:00:00. > :00:12.Good evening. The mayor of Swindon BBC2 in a few
:00:13. > :00:15.Good evening. The mayor of Swindon has resigned after making derogatory
:00:16. > :00:18.remarks about people with disabilities. Conservative
:00:19. > :00:21.councillor Nick Martin breached council guidelines when he made his
:00:22. > :00:28.offensive comment during a training session. Now some say he should also
:00:29. > :00:34.stop being a councillor. This report does contain the offending words.
:00:35. > :00:37.Swindon's mayor was at a training day at the Civic Offices in Swindon
:00:38. > :00:42.last October learning about the abuse faced by people with
:00:43. > :00:46.disabilities. During the training day the conversation turned to
:00:47. > :00:50.people with Down's syndrome. He was heard to say, they are not allowing
:00:51. > :01:00.those Mongols to have sex with each other, are they? There was a
:01:01. > :01:08.complaint about using a particular word. A standards panel found the
:01:09. > :01:11.mayor had breached the code of conduct. He's apologised, as
:01:12. > :01:15.ordered, and has agreed to undergo training. But today in a letter to
:01:16. > :01:36.the council he said: Disability campaigners welcome his
:01:37. > :01:43.resignation, saying his remarks expose a deep seated ignorance.
:01:44. > :01:46.There are local elections next month. Swindon's Tories are
:01:47. > :01:51.defending a one seat majority. Opponents say the mayor should now
:01:52. > :01:55.resign as a councillor. He spent six months denying he actually said it.
:01:56. > :02:01.He is coming out with an apology which is very half`hearted. One
:02:02. > :02:07.statement, one slip of the tongue, should not necessarily mean you
:02:08. > :02:12.should not remain as a councillor. This evening there was a protest
:02:13. > :02:20.demanding he resigns. He has told us he has no intention of leaving
:02:21. > :02:23.politics. A little earlier I spoke to Rosemary
:02:24. > :02:27.Fraser from the disability charity Scope. I asked her if she was
:02:28. > :02:31.surprised that views like this still exist. I think I am quite surprised
:02:32. > :02:43.that views like this are around, suggesting disabled people should
:02:44. > :02:47.not be having sex with each other. That really does surprise me because
:02:48. > :02:54.I would've thought we have moved on from having those views. I think the
:02:55. > :02:57.reaction of the general public to the comments that Mr Martin has
:02:58. > :03:06.made, I think that is an indication that these are comments that are out
:03:07. > :03:12.of the ordinary. Most people do not think that way. What is Scope's
:03:13. > :03:15.stance on this? What is worrying about this from Scope's point of
:03:16. > :03:18.view is that someone in a position of power and authority raises issues
:03:19. > :03:22.like this and presents a certain view and there is a danger then that
:03:23. > :03:32.other people hear that and it affects their behaviour. The way in
:03:33. > :03:34.which people behave and the way in which they think about disability
:03:35. > :03:41.and disabled people is really important. It has a huge impact on
:03:42. > :03:44.how disabled people live independently in their communities,
:03:45. > :03:53.how they get jobs, how they are generally treated in society. So I
:03:54. > :03:59.think people really need to be very careful about the things that they
:04:00. > :04:03.say. West Country farmers hit by flooding
:04:04. > :04:07.were told today they can now apply for grants of up to ?35,000.
:04:08. > :04:11.Environment Secretary Owen Paterson announced the extension to his farm
:04:12. > :04:14.recovery fund on a visit to the Somerset Levels this morning. The
:04:15. > :04:21.Government had originally offered farmers grants of up to ?5,000.
:04:22. > :04:25.A woman from Wiltshire who's waited for a kidney transplant for six
:04:26. > :04:28.years is hoping she may finally have found a donor. Julie Francis`Lang
:04:29. > :04:32.has a rare blood type which means it's very difficult to find a match.
:04:33. > :04:39.Now an anonymous woman has come forward to offer a kidney.
:04:40. > :04:42.For nine hours a night, every night for the past two years, Julie
:04:43. > :04:49.Francis`Lang has attached herself to her home kidney dialysis unit. I
:04:50. > :04:55.have two of those bags, and that fluid goes into my stomach. It
:04:56. > :04:59.filters my blood, cleans my blood through. She has polycystic kidney
:05:00. > :05:04.disease and the organs have almost stopped working. I need a kidney
:05:05. > :05:10.transplant. You're born with 100% kidney function. I have 3% left of
:05:11. > :05:15.my kidneys. If I did not do dialysis, it would be very bleak. It
:05:16. > :05:21.is dialysis that is keeping me alive. But after six years on the
:05:22. > :05:25.waiting list, not one phone call. It's because Julie has a B positive
:05:26. > :05:31.blood type, shared with only 8% of the UK population. Then last month
:05:32. > :05:34.her friend and colleague got her story into the local paper.
:05:35. > :05:42.Unbelievably, within days, a stranger offered her a kidney. I had
:05:43. > :05:45.a phone call off this lady, she was anonymous, don't know who she is,
:05:46. > :05:51.she came forward and said she wanted to donate. Which I just could not
:05:52. > :05:57.believe, but she is a match, she is a B positive. The anonymous donor
:05:58. > :06:01.and Julie have to wait for test results to see if they are a tissue
:06:02. > :06:04.match and only then they'll know if the transplant can go ahead. In the
:06:05. > :06:14.meantime, Julie's dialysis will continue, but at least now it's with
:06:15. > :06:18.hope in her heart. Now, just before we go to the
:06:19. > :06:24.weather, take a look at this. It's a 90 metre water slide going down Park
:06:25. > :06:28.Street in Bristol. It'll soon be a reality and people will be able to
:06:29. > :06:29.go down it. It will open next month for just one day.
:06:30. > :06:46.We'll be back tomorrow. Tomorrow's weatherhead line has
:06:47. > :06:59.become familiar, and other chilies dart `` another chilly start. There
:07:00. > :07:04.will be some ground frost about. Despite the chilly start, little
:07:05. > :07:07.bits of low cloud which will quickly change as things start to get
:07:08. > :07:14.underway with a good deal of sunshine around. A moderate breeze.
:07:15. > :07:19.Things will follow a similar revolution to today, a little bit of
:07:20. > :07:26.patchy cloud through the afternoon, wall`to`wall sunshine, the pollen
:07:27. > :07:30.count will be high. Temperatures as high as 15 or 16 Celsius. A bit more
:07:31. > :07:34.cloud around on hopefully warmer. This is a summary
:07:35. > :07:42.and the look at the National forecast.
:07:43. > :07:46.The sun has set on another beautiful day. Like last night, temperatures
:07:47. > :07:51.have taken a nosedive this evening. It will be a cold night for the
:07:52. > :07:55.middle of April. Temperature is well down into single figures in towns
:07:56. > :08:00.and cities. Across eastern England in rural spots, close to freezing.
:08:01. > :08:03.We are expecting another frost across many parts of England and
:08:04. > :08:07.where. For Northern Ireland and Scotland, temperatures were covering
:08:08. > :08:14.later in the night but for most of us, a cold but sunny start. The last
:08:15. > :08:17.one for a while. We will see cloud increasing across Northern Ireland
:08:18. > :08:22.and Scotland, the breeze freshening and rain heading into the far
:08:23. > :08:24.north-west. Further south, a sunny day for most of England and