11/01/2018 BBC News at Six

A stark claim by doctors -

winter pressures have left

patients dying prematurely

in hospital corridors.

They say safety in A&E units

in England and Wales

is being compromised

at a sometimes "intolerable" level.

There is a clear emergency

and what a number of other observers

have clearly described as a crisis.

The doctors' warning comes as A&E

waiting time targets in England

and Wales hit their lowest level

in 14 years.

Also on tonight's programme.

The plastic pollution problem -

the Government lays out plans to cut

out all unnecessary plastic use.

The desperate search continues

for those still unaccounted

for after the California mudslides.

I am 22 years old...

The vlogger punished by You Tube -

after posting film of a suicide

victim for his millions

of followers.

And which shops sparkled

and who had a takings turkey?

The winners and losers on the high

street this Christmas.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News, Roger Federer is back to

defend his title, but how did

the British hopes fair in the draw

for the Australian Open?

Good evening.

Patients are dying in hospital

corridors in Accident and Emergency

departments in England and Wales

because safety has been compromised

by "intolerable" conditions.

That's the blunt warning made

in a letter to Theresa May,

signed by 68 senior doctors who run

A&E departments.

Today there's fresh

evidence of the pressure

those units are under.

Over 300,000 patients waited longer

than they should in December.

85% of patients were seen in four

hours - the 95% target -

the figure equals the previous low

recorded last January.

Our Heath Editor Hugh

Pym has the story.

Serious concerns about patient

safety and an intolerable situation.

Strong words from senior front

line doctors in a letter

to the Prime Minister.

With scenes like this filmed

by a patient in a hospital,

the warnings are echoed

by some medical leaders.

There is no doubt that our emergency

departments are facing the biggest

crisis that we have had

for over 15 years.

We absolutely must work together

as system leaders at every level

in order to find both short-term

and medium-term solutions.

The letter from the A&E consultants

sets out the impact of the pressure

and their own experiences.

Over 120 patients a day

managed in corridors,

some dying prematurely.

An average of 10-12 hours

from decision to admit a patient

until they are transferred to a bed,

and patients sleeping in clinics

as makeshift wards.

They say NHS winter planning failed

to deliver what was needed.

But the Prime Minister insisted that

significant measures

had been put in place.

For the first time ever,

urgent GP appointments

being available throughout

the Christmas period.

That was a decision taken to improve

the service for people,

but also to ensure that the NHS had

that better capacity to deal

with these winter pressures.

For the opposition, the problem

is really about funding.

The money has to go in now.

But it should have gone in earlier.

Even if the Chancellor announced

billions today, we can't

spend it all by tomorrow.

Is that the one that you want?

While the debate goes on,

Rosie can only reflect

on a humiliating experience in A&E.

She was in severe pain

because of a gynaecological problem

and was bleeding heavily.

But she was examined

in a crowded corridor.

I think I was trolley number 12.

There were trolleys

going all the way up.

You can't see to someone's dignity,

you can't ensure they are having

a private conversation and that

if they break down in tears,

which I think I did,

I think I am pretty sure I cried

as well, but you can't look

into anybody's right to privacy

or anything like that.

At some hospitals, like Ipswich,

they say careful planning paid off

and, though staff were extremely

busy, they coped with the pressures.

At times over the really

busy New Year period,

there were trolleys down

the corridor here.

But at this A&E unit, things seem

to have calmed a little this week,

with fewer patients

coming through the front

door of the hospital.

But no-one is complacent about

what the weeks ahead may bring.

The medical director told me flu

was a significant concern.

We've worked really hard to try

and get our staff vaccinated.

But we are not at all complacent.

I think the next two months

are going to be a challenging time.

We will be looking at flu

vaccination for vulnerable

patients and staff members.

The battle isn't over.

And with the latest figures showing

the highest number of flu cases

in England in seven years,

health leaders have called

for vaccinations for NHS

staff to be compulsory.

Some hospitals have greater than 90%

vaccination of health workers.

Others, less than 20%.

This has to be an issue

of leadership, but we need people

in the health care sector

to protect their patients.

We have a duty of care

to our patients.

Flu has been an even bigger problem

for Scotland's hospitals,

with the A&E waiting

time target missed.

It's the same in Wales,

by a bigger margin.

Winter has been bleak so far

for the NHS in the UK,

and there are still a couple

of months to go.

If you want to find out

how your local hospital

is performing you can use the BBC's

NHS Tracker at

www.bbc.co.uk/nhstracker

Joining me is our political

editor Laura Kuenssberg.

She is at Westminster and the NHS

remains the big domestic challenge

for the government?

Absolutely and

politicians of all stripes care

deeply about the National Health

Service because they know voters

cared deeply about the National

Health Service and in no way the

agonising winter pressure plays out

in the health service and every year

a similar political conversation

begins about the health service and

whether it can carry on under the

current model and normally that does

not get far. People say something

must be done but those remarks often

end up with not much changing. This

year there is a sense it might turn

out to be a more significant

conversation, not just because the

statistics are dire, not just

because the experiences for patients

are so awful. But also because Tory

politicians and opposition

politicians are saying in greater

number we cannot avoid having a

bigger conversation about the way

the health service is run and how

much money it requires, we cannot

put that off much longer and even

the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt

told MPs yesterday he would like

10-year funding deals for the NHS

and in the years ahead it will need

significantly more money. The fact

is in Downing Street residence of

number 10 and number 11 do not say

that yet. They do not believe it is

that kind of moment. But with the

situation in hospitals as it is, the

pressure on them is only going one

way.

We are talking about the NHS

but what ministers wanted to focus

on is the environment today.

It was

in 2015 the Tories promised a grand

vision that would look ahead to the

next 25 years but it was only today

that plan emerged. This is a big new

priority. The government say they

have always cared about the

environment but now it is top of the

list and the headline from the Prime

Minister today was a crackdown on

using plastic and she went off to

make her first big speech of the

year to polish her green

credentials.

What you think I should look for? A

grand vision we were promised, a

plan to look after spaces around us

for years to come and the Prime

Minister trying to spot political

opportunity.

The environment is

something personal to each of us and

also something that collectively we

hold in trust for the next

generation and we have a

responsibility to protect and

enhance it.

Top of the list,

cleaning up plastics that harm

wildlife on land and in C and more

charges for plastic bags, possible

taxes on containers and encouraging

shops to use less. But with no new

law to underline the change.

In

years to come I think people will be

shocked at how today we allow so

much plastic to be produced

needlessly. It is one of the great

environmental scourges. We will take

action at every stage of production

and consumption of plastic.

You are

talking about ideas taking

talking about ideas taking place

over 25 years with no legal

guarantees.

If actions speak louder

than words, do you believe this

problem is urgent? It is an

inspiring plan, a long-term plan

about the next 25 years. A plan that

speaks to everybody with an interest

in our environment. Everybody who

wants to ensure future generations

enjoy a beautiful environment and

place in which to live.

Looking on,

alongside these white faced

whistling ducks, campaign is pleased

there is a plan. But not quite

convinced that a government that

believes in fracking and building

high-speed rail really means it.

The

problem talking about a 25 year

plan, in the absence of hard

measures about what they will do

here and now, this is a government

where most commentators question it

will last possibly 25 days. What we

need to know the actions happening

in 28 team to make a difference.

Theresa May says conservation and

conservatism have always gone hand

in hand, but this is not just about

principles, policy, the new

environment plan, it is also about

politics and how the Tories fell

back at the election. Anxious that

millions of younger voters turn to

labour then, the Tories have tried

to green their credentials, banning

microbeads, plans to ban the sale of

ivory.

25 years is far too long. The

plastic culture has to be

challenged. The pollution of our

rivers and seas by plastic waste is

absolutely dreadful.

The Prime

Minister believes her promise is the

right one to make. Her hope, to

create a habitat more friendly to

her political breeze.

With tackling plastic

pollution a major part

of the Government's strategy,

just how practical is it

to live without the stuff?

Well, they've been trying to do just

that in Penzance in Cornwall,

as Jon Kay has been finding out.

We can remove it, we can recycle it.

A rubbish day at St Hilary's School.

Who has straws in their drinks?

A lesson in pollution and waste.

We pick up, again, hundreds

of toothbrushes from beaches.

If Theresa May wants

to reach out to the young

with her green strategy, well,

these kids will be 30 at the end

of her 25-year plan.

What would you say to those

politicians in London?

Stop using plastic,

and stop making it.

If a turtle is swimming and it

sees a plastic bottle,

which is shaped like a jellyfish,

he could see it and then swallow it,

and then he could drown.

Here in Penzance, they are

trying to be Britain's

first plastic-free town.

And they're making some progress.

Businesses like this

cafe have signed up,

and it's backed by the council.

Well, there's plastic

on that, and the apples.

But at the local supermarket,

the challenge is clear.

Apples, wrapped in plastic.

Sausages in a carton and in plastic.

You could put that

in a paper bag, say.

John likes the Government's

new strategy but wonders if it

can make much difference.

Frozen stuff in plastic, apples -

plastic, leeks - plastic.

You just can't get away from it.

Most shoppers told us they would try

plastic-free aisles,

but some, like Roxy,

worried it might not be practical.

It wouldn't necessarily be the most

hygienic route to go down, maybe?

Having the meat next to the eggs,

or the cheese, for example.

Well, this is why people around

here are so concerned

about the long-term

impact of plastic.

Look, found on a local beach

recently, a lollipop stick

from when I was growing up

in the 1970s.

It hasn't broken down at all.

And a packet of peanuts,

best before 1983.

We've got some takeaway

cutlery in the bottom here.

Rachel was behind the Penzance

campaign, and she says

all communities can do the same.

Litter is all over the UK,

no matter where you live.

It's exactly the same issue,

it just looks different.

If it's not a beach,

it's by a river, it's

in a hedge, it's by the road.

The Prime Minister insists her plan

has a wider vision.

She says it's about more than

plastic, about more than the coast.

Jon Kay, BBC News, Cornwall.

Search teams in California

are still trying to find

eight people missing

following mudslides on Tuesday.

17 people are known to have died

after a torrent of mud carrying

boulders the size of small cars

smashed through the

town of Montecito.

More than 500 homes have been

damaged or destroyed.

James Cook is there for us.

You do not have to walk far in

Montecito to see something shocking.

There are homes like these behind

me, either smashed to pieces, or

simply swept away, all over the

town. Hopes of finding anyone alive

are very slim and more harrowing

details of how this started have

been urging, and it started in the

dead of night.

Turn around!

The flash flood is right there!

Get out of here, go!

This is the moment it began.

Oh, my God!

And then panic.

Close the door!

It was 1 million miles

an hour in slow motion,

if that makes sense.

I clicked into survival

gear, survival mode.

Every second, it is just roaring

and banging against the house

and the most vicious and violent

sounds you have ever heard.

Montecito has only just grasped

the scale of the disaster

which will bear its name.

For this idyllic little town

of just 9,000 people,

recovery will be long and hard.

This was somebody's driveway.

There are three cars destroyed.

Buried inside that trouble.

Looking at this house,

it is difficult to believe anyone

on this street survived,

but many did and their

stories are remarkable.

People walked the dogs through here,

there are trails my kids have grown

up riding their bikes.

Noelle fled with her three children

just before the storm.

But many of her neighbours did not.

Really young boys were

swept out of their home,

along with their mother.

In the middle of the night.

And the dog is gone.

And they are lucky to be fine.

It is like a war zone here.

There are homes that

are just missing.

And I walk down the street and I see

balls and toys and bicycles

and shoes and socks.

And knives and hammers.

It looks like people's lives

or just lost to the ocean.

Much of the wreckage ended up

clogging the main coastal motorway.

The mountains above are scarred

by rivers of debris.

Southern California was once famed

for its agreeable climate.

These days, it reels

from drought, fire and flood.

James Cook, BBC News, Montecito.

The time is 17 minutes past six.

Our top story this evening:

Doctors claim some patients

are dying prematurely

because of winter

pressures on the NHS.

And still to come...

We talk to Steven Spielberg

about speaking truth unto power

in his latest film, The Post.

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC News:

The NBA comes to London tonight

for a regular-season game

but watch chances of having a team

in the capital for good?

Our Christmas shopping choices have

had some retailers rejoicing,

but others have reported rather

frugal festive trading figures.

Tesco says it had a record

Christmas, but M&S suffered falls

in both its food and clothing sales.

Here's Emma Simpson.

The show's over, we've moved on.

But the Christmas story

for retailers is only

now becoming clear.

So who are some of

the winners and losers?

Tesco has done well,

with sales up today,

so have many of the other grocers.

But food sales, usually a bright

spot for Marks & Spencer,

went into reverse, and there have

been profit warnings at Debenhams,

Mothercare and Moss Bros.

Things are certainly more

challenging here on the high street.

Take House of Fraser,

a business under pressure.

It saw another fall in sales today.

And you don't have to go

far to see how the gap

between the weaker and the stronger

players is widening.

Here at John Lewis, it's had no

problem pulling customers in.

It's one of the winners today.

There's a sort of slight air

of caution about people's attitudes,

for all sorts of perfectly

understandable reasons,

but there is demand there.

You just have to go

and find it, and you have

to create the conditions

where people want things,

and of course that comes down

to having fabulous product.

And it actually means you have to be

outstanding at online and shops.

This small but fast-growing

online retailer is doing

very nicely with shops.

very nicely without shops.

And is expecting to grow

sales by 90% this year,

but some are predicting problems

for the high street ahead.

This is going to be the year

of retail distress.

We've already seen bits

of distress percolating

through even before Christmas,

and I think that the weaker players

are going to find it too

tough to really survive.

It's been a season of mixed

fortunes for retailers.

The new year heralds the clearance

sales and some uncertainty

about what 2018 will bring.

Emma Simpson, BBC News.

A lingerie company has lost its most

prestigious customer - the Queen -

after its director wrote a book

revealing details of

royal bra fittings.

Rigby & Peller had held

the royal warrant since 1960,

and said it was "deeply saddened"

by the decision to cancel it.

Company director June Kenton

published her book

'Storm In a D Cup' last year.

YouTube has cut some business ties

with a popular video blogger -

Logan Paul - after he was criticised

for posting a video

YouTube has cut some business ties

with a popular video blogger -

appearing to show the body

of a suicide victim.

The 22-year-old said he felt ashamed

after filming at a location in Japan

known to be a frequent

site of suicides.

Logan Paul's channel has more

than 15 million subscribers.

Here's our Media Editor, Amol Rajan.

We are going to take a break from

vlogging and each other.

Low-budget,

confessional and often astonishingly

popular. This couple announced they

were breaking up on YouTube in a

video seen 15 million times. They

are part of a phenomenon called

vlogging or

vlogging or video blogging, very

often on YouTube. The industry has

created a vast new fleet of online

celebrities.

celebrities. Many vloggers have a

prolific following. This 22-year-old

American is a YouTube star or

awards.

I think this definitely

marks the moment in YouTube history.

This morning YouTube cut business

ties with him after he posted a

video from Aokigahara Forest,

intimate as a suicide spot. He

issued an apology to his subscribers

on YouTube.

I have made a severe and

continuous lapse of my judgment and

I don't expect to be forgiven. I'm

simply here to apologise.

In a

statement, YouTube said:

Vlogging is now hugely popular

business with the likes of Logan

Paul making money in a variety of

ways. They get paid up to £3 per

1000 clicks and can top up their

income through merchandising and

deals with brands and they do all of

that without the more stringent

controls apply to traditional media.

The boss of Britain's biggest media

agency wants to see smarter

regulation.

I would definitely like

to see vloggers with this much reach

and influence to have the sorts of

regulation traditional broadcasters

have got to adhere to, particularly

around content that can be

dangerous, can be glamorising or

condo owning anti-social behaviour,

dangerous behaviour, that can be

copied by children.

I'm going to be

the biggest entertainer on the

planet...

Logan Paul is a new kind

of celebrity. For all of the glory

of the open work, the danger is that

his kind of immaturity exposes

audiences to material that is in

nobody's interests.

I'm just getting

warmed up.

The Oscar-winning director

Steven Spielberg has told the BBC

he believes President Trump

is using the same tactics

as Richard Nixon used

during his presidency

to "try to silence the press."

The story of 1970s battle

between the media and the Nixon

administration is the subject

of his latest film, The Post.

He spoke to our Arts

Editor, Will Gompertz.

This is a devastating security

breach that was leaked

out of the Pentagon.

Before the Watergate Scandal,

there were the Pentagon Papers.

The first expose a of a cover-up

in the Nixon government

by the Washington Post,

led by its legendary editor Ben

Bradlee and publisher Kay Graham.

Do you have the papers?

Set in 1971.

Yes.

But you have described

it as a timely movie.

Well, obviously if you flip the 1

and the 7, or the 7 and the 1,

you really get to see the great arc

of the pendulum that has brought us

right back to the same tactics

that Richard Nixon used

to try to silence the press.

I'm talking about the current

administration and their absolute

broadsiding of media,

social media, news,

anybody that offends.

You know, there is a label

that is immediately attached

to them, well, that can't be true,

because they're all fake news.

I mean, it's a lot more

insidious today, by the way,

than it was in 1971.

If you publish, we'll be

in the Supreme Court next week.

Meaning?

We could all go to prison.

There's been another massive press

expose the last six months,

it looks like the endemic sexual

harassment and exploitation

of women in Hollywood.

I mean, you're a really senior

figure in Hollywood and you've

been around a long time.

Do you ever think, you know

what, I think I could

have done a bit more to stop this?

Well, you know, I can only basically

react to that question

within my own workplace environment.

Within my organisation,

there weren't incidences,

except for a couple of years

and years ago, that I would say

gave me the experiences

to be the authority

on that question you ask.

What happened in those incidences?

Just a couple of incidences, I don't

want to go into detail on them,

but they happened years and years

ago, where we had

to let somebody go.

People are concerned about having

a woman in charge of the paper.

Think she doesn't have the resolve

to make the tough choices.

Thank you for your frankness.

My prediction is that this

watershed moment for women,

in extolling the courage of women

who, like Katherine Graham,

with the Pentagon Papers,

with her decision to publish or not

to publish, so many women have

found their voices and they have

been given so much support.

Not just by other women,

but also by certain men.

I think this is not just

another news cycle.

I think this is a permanent

change in the culture.

Maybe.

But as Kay Graham showed

with her courageous leadership

of the Washington Post,

exposing deeply rooted corrupt

behaviour is one thing -

changing it is quite another.

Will Gompertz, BBC News.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Helen Willetts.

It's been a tale of two halves

today, such contrast in the weather

so let's start with the western side

of the UK, the sunnier parts.

Further east we have the remnants of

all weak weather front which has

brought rain to Scarborough. The

rain is tending to peter out but

there's an awful lot of cloud. Where

we have had clear skies the fault is

beginning again and in Northern

Ireland for the second day the fog

didn't clear. It should clear more

readily tomorrow. There will be for

in western parts of England and

dance was the south as well, and

given that temperatures in cities

could be freezing it could mean

freezing fog tomorrow. Again, it is

going to be an issue for the rush

hour, Scotland and north-west

England, for a time Northern

Ireland, parts of eastern Wales into

many parts of the Midlands and

Central and southern England. It

will be widespread but more patchy.

It eventually clears from most parts

but we have that complication of the

weather front with its cloud around

and the drizzly showers again, so

yes of course there will be some

sunshine and some breaks in the

cloud, lifted by the freshening

breeze, but it is then starting to

change weather-wise. This comes

through tomorrow night, rain from

Northern Ireland and a fairly stiff

breeze as well so we shouldn't have

as much frost going into Saturday

morning. But we have that rain

stagnating in the west, a lot of

cloud further east so I think we

will keep a lot of cloudy and grey

weather this weekend. But then it

all changes into next week because

once the weather front fizzles out,

we have this one coming in from the

Atlantic. Firstly heavy rain and

gales, then rather wintry weather on

the cards.

That's all from the BBC News at Six

so it's goodbye from me