:00:00. > 3:59:59BBC News Channel. Now on BBC One, it's time for the news where you
:00:00. > :00:13.are. Good evening.
:00:14. > :00:16.Experts called in to assess the badger cull in the West Country have
:00:17. > :00:20.concluded it was ineffective and too many animals suffered. The panel was
:00:21. > :00:24.appointed by ministers to evaluate last autumn's culling in
:00:25. > :00:27.Gloucestershire and Somerset. In a moment, we'll speak to our political
:00:28. > :00:31.editor Paul Barltrop, but first he has this report.
:00:32. > :00:36.For the cull's opponents, today s revelations have strengthened their
:00:37. > :00:39.resolve. How much proof do you need that this
:00:40. > :00:46.won't work? It's a botched scheme. They were warned wouldn't work. The
:00:47. > :00:49.top scientist Lord Krebs said it was a crazy scheme that was never going
:00:50. > :00:55.to work or make life easier for farmers.
:00:56. > :00:58.Climatic Our predictions have borne out. We warned this was a costly
:00:59. > :01:10.distraction from the business of controlling cattle TB. We warned it
:01:11. > :01:19.risked making things worse. . So, how did it come to this? The
:01:20. > :01:21.cull followed decades of more and more cattle succumbing to
:01:22. > :01:24.tuberculosis. The disease can be spread between cows, and by other
:01:25. > :01:27.species including badgers. There were culling trials from 1997 to
:01:28. > :01:30.2006 ` when scientists concluded it wasn't worth it. But a change of
:01:31. > :01:33.government brought a change of policy. Today, Andrew Guest was one
:01:34. > :01:37.of the few cull supporters willing to talk. The Forest of Dean farmer
:01:38. > :01:49.has had repeated outbreaks of Bovine TB. He saw some of the culling and
:01:50. > :01:53.doesn't think it was inhumane. I witnessed it on a number of
:01:54. > :01:55.occasions, and every time the animal was dispatched quickly and cleanly.
:01:56. > :01:59.The British Veterinary Association, today, said it couldn't support the
:02:00. > :02:00.cull if it wasn't humane. But a Gloucestershire vet who was involved
:02:01. > :02:05.advises caution: My own reaction is, no, I wouldn't
:02:06. > :02:08.stop the cull, but if lessons are to be learnt, then learn those lessons
:02:09. > :02:15.in order to improve performance for next year.
:02:16. > :02:18.The fate of the badgers lies with the government, who today said they
:02:19. > :02:26.wouldn't yet commen And Paul joins me now.
:02:27. > :02:30.Paul, how significant is this? This is a really crucial moment
:02:31. > :02:36.We've been waiting to hear the result for some time. These
:02:37. > :02:42.scientists were appointed by the government, by the government's own
:02:43. > :02:48.criteria ` was a humane, safe and effective? It was safe, but in terms
:02:49. > :02:52.of effectiveness it failed by a considerable margin. Over six weeks,
:02:53. > :02:57.less than half the badgers were killed. It was meant to be 70%. It
:02:58. > :03:02.also failed to meet humaneness target ` badgers were taking too
:03:03. > :03:07.long to die. The government are not saying anything today. There is a
:03:08. > :03:11.lot of silence. They are waiting until the report is officially
:03:12. > :03:18.submitted. The National Farmers Union are also keeping tight`lipped.
:03:19. > :03:22.It's a real dilemma for ministers, because a lot of these measures are
:03:23. > :03:28.uncontroversial and probably having some benefits. But the culling is
:03:29. > :03:33.attracting some controversy. Experts are saying it's not humane, not
:03:34. > :03:45.effective and also very costly. Some scientists are saying it could
:03:46. > :03:57.potentially make things worse. I do very much. `` thank you very much.
:03:58. > :04:00.The police in Bristol have been carrying out extra operations to
:04:01. > :04:03.catch kerb crawlers. It follows more than a hundred complaints from
:04:04. > :04:07.people living in the fish ponds area of the city. Officers are working
:04:08. > :04:10.closely with the 125 Charity and the Bristol Drugs Project trying to help
:04:11. > :04:13.sex workers find alternatives to life on the street.
:04:14. > :04:16.It's now more than two months since we began reporting on the flooding
:04:17. > :04:20.on the Somerset Levels. Earlier this week, we saw farmers returning to
:04:21. > :04:23.their farms to see the damage the water has done to their businesses.
:04:24. > :04:27.Tonight, we follow one couple ` Malcolm and Julie Shovel ` as they
:04:28. > :04:30.returned to their Fordgate home for the very first time.
:04:31. > :04:33.We were in the house in January when we had early signs that the
:04:34. > :04:37.Northmoor was going to flood, but I never appreciated that it was going
:04:38. > :04:41.to ever get to this level. This is our front room. This is the tide
:04:42. > :04:45.mark, here. It was up here. When it started to come up, it was coming
:04:46. > :04:48.back every day, and seeing it six inches higher, and six inches
:04:49. > :04:52.higher. It was a question of, when is it going to stop? This is our
:04:53. > :04:56.kitchen. I retired in 2011, and used some of my money then to put the
:04:57. > :04:58.kitchen in. It's swollen so much you can't even open the door. That's the
:04:59. > :05:20.cutlery drawer. To see everything as disgusting as
:05:21. > :05:31.this, now, with all this mould ` home is gone. I loved this house. I
:05:32. > :05:36.don't any more. That is the floor. That's how high
:05:37. > :05:46.the floor has risen through the oak swelling. It's stagnant water,
:05:47. > :05:50.effectively. In some ways, you say the community is probably a little
:05:51. > :05:54.bit stronger because we have more in common now. But it just ripped the
:05:55. > :05:58.heart out of it ` there's a lot of people I've talked to who don't want
:05:59. > :06:06.to come home because when will this, or will this happen again? They
:06:07. > :06:10.don't want to come here. Bath Rugby have lost at home for the
:06:11. > :06:12.first time this season, beaten 3 points to ten by second`placed
:06:13. > :06:19.Saracens in the Premiership. Bath's points came from the boot of George
:06:20. > :06:22.Ford and a penalty try. It leaves Bath third in the table.
:06:23. > :06:25.That's just about all from me, Newsnight's in Kiev over on BBC Two,
:06:26. > :06:27.as Russian troops spread into Ukraine, Now, here's the weather
:06:28. > :06:37.with Ian Fergusson. Hello, a very good evening to you.
:06:38. > :06:41.The best of the weekend will be Saturday ` generally a dry day with
:06:42. > :06:44.a fair amount of sunshine around. By contrast, Sunday will be a cloudy
:06:45. > :06:47.day, turning windier and eventually wetter, as well. Tonight, we are
:06:48. > :06:50.going to see clear skies with temperatures dropping down to ` or
:06:51. > :06:53.`2. The threat of ice, particularly across some of these southern
:06:54. > :06:56.central areas, and some fog, particularly in parts of
:06:57. > :06:59.Gloucestershire, but you might find patches about elsewhere. As we clear
:07:00. > :07:02.that away tomorrow morning, there will be a good amount of sunshine
:07:03. > :07:06.around. A fair amount of cloud developing under light winds, as the
:07:07. > :07:09.day wears on. Most of you staying dry, with more cloud out towards the
:07:10. > :07:12.West. Perhaps during the afternoon, one or two showers, or showery
:07:13. > :07:16.outbreaks of rain. I think they ll be a rarity, even in parts of
:07:17. > :07:19.Somerset. You see perhaps one or two of those ` moderately heavy.
:07:20. > :07:22.Temperatures tomorrow getting up to about seven or eight. Here's a look
:07:23. > :07:26.at the outlook: turning wet and windy later on Sunday, and unsettled
:07:27. > :07:27.into the start of next week. It could get better after that. Here's
:07:28. > :07:34.a look at your national forecast. weekend summary for London. Now time
:07:35. > :07:43.for the National forecast. Good evening, if you are a
:07:44. > :07:51.meteorologist, tomorrow is the first day of spring. But mother nature has
:07:52. > :07:56.little regard for such labels. That is one explanation for why spring
:07:57. > :08:00.starts with a touch of frost and fog. Sunny spells on Saturday before
:08:01. > :08:01.outbreaks of rain from the West on