11/11/2013 BBC News at One

Thousands dead, millions homeless and the full extent of the

Philippines typhoon is still not known. Aid agencies are racing to

get food and shelter to those worst affected. The head of the Red Cross

describes the situation as absolute bedlam. We will be live in the

Philippines. Also this lunchtime, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the

11th month. Armistice Day is observed with two minutes of silence

across the country. The closure of warm as they caught NHS walk-in

centres in England could make it harder for patient to see a GP,

according to the health regulator. -- almost a quarter. Battling

jellyfish, cold and seasickness to swim the length and breadth of

Britain from Land's End to John O'Groats in four months.

Later on BBC London: And a year on, fears of a repeat

fire at this site Hertfordshire which took months to put out.

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. The devastating

typhoon in the Philippines is estimated to have killed at least

10,000 people and affected more than 9 million overall. But the full

extent of the damage is still not known. So those figures could rise

still further. Thousands of survivors have been left without

homes, electricity and clean water, and are now desperately in need of

food and shelter. The head of the Red Cross in the area has described

the situation as one of absolute bedlam. Our correspondent, Jon

Donnison, is in one of the worst affected areas, Tacloban.

Tacloban has been flattened. The survivors are having to live among

the dead. The streets are busy as people search for their loved ones,

still missing. This is the main street through the centre of

Tacloban. The destruction is almost complete. Barely a building is

standing. There is a stench of death in the air. We have seen scores of

bodies just in the few columns as we have driven from the airport, and

behind us a couple of bodies are bundled up. The city's battered

airport is now the hub of the aid operation. But for the hundreds of

desperate people kept at bay at the gates, it is simply not getting here

fast enough. We are so hungry and thirsty. We are hurting because if

there is water and food, maybe you can give us. A makeshift hospital.

Some hospitals are being treated without anaesthetics, to numb the

pain. This woman has just given birth. A baby girl, born into a

world upturn. Alongside them, another young woman is also in

Labour. People waiting here are desperate to get out on any plane

they can find. This is my dad's only chance for life. I said, either we

leave tomorrow morning we are going to go somewhere else. He needs

dialysis. He has been for two days. He is in critical condition. If the

world is out there, send help. These people need it. In the city, the

country's interior minister is hands-on, directing traffic. The

devastating is overwhelming. So far, there is little sign the government

is managing to get aid out to the many in need. So, people are doing

whatever they can to help themselves. This used to be a

supermarket. Those who have nothing I looking for anything they can

find. But unless more relief comes quickly, the little food there is

will run out soon. Jon Donnison joins us now from

Tacloban. It seems there are next to no vestiges of civil functioning

society left where you are. I just don't think you can overstate the

scale of the devastation here. It is really pretty bleak. For people

living here, and I think for the officials trying to help, it is

frankly overwhelming. At the moment meant there doesn't seem to be, when

you travel around the city, major aid operation underway. That may

change in the coming days. One of the things you have to remember is

that this is just one town on one island in one province will stop we

don't really know the situation in the wider area, the more mote areas.

The bad news as well is we have got a weather report coming in telling

us that in the coming days, there is going to be rain. That is going to

make an already awful situation probably worse for the hundreds of

thousands of people living without shelter. Presumably, the need for

aid is now an immediate. It is. People are hungry. They need

freshwater. They need fuel. There is no power here. They need tents,

shelter, somewhere to sleep. When you look around the neighbourhood,

you cannot see a house with a roof on. With rain coming, that is going

to be pretty desperate. Many people, they don't have a house at all. As

we saw in the report, a lot of people are frankly saying they are

giving up on staying, and are trying to get out. Thank you. A huge

international aid effort is under way in the aftermath of Typhoon

Haiyan. On the ground, help is being hindered by damage to roads and

airports. Paul Adams reports. Three days in and some aid is

getting through. In Tacloban, the army has started to supply those

most in need. In the midst of such chaos and destruction, it is clearly

not enough. Our problem is getting more relief goods in. The roads are

not accessible. Myself, even the day after the storm, we would retrieve

in bodies. -- we were retrieving. People are hungry and need shelter,

and in many cases they have been separated from their families, too.

TRANSLATION: We need food. Mother, please help me. I am still here in

Tacloban. I am still alive. Long lines, too, for fuel. It is in

desperate short supply. The street corner, it is true -- it is

distributed bottled by bottle. Tacloban is suffering but the

typhoon went across the Philippines. The list of needs is daunting.

Basically, it is food and water. After that will come other basic

necessities. The American military is here, too. A Marine forces

helping to organise the response. The embassy has asked for not just

military but international relief organisations. Similar terrible

scenes of devastation from an island just to the north. Only a handful of

concrete buildings are still standing. The rest have been washed

away by the storm surge. Many places were evacuated before the typhoon

hit. At it's not known how have -- but it is not known how many people

died. Further afield, signs of a bigger effort gathering pace. In

Manila, American planes have arrived, ready to take food and

water south to the disaster zone. At least one has already left. It can't

happen fast enough for hundreds of thousands of displaced, desperate

people. This is a population on the move, Scott Reading what it can to

survive. -- scavenging. Tim Wilcox is in

Manila. It is not just a question of the quantity of aid. It is ensuring

there is coordination that the aid gets to the people who need it most.

I'm not sure that he can hear else. I cannot hear you clearly, but we

flew in about two hours ago. We came with a Red Cross team. They are

going to spend 24 hours here, just working out what people need to get

aid to the people worst affected. At the moment, it is Tacloban. At the

moment, that is the only area we know about. The communications are

down elsewhere. We have no idea how many tens of thousands of people

might be affected. They are trying to work out what helicopters are

needed. The other problem is that this is the 25th typhoon of this

year. Last month, there was an earthquake of 7.3 magnitude which

killed 200 people. Some of the warehouses that are normally feel

here have been depleted or empty because of the earthquake last

month. That is the problem for aid agencies at the moment. They are

trying to work out how big the scale of the disaster is. To Wilcox in

Manila. The typhoon has been downgraded to a severe Tropical

Storm Washi and made landfall in northern Vietnam. -- a severe

Tropical Storm Washi. 600,000 people have fled at risk

regions, and at least 11 people are reported to have died. State media

says the fatalities appear to have been taking place during

preparations for the storm. The storm is moving to southern China,

where it is expected to continue to lose force. More on the impact of

Typhoon Haiyan, with updates from our correspondent in the

Philippines, on the BBC News website. The address...

Acts of remembered to take place around the country to mark the

anniversary of the World War I armistice, with a two-minute

silence. Ceremonies have taken place at military bases, town halls,

churches, schools and in the National Memorial Arboretum in

Staffordshire. It was the moment when men looked at

one another in disbelief. The moment the thunder of guns faded. The

moment when families embraced. The moment the slaughter stopped. The

first Armistice Day was held at Buckingham Palace, a year after the

end of the First World War. Today, veterans, travellers, office workers

and children echoed that tradition. 93 old Dorothy Ellis is the last

directly to what became known as the great War. -- directly. Her husband

was shot, gas and left for dead on the Western front. Today, at the

National Arboretum, she laid her wreath in his memory and that of the

friends who didn't come home. I have done something today that I feel was

worthwhile. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it in the way I would

have wanted to, because of my leg. That pretty upset me, that I

couldn't stand up and be counted. But I did the best I could. Also

standing to remember and reflect, the pupils of the school in

Harrogate. This is a respectful way to do it. If we did make an effort,

the lives of those who gave them would be long forgotten by now. It

is important to remember them. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of

the 11th month, the Battle of remembered has been passed on once

more. -- the Batten. Sian Lloyd is at the National

Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. How was the armistice marked? The

congregation sat here underneath umbrellas in the pouring rain for

the Armistice Day service. The National Memorial Arboretum covers

180 acres of Staffordshire countryside. 50,000 trees have been

planted here as a living memorial to those who have fallen from the Armed

Forces and civil services. Today, at the service, they were remembering

those who fell in the great War and in the conflict since. As part of

that service, two minutes silence was held and followed by the laying

wreaths. The guest one was Dorothy Ellis. She told me that at 93 it was

a huge struggle for her to come here today but she wanted to feel she was

playing a small part. This memorial will play a very important part next

year in the commemoration of the centenary of the outbreaks of the

First World War. Armistice Day is also being marked in Belgium. Later

today the Duke of Edinburgh will lay a poppy in the town of Ypres. I can

see large crowds behind where you are. Absolutely. The name Ypres is

synonymous with some of the most from Russia fighting of the First

World War. -- the most from Russia fighting. The monument itself is

dedicated to the 57,000 men whose bodies were never recovered. At

11am, a service of remembrance. One of the most emotional aspects were

the dropping of the poppies from the roof, representing those men who

were never to return from the front line. Attention next year will focus

on the centenary, the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the

First World War. The Duke of Edinburgh is due here in the next

hour or so. In a most unusual ceremony, soil from 77 Terry 's

around this area will be put onto a carriage. -- cemeteries. It will be

taken back to London, there it will form part of a memorial garden at

the Wellington barracks. Next year it is hoped the Queen herself will

open it formally. A huge amount of commemoration here today. Tonight,

at eight o'clock, as every day here in Ypres the Last Post will be

sounded. Later in the programme we will hear about the public appeal to

attend the funeral of a World War II veteran.

Monitor has warned the NHS in England to think twice before

closing any more walk-in centres and leaving patients unable to access

the care they need. It reviewed the walk-in service after the closure of

50 centres in England in the last three years. It found they are

popular with the public, but critics fear they will lead to a duplication

of services. On a busy day, this walk-in centre

can see more than 100 patients. It is open from 8am until 8pm. This

report says the NHS needs to think carefully before closing centres

like this because it might make it harder for some people to see a GP.

It could put pressure on other busy parts of the NHS. It is important

not to look at walk-in centres in isolation. When we spoke to people

and ask them what they would do if the walk-in centre was not

available, they said they might go to another walk-in centre. 20% of

people told us they might go to namely department to get help. The

NHS open 238 walk-in centres, they offer easy access to GPs. Since

2010, 53 have closed. Walk-in centres like this were

opened to make it easier for people to see GPs. This review found they

were very popular with patients, but the future of many is still under

review. This walk-in centre is run by a company for the NHS in

Portsmouth. Mondays are a busy day, not least with students in the city.

It is great to walk-in when you can. I am not registered with a GP down

here, so it is convenient. They do a very good job. They are so busy. The

doctors union says money would be better spent supporting existing GP

practices, but Labour argue it is irresponsible to close busy

centres. The government say there is no one solution making it easy to

see a doctor. Our top story this lunchtime:

Thousands dead, millions homeless. The full extent of the Philippines

typhoon is still not known. The head of the Red Cross describes the

situation is absolute bedlam. The first person ever to swim from

Land's End to John O'Groats has just arrived.

On BBC London. The number of people using the

Thames cable car has plummeted. Leading to calls for the Mayor to

stop wasting more taxpayers' more than 500 people have attended

the funeral of a second World War veteran in Lancashire today. Harold

Percival was a member of the RAF ground crew which maintained the

Lancaster bombers used by the Dambusters squadron. He died in a

nursing home last month. He never married or had children. The funeral

home organising the service put an advert in the newspaper appealing

for people to attend. Harold Jellicoe Percival, he never

married and had no children. It was thought the number of mourners at

his funeral would be in single figures until an appeal was made on

social media. Then this happened. Hundreds of people turned out today

for his final journey. Appropriately, his service was due

to start on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. I could

not go to my own father's funeral, he was a war hero as well. I decided

to come to this one. I heard through social media, I was at home on

leave. Out of respect for the veterans, especially this gentleman,

I felt I should go. The Last Post was played, and the

two-minute silence perfectly observed. It got picked up, put on

Facebook and it escalated from there. We were inundated from

e-mailed all around the world, from veterans sending apologies because

they cannot attend. It is the power of the social networks. The chapel

here can only hold just over 100 people. The vast majority of people

stood out here in the rain trying to listen to the service, all for

someone they never knew or never met.

And it was all greatly appreciated by his family. We were always

intending to come, but we thought there would just be two or three of

us. To see this amount of people turn up is stunning. For one day

Harold Jellicoe Percival had a very big, extended family who all wanted

to say thank you. The jury in the phone hacking trial

has been played recordings of voice mail messages David Blunkett left on

the mobile phone of a friend in 2005 when he was Work and Pensions

Secretary. The court was told that Glenn Mulcaire had intercepted Ali

Anderson's phone. Rebekah Brooks along with and = denied all charges.

-- Sally Anderson. David Blunkett has always denied he

had an affair with Sally Anderson. But he was a friend of hers. There

were stories in the newspapers that the prosecution say were sourced

through phone hacking. And the tapes of some of the voice mail which

David Blunkett left on Sally Anderson's phone were found in Glenn

Mulcaire's house. They were played to the jury to day. Mr Blunkett was

heard saying, someone very close has done a phenomenal piece of work on

destroying both our lives at the moment. Whoever it is, I hope they

rot in hell. He said, they are doing it for money. The prosecution says

the stories came from phone hacking, and that Glenn Mulcaire had taped

himself doing the hacking. On one of the tapes a voice is heard saying,

just say I love you and it is 20,000. The defence says all of the

defendants deny all charges that they face.

More than 2000 people have applied to take part in the Help to Buy

scheme. The first phase of the project was launched in April but

only provided help to first-time buyers purchasing new homes. The

extended scheme applies to all buyers and all types of property up

to ?600,000. Not enough for a deposit? Help to

buy is the solution the government is offering. A taxpayer funded

guarantee on your mortgage which means you only have to put down 5%

of the price. What that scheme is doing is effectively making more

generous mortgages available to the population. It is not a surprise

that with higher loans more people are showing an interest in

purchasing a property. One month after the launch of the Help to Buy

scheme, thousands have applied. So far, only ten buyers have actually

completed purchases using the scheme. With prices now back to

prerecession levels, the average monthly payment for applicants is a

budget straining ?900. There are fears that the scheme will cause a

price bubble and put homes further out of reach. Against the charge

that help to buy will cause another housing bubble, the Prime Minister

has been pointing out most people taking advantage so far are

first-time buyers looking for below-average value homes outside of

London and the south-east of England. It is too early to test the

bubble theory. Until now only Halifax and RBS have been offering

these mortgages. But so far business is brisk.

After more than 900 miles, a man from Cheltenham has become the first

person to swim the length of Britain. Four months ago Sean Conway

started his mammoth swim from Cornwall. Our Scotland correspondent

is there for us. Before he set off, Sean Conway said he was not much of

a swimmer. He has certainly had plenty of practice in the past four

month. Stroke after stroke, day after day.

Month after month. Sean Conway set off from Land's End in June hoping

for a summer swim to Scotland. He knew it was a challenge, that was

the attraction. But he had no idea how difficult it would be. No one

has ever done it, and that got me thinking. Surely it is possible

considering it is such an iconic route anyway. People told me, you're

going to die, it will not be possible. I thought, I am going to

prove you wrong. But it was far from easy. The adventure was full of

peril. There were times when this moment felt like it would never

come. But 135 days after setting off, the adventure was over. He

swapped salt water for the sweet taste of success. I had never swum

in the CB before at all before this. It just proves that if you put your

mind to something, anything is possible. I want to thank my crew

who stayed for a lot longer than they said they would. 900 miles, 3

million strokes, add up to make one moment of triumph. As for what is

next for Sean Conway, he says he has now cycled around the world and swum

the length of Britain so he is thinking about running across

Africa. Thank you very much indeed. Let's get you up to date with the

weather. We continue the wet season with dull

and damp conditions. Many of us have seen some rain after a sparkling

Sunday in most areas. You can see the rain is extensive as is the

cloud. This raft of cloud out of the west of Ireland, we will be talking

about that on Tuesday's weather as well. Quite a blustery afternoon in

prospect, some sunshine in the north. For many parts of England and

Wales, the cloud cover quite complete. A bit of brightness

breaking through east to the hills of Wales. The eastern side of the

Pennines might fare quite nicely as well. A cheery prospect for Scotland

and Northern Ireland, if you can escape the showers. Top temperature

around about 10-11 degrees. Overnight, the cloud I was talking

about in the west of Ireland comes and thickens up. It will stay

relatively mild, showers across north-western Scotland. Watch out

for the intensity of those showers. Very strong winds in the north, the

rain eventually gets away from the south of Kent by roundabout late

lunch. For many it is a drier prospect at last across the British

Isles. Tuesday into Wednesday the high pressure will do its stuff in

keeping the self finance at old. Look at the ice bars in the north.

70 mph gusts around the coast. That high-pressure doing its stuff across

central and southern areas. Despite the sunshine, still not particularly

warm. That is all this