10/04/2017 London News

Tonight on BBC London News, tributes to PC Keith Palmer.

Honoured in his home city, with the largest ever police funeral

He was always ready to take his daughter to the park, and enjoy the

normal family things you do. He was an incredible dive. Londoners pay

tribute to the officer who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect others

during the Westminster attack. This is a mark of respect for his family.

It's showing the family the whole country is with them. He left home

in the morning hoping to return and that is what everybody hopes.

We look at whether working fewer hours could boost

the capital's productivity, and make you a better employee.

And apparently why success can be sweeter when it

We speak to London singer songwriter Jack Savoretti.

Welcome to the programme with me, Riz Lateef.

London paused today to remember and honour a brave officer, father,

and life-long Charlton fan who paid the ultimate sacrifice

The funeral service at Southwark Cathedral said PC

Keith Palmer's "blue lamp" will shine forever,

Today, he was remembered as a hero, a policeman who loved his job and

who died doing it. But Keith Palmer was also very much a Londoner, a

father and football fan who enjoyed his home life here in Wellington,

south-east London. He was such a lovely, friendly guy. He enjoyed his

family life, his holidays. That's what he was always... As soon as he

came back from the holiday, he was planning the next one. Together, the

two officers speaking new Keith Palmer for more than 20 years and

today they helped to carry his coffin. He was always ready to, you

know, take his daughter to the park and enjoy the normal family things

that you'd do. He was an incredible guy. He also supported Charlton

athletic football club. The stadium empty today but the place where he

sat as a season-ticket holder now painted white, and it will stay like

that for the rest the season. Outside today, flowers and tributes,

and some people visiting to pay their respects. People need to

remember that these guys are putting themselves in the danger to keep us

safe. We've got to show our respect. Where do you sit? In the same stand

but I didn't recall bumping into him. I don't think anybody is going

to be sitting in that seat any time. The seat Charis 's warrant number.

Along the high street, people who, in their own way remember Keith

Palmer. Peter Elliott runs the local cycling shop and he says he used to

repair his bike. He was a really friendly, nice chap. I didn't know

he was a policeman but until I saw his face on the television and in

the news, I didn't realise who the policeman was but as soon as I saw

his face, I recognised him. Such a shame, he was such a nice chap.

Further down the high street, another memory of a local man. Staff

here say he used to enjoy their fish and chip. Always smiling, never

rude. A lovely man. The messages that people from all over the

country have given in support of Keith and his family, it has been an

amazing tribute, I suppose, to Keith, to the way that he was and

the way he behaved. Welling has lost a friendly face, Charlton athletic,

a passionate fan and London are dedicated policeman.

PC Keith Palmer's funeral cortege travelled from the Houses of

Parliament to Southwark Cathedral where, later on, we will be speaking

to our reporter who is there. Before that...

Among the thousands who watched the procession were police officers

They were joined by the Mayor, medical staff who helped

during the attack, and ordinary Londoners who wanted

to pay their respects to "the officer who stood firm."

For a time today, parts of London stood still for a man who gave his

life protecting Parliament. Those who lined the streets may not have

known PC Keith Palmer but they all shared the same sentiment. He was,

people told me, a hero who deserved to be honoured and remembered for

making the ultimate sacrifice. As you can see, no one is moving at

all. They've stopped everything they are doing just two, kind of, pay

their respects, really, so it is ready nice to see. This gentleman

isn't unknown. This is a mark of respect for his family and showing

the family the whole country's with him. And their respect goes out to

him. I haven't seen anything like this before. I think it is good

there doing something like this for someone who showed courage. Among

those who paid their respects, staff from police forces across the

country. Jack and Nathan travelled down from North Yorkshire this

morning. It's one big family in the police family and you feel it,

definitely. Even though we didn't know him personally, it affects us.

He'd took the ultimate sacrifice. Everybody is here today to show

their appreciation for what police officers and PC Palmer have done.

This was a day to say goodbye to a husband, father, colleague and

friend but it was also the day when the Z thank you to PC Keith Palmer

for the sacrifice he made and made it clear he'd never be forgotten.

Today is a very difficult day for PC Keith Palmer's family, his friends,

and his colleagues, and all of us will be thinking about him and our

thoughts are with his family. I am really proud of our police service

and I think Londoners today are showing their gratitude and respect

to not just Keith Palmer but two other police officers who put their

safety on the line every day. As you've been hearing,

PC Palmer's cortege travelled from a chapel at the Houses

of Parliament to Southwark Cathedral,

where the funeral service was held. Marc Ashdown is there

for us tonight. It's been a difficult day at

Southwark Cathedral and a difficult balancing act. On the one hand,

thousands of Londoners wanted to come out and pay tribute, to say

thank you to the man who laid down his life protecting us all. On the

other, it was a moment for his family to try privately to say their

goodbyes. Things are starting to get back to normal. Joining me as the

Bishop of Southwark. Thank you, I know you've just come out of

evensong. Thousands of people today, thousands of police officers lining

the streets, it was quite something. It was powerful, it was dignified

and solemn. There was a sense of the journey towards this Cathedral, the

14 days last Wednesday in Westminster Abbey. Today, the family

funeral, essentially, an intimate, private affair, which family and

friends gathered together many hundreds of colleagues. Give us a

sense. We didn't broadcast any of it but give us a sense of the service.

There was the Thanksgiving for Keith Palmer's life. There was the sorrow

of the family. In a way, words don't always expressed deep human

emotions. So the sense of people being alongside the family, that

solidarity was important. There were words of hope, resurrection, of life

in Jesus Christ, of not abandoning hope and of Thanksgiving for his

very courageous deeds. I suppose this is a moment to show unity that

we all stand together, we will not bow to those that will do us harm. A

very deep chord was struck in the heart of the nation. The fact that

he was unarmed and yet he ran towards his attacker. There was also

a sense that although the funeral was his today, many others were

injured and wounded and against one terrible act there were many acts of

kindness and care and compassion. Thank you very much for joining us

this evening, thank you for your time. From Southwark Cathedral,

where family, friends, colleagues and ordinary Londoners came to say

thank you to wade through hero. People across the capital

honouring PC Palmer. Meanwhile in Luton there

are continuing questions about his attacker, Khalid Masood

who spent a number of years living Mike Cartwright is there

and can tell us more. Khalid Masood, who murdered five,

horrifically injuring many more. Now come newspaper claims

he was radicalised in Luton, here. His name, it says, is found stuck

to leaflets inside the mosque, A website, the article says,

that called Muslims to pick up arms Qadir Baksh, the chairman here,

strongly refute the allegations. If you look at the events

from the 22nd of March, when the event of Westminster took

place two days later, I stood here on the pulpit,

giving a sermon condemning that act completely and calling the Muslims

to condemn it generally. Why on earth, a week later,

you find a leaflet with a sticker Then, also, five years later

after he left Luton. His sermon condemning

what Khalid Masood did. Khalid Masood never came

to this mosque, he told us. But others claim this

is where he worshipped The problem is that the very creed

of what the people at the helm of the mosque believe in is extreme,

is fundamental and will drive Living in Luton for three years,

Khalid Masood taught English A director of the school

was Qadir Baksh. But it and the mosque

were separate, he told us. There is no link between the school

and this mosque, except that myself and Mr Latif were actually directors

of the school. It was an English-language school

and we had Muslims teaching there, It was completely separate,

had nothing to do with this mosque. Khalid Masood didn't

come here, they told us. Its form of Islam is conservative,

they say, but not extreme. Later I'll be on BBC London talking

about the Miami Dolphins coming back to London. April is back after our

one day of June. In the forecast, I'll tell you if were going to have

any more soaring temperatures heading up to the Easter weekend.

Neighbours of a care home in Hertfordshire which went up

in flames at the weekend, have spoken about the bravery

of fire-fighters who rescued more than 30 elderly residents

It was a fierce fire which spread rapidly. A neighbour managed to

capture the blaze at its peak. Over 60 firefighters fought for a day to

put it out. When they arrived, they were also faced with the challenge

of rescuing more than 30 elderly people who, because of disability or

age, were trapped inside the burning building. Today, firefighters were

praised for their work that night. Neighbours called them heroes. The

firefighters themselves safe they were just doing their job.

Firefighters took a systematic search of the building, sometimes

physically lifting and carrying the residents from the building or

getting them to walk assisted down a ladder pitched against the outside

of the building. That is a challenge given the roof was ablaze. The crews

worked extremely hard and difficult circumstances to carry out this

rescue. This fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning. And

as neighbours awoke, they brought out clothes and blankets to help

those who were rescued from this building. This fire has caused real

sadness and shock in this community. Half a mile down the road, John

Wheeler and his boss have been trying to help the survivors.

They've raised more than ?2000 through crowdfunding and collected

bags of clothes, wheelchairs and other supplies. We have had an awful

lot been donated to ourselves on Saturday we took over 100 bags in.

As you can see, today we are still loading the van, still taking bits

around for them which is just fantastic because they had nothing

at the end of it and at least the local people and people in

surrounding areas have really come together to help these people out.

Now there is the challenge of finding permanent homes for the

residents. The care home had been given a good rating in a recent Care

Quality Comission inspection. An investigation into the cause of the

fire is still under way. To and explain why two vulnerable people

lost their lives. When it comes to work-life balance,

working fewer hours is an unaffordable dream for many

Londoners. But in other European capitals,

it has increased productivity Sarah Harris reports on one group

campaigning to make a shorter London is still, by and large,

a 9-5 city with most commuters travelling to their 40 hour a week

jobs at roughly the same Duncan changed all

that many years ago. He volunteered at the Grasshopper's

Nursery in Hackney, which qualifies his boys

for reduced childcare costs. This was the only way to make it

work financially but he says I think there's a big psychological

barrier to people's going flexible, part-time here in London and I know

a lot of my friends who work full-time and couldn't

conceive of going part-time, and I made that transition

about five years ago, But, ultimately, I think having

a bit less but having more time for the kids and children

is actually much, In Iceland's capital,

a new timetable is being established to make flexible working financially

viable for people with It's a system which some economists

are championing here. They've started giving their public

sector employees a 35 hour week And they are seeing increases

in productivity and reduced stress levels and people staying

on in the workforce for longer. Then you've got countries

like the Netherlands, Belgium where, actually,

shorter working hours are just the norm, where working 20-30 hours

a week is much more standard Liana is one of a group of Londoners

campaigning for a law change to make As things stand now,

employers can say no She says productivity

would increase as workers, I think London is a city

that is full of really talented people, people who are passionate

about and interest, be that the novel they're writing,

or the sports they love or the volunteering they do,

and a five-day week really limits the amount you can give and develop

those passions and talents. Building a new routine around

shorter hours is a risk especially in places like London with such

high living costs. But the message from cities

where thousands of workers have cut their hours is that quality of

life and productivity both improve. This year will be the tenth in a row

that American Football teams will be crossing the Atlantic to play games

here in London. And the sport will soon have another

home in the capital, with Tottenham committed to hosting

NFL games at their new ground. As Emma Jones reports,

today a Miami Dolphins star got the chance to swap tips with one

of his counterparts at Spurs. The Premier League meets the NFL.

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry might be preparing to play a

very different game at Wembley to top the midfielder Victor Wanyama

but that won't stop them from swapping tips and shirts. Abraham

accesses got great memories from his first times here in 2015. Seeing the

fans and just the turnout, it was unexpected, thinking American

football... When soccer is the leading sport here so the turnout

was great. The razzmatazz of the NFL has been coming to the capital every

year since 2007 and it continues to grow. This year, there will be four

regular-season games in London, two at Wembley and two at Twickenham and

the Tottenham connection is that the club has committed to hosting two

games a year for ten years once it finishes building its multisports

stadium. Meanwhile, there continues talk about London having its own

franchise. I don't know how practical it would be. But I don't

think you are opposed to it. I think it is a beta for place and the fan

base would be amazing. And it gives the NFL the opportunity to have a

real boost. With an estimated fan base of 13 million in the UK, the

games have proved profitable and popular and have inspired home-grown

talent. When there are big games and big PR, kids want to try it out,

this sport. I would like to increase the popularity of the game, it

benefits us who are playing here because we are trying to get more

exposure. I had to get my tickets two weeks after I heard they were

playing here. I went to the Twickenham game this year and I went

to Wembley last year and the atmosphere is crazy. With the

possibility of more games in 2018, American football seems to be

happily growing as a transatlantic sport.

He's the London singer songwriter, who says he's now

enjoying his success, after more than a decade trying

Jack Savoretti's last album went gold, and his latest

Alice Bhandhukravi went to meet him on set, as he filmed the video

It was his last album, Written In Stars, which really

helped Jack Savoretti break through, turning him from jobbing

singer to selling out at the Hammersmith Apollo

If somebody had told me four years ago you're

going to play those venues, both of those venues

in the space of four months, I wouldn't have believed it.

So, that was the real touching point.

It was at a home gig, which always makes it a little bit

And the years of writing and performing before he really hit

Recognition from the music industry and his huge fan base have

influenced his latest album, Sleep No More.

It was amazing to hit the road knowing we have an audience,

whereas in the past we used to make records and never knew if anybody

But after the last album, we saw our public change in size.

So, when we went into the studio to make Sleep No More,

it was amazing to see everybody's attitude change when they realised

they were going to be making an album that people were actually

People really showed up at the studio thinking, OK,

We Are Bound was written after two years touring with his band

and as much as Jack Savoretti is a solo performer,

You talk about "we", people might think that

actually it's Savoretti, you're the guy, you're

There's a lot of people, the reason I'm standing

Every career is a collaboration, whatever the person may think.

There's a lot of people behind it, from the music side

So, those are two different aspects of it but there's a big group

of people involved with why we now have a big audience.

London is great, even if you're not from London,

There are some cities in the world that if you can play a few

venues in those cities, you know something is happening.

To see that makes you kind of go, OK, this is working,

let's stick with this, let's keep making music.

Let's get a check on the weather now with Wendy Hurrell.

No pressure, but it was gorgeous, wasn't it?

So gorgeous I'm going to backtrack a little bit. This Rosehill in the

summer. Not in the middle of April. It had that hazy quality first thing

in the morning. This is Hoxton. If you were looking at this morning

through a window pane, you might have been tricked into thinking we

had the same again but no, we had temperatures yesterday reaching 25

degrees and today we got no higher than 14. Let's not forget this is

exceptional, this is completely normal. It might not be much like

June this week but it will be dry and some sunny spells to enjoy as

well. Out there at the moment, we've got some sunny spells and as we go

into the evening and overnight, into the evening and overnight,

temperatures will fall back quickly. There will be a chill in the air,

light winds, and gardeners can't rule out a touch of frost.

Temperatures will be down for a short time to three or 4 degrees so

I chilly start of the day tomorrow with sunny spells from the word go

and they will come and go as we go through the day. Once again,

north-westerly winds. It had an edge to it today but it does take the

edge of the temperatures. 13-14 is average and London could get to 16

or 17 tomorrow so feeling pleasant enough in those afternoon sunny

spells. On Wednesday, there's a weather front across as. There won't

be too much rain on it at all. That's not what you'll want to hear,

gardeners. It will be breezy on Wednesday but, again, temperatures

up to 16 in London, the edge of that knocked off elsewhere. Thursday,

some sunny spells once again, in amongst the little bits of cloud

from time to time. Figure cloud on Friday because there is a weather

front approaching and temperatures around 15. Still westerly winds.

Saturday starts with some outbreaks of light rain at kids are way too

bright or sunny spells through the afternoon and it will be a breezy

day. For the Easter weekend, it will be mostly dry. There will be a lot

of sunny spells coming and going although it will be rather cool, so

it won't look like this but then it isn't supposed to look like that in

April. Yes, we have been spoiled. Thank

you. Foreign ministers from the G7 group

of industrialised nations are discussing the next steps

in Syria after an apparent chemical The funeral of PC Keith Palmer,

who was killed in last month's Westminster attack,

has been held at London's That's it for now,

thanks for joining us. We'll leave you this evening

with images of how the capital honoured PC Keith Palmer,

the officer who was killed during the Westminster attack,

whose funeral took place today. We have had the public expressions

of thanks and honouring and now the family will do what only a family

can do which is to say their final farewell to Keith, and we will leave

them to do that in privacy.