19/12/2016 Look East

Some are calling it the Christmas of discontent

- how strikes at Stansted and at post offices

I don't see why they shouldn't get their Christmas gifts on time

because we're taking action today and tomorrow, that still gives

Wednesday and Thursday where we can guarantee that delivery.

Two men are arrested after a double stabbing at

Celebrating half a century, the big local firm

doing big MOTs on this very big plane.

One of the biggest thrills in the summer months

And why this water slide has become Britain's

First tonight, how strikes at post offices and at airports

It's led to a prediction that we could be facing

20 Crown Post Offices across Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk are affected.

And at Stansted Airport baggage handlers and ground staff

will strike on Friday and Saturday just as the Christmas rush

We'll hear from the Communication Workers Union in a moment

Despite today's strike action, the Crown Post Office in Newmarket hopes

it still delivered a first-class service. The union says it is one of

many key high-street post offices in the east disrupted by the walk-out.

We had to wait half an hour before we got served, the queues outside

the door. It's seems normal, always courteous. I didn't find any

difficulty whatsoever besides the long wait. The Colchester post

office was still guaranteed a normal service despite the strike. It is

dispute over pensions, job security and concerned that the Post Office

will no longer exist on our high streets. We are up for sitting down

and talking, what we cannot do is change the statutory which is about

improving post office services for customers in an increasingly

competitive marketplace, within changing lifestyles, the Post Office

needs to change and is changing and that will continue. A number of

union members from our region made a special Christmas delivery this

morning to the Government, 70,000 postcards signed by the public,

supporting the campaign. Meanwhile, Swiss airport baggage handlers at

Stansted and across the country could go before Christmas. This

woman is due to fly to Australia to meet her grandchild but if the

strike goes on, it could mean that she would only take hand luggage,

having to leave luggage behind. It is a blackmail for the Government

and I just think that is outrageously unfair. Ryanair is the

key airline at Stansted Airport using Swissport baggage handlers. It

says flights are expected to operate as normal but they might have to

operate with hand luggage only. It is usually disrupted for employers,

it has a massive impact on business. We cannot forget that the workers

being able to strike is vital to them being able to negotiate

properly. Talks are due to be held tomorrow to try and avert the

baggage had the strike later this week, as for the post office strike,

Downing Street said all parties should get around the table to

settle their differences. Tim Pavelin is the regional rep for

the Communications Workers Union - which represents Post Office

workers. At the moment the action only

involves staff who work in Post Offices but deliveries

could be affected if drivers refuse Of course, as a trade unionist

I think it is one of the fundamental rights is for people not to cross

a picket line if they don't want to. That doesn't just apply to postmen,

I think it also applies to members of the public who realise what we

are trying to do is save the Post Office which is in crisis so, yeah,

fundamentally I don't think anyone So if that happens

and people don't get their Christmas gifts on time,

do you think you will still

have public support? Well, I don't see why

they shouldn't get their Christmas gifts on time because we

have taken action today and tomorrow, that still gives

Wednesday and Thursday, people the opportunity to post

and the Post Office do a service where we can guarantee that

delivery so if people want to get their items

there for Christmas, But the thing is that

pensioners don't get their pension at the Post Office,

or as many of them who used to, people don't send parcels,

as many as they used They send a lot of e-mails, they use

couriers, the work that the

Post Office used to do Well, post offices do still

have a vital part to play in the It is a centre of the community

in many locations and without a post office, you don't get

the follow-on business from You say they need to be

in the high street but they are in the high street,

if they are in one of Well, if they are in the back

of the WHSmith, is a prime example, where they are going

on to the first floor, they are stuck

away at the back of the WHSmith,

they don't have of the post office which is

directly managed and you have the staff that can give you

a knowledgeable service and great The truth is that if people

could make post offices pay, Well, yes, this is where

it comes back to the issue of government

because if the Government were willing to invest

in the post office and we do have

a strategy to the union that we can make that investment pay

with a postbank then I think You keep mentioning

that the Government should put money into the post office and support it,

and yet you deny that it is No, I think that the

Government should be If you want to talk

about a government strategy then I do think it would be

better if they were prepared to invest rather than the decline

we are seeing on the high street. The region's hospitals

are facing growing pressure They say that months of planning

mean their systems are all coping well but some planned surgeries

are being postponed until Kim Riley is at

Ipswich Hospital now. What is the situation like that?

Beds are available here tonight. They seem to be managing pretty well

so far, I suppose, you have to say. The chief executive at Ipswich

Hospital, also at Colchester in general and he knows how year by

year the pressures are building on these hospitals.

We have seen an increase this year of about 10% in people who are

attending A in both hospitals, both at Colchester and at Ipswich,

and that's a fairly consistent increase that we have seen every

We knew it was coming so we have planned for it so both in terms

attending A and the number of people who have to go

into hospital, we have seen an increase.

We've got some additional capacity, both in the hospital and

outside and we do know that that will be enough,

as long as we don't see either a sudden cold spell or indeed

But indeed even if we have those situations, we have got contingency

plans to make sure we can deal with that as well.

There's a new system for measuring pressure on hospitals, coping well

to under intense demand. One hospital is at coping well.

Colchester Hospital, Basildon, King's Lynn, all on level two. Level

three means local health and social care systems are experiencing major

pressures. Norfolk and Norwich today on level three. It says its

programme of nonemergency surgery is temporary suspended until after

Christmas and its emergency department and urgent care centre

will remain open. We talked about Black Friday before the weekend,

with the Ambulance Service coming under intense pressure to? We did,

they had over 3300 calls on Black Friday, 3% up thereabouts on last

year. Interesting, this time, there were more clinicians in the control

room they were able to give advice to people bringing in. So what we

actually had was the numbers of accidents and incidents attended by

ambulances going down but they are expecting a very, very busy day

indeed this Friday. Thank you very much.

Councillors in Norwich have denied they are profiteering from more

than ?400,000 of fines from drivers using bus lanes.

The figure comes from a Freedom of Information request

Between last December and September they collected ?255,000 from drivers

who drove down St Stephen's Street and ?150,000 for driving

Norwich City Council said the money goes back into road projects.

Well-wishers have donated koi carp to replace fish which were killed

when vandals damaged a tank at Castle Park in Colchester.

The fish were being held in a container while their pool

Most of the fish were about 30 years old.

Four replacement koi have been added to the pond today

Two men have been seriously injured in a double stabbing

It happened late last night in a multistorey car park

This morning, officers from Suffolk Police painstakingly

search the area around Foundation Street

Yesterday evening, at ten o'clock, the

Ambulance Service called the police to a serious assault where two men

Both were taken to hospital in a critical condition

with what were described as life-threatening injuries.

Suffolk Police say that one is still in a

critical condition whilst the other is now stable.

The area around Foundation Street will remain

cordoned off whilst the investigation continues,

Blackfriars car park that has been closed all day.

This morning, I have been speaking to some of the local

residents who told me what they experienced last night.

This must've been around about 11 o'clock I got

back and there were a few police cars parked outside my house and I

was told I couldn't actually enter my house because of an incident

involving a few people being stabbed and they didn't really disclose much

I just got told there were a few people critically injured

and a few people arrested at the time.

The area itself, it is what is known for drugs and stuff.

There's a lot of trouble that happens down here and everything.

But it is a rough area but really there should be more lights and

public cameras as well for the police so they can monitor it

better and I think that then it would be like a deterrent to keep

Suffolk Police say they have arrested two men, 57 and a

48-year-old on suspicion of conspiracy to commit

The police force are now asking anyone with any information

The weather for the week ahead, right up to Christmas Day.

you might think of castles and stately homes.

All the fun of the fair from Wicksteed.

We hear a lot these day about robots being used for surgery in hospital

But it's actually quite an old idea, the first operation using a robot

Nowadays, the technology is very advanced and used

At Addenbrooke's Hospital, they recently started

using their robot to treat bladder and kidney cancer.

It means a shorter recovery time for patients easing pressure

Rita Willey from Saffron Walden kindly let us watch her

Mike Cartwright's report contains footage of the surgery.

The day after a major operation and she is already going home.

A quick recovery, after surgery carried out by a robot.

I am quite honoured, actually, to have it done

because it's much less invasive and much more precise.

It is important because I want to get back to normal

The day before, her medical team get ready.

Its arms are remotely controlled by a consultant.

He explained why Rita needed that operation.

This is our patient lying on her back, as if we are looking

These are the kidneys, we can see here.

This is the left kidney and that is the kidney we are operating

on today. It is a lump, a tumour.

We do not know yet if it is cancerous,

You can see the way he can twist its fingers.

All of the movements of his wrists, to

It gives all the same freedoms that your wrist does.

The three incisions are tiny, compared to

A previous incision could be up to six inches long.

Then, the recovery time could be up to three months.

This way, they can be fully recovered within a month.

Blood supply is down there and we have isolated it.

Now we're just making some marks on the normal kidney, to

check where exactly we will make the incision.

Rita will have to wait for her results, but she left hospital

Normally, after surgery like she had, you would be

expect to stay in hospital for about a week.

And things are seemingly going from bad to worse

Yes, humiliated in Europe on Saturday night by Leinster.

And for boss Jim Mallinder, it's now a make or break week.

Lose at Sale on Friday night, and his ten year

Let's cross live to Franklin's Gardens and join James Burridge

Good evening. December truly has been a dreadful mad when you

consider it all started with a concussion story, we have not seen

him yet. Dylan Hartley, six-week suspension and then of course, the

on the pitch battle which is being sorted out. There is talk the team

be fined because of the changes. Let's talk about all of this with

Ian Hunter who within Dublin. Ian, so much pressure on the team and on

Jim. What is going to become's mind? An enormous amount of pressure. A

perfect storm. A lot of people asking me what is going on, what has

happened and is a combination of so many different factors. This week,

it has been tremendously a huge amount of cash on Jim. When you are

thrashed by 60 odd points, how much damage does that do to a team?

Believe it or not, I was one of the players who played in the 60 to nil

drumming we had back in the early 90s and I can tell you as a young

19-year-old, it certainly scarred me and I remember it now 25 years

later. It is not good to do that. The fans are growing restless, the

board is sticking by Jim and his coaching staff. Who has the greater

power, if you like? At the end of the day, you could say the power

falls over on to the spectators. They are the guys who love to come

here week in and week out. There is a lot of talk on social media, a lot

of talk in the forums about what is going on, everyone chucking in. I

think what is coming up in the next few games against sale, Gloucester

and Bristol will be absolutely crucial to the coaching staff and I

hate to say it but I think if the Saints find themselves on losses on

there, then that decision might have to go to the board and the board

might have to make them very hard decisions. Thank you. Plenty for

anyone regarding this club right now to ponder. It is going to be a very

tough week. Thank you. Moving on to football

and Mick McCarthy was a relieved Town earning a late victory,

if you can pick out the winning goal The manager admitted afterwards

he probably deserved some But their win moved them

up to 15th just five points behind Norwich,

who lost, bringing at least some I think the fans have

got a little bit more convincing yet, I think

the tide of opinion towards Mick I think understandably

has may be turned in recent weeks. The football has not been

particularly entertaining throughout the entire calendar year

and it is going to take more than one victory to win them

back over, I would say. It's not often you enjoy a perfect

weekend but for our League Two sides Four games, four wins, all four

teams now climbing the table. Stevenage ninth after

four wins in six. Colchester after a dire start have

taken ten points from a possible 12. But the division's big

movers Cambridge United. Now up to seventh after four

successive victories. It's always hard to pinpoint a major

factor but if we were to they found a striker

in Uche Ikepeazu who is scoring goals, something they didn't simply

have at the start of the season. Luke Berry arguably their star man

has hit a rich vein of form and they have been

fortunate with injuries. Finally in Birmingham last

night, Andy Murray may Being voted the BBC

Sports Personality of the Year for a record third time but our very

own Max Whitlock The Basildon gymnast, who won double

gold at the Rio Olympics, wowed the thousands in audience

and the millions watching around the country,

eventually coming 7th overall. My Olympic dream came

when I was about 17 years old, when I sort

of stepped up to the senior level, I thought, you know,

what is possible. Ever since I was growing up to that

age, I started when I was seven, so for ten years, you know, I was

just absolutely living a dream, loving a sport and

doing the best I can. Their FA Cup replay

with Notts County Chelsea That should be good.

Max told me he was going to do something that he wouldn't tell me

what it was. 50 years ago today an RAF Hercules

transport plane flew into Cambridge Airport,

to be serviced by the engineering It was the beginning of a long

business relationship with the RAF that's now worth more than a quarter

of a billion pounds. So today the great and the good

gathered to watch four Hercules aircraft fly over the airfield

to mark this very But this is December

and visibility at midday less This from our defence

reporter Alex Dunlop. Like bridesmaid running up the aisle

before a wedding, an American spree flies past the expectant crowd at

Marshall Aerospace today. The VIPs collect on a balcony to watch four

Hercules descend 500 feet. Sadly, the clouds descended even lower but

at least we heard the roar of their engines. But in the best addition,

here is one that Marshall prepared earlier, or 50 years ago. Similar

foggy weather but this was the first Hercules to be serviced here. The

Cambridge -based company has had the contract ever since. The latest one

is worth ?269 million. The RAF has 24 of these planes, around half a

dozen servers by the 1200 workers had at any one time. They are fairly

complex but the fundamentals of it are quite basic. Which explains its

longevity and service. Designed to carry troops and equipment, DC 130

is the backbone of the RAF transport fleet. This is an airframe that can

and often does take hard knocks. In the last 15 years or so, I have done

more light on that Albert as she is eventually known than I can recall.

She might not be the most comfortable plane but she certainly

is one of the most reliable. -- Fat Albert. An overhaul of the same

frame takes up to nine months. Hercules from across the world

servers that Marshall but the aria is a far its biggest customer. The

last contract we signed with the MoD, we took 20% out in terms of

real value and are greeted by 30%. Year-on-year, that is pretty

significant. How did you manage that? By doing things smarter. It

helps to when other MoD contracts, they work on the submarine and a buy

the kit for Army mobile hospital units. But this is the flagship

bill, celebrated with a special paint job on the tail of an iconic

aircraft. Fat Albert of the few decades of life and her yet. -- has

a. How many listed buildings are there in this country? If you said

400,000, you are about right. historic places in England,

places like battlefields, Today a new addition -

the country's oldest water slide. It was invented by the engineer

Charles Wicksteed and you'll find it One of the biggest thrills

in the summer this provided by this water chute which never fails

to attract the more adventurous spirits who

eagerly await better. Built in the 1920s,

it has been thrilling One of only two surviving

in the world today in one It is on runners

and it comes down at great speed and it lands

in the river here. And today, it has been given

special protected status It's all about simple

pleasures and family spending time here, quality time

together and this ride sort of typifies that,

it is the ride the whole family can enjoy

together, all coming down sitting side-by-side,

enjoy a little thrill, The park was founded

by Charles Wicksteed in 1921 who wanted to create

a safe place for families to play

when many homes had no gardens. He owned an engineering

company and used those skills and his

imagination to create a ride The architecture of fun

was really taking off people were making public parks

places of entertainment as well as relaxation and this

is an amazing one-off example by an engineer

who became very famous for his

fairground rides, giving back to the people of Kettering who had helped

to make his fortune. It might not be the most

sophisticated of rides but it is one of the most popular

on the park with people having the chance to hurtle

towards the water and it is that sense of simplicity will

mean it will endure for generations And for people today,

it was all about those I think it's fabulous,

I remember going on it when I was a child, I think my nan has got

a photographs of my parents. It's great, just having a really

old-fashioned ride there that, you It is now undergoing

a winter overhaul, ready for the summer and soon to revel

in its new-found historic status. Emma Baugh, BBC

Look East, Kettering. It is lovely. I love the fittest. We

are going to find out about the Christmas weather. Green footage.

A lovely photograph. It's dull the forecast that is actually full of

uncertainty on the run-up to Christmas. I will start to the

night, largely dry with a lot of cloud. That will have clear

intervals at times. That could lead to some patchy mist and possibly

some frost. Some of thing between three and five Celsius. Some spots

costing down to freezing. We will have light winds and perhaps a

future with for some of us. Tomorrow, high-pressure moving away

onto the continent. This weather front storming on the western side

of the country. Not a bad day, I think we will have some drizzle and

possibly some showers first thing. A lot of cloud and mist but then the

cloud should break and we should see some decent sunny spells developing.

Temperatures near average, seven Celsius. We hold onto mainly light

winds and we finished the day fine and dry. Now from Wednesday, it

becomes messy and quite complicated. Weather is dependent on how quickly

fronts moving and away again. At the moment, Wednesday, this thread is

likely get stuck over the top of us, develop a bit of a bit overweight.

The thinking is we will start off cloudy with outbreaks of patchy

rain. That should clear into the North Sea and become drier and

brighter with some sunshine but also some showers fishing in from the

west. Quite a blustery day with moderate to south-westerly and

temperatures getting higher than this, up to 10 Celsius. Thursday,

depending on how quickly this front pulls away, we are likely to start

up with some rain but some of us but it should quickly dry out and we

should enjoy a largely dry day decent spells of sunshine and the

winds easing down for a time on Thursday as well. Friday, we are

expecting high pressure to build on. This fact pushing in from the west,

introducing thicker cloud but not brain-dead until after dark. Friday,

possibly some mist and frosts berthing, that should clear as the

winds pick back up. Hopefully some brightness and sunshine before the

cloud increases and the rain expected to move forward on Friday

night into Saturday. Saturday, Christmas Eve. It looks like we did

have that rain around their thing and that should give way to sunshine

and some blustery showers, possibly gale force winds time on Christmas

Eve and the same again on Sunday. A dry start and some wet and windy

weather pushing in from the west. Thank you.

The Christmas walk will have to be before lunch. Wednesday is messy and

complicated. It reminds me of some friends of mine.

Ben dropping a frozen turkey on Mum's foot.

Put me down! No, we talked about this.

Taser him! That is a video game, isn't it?

I'm going to need at least another 15 years to recover from children.

This is all nonsense - it's highly entertaining, nonetheless it's...

I'm starting this new job, I'm taking over a really tough school.

Where is it? You're not going down south...?

Huddersfield? I know. That's like the dark side of the moon.

You do know that this house is haunted?