Browse content similar to 20/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
suspended. A test of Nick Clegg's leadership after Lord Rennard | :00:15. | :00:19. | |
refuses to apologise to women who alleged sexual harassment. It is | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
right that people and set for their actions and apologise when they have | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
done wrong. We will assess the damage to the | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
party. Mikaeel Kular's mother is charged | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
with his murder, his body was discovered on Friday. | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
A report says the organisation representing policemen and women | :00:40. | :00:41. | |
needs changing. Top to bottom. Nicolas Anelka's | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
salute costs West Bromwich Albion their sponsor. | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
A cosmic wake-up call for the Rosetta space probe, scientists wait | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
to see if it has woken from a deep sleep. | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
On BBC London News, the chairman of an enquiry into airport expansion | :01:03. | :01:04. | |
criticises the best for failing to recognise his findings. A coroner | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
calls for a doctor to be suspended over the treatment of a | :01:10. | :01:10. | |
four-year-old who died. Good evening, welcome. Lord | :01:11. | :01:33. | |
Rennard, the man credited with transforming the Liberal Democrats' | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
electoral chances has been suspended from the party after refusing to | :01:39. | :01:41. | |
apologise over allegations of sexual harassment. | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
It follows an independent enquiry which recommended the issue and | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
apology, though it found insufficient evidence to back up the | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
accusations. He was suspended while the party investigate if he has | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
brought them into disrepute. In a personal statement, he said he | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
regretted any hurt that had been caused, but he said he had been the | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
victim of a lynch mob then pelleted against some Liberal Democrats. | :02:06. | :02:15. | |
Nick Clegg wants his party to be seen as competent, fair, but he is | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
caught in a row that suggests the opposite. It is tearing his party | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
into, it centres on this man, Lord Rennard, the Liberal Democrats' | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
former chief executive. To his supporters, and electoral mastermind | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
who made them a party of government, to his accusers, a man who sexually | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
harassed staff. Either way, he is no longer a Liberal Democrat, suspended | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
pending a new investigation, a decision he may challenge in the | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
courts. It is important we do things properly, there will be due process, | :02:52. | :02:59. | |
and people who made complaint about him will have their case heard, and | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
so will he. He has always denied sexually harassing staff. The party | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
investigation said the claims could not be proven but were credible. His | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
refusal to apologise has prompted another enquiry, into whether he has | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
brought the party into disrepute. In a statement, he spoke of how | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
enormously distressed he was, what he called a smear campaign, and | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
lynch mob mentality from some party members, which led him to the depths | :03:28. | :03:30. | |
of depression and consideration of self harm. He said he never intended | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
to hurt, in Paris or upset anyone, but, I will not offer an apology, he | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
said, because people should not say what they do not mean. He has been | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
through a year of hell, people might have been driven close to suicide by | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
the publicity and humiliation he has suffered and through the | :03:56. | :03:58. | |
newspapers, day after day after day. This is a good man who has been | :03:59. | :04:02. | |
punished by the party, and the leadership seems to be showing scant | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
regard for due process. One of the women who worked alongside him in | :04:10. | :04:11. | |
the House of Lords and who had complained about his behaviour said | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
he should not be allowed to return. He should not be readmitted. I am | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
happy to go through a disciplinary procedure about him being a party | :04:21. | :04:27. | |
member, but it is untenable for the Liberal Democrats to have a credible | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
voice on equalities and women's issues in the future if he was | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
actually allowed to be back on the benches in the House of Lords. A row | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
about one party member here may seem rather historic and internal, but it | :04:41. | :04:43. | |
matters because of the potential damage it could do to the party. | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
Making it less attractive to women voters and giving an impression of | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
incompetence and weak leadership. It is a close-knit family, there are | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
45,000 party members, everybody knows Chris Rennard, many people | :04:59. | :05:01. | |
have met him and lots of people know the women who have made the | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
allegations. It is a bit like a family at war. It is a board that is | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
not over yet, the prospect of legal action could mean the scrutiny | :05:12. | :05:13. | |
continues into the summer, which means into the European elections. | :05:14. | :05:21. | |
A family at war, how much damage is this doing to the party? One of Nick | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
Clegg's electoral priorities is to try and persuade people that this is | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
a sensible, competent party of government, and the risk is this | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
point people in the other direction, they look at the way this has been | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
handed -- handled and they ask, is this the way -- is this a party that | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
is fit for government, operating at its most competent? Many people in | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
the party say, is this the best way to appeal to younger voters, female | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
voters, especially ahead of the European elections? What the party | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
hopes is that by this relatively decisive action today, to suspend | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
Lord Rennard, not just from his group in the House of Lords but from | :06:08. | :06:10. | |
the party entirely, that that will draw a line under the crisis in the | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
short-term, it will mean there is an investigation that will carry on, | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
that can reach a conclusion at the end, and hopefully reach a | :06:21. | :06:22. | |
resolution before the European elections. But in the last few | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
minutes, Lord Rennard has issued a statement in which he says he does | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
not wish to see legal action between fellow party members, but he says, | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
in light of the decision taken against him today, he is having to | :06:37. | :06:39. | |
take legal advice with a view to civil action against the party. Now, | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
we have the prospect of legal action tracking this process out even | :06:45. | :06:51. | |
longer. That can only do damage to a party ahead of these elections. | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
The mother of three-year-old Mikaeel Kular has been charged with his | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
murder. The body of rusted: 's son was found on Friday night. | :07:05. | :07:13. | |
Her appearance in court room number four in the building behind me was | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
brief, it lasted just a couple of minutes. As is normal in | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
first-quarter appearances here, and as of the public and media were not | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
allowed in to hear the charges. A lone policeman stood guard outside. | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
Shortly before midday, a large police presence for a van arriving | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
at court. It is believed it may have been transporting the woman accused | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
of murdering her son. She had reported Mikaeel Kular missing on | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
Thursday morning, hundreds of volunteers had joined police within | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
hours to search for him. But at midnight on Friday, police announced | :07:56. | :07:57. | |
they had found his body, near his former home in Kirkcaldy. His mother | :07:58. | :08:06. | |
was charged under her married name. Her first appearance in this court | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
was in Private, it was here that she was formally told she would face two | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
charges on of murder and of attempting to defeat the ends of | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
justice. She appeared in court on the day children returned to the | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
nursery for the first time since learning of his death. Just about to | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
take my son in, I am devastated, even when we found out, looking at | :08:30. | :08:36. | |
his empty peg, it is horrible. The police continued their search of the | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
area near where the body was found. His mother made no plea or | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
declaration during her court appearance. Tonight, she was | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
remanded in custody and is expected to appear in Private again next | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
Tuesday. Tonight, police have written to | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
parents whose children attended his nursery, asking any of them who saw | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
or spoke to the young boy or her mother -- his mother between Monday | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
and Wednesday last week to get in touch. | :09:09. | :09:15. | |
Far reaching changes from top to bottom are needed in the Police | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
Federation, according to an independent review. It talks of | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
infighting and a lack of professionalism, the organisation | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
represents 130,000 officers. It accuses some of being interested in | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
political gains in light of the so-called Plebgate affair. | :09:32. | :09:39. | |
Ministers have been heckled at Police Federation conferences. | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
Today's report says a change of culture is needed to do away with | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
petty politics and internal squabbling. There is evidence, it | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
says, bad behaviour by officials and their lack of openness and | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
transparency. I will not be able to tell you everything you want to | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
hear. There is no doubt police numbers and resources have been cut | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
and that the federation is not happy. I believe you are a disgrace. | :10:06. | :10:13. | |
The report's author says the personal attacks and political | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
campaigning are damaging. It weakens their influence, but actually, it | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
does not represent the kind of integrity and impartiality bonbons | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
from the police service. This organisation represents that | :10:30. | :10:31. | |
service, it has two have high standards, so it can stand up for | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
high standards in policing. The current national leadership | :10:37. | :10:38. | |
commissioned the report after the Plebgate scandal. The campaign | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
against police cut in West Mersea, and allegations federation officials | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
tried to discredit Andrew Mitchell, whose friends welcomed the report. | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
The Police Federation is a very divided organisation, with a fight | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
with each other, they fight against other people, and it shows they are | :10:58. | :11:05. | |
not fit for purpose. 18 months after this all started here in Downing | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
Street, the report calls for new standards of professionalism and | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
openness. In particular, financial openness. After nine months of | :11:15. | :11:21. | |
trying, this review failed to get various local Police Federation is | :11:22. | :11:24. | |
to reveal how much money they have got stashed away in some of their | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
bank accounts. It could be as much as ?30 million. If that was hard, | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
how hard would it be for the national leadership to reform the | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
Police Federation? If we do not bring about the reforms that are | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
necessary, reform will be done to us, so we can shape our own destiny. | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
One incentive to the members, the federation has such a large | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
financial surplus, it is offering to cut subscriptions by a quarter next | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
year. Kent Police own more than 30 | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
motorists involved in the huge pile of last year will avoid prosecution | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
if they go on driver alertness courses. 150 vehicles collided in | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
fog at Sheppey in September. Eight people suffered serious injuries and | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
200 others were treated at the scene. | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
The long awaited peace talks over the crisis in Syria, due to start on | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
Wednesday, have been thrown into disarray before they have begun. It | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
follows a last-minute invitation from the event, asking Iran to | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
attend. Severe's main opposition group has threatened to pull out | :12:29. | :12:37. | |
unless the invitation is withdrawn. Almost three years of increasingly | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
brutal conflict in Syria has ripped the country to shreds. The Western | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
powers unable to stop all of this are desperate for peace talks. The | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
UN blame President Assad for most of the war crimes and say half the | :12:51. | :12:53. | |
population depend on humanitarian aid. But the president is still in | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
power, he still labels his opponents as terrorists. TRANSLATION: | :12:59. | :13:06. | |
Terrorism is rife everywhere, but only in Syria, but in neighbouring | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
countries as well. -- not only in Syria. It is possible for the Geneva | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
conference to be a dialogue between Syrians. But now, will the peace | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
process happen at all? Will they talk? The idea is that the president | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
will have representatives at the talks, Western governments hope, | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
with no certainty, his side will sacrifice him in return for a | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
power-sharing deal with the opposition. But the opposition is | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
deeply divided. Only the Western backed Syrian National Coalition has | :13:41. | :13:43. | |
been invited, not those regarded as extremists, the Islamists and | :13:44. | :13:50. | |
jihadist. These factions are fighting each other, able within a | :13:51. | :13:58. | |
war. Then, the big international supporters of the opposing sides. | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
Saudi Arabia is nominally a Western ally, but is a source of money and | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
weapons to militant groups the West finds unacceptable. On the other | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
side, Iran, supporting the President Assad regime with fighters, guns and | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
money. But now, arguments over Iran's part in any peace effort have | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
put the entire process in doubt. The UN invited Iran on the basis it | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
accepted future power-sharing, something Iran still publicly | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
reject. Ban Ki-Moon has been warned by the United States to withdraw the | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
invitation or the opposition will pull out. TRANSLATION: Red meat | :14:38. | :14:44. | |
appeal for everybody to keep the needs of the Syrian people foremost | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
in mind. The Foreign Secretary is in the American camp but worries the | :14:50. | :14:51. | |
peace process could collapse. We have no problem in principle of Iran | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
attending, but it has to be in the same basis as all of the rest of us. | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
On Saturday, some of the opposition leaders voted to join the talks. Now | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
Iran has been invited, they are threatening to pull out. Iran want | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
to kill Bashar al-Assad, what do we do? The chaos is reflected in | :15:14. | :15:21. | |
political chaos around possible peace talks. The agony for severe's | :15:22. | :15:23. | |
people intensifies every day. Our main headline... The Liberal | :15:24. | :15:36. | |
Democrats in crisis, as their former election mastermind has been | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
suspended from the party. Still to come, the waiting game - scientists | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
are watching to see if the Rosetta space probe will wake up. Later on | :15:46. | :15:52. | |
BBC London, the former Olympic venue which has now got holes in the | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
floor. A major international net all tournament is abandoned there. | :15:59. | :16:09. | |
A BBC investigation has found that criminal gangs are helping | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
householders to steal gas and electricity I tampering with their | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
supply. British Gas says the gangs are risking causing explosions and | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
endangering lives. The theft costs the industry up to ?500 million a | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
year, which is passed on to customers. Emma Simpson reports. | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
Meet the power theft investigators. They have had a tip-off about this | :16:36. | :16:48. | |
eight bedroomed mansion in Essex. I think the back of that house and the | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
garage is coming off an supply which is not metered. There we have it. | :16:55. | :17:03. | |
All of the power coming through these two meters is not being built, | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
they are getting it free. The illegal supply is cut off. It will | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
not be restored until an estimated ?6,000 in stolen energy is paid for. | :17:15. | :17:17. | |
But there could be an even greater cost for those who tamper with their | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
meters. It is extremely dangerous just if people start interfering | :17:25. | :17:27. | |
with their meters, in the case of gas, it can lead to an explosion. In | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
the case of electricity, it can lead to fires and electrocution. But it | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
is not only households which are stealing power. We heard from one | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
convicted crewmen who received a suspended sentence for digging up a | :17:43. | :17:46. | |
street and illegally connecting electricity to more than 1500 homes. | :17:47. | :17:57. | |
British Gas says energy theft is now a huge problem, with some ?500 | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
million of it being stolen every year. That is adding around ?30 to | :18:03. | :18:09. | |
customers' bills. Catching the thieves is costly. When they do, the | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
lights may go out, but the rest of us will still end up paying. | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
The property website Zoopla is to end its sponsorship of West Bromwich | :18:22. | :18:28. | |
Albion at the end of the season, because of a row around a gesture | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
made by one of the strikers at the club. Nicolas Anelka made the | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
"quenelle" gesture, which is alleged to have anti-Semitic associations, | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
hearing a Premier League match. Our correspondent Sian Lloyd is at West | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
Ridge Albion's ground. How damaging Will this be to the club? This deal | :18:48. | :18:54. | |
was worth ?3 million over two years. Zoopla is honouring the | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
contract until the end of the season, when it was due for renewal | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
anyway. The fans are arriving this evening for their home game against | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
Everton. It is the first under their new manager Pepe Mel. Nicolas Anelka | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
may well be playing just controversy continues to surround the French | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
striker. The FA is investigating him after his celebratory gesture, made | :19:22. | :19:24. | |
after scoring against West Ham in December. The gesture is known as | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
the "quenelle", which is hugely controversial and widely condemned | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
in France as being anti-Semitic. The property website Zoopla has today | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
said that it will not be renewing its sponsorship deal. It still says | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
it is the proud sponsor of the club. It is part owned by a Jewish | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
businessman, and it is understood the company is extremely unhappy | :19:51. | :19:53. | |
about the decision of the club to continue to play Anelka. The club | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
has not commented this evening. The FA will be making its findings known | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
soon. The inquest into the death of a red arrows pilot has been told | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
that potentially life-threatening problems with his ejector seat had | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
not been revealed to the RAF. Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham died from | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
multiple injuries when he was ejected 300 feet into the air while | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
his jet was still on the ground in 2011. Concerns about the assembly of | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
the parts of the seat, which affected its parachute, were raised | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
with the manufacturer over 20 years ago. Both the Government and Labour | :20:31. | :20:37. | |
have been talking tough on welfare benefits today. The work and in | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, says new migrant workers from Europe will | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
be unable to claim Housing benefit from April just meanwhile, his | :20:46. | :20:48. | |
opposite number, Rachel Reeves, has said a Labour government would | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
introduce Monday to retraining for job-seekers. Those refusing will | :20:55. | :20:57. | |
lose their job-seekers allowance. Mark Easton reports just -- Mark | :20:58. | :21:07. | |
Easton reports. The question over welfare looks set to dominate the | :21:08. | :21:10. | |
next election, with the parties competing to sound tough. You need | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
that basic maths and English, don't you? In her first major announcement | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Rachel Reeves revealed | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
her plan to stop some unemployed people getting benefit if they will | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
not study to improve their skills. Under the Labour party proposal, | :21:31. | :21:33. | |
anyone signing on for job-seekers allowance without basic skills in | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
maths, English or IT will be required to go back to college for | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
extra classes. They must pass the exams or be told to do more | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
training. If they refuse training, they lose the benefit. Is the | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
message really, we are even tougher than the Tories on welfare? Well, | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
this policy is tough. People have got to take the training which is | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
offered to them, and if they are offered a job, they have to take | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
it, otherwise there will be sanctions. But it is also a | :22:02. | :22:04. | |
government doing its part in making sure people have the skills they | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
need to access jobs. The Department for Work and Pensions says Jobcentre | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
staff can already oblige claimants to get basic skills training. But | :22:14. | :22:16. | |
the Labour plan would make it standard pack this. That is | :22:17. | :22:25. | |
diabolical. The lazy should not have the opportunity to claim benefits. | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
You need to get those skills in. So, as Labour announces what it | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
hopes will be seen as a hard but fair policy on welfare, Conservative | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
ministers are also announcing proposals for tougher rules on the | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
benefits that immigrants can claim. Welfare Secretary Iain Duncan Smith | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
says that from April, new EU migrants will no longer be able to | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
claim Housing benefit if they are receiving job-seekers allowance. | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
Anybody who wants to come here needs to be coming to look for work and to | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
take work, and to make contributions, not to come because | :23:03. | :23:05. | |
the benefits system is more generous. However, the European | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
Commission says EU states are not obliged to provide housing benefit, | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
and after three months, jobless migrants can be sent home if they | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
cannot afford to support themselves. Both parties are terrified about | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
public opinion, with just months to go before the European elections. | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
One of the issues they are frightened of is public opposition | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
to welfare. The proposals trumpeted by Conservative and Labour today are | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
both criticised as changing very little but with voters enthusiastic | :23:36. | :23:38. | |
for Welfare Reform Bill we can expect many more tough sounding | :23:39. | :23:40. | |
ideas in the coming weeks and months. | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
At ten o'clock this morning, an alarm clock allsorts sounded in | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
space. It happened on a probe which has had all of its systems shut down | :23:52. | :23:57. | |
for two years to save energy. In the last few minutes we have heard that | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
the alarm system worked, and tonight, the Rosetta probe is back | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
in action. It was launched in 2004 by the European Space Agency. It has | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
travelled 500 million miles from the Earth. Its mission is to put a | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
robotic lander onto a comet to discover more about how the solar | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
system came into existence. David Shukman reports. A vast lump of rock | :24:21. | :24:29. | |
and ice, blasts of vapour bursting from its surface. This animation of | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
a comet shows the mysterious and hostile world that a spacecraft will | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
try to land on. Throughout human history, the glowing tails of comets | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
have proved both frightening and enchanting. They have remained far | :24:45. | :24:51. | |
beyond reach, until now. It is an audacious project, it is a huge | :24:52. | :24:54. | |
mission, doing things we have never done before. We have had previous | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
missions to comets, just flying by, taking snapshots, from hundreds but | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
Rosetta is going to get up, close and personal with a comet. It was | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
nearly ten years ago that the Rosetta spacecraft was launched. You | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
need patience to be a space scientist, because only now is it | :25:14. | :25:21. | |
approaching its key phase. Is extraordinary mission will try | :25:22. | :25:24. | |
something incredibly daring. It is powered by solar panels, 14 metres | :25:25. | :25:31. | |
long, because being so far away, the rays of the sun are far weaker than | :25:32. | :25:38. | |
we are used to. Rosetta's journey has seen it go past Mars, using the | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
gravity of the planet to speed up on a series of orbits, all the time | :25:44. | :25:46. | |
accelerating so that it can catch up with the comic it is after, its | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
destination. This has taken Rosetta out towards Jupiter. It is now | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
circling back in, gaining on the comet, and if all goes well, it will | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
close in for the first ever attempt to touch down on one of these | :26:01. | :26:08. | |
bizarre objects. First, Rosetta will orbit the comet, getting pictures | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
and choosing a landing site. Then, it will release a small craft which | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
will descend to the surface. Comets are older than the planets, so we | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
may learn if they brought us water and the building blocks for life. | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
Comets act as a time travel capsule. From the start of the solar system, | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
more than 4.6 billion years ago, they contain the earliest water and | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
organic material which was there before the planets formed. So we | :26:35. | :26:38. | |
will be able to understand where our water on Earth, and where we, came | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
from. So, how the solar system evolved, and how, from a swirl of | :26:44. | :26:46. | |
rocks, we eventually got the planets, and then life, are | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
questions which this mission may help answer. | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
That brings us to the weather, with John Hammond. Back down to earth | :26:56. | :27:03. | |
with some fairly wintry hazards. Fog is already thickening up. There will | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
be a frost around in the morning as well. Most of the frost and fog | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
across central and east parts of the UK will be thickening up as the | :27:17. | :27:26. | |
evening goes on. Further west, it is a different story, with rain heading | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
into Scotland and Northern Ireland. Not a very nice start to the day | :27:32. | :27:39. | |
across these western areas. The breeze but at least, with the | :27:40. | :27:45. | |
clown, the bridges will have risen above freezing. -- with the cloud. | :27:46. | :27:53. | |
Expect some fog for the morning rush-hour. Ltd brightness. Further | :27:54. | :28:04. | |
west, the rain will be clearing out of Northern Ireland, moving into | :28:05. | :28:14. | |
Scotland, Wales and west in England. It will feel chilly in most places. | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
Tomorrow evening and night, the rain will be staggering eastwards. Moving | :28:21. | :28:30. | |
into Wednesday, it will probably linger across eastern counties. | :28:31. | :28:32. | |
Further west, brightening up on Wednesday. Although still, there | :28:33. | :28:41. | |
will be some sharp showers around. Temperatures reaching respectable | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
to. Some of us will have to scrape the windscreen first thing in the | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
morning. That is all from us. Now, on BBC One we | :28:50. | :28:51. |