07/01/2018 BBC Weekend News

Tonight at Ten.

Theresa May defends the Government's

handling of the NHS,

as she prepares a cabinet reshuffle.

Outlining her plans

for the New Year, she insists

the health service is performing

better than before, but admits

'nothing is perfect.'

Their is more for us to do. We have

planned for the winter pressures

this year, we put more money in and

there has been planning and

hospitals have been dealing with it

in different ways.

We'll be looking at the debate

surrounding NHS funding,

and what to expect from

tomorrow's cabinet reshuffle.

Also tonight...

Some of the UK's biggest retailers

agree to stop selling acid

and corrosive chemicals,

to curb violent assaults.

And gearing up for the Globes...

Why black will be

the colour this year.

And England are heading for defeat

in the final Ashes Test,

needing to bat all day in Sydney,

just to get a draw.

Good evening.

The Prime Minister has

defended her government's

handling of the NHS,

as she set out her plans

for the coming year, including

a cabinet reshuffle due tomorrow.

Theresa May insists the NHS has

never been better prepared

for winter pressures,

and described thousands

of postponed operations as 'part

of the plan' to cope.

Tomorrow's reshuffle,

prompted by the forced resignation

of the First Secretary

of State Damian Green, was described

by Labour as a PR exercise.

Our Political Correspondent

Eleanor Garnier reports.

A New Year, perhaps a fresh start,

after a 2017 in which Theresa May

lost her majority in the general

election, faced a rebellion

from some of her own MPs,

was forced to deal with Cabinet

resignations and even

had to sack her second

in command, Damian Green.

It means she starts

the year with a reshuffle.

Well, it is no prizes for guessing,

Andrew, that obviously,

Damian Green's departure before

Christmas means that some

changes do have to be made.

And speaking exclusively to the BBC,

the Prime Minister has made clear

she wants her government to be

about more than just Brexit,

insisting she is in listening mode.

One of the clear messages we got

was the number of areas

where people were concerned

about what we were proposing.

Just as we have looked

at issues on school funding,

on tuition fees, on housing,

we are taking forward approaches

in relation to that.

On this issue of fox hunting,

there will not be a vote

during this Parliament.

That decision to abandon the vote

on fox hunting is part of an attempt

to win over new voters and those

who had drifted away.

Just as with plans to plant

50 million more trees

and the party's renewed focus

on the environment.

But the New Year has already

brought in old problems.

Under pressure on rising train fares

and claims this winter crisis

is the toughest yet for the NHS.

The NHS has actually been better

prepared for winter pressures

than it has been before.

You mentioned operations

being postponed, that

was part of the plan.

Of course we want to ensure

that those operations can be

reinstated as soon as possible,

but it is about making sure

that those who most urgently need

care are able to get

that treatment immediately.

Labour has blamed government cuts

for the problems in the NHS

this winter and warned

the Prime Minister against promoting

the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt

in this week's reshuffle.

She has not got a plan

to get those people off

the trolleys and corridors,

those elderly people,

in this freezing January,

being treated in ambulances,

she has no plan for them.

Her only plan, apparently,

is to promote this Health Secretary.

She should be demoting

this Health Secretary.

If she promotes this

Health Secretary tomorrow,

it is a betrayal of those 75,000

people in the back of ambulances.

The Prime Minister said today

she is not a quitter

and she will want and need the best

possible team around her to get her

through what many predict

will be a tough year ahead.

Eleanor Garnier, BBC

News, Westminster.

Well Theresa May insisted today

that the NHS was being properly

funded by the Conservative

government despite accusations

to the contrary from Labour.

The NHS Confederation,

which represents employers,

has called for a major new study

of the funding needs

of the health service.

Our Health Editor Hugh Pym, has been

looking at some of the numbers.

There are 73 outstanding

ambulances right now.

It was a striking image from a week

of intense pressure on the NHS.

Leah Butler-Smith's video

of ambulances queuing at a hospital

while her mother waited,

even as she was having a stroke.

Events like these have

fired up a new debate

on the NHS and its funding.

Health spending needs to keep rising

to pay for new medicines and meet

the sometimes complex needs

of a population which

is living longer.

The percentage of the population

aged over 65 in the UK was under 15%

in the 1970s and is projected to get

close to 25% by 2044.

Health spending across the UK has

grown a lot since the 1950s,

shown here after adjusting

for inflation, and has now reached

more than £140 billion per year.

Average annual government spending

on health since the 1950s has gone

up around 4% a year in real terms.

But under the Coalition Government

from 2010, the average increase

in England was only just over

1% a year.

Under the Conservatives

in the last couple of years,

the average increases have been over

2%, but most in the health world

argue it hasn't been enough to keep

up with patient demand.

Now there are calls for urgent

new thinking on what the NHS needs

and how it should be paid for.

The NHS and social care are not

sustainable undercurrents government

plans and we've told

them that repeatedly.

I think it's time now for a wake-up

call, not just for the government

but the whole political class,

to face up to the fact that over

the next ten or 15 years,

health and social care

will need additional funding.

We need some objective evidence

to demonstrate what is required over

that period and as a society we need

to think, reflect on whether we are

prepared to put in funding

that will be required.

Few doubt that the NHS

could be more efficient

but in its 70th birthday year,

there are growing demands

for a cross-party approach to work

out how the service can be financed

in the decades ahead.

Hugh Pym, BBC News.

Let's return to Eleanor Garnier,

who's outside Number 10 for us.

Eleanor, what are we expecting

from tomorrow's reshuffle?

This is a long-awaited reshuffle and

Theresa May will want to be seen to

be on the front foot, choosing the

people around her, building her own

team and I think her supporters will

suggest that a reshuffle is a sign

of a strengthened Prime Minister but

others might ask that if those in

the top jobs stay the same, is it

any more than tinkering around the

edges. Labour have called this a

desperate PR exercise. When it comes

to winners and losers, I would be

surprised if some of those in the

biggest jobs are moved, like the

Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary,

the Home Secretary and the Brexit

secretary for example. We should

expect a more diverse team, perhaps

more women and those from ethnic

minorities. I think Theresa May

might want to balance her Cabinet in

terms of Brexit, that big issue that

is dominating the time of the

government and effort, many people

feel that the toughest decisions are

still to come in those negotiations

and with them, the opportunities for

trouble and testing times for the

Prime Minister.

Thank you.

Donald Trump's former strategist,

Steve Bannon, has expressed

regret for comments -

attributed to him -

in a book which depicts

the president as being

unfit for office.

In a statement, Mr Bannon

said his remarks were aimed

at Mr Trump's former campaign

manager, Paul Manafort,

not the President.

He's also rowed back

on quotes in the book

about Mr Trump's son,

Donald Junior.

Major retailers have signed up

to a voluntary ban on selling

corrosive liquids

to under-eighteens,

in a bid to try and reduce

the number of acid attacks.

Drain cleaner and paint stripper

are among the substances covered

by the ban.

The government promising legislation

to combat this growing problem.

Our Home Affairs Correspondent

Dominic Casciani has the story.

Arthur Collins jailed for 20 years

for an appalling nightclub attack.

Watch this CCTV.

You can see him throwing

acid on his victims.

22 people were left with burns.

A crime involving a household

product that has been

growing, year-on-year.

Police recorded more than 500

attacks involving corrosive

substances in England and Wales

in the year to last April.

Officials think the true figure

could be twice as high.

Ministers have launched an action

plan including a review of how cases

are prosecuted and first aid

training for police.

And from today, a voluntary ban

by DIY chains including B&Q

on selling harmful chemicals

to under 18's.

Supermarkets will also be able

to challenge underage customers,

just like they would

if they were buying alcohol.

Acid attacks are just

the most horrific crimes

and what we want to do is make sure

that we restrict access,

that we support victims,

that we police these

attacks really effectively.

Jabad Hussain was

attacked last year.

Police officers poured water

into his eyes to save his sight,

so what does he think of the plan?

I would like to give welcome

and thanks to the government

for what they are trying to do.

But it is not the right way to do

that, to handle this problem,

because there are not enough police

on the street to chase them.

This is my home city.

I should not tolerate that.

You should not tolerate that.

No one should tolerate that.

Thousands of independent hardware

shops selling household chemicals

are also being asked to sign up.

But while a shopkeeper can challenge

a teenager at the counter,

adult criminals will still be able

to buy products on the

High Street and online.

Only one in five attacks

are actually carried

out by under eighteens.

So four out of five adults

will still be able to get hold

of acid and use them as they have

been doing over

the last year or two.

These involuntary measures

can only go so far.

And ministers ultimately

want to create a new offence

of carrying over-the-counter

chemicals in public

without good reason.

But so much of this type of crime

remains unknown so academics are now

looking at what motivates a criminal

to turn a household product

like drain cleaner into a weapon,

one that has lifelong consequences.

Dominic Casciani, BBC News,

the Home Office, Central London.

A new round of strikes

on the railways in England is due

to begin at midnight,

just as millions of people

are returning to work

after the Christmas break.

Our Business Correspondent Joe

Lynam, is at London's

Waterloo station.

Joe.

Thank you. More than a thousand

train services and hundreds of

thousands of passengers including

some from here at Waterloo will be

affected by this strike. In total

five companies are affected.

Southern, Northern, South Western,

Greater Anglia and Merseyrail and

with the exception of Southern there

will be three days of strikes

starting at midnight, for 24 hours

and then on Wednesday and then on

Friday. In terms of mitigation, some

of the train companies will be

offering a rail replacement bus

service and some rival train

companies will be accepting tickets

even though they are not directly

involved in the dispute which

centres on the role of the guards

and one person operated trains. As

ever, passengers are caught up in

the dispute and it is only a few

days since rail fares went up

substantially at the start of the

year. Back to you, Clive.

Thank you.

Let's take a look at some

of the day's other top stories...

There's to be a review into how

the Parole Board makes decisions,

after the imminent release

was announced of the serial sex

offender John Worboys.

The former London taxi driver

was convicted of 20 offences,

including rape, but police say

they believe he attacked

many more women.

He's been given parole,

after serving a minimum

term of eight years.

The German Chancellor,

Angela Merkel, says she's

optimistic her centre right

Christian Democrat Party,

can reach a coalition deal,

with the centre-left Social

Democrats.

Five days of talks have just begun,

three months after Mrs Merkel failed

to win a Parliamentary majority.

A sixty-year-old man has been killed

in Sweden after picking up an object

which exploded in his hand.

Swedish police say it was most

likely a hand grenade.

The object was found outside

an underground station

in a suburb of Stockholm.

Police are not linking

the incident to terrorism.

The BBC's China Editor Carrie Gracie

has resigned from her post,

citing pay inequality with male

colleagues doing the same work.

In an open letter, Ms Gracie

accused the corporation

of having a 'secretive

and illegal pay structure'.

The BBC has responded saying

a review last year showed 'no

systemic discrimination

against women' amongst

rank and file staff.

Our Media Editor

Amol Rajan joins me.

Amol, what else is

this letter saying?

It is worth saying that Carrie

Gracie who appears frequently on

this programme is hugely respected,

she has been at the BBC for over 30

years and her allegation is that the

BBC discriminates illegally against

women by paying many of them less

than men in equivalent jobs. She

says she does not want a pay rise,

she wants to be paid the same of men

doing an equivalent job. You

mentioned the response, the BBC take

the issue seriously, they have

undertaken three internal audits of

pay and they go much

further than other public

organisations on equality. This is a

moment of high danger because last

summer it was forced to publish the

salary of staff getting over more

than £150,000 and now tomorrow, 200

women have complained internally and

there is huge anger among female

staff about this issue. This is not

just about internal staff

management, it is also about public

perception and there is a danger

that if this letter leads to legal

action, then the BBC and BBC News

could be generating headlines for

all the wrong reasons.

Thank you.

The film awards season kicks off

in three hours' time

with the start of the Golden Globes.

They're the first major awards

ceremony since Hollywood was hit

by the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Stars of film and television

will be wearing black

on the red carpet in protest against

sexual harassment.

James Cook reports from Los Angeles.

This year, the red carpet will host

a protest, not a party.

The downfall of movie mogul

Harvey Weinstein exposed decades

of sexual abuse and harassment

in Hollywood and now scores

of stars are wearing black

to the Golden Globes in solidarity.

People will be in black but I don't

think it will be funereal,

I think it will be a celebration

of all of us saying,

it's time to deal with this and not

put up with it any more.

We are all wearing black

to stand in solidarity,

not just for women and what's

happening in Hollywood and in this

industry but to represent

and to stand for all women

across all industries

and to support them.

So much darkness is creating unity

and people are standing together.

Unfortunately, tragic

times bring unity.

The cleansing has already begun.

Accused of sexual assault,

Kevin Spacey was cut from this film

and replaced with Christopher

Plummer.

Co-star Michelle Williams told me

she shot her scenes again for free.

Films, because they are larger

than life, they glorify people

and I couldn't bear the thought

of being in a movie that glorified

someone who had hurt people.

Is what is happening in Hollywood

a permanent and significant change?

Everyone is working day and night

to create the kind of change

that will be permanent.

Our hope is to hand our

daughters a different world.

The mood at the Golden Globes

is very different this year.

Some of the world's most famous

actresses are going to be

accompanied on this red carpet

by activists, as part

of their demand for equality

in the entertainment industry

and the wider world.

James Cook, BBC News, Los Angeles.

The veteran journalist Peter

Preston, has died at the age of 79.

One of the towering figures

of Fleet Street, he joined

the Guardian in 1963 and became

a foreign correspondent,

before taking over

as editor in 1975,

a job he held for twenty years.

More recently Peter Preston

was a columnist for the Observer.

He died at home.

With all the sport,

here's Olly Foster at

the BBC Sport Centre.

The final day of the Ashes starts

in just over an hour.

England have already lost the series

and will lose the final Test

unless they can bat out the day

for an improbable draw.

And their cause hasn't been helped

by the news that the England captain

Joe Root has been taken to hospital.

Let's get the latest from Sydney,

Patrick Gearey is there for us.

Joe Root is due at the crease in

just over an hour. What is the

latest on his condition?

Dramatic

news. The effect of that batting

average in the soaring temperatures

has taken its role that like its

toll on Joe Root. He has dehydration

and it is not sure if he will be

able to resume his innings. He was

perhaps England's last chance at

their top order subsided. He was

there with Jonny Bairstow at the end

but it is not clear whether he will

be able to go back to the crease and

help England get through the day.

Whatever happens with or without Joe

Root, it is not going to gloss over

what has been a very bad series for

England.

Yes, England's tale would

need to survive the rest of the day

to get a draw, Australia just need

six wickets. England have been

disappointing. Although they have

not completely fallen apart and

there is team unity, they have not

competed often enough in and of Test

matches in this series and I think

when Australia, if they can complete

this victory, questions will be

asked about what went wrong for

England and how English cricket can

stop it happening again.

Patrick

Geary at the Sydney Cricket ground

ahead of play in that final test of

the Ashes.

Match of the Day follows the news,

there were only four third

round ties in the FA Cup

but there was plenty of drama.

If you want to know what happened,

then here come the results.

The holders Arsenal are out,

beaten by Nottingham Forest.

Arsene Wenger, who made nine

changes to his team,

has won the FA Cup a record seven

times and had never lost

in the third round before.

Managerless Forest are mid-table

in the Championship but won

4-2 at the City Ground.

Newport County from League

2 are into the fourth

round draw for the first time

in almost 40 years.

They beat Championship side

Leeds United 2-1 thanks

to Shaun McCoulsky's header

in the final minute.

Elsewhere, Tottenham beat AFC

Wimbledon but West Ham were held

by League One Shrewsbury.

Manchester City Women have made it

six wins out six in this

season's Super League.

They beat Reading 5-2 away,

Scotland's Claire Emslie

with the pick of their goals

at Adams Park.

City are two points clear of Chelsea

who beat Arsenal today.

Exeter's lead in the rugby union

Premiership is down to five points.

The champions were

beaten by Newcastle.

Second-placed Saracens made up

ground with a bonus point win

at third-placed Wasps.

Alex Goode scored two of their five

tries in the 38-15 win.

Don't forget the BBC

Sport website for more

on all those stories,

and from 11.30, you'll find text

coverage and radio commentary

from the final Ashes Test.

That breaking news is that Joe Root

has been taken to hospital with

dehydration and his participation in

that final test is now in doubt.

You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel.

That's all from me,

stay with us on BBC 1.

It's time for the news

where you are.