15/04/2014 BBC Points West


15/04/2014

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Good evening. The mayor of Swindon BBC2 in a few

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Good evening. The mayor of Swindon has resigned after making derogatory

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remarks about people with disabilities. Conservative

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councillor Nick Martin breached council guidelines when he made his

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offensive comment during a training session. Now some say he should also

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stop being a councillor. This report does contain the offending words.

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Swindon's mayor was at a training day at the Civic Offices in Swindon

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last October learning about the abuse faced by people with

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disabilities. During the training day the conversation turned to

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people with Down's syndrome. He was heard to say, they are not allowing

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those Mongols to have sex with each other, are they? There was a

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complaint about using a particular word. A standards panel found the

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mayor had breached the code of conduct. He's apologised, as

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ordered, and has agreed to undergo training. But today in a letter to

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the council he said: Disability campaigners welcome his

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resignation, saying his remarks expose a deep seated ignorance.

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There are local elections next month. Swindon's Tories are

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defending a one seat majority. Opponents say the mayor should now

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resign as a councillor. He spent six months denying he actually said it.

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He is coming out with an apology which is very half`hearted. One

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statement, one slip of the tongue, should not necessarily mean you

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should not remain as a councillor. This evening there was a protest

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demanding he resigns. He has told us he has no intention of leaving

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politics. A little earlier I spoke to Rosemary

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Fraser from the disability charity Scope. I asked her if she was

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surprised that views like this still exist. I think I am quite surprised

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that views like this are around, suggesting disabled people should

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not be having sex with each other. That really does surprise me because

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I would've thought we have moved on from having those views. I think the

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reaction of the general public to the comments that Mr Martin has

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made, I think that is an indication that these are comments that are out

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of the ordinary. Most people do not think that way. What is Scope's

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stance on this? What is worrying about this from Scope's point of

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view is that someone in a position of power and authority raises issues

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like this and presents a certain view and there is a danger then that

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other people hear that and it affects their behaviour. The way in

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which people behave and the way in which they think about disability

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and disabled people is really important. It has a huge impact on

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how disabled people live independently in their communities,

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how they get jobs, how they are generally treated in society. So I

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think people really need to be very careful about the things that they

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say. West Country farmers hit by flooding

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were told today they can now apply for grants of up to ?35,000.

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Environment Secretary Owen Paterson announced the extension to his farm

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recovery fund on a visit to the Somerset Levels this morning. The

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Government had originally offered farmers grants of up to ?5,000.

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A woman from Wiltshire who's waited for a kidney transplant for six

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years is hoping she may finally have found a donor. Julie Francis`Lang

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has a rare blood type which means it's very difficult to find a match.

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Now an anonymous woman has come forward to offer a kidney.

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For nine hours a night, every night for the past two years, Julie

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Francis`Lang has attached herself to her home kidney dialysis unit. I

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have two of those bags, and that fluid goes into my stomach. It

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filters my blood, cleans my blood through. She has polycystic kidney

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disease and the organs have almost stopped working. I need a kidney

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transplant. You're born with 100% kidney function. I have 3% left of

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my kidneys. If I did not do dialysis, it would be very bleak. It

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is dialysis that is keeping me alive. But after six years on the

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waiting list, not one phone call. It's because Julie has a B positive

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blood type, shared with only 8% of the UK population. Then last month

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her friend and colleague got her story into the local paper.

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Unbelievably, within days, a stranger offered her a kidney. I had

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a phone call off this lady, she was anonymous, don't know who she is,

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she came forward and said she wanted to donate. Which I just could not

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believe, but she is a match, she is a B positive. The anonymous donor

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and Julie have to wait for test results to see if they are a tissue

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match and only then they'll know if the transplant can go ahead. In the

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meantime, Julie's dialysis will continue, but at least now it's with

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hope in her heart. Now, just before we go to the

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weather, take a look at this. It's a 90 metre water slide going down Park

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Street in Bristol. It'll soon be a reality and people will be able to

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go down it. It will open next month for just one day.

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We'll be back tomorrow. Tomorrow's weatherhead line has

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become familiar, and other chilies dart `` another chilly start. There

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will be some ground frost about. Despite the chilly start, little

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bits of low cloud which will quickly change as things start to get

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underway with a good deal of sunshine around. A moderate breeze.

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Things will follow a similar revolution to today, a little bit of

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patchy cloud through the afternoon, wall`to`wall sunshine, the pollen

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count will be high. Temperatures as high as 15 or 16 Celsius. A bit more

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cloud around on hopefully warmer. This is a summary

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and the look at the National forecast.

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The sun has set on another beautiful day. Like last night, temperatures

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have taken a nosedive this evening. It will be a cold night for the

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middle of April. Temperature is well down into single figures in towns

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and cities. Across eastern England in rural spots, close to freezing.

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We are expecting another frost across many parts of England and

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where. For Northern Ireland and Scotland, temperatures were covering

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later in the night but for most of us, a cold but sunny start. The last

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one for a while. We will see cloud increasing across Northern Ireland

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and Scotland, the breeze freshening and rain heading into the far

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north-west. Further south, a sunny day for most of England and

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