Conservatives, they are agreed that the decision

was wrong, that you should be allowed to be a member of the UK

Independence Party and foster children, but that inquiry will get

to the bottom of things. Rotherham council say there are things that

we still don't know about the case. Muslim Council of Britain of the --

much of the UK is braced for high winds and heavy rain with more than

50 flood warnings in place in England and Wales. More than an

inch of rain is forecast in the Midlands, Cumbria and the south-

west of England. Chris Eakin is by the Keynsham on

the Somerset-Gloucestershire border. Chris, what is it like there? Well,

there is an example of this problem, there is a 4x4 vehicle, that is

trapped around this water. This is an area of flooding, the

locals say that they have not seen it like this for a good decade. The

river is swol and still flowing. That is the danger around many

parts of the United Kingdom, that the river systems will not cope

with the rain that is forecast to come in the day. There are a number

of warnings that have dropped. So they have now dropped to 44. They

are now all in England. Scotland lost their warnings a while ago.

Wales does not have a warning. In the south-west and the Midlands,

they have most of the warnings, but around the UK, there are swollen

rivers and a lot of rain to come today.

Football and Queens Park Rangers have confirmed the appointment of

Harry Redknapp as the new manager. He replaces Mark Hughes, dismissed

yesterday. The club is at the bottom of the

Barclays Premier League. Larry Hagman, the actor best-known

to millions for playing JR Ewing in the TV hit, Dallas, has died. He

was 81 and had been suffering from cancer.

For many, Larry Hagman was and will forever be, JR Ewing, the ruthless,

but charismatic star of Dallas. Stay out of my affair, Pamela.

slime. You make me sick. It was Dallas that made him a star.

He said it made him �40 million. The characters came and went, but

he was in all of the 335 episodes. Such was the hysteria over the

famous, Who Shot ER?, that extra security was organised when the

programme's tape arrived in Britain. The saga built an international

following and inspired a spin-off, Imtairs, revived this year with

Larry Hagman again playing JR Ewing. He was born in 1931 the son of Mary

Martin, a Broadway star. They performed together in South Pacific

and later recreated one of the numbers at a Royal Variety

Performance. His first major TV role came in the

comedy series, I Dream Of Jeannie it ran for four years from 1965.

And while in real life he was more of a practical joker than a villain,

the roguish, but charming Texan, Larry Hagman, bought more than a

passing resemblance to his great screen creation, JR.