13/01/2017 London News

This is what's coming-up in the next half hour on BBC London.

Growing pressure on the NHS, We'll hear how the Health Secretary's

local hospital in Surrey, is struggling to cope.

But Jeremy Hunt denies the NHS is in crisis.

The skin lightening products that can cause cancer,

It is poisoning from profit and its not the kind of activity that is a

legitimate business. Overcrowding and delays

at Victoria tube station, could this brand new ticket hall

help solve the problem. Beyond the world of side, there's

dimensional sound. The childhood poems

of George Michael, recently discovered by one of his former

primary school friends. Good evening and welcome to Friday

evening's BBC London News, As we've been hearing,

there's growing pressure on our hospital services,

with it being a particularly tough The Royal Surrey County Hospital

in Guildford is no exception, even though it sits

in the Health Secretary's The NHS Trust was at Level three,

meaning it was struggling to cope every day for the first

week of this month. And then on Monday it went up

to the most serious level. That means patients were at risk,

with some moved to the gymnasium, Here's our Political

Correspondent, Karl Mercer. If the Health Secretary wants a sign

of the pressures on the NHS, he won't have to go far. This is the

Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford, serving part of Jeremy Hunt's

constituency. It's been very busy. A lot of people seem to be waiting a

long time to be seen. But not the hospitals, it's that people can't

get appointments with their GPs. The staff have been friendly and

courteous, and we arrived early as we were asked to, and every time,

without fail, we've been seen earlier as well. Every day last

week, it was operating at the second busiest level, something now called

OPEL 3. What is OPEL 3? It means things like not hitting the

four-hour A waiting target. There are long ambulance and overtimes,

Sears capacity issues, or reductions in staff. At one stage, the hospital

had to put beds into a gym area because it was so busy but says

things are now improving. There rather gaps in registered nurses...

London hospitals are doing better than the national average. You can't

predict always wear surges of activity will happen at a

side. So we watched that very side. So we watched that very

hospitals so that we can alleviate hospitals so that we can alleviate

the pressure on particular sides. What the events of the week have

done is keep the NHS at the centre of the political debate. It's not a

surprise to see what's happening of the NHS. It's a combination of

decisions made over the last six years. It is a crisis, it's

devastating and the government needs to take more responsibility. There

is a lot of pressure. The government is putting more money into the NHS,

has responded to calls from the head of NHS England. Whatever the

political rows, the NHS' battles aren't over, with the end of January

its busiest time. That's our top story this evening,

but this is what's still to come We'll hear from fans who've been

paying tribute to the former England and Watford manager,

Graham Taylor. Devastated. Absolutely devastated.

He put Watford on the map, he put this town on the map. He did

everything for this town, no doubt about it. Especially in the

community. But, first, a crackdown on skin

lightening products, which could potentially cause organ

failure or even cancer. Shopkeepers across London selling

the illegal treatments have been issued with heavy fines,

and for the first time, They may look like harmless beauty

products, but these potions and lotions are illegal and dangerous.

This hall of skin lightening creams was taken from various cosmetics

shops and around London. This product, for example contains a

steroid. And that can affect people's adrenal system, it can send

their skin and it can cause additional head to ground their

body, as well as causing significant skin damage. 15 shopkeepers in five

different boroughs were fined on average ?11,000 for selling them.

The courts are now also issuing increasingly tougher sentences. Some

people have been achieving suspended prison sentences, meaning that they

will go to jail if they continue trading will these things. And

people have to consider the possibility of custodial sentences.

The courts are looking at this as criminal activity, it is poisoning

for profit in the isn't the kind of activity where people can think they

can run a legitimate business and sell these products. While such

products are popular? Journalist and comedian a vivid dial believes many

women feel under social pressure to have lighter skin. The way it is

seen, dark skin isn't valued. You see it all over the world, in

you are in different cultures, the you are in different cultures, the

better. Trading standards officers better. Trading standards officers

might be able to cut down on the sale of these products on the

street but it's proving much harder street but it's proving much harder

to control the market online. The Internet has opened up the market in

such a way, there's so many things you can get on there, medication

without prescription, it is the desire we need to change. She hopes

younger generations won't feed the demand for these products and be

proud of the skins they were born with.

Ayshea, and as you say in your report, internet sales

of this product makes it a really difficult problem to tackle.

Yes, absolutely, but London trading standards officers are very much

aware of this and they're making sure that this year they tackle it

in earnest. They've told us there are 15 online sellers will operate

through eBay that are under investigation. And there's a problem

as well of people using skin lightening creams which is wider

than people might think. This isn't just a problem, an African issue,

this goes worldwide, this is a massive issue. In the Far East as

well. And as Ava was saying, you have to have positive representation

of dark skinned people in popular culture, be it films, music, even

cartoons. Once you reduce the demand, you also reduce the

dangerous trade. It is a much bigger problem than just the product.

Thanks very much. Three teenagers have been

sentenced to a total of nearly 40 years in prison,

after stabbing and killing 17-year-old, Myron Yarde,

in New Cross, in April. The judge condemned the "dreadful

problem" of knife crime as he jailed the killers,

and lifted the ban on naming them. Alex Bushell was at the Old Bailey

to hear today's sentencing. Like so many of his peers, Myron

Yarde, or Mdot, as he was known, was banking on music to make it big and

escape the streets. His talent was known. What was and is the life you

wanted to leave behind was about to catch up with him, here in New

Cross, stabbed to death by Fauz Richards and two young accomplices,

both 15 at the time. In a highly unusual move, the judge lifted

restrictions from naming them they were Junior Lukelo-Mami and Lucus

Risch. His sister talked of the family's loss. He was like a rock to

us, even though he was younger brother. He is greatly missed. Her

brother was trying to retrieve stolen bike. He was, though, armed

with a samurai sword. After being overpowered by his attackers, he was

subjected to a punishment stabbing, up against a wall broad daylight.

The legs and buttocks are aimed for. Maybe in an attempt not to be fatal.

But that is ignorance on the part of people. These injuries have proved

fatal in these dig-mac this case. The judge spoke of the cost of gang

stabbings. Given that Myron Yarde was carrying a knife, that is

something I put to his sister. That is playing on a hard. It's happening

a lot in London and across the country. A lot of these teenagers

are realising the fact that they are young, they can get away with it or

not been named and shamed. Just to show that something needs to be

done. For their part in his manslaughter, Fauz Richards was

sentenced to 13 years. The others will be detained for 12 years each.

As the judge put it, this type of violence ruined everyone's lives,

the victim and assailants alike. Hundreds of children in Surrey

and Essex had an extra day-off today as several schools were forced

to close because of the weather. Last night's snowfall led

to the closure of 19 schools in Surrey and five in Essex,

because the conditions The schools are expected

to re-open on Monday. A grenade found by police has led

to the arrest of a 20-year-old man. The device found this morning,

led to bomb disposal team deactivating the explosive

on Burlington Road in New Malden. Residents were told

to evacuate their homes, but have since been allowed

to return. Another strike by train drivers

on Southern Rail is drawing to a close this evening,

the third this week. Virtually none of its services have

run, meaning around 300,000 journeys that would normally be made

on a Friday, have been disrupted. The strike is about what's known

as Driver Only Operation, and, so, Paul Clifton has been speaking

to a driver about why Driver only operation,

where the driver works the train doors, is safe,

according to Brian Denton. Some of the trains Southern

operates are 15 years old. Inherently, it is safe,

if it is correctly applied. In particularly the earlier 377s

used by Southern trains He was a union official

and, later, a manager. Drivers currently employed

by Southern are not The image and quality

that the driver can see in his cab mounted screens is less

than it could be. It is quite old technology

and it is low-res. The last drivers' strike

on Southern was 17 years ago. Brian says drivers are not militant,

and their highly paid. Most don't care for the politics

of the strike, he says. But they do feel that some safety

systems aren't up to the job. But the following week,

the conductors strike on Monday, and then drivers strike on Tuesday,

Wednesday, and Friday. It will be even more

disruptive than this week. Football will pay tribute

to the former England and Watford manager,

Graham Taylor, who died A minute's applause will be held

before all League matches But Watford fans have already been

expressing their sense of loss, Graham Taylor, son of Worksop, hero

of Watford. His achievements here will never be forgotten. They were

happy times. Chairman Elton John appointed Taylor as manager in 1977.

He led them from the fourth division to the first, into Europe and to an

FA Cup final. Even when he left Aston Villa in 1987, his chairman

wished him nothing but the best. I hope I'm a dear friend of his. I

wanted him to go on to something different, he needed something

different. When you look back on his achievements at the club, what would

you say the most important ones were? I'd say there would be no

Watford football club without Graham Taylor. No football club without

Graham Taylor is a sentiment which holds true today. In the last

decade, he led them through some troubled financial Times and, right

now, they are back in the top division of English football. The

level to which she was the very first manager ever to take them. For

those who played for him, it was his warmth, as much as his winning

mentality, which shone through. You never took yourself too seriously

because he always liked everybody to have a smile on their face, and when

you come to training, you enjoy it. When you come to games, you enjoy

your work. That was the atmosphere he created. After success at Aston

Villa and troubled times with England, Taylor eventually return to

Watford and in 1999 he again led them to the top division. Today,

fans came to vicarage Road to say goodbye to one of their own. He'd

done everything for this town, no doubt about it. Especially in the

community, involving all the town and community. He brought everybody

together. It's difficult to put it into words. I've been coming here

for over 50 years. And there will never be another one. I'm sorry.

This weekend at games throughout the country, there will be a minute's

applause for Graham Taylor, a true gentleman of football. Some very

emotional scenes. It's never too late

to tune in, because this As tributes flood in from fans, I'll

be finding out more about the childhood talent of George Michael

and his poetry he wrote when he was just an 11-year-old schoolboy.

We were tickled with some snow earlier on. Tonight, very frosty and

the weekend forecast coming up. Overcrowding and delays,

a regular experience for the millions of commuters

who use Victoria Tube station. But a new state of the art ticket

hall is to open on Monday which Transport Bosses hope

will ease the congestion. Our Transport Correspondent,

Tom Edwards has been taking a look. For commuters who can get

to Victoria, for years they've had to navigate a building site,

roads, a bus station. And the entrance to the tube often

shots due to overcrowding. This is the new northern

ticket hall, part of For the past four years,

there's been significant works here, So this is a major

milestone for the project. It means that people

using the Northern ticket hall, out into Brislington Place

and Cardinal Place, they can actually come straight

into the Victoria line platform straight up here so it'll be

major congestion relief, and an immediate benefit

to the people. Victoria is the fourth busiest tube

station in the capital, dealing with 80 million

passengers a year. Today, workers were busy

with the finishing touches. They are no longer

wanted on the Tube. This project will cost

in total ?700 million. Businesses here hope

this will encourage more It's a new commercial hub,

a new vibrant location And, therefore, the infrastructure

has to be invested in, in order to cater for those

additional passengers that will be coming through to Victoria,

be it workers, beard visitors I mean, in the last 20 years,

we've seen a 60% increase in passengers coming

through Victoria Station. The new Northern Victoria ticket

hall opens to commuters on Monday. Whether you're a fan

of George Michael, or not, nobody can deny his brilliance

as a performer and artist. Now, clues to his very early

song writing talent has been discovered too,

by an old friend Let's find out more

from Caroline Davies who's at the singer's former home

in Highgate, where fans Ever since the news of George

Michael's death on Christmas Day last year came about, there have

been tributes flooding into his house in Highgate. There are

candles, flowers, and there are balloons. Also tributes to his

lyrics. And it is slightly different lyrics we will be hearing about now,

some poetry he wrote when he was 11 years old, living in Kingsbury. They

have been rediscovered by his childhood friend.

I'm Penny, and I know George Michael from childhood.

He lived over the back to my best friend, Lisa.

All his family used to call him Yorg.

But all us North London kids used to call him Georgio.

I thought my husband was actually pulling my leg

because at the end of 2016, with all these famous people dying,

he was kind of the last person you can imagine.

I went and looked through my schoolbook to see if there was any

Sounds In The Night, by Professor What's-his-name,

Beyond the world of sight, there is a sixth dimension of sound.

And, in many cases, sound beats sight.

Sight is blacked out by the night, and that is when the sound comes in.

It stands to reason that what you can't see you can hear.

And the same applies in the daytime, only in reverse.

In other words, what you can't hear, you can see.

And that is why I'm turning to the subject tonight.

Now, what I've forgotten to tell you, I'm sure something

You'll never guess what I have to say to you.

That was penny speaking to us earlier. As you can see, it might

sound strange to pour over the lyrics of an 11-year-old boy but

that perhaps makes more sense that you think it was only a few years

later when he was 17 that he wrote to kiss-mac careless whisper. It

gives you an impression of how his mind worked. His songs will be

remembered by the many people that have left tributes here.

Thank you very much. He was a brilliant songwriter.

Now, if you want to escape the cold snap we're experiencing,

although most of the snow seems to have disappeared quickly enough,

then you could do worse than enjoy temperatures of 26 degrees whilst

walking among thousands of butterflies, a stone's

I'm talking about RHS Gardens Wisley, which Wendy Hurrell

has popped down to, after having enough of last night's snow.

Imagine you're in the Amazon with butterflies spiralling by.

And the one fluttering we can see is a swallowtail.

The glasshouse at Wisley is always a tropical place but each year

they fill it with these exotic insects to cheer us up in midwinter.

They come as pupae, which is the safest

We then take them out of their boxes when they arrive,

and glue them on to canes in special cases that we have here

And there we just wait, really, wait for them to emerge.

50 different species will be unfurling here.

They'll sip the nectar from fruit or the resident flowers.

These ones are from the Amazon, so they'll feed on rotten fruit that

are on the ground and sometimes rotting meat, and animal dung,

Others prefer flowers, the nectar from flowers.

And, so, we've got planting for them as well.

The horticulturalists here have planted these ones as a creche.

We release about 200 adult glassroom butterflies into the glasshouse

and then they'll mate and they'll lay eggs on this plant.

And this is the lavae food plant, so we planted it

I like the fact you've planted it purely to be eaten by caterpillars,

which is exactly the opposite to anything else that

They're not allowed to eat anything else.

It can stay icy for as long as it likes outside.

Under glass, here in Surrey, it's summer.

At least until the daffs come up in spring.

So, it's summer in Wisley. Let's find out what the weekend weather is

like now. You are talking about the snow

earlier on. It has mostly melted away now for many areas and it'll be

quite frosty again tonight. A lot of ice forming in places as well. Let's

see what happened a little bit earlier on today because we had that

snow crossing parts of the south-east. It turned almost like a

mini blizzard across the capital. You conceal the snow coming along,

it swiftly moved away, and as far as the is concerned, won't see any

wintry weather. Tonight, very frosty in places as well. Temperatures

dipping down to a roundabout minus three or minus four outside of town

centres. In the city, may be no lower than zero. If you still have

any snow lying around, obviously, negative temperatures, it will turn

to ice so take it steady if you're travelling first thing in the

morning. The weather is looking fine, were not going to be building

in the igloos or or anything like that, some sunshine, and a nice

crisp day on the way. What is sticking my head? Lets get rid of

that. Temperatures getting up to three or 4 degrees for most of us in

the afternoon. Chilly wind blowing out of the North. On balance, and

nice Saturday on the way. If you're out Saturday night, things are going

to turn quite frosty again. You can see the hues of blue there. You can

see some cloud filtering in from the west. By the time we get to Sunday,

it's all change. We can say goodbye to the frost, we can say goodbye to

any snow, and it looks like it'll be pretty rainy. It is a grey day on

the way on Sunday and those temperatures getting up to about

nine. And those winds will be freshening as well. As far as the

outlook is concerned into next week, doesn't look like there is any

winter weather. Later next week, hence of maybe something cold coming

back. Back to you. Thanks very much for

the weather forecast and for doing your hair.

Before we go tonight, let's take a look at the stories

Nearly half of all hospitals in England declared a 'major alert'

Among them, the Health Secretary's constituency hospital in Guildford.

Thousands of people along the East coast of England are preparing

to leave their homes this evening ahead of warnings there could be

severe flooding caused by High Winds and High Tides.

The Labour MP Tristan Hunt has announced he's to become

the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

He's resigned from his constituency of Stoke-on-Trent.

And suspended jail sentences have been handed down for the first time,

to those convicted of selling skin lightening treatments in London.

Watford fans have been signing the cancer and organ failure.

Watford fans have been signing the book of condolence in memory of

Graham Taylor who died yesterday. There will also be a minute's

applause at all league matches this weekend.

That's it from us this cold Friday night.

I hope we've brought you a bit of warmth to your evening.

I'll be back later, just before 10:30pm on BBC One.

Parents are facing an explosion in the number of children saying

It was like a battle, like in a war zone. She would literally scream.