21/10/2016 Victoria Derbyshire

The Conservatives hold o nto David Cameron's former

parliamentary seat in Witney, but their majority is slashed

Plus, former soapstar Tracy Brabin wins the seat left vacant

Remembering the Aberfan disaster 50 years ago,

when a mountain of coal waste killed 144 people,

Later today, the Prince of Wales unveils a memorial, we talk to one

survivor. What's life like for people living

under the Heathrow flight path? We've spent 24 hours with one family

to find out how loud the planes are and what an extra runway

will mean for them. This is a quiet cul-de-sac road I

will stay on for the next 24 hours, you cannot hear the traffic from the

main road, no tubes or railways, what you can hear is the constant

sound of those. Welcome to the programme,

we're live until 11 this morning. Also today - we'll have details

of new research which shows drinking just two cans of fizzy drinks a day

can increase your risk Drinks containing artificial

sweeteners can also Do get in touch on all the stories

we're talking about this morning. And if you text, you will be charged

at the standard network rate. The Conservatives have held

on to David Cameron's former seat The Tory party's share of the vote

fell from 60%, to 44%. Our correspondent is in Westminster, we

will talk about Batley Spen in a moment but a cut to the Tory

majority in Witney. The new MP is a local barrister, Robert Courts. The

most significant thing about this result is the fact if you look back

to the last general election when David Cameron took the seat with a

thumping majority, 60%, that is down to 45%. The party taking the credit,

the Liberal Democrats, who came second, pushing Labour into third

place. We should remember it was a very low turnout in this by-election

and the Liberal Democrats put in a huge amount of resources. The party

says this is a verdict on the government's approached the Brexit,

people signalling that they want a closer relationship to the EU than

the government has signalled. The Conservatives say that is not the

case and this is a great result, despite the reduced majority. They

say if you look back to when David Cameron was first elected to the

Witney, he got about 45% of the vote. The new MP in Tracy Brabin

Daesh in Batley Spen is Tracy Brabin, the main parties did not

contest that seat after the death of Jo Cox. Out of respect for Jo Cox

and her family, the main political parties did not contest it so the

New Labour MP is called Tracy Brabin, she was a friend of Jo Cox

and a former Coronation Street actress. She took a thumping 86% of

the vote, but also a low turnout in this by-election. And when she gave

her acceptance speech, she said that her victory was bittersweet. She

said she hoped Jo Cox would be proud that the community had spoken with

one voice and she said this had been a difficult experience for everybody

and the fact the by-election had had to take place was a tragedy for

everyone. Thank you very much.

Let's cross to the BBC Newsroom, with a summary

A minute's silence will be held to mark the Aberfan disaster. It's

destroyed a junior school and 116 children and 28 adults were killed.

Prince Charles will attend the ceremony in Aberfan and ceremonies

to commemorate the disaster will be held throughout the day.

50 years later, the memories as raw as ever.

Many long years have come and gone, but Aberfan keeps moving on.

On the eve of the anniversary, a community came to remember

what happened after one of the worst disasters of Britain's modern era,

Locals had raised repeated concerns about coal waste from the nearby

colliery being tipped onto the mountain above Aberfan.

In the October of 1966, days of heavy rain turned that waste

into slurry, and a subsidence on the morning of the 21st caused

an avalanche that crashed down into the village.

Bearing the brunt of the damage was Pantglas Junior School.

116 children died, along with 28 others.

One of the first on the scene was policewoman Yvonne Price.

When we were passing the dead children through,

one man just looked down, and just turned and looked at me

Oh, that was one of the worst things.

Today, commemorations will take place around the community

With a minute's silence held at 9:15am, the time

50 years on, this community still remembers a generation lost.

Two British warships are shadowing an aircraft carrier and other

Russian naval ships as they pass close to the UK.

A Russian tug believed to be in convoy is currently entering the

English channel off the coast and Ramsgate.

This is the Russian aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov,

passing through the North Sea believed to be headed to the eastern

If this is correct, this would be its first

And it could signal Russia is reinforcing its ability to strike

It comes as EU leaders at the summit in Brussels condemned Russia's

aggressive behaviour in Syria and beyond.

There has been broad discussion about Russia.

Leaders have criticised all sorts of Russian activities from space

violations, disinformation campaigns, cyber attacks,

interference into the political processes in the EU and beyond.

The carrier and its task force has been making its way

through the North Sea off the south-east coast of England

and is believed to be moving towards the English Channel,

shadowed by a Royal Navy frigate and destroyer, while the flotilla

Russia has currently paused its military operations

in Syria, but with the warships on the move,

there are questions over the country's next actions.

These are live pictures of part of that Russian task force now going

through the English Channel. Two British warships shadowing the

Russian aircraft carrier as they pass close to the UK. A Russian tag

is part of the task force, also in the English Channel, and the ship is

believed to be heading to the eastern Mediterranean and the Syria.

Armed militants have traded government buildings in Iraq. The

Islamic State group says it was behind the attack, claiming fighters

broke into the Town Hall and is took control of the Town Hall. The Iraqi

government and Kurdish forces are attempting to retake the IS

stronghold of Mosul. Theresa May says Britain intends to remain at

the heart of the EU until its departure. Addressing leaders at her

first summit as Prime Minister, she made it clear the UK would play a

full part in decision-making until Brexit process was completed. The

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expected Brexit negotiations to

be rough going. Universities and student unions

should work together to tackle violence against women,

harassment and hate crime on campus. That's one of the recommendations

made in a report by Universities UK It also says there needs to be more

support for victims and better Alice Irving was in her second year

at university when she was raped. She says she didn't get the right

support at the time, which made an already difficult

experience even harder. I was kind of staunchly hoping

that it wouldn't change me, because I didn't want to give him

that power, but it has. Just your sense of bodily integrity,

and your sense of control over your own sex life, and all

of that is profoundly affected. And reclaiming that is a process,

and I still haven't figured it out. Today's report by Universities UK

looks at what more universities need to do to help those like Alice,

and others who face harassment It says there needs to be better

recording of allegations. Victims, too, should be given

more support, and... We are also recommending that staff

be trained so that they can provide the appropriate support

and advice to the student, confer them onto the special

services they need. And that training might include

a member of staff knowing that they are not the right person

to try and give that advice. The Government has welcomed

the report, saying any form of harassment or abuse

is unacceptable. It has asked Universities UK to get

back to them in six months, to tell on what progress

has been made. The Competition and Markets

Authority is investigating whether people using sports betting

and gaming websites It's looking into the terms

and conditions of online betting accounts and

wants to know why, in some cases, the industry's been

cancelling winning bets Fossils from a newly-discovered

species of dinosaur have been The giant long-necked dinosaur -

Savannasaurus elliottorum - measured at least 14

metres from head-to-tail. It was a plant-chomping,

barrel-chested member of the sauropod group,

which includes the largest land animals to ever have

roamed the planet. That's a summary of

the latest BBC News. Do get in touch with us

throughout the morning. And if you text, you will be charged

at the standard network rate. Interested in your thoughts on fizzy

drinks, with the news that two a day can increase your risk of getting

tight two diabetes, time for the sport. We will start with cricket.

What is the latest from England's Test match against Bangladesh?

Yes, thank you. A morning of mixed fortunes for England on the second

day of the first test in Bangladesh. They added just 35 runs to their

overnight score, Chris Woakes was out on the first delivery of the

morning. Not very happy with that. England 293 all out. In reply,

Bangladesh made a steady start until Moeen Ali started the ball, taking

two wickets in just four to halt the progress before lunch, but the home

side have dug their nails in and rallied and they are 99-2!

Football, a mixed night in the Europa League for English sides?

Yes, I think Manchester United will be the happier of the two this

morning. Easing past Turkish side than Apache 4-1 in the group stages.

And fans got to see a hint of what the world's most expensive player

Paul Pogba had to offer, what a goal that was, he got a couple. And Robin

van Persie got a late goal back for his team. United fans did enjoy that

and former England boss Sam Allardyce was in the crowd.

Not good news for Southampton, losing 1-0 at Inter Milan after

missing a lot of chances. Despite Southampton's 11 shots in the second

the goal. Both Southampton as Manchester United sit second. That

is all the sport for now, back back to you.

Thank you very much. Let's go to Aberfan.

28 adults and 116 children lost their lives when 150 tonnes of coal

waste slid down a hillside, before smashing into the junior school.

Our reporter is there. We are just outside the Garden of remembrance in

Aberfan, the very sight of Pantglas school. It was a foggy Fran Rico --

Friday morning and it was the last day before half term holiday and the

children had gathered in the classrooms after their Assembly and

they had been singing All things Bright and beautiful. At 9:15 a.m.,

a 30 foot avalanche started to slide down this mountain and crashed into

the school, demolishing 18 houses and a farmhouse, 144 people lost

their lives that day, 116 were children. Five teachers were also

killed. The people of Aberfan, the survivors, politicians, relatives

and the Prince of Wales have gathered in a cemetery behind us and

out of respect, the cameras will not go this morning. The people of

Aberfan and beyond falling silent to remember 50 ago.

-- 50 years ago. To see the ones we loved so much come smiling through

the door. Time is this move of grief's roughest edges but today we

acknowledge this grief will be fresh once again. We stand united with

them today, we recognise their pain and we promise to support and

comfort them in any way we can. A minute's silence to remember the

disaster 50 years on. A generation of children killed in the disaster,

116 children died when the coal waste went into the junior school.

28 adults also lost their lives. We will be talking later to one woman

who survived, she was eight at the time. The government is expected to

announce its decision next week on whether its preferred choice for

airport expansion is Heathrow or Gatwick.

It will come after decades of delays, although MPs won't get

to vote on the decision for at least another year.

A third runway at Heathrow is widely expected to get the go-ahead.

Ahead of the decision, our reporter Divya Talwar has spent

24 hours with a family living in one of Heathrow's flight path in West

Around 1300 flights each day come in and out of Heathrow.

These were a daily sight when I was growing up in West London

under one of the flight paths, although since leaving Hounslow,

I'm moving back, just for a day, to find out what it's

And what they make of plans for a third runway.

Many people in Hounslow rely on the airport for jobs.

So this is the quiet cul-de-sac road I'm going to be staying

You can't hear any of the traffic from the main road,

What you can hear, though, is the constant sound of those.

This is the Sheikh family, three generations under

They came from Pakistan over 30 years ago and have two sons.

The eldest is married and this is their two-year-old boy.

I'm meeting the family for the first time.

They live four miles from the airport and the planes fly

What is it like living directly under Heathrow

Now, when a really loud one goes by, and we just stop.

It's funny, isn't it, that you have adjusted your conversation

Do you hear them at four o'clock

If the planes start at four in the morning and the last one

is at 11, at intervals of about a minute with the planes

But it's a lot of planes, it's more than 12 hours a day.

There's another one, even now as we speak.

We hear it all the time, when someone from outside the area

comes it, they really feel the difference.

Wow, my gosh, there is a plane every minute.

And you would think at this time of the evening that the frequency

would reduce but they haven't, have they?

Yeah, and that is like two planes now within 20 seconds.

It would mean the family could hear around a thousand planes a day.

There are also some flights outside the scheduled flying

hours of 4:30am and 11pm, although these are rare

and only meant to be emergency or delayed flights.

It has gone past 10.30 and I can still hear the planes.

In fact they are pretty much as frequent and loud

They should stop by about 11 hopefully.

The planes are not supposed to take off or land at Heathrow after 11

They are not obviously as frequent as they were during the day

but if you are a light sleeper, you will definitely hear them.

It has just gone 6.30 and I can hear the planes flying again.

In fact, I can hear them at least every minute.

I don't remember hearing anything after about 1,

or maybe I was too tired and I slept through, but there were a couple

at 5 and since 6 they have been pretty much nonstop.

Yesterday, all that talk about planes made me

Have you done anything at home to try to block out some of

So the house, all of the windows, the bedroom windows,

the side porch door and all of these windows, they are all double glazed.

Just except the sheets here, they are not thick enough

When we are sitting here, they are not enough

to keep the sound out because they are close to us anyway.

And all the sound comes from the roof.

Even with the double glazing, you can still hear

Yeah, the noise is still going to be there.

The government is expected to announce its decision next week

on whether to favour expanding either Heathrow or Gatwick Airport.

The Sheikh family has adjusted to life in a flight path.

That may change if there is a new runway at Heathrow

with around 500 more flights each day.

If it does get the go-ahead, what do you think you

I think the noise pollution is really going to affect us.

Even though we are sort of used to the noise,

with the increased activity, I just wonder how bad it is going to be.

Going forward, I think it will definitely make us think

about whether we want to stay here or not.

That would be a really big decision because you have lived

A massive decision for us to make, but being a dad, I'm obviously

I think living in this area with the pollution,

with the air pollution, we would definitely think

about going to an area which is free from all of that.

Wouldn't you miss the sound of all these planes if you didn't

I think I have seen enough planes already.

Here to discuss the much-anticapted decision is Matthew Hill,

from the business campaign group Let Britain Fly.

And Maggie Thornburn, who lives near Heathrow

The family there was saying that if it happens, they will move away. You

have lived wet you have lived all your life, is that how you feel if a

third runway went ahead? It would make life a lot worse of course. I

have very good reasons for staying around because as you will gather

from living in an area for a long time, you have all of your

connections and family and your life is in an area so it would be a huge

cost. I could contemplate it and possibly I would but other people

don't have that option. And I know people who've thought that they were

moving to somewhere safe from this sort of disruption only to find that

the proposed third runway would put a flight path over their house. They

have done that and now they are going to get clobbered again.

Matthew, you want airport expansion, you don't mind if it is Gatwick or

Heathrow, you just want a decision to be made. Certainly business needs

a new runway. Heathrow is full, Gatwick will be full very soon.

Because they are full it means we don't have the capacity for flights

to new destinations and markets, emerging markets like China for

instance. And therefore we are missing out on about ?9.5 billion a

year in lost trade. We need a new runway for business and a clear

decision from government, based on the clear and unanimous

recommendation from the airport commission and we needed built as

soon as possible. Some people might say it is easy to see the upside is

when you don't experience the downsides. Do you have sympathy for

people in the flight path? Airport by their nature are large and noisy

and it is important the local community are engaged and consulted

in a transparent way. There were missions in the airports commission

for dealing with noise -- measures. It was good to see that in the

Heathrow proposals they had a number of mitigating measures to try to

manage the noise impact. But actually a new runway at Heathrow

would provide the opportunity to be a better neighbour. With that third

runway comes the flexibility to schedule flight in a different way,

maybe slightly earlier in the evening, later in the morning, and

therefore being a better neighbour on noise. What we really need to see

is that certainty from government about where the runway will go so it

can get on and build. Do you feel your voice has been listened to? I

think so and so far as the proponents of the scheme are coming

up with answers to our objections but whether we believe they will

actually have the effect that is proposed and be carried forward...

We have had so many promises in the past that have not turned out the

way they were promised. We have had promises there would not be any

expansion and that has come back and been turned round. The other point

is that whatever the mitigation may be, there are so many more people

being affected by Heathrow in London than in any other capital city, that

basically it is in the wrong place and it is making a bad situation

worse to propose to expand it. When you hear Matthew making the case for

the country and the economy, do you accept that it is an issue for the

greater good? There is an argument which is based on figures that I

think are very selective. I also think that the economy has many

different aspects that could be developed in a different way without

Heathrow being expanded and indeed the whole premise of the airports

commission was that we need another runway in the south-east of England.

But what happened to the idea that the south-east was getting

overheated? We are possibly the wrong place to expand anyway. As far

as flight are concerned, there is spare capacity in other airports. It

would not be the same thing as expanding Heathrow but there is more

than one way of dealing with economic considerations. Norman says

that most people I work on by jet engines from Manchester and bought

in Stockport. What happened the law on noise pollution? John said that

you don't get used to be pollution that you can take the atmosphere.

The government says they have reduced noise and pollution around

Heathrow but the way they have done this is by pushing all of this over

Essex by changing the outbound flight path out of Stansted. Martin

says that Gatwick is the same and what about the engine test in the

night? Vincent said airport expansion and noise has been going

on for years so what came first, the chicken or the egg? They move into

the area knowing this. Answering about other ways to expand the

economy? The airports commission looked at this in detail, for three

years. It looked at a range of options and found unanimously that

both the final short listed options of Gatwick and Heathrow were viable

and it recommended Heathrow for a number of reasons. Those were to do

with accessibility, its connections to London and the rest of the

country, for connectivity, the ability to grow long haul routes to

new markets for new growth and jobs, and also connectivity to the rest of

the country. Because the airports are full in London at the moment,

there are not those domestic links to Scotland and the North to connect

to overseas markets. The government will announce which way it is going

next week, the start of a consultation process. It is

anticipated that the decision might be Heathrow although we don't know.

If it is, what will you do? We certainly won't go away. Those of us

who have been opposing it had not been satisfied by any of the

promises and we will continue to oppose it and I think it might make

it extremely difficult for that proposal, if there is a decision for

Heathrow, I think it would make it difficult to go ahead because there

will be continued opposition both on legal and other grounds and we will

be fighting it for all of those hundred thousand people who will be

newly affected as well as those who perhaps knew something about

Heathrow when they moved to the area.

Still to come. Standing Together is back in use, it was used when MP Jo

Cox was killed in her constituency. Now her friend and colleague Rachel

Reeves is using it to support Coronation Street actress Tracy

Brabin who has been elected as successor of Jo Cox, we will talk to

her shortly. And an investigation into the fair treatment of customers

attracted to online gambling sites by tempting deals and offers. A

former gambling addict is with us in the studio. Let's know your thoughts

on that. Now let's catch up with all the news.

150,000 tonnes of coal waste and got a junior school and surrounding

homes in the Welsh village of Aberfan, killing 144 people, a

minute's silence has been held. 116 were children. Prince Charles is

attending a ceremony this morning and more events to commemorate the

disaster will be held throughout the day. The Conservatives have held

former Prime Minister David Cameron's seat of Witney in

Oxfordshire. Barrister Robert Courts was elected with a reduced majority,

with the vote falling from 66%, to 45%. Labour's Tracy Brabin held the

Batley Spen seat where Jo Cox was MP before she was killed in June.

Two British warships are shadowing an aircraft carrier and other

Russian naval ships as they pass close to the UK.

The Russian ships are heading through the English Channel on their

way, it is the eastern Mediterranean. A Ministry of defence

spokesman said they would be man marked every step of the way new UK

waters. There's been criticism

of Russia's aggressive polices from the President

of the European Council, Armed militants have raided

government buildings in Iraq. The Islamic State group says it was

behind the attack, claiming fighters broke into the Town Hall and took

control of a hotel. This is as Iraqi and Kurdish forces try to take the

Iraqi stronghold of Mosul. Universities and student unions

should work together to tackle violence against women,

harassment and hate crime on campus. EU a task force set up by the heads

of university says allegations needed to be recorded properly and

victims must get better support. The government has welcomed the report

and says it expects it to be implemented.

The Competition and Markets Authority is investigating

whether people using sports betting and gaming websites

It's looking into the terms and conditions of online

betting accounts and wants to know why,

in some cases, the industry's been cancelling winning bets

More from me at ten o'clock. We will talk about online gambling in a

while so let's know your thoughts on that. Time for the sport now with

Jessica. Des two of England's first test in

Bangladesh, they were all out the 293 in their first innings,

Bangladesh had a bit of a wobble early in their reply but they found

their rhythm with a cabal hitting a half-century. Bangladesh were on

116-2. World-record signing Paul Pogba scored twice as Manchester

United beat Fenerbahce 4-1 in the rebel league last night. Former

United striker Robin Van Persie scored a consolation goal for the

Turkish side. Not good news for Southampton,

losing 1-0 at Inter Milan after missing a number of chances and

despite 11 shots in the second half, it was the Italian side who got the

only goal in the San Siro Stadium. And it has been confirmed that after

a difficult few months, Ian Drake will set down as Chief Executive of

British cycling next April. He said it was the right time to move on.

That is all for now. Thank you very much, see you later.

As you've been hearing, this morning marks 50 years

to the day that more than 100 children and dozens of adults

were killed in the Welsh mining village of Aberfan.

This morning in 1966, tonnes of coal debris,

which had been piled high on a hillside, slipped down

The disaster devastated the village and has those there have

A series of remembrance events are being held in Aberfan

throughout the day, and we'll go live there shortly,

but first, here's a reminder from Huw Edwards of what went wrong

He has been speaking to the survivors. At 915 a.m., Pantglas

Primary School was buried under a mountain of coal waste. The scale of

the loss is still difficult to comprehend half a century later.

What happened was one of the greatest disasters in the modern

history of Wales and the modern history of the United Kingdom.

And it's important to get one thing clear.

This was no freak of nature, it was a man-made disaster,

And it happened because of a combination of negligence,

One of those who survived the disaster, her life

still overshadowed by the events 50 years ago, is Gaynor Madgwick.

She was eight at the time and lost her brother Carl

She has since written a book about her experiences.

We met in the memorial garden on the site of the old

The ceiling of the school had come in and it landed on half

the children, and I had a radiator that had come off the wall and it

I just remember looking at another friend of ours who had literally

tried to climb up through the roof which was on top of the children.

And, "I'm going to get help, I'm going to get help."

I was whisked away in the ambulance to St Tydfil's Hospital

and I remained there, isolated I feel,

It was then in the evening time that I was told that my brother

We can cross now to our reporter Bethan Roberts,

Yes, thank you, we are outside that memorial garden and you can see the

walls built to reflect the shape of the classrooms of that school,

Pantglas Primary School. I am joined by an historian now. You remember

that day very well. I do, I was a university student at the time,

living not far from this community. My father was a Minister and joined

the weekend, he came to map -- Aberfan the office help and many did

the same thing. I remember that day, it was a very sad day emotionally

and it remained in the memories of many people sense. Not just trying

to grapple with the events of that day, but for this community, the

fight following the inquest and the request for money, they have had to

battle all the way. They have had to battle all the way and it is a

reflection of their bravery and courage. They had to stand on their

own feet because nobody else would help them. At the time of the

disaster, you had this massive corporate institution, National Coal

Board, with this overwhelming power of the man who controlled it, Lord

Robens, who refuse to accept responsibility and the fact that he

knew that they did not know about the existence of the stream which

caused the tips to collapse. They stayed with that story until the

last moment of the tribunal held in the wake of the disaster. Even he

was not allowed to be dismissed from his post and he remained in his post

in 1971, largely because he was imported to the Labour government

because he was seen as the defender of the National Union of Mineworkers

because the government was closing the pits. He was indispensable and

he remained in his post and he refused to give it a penny of the

funds to remove these tips unless villagers made a contribution, and

that was scandalous and it added to the pain and bitter memories of

those people. You mentioned the stream which was the spring that was

crucial in this story. There had been warnings and those warnings

were ignored. They had been ignored and there was a slippage three years

earlier and the headmistress of the school had set up a petition sent to

the colliery manager who refuse to acknowledge the petition. Nothing

about the situation. What is even more scandalous is this was a

nationalist industry set up to meet the needs of the working people in

this country. On top of that, there was health and safety beneath ground

but no tipping policy, which came through in the conclusion of the

tribunal which came to an end of its operations in 90 77. There was a

friend in Parliament to help, only one MP stood up to defend them and

that was the local MP for Merthyr Tydfil, suspended three years later

because the Labour Party was very much involved in this because they

wanted to defend the industry and they felt they could not dismiss

Lord Robens. 50 years on, how do you assess the impact of that tragic

day? It was an exceptionally spine chilling day, there were many other

events in the history of Wales, in disasters, but this was exceptional

and it was a scar on the memory of the people. It also reflects another

scene, the overwhelming power of corporate institutions, which can

override the feelings and the demands of ordinary people. It was

man-made, it could have been avoided. It was man-made, it could

have been avoided had people be more responsible on that day. Thank you

very much. Come back to us and I will be joined by two survivors late

in the programme. We will join you later in the

programme, thank you very much. Matt on Facebook, they knew that spoil

pile was unstable and decided to do nothing, a tragedy that should never

have happened. On text, as somebody old enough to

recall the tragic events of 50 years ago, I recall the horror I felt, I

know it affected me in Yorkshire as it did people all over Britain and

the world. Deeply. Whether we recall that day or not, we must never

forget and keep Aberfan in our hearts. Jean on Facebook, I was 14

when Aberfan happens, I remember the sadness we felt and the tears for

those children who died. 50 years later, it still resonates that a

whole generation died that day. Coming up, calls for a zero

tolerance approach to sexual violence, hate crime and violence on

university campuses. We speak to a woman raped while a student who

campaigns to end sex crimes. It's four months since the nation

was shocked by the death Now, following a by-election

in her West Yorkshire constituency of Batley Spen yesterday,

the former Coronation Street actress Tracy Brabin takes up her seat

as the new Labour MP. The seat was not contested

by the other main parties and Ms Brabin won with 85%

of the vote. It was a phenomenal campaign run

in difficult circumstances where people are absolutely

heartbroken about what happened. And what we saw as a tragedy others

saw as an opportunity to get out And I think tonight's been

a huge success for us, We'll speak to one of Jo's

friends in a moment, the MP Rachel Reeves,

but first, here's Rachel addressing other MPs in June,

shortly after Jo's death. Jo was struck down much too

soon, so it now falls on all of our shoulders -

the woman I met in a coffee shop in Batley, Jo's

friends, MPs, all of us - To combat and guard against hatred,

intolerance and injustice, to serve others with dignity

and with love. And that is the best way

that we can remember Jo Batley and Spen will go

on to elect a new MP. Rachel Reeves is

in our Leeds studio. She's been out campaigning

with Tracy Brabin. Thank you very much for joining us

this morning. A difficult time. Tracy Brabin said, it is a

bittersweet victory. Yes, that is exactly the right word and way of

looking at it. I was in Batley Spen yesterday campaigning for Tracy

but it was a by-election I did not want to fight, there were doors I

did not want to knock on. But as I said in that speech, Batley Spen

has elected a new MP and Tracy is a wonderful woman. Jo and her were

friends and they campaigns together. Like Jo, Tracy is from the

constituency and she knows and she loves the area and she is going to

be a great MP for the people of Batley Spen and a great

representative in Parliament. It was a difficult day yesterday and

difficult watching that acceptance speech from Tracy last night, but

looking forward to working with her on the causes close to her heart as

well as those close to that of Jo. Tell us more about Tracy. She is

known to many for appearing on screen in Coronation Street and

other shows. Jo Cox spoke of wanting there to be a consensual politics,

of a kinder and gentler politics, what will Tracy's strengths be in

politics? Tracy was brought up in the

constituency and went to school and is passionate about the area. She

has had an incredibly successful career as an actor and screen right

and she will be able to bring some of those skills and experience to

the role, injuring there are more good quality jobs in places like

Batley and Spen, that it punches above its weight as a community. I

know that she is passionate about that. As well as that experience in

her work, she has also been a campaigner for many years including

some of the issues that Jo cared about. She will be able to bring

that experience to the role as MP for Batley and Spen. The death of Jo

Cox shone a light on the tone of political debate and after she died,

many expressed a hope that there would be a kinder politics

afterwards. Have you seen that coming through? She spoke in her

maiden speech about that we had more in common than that which divides us

and that was something that grows and motivated her, to work with

people, whatever their politics or background, to try to make the world

a better place. Whether that was making Batley and Spen about the

place, the country or internationally with the work that

she did in some of the most war ravaged and damaged places in the

world. What happened when she died, there was a huge outpouring of love

and grief and a lot of people said, I want to live my life more like

her. If anything good is to come out of this, is that we think a bit more

about how we act in the world and the way we treat each other and the

difference we try to make. If all others tried a little bit to live a

bit more like that, by those values, that we have more in common than

that which divides us, I think all of the communities and the world

would be a better place. That is the way we can honour Jo and her legacy

and I know that Tracy will be trying to do that now in her role. Do you

think anything has changed in politics? When I was out yesterday,

a lot of people are still coming to terms with what has happened. They

feel very moved by what happened. You look at the result, people who

had voted for all different parties over the years came together to vote

Labour and vote for Tracy. That is an example and a reminder that we do

have more in common, the Conservatives and Lib Dems and other

main parties did not field candidates yesterday out of respect.

But also to put into practice the idea that we have more in common. We

spend a lot of time arguing between the parties in parliament but

actually at moments like this, it is a reminder that we must all come

together in the national interest for the common good. Thank you very

much for joining us this morning. There are concerns that gamblers

are being ripped off by online gambling companies who may have

broken the law. The government's competition

regulator is launching an investigation into

whether gamblers are being conned Here to talk about the

investigation is Nisha Arora. She is the Senior Director

for Consumer Enforcement at the Competition

and Markets Authority. Justyn Larcombe is a recovering

online gambling addict He has fallen victim to some

of the practices the CMA Thank you for joining us. You are

looking at three specific areas, unfair small print, difficulty in

withdrawing winnings and odds being altered. Set out your concerns on

those areas. With promotions, consumers and players being enticed

into what looked like great deals and promotions on the surface,

looking like a good deal and fair but actually they are attached with

hidden and conflicts terms which means that people don't understand

the deal they are getting into and often are not even able to get a

pay-out at the end of the day and get their winnings. In terms of the

odds, we are concerned that companies are cancelling bets or

altering the odds on things of the people had placed they might bet on

something at 20-1 but the pay-out is reduced because the company said

that we made the mistake and we have changed the odds after you placed

your bet. We are also concerned... How widespread is that? It is a

widespread practice traditionally in the land betting offices because it

has come about because of human error. In an online world we think

it is occurring and we want to know why it should occur and what is the

justification. The reason for this investigation is to find out how

widespread that is and what is happening and if players are really

being a comment. And on that issue of unfair small print, the body

being tempted by what looks to be free money to start betting with and

discovering it is not quite as straightforward as that -- somebody

being tempted. If that making people gamble when they might not

otherwise? It might well do because bonuses are getting bigger and

bigger. If you put in ?100, you get a chance of that money being matched

or doubled so it could make you put in more money. And you I get back to

actually have to put in more money in order to get the winnings at the

end of the day, I think that has the potential to tempt people to spend

more money that they might not have done otherwise. You have a gambling

addiction which obviously you have now turned your life around but

going back to when it started, it is the offer of a free bet that drew

you in? It was a ?5 free bet, I was watching a game of rugby and I

noticed an advert by the side of the pitch for the first time. What did

it say and lead you on to do? It was the offer of a ?5 free bet if I

matched the state. I went upstairs and got my laptop, I had never

gambled before -- the stake. I joined up and deposited ?5 and I won

that bet. That was the start of everything. Do you think without

that free offer you would never have gone down that path? If I had lost

the bet, I think I would have just closed my laptop and thought, what a

waste of time. I was not thinking about gambling at the time. I was

just having a normal day. And over time you developed a significant

addiction and ended up losing ?750,000. What sort of things did

you experience through the time you were betting that chimes with the

issues we are looking at? It was a very gradual process over three

years and I went from someone who'd gambled occasionally, but towards

the end, when I had spent all the money, the equity in my house, got

all the loans I could get, when my wife had left and the children had

gone, when I was not eating because I was spending money, that time at

my most vulnerable, that is when I felt most exposed to the adverts. To

getting a call from someone saying, would you like a free bet today.

Getting e-mails from people saying, we have got a deal for you. And it

is not a free bet. It is misleading because it keeps you gambling. In

order to get your money that you think you have won, you have to keep

placing a bet. Sometimes 30 times before you begin to get the money

back that you think you will get. It is probably the most vulnerable,

they are the highest risk of this kind of promotion. When you did have

winnings you found it hard to take them out? Completely but as a

compulsive gambler you probably would not take it out anyway will

stop you would like to, and I heard so many stories from people, where

people had a significant win and they want to take the money out but

it takes so long to do that. If it is related to a promotion, you

probably would not be able to take it out anyway. You end up gambling

it anyway? Do you think if you had been able to take it away at any

point that you might have walked away? Early on, that is what I would

have done. This is why it is a bit dangerous because it is bringing in

people. There are three types of people, most people gamble

responsibly and there is no issue and this will not affect them. Then

you have a large number who are at risk and the industry says that

figure is about 3.5 million, not just online gambling. Then you have

a small percentage, still a high number, 5.5 million people gambling

online, a high number who are compulsive. Those people are the

ones that will keep on playing and they will be looking at the adverts.

People are getting in touch. Rob, my wife and myself won ?1000 and when

he tried to transfer it, they took us through a torturous identity

process lasting six weeks. They did not ask for identity when we

deposited the ?50 to gamble. We closed the cat out immediately. An

anonymous e-mail, a lot of sites give big bonuses and when you when

it goes on as a bonus so he never really went and if you did win, they

would only pay out in drips and wraps. Adam says free bets and

misleading ad led my dad to a gambling addiction, free bets are

not so free, this crackdown is needed. At one stage as well you

wanted to stop and you locked yourself going on going onto a

website but even that did not work. The problem was, there are 2500

online gambling sites. I had a problem with one of them and when my

wife found out, I confessed everything, I logged in and self

excluded myself from that one site. At the moment, you would have to

exclude yourself from two and a half thousand sites. That is changing and

the commission are trying to put through a one-stop inclusion which

is brilliant. A couple of weeks after I self excluded, I had a

promotional e-mail, saying would you like a ?50 free bet if you sign up.

I convinced myself that a free bet was not gambling and ended up losing

everything. When you hear this experience, and obviously he is not

the only person to have done that, what do you think about the

responsibility that should be shown in that environment? The gambling

commission, we're working closely with them, they have a project

looking at the problem of gambling in the industry. What we are looking

at is companies treating people fairly, giving them the right

information so they know what they are signing up for and not stacking

the odds against them in the fairway that they either end up having to

walk away and leave winnings which is difficult to do, or having to

carry on gambling with the idea that they will get them. We are keen to

ensure that people are treated fairly. Thank you very much and

thank you for your comments. Keep them coming on this and every thing

else that we are talking about. We are also going to be talked about

sexual violence on university campuses. We will talk to one woman

who was raped while she was a student but the allegations were not

taken seriously. Good News for the weekend with some

dry weather coming up with with the Knights getting longer and colder we

have seen some misty mornings. We have also seen is the mist

thickening into dense fog and patchy fog, you can be going along and the

visibility is fine but suddenly you plunge into that dense fog. Some of

that is still around, mainly in western England and Wales and it is

fairly patchy but most have had a glorious start, dry and sunny with

light winds. It will feel a bit warmer after the initial chill. More

cloudy in the south and east, some heavy showers in east Anglia moving

westwards. We also have some more cloud and rain in the north of

Scotland around Caithness and Orkney. Away from that, much of

Scotland and Northern Ireland going towards lunchtime will be dry and

sunny. For most of you, a fine autumn day with light winds and

sunshine overhead and it will feel quite pleasant. Further showers in

the East but not as many as in recent days. But in East Anglia,

there is a chance it could be heavy and thundery. Temperatures are

tempered a bit by the strength of the wind. The breeze will bring in

showers through the east of the UK. Most will be dry and clear, some

more clout in several parts with the small child of some rain later on

but in the West it will be clearest -- at the small chance of some rain.

Temperatures will tumble outside of towns and cities with some frost

going into the weekend. That will lift through the morning. More clout

in western areas, a few more showers tomorrow, you might have one in

Northern Ireland and central parts of Scotland and a few more in east

in England which will drift westwards. But there are big gaps

between them, many will spend the bulk if not all of the day dry.

Temperatures mostly gentle. This area of low pressure develops, not

effective as directly but as it develops, it squeezes up against the

high-pressure further north and the wins will strengthen and it will

feel colder on Sunday. More showers in the East but many will be dry and

sunny in the West again. Enjoy your weekend.

Welcome to the Victoria Derbyshire Show, if you've just joined us.

Communities across Wales come together to remember

116 children and 28 adults were killed when tonnes of coal

waste engulfed the village 50 years ago.

The ceiling came in and landed on half the children. I looked at

another friend who literally tried to climb through the roof. I was

whisked away in an ambulance to the hospital and I remained their

isolated I feel for over three months.

A taskforce has called for zero-tolerance to sexual

We'll speak to a campaigner who was raped while she was a student

and to a woman who has curtailed her social life

at university because of sexual harrassment.

Two British warships are shadowing an aircraft carrier and other

Russian naval vessels sailing through the English Channel.

The fleet is believed to be en-route to the Eastern mediterranean.

We will be live from both sides of the Channel,

Here's Ben Brown in the BBC Newsroom with a summary of today's news.

A minute's silence has been held to mark the fiftieth anniversary

150,000 tonnes of coal waste engulfed a junior school

and surrounding homes in the Welsh village, killing 144 people,

Prince Charles is attending a ceremony in Aberfan this morning,

and more events to commemorate the disaster will be held

Former Prime Minister David Cameron has congratulated Robert Courts on

his victory in the Witney by-election. He was elected with a

reduced majority. The Conservative vote share falling from 66%, to 45%.

In yesterday's other by-election... Meanwhile Labour's Tracy Brabin held

the Batley and Spen seat where Jo Cox was MP before

she was killed in June. The party's candidate Great Repeal

Bill got a majority of 16,000 500. Turnout was 25%, one of the low

asked for a by-election since the Second World War. The other parties

chose not to put up candidates. -- the lowest.

Two British warships are shadowing an aircraft carrier and other

Russian naval ships as they pass close to the UK.

The ships are heading through the English Channel

on their way, it's thought, to the eastern Mediterranean.

There's been criticism of Russia's aggressive polices from President

Armed militants have carried out several raids

The Islamic State group claimed its fighters had

broken into the town hall, attacked a police station

The assaults come as the Iraqi Government and Kurdish forces

attempt to re-take the IS stronghold of Mosul.

Theresa May has said Britain intends to remain at the heart

of the European Union right up to the moment of its departure.

Addressing EU leaders at her first summit as Prime Minister,

she made it clear the UK would play a full part in decision-making until

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, later said

she expected the Brexit negotiations to be "rough-going".

Public sector borrowing rose slightly in September

to ?10.6 billion, according to the Office for

The figures make it likely that the Chancellor Philip Hammond

will have to admit the Treasury won't hit its target for deficit

reduction for this year, set in the last Budget.

A report is recommending a complete overhaul of how British universities

deal with sexual assaults, harassment and hate crime on campus.

A task force, set up by the heads of universities,

has said allegations need to be recorded properly and victims

The Government has welcomed the report and said it expects

The Competition and Markets Authority is investigating

whether people using sports betting and gaming websites

It's looking into the terms and conditions of online

accounts and wants to know why, in some cases, the industry's been

cancelling winning bets and refusing to pay out.

Environmentalists are warning that hundreds of rare snow leopards

are being killed every year in the mountain ranges of Asia.

The wildlife monitoring group Traffic International says many

are being targeted by farmers in retaliation for

That's a summary of the latest BBC News - more at 10:30.

Thank you. We are remembering the Aberfan disaster today, 50 years

later. 116 children and 28 adults killed in the disaster. We will

speak later to a woman who was eight and she survived. Janet says, I was

ten when Aberfan happened and it was the first time I saw my dad cry.

Charlie on Facebook, I remember the date me and my classmates said our

pocket money to the school, so sad. So we will speak to one woman who

was just a little girl of eight at the time she survived the disaster

and she will talk to us later. Do get in touch with us

throughout the morning. And if you text, you will be charged

at the standard network rate. Time to get the sport

now with Jessica. It's been a morning of mixed

fortunes for England on the second 293 all out. Moeen Ali took two

wickets and four balls to slow down the Bangladesh reply but they

recovered, the local hero working his way to a half-century, much to

the delight of the crowd. Adil Rashid made a breakthrough, taking

the wicket of the partner of Iqbal. Bangladesh on 120-3, trailing

England by 173 runs. Paul Pogba scored twice in their 4-1 win over

Fenerbahce. He has been a little under par but just look at this

goal. Former United player Robin Van Persie scored a consolation for the

Turkish side but with a valuable three points for United, an

impressive performance by Paul Pogba. Well, first of all, in some

of your mouth as he goes from the worst player in the Premier league

to a great player, in 48 hours. And specifically saying, that is you.

When I say you, I say the media, especially you and science! But the

reality is that we know that he is a very good player -- Einstein. And we

know that he needs some time to be, or to show all his potential.

Southampton lost 1-0 at Inter Milan after missing a lot of chances. 11

shots in the second half, but Inter Milan got the goal, and it means

Southampton and Manchester United sit second in their group after

three matches. Sometimes you don't have the luck on your side but you

have to learn from it and sometimes you just need to get it in front of

goal and put the chances away. Games coming thick and fast and we have

the chance on Sunday to put things right again.

After a difficult few months, Ian Drake has stepped down as Chief

Executive of British cycling, next April. In a statement, it said it

was the right time for him to move on. His association with the

national governing body began in 1995 and he has been Chief Executive

since 2009. Great Britain topped the cycling medal table in the real

Olympics and Paralympics, but there have also been numerous

controversies. That is all the sport. Thank you

very much, see you later. I woke up in a stranger's bed, the

words of a woman who was raped while at university. We will speak to her

in a moment. She said she was not in a fit state to give her consent but

the police and university did not take her complaints seriously

enough. New guidelines now recommend a complete overhaul of how British

universities deal with sexual assaults, harassment and hate crime

on campus. The report by the task force of universities UK says

allegations need to be recorded properly and victims must get better

support. We will also talk to a student at Surrey University, Steph

Baker, who said she started going out on less nights out because of

sexual harassment. And also with us...

Chloe Wynne, welfare officer at Warwick University.

And Anne Chappell, director of teaching and learning

in the Department of Education at Brunel University London.

You are a welfare officer and this has been launched after concerns

over a growing issue. Tell us your experiences of how much of an issue

there is. You see the statistics, one in four female students at

university roughly faced sexual assault rape at university. One in

four, sexual assault rape, that is extraordinary. How is that defined?

Serious sexual assault, anything after that. So it is clearly a

endemic in our institutions and is something that has only started to

be taken seriously recently and we see this opportunity for the stars

to align and the campaigning work of NUS and other stakeholders coming

together to produce this list of recommendations. Alice, you suffered

the worst experience in this regard. You were raped and you have decided

you want to talk about it. How did the University react? This is about

an issue of Pastoral care as much as anything and the messaging from the

universities in terms of messages sent out. Yes, I was raped five

years ago and when I sat down with a friend with the revelation this is

what had happened, to look for options for support, to find out

information about what I could do following this event, there was

nothing online whatsoever from the University. There was no clear

signposting as to whether I could make a complaint to the university,

no information about specific support universities, absolutely

nothing. It was the task of me and my friends to muddle through the

system and figure out the local support services, to give the

counselling service a go and see if they would deal with it which in my

instance they did not. Why was it important to you? You are at

university, why was that support important rather than going straight

to the police? So many reasons why somebody might not go to police,

following the coverage of the Ched Evans file, we are aware of what the

process looks like. I went to the police and they'd dealt with it

badly and they said it sounded like sex with regret and said it was a no

crime, I subsequently received an apology and a recognition I was

raped. There was no record? Nothing I was saying was taken down except

no crime disclosed. I said at the beginning in the introduction that

you woke up with no recollection. A bit of recollection. Without

details, you say about the police describing it as sex with no

regrets, tell us why they said that. The context for me was unfortunately

typical, went out for a night out and I drank more than I intended and

I intended -- I ended up. Top close to my house and was drunk enough not

to make it to my front door. The young gentleman in question told me,

I do not remember, said he found me on the street wandering around lost

and cold and he took me home and he had sex with me, that is what he

said. I do have some memories of the sexual interaction and the rest, I

had to take at his word. He even got up the map to show me where he found

me, 30 minutes from my house, I cannot account for that. The

difficulty we have and the police response is indicative of that, a

lack of understanding and awareness of instances of rape that do not

look like that commonly portrayed in the media and films. No overt

violence in my case. No physical injuries. It happened in somebody's

accommodation. It is not the kind of thing that people like to think of

as rape, it is uncomfortable to recognise such a common practice of

picking somebody up drunk and having sex with them might sometimes be

rape. There is a big cultural denial of the sexual offending and it is a

huge part of what education needs to address on campus. Horrific

experience Alice went through. You are the director of teaching and

learning at Brunel University. What should be university do?

Universities have, as Alice mentioned, through NUS campaigns,

there has been awareness raising in the institutions. We are currently

involved in a European funded project working with three UK

universities and four universities across other European countries,

looking at the ways in which we respond to disclosures of sexual

violence. They may be recent, historic, they may be things that

did happen on campus and recent things that happened away from

campus. It is a way of working with the whole university in terms of

providing effective and appropriate student support. And at Brunel

University, having initiated this project which began before the task

force work, based on a number of years worth of research into gender

related violence and sexual related violence, colleagues of mine who had

been undertaking this work and were involved in the project have used

that research, knowledge and understanding, the issues around the

legal and the NUS campaigning work that goes on, and to embed that in

the practice of the University. So when we began the project and we

asked for interested parties, the steering group consists of 26

different people with us who have vested interests across the campus

in terms of the work that they do, from the counselling service to the

chaplaincy and student welfare and equality and diversity and senior

leadership, those interested in research. And it has become over the

years and especially now with this project, and embedded part of the

practice in terms of supporting students. It is also that when

students make allegations, they are taken very seriously, so the point

at which they are reported at university in our particular case,

they go straight to the senior team in the University.

On top of the experience you had when you felt nobody did you

seriously, what does that do to you? That was the hardest bit of anything

of what happened. We use the word re-traumatised in, it was incredibly

upsetting to get the guts and go and reach out for help and to report and

Abbott disbelief that reinforced your worst fears -- to have that

disbelief. It was only because I had phenomenal friends that stop me

thinking it was my fault and to have them say no and hold that line. So

many students don't have that support network. That is why it is

so important that anybody receiving a disclosure should be trained

appropriately so the response is sensitive and they don't slip into

victim blaming. That comes through in the report, not only that we need

specialist staff who can help facilitate access to support

services but we need to make sure that any front-line staff who might

receive a disclosure, whether it is porters or academic tutors, have a

basic understanding of what to say and what not to say. And to pick up

what you said about it perhaps being your fault, which obviously it

wasn't, and having strong people around you. We are talking about a

spectrum of things that happened. Your issue is that you are going out

less because of sexual harassment. I would say the most important issue

to remember is that from low level sexual harassment, mainly the things

that I experienced, all the way up to the more serious sexual violence

and rape cases, it all comes under the group of any sort of contact,

whether it is low-level, violent or otherwise, that the person has no

consent to, that is classed as sexual harassment. It does not

matter if it happens on campuses or in the middle of London or on

transport. It does not matter where or when, it is the fact that it

happens. The term used is lavish culture, is that how you would

describe it? -- ladish culture. I would not associate lad culture with

only males, I would say it is the culture more than it is male. Can I

come in on that? I know this is a term that people use a lot. My

biggest concern with the focus on that culture is it stops the rest of

us from taking it seriously. If they picked themselves, it would not be a

problem. It is not just a problem on universities, amongst lads and

sportspeople, this is a broader cultural issue about how we think

about sex and consent and how we treat women. Totally. Does it come

down to the messaging going out and that needs to filter down from a

certain level at universities and educational establishments? People

don't recognise what is happening and that means you are more likely

to engage in it and it is more normalised. It is that the report

touched on, having proper prevent strategies and impact assessments on

how they are dealing with that. That is something we are doing at

Warwick, putting consent education into the curriculum through

departments. We have got a text through which is worth bringing in.

Harry says I'm a male university student, I welcome calls for better

at dealing with sexual assault on campus but caution is required to

prevent a witchhunt. False accusation ruin lies in the same way

that sexual assault does and we must not create a culture to cry rape

when people allow a consensual encounter. I certainly have

something to say about that. The first thing to recognise is all the

data we have suggests that false reports of rape are incredibly rare.

It is not a common thing to do and you have to realise that a woman to

stand up and make an of that sort is very difficult and you attract a lot

of flak and stigma and I can speak about personally. In terms of

concerns about the portion of the report that suggests that

universities should be willing to engage in disciplinary procedures,

and people say you had to leave it to the criminal justice process, if

universities were saying that we can make finding about criminal

offences, you would be absolutely right but that is not what they are

doing. They are saying, as with anything else with it is theft or

drug addition, vandalism, we can make a finding of misconduct which

is you breach the code of conduct you signed up you started. We

already have procedures in place for dealing with disciplinary things and

it is perverse, and the report points this outcome is that the

current situation is that you can report something low-level and the

University is willing to engage and if it is serious, they will think it

is too hard. The report has careful consideration of the balancing of

the interests of different parties, the need to ensure fairness to the

person accused while also respecting the complainant. I would encourage

anybody concerned about this to look at the report and see that all of

those interests have been taken into account and to recognise that not

only do we have concerns about defendant rights but also equality

act and human rights obligations to complainant 's. You are both nodding

at that as people in a position of responsible at the obviously. Thank

you all very much for coming in and talking to us and sharing your

difficult experience. And thank you for your comments, keep on getting

in touch with everything we are talking about.

The Prince of Wales unveils a memorial to the 144 victims

of the Aberfan disaster, who died 50 years ago when thousands

of tonnes of coal waste engulfed the village.

We'll speak to a woman who - as an eight year old girl -

had to climb through the roof of her primary school to survive.

It's "no tourist trip to the Med" - that's what the Russian newspapers

are saying this morning and the Ministry of Defence says

that a flotilla of Russian warships will be "marked every inch

of the way", as it passes through the English Channel

It's thought the Russians are testing British capabilities,

as well as re-enforcing the bombardment campaign on the

A Russian aircraft carrier, believed to be in convoy,

has already entered the Channel, off the coast near Ramsgate.

In a moment, we'll go to Dover, where our correspondent

First, to Calais, and our correspondent Simon Jones.

Can you see it where you are? We are monitoring the water like the

British authorities and the French authorities have been, saying they

are following it every step of the way. Here in France they are

monitoring the situation through radar, the Coast Guard station is

just along from here, and they are checking in regularly with their

British counterparts who have sent out two ships into the channel to

market mark it. They are also regularly checking in with Nato.

This combo is heading to join other Russian ships as part of the Syrian

complex -- convoy. This is Russia saying that we have the rights to

take our ships into international waters and it is also Britain

responding as part of Nato saying, if you do that, we will make sure as

you come through our water as part of the English Channel, we will

monitor everything going on. The aircraft carrier will be closest to

the other side of the Channel, in British waters, but those

effectively become international waters because there is nothing

stopping Russia doing this and they have the right to do it as part of

Nato. But it shows the build-up of tension and a message from Europe,

saying that they are watching and not liking what is going on in

Syria. Let's go to Bryony at Dover. We have been here all morning and

just out to my left in the channel we have spotted four warships and

there were a further three this morning including two supply ships

and a Russian tug. What we're looking for, this big show of? Is

the jewel in their crown, the Admiral Kuznetsov which is a carrier

which can transport 50 aircraft, although we don't know how many are

on board. It has the capability of anti-ship missiles. We are expecting

it to come through at some point this morning, perhaps in the next 20

minutes. The Ministry of Defence has said they will man mark this fleet

that is passing through. This is international water but they are

near to UK waters and mainland. They will monitor them the whole way

through. Their final destination is the eastern Mediterranean so they

will go through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean and

on Syria. As we know, heightened tensions between Nato, EU leaders

and Russia about Russian involvement in the war. We are waiting to see

this big show of force, it is quite far out but it is certainly not the

usual day here in written's busiest shipping lane. We can take a live

map of ships currently in UK waters. The red mugs are military ships,

yellow our cargo ships and the blue ones are fishing vessels. The

Russian ships are under the radar so they do not appear but the tugs that

accompanied them do. What this gives you is a clear idea of how many

ships there are in these waters at the moment.

Let's speak to Keir Giles who's an expert in Russian security issues

at the Conflict Studies Research Centre.

He joins us from our Cambridge studio.

Thank you for joining us. Why are they come this way to get to Syria?

Is it the only way? From where they are based, yes, they have to pass a

bike to get to the eastern Mediterranean. There was nothing

unusual about that, it is not the first time the Admiral Kuznetsov has

deployed there, but what is different is passing through the

English Channel and a lot more is being read into that than it

necessarily the case. The media here are extremely excited about it but

everything your correspondent explained about them passing through

is perfectly normal. They have the right to get through international

waters and everything that passes through these shipping lane is

watched closely and it is normal for the Royal Navy to keep tabs on major

Russian naval assets. In that respect there is nothing exciting

about this. It is quite a show of force, isn't it? I would be the

largest deployment of the Russian Navy has made once these ships

joined with others returning from the Mediterranean but it is part of

a process. Russia has been building up this for long time, accessing

naval expeditions for the last ten years ever since they restarted

long-range patrolling. They have been practising using their

different weapons systems and acid in Syria, even the ones not suited

for the job, to make the most of the training opportunity as they

describe it. How will the way this is being seen, although I appreciate

what you are saying, but how will this be seen in Russia? It could be

that it was intended initially as some form of test or provocation or

demonstration of forced. It might have been that, as with previous

cruises in Norwegian waters by the Kuznetsov, there was some sort of

irresponsible action protest the country but it seems that if this is

attention seeking, they have already got that. They might not need to do

anything anti-social because everybody's attention is on this

flotilla and in that respect Russia has achieved what it wants. You

think there is an element of that? Absolutely, it is an element of what

Russia is trying to do in terms of preparing for what they feel is a

growing conflict with the West. They want to make sure that everybody is

aware that they have a potent and capable military and there are costs

in doing things which Russia does not like. They have a recent track

record of showing off more and more of their military capability, both

within Syria, demonstrating as much of their weaponry and tactics and

individuals as possible, but also beyond in northern Europe. The

long-awaited move of long-range missiles to Kader Nouni grad. It is

all part of a pattern and part of their long-term programme of being

ready for a big conflict. And in response to British warships are

shadowing an aircraft carrier and those naval ships. That's right, but

again, perfectly normal. If you think of this in the pattern of

Russian aircraft probing British airspace, coming close but not

inside it, testing their weapons runs for collecting intelligence on

this country, practising strikes come all the time it is monitored by

British and other Nato air and radar assets to make sure what they are up

to. Thank you. Wales remembers victims of

the Aberfan disaster 50 years ago. We will hear from somebody who was

at the school, aged eight, when it happened.

And it's not just the sugar in fizzy drinks that can damage your health -

new research has revealed that drinks containing artificial

sweeteners can also lead to health complications,

With the News, here's Ben in the BBC Newsroom.

A minute's silence has been held to mark the 50th anniversary

150,000 tonnes of coal waste engulfed a junior school

and surrounding homes in the Welsh village, killing 144 people,

Prince Charles is attending a ceremony in Aberfan this morning,

and more events to commemorate the disaster will be held

Former Prime Minister David Cameron has congratulated Robert Courts

on his victory in the Witney by-election.

Mr Courts was elected to the Oxfordshire seat

with a reduced majority, with the Conservative vote share

Labour retained Batley in West Yorkshire -

left vacant since the killing of Jo Cox in June.

The party's candidate, Tracy Brabin, won a majority

The other main parties chose not to put up candidates.

Two British warships are shadowing a Russian aircraft carrier and other

naval ships as they pass close to the UK.

The ships are heading through the English Channel

on their way, it's thought, to the eastern Mediterranean.

There's been criticism of Russia's aggressive

polices from the President of the European Council,

Theresa May will hold talks with the President

of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker,

in Brussels this lunchtime, where she's attending her first EU

Mrs May told EU leaders last night that the UK would play a full part

in decision-making until the Brexit process is complete.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said she expects

the Brexit negotiations to be "rough-going".

Join me for BBC Newsroom Live at 11 o'clock.

Jessica's back now with the morning's sports headlines.

We're onto day two of England's first Test in Bangladesh.

England were all out for 293 in their first innings.

Bangladesh had a bit of a wobble early on in their reply,

but they've found they're rhythm, with Tamim Iqbal

A moment ago, Bangladesh were on 154-3.

World-record signing Paul Pogba scored twice as Manchester United

beat Fenerbahce 4-1 at Old Trafford in the Europa League.

Former United striker Robin van Persie scored the consolation

They lost 1-0 at Inter Milan after missing a host of chances.

Despite Southampton's 11 shots in the second half,

it was the Italian side who got the only goal in the San Siro.

And it's been confirmed this morning that, after a difficult few months,

Ian Drake will step down as chief executive of British

In a statement, he said it was the right time to move on.

That is it, more across the day on the Channel.

As you've been hearing, a minute's silence has been observed

in Aberfan to mark the 50th anniversary of the disaster which

150,000 tonnes of coal waste engulfed the village in South Wales,

destroying a junior school and surrounding homes.

Bethan Rhys-Roberts is in Aberfan for us.

Thank you very much. Yes, the service down at the cemetery has

just finished, there were 300-400 people, among them Prince Charles,

survivors, families, local dignitaries and politicians paying

their respects. Many of them now coming to the memorial garden here,

the exact place where Pantglas Primary School stud. We will talk to

survivors later on. First, let's hear eyewitness accounts as they

unfolded on disastrous days 50 years ago. What happened, Mrs Griffiths? I

just came in from getting the milk and I noticed the children were

playing in the street going on their way to school and I just went in to

give my children their breakfast and I heard a terrible noise like a jet,

exactly like a jet was coming very low and crashing. I ran out the back

and all I could see was eight arable black cloud of smoke and dust and my

neighbours said, there has been an explosion by the school. I ran back

in the House and I told my eldest little girl, Pat, addressed the

babies quickly and get out, I am running down the phone the police.

Which I did, I ran down to the Social Democratic club, I told the

landlady, they gave me money to dial up and I didn't really need the

money, I dialled 999 and said to send the police. Some of the

children were not in school at the time? They're definitely where

children playing in the street. Somebody said they were going into

the local sweet shop. There was one little girl in the sweet shop, I am

certain of that, I saw her myself. What happens to her? They have not

got any of them, that road has gone and my road, everything has gone.

My daughter is in it. How old is your daughter? Eight. When did you

last see her? This morning. Any idea where she might be? No idea at all,

I have tried to find out, but you asked the police and they will not

release any information until the Chief Constable decides. Do you know

which classroom she was in? Well, looking up there, you cannot tell

what class was what, it is just all buried, everything.

Janett Bickley survived the tragedy as an eight-year-old school girl

And I am also joined by Dennis. You have just been at the service, it

must have been incredibly moving? Yes, very poignant, as a community,

we do not get together at a big gathering. Big anniversary, 50

years, so we pulled together. A bit difficult sullying the parents but

the survivors are there and we are lucky to be able to to attend some

children could not attend because they died -- difficult seeing the

parents. What you remember of that day 50 years ago, you are here? I

remember it vividly, waking up in the morning, I had been in hospital

with pneumonia and my brother said I did not want to go to school because

I was sick. I said, I am fine. My mother says, she is fine, my brother

said, she doesn't want to go. It was half term, a half day, and wanted to

go to school. My mother sent it to school with my brother. I remember

walking up the lane to the school and I remember sitting at my desk

and saying to the teacher, I think there is smoke outside. And he said,

that is the steam from the canteen. He was a young, new teacher. I

remember thinking, we haven't got a canteen. It is in the senior school.

And it got louder, the rumbling. The smoke got worse, it was steam

really. And I put my book over my head and put my head on the desk.

And next thing I know, I woke up with the desk over my head basically

in the rafters of the roof. You heard screaming around you. One

little girl was lying across me. I try to help her and she was

screaming for me not to move, she was hurting. And a friend of mine,

Melvin, he woke up and he pulled the desk from my head and he was digging

me out and he said, let's go for help. So I got out and my friend

Gerald grabbed hold of my leg and he asked for help and I could not pull

him out. I said, I will going get help. So myself and Melvin climbed

out of the hole in the roof. We could not find a way out and we went

back in and climbed through a different hole and we ran into the

hallway, where people were outside trying to get children through the

window. So I wouldn't go out because of the young boy in front of me,

Bernhard Thomas. He wouldn't move, he was so traumatised. So Mr

Williams jumped through the window and he grabbed hold of me and he

pulled me out and he took me directly across the road to a house

and he put me on the sofa waiting for an ambulance. I said, I need to

go back because my friend, my friends are and they went back into

get the rest the survivors and I said, my mother will never find me

and they said, they will find you, so I waited and I ran away. Dennis,

you are 18 and in Cardiff at the time and you just had to volunteer,

you came here to help. That is right, there was a newsflash and my

mum told me about it and I felt that I needed to do something at that

age. And when I got here really, the police were stopping everybody. I

got through because I wore my army uniform, and they let's through, me

and my friend. We came here and we noticed devastation. We did not know

what to do and where to start. I remember I was either in or on top

of the school. I saw people around me working, nobody telling you what

they do. It was a case of just mocking him and getting on with it

because there was a slurry from the mountain which was everywhere.

Nobody knew basically where the children work but we could guess

where they would be and that is where we started working. So they

were digging through the schoolroom, I believe it was a room and we

formed a line, and we got a shovel and we were shovelling the mock out

to get it out. Until today, you had not met a survivor. Yes, this has a

special meaning, I am glad I am here to meet the survivors. You just had

to be here today? Yes, yes. People didn't talk about Aberfan four years

after the disaster and you have spoken about this. He had to keep it

under wraps, what did that do to you? Well, I lived in a small

cul-de-sac and out of the children that went to school that day,

because some did not because it was half term, out of the children, I

was the only one who came home alive. So my mother said, you are

lucky, just don't talk about it. So that was it, it was never talked

about a game between us. A sense of survivors guilt that so many talk

about? Yes, we all went to school together and not of us spoke to each

other about it. That was the strangest thing because I did not

know what the others remembered, perhaps they did not remember it.

Dennis, you have got messages this morning from people who did not

realise you were involved in any form with Aberfan? That is right, it

is not something you talk about. It is in the back of your mind and

through the career I have, because it took me to this sort of career,

there were times I would have memories of it and mostly affected

when I was involved with a child. That would bring back that memory.

And you nearly lost your job for volunteering that day. I did, I was

working for a firm at that time and because I spent a couple of days

away from work because I had to recover because I was so tired after

the time I spent here, and when I went to work, and was called into

the office because in those days, we did not have a phone in the House

and there was no way to make contact. When I got in, he called me

in and said I had been absent four days, what have you got to say about

that? I said, I can only say I am sorry. He said sorry was not good

enough and they would suck you in those days for being absent anyway.

I was sent out and I was called back in and the officer in charge said,

why did you not tell me you went to Aberfan? -- they would dismiss you

in those days. I said I didn't think about. He said, thank you for the

community spirit you showed and we will pay you for those days, don't

worry. They even had a letter in the post to say thank you for what I

did, that was really lovely for me. And the importance of the day, we

have had a minute's silence, the service in the cemetery, is that

cathartic? How important is that? Very important, because it feels...

I will never forget it and I don't want to. It is a line under it for

me. I will not be here for the next big anniversary of course but my

grandchildren have been involved as well, singing in the Millennium

Centre and they'll learning about it now. I have got grandchildren in

Somerset and Cornwall, West Wales and Aberfan, learning about it now.

They find it very hard to know grandma was there, so a lot of

questions at the moment, it is difficult. They are the age I was at

the time. It has been very difficult over the years to talk about it.

Reporters have been asking, we just want to stay silent and we always

did. But it seems easier to talk about it on television because what

I say to you now, what I have said, it cannot be misinterpreted, which

the newspapers do misinterpret anything you say. And the importance

of standing here today, Dennis, it has affected your career choice. You

are a paramedic because of Aberfan. The biggest thing I took away from

this, the positive side, it was about coming here today, I did not

want the media attention, I didn't realise I was retiring on the

anniversary until I was told about it, it was coincidental. It is used

coming here and sharing with other people exactly what has been going

on. One of the biggest things I took away from this, from an equality

point of view more than anything, is that it did not matter where you

came from, what language you spoke, what colour you work we were here as

one as a family and we worked together, no discolouration

whatsoever. That is a positive side to this. Thank you ever so much to

both of you for sharing your memories.

Thank you. One anonymous text says, I arrived at Aberfan at 9:45am on

that they are the young policeman. I left there at 830 at night, I still

have nightmares of the date will stop a woman asked us to help her

little boy. One of our site and is put his arm around her and said we

will do what we can and we went in. Hazel says she members crying

watching the television. The presenter was crying. I will always

have those children and teachers in my heart. Jim says, when I got in

from school, my mother and aunt were watching the television and crying.

It affected everybody in my class. We were totally aware of the

enormity of the disaster and the pictures we were seeing on the news

bring it all back, a tragedy that a community as lived with since that

day and our thoughts are with each one.

Drinking two cans of fizzy drinks a day can increase your risk

According to researchers at the Karolinska Institute,

sugary drinks containing artificial sweeteners can also lead