10/01/2018 London News

Here on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.

Good evening, I'm Asad Ahmad.

There's going to be a significant

increase in Police stop and search

activity this year aimed at reducing

knife crime on London's streets.

The controversial method, often

criticised for disproportionately

targeting ethnic minority groups,

today got the backing

of Mayor Sadeeq Khan.

But among those who think its a bad

idea are some of those directly

effected by the violence.

Karl Mercer has been

finding out why.

Patrick Boyce is only too aware

of the damage knives can do

in the hands of the wrong person.

So is Angeleen Hill.

Both Londoners whose families have

been badly damaged by a crime

that is on the increase again.

Today, Patrick is in the cafe

he runs in Brixton.

Are you OK?

This is where he spends

much of his time.

We've filmed him last year with his

son who was stabbed in the heart.

This woman is planning

a website for families

affected by knife crime.

What do they make

of the London Mayor?

The measures you are

making are counteracted

to what you are trying to do.

Stop and search will take it

away from the police.

They will not go to the police

when they have problems.

It will take us back

to youth against police.

I can understand the initiative.

It is good to make the public feel

safe but the reality is it

will not change the problem.

The reality is, why are these kids

walking about with knives?

Luther was 32.

There are a lot of victims

who are not young people.

City Hall refused requests

for interviews today,

we could not ask what the mayor

meant by a significant increase

tackling knife crime

is seen as a priority.

This video and a call for schools

to produce knife ones last week.

There are some who

welcomed the news.

Five years ago, one in ten stop

and searches resulted

in finding something.

Now the figure is about one

in three, which is loads better.

It is a tool we can use,

and an important tool.

The police will be wearing cameras,

so we can see what happens.

Cressida Dick has previously said

you were back an increase in stop

and search if it led

to lower knife crime.

The opponents of the mayor said it

will need to be done sensitively.

Young people feel victimised.

This will crush community policing,

which affects all crime in London.

Scotland Yard and the men know this

will have to be matched

by a drop in knife crime.

Scotland Yard and the mayor know it

will have to be matched by a drop in

knife crime.

If you're one of the thousands

of passengers hit by delays

on Southern or Thameslink trains,

you got an apology today from the

Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling.

But it might not be

the sorry you'd hoped for.

This was a sorry that blamed

unions for the problems,

while giving a pat on the back

to the government for

the work they're doing.

Here's our Transport

Correspondent Tom Edwards.

Unreliable, not value for money,

the worst service in the country.

It won't surprise many passengers

that today there's more damning

evidence on Govia Thameslink.

Blighted by industrial action

and a lack of understanding

from Government, at its worst,

only two thirds of

trains arrived on time.

A shabby train service?

The franchise covers Thameslink,

Southern and Great Northern services

and today's report outlines how 60%

of delays have been due

to the operator, mainly

because of industrial action

and a lack of crew.

Nearly 40% of delays

are down to Network Rail's

poor infrastructure.

I think from a passenger's point

of view, what they don't

want to hear is people passing

the buck and saying

it is someone else's fault.

What they want to know is that

action is being taken to sort this

out, and to make sure that they see

improvements in service.

The report also criticises

the Government for trying

to increase services

as well as introducing new trains

and getting rid of the guards,

leading to strikes.

The report says the Government

didn't know about a lack of drivers,

or the state of the infrastructure.

I think this report shows

the incompetence and the dogma

of the DfT and the Government

and seeking to put the blame

on the trade unions when they knew

they were going to cause this issue

is a false premise, and seeking

to blame the companies

who are forced to bid

for what they put out

there is a false premise.

If this is dogma,

the dogma has to change.

The Government says unions

are the main cause of the problems.

I make no apology for that huge

investment in the network.

The introduction of brand-new 12

coach trains all across the network.

What I do apologise

or is we were not able to avoid

the extraordinarily ill judged

actions by the trade

unions, who caused massive

trouble for passengers.

The report does say reliability

on the services is improving and it

wants the Government to learn

lessons when it sets

up other franchises.

Police have released CCTV images

of two teenagers they want to speak

to in connection with the death

of a shopkeeper in North London.

The boys are believed to have been

at the shop at the time

Mr Vijay Patel was attacked

in Mill Hill on Saturday night.

Detectives believe the teenagers

will have information that

could help in their investigation.

Another 16 year-old has been

charged with murder.

The Holocaust.

It claimed the lives

of six million Jews and hundreds

of thousands of others.

Today, one of the survivors

from Auchwitz, sat on a sofa

at a train station in London

to allow anyone who wanted to speak

to her to do just that.

Chris Rogers, spoke to her too.

In one of London's

busiest railway stations,

an 87-year-old woman is hoping

to have a chat with passers-by.

She's set up a sofa

in Liverpool Street and has only

a sign to encourage people to stop

and listen to her story.

They put us in ghettos

and from there they took us

to the camp, to Auschwitz.

Lily Ebert is a Holocaust survivor.

How much do you know

about the Holocaust?

We were not taught at school

but I educated myself.

In times where there is rising

racism and anti-Semitism,

her message is that we must live

together.

That is a powerful message.

It was heart-warming

that she was saying we are the same.

In the world at the moment,

it does not seem we are together,

united, and are the same.

The final photo of Lily

and her siblings in Hungary.

The family were sent to Auschwitz.

She and her two sisters were forced

into Labour but the rest

of her family were sent

to the gas chambers.

Does it upset you when people say

they face discrimination,

stigma and racism, that it

still goes on today?

Yes.

They should know.

The truth is, we look different

but it does not mean someone

is better or worse than you are.

They are only different.

This statue is a reminder

of the 10,000 unaccompanied children

who arrived at this train station

when they fled persecution

in their home towns in Germany,

Czechoslovakia and Austria.

After World War II very few

were able to be reunited

with their families.

Supported by the Holocaust

educational Trust, Lily tours

schools, sharing her story

with today's children in the hope

that the murder of six million Jews

is never forgotten or misunderstood.

Chris Rogers, BBC London News.

Triple Oscar winning actor,

Meryl Streep says that sexual

equality is going through a long

overdue period of change both

in America and on this side

of the Atlantic too.

Speaking to me tonight at the UK

premiere of 'The Post'

in Leicester Square where she plays

a newspaper publisher

in 1970's America,

Streep said men and women

won't be silenced anymore.

I think this change is seismic

because there's been an imbalance of

power in the human family for ever

and it's just reached the sort of

tipping point and I think it's

changing everywhere. We feel it

here, in Parliament, you know, in

our congress, there is a slush fund

paid for by the taxpayers to pay off

sexual harassment suits and to

silence people. It won't happen any

more. People won't be silent.

Meryl Streep speaking to me earlier.

Now the weather

forecast with Susan.

Now the weather

forecast with Susan.

Not a bad day today?

Not too bad in the end. A bit of

cloud, a gloomy start then the skies

brightened. The cloud didn't go

away. It mostly shifted north. If

you watch the satellite picture you

can see what happened in the

afternoon. The cloud is pushing back

in from the north. Actually outside

at the moment, the skies are pretty

overcast and there's going to be a

lot of low cloud about. Misty and

murky conditions and drizzly rain

coming in by the end of the night. A

cool feel, rural lows, two, three

degrees and, if we get a few breaks,

we may see temperatures dipping down

closer to freezing. A chilly start

to Thursday. Drizzly rain around

during the morning. It will be a

grey start. Hopefully we may see

something a little brighter come the

afternoon but we'll never really

shake off the cloud. Our top

temperatures, seven or eight. Friday

and Saturday, pretty similar as

well. Thick cloud on Friday and some

patches of mist and murk. If you are

travelling further afield in the