03/02/2014 Inside Out East

Should a killer disease get back into the UK? We will find out who

won tone played a part in keeping rabies out of the country and why

there are fears it could return. It could happen in the next couple of

years. Ten years after the first offshore

wind farm was built, is this cost`effective power? By 2020, we

will be looking at billions of pounds per year.

And the inspiring story of Essex pianist stunning audiences worldwide

despite only having one hand. Reviewing the stories that matter

closer to home, this is Inside Out. Tonight we are in Colchester. 45

years ago the army went into the countryside armed with guns to kill

wild animals and Newmarket in the Suffolk found itself at the centre

of a crisis, one fear `` wonder that some fear may happen again.

1969 and British troops are called out to help stop a killer disease

contaminating wildlife. The threat is so serious there is a cull. Now

there is this outbreak, are you satisfied that enough is being done

to contain it? I am absolutely certain that my colleagues in the

Ministry will take every possible precaution to prevent the spread of

this disease. The operation is successful but now smuggling is

again putting the country at risk from the same disease. This is not

the usual kind of smuggling like contraband but a trade in puppies

from eastern Europe. And with this trade has come the threat of a

disease we have kept at bay for nearly half a century. And this

disease is rabies. A devastating illness that is usually fatal. So,

Mick, what happened did you get the police round to your house? Yes.

Back in 1969, Mick Turner lived in Newmarket. She has good reason to

remember what the threat of rabies meant. Her dog was bitten by a rabid

dog brought into the country from Pakistan. One of the little stable

lads that lodge here went to walk up the heath and got bit. It drew

blood. That is all I know. This dog come and bit it and then,

after, he chased another dog and bit that one. And we didn't know until

they told us that it died and got the rabies. How worried are you

about your dogs? I just hope that they don't have to be put down. We

didn't know until the dog was foaming at the mouth, the one that

bit Penny. That's how they found out. Fortunately, Mick's dog was

found not to have rabies and so didn't need to be put down. But it

was the second case in the country in just three weeks. This time, the

Government wasn't taking any chances. It closed its borders to

pets coming in for much of 1970 and brought in stringent measures to

protect the country. It worked, since that incident in

Newmarket we have had no case of rabies. But recently those strict

laws have been relaxed. And with a rise in the number of smuggled

puppies, many of whom come from countries where rabies is found,

there is now a real concern that we are putting our pets and wildlife at

risk and ultimately ourselves. Robert Edmunds is a trading

standards officer for Peterborough. He and fellow officers are seeing

more and more cases of smuggled puppies which could be carrying

rabies. How worried should we be that a disease that hasn't be

prevalent for decades is rearing its ugly head again? It is a concern

because the risks are clearly there. In the eastern region, there has

been a significant increase and we are all looking into this. Do we

know how many are being brought in? Are we talking telephone numbers?

Looking through the free ads, there are a lot of dogs for sale through

eastern European people. Some may be genuine sales, the concern is the

high proportion that aren't. Robert is also concerned that relaxing the

rules is increasing the risk of rabies. Pets coming into the country

need a pet passport and the rabies inoculation. But two years ago,

quarantine rules were relaxed and blood tests to check that puppies

had had the inoculation were abandoned. The problem is increasing

with the number of dogs that we are finding that don't comply with the

pet travel scheme. We have seen four in the last three months who don't

comply. And it is not just Trading Standards that is worried. Vets are

also concerned about the relaxation of the rules. At his practice in

Peterborough, Cees Bennet is seeing more and more puppies without the

rabies inoculation or who are too young to benefit from it. Looking

healthy, so I will get the vaccines Twelve weeks is the earliest time to

have the jab. But puppies are being smuggled in much younger than this.

We have contacted owners were blatantly the passport was wrong and

it was impossible for them to have had the vaccine is listed. That

means the passport was created fraudulently in eastern Europe for

the purpose of getting it into the country young enough for it to be

bought by people over here. But rabies is getting closer. In

October, two puppies transported to the Netherlands from Bulgaria are

suspected of carrying the disease and a month later France sees its

first case in 12 years. I am massively concerned about it. Having

seen it in countries where it is endemic, it is something I would

never want to have in Britain and we are rabies free and it is something

that will probably happen in the next couple of years the way we are

going at the moment. And it is not just our pets we should be worried

about. What is the risk to human beings? If someone was bitten and

didn't get the appropriate after care, they could die and if the

disease got into the wild fox population, the consequences do not

bear thinking about. Trying to contain it in the dog, in pets, is

difficult. If it got into wild animals, it would be a catastrophe.

We asked the Government if we are more at risk. It said that the risk

of a dog with rabies coming into the country is very low and the risk of

rabies being passed from a pet to a person is lower still. But Trading

Standards are remaining alert. Officers are on the look out for

smuggled puppies. Rather than use these powers, we should apply for

warrants and use powers contained in that warrants to gain entry. What

kind of reasons do people put on their adverts? They will say they

are relocating. They will say they have lost their job. A little tactic

to get people's emotions. They want them to believe they are genuine

ads. You see the tell`tale signs. Broken English is a tell`tale sign.

The UK is still rabies free and there is something we can do to help

keep it that way. I would advise all potential owners and people who are

going to look at buying a puppy to make sure it is from someone who is

reputable and has a good reputation. And I'm trying to get the message

across to them that if something looks too cheap to be true, it

probably is and there are probably problems with it.

If there is something you would like me to investigate, I am Twitter and

the e`mail is also on screen. Still to come, he was born with only one

hand. He tells us how he has overcome his disability to become a

successful musician. I decided not to tell my first

teacher that I had one hand and I first thought, I hope she enjoys it,

and she had tears down her face. Or possibly I was just shockingly

terrible! We have always used the power of

wins to own advantage, whether to send ships around the world or

otherwise. Ten years ago, the first wind farm was built over closed but

is the power cost`effective? Our business correspondent has been

looking at the numbers. Scroby Sands wind farm, just a mile

off the Norfolk coast. It was the first commercial wind farm in the

country, and it started generating power ten years ago. Turbines in the

sea were supposed to give us lots of green energy and create thousands of

new jobs. But have they delivered? If you look at a typical wind farm

the blades are likely to be made in Denmark, the gearboxes and towers in

Germany, the foundations in Holland, the cabling in Italy or Norway. The

companies that own the wind farms are nearly all foreign. And yet we

spend millions subsidising them. So is it all a disastrous waste of

money? I'm going to look at the true cost to us. How much could renewable

energy put up our bills? In 2003, the seascape off Great

Yarmouth began to change forever. Giant turbines were pile`drived into

the sand banks, the first glimpse of a new industry. 30 gleaming turbines

were to generate electricity for 40,000 homes. It was the dawn of a

new era. I don't think you can underestimate how important this has

been in providing a learning platform for the whole offshore

industry. To be clear, if this project had failed it would have

been a huge setback for offshore wind. Michael Lewis is in charge of

windpower for the energy giant Eon, which owns Scroby. It's been an

excellent investment. It's also given us all the experience we

needed to develop our offshore strategy further. There are now five

wind farms around our coast. But some experts say it's all costing

you and me far too much money. Dr John Constable is not the first

member of his family to cast his eye over Yarmouth beach. His ancestor,

the famous Suffolk artist John Constable, painted this picture of

Yarmouth pier in 1822. He would be pleased to see so many

people enjoying themselves today. The view today is rather different.

Even though his charity promotes renewable energy, Dr Constable

believes wind power is a waste of money. He reckons he's found out

just how much our wind farm companies are getting. Subsidies in

the eastern region to offshore wind are about ?500m a year, a very

considerable sum. Scroby Sands here, ?7m to ?8m a year. But these sums

are set to rise very sharply as more wind is built. By 2020 we'll be

looking at costs running into many billions of pounds a year. All

coming out of consumer bills. It's not a tolerable burden. So every

year, we're all paying subsidies to private wind companies when there

are cheaper ways of generating electricity. But the wind industry

says it will pay off in the end. We fully expect the subsidy to reduce

over time as we build on the lessons of projects like Scroby Sands. As we

get economies of scale in the offshore wind industry and as we, as

the developers and operators of wind farms, drive to reduce the costs.

But according to Dr Constable, offshore windpower costs three times

more than electricity from coal or gas. Of course it is more expensive

than conventional technologies. We are on a learning curve still for

offshore wind and we expect the cost to fall significantly over the

coming years as we scale up. But Government targets to expand

renewable energy will mean more wind farms need to be built. That will

mean more subsidies, and higher energy bills for us all. The targets

for renewable energy are going to be very expensive for consumers,

something like ?14 billion to ?15 billion a year in total in 2020, a

large part of which is subsidy. So for a household on its electricity

bill, a couple of hundred pounds. But also cost of living impacts.

Everything else becomes more expensive when energy becomes more

expensive. According to the foundation, extra costs will be

put? We think this is an exaggerated figure. Gordon Edge is policy

director for the trade association for wind power companies. We find it

difficult to understand where they get their figures from. We

understand that while there may be price rises to do with renewable,

there will be extra costs whatever we do, either updating our existing

infrastructure or investing in the new low carbon technologies of the

future. So our wind farms cost a lot of our money. But that cash doesn't

even go to British companies. Nearly all our wind farms are foreign

owned. One is Danish and Japanese, one is Norwegian, one is Danish and

German. One is British ` well, half of it anyway. And Scroby Sands here

is owned by the Germans. Major international energy companies are

based in the UK, they are based in other countries. Ownership ` what

does it mean? What we are finding is that increasingly the content of

those projects is going to come from the UK. We are going to have

factories in the UK making that equipment. People operating and

maintaining those machines will be based here in the UK. But there is

little UK content in offshore wind farms. We have an opportunity here.

Up to now most of the turbines that have gone offshore have been

basically onshore machines made seaworthy. They were made in

existing factories in places like Denmark and Germany. But the

factories for the next generation turbines haven't been built yet. We

have the opportunity to have them in the UK. So there's the chance of

more British jobs. But so far, after ten years, offshore wind has only

brought the East a few thousand jobs. This factory near Ely, which

makes turbine cables, is still the exception rather than the rule. Of

course we could do more as a nation to encourage investment in

manufacturing. That is going on as we speak. More companies are

investing in facilities in the UK. That will continue to expand so long

as the industry itself expands and new projects are developed in the

UK. But that expansion would have to be paid for by you and me. There are

several giant wind farms still waiting to be built off our coast.

But will they ever happen? Don't think that current plans for

offshore wind will come to fruition. The subsidy costs are simply too

high and the likelihood of costs coming down in the short to medium

term vanishingly small. It is extremely unlikely that these big

plans will actually come to fruition. But the renewables

industry insists the new wind farms will be built. Yes, the costs will

be high, but they'd be high anyway if we decided to build new coal or

gas power stations instead. If we've learned one thing over the last

decade it's that wind energy isn't free. The next decade will test

whether we're willing to stump up to keep the blades turning.

You are about to see and hear the talents of a musician from here in

Colchester. He is astounding audiences around the world despite

having a disadvantage that. Plenty of people even trying to play.

Prepare to be amazed. Concert pianist Nicholas McCarthy

only took up the piano when he was in his mid`teens. That's a very late

age for someone who wants to become a professional musician. That's

impressive, but it's not the main reason that makes Nicholas so

special. MUSIC.

Nicholas was born with only one hand, but despite this he recently

became the first person with such a disability to graduate from the

Royal College of Music in London. MUSIC.

Nicholas, who lives near Colchester, is now starting to make a big name

for himself in the world of music. It's led to a busy schedule, with

Nicholas performing in concerts around the world.

MUSIC. It wasn't until I was fourteen when I saw a friend playing

a Beethoven piano sonata and that I fell in love with what she was

doing. I just absolutely fell in love with what she was doing and I

fell in love with piano as a piece of furniture even. It's gorgeous.

It's such a lovely looking instrument. It's such a lovely

looking instrument. I just decided there and then, rather naively,

that's that what I wanted to become. MUSIC.

But to realise that dream, Nicholas needed to find someone to help him

improve. He's never forgotten what happened at that first lesson. I

decided not to tell my first piano teacher that I had one hand. I don't

really know why, but I decided not to tell her. But when she arrived at

my house, I answered the door, she obviously looked and saw I didn't

have a right hand and I think she thought she got the wrong house, I

don't think she thought it was me calling. So she came in and I played

her Moonlight Sonata. I actually used to play with my left hand and

my little arm, that's how I did my grades and that's how I progressed

through to the Guildhall. I played, she was stood behind me. When I

finished I thought I hope she enjoyed, I turned round she had

tears on her face. So I knew she enjoyed it or I just made her cry

because it was so shockingly terrible. But she went onto say it

was great and she wanted to teach me, I learnt with her for a couple

of years, it was fantastic. Learning to play with just one hand

is incredibly difficult, also most music is written for two handed

musicians. But fortunately for Nicholas a surprising number of

works have been composed especially for one handed pianists.

There was a concert pianist called Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right

hand during battle in the First World War. He was already from a

very wealthy family, the Wittgenstein family, brother of very

famous philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. In order for Paul to

continue his career as a concert pianist when he returned he paid all

the big composers, Ravel, Prokofiev and Benjamin Brittan to write pieces

for him so he could continue his career and luckily he left a legacy,

because I'm able to play all these pieces that he left, so thanks to

Paul Wittgenstein I've got a career today.

It wasn't just learning to play that proved a challenge, there were

several knock backs before Nicholas finally gained a place at the world

renowned Royal College of Music in London. While he loves playing the

piano Nicholas confesses he doesn't really enjoy all the practice that's

involved. A lot of concert pianists will start at three or four, so used

to being in the routine of practice very young, while I was out with my

friends on my bike and things as a youngster. So because of that, I'm a

bit reluctant. I practice four hours a day but that's because I have to

practice four hours a day. Before becoming a concert pianist I

actually wanted to become a chef. I actually did my work experience in a

kitchen but the piano stole my heart and that where I ventured into.

Perhaps, inevitably, Nicholas is now seen as a role model for disabled

people. I don't walk around my house saying I'm a role model. I don't do

that, but it's a great feeling to know that even if I can just inspire

one person to pick up an instrument and think actually I can do this,

nothing's going to stop me, then I'm a happy man. If I can inspire just

that one person then that makes me happy. This is Ipswich school, and

I'm patron here of the music department, so today I've been

invited to come and chat and play to some of the kids here which I'm

really excited about. Good morning 5R, I'm going to play a

piece of music and I'm going to pick a couple of you to tell me what

images are coming into your head, and I want you all to close your

eyes, all close your eyes 5R. Thank you.

MUSIC. So I'm going to pick randomly or you

can put your hands up. Who wants to tell me what they were imagining

during that piece? Yes, you at the front. It sounded like an old

fashioned chase scene. Yes, it does, feels like galloping doesn't it, do

you think, a bit galloping? Good I'm going to ask one more. I imagined a

little person running up and down the piano. Oh, really, so you

actually imagined it, like someone do a run or a jog on the piano. Wow,

that's a very interesting piece of imagery, isn't it? I'm a great

believer that children should hear the best musicians that there are

and meet different characters and I think that the children can see

someone with great aspirations in life who just went out and got what

he really, really wanted, which was to be a professional pianists, which

was against all the odds in many ways. He can make that connection

with them and he's one of the people that children have spoken and

remembered most of all the visitors in school.

I play a very specific repertoire, a very specialist repertoire, it's

left hand alone repertoire composed for people with one hand and I have

one hand, so don't ever get upset or anything by people saying "Nicholas

McCarthy, one handed pianist" because I am and I'm quite proud of

that and likewise people tend not to just see me as a disability.

I think it's actually indescribable that feeling after a concert you

know with the applause or the standing ovation happening because

the audience loved what you've done on stage. It's just pure elation, I

think it's fantastic and you can't replicate that feeling in life. I've

never had that feeling elsewhere in my life apart from those moments on

stage and I think that's what drives any artist to continue on.

What an inspiring man! That is it from Colchester. Get in touch. Join

me next week when I will be investigating an illegal trade. One

year after the horse meat scandal, a Norfolk charity investigates the

illegal export of live horses. We have discovered a murky trade in low

value equines across Europe. Overcoming depression. And the

airship pretends to Beds. `` returns to Beds.

A longer day, more exams and tougher discipline. That is what the

government wants for pupils in England's state schools. Ministers

believe it would bring standards closer to those in private schools.

There is a warning over a social network raise after it was linked to

guess in Ireland. It involves drinking and filming a stun. The

body of the young man was found in the River. Tributes have poured in

for the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is thought he died from

a heroin overdose. More of us are undergoing plastic

surgery. The number of operations jumped 17% last year. Most were for

breast implants, but the biggest rise was