:00:00. > :00:09.Good evening. The woman sacked after the Baby P
:00:10. > :00:16.case will get a small fortune in a secret payout deal, Newsnight can
:00:17. > :00:19.reveal. Go The head of child protection services at Harringay
:00:20. > :00:21.Council will get a ?600,000 legal payout, some of it from Central
:00:22. > :00:27.Government simply because the proper hoops weren't jumped through before
:00:28. > :00:31.Ed Balls announced her sacking. A defender of Sharon Shoesmith and
:00:32. > :00:35.one of her Parliamentary critics are here to count the cost.
:00:36. > :00:39.These pictures show Syrian rebels ambushing and killing what they
:00:40. > :00:43.assumed were government forces. It turned out their opponents were
:00:44. > :00:48.Iranian Revolutionary Guards. What were they doing there?
:00:49. > :00:51.St Jude brings four fatalities and knocks over trees, but in the end
:00:52. > :01:01.doesn't cause the chaos that was predicted. Did we over react?
:01:02. > :01:08.And we remember Lou Reed in all his charm. I don't like journalists. I
:01:09. > :01:12.despise them. Mainly the English, the pigs.
:01:13. > :01:13.His friend Rufus Wainright explains his unique contribution to music and
:01:14. > :01:27.pop culture. You will remember the killing of
:01:28. > :01:31.Peter Connelly - Baby P as he was called. He died after being injured
:01:32. > :01:37.for months while theoretically under the supervision of Haringey social
:01:38. > :01:40.services in London. There was great public disquiet, and in the furore
:01:41. > :01:44.afterwards, the head of Children's Services, Sharon Shoesmith, was
:01:45. > :01:50.sacked. The Appeal Court later ruled that she had been unfairly
:01:51. > :01:54.dismissed. Now Newsnight can reveal that Ms Shoesmith, who has not
:01:55. > :01:57.worked since losing her job, is to be paid hundreds of thousands of
:01:58. > :02:02.pounds of public money in compensation. Allegra Stratton has
:02:03. > :02:12.the story. Sharon Shoesmith always thought it was wrong that she learnt
:02:13. > :02:17.of her sacking from the television. To ensure venerable children in the
:02:18. > :02:24.borough are properly protected. I have directed Haringey Council
:02:25. > :02:28.totted to appoint Mr John Cofflin as Director of Children's services.
:02:29. > :02:33.In 2011 the Court of Appeal agreed with Shoesmith. It ruled that her
:02:34. > :02:37.removal from office by the then Children's Secretary, Ed Balls, and
:02:38. > :02:41.choux myth's employers, Haringey Council had been unfair. Now, two
:02:42. > :02:46.years on, she is to get compensation. Newsnight understands
:02:47. > :02:51.that Sharon Shoesmith has settled for one source says is over
:02:52. > :02:55.?600,000. Haringey Council will meet the lion's shares of this, but the
:02:56. > :03:02.Department for Education will dump up some of it, but the whole deal is
:03:03. > :03:06.controversial. Haringey Council has also imposed a confidentiality
:03:07. > :03:11.clause on the deal. It means the exact sum can't be disclosed. When
:03:12. > :03:15.contacted by Newsnight, one Government source said the Secretary
:03:16. > :03:19.of State for education, Michael Gove, was furious at the
:03:20. > :03:26.confidentiality clause. He is said to think it is indefensible. Baby
:03:27. > :03:34.Peter Connolly died despite being seen 60 times by social services,
:03:35. > :03:40.police and health services. The child's body had 50 injuries
:03:41. > :03:53.including a broken back and broken ribs inflicted by his mother.
:03:54. > :04:00.After the trial, an Ofsted report found failings in Sarn Shoesmith's
:04:01. > :04:07.-- Sharon choux Smith's department. Ed Balls had not given Shoesmith a
:04:08. > :04:13.chance to respond to the report and contravened procedure. My sorrow at
:04:14. > :04:17.the death of Peter Connolly while I was director is something which will
:04:18. > :04:23.stay with me for the rest of my life. But as the judges said, making
:04:24. > :04:27.a public sacrifice of an individual would not prevent further tragedies.
:04:28. > :04:34.Since then, she has unable to find work and has had to claim benefits.
:04:35. > :04:38.When Shoesmith won her case in 2011 Ed Balls maintained that even had he
:04:39. > :04:42.given her a chance to respond, he would have made the same decision.
:04:43. > :04:45.He is joined by politicians on all sides of the House who believe
:04:46. > :04:50.ministers must have the right to act quickly and that public servants
:04:51. > :04:54.should be held accountable. The current Government looks like it
:04:55. > :04:59.will pay for Shoesmith's sacking by televised press conference, but on
:05:00. > :05:06.this occasion, you are unlikely to hear them crow about it.
:05:07. > :05:10.With us now is Ray Jones, Professor of Social Work who is writing a book
:05:11. > :05:13.on the Baby Peter case; and Charlotte Leslie, Conservative MP
:05:14. > :05:18.and member of the education select committee which grilled Sharon
:05:19. > :05:22.Shoesmith in 2010. Do you understand how angry many members of the public
:05:23. > :05:25.will be at this news? I understand that people should be angry about
:05:26. > :05:29.what happened to Peter Connolly. He had a terrible life and those people
:05:30. > :05:34.who worked really hard to protect were not successful in doing that. I
:05:35. > :05:39.understand the anger... But do you understand... I understand the DJ
:05:40. > :05:41.that's been done to our child protection system as a consequence
:05:42. > :05:44.of that anger. Do you understand how angry they
:05:45. > :05:49.will be at the fact that hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money
:05:50. > :05:53.are being given to Sharon Shoesmith? I understand the anger, but as I
:05:54. > :05:56.said, my real concern is what is happening to the child protection
:05:57. > :06:02.system and we have made it harder to protect children because of the
:06:03. > :06:07.blame culture that he we cre aid and the type of vigilante action.
:06:08. > :06:12.What do you make of this settlement? It is simple. You have got to ask
:06:13. > :06:18.what responsibility means? When she was in her position, Sharon
:06:19. > :06:21.Shoesmith got a very large salary. Showing leadership means showing
:06:22. > :06:24.when something goes wrong, you take responsibility and make yourself
:06:25. > :06:28.accountable. The thing there most people are angry is that
:06:29. > :06:33.whistle-blowers also lose their jobs, but a lady like Sharon
:06:34. > :06:38.Shoesmith walks away with a big pay-off and has not taken the
:06:39. > :06:42.personal option to take personal responsibility.
:06:43. > :06:46.But this is a who who she thinks will never work again? If she wants
:06:47. > :06:51.to perhaps make her chances of getting a job higher, it would be to
:06:52. > :06:54.demonstrate she understands what personal accountability and
:06:55. > :06:57.responsibility is about and say I was carrying the can. I was head of
:06:58. > :07:00.this department and I take responsibility. That would be the
:07:01. > :07:05.kind of person I would be more likely to employ than someone who
:07:06. > :07:12.says, "It was nothing to do with me. I am sorry about what happened. But
:07:13. > :07:15.it was nothing to do with me." We have seen this not only in care, but
:07:16. > :07:20.throughout the NHS as well. It seems endemic.
:07:21. > :07:25.It is the size of this payment. I mean ?600,000. The biggest pay-off
:07:26. > :07:34.last year for unfair dismissal was 236 thou. The average is about
:07:35. > :07:39.?10,000. And Rebekah Brooks got ?10 million.
:07:40. > :07:42.She was working for News International? When something goes
:07:43. > :07:48.wrong, there is a tragedy, we have 50 to 70 children in England who die
:07:49. > :07:51.because of abuse by their parents. We protect a large number of
:07:52. > :07:55.children very well, but it is getting difficult to get people to
:07:56. > :07:58.work in this job of protecting children, police officers,
:07:59. > :08:00.paediatricians and social workers because when something terrible
:08:01. > :08:03.happens, we get the blame we are hearing about today and who wants to
:08:04. > :08:08.put themselves in that position of doing a really hard job knowing when
:08:09. > :08:12.something terrible happens, they are out to get you.
:08:13. > :08:23.That's a fair point, isn't it? A blame culture is not the same as a
:08:24. > :08:24.culture where people take accountability and responsibility.
:08:25. > :08:29.There are whistle-blowers who are trying to raise the alarm. Who are
:08:30. > :08:33.trying to do things the right way. Kim Holt is an example. It is often
:08:34. > :08:37.the whistle-blower. The whistle-blowers are trying to raise
:08:38. > :08:41.the fact that there are concerns. Now that's not a culture of blame.
:08:42. > :08:45.Someone is saying the system is covering th stuff. If someone is at
:08:46. > :08:49.the top of an organisation covering stuff up and not performing properly
:08:50. > :08:55.and lives put at risk, that's simple accountability.
:08:56. > :08:58.Do you think it is as high as ?600,000? I have no idea. It is not
:08:59. > :09:01.a figure I heard before. I don't know whether it is true or not. The
:09:02. > :09:04.conversation we're having will do nothing to help us to protect
:09:05. > :09:07.children better in the future. It will make it harder for people to
:09:08. > :09:12.come into this business because they know as I say saying now, when
:09:13. > :09:15.something goes wrong, we might talk about accountability, but it feels
:09:16. > :09:19.like blame and that's my concern. Who wants to do a really difficult
:09:20. > :09:23.job when you know that when it gets really hard, you will be in the
:09:24. > :09:26.firing line? There is something of a lynch mob that comes into play at
:09:27. > :09:33.times like this? The way to protect patients in NHS and children is a
:09:34. > :09:36.system whereby people feel comfortable in coming forward and
:09:37. > :09:44.saying something is not right. I am not happy about the way the system
:09:45. > :09:51.is, working. I don't think that not whoeding people -- holding people
:09:52. > :09:56.accountable at top is. To say yes, I was leading a dysfunctional
:09:57. > :10:00.organisation. I myself voluntarily will do what most people would think
:10:01. > :10:03.to be the descent thing and then you don't get this lynch mob. People are
:10:04. > :10:08.angry because you have got someone who was earning a lot of money who
:10:09. > :10:16.is found to be at the top of an organisation that needed reform, was
:10:17. > :10:19.not doing that are her salary and says, "It is not my fault." The
:10:20. > :10:25.organisation was found to be dysfunctional after all the media
:10:26. > :10:30.attention was given and there was the hun cry. This organisation was
:10:31. > :10:36.found by Ofsted to be doing well. It was rated as good and Sharon
:10:37. > :10:42.Shoesmith's leadership was seen as positive. It changed quickly when
:10:43. > :10:51.there was a petition run by The Sun seeking sackings. We had a different
:10:52. > :10:55.picture about Haringey about that. I think there is an interesting point
:10:56. > :11:03.here. Often our inspectorate are not doing the right job either and
:11:04. > :11:07.people put ticking boxes before what is going on. So yes, inspectorates
:11:08. > :11:11.need to get better, but people at the top need to take responsibility
:11:12. > :11:18.for the organisations they head up. Thank you very much.
:11:19. > :11:29.Coming up: The legacy of Lou Reed. Inspectors
:11:30. > :11:32.supposed to be checking the Syrian government's stocks of chemical
:11:33. > :11:37.weapons have been unable to get to two of the sites they want to visit,
:11:38. > :11:43.it emerged today. Too dangerous, apparently. The war, meanwhile
:11:44. > :11:46.continues its barbarous way with Government forces said to have
:11:47. > :11:50.retaken a Christian town north of Damascus, part of which had fallen
:11:51. > :11:53.to the rebels a week ago. The United Nations representative supposed to
:11:54. > :11:56.prepare the way for peace talks reached the Syrian capital today.
:11:57. > :12:03.Lyse Doucet is there. So what can you tell us?
:12:04. > :12:09.Well, it is good news that he is back in the Syrian capital. He
:12:10. > :12:13.hasn't been here since December and that's a long time when you are
:12:14. > :12:17.trying to bring peace and an end to a war which changes shape every
:12:18. > :12:22.month, but when I interviewed him in January, he diplomatically said that
:12:23. > :12:27.40 years is a little bit too long as he put it for one family, the Assad
:12:28. > :12:32.family to be in power. He hasn't been back to Damascus since then.
:12:33. > :12:35.The fact that he is here, indicates that President Assad maybe willing
:12:36. > :12:38.to give him a hearing or a message. The problem is few in the opposition
:12:39. > :12:44.want anything to do with President Assad and even though there is a lot
:12:45. > :12:53.of talk about a conference that will take place next month, 23rd
:12:54. > :12:59.November, most of the powerful renegades said it would be an act of
:13:00. > :13:04.treason. The main opposition groups haven't made up their minds and
:13:05. > :13:10.President Assad says he will run for the elections next year. You can't
:13:11. > :13:13.want peace more than the parties for the conflict want it.
:13:14. > :13:18.Is there any sign of who is inwithing the war? -- winning the
:13:19. > :13:24.war? No one is winning and no one is losing and no one has been able to
:13:25. > :13:28.inflict the fatal blow to turn the tide. It is very difficult to say
:13:29. > :13:32.who controls what percentage of the dertry, but the most reliable
:13:33. > :13:39.figures I have seen from good sources is president Assad's forces
:13:40. > :13:42.have lost 60% of Syria, but on the 40% they control, they control most
:13:43. > :13:47.of the population and they control one of the main prizes in this war
:13:48. > :13:53.and that's this capital Damascus. Since I was here a few months ago,
:13:54. > :13:57.there are more checkpoints in the city, but it is relatively quiet as
:13:58. > :14:02.was the last visit than it was say six months ago. The Government feels
:14:03. > :14:07.very much in control in what is called the bubble of Damascus. A
:14:08. > :14:13.different picture in the suburbs which are burning and at least one
:14:14. > :14:16.suburb people are starving. They haven under siege. Someone told me
:14:17. > :14:20.today, you can't get a peace of bread into some of those
:14:21. > :14:24.neighbourhoods and the UN agencies have been calling for an end to the
:14:25. > :14:29.siege, but the Government very much feels it has the upper hand and part
:14:30. > :14:33.of the confidence comes from the chemical weapons deal which means it
:14:34. > :14:39.averted a US military style strike and it has powerful friends
:14:40. > :14:47.including Iran and Russia which are arming Assad and standing by him.
:14:48. > :14:51.Thank you very much. From the outside it seems that most
:14:52. > :14:55.of the world is lined up against President Assad, the regime makes
:14:56. > :14:58.capital out of the fact. Yet we have evidence that foreign forces are in
:14:59. > :15:13.Syria fighting alongside president Assad's men. Yalda Hakim reports. A
:15:14. > :15:21.year ago the rebels in Syria seemed to have the upper hand.
:15:22. > :15:26.But something has changed. Syrian Government forces are being
:15:27. > :15:31.bolstered by Iran. If there is one country that is interfering in
:15:32. > :15:38.Syria, it is Iran. When this secret footage shot by an Iranian fell into
:15:39. > :15:46.rebel hands, the truth about the ayatollah's secret war in Syria was
:15:47. > :15:53.revealed for the first time. A Government air base near Damascus in
:15:54. > :16:01.Syria. S boarding the helicopter flight is this man, a 30-year-old
:16:02. > :16:07.film-maker from Iran. It is his second trip to Syria and he is on a
:16:08. > :16:17.sensitive assignment. He is making a film on behalf of Iran's elite
:16:18. > :16:22.Revolutionary Guards. In September a group of Syrian rebels contacted the
:16:23. > :16:27.international media saying they captured a video camera after a
:16:28. > :16:31.battle. They said it contained footage which proved their long
:16:32. > :16:47.stated allegation that Iranian forces were on the ground in Syria
:16:48. > :16:56.and supporting the Assad regime. Raeds The captured footage came from
:16:57. > :17:02.a camera. It starts in some proregime military facility in
:17:03. > :17:07.Aleppo. The signs in Arabic warn people not to take any photographs
:17:08. > :17:16.on their mobile phones. But such restrictions do not seem to apply to
:17:17. > :17:21.the cameraman. The soldiers are Iranians. As are the troops and the
:17:22. > :17:27.cleric in the prayer hall and this is a communications room. A very
:17:28. > :17:32.sensitive location. The radio operator is Iranian too. He tries to
:17:33. > :17:41.engage him in conversation, but the man seems uncomfortable being
:17:42. > :17:46.filmed. This is the first time all the material shot by Iranian
:17:47. > :17:50.film-maker has been pieced together. It is likely that it was never
:17:51. > :17:55.intended for public broadcast, but was some internal Iranian
:17:56. > :17:58.Revolutionary Guards project because when you watch the footage, it
:17:59. > :18:03.becomes obvious that despite their repeated denials, Iran is secretly
:18:04. > :18:09.playing a critical role in helping turn the tide of the war back in
:18:10. > :18:14.favour of the Assad regime. It is not surprising to me in Syria Iran
:18:15. > :18:20.has given training both to the regular Syrian armed forces and to
:18:21. > :18:25.paramilitary groups and the paramilitary groups may out last the
:18:26. > :18:31.Assad regime. It is one way that Iran keeps its options open even if
:18:32. > :18:49.Assad falls, Iran will have a force that's committed to it.
:18:50. > :18:52.Back on the ground in Syria. The man sitting on the right-hand side is
:18:53. > :19:10.the main character in the film. Relaxed and humorous, he
:19:11. > :19:14.nevertheless has a very ideological view of the Syrian conflict and
:19:15. > :19:39.Iran's role in it. The footage shows the Iranians
:19:40. > :19:45.training and organisationing a new grouping known as the national
:19:46. > :19:54.defence force. The national defence force is a network of pro-Assad
:19:55. > :20:00.militias. They are loyalists all of whom fear the consequences of a
:20:01. > :20:07.Sunni Muslim rebel victory. But it seems the NDF are not just being
:20:08. > :20:20.trained on the ground in Syria itself.
:20:21. > :20:31.But the Revolutionary Guards aren't just providing training. According
:20:32. > :21:18.to sources, their role is a very hands on one.
:21:19. > :21:26.The sun rises over Aleppo. But this will not be a peaceful day.
:21:27. > :21:31.Reporting are coming in that a force of rebel fighters is moving in on a
:21:32. > :21:49.nearby regime stronghold known as the poultry farm near a pla called
:21:50. > :21:54.Talazan. The unit gets reinforcements from
:21:55. > :22:02.the local NDF that Englishia they are training.
:22:03. > :22:08.There is no considerate driving style now. This is a military
:22:09. > :22:13.emergency. The two truck loads of fighters head to the poultry farm
:22:14. > :22:17.base as fast as they can. There are about 40 fighters gathered in this
:22:18. > :22:27.base including at least one other squad of Iranian military advisors.
:22:28. > :22:36.All these men know an attack is coming. The squad is led out of the
:22:37. > :22:45.poultry farm base on a mission to secure the reasoned flank of the --
:22:46. > :22:52.right-hand flank of the battlefield. At first glance, this Iranian led
:22:53. > :23:05.group looks well equipped for a fight. Then there is movement on the
:23:06. > :23:09.horizon. What the Iranians can't see is there are more than three rebels.
:23:10. > :23:17.What you are seeing now is footage filmed by the rebel's own cameraman
:23:18. > :23:22.as their fighters advance towards the combat zone. They outnumber the
:23:23. > :23:27.squad and have heavier weapons including a tank. The Iranians are
:23:28. > :23:58.heading into an ambush. With bullets supplies slicing
:23:59. > :24:10.through the corn field and mortar rounds, the group is pinned down.
:24:11. > :24:20.The others try to retreat. But it is too late. These are the last images
:24:21. > :24:37.filmed. Two days later, Revolutionary Guards
:24:38. > :24:44.commander is buried with military honours in Iran. It is final
:24:45. > :25:03.confirmation of his important role in the Revolutionary Guards.
:25:04. > :25:12.And this is one of the members from the Syrian war. He never made it
:25:13. > :25:18.home to his wife, or three-year-old daughter. Even after all this, the
:25:19. > :25:32.Revolutionary Guards continue to deny their activities in Syria.
:25:33. > :25:39.The story shines a light on to Iran's covert war in Syria, but the
:25:40. > :25:43.Iranians are not the only foreigners interfering in the Syrian conflict.
:25:44. > :25:48.With weapons and fighters now pouring in on both sides, there is a
:25:49. > :25:55.very real danger that this crisis will spin further out of control.
:25:56. > :26:00.You can see a full half an hour version of that report on Our World
:26:01. > :26:08.on the BBC News Channel on Saturday and Sunday evening at 9.30pm.
:26:09. > :26:14.He was the elusive figure rarely photographed behind David Cameron's
:26:15. > :26:23.canny media strategy. She was the flame haired executive to exchanged
:26:24. > :26:28.text message with her friend and neighbour, Cameron. That was how the
:26:29. > :26:31.Associated Press ne agency explained two of the people in the dock at the
:26:32. > :26:40.Old Bailey today. Eight people are on trial on charges arising out of
:26:41. > :26:46.the phone hacking affair. Steve Hewlett has dainty feet. How big a
:26:47. > :26:51.deal is this case? It is bill. Eight defendants after a two year police
:26:52. > :26:54.inquiry. Charging relating to phone hacking, corrupt payments to public
:26:55. > :26:58.officials and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice which relates
:26:59. > :27:01.to allegations that boxes of documents were removed from News
:27:02. > :27:06.International. Not all eight are charged with all of them, but all
:27:07. > :27:11.eight are denying the it charges against them, but by way of scale,
:27:12. > :27:14.the prosecution opening is due to start tomorrow afternoon and last
:27:15. > :27:19.for two days. It is reckoned the prosecution case in total could last
:27:20. > :27:25.until Christmas. And the case overall is scheduled to last until
:27:26. > :27:30.next Easter. Until Easter? It is big. Yes,
:27:31. > :27:33.Easter. Some big institutions involved? Yes, when you look at it.
:27:34. > :27:38.This is the first time the public will get to hear in detail what it
:27:39. > :27:42.is alleged occurred and there is big players and big institutions with
:27:43. > :27:49.skin in this game. You might say. So you have got the press. You are busy
:27:50. > :27:54.fighting the post Leveson settlement, the atmospherics that
:27:55. > :27:59.are going to come out of it and you have got the Metropolitan Police
:28:00. > :28:06.looking on anxiously. This is a case that they declined to investigate
:28:07. > :28:10.until forced to it. You have got the political class, David Cameron, made
:28:11. > :28:15.the big speech after the Milly Dowler revelations which led to the
:28:16. > :28:19.News of the World being closed who said, "We the political class had
:28:20. > :28:26.turned a blind eye." And there is Rupert Murdoch and his company
:28:27. > :28:31.turned inside out by the whole thing. Costs of half a billion,
:28:32. > :28:36.suggestion from one senior executive secretly recorded sometime ago, that
:28:37. > :28:40.it could be ?1 billion. There is this trial to Easter. There are
:28:41. > :28:47.other trials going on reckoned to be the end of 2015 and then brewing
:28:48. > :28:52.nastily in the undergrowth is and the fact that News International,
:28:53. > :28:59.News Corporation have been told they are suspects in an ongoing inquiry
:29:00. > :29:01.into a corporate criminal liability. Corporate criminal liability?
:29:02. > :29:06.Corporate criminal liability which will have the FBI sniffing around
:29:07. > :29:12.it, but means that if the company were to be found guilty of that,
:29:13. > :29:15.they become criminally liable. For Rupert Murdoch, it really couldn't
:29:16. > :29:19.be much worse and the stakes here really are very high, indeed. I
:29:20. > :29:33.should say all eight of the defendants on trial now deny the
:29:34. > :29:37.charges. One of the most enigmatic and
:29:38. > :29:41.influential figures in pop music is dead. Most of us would probably
:29:42. > :29:44.recognise Lou Reed's Perfect Day, but you certainly couldn't measure
:29:45. > :29:48.his significance in sales. Lou Reed said he didn't give a damn about his
:29:49. > :29:51.legacy except he used a much stronger word than "damn". Much of
:29:52. > :30:00.his music was almost unlistenable to. But for all that he could
:30:01. > :30:03.genuinely have the word "legendary" attached to his name. Stephen Smith
:30:04. > :30:07.has five things you didn't know about Lou Reed. Because we are
:30:08. > :30:14.saluting Lou Reed on Newsnight, we have decided to break with tradition
:30:15. > :30:21.and feature a man being grumpy on camera! Is that a good opportunity?
:30:22. > :30:24.What do you mean authenticity from whom? It is funny having someone
:30:25. > :30:39.from TV asking that question. It is like the lowest medium there is.
:30:40. > :30:46.The velvet Underground in one of their first appearances. We haven't
:30:47. > :30:54.got to the end of the effect they had on rock'n'roll. It is like that
:30:55. > :30:59.famous early Sex Pistols gig in Manchester. Everyone supposedly
:31:00. > :31:01.there went into the music business, but without Lou Reed there may not
:31:02. > :31:26.have been any Sex Pistols. # Plucked her eyebrows on the way
:31:27. > :31:30.# Shaved her leg # She said take a walk on the wild
:31:31. > :31:42.side # I said honey, take a walk on the
:31:43. > :31:46.wild side. # Reed sang about he being a she, that
:31:47. > :31:52.was from life. Reed said his parents made him have electric shock
:31:53. > :31:56.treatment as a boy to cure homosexual urges. You are a man of a
:31:57. > :31:58.few words, why is this? I have little to say. Do you like press
:31:59. > :32:16.interviews in general? No. Lou Reed put the pop into pop art
:32:17. > :32:24.and it was the art he was really interested in. He was a friend and
:32:25. > :32:36.associate of Andy Warhol. Lou Reed saw himself as a writer. It is a
:32:37. > :32:45.little known fact that Lou Reed toppled communism, not on his own.
:32:46. > :32:51.# Just a perfect day # Drink sangria in the park." When
:32:52. > :32:55.Prague was behind the Iron Curtain, underground albums inspired
:32:56. > :33:04.reformers not least their leader and their movement was dubbed the Velvet
:33:05. > :33:09.Revolution. #
:33:10. > :33:19.just a perfect day. # # Feed animals in the zoo #
:33:20. > :33:22.On tour, in fancy hotels, Lou Reed would find himself sleeping on the
:33:23. > :33:27.floor because of a bad back as he used to do through lack of funds
:33:28. > :33:33.when he was just starting out. Ill health became a problem. Four months
:33:34. > :33:42.ago, he had a liver transplant claiming, "I am a triumph of modern
:33:43. > :33:47.medicine." It was aironic. -- ironic. I don't like journalists. I
:33:48. > :33:51.despise them. Why? They are disgusting. With the
:33:52. > :33:57.exception of you! With the exception of tu! -- of you! Mainly the
:33:58. > :34:03.English, the pigs. It might have gratified Lou Reed to
:34:04. > :34:11.see how those journalists toiled to praise him today.
:34:12. > :34:15.The singer Rufus Wainwright was a friend of Lou Reed. He joins us from
:34:16. > :34:22.Seattle. When did you first meet him, please?
:34:23. > :34:27.Well, I actually met Lou before I made my first album. I was a waiter
:34:28. > :34:32.at a restaurant in New York City, the Lion's Head and he was my first
:34:33. > :34:35.ever customer! And I was very afraid and he ordered French toast with no
:34:36. > :34:43.butter. What was he like as a human being?
:34:44. > :34:51.As a friend? Yes. Of course, there is a lot of talk about his, you
:34:52. > :34:57.know, grumpy nature and his critical outlook and slightly, you know,
:34:58. > :35:04.negative ambiance, but really behind that, he was such a kind and gentle
:35:05. > :35:19.and soleful man. -- soulful man. Part of the reason he might have
:35:20. > :35:23.been so pug nacious, it was a defence mechanism. Like a great
:35:24. > :35:27.chocolate or something, he was hard on the outside and very, very soft
:35:28. > :35:31.on the inside. So he was a lovely guy.
:35:32. > :35:38.Is it possible to be precise about what his contribution to music was?
:35:39. > :35:47.Well, I think, I mean, you can never, he invented cool in terms of
:35:48. > :35:52.the music industry and when I say cool, I mean real cool. I am not
:35:53. > :35:58.talking Elvis cool or Marvin Gaye cool, I am talking about completely
:35:59. > :36:06.cutting edge. Completely, I don't know, just the coolest kid in the
:36:07. > :36:12.class and so I think, you know, much like someone like other people from
:36:13. > :36:23.that era, he just, he cre critted a benchmark -- created a benchmark.
:36:24. > :36:30.But this was not just a question of style, was it? I mean he had
:36:31. > :36:40.encountered cultural terms, I guess, a political stick about him, didn't
:36:41. > :36:49.he? Yes. He seemed to - he was not - he didn't believe in full hit.
:36:50. > :36:56.Whether it was a political party or, you know, or a social movement or
:36:57. > :37:00.art or anything, he just told it as he saw it and it was always
:37:01. > :37:03.opinioniated and very, very refreshing, but, you know,
:37:04. > :37:07.disturbing as well if you were on the other side of that, you know,
:37:08. > :37:15.pointed argument. What was he like to work with? He
:37:16. > :37:19.was hell to work with! Utter hell. At the end of the day, we would get
:37:20. > :37:25.it done. We did a few shows together. We did Christmas shows
:37:26. > :37:30.together. I had to sing Blue Christmas with Lou. He with had to
:37:31. > :37:39.do one song and the last time we did this and it took three hours to get
:37:40. > :37:44.what he wanted! Why? Oh, I don't know. He enjoyed torturing, you
:37:45. > :37:49.know, the musicians and doing it over again and then, of course, when
:37:50. > :37:51.we got up to do it on stage, it was completely different. I don't think
:37:52. > :37:55.he wanted anything set and the minute people started to get their
:37:56. > :37:59.heads around something, that was when it was time to throw the wrench
:38:00. > :38:08.in it! Which is great. Do you have a favourite song of his?
:38:09. > :38:18.Well, I mean, I was listening a lot to Pale Blue Eyes recently and also
:38:19. > :38:29.there was a song that I loved. I can never remember the title, but the
:38:30. > :38:34.one that starts, "Because if you close the door." Can you sing us a
:38:35. > :38:39.phrase or two? I will sing you a little bit of it, sorry!
:38:40. > :38:51.I am going to take from the bridge down to the end.
:38:52. > :38:59.# Shiny cadillac cars # People on subways looking grey
:39:00. > :39:07.# Other people look well in the dark # If you close the door
:39:08. > :39:14.# The night could last forever # Leave the sunshine out and say
:39:15. > :39:20.hello to never # All the people who dance and they
:39:21. > :39:27.are having so much fun # I wish it could happen to me
:39:28. > :39:31.# Because if you close the door, I would never have to see the day
:39:32. > :39:34.again # I would never have to see the day
:39:35. > :39:40.again # One more time
:39:41. > :39:44.# I would never have to see the day again #
:39:45. > :39:49.Thank you very much indeed. Good night. Thank you.
:39:50. > :39:57.Thank you. Farewell then, Jude.
:39:58. > :40:02.Trains were halted for a bit at least. One should not take too light
:40:03. > :40:06.of it because there were several tragic fatalities, but St Jude
:40:07. > :40:11.didn't cause the mayhem we were warned about. Perhaps the reason
:40:12. > :40:17.that we got off lightly compared to the great storm of 1987 was because
:40:18. > :40:22.we were well warned. Zoe Conway reports.
:40:23. > :40:30.Storm Jude arrived as predicted. It hit the south-west of England at
:40:31. > :40:34.around midnight. Hurricane Force winds moved north-east wards. It
:40:35. > :40:40.caused death and injury and cut power to hundreds of thousands of
:40:41. > :40:44.homes. But because of advances in science and technology, this storm
:40:45. > :40:51.didn't take us by surprise. It is 3am here in Exmouth, but this storm
:40:52. > :40:56.has only got going. It is an unusual weather event when storms cross the
:40:57. > :41:02.Atlantic, they burn themselves out, but this one kept on going. Falling
:41:03. > :41:08.trees proved deadly. The bodies of a man and a woman were pulled from the
:41:09. > :41:12.wreckage of their home. It exploded when a tree fell on to the gas
:41:13. > :41:19.mains. A 17-year-old woman was crushed to death when a tree crashed
:41:20. > :41:28.on had to her caravan. A bus was also toppled injuring the driver and
:41:29. > :41:34.several passengers. At this Devon county council incident room, they
:41:35. > :41:43.watched Storm Jude's every move. We have had a report of a tree falling.
:41:44. > :41:49.It is a large tree. Hundreds of cameras monitored the
:41:50. > :41:56.roads and the rivers. Twitter provided rumours and facts about the
:41:57. > :42:01.damage the storm was causing and there were meteorological maps.
:42:02. > :42:05.Tracking the storm as comes in and the intensity as well. We will keep
:42:06. > :42:12.an eye on it. We have guys on the ground who are also eyes and ears.
:42:13. > :42:16.Travellers out there would be seeing trees falling. Maybe some isolated
:42:17. > :42:24.flooding. They will be passing that on. When they get that information
:42:25. > :42:30.in here, we contact our local agents and they can send teams tout to deal
:42:31. > :42:34.with it. We might have to close roads.
:42:35. > :42:40.Six days ago, storm Jude didn't exist. Yet here at the Met Office in
:42:41. > :42:44.Exeter, they knew it was coming and accurately predicted its path. This
:42:45. > :42:50.is where the storm started. As it came towards the UK it really began
:42:51. > :42:55.to develop strongly and brought some strong gusts of wind across the
:42:56. > :42:58.southern half of the UK especially where we have this hook of cloud and
:42:59. > :43:03.now it is tracking in towards the North Sea and going towards the low
:43:04. > :43:06.countries and northern Germany where we will see strong winds, if not
:43:07. > :43:11.stronger winds than we have seen across the southern UK this morning.
:43:12. > :43:17.The science and technology has been transformed since the Great Storm of
:43:18. > :43:21.1987 which the weathermen failed to warn us about. Behind me is the Met
:43:22. > :43:27.Office's super computer. It is like a giant calculator. It takes the raw
:43:28. > :43:32.weather data out there like temperature, air pressure and
:43:33. > :43:38.humidity. Gravity, the laws of motion and it does its sums at a
:43:39. > :43:44.rate of 100 trillion calculations per second.
:43:45. > :43:49.It is so much better than it was those years ago. It enables us to
:43:50. > :43:53.have a detailed picture of weather over the world at any particular
:43:54. > :44:01.time. Then the scale of super computing which allows us to analyse
:44:02. > :44:05.the satellite da data. So in 30 years, in any technology, you would
:44:06. > :44:09.expect a lot of change. 30 years in meteorology has been a world of
:44:10. > :44:13.difference. Because of the accuracy of the
:44:14. > :44:17.forecasting, emergency workers in Devon were ready. The highway has
:44:18. > :44:22.been proactive this evening. They have come out and they are clearing
:44:23. > :44:28.away which is great. They were out within five minutes of us calling
:44:29. > :44:33.them. They have been really good clearing the drains and any of the
:44:34. > :44:37.issues that we have had. But this was still a deadly weather
:44:38. > :44:42.event. Science might be able to predict the weather. The authorities
:44:43. > :44:48.might feel they can organise and manage it, but we can't control it.
:44:49. > :44:54.Before we go, we return to our main story, the financial settlement
:44:55. > :44:57.reached between Haringey Council and Sharon Shoesmith, the head of
:44:58. > :45:05.children's services sacked after the Baby Peter case. The payout we
:45:06. > :45:11.understand involves six figures. We have learned the figure reflects the
:45:12. > :45:16.total payment and Ms Shoesmith may receive a lower sum.
:45:17. > :45:25.The Sun has news that Jimmy Savile's driver, who was due to appear in
:45:26. > :45:31.court has been found dead. The Daily Mail, mother's agony, a report of
:45:32. > :45:38.one of the unfortunate fatalities caused by the storm.
:45:39. > :45:41.And the Daily Mirror goes with some of the unfortunate stories of what
:45:42. > :45:44.happened as a consequence of the storm.
:45:45. > :45:49.That's it. Emily is here tomorrow. What may turn out to be the last
:45:50. > :45:58.poem written by the great Irish poet, Seamus Heaney who died in
:45:59. > :46:15.August has been published. It is called In A Field. It pictures
:46:16. > :46:19.a soldier returning from the war. The actor Gabriel Byrne read it for
:46:20. > :46:22.us. And there I was in the middle of a
:46:23. > :46:24.field. The furrows once called "scores"
:46:25. > :46:26.still with their gloss. The tractor with its hoisted plough
:46:27. > :46:29.just gone. Snarling at an unexpected speed out
:46:30. > :46:31.on the road. Last of the jobs.
:46:32. > :46:35.The windings had been ploughed, furrows turned. Three ply or four
:46:36. > :46:39.round each of the four sides of the breathing land to mark it off and
:46:40. > :46:42.out. Within that boundary now step the
:46:43. > :46:49.fleshy earth and follow the long healed footprints of one who
:46:50. > :46:56.arrived. From nowhere, unfamiliar and de-mobbed. In buttoned khaki and
:46:57. > :46:59.buffed army boots. Bruising the turned-up acres of our
:47:00. > :47:06.back field to stumble from the windings magic ring and take me by a
:47:07. > :47:10.hand to lead me back. Through the same old gate into the
:47:11. > :47:11.yard where everyone has suddenly appeared all standing