:00:11. > :00:15.drop to the lowest level since 1981. Ministers praised officers, but the
:00:16. > :00:21.police watchdog warns that five forces are struggling with the
:00:21. > :00:24.budget cuts. We will be looking at what is behind the fall in crime in
:00:24. > :00:27.England and Wales. Also this lunchtime, grass fires break out in
:00:28. > :00:34.south-east England as heatwave alerts are raised in more parts of
:00:34. > :00:37.Britain. Raising an army of doctors, nurses and patients to report back
:00:37. > :00:41.on hospitals. The new Chief Inspector calls for radical
:00:41. > :00:45.overhaul. Nelson Mandela spends his 95th birthday in hospital, where his
:00:45. > :00:48.health is said to be improving. A man has been found guilty of
:00:48. > :00:55.manslaughter of a killing lay preacher Alan Greaves as he walked
:00:55. > :00:59.to play the organ at midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. It is a lovely day
:00:59. > :01:02.and Lord's foreign Ashes test match. The Queen has been watching but so
:01:02. > :01:08.far, England are wilting. Later on the programme London's Fire
:01:08. > :01:12.Authority meets to decide if ten stations across the capital should
:01:12. > :01:22.close. And how to revive our high streets. We speak to form a dragon
:01:22. > :01:36.
:01:36. > :01:39.BBC News at One. There has been a sharp fall in the level of crime in
:01:39. > :01:44.England and Wales, with the figure is now at their lowest level since
:01:44. > :01:46.1981. Recorded crime has fallen in almost every category with the
:01:46. > :01:50.exception of fraud and sexual offences, but the news comes on the
:01:50. > :01:54.day the police watchdog is warning that five police forces will
:01:54. > :01:57.struggle to cope with future budget cuts and neighbourhood policing in
:01:57. > :02:03.England and Wales risks being eroded. Our home affairs
:02:03. > :02:05.correspondent Matt Prodger has the details.
:02:05. > :02:08.Police numbers in England and Wales are down, but so are the crime
:02:08. > :02:14.figures. Recorded crime fell by 7% last year and an annual review says
:02:15. > :02:19.most forces are on track to make the necessary budget cuts of 2015. By
:02:19. > :02:24.then there is expected to be 6600 fewer front-line police officers
:02:24. > :02:28.banned there was in 2010. But it is predicted a greater proportion of
:02:28. > :02:31.officers will be working in front-line roles. And there is a
:02:31. > :02:37.warning that five police forces will struggle to cope with further cuts
:02:38. > :02:41.beyond them. They are Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and
:02:41. > :02:47.west and south Yorkshire. Victim satisfaction is continuing to rise.
:02:48. > :02:51.Crime is coming down and overall, although forces are losing a number
:02:52. > :02:56.of people from their workforce, they are looking to protect their
:02:56. > :03:02.crime-fighting capability. Crime has been dropping since the mid-19 90s,
:03:02. > :03:04.though theft, sexual offences and fraud did rise in the last year.
:03:05. > :03:09.think we should congratulate the police. As a government we have
:03:09. > :03:12.asked them to do more but with less resources and they have performed I
:03:12. > :03:16.think magnificently and all the work that has gone into crime prevention
:03:17. > :03:23.has made a difference. Many forces are closing smaller police stations
:03:23. > :03:27.to stave money. In West Mercia, for example, 23 to close including this
:03:27. > :03:31.one Kidderminster, much valued by local residents. I think it is a bad
:03:31. > :03:35.thing really. It is there to be a deterrent. We have only been here
:03:35. > :03:40.two years, other residents have been here longer and we use it ourselves.
:03:40. > :03:48.Disgusting. It is a handy thing to have. I have used it a few times.
:03:48. > :03:51.The people have used it. Today's anti-war review warns that crime
:03:51. > :03:53.prevention work of the type praised by the Prime Minister this morning
:03:53. > :03:56.is in fact at risk from the budget cuts. That is because neighbourhood
:03:56. > :04:03.policing teams increasingly have to react to crime rather than prevent
:04:03. > :04:07.Let's speak to our political correspondent Norman Smith, who is
:04:07. > :04:11.in Westminster. Not surprisingly the government is heaping praise on
:04:11. > :04:14.police officers given these latest figures. That is true but what
:04:14. > :04:18.strikes me is that the government could today have said we did it, it
:04:18. > :04:22.was us, it was our policies, our crime legislation, our handling of
:04:22. > :04:27.the economy which is now improving which has led to the falling crime.
:04:27. > :04:31.They haven't, as you say. They have been out and about distributing
:04:31. > :04:35.large of blowing praise on the police are becoming better and
:04:35. > :04:39.smarter for tackling crime and that tells us two things, one is a clear
:04:39. > :04:43.desire in government to rebuild their rather fractured relations
:04:43. > :04:48.with the police but second, a desire to hold the police and other public
:04:48. > :04:52.sector workers and say to them, look, you too can do more, can do
:04:52. > :04:57.better with less money. As the MPs leave for their summer break, what
:04:57. > :05:01.impact does this news have on the government, on spirits? It is not
:05:01. > :05:05.just the glorious weather which has changed. You sense in government
:05:05. > :05:08.circles they feel the political weather is also beginning to change
:05:09. > :05:13.because we have these crime figures on top of the fall in unemployment,
:05:13. > :05:17.the falling immigration, slightly better news on the economy. We have
:05:17. > :05:21.the sporting success with Andy Murray and the Lions. We have the
:05:21. > :05:24.sunshine. You just sense in government they are beginning to
:05:24. > :05:31.wonder if amidst the dark clouds of Ulster read to there may just be the
:05:31. > :05:36.odd, odd glimmer of possible feel-good. -- the dark clouds of
:05:36. > :05:39.austerity. He raised -- heatwave alerts have been raised in more
:05:39. > :05:43.parts of Britain. South-west England and the West Midlands have been
:05:43. > :05:49.elevated from level 2 to level 3, the same level was the south-east
:05:49. > :05:54.and London. Yesterday was the hottest days so far this year with
:05:54. > :05:59.temperatures reaching 32.2 Celsius, 90 Fahrenheit. Jon Kay is that
:05:59. > :06:02.Burnham on Sea. Yes, it came as no surprise to
:06:02. > :06:07.people here an hour or so ago when the Met office said that this part
:06:07. > :06:10.of the south-west of England is now also in this category three heatwave
:06:11. > :06:16.part of the UK. It is another baking day here and while some people are
:06:16. > :06:21.out and about enjoying it, for others it is a real ordeal.
:06:21. > :06:25.It is nearly a decade since we have had a prolonged heatwave like this.
:06:25. > :06:30.In south London this lunchtime another grassland fire. In some
:06:30. > :06:35.areas temperatures have been above 30 Celsius for a week now and the
:06:35. > :06:40.Mercury just keeps rising. From Dover to Dudley, much of England is
:06:40. > :06:43.now on a level 3 warning. The hot weather we recognised brings
:06:43. > :06:46.challenges to some people, particularly the old and young. The
:06:46. > :06:50.level 3 warning reflects the fact that temperatures are rising to
:06:50. > :06:55.quite high levels for a couple of days with quite high night-time
:06:56. > :07:00.temperatures and in this sort of situation some people find it quite
:07:00. > :07:05.challenging. How different things were a year ago. Much of last summer
:07:05. > :07:10.was a washout. In fact the last few years have been pretty grim. So this
:07:10. > :07:15.month's sunshine is at least welcome by Britain's tourism industry. This
:07:15. > :07:20.holiday Park in Somerset have suddenly seen record bookings.
:07:20. > :07:24.weekend was the busiest weekend we have had out of school holidays for
:07:24. > :07:29.six years. Six years? And that is weather-related? Weather related,
:07:29. > :07:32.yes, so we are very pleased with that. The phones are still ringing
:07:32. > :07:36.for this weekend. Many holiday-makers here have abandoned
:07:36. > :07:41.plans for last-minute foreign getaways and are staying in the UK
:07:41. > :07:46.instead. Why miss all this beautiful countryside and whatnot and lovely
:07:46. > :07:49.sunshine? What more do you want? I am stopping in this country. When
:07:49. > :07:54.the weather is great this country has a lot to offer for summer
:07:54. > :07:58.holidays. So I am not surprised that people are not taking last-minute
:07:58. > :08:02.bookings. Chloe Rae is off to Greece next week and she is starting to
:08:02. > :08:06.wonder why. Della Bobby looking forward to going away because you
:08:06. > :08:13.think you will get away from the cold weather but what is the point?
:08:13. > :08:18.Do you wish you were staying put now? Sort of! Yes.Right now some
:08:18. > :08:21.parts of Britain are hotter than Greece. And there are no signs of it
:08:21. > :08:28.changing any time soon. The warm weather is due to continue through
:08:28. > :08:32.the weekend with temperatures rising again next week.
:08:32. > :08:36.In the last few minutes I have heard from the coastguard agency that last
:08:36. > :08:41.night they had to rescue a man who was trying to fail a dinghy from the
:08:41. > :08:45.south coast of England from Dorset to Ireland. This is an inflatable
:08:45. > :08:48.6-foot dinghy. They say he did not have enough food or drink, that he
:08:48. > :08:52.should never have tried to attempt a journey like that. They are saved as
:08:52. > :08:55.another example of the way our behaviour changes when the sun comes
:08:55. > :09:01.out and they say it is another warning that has to be issued today,
:09:01. > :09:04.to warn people not to try anything similar.
:09:04. > :09:07.The new Chief Inspector of Hospitals in England has announced a retro
:09:07. > :09:11.radical overhaul of the way they are assessed. Professor Sir Mike
:09:11. > :09:15.Richards wants to recruit a small army of doctors, nurses, patients
:09:15. > :09:19.and carers who will carry out both planned and random inspections.
:09:20. > :09:23.Ratings ranging from outstanding to inadequate would be awarded and
:09:23. > :09:27.trusts found to be failing could be put into special measures. Sir Mike
:09:27. > :09:32.said the system would be transparent, with reports being made
:09:32. > :09:34.public. Our health correspondent Sophie Hutchinson reports.
:09:35. > :09:40.Salford Royal Hospital takes infection control very seriously and
:09:40. > :09:45.prides itself on its record for hygiene on the wards. You're feeling
:09:45. > :09:48.better? It will be one of the first NHS trusts to be assessed by
:09:48. > :09:52.radically overhauled inspection system according to the new Chief
:09:52. > :09:57.Inspector of Hospitals. The new inspections will last longer and
:09:57. > :10:00.probe deeper. The teams will be led by experts but will be larger. They
:10:00. > :10:05.will include health care professionals and embers of the
:10:05. > :10:09.public. In my army I want a whole range of people. I want patients, I
:10:09. > :10:12.want Cerys, I want doctors, whether recent release retired or not. I
:10:12. > :10:17.want nurses and allied health professionals. All of these people
:10:17. > :10:22.are going to be necessary to help us to deliver really good inspections.
:10:22. > :10:24.Here in Salford where they have an excellent record they welcomed the
:10:25. > :10:31.idea of tougher inspections. I think the public want to have confidence
:10:31. > :10:35.in the National Health Service and they rightly should have and these
:10:35. > :10:38.inspections are part of building that confidence and providing open
:10:38. > :10:42.information back to the public about the state of our hospitals in this
:10:42. > :10:47.country. The new regime follows a report into hospitals with high
:10:47. > :10:52.death rates which this week saw 11 out of 14 placed in special
:10:52. > :10:57.measures. Patient safety campaigners say they are hopeful there will now
:10:57. > :11:00.be real improvement. I think in the past inspections have been more of a
:11:00. > :11:06.tick box exercise. They have lacked the expertise, the real clout, to
:11:06. > :11:10.get below the surface to do a real reality check on how hospitals are
:11:10. > :11:15.performing. That is why we are optimistic that Professor Richards'
:11:15. > :11:18.new regime of inspecting hospitals will get closer to the mark. Part of
:11:18. > :11:22.that reality check will be the public involvement and people we
:11:22. > :11:27.spoke to had plenty of ideas about what the focus should be. We need to
:11:27. > :11:30.see if it's clean or not and see what needs are being met and what is
:11:30. > :11:37.not being met. The first thing that crosses my mind is cleanliness and
:11:37. > :11:41.then I guess friendly staff. A total of 18 NHS Trusts will be inspected
:11:42. > :11:47.in the first round of what the chief inspector has called a journey
:11:47. > :11:51.towards safer care. 22-year-old man has been convicted
:11:51. > :11:55.the manslaughter of lay preacher Alan Greaves, who was battered to
:11:55. > :11:59.death as he walked to play the organ at midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
:11:59. > :12:06.Ashley Foster was cleared of murder by a jury at Sheffield Crown Court.
:12:06. > :12:10.Ed Thomas was in court. The camera crews and reporters here
:12:10. > :12:14.behind me are waiting for Alan Greaves' widow to come out and give
:12:14. > :12:18.her reaction to today's's verdicts but what she had previously heard in
:12:18. > :12:23.court was that Alan Greaves was a man who devoted his life to helping
:12:23. > :12:27.others. He played the organ at his local parish church. He helps out
:12:27. > :12:33.with local charities and was a social worker before he retired. As
:12:33. > :12:37.a devoted Christian, his life was in total contrast to his death. Police
:12:37. > :12:42.said it was a senseless and motiveless killing. On the 24th of
:12:42. > :12:46.December last year, Ashley Foster and Jonathan Bowling had left their
:12:46. > :12:52.home after drinking Bacardi and cocoa lager and went out looking for
:12:52. > :12:56.someone, anyone, to attack and they found Alan Greaves. The assault last
:12:56. > :13:01.-- lasted four minutes and a pickaxe handle was used and he died three
:13:01. > :13:05.days later. Speaking after their deaths, Maureen Greaves has said
:13:05. > :13:11.that she said it was an evil act but speaking just a week ago she said
:13:11. > :13:17.that she now forgave her killers. The killers who in court had denied
:13:17. > :13:20.murder. Ashley Foster said he took no part in the killing. Today, the
:13:20. > :13:24.jury found him guilty of manslaughter but not guilty of
:13:24. > :13:29.murder. Jonathan Bowling had previously admitted killing Alan
:13:30. > :13:33.Greaves and both men will be sentenced tomorrow.
:13:33. > :13:38.Police searching for an actor who went missing a week ago have found
:13:38. > :13:42.his body near cliffs that Seaford in East Sussex. Paul Bhattacharjee, 53,
:13:42. > :13:45.starred in the James Bond film Casino Royale and was also in
:13:45. > :13:50.Eastenders. He was last seen leaving rehearsals at the Royal Court
:13:50. > :13:54.Theatre in London, where he was due to perform this week.
:13:54. > :13:57.Nelson Mandela is spending his 95th birthday in hospital, where his
:13:57. > :14:00.condition is said to be improving. The former South African president
:14:00. > :14:07.has been having treatment in Pretoria are recovering their
:14:07. > :14:11.infection since he was admitted a month ago. -- a recurring lung
:14:11. > :14:14.infection. 95 today and you have to keep
:14:14. > :14:19.reminding yourself that Nelson Mandela remains critically ill in
:14:19. > :14:22.hospital behind me as people have come here in huge numbers to markets
:14:22. > :14:26.birthday. They have had to close the gate to the hospital in the past few
:14:26. > :14:29.minutes, where people have been handing out slabs of birthday cake
:14:29. > :14:33.to the large numbers of people that are thronged outside. Throughout the
:14:33. > :14:35.morning we have heard people bringing tributes, flowers and
:14:35. > :14:40.balloons and we have had people singing struggle songs, freedom
:14:40. > :14:46.songs, as a lot of -- was a mark of respect for the man they consider
:14:46. > :14:51.the father of the nation. Outside the hospital where Nelson Mandela
:14:51. > :14:56.lays, celebrations as he turns 95. Not just from a generation who
:14:56. > :15:01.remember his fight for freedom but youngsters. The so-called born
:15:01. > :15:05.frees. For weeks Nelson Mandela has been critically ill. Few dared to
:15:05. > :15:09.dream this day would come so today was about honouring his life as well
:15:09. > :15:14.as his work, many making personal pledges to emulate him. To update --
:15:14. > :15:20.to uphold Wattie lived by, to continue what he has started for us,
:15:20. > :15:24.to never discriminate and to live by the rights. A guard of honour
:15:24. > :15:28.saluted South Africa's first black president as the country's current
:15:28. > :15:33.leader Jacob Zuma prepared to visit the ailing statesman. We are told
:15:33. > :15:38.that Mr Mandela is aware of the thousands thronged outside. Once
:15:38. > :15:42.again Nelson Mandela has confounded expectations as he marked his 95th
:15:42. > :15:48.year. Still critically ill but still the fighter that the world so
:15:48. > :15:53.reveals. Away from the crowds extra volunteers are helping to serve free
:15:53. > :15:56.meals to these pensioners today as people are encouraged to do good
:15:56. > :16:01.deeds as a tribute to Nelson Mandela. This is a generation which
:16:01. > :16:08.cares deeply about the Mandela legacy, keen for it not to be
:16:08. > :16:13.squandered. I want to fight corruption. There is too much
:16:13. > :16:19.corruption. Our children are not getting any jobs. Because the
:16:19. > :16:23.others, they give the jobs to their friends, their relatives, you see.
:16:23. > :16:27.Nelson Mandela's birthday has struck a chord with people around the world
:16:27. > :16:37.with US President Obama and the Dalai Lama adding by well-wishers on
:16:37. > :16:40.
:16:40. > :16:48.President Jacob Zuma, we've also seen members of Nelson Mandela's
:16:48. > :16:52.family visiting here. His wife was it earlier and his ex-wife, Winnie
:16:53. > :16:58.Mandela. The family are expected to gather later for a private lunch to
:16:58. > :17:02.mark is 95th birthday. Meanwhile, outside, the crowd are not abating.
:17:02. > :17:06.We've had politicians, footballers, members of the local business
:17:06. > :17:11.community here, and the atmosphere is hard to describe. One woman said
:17:11. > :17:17.it reminds her of the kind of feeling and sense of national pride
:17:17. > :17:27.we had during the 1994 elections when Nelson Mandela was voted South
:17:27. > :17:29.
:17:29. > :17:31.Africa's first black president and millions of black voters were able
:17:31. > :17:34.to vote for the Barry first time. There's a sense of celebration here,
:17:34. > :17:37.not out of disrespect, but out of a sense of homage to a man considered
:17:37. > :17:40.the father of the nation. One gets a sense that the kind of celebrations
:17:40. > :17:45.which are happening here, sang happy birthday to the man they love, is
:17:45. > :17:52.likely to go well into the night. Karen, in South Africa, thank you
:17:52. > :17:55.very much. Our top story this lunchtime. Crime figures in England
:17:55. > :18:00.and Wales drop by 7% to their lowest levels since 1981. But police warn
:18:00. > :18:06.they are struggling with budgets cuts. As the open gets underway,
:18:06. > :18:09.some of the top names are finding it tough going. Later on BBC London,
:18:09. > :18:19.Weavers at the Buckinghamshire golf course as it prepares to stage one
:18:19. > :18:29.
:18:29. > :18:32.a holiday home within the ruins of a 12th century castle. They are just
:18:32. > :18:35.some of the finalists for the UK's best known prize for architecture.
:18:35. > :18:38.And for the first time in its history, the Royal Institute of
:18:38. > :18:45.British Architects' Stirling award has women featured in three of the
:18:45. > :18:48.final six nominations. Our Arts Correspondent David Sillito has been
:18:48. > :18:51.to Sheffield to look at one of the finalists.
:18:51. > :18:58.The tower block once described by some as the ugliest building in
:18:58. > :19:05.Europe. In the 60s, it was declared a masterpiece. High-tech streets in
:19:05. > :19:13.the sky. It's like being in heaven, up here, because we've always been
:19:13. > :19:17.poor people. We've made some good friends up here and these places are
:19:17. > :19:24.lovely for us. 40 years on, it made it onto a shortlist of buildings
:19:24. > :19:28.people wanted knocked down. It'd become this, a semi-direct eyesore
:19:28. > :19:35.but now, it's looking rather different. These new residents have
:19:35. > :19:40.just moved in. The overbearing mess and the iconic and less of it, it
:19:40. > :19:45.looks fabulous, and stood out. It was a clear sign I was in an
:19:45. > :19:50.industrial city, and I loved about. Up on the roof, you can see for
:19:50. > :19:55.yourself, the old, the new, the redeveloped, and get a sense of just
:19:55. > :20:00.how big this places. It absolutely dominate the Sheffield skyline.
:20:00. > :20:06.have tried to learn from the good and bad points of the place, and
:20:06. > :20:10.take all of those points, tried to design something we think engages
:20:10. > :20:14.with people who want to live here, and tried to build a sustainable
:20:14. > :20:19.community. It's one of the few survivors of the 60s love affair
:20:19. > :20:23.with high-rise concrete. And it's now on a shortlist for building of
:20:23. > :20:28.the year alongside an Oxford Chapel, the Giants Causeway visitor Centre,
:20:28. > :20:32.houses in Harlow, a medical school, and a remodelled 12th century manor
:20:32. > :20:37.house. Quite a journey for a place that was a few years ago, a
:20:37. > :20:40.candidate for the wrecking ball. The parents of Trayvon Martin have
:20:40. > :20:44.spoken for the first time since the man who shot their son was acquitted
:20:44. > :20:49.of his murder. The teenager shot dead by neighbourhood watch
:20:49. > :20:53.volunteer George Zimmerman in February 2012. He was cleared on of
:20:53. > :20:55.the 17-year-old's death last Saturday. His parents told Good
:20:55. > :21:05.Morning America that they were shocked and disgusted by the
:21:05. > :21:08.
:21:08. > :21:14.verdict. My first thought was shock. Discussed. We feel that the
:21:14. > :21:24.verdict, we didn't feel it was fair. Last discussed. And of course,
:21:24. > :21:27.killed, an RAF bomber crew have been buried at a special ceremony in
:21:27. > :21:30.Italy. The four men were all given full military honours. The plane's
:21:30. > :21:33.pilot, Sergeant David Raikes, was just 20 years old when the aircraft
:21:33. > :21:36.crashed near the city of Ferrara. He was an aspiring poet who had used
:21:36. > :21:44.his writing to reflect on the dangers he faced. Our Rome
:21:44. > :21:48.correspondent Alan Johnston sent this report.
:21:48. > :21:52.Just one cough for their few remains. They flew together, they
:21:53. > :22:02.died together, and now, in this foreign field, they will live
:22:03. > :22:05.
:22:05. > :22:15.together. -- life together. David Raikes, the pilot, David Perkins,
:22:15. > :22:21.
:22:21. > :22:26.Aleksander Bostock, and the oldest ending. German resistance
:22:26. > :22:31.collapsing, and the RAF crew was part of the final assault. But, in a
:22:31. > :22:37.bomb at like this, they were shot down and their remains were only
:22:37. > :22:43.recently found in the buried wreckage. Now, at last, their
:22:43. > :22:47.relatives have a chance to ladies meant arrest at peace and calm in a
:22:47. > :22:51.Commonwealth War Cemetery. Seeing the crew and the gravestones
:22:51. > :22:58.altogether, somewhere someone can come and know that's where they
:22:58. > :23:02.live, for 70 years, we haven't known that, so it means a lot. If the crew
:23:02. > :23:06.could have just survived ten more days, that we would have celebrated
:23:06. > :23:13.victory here in Italy and with the coming of peace, their lives would
:23:13. > :23:19.have stretched out before them, full of promise. The pilot, David Raikes,
:23:19. > :23:23.was a poet, and in one piece he wrote about the loss of RAF
:23:24. > :23:31.comrades. These men knew moments you have never known, nor ever will, we
:23:31. > :23:38.knew those moments, too. Then a few lines later, we share their targets,
:23:38. > :23:44.too, but we came back. Soon, though, the young poet didn't return. And
:23:44. > :23:47.now he will live forever in this place. The Russian opposition
:23:47. > :23:51.activist, Alexei Navalny, has been found guilty of embezzlement and
:23:51. > :23:53.sentenced to five years in prison. He has strongly denied stealing from
:23:53. > :23:58.a state-owned timber company and says the charges are politically
:23:58. > :24:05.motivated. Mr Navalny, who is currently standing as a candidate
:24:05. > :24:08.for mayor of Moscow, says he will appeal against the sentence. The
:24:08. > :24:18.second Test is under way at Lord's as England look to build on last
:24:18. > :24:19.
:24:19. > :24:24.weekend's nail-biting opening Ashes victory. Fans saw a stuttering start
:24:24. > :24:27.from England's batsmen, losing three wickets. Play was delayed a while
:24:27. > :24:30.this morning for a Royal visit. The Queen was introduced to the teams
:24:30. > :24:36.and taken on on a tour. At lunch, England were 80-3. We our sports
:24:36. > :24:40.correspondent Joe Wilson is at at Lord's now. Are they wilting?
:24:40. > :24:43.bed like their lunchtime salad, inevitably today, sense of occasion,
:24:43. > :24:49.ground where cricket has been paid for nearly 200 years. Perfect
:24:49. > :24:52.weather, the Queen has been in attendance, but sometimes, a Lord's
:24:52. > :24:57.test can inspire visiting players even more than England and this
:24:57. > :25:01.morning, I think we've had another example. Members of the Marylebone
:25:01. > :25:06.Cricket club got a seat at Lord's but only if they can find one.
:25:06. > :25:12.First-come, first-served. The queue started at 3am. An Ashes test at
:25:12. > :25:15.Lord's is the pinnacle as this MCC member told me. People feel
:25:15. > :25:22.involved, their minds, they are fascinated, interested, and the
:25:22. > :25:28.games are played with a lot of integrity on the whole. But with a
:25:28. > :25:31.lot of fierceness as well. The Queen met both sides with an equal
:25:31. > :25:35.interest. She could have congratulated Alistair Cooke on his
:25:35. > :25:39.fortune with a possible coin, the Queen 's head had fallen his way,
:25:39. > :25:43.and England would bat. Alistair Cooke was on its way from the second
:25:43. > :25:46.ball of the day, formalities finished. Australia's captain
:25:47. > :25:53.insisted he doesn't have a feud with team-mate Shane Watson. He even
:25:53. > :25:59.brought onto bollar good decision. LBW. It took 39 minutes for
:25:59. > :26:05.technology to take centre stage. Joe Root wasn't sure. LBW. Here comes
:26:05. > :26:11.the review. The ball did head his bat but before or after the pad?
:26:11. > :26:17.Another challenge for the thermal imaging. Eventually went, 26-2 and
:26:17. > :26:23.it got worse. Kevin Peterson, and for two. A second ball for Ryan
:26:23. > :26:27.Harris. Everything working for them. Kevin Peterson walks back to the
:26:27. > :26:31.muted MCC members. Perhaps the Queen had come to see Kevin Peterson that.
:26:31. > :26:35.Payroll was no complete but England where rebuilding. Jonathan Trott
:26:36. > :26:39.doesn't often get carried away whatever the circumstances. But on a
:26:39. > :26:47.sweltering day at the home of cricket, it was the Australians who
:26:47. > :26:52.looked like they belong to. lunch, England are 80-3. A lot
:26:52. > :26:55.relies on Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell. Tim Bresnan came in fourth
:26:55. > :26:59.winner. They were worried about their bowling. Right now, Sophie, I
:26:59. > :27:02.think they are more concerned about their batting. I bet they are.
:27:02. > :27:05.you very much. The Open has got under way this morning with
:27:05. > :27:07.controversy continuing over the men-only membership policy at the
:27:07. > :27:10.host club, Muirfield. Some ministers and Scotland's First Minister, Alex
:27:10. > :27:13.Salmond, have refused to attend the event. But as our sports
:27:13. > :27:21.correspondent Andy Swiss reports, it's also been a tough start for
:27:21. > :27:27.some of the top British names on the golf course.
:27:27. > :27:32.Sunny skies and a cooling breeze at Muirfield. A perfect place to watch
:27:32. > :27:41.golf, a slightly tricky one to play it. The undergrowth claimed its
:27:41. > :27:45.first victim. A TV camera. A repair bill to Thomas Bjorn. The British
:27:45. > :27:50.challenge also struggled at first. Rory McIlroy still searching for his
:27:50. > :27:55.elusive form while U.S. Open champion Justin Rose's hopes of a
:27:55. > :28:00.decent start scuttled into the long grass. Others, though, showed the
:28:00. > :28:04.way. Not least, Phil Mickelson. He just might have the touch here, and
:28:04. > :28:11.so might as fellow American, Zach Johnson, a flurry of birdies taking
:28:11. > :28:15.him into an early lead. Pick of the completed rounds, me go and Gail
:28:15. > :28:22.Jiminez, three under. He can now relax for the day while others
:28:22. > :28:27.sweated out -- among them, five written Tiger Woods who will begin
:28:27. > :28:34.this afternoon, and like the rest, hoping to tame this testing course.
:28:34. > :28:43.Time for a look at the weather. You can't win this year, can you? It's
:28:43. > :28:48.because it's down to mother nature. It is the 13th consecutive day with
:28:48. > :28:52.a temperature in the UK has reached 28 degrees, nothing special about
:28:52. > :28:56.that, but just to illustrate the point, just how hard it is. The high
:28:56. > :29:01.pressure is giving us settled weather which means the cloud, the
:29:01. > :29:06.wind and rain is out in the Atlantic, not moving our direction,
:29:06. > :29:10.so the atmosphere has stalled at the moment. That's why the heatwave has
:29:10. > :29:13.been prolonged. The weather really isn't going to change an awful lot
:29:13. > :29:18.and we're not anticipating the area of high pressure to move an awful
:29:18. > :29:21.lot in the next few days. On the edges of the high pressure, we have
:29:21. > :29:26.cloud affecting parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland so let's head
:29:26. > :29:31.somewhere fresher. Further south, it's hotter but for the Western
:29:31. > :29:37.Isles, we are expecting 17 degrees. By the time you get to the central
:29:37. > :29:40.parts of Scotland, 24 degrees. The high 20s in northern England and
:29:40. > :29:43.what's actually happening today, there is a bit of a light breeze
:29:43. > :29:47.blowing out to the east in a westerly direction so that means all
:29:47. > :29:51.that hot air that we have had across the south-east has shifted a little
:29:51. > :29:56.bit towards the west of the UK, so somewhere around the Salisbury
:29:56. > :30:03.plain, we could get temperatures up to 30 degrees, maybe a smidgen
:30:03. > :30:07.higher. This evening, the odd thunderstorm in the south-west of
:30:07. > :30:11.the country but essentially, more or less what we have had in the last
:30:11. > :30:15.few days. An oppressive night. We look at the tempered as at five
:30:15. > :30:20.o'clock in the morning, remember at midnight, when most of us go to bed,
:30:20. > :30:25.the temperature is still well in excess of 20 Celsius, so don't
:30:25. > :30:29.concentrate on the 15-16. It's actually much higher for most of the
:30:29. > :30:38.night. Tomorrow, a bit of a breeze in the east so once again
:30:39. > :30:41.temperatures will drop a little bit down to 26 in London, generally the
:30:42. > :30:46.high 20s across the UK but in some areas, it might rise a little bit.
:30:46. > :30:49.By the time we get to the weekend, it could be cloudy for a time across
:30:49. > :30:54.the eastern coasts, Skegness into Norwich. The cloud will fizzle away
:30:54. > :31:00.but it will be quite cool again. Western areas will hold onto the
:31:00. > :31:03.heatwave. Over the weekend, it will be less hot, temporary lowering of
:31:03. > :31:06.the temperature, but the current indication is, by next week, the
:31:07. > :31:15.temperatures will go right up again and there could be some
:31:15. > :31:18.our top story this lunchtime. Crime figures in England and Wales drop by