26/12/2012 BBC News


26/12/2012

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Hundreds of shoppers have queued through the night to grab a Boxing

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Day bargain. Up to �3 billion is expected to be spent today across

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shopping centres and high streets. The winter sale is traditionally

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bigger than the summer. It's important and one of the biggest

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volume days of the year. Thousands of hunt supporters are out in force,

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as a senior minister says there's little chance of overturning the

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ban on hunting with dogs. A High Court judge criticises the

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Government's plans over gay marriage. And, who won the battle

:00:49.:00:59.
:00:59.:01:05.

for number one in the Christmas Day TV ratings? Good afternoon.

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Hundreds of shoppers have queued through the night in the hope of

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grabbing a Boxing Day bargain. Retail analysts are expecting

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almost �3 billion to be spent today across shopping centres and high

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streets. Spending over the final weekend before Christmas hit the

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predicted five billion, but many high street retailers still risk

:01:21.:01:26.

going under after the festive period. Let's join Judith Moritz

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,who is at the White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds. Judith, how's it

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:01:39.:01:41.

looking there? It's extremely busy. In terms of what they're telling me,

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this place has been open for 15 years and last week they had their

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busiest-ever week of trade and overnight, waiting for the Boxing

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Day sales, 4,000 people were in the queue. There was a good camaraderie,

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but when the doors opened it was every man for himself. The annual

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tradition of the Boxing Day sales is alive and well, as much of a

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Christmas ritual for these shoppers as turkey and tinsel. They queued

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from the early hours to be sure of securing the best bargains. Falling

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over each other to get inside shops they were in London's West End.

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Websites say that nearly �3 billion will go through the tills today,

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with four million people hitting the shops and five million buying

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online. That's all welcome news for retailers. Last year was a strong

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Christmas online and this year has built again. We are seeing double-

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digit numbers online this year, so we are not surprised, but it has

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been very strong. Whilst online shopping has boomed, the British

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Retail Consortium says high street spending has been acceptable. In

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Yorkshire they are still feeling positive. This centre if Leeds is

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one centre to do well. I got new shoes for work and just new

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everything. Why come today? Definitely, for bargains. We come

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every year. We got up at four. Got in the car and drove to

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Huddersfield, went to the Next sale, spent some money there. Yep. As you

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do. We drove from Huddersfield over to Leeds and here we are. Shop,

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shop, shop. We waited until after Christmas to come to get a full new

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wardrobe. Princes Street in Edinburgh has drawn the crowds.

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Bargain Hunting is proving popular here too. Some shops started their

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sales well before Christmas and some websites saw massive activity

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on Christmas Day, but there's still a lot of affection for the national

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Boxing Day shop-a-thon. Shoppers like those we met here, who have

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been to three separate centres are the kind of people that retailers

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want to meet and it has been good news across the country. We have

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just heard from Selfridges that they took �1.5 million in their

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first hour's trading alone. Great news for them. They are saying here

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it's going and online retail analysts say online sales are up

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31% on the same period last year. Great news if you are shopping on

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the computer, but across the board really, it's that tradition of

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Boxing Day sales and retailers are hoping it will go beyond and into

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the rest of the week and the rest of the festive period and people

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will keep spending. Thank you very much. Bargain hunters in London

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will be making their way to the sales without the help of the

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London Underground. The network is running a reduced service as tube

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drivers have walked out in a dispute over Bank Holiday pay.

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London Transport says extra buses are being laid on to help. Let's go

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live now to Ben Geoghegan, who joins us from outside Edgware Road

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Tube Station in West London. Tell us more. This is the third Boxing

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Day in a row when ASLEF tube drivers have decided to strike. The

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issue is about pay for working on Boxing Day. The union argues that

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when drivers are asked to work and there will be 850 who have been

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asked to work today, they should get an increase if salary and it

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should be voluntary, so that people would choose to work today, because

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they would earn a little extra money. The company's response to

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all of this is to say, "We agreed the contract with the drivers years

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ago. They get paid in the region of �46,000 and their salary includes

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working on some Bank Holidays." The company have been very critical of

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their action, saying that it's scandalous and completely

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unnecessary and that the union are holding Londoners to ransom. Take

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us through the scale of the disruption. You can see behind me

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the signs when are telling people not to get on a train here. What

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TfL are saying is there's a limited service, but there some service on

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all of the tube lines. I think what they are trying to do is

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concentrate on what they say are the core areas, so 300 extra buses

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have been laid on to take people to shopping centres and other

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attractions in the centre of town and they are putting on tubes on

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the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines going through the centre.

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This isn't the only day of disruption. If this is not resolved

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ASLEF say they'll strike towards the end of next month. Thank you.

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The commander of Syria's military police has defected and joined the

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uprising against President Assad's government. Major General Abdulaziz

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al-Shalal is reported as saying that the Syrian Army had deviated

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from it's original mission of protecting the nation and has

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turned into a gang of killers. General Shalal is the highest-

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ranking military police officer to defect since the beginning of the

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conflict in Syria nearly two years ago. The Met Office has issued a

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landslide warning for parts of south-west England as heavy

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downpours continue to spark fears of unstable cliff faces. The Dorset

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coast has already been affected, with two landslips on Swanage Beach

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in Dorset. Boxing Day walkers are being urged to take extra care. 149

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flood warnings remain in place across England and Wales. A senior

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Cabinet minister has said he doubts whether MPs will be given a chance

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next year to overturn the ban on hunting with dogs. The Environment

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Secretary, Owen Paterson, has warned there's no prospect of

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winning a vote in 2013. More than 300 hunts are meeting for drag

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hunts today. Let's join Alex Dunlop, who is at the Thurlow Hunt in

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Suffolk. Alex. Matthew, this is very much the heart of hunting

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country and the Boxing Day meet is very much at the heart of the

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hunting calendar. The hunt here in Suffolk meets about 70 times a year.

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They have about two meets a week and they have people from all walks

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of life joining the hunt. They can trace their roots back to 1770, but

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for the last eight years they've had to have what is called a drag

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hunt. That is having the scent of a fox poured on a rag and dragged

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through the surrounding fields. There were many riders and

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followers this morning. They were in a field here and they set off

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over an hour ago and they are expected to be out for most of the

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day. The hounds of the hunt have arrived for the busiest day of the

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calendar. Waiting for them, dozens of riders and hundreds of followers,

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keen to show their support despite the ban. A lot of hunts have some

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pretty spiteful activities by opponents, who pursue them all over.

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It makes their life pretty difficult. The law itself isn't

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entirely clear as to what is acceptable and what is not. This is

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what the hunt will follow. A sock infused with fox scent. It will be

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dragged through the countryside. Eight years, -- ago, widespread

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demonstrations failed to stop the ban coming into force. Since 2005,

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it's been illegal to use dogs to hunt in England and Wales. Scotland

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had already brought in a ban. But campaigners say illegal hunting it

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still going on. Just last week, members of the Heythorp Hunt were

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prosecuted by the RSPCA and fined. It's blatant cruelty and it's

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unnecessary in this day and age and the sooner the hunts wake up and

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smell the coffee and start honestly hunting a false trail, not a fox-

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based scent, but an artificial scent, then we will leave them

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alone and not be here next day having this conversation. In an

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interview with today's Telegraph, Owen Paterson appeared to rule out

:10:07.:10:17.
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a free vote for MPs on whether the ban should be lifted. He said: The

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300 hunts across England and Wales admit there's little likelihood of

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the law being changed any time soon. Just before they set off, the field

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master told me, if they come across a live fox, what they'll do is stop

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the hunt, control the hounds and then restart the hunt with a for

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example trail. The Countryside Alliance admit it's highly unlikely

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that the act will be changed within the lifetime of this Parliament.

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Those against hunting don't want it changed at all. Back to you. Thank

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:10:58.:11:07.

you. For the second time this Christmas, the Government's plans

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to allow gay marriage in England and Wales have come under strong

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attack. A High Court judge, Sir Paul Coleridge, has said ministers

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should instead be focussing on what he called a crisis of family

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breakdown. Yesterday, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminister

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used his Christmas message to say the Government's proposals had

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become a shambles. Let's get more on this with our Political

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Correspondent, Chris Mason, who's here with me now. What is this all

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about? Sir Paul has been dealing with family cases and he set up the

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Marriage Foundation, which tries to hold couples together. It's his

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argument that the focus on gay marriage is good from the view of a

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national debate about marriage, but the real focus should be the 99.9%

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of couples with children and trying to ensure that they are kept

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together. Has there been any response for the Government? Yes,

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some. It's quite striking. Normally there is a ceasefire in political

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hostilities over the Christmas season, but given that gay marriage

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is so big an issue for so many people within the churches, we have

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had the comments from the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wesminster,

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saying that the Government's plans were a shambles, but Downing Street

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made clear Conservative MPs will get a free vote on this and the

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Government has said that no church will be obliged to carry out gay

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marriage ceremonies. Striking comments from Lynne Featherstone

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saying today that criticism from those within the churches on this

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is shameful, because she said there is a mandate for this and the

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Conservatives have talked about it and it's Lib Dem policies and it's

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her argument that polls suggest that people are in favour of it.

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Thank you very much. It's one of the most hotly contested TV battles

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of the year - which programme managed to beat all the others and

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take the top-spot for ratings on Christmas Day. Well, last night

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Eastenders was the most watched show, beating Coronation Street

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into second place. With all the details, here's our Entertainment

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:13:11.:13:15.

Correspondent, Lizo Mzimba. The rating's battle is as traditional

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as turkey, with the brod casters rolling out their big --

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broadcasters, rolling out their biggest hitters. Overall viewing

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figures might be down, but the BBC will still be delighted that in the

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battle of the soaps, EastEnders beat Coronation Street by close to

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one million viewers and other BBC shows like Strictly Come Dancing

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beat ITV's other big offering, Downton Abbey way down into eighth

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position. Christmas Day figures are crucial to the various different

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channels. Much in the way that Saturday night figures are too.

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They seem to be the benchmark by which people judge success or

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failure and of course Christmas Day has been owned by the BBC for many

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a long year and they don't want to give that title. It's the

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Corporation's range of shows from old favourites to new-comers like

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Call the Midwife that seemed to have helped the BBC retain the

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crown. This past year has been one of great celebration for many.

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still early days for some innovations. The Queen's broadcast

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was seen by 36,000 people in 3D, the first time it's been broadcast

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in that form at. A tiny proportion compared to the 8 million who

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watched it in traditional 2D. And the battle isn't over yet. Once

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