07/07/2011 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good Evening and welcome to Thursday's Look North. On the

programme, outrage as fresh allegations of phone hacking by the

News of the World hit Yorkshire. The Shipley widow of a soldier

killed in Iraq could have been another victim.

Also tonight, it's ten years since the Bradford riots, but is

segregation still an issue in the schools? I'm on White about yi Road

where ten years ago rioters tore the street apart. We'll find out is

Bradford is more integrated -- white Abbey Road. We discover the

crazy new craze of barefoot running. There's been some heavy showers

around and there's more of the same tomorrow. Join me later for your

Thanks for joining us. Our main story tonight is claims that the

tiply widow of a soldier killed in Iraq may have been a victim of the

News of the World phone hacking scandal. Samantha Roberts' husband

was killed in Basra in 2003. In a dramatic development, News

International has announced that the News of the World will close

after a final edition this Sunday. We'll speak to the MP and the

former journalist, Austin Mitchell, about today's developments, but

first, this report on the allegation that Samantha Roberts'

phone was also hacked. Samantha Roberts was thrust into

the public spotlight after her husband became one of the first

British soldiers killed in the Iraq war. Sergeant Stephen Roberts was

accidentally shot by one of his own men. He wasn't wearing a bullet

proof vest because of kit shortages. So out of order that you can send

these men out to fight a war for their country and not provide them

with basic equipment. Solicitors acting for Samantha have been

contacted about the newspaper phone hacking scandal. Samantha was

living here in Shipley when her husband was killed in Iraq. Police

have not confirmed that she is part of their investigation into the

News of the World but the suggestion she may have been a

victim of phone hacking has shocked people here today.

People have no privacy any more have they. It's definitely wrong, I

feel sorry for the families. it's true, it's the lowest of the

low, it's absolutely appalling. Apart from the fact that it's

somebody's privacy, it's somebody's grief. Soldiers and the phone

hacking is scary. If it happened to them, it can happen to anyone.

Peter from Batley lost his son Sean in the Iraq war. Do you think your

phone could have been hacked? because I were involved, it may

have been, but hopefully not and I don't think so, I don't think I

were that important in the campaign, but it may well have been, yes,

we'll have to wait and see. To think that any human being would

sink to low as to take advantage of that, it just sickens me. This

afternoon, News International announced Sunday's edition of the

News of the World will be the last. The news that the News of the World

newspaper is going to close after a final edition this Sunday actually

comes after a number of high profile Yorkshire companies pulled

out of advertising campaigns in the paper. The Bradford-based

supermarket chain Morrisons cancelled ad space it had taken out

for Sunday. ASDA took a similar step, as did Halifax. MP Austin

Mitchell joins me now who used to work as a journalist. First of all,

your reaction that the News of the World will close? I shall not will

horrifyed that the News of the World will close, I never read it

and wasn't particularly interested in who was seducing who, I'm too

old for that. It was a sordid newspaper. But my intention of

putting down on this was not to allow the journalists to lose their

jobs. It's important to get the viepers cleaned out and to stop the

practices that were being used, buying police evidence and bugging

people's phones. These are allegations at the moment. They are,

but News International has admitted that money was paid to police,

substantial sum of money, and also that a lot of people's phones were

hacked. Now, I think the public isn't too shocked at hacking of

telephones of politicians, but it's horrified at the hacking phones of

ordinary people, families in court and the families of soldiers who've

been killed in Afghanistan. That's monstrous.

I don't know if you were shocked. Were you surprised at the

allegations or just a cynical journalist? I was amazed actually

that journal is could get up to this. It's a long time since I was

a journalist, but this would have been totallyen acceptable in my day

and it is now. You can't do that kind of thing. Journalism is the

pursuit of truth and evidence but not by any means and certainly not

by means of corrupting police and not by means of hacking people's

phones. There have been hints of some sort of inquiry deferred until

after a police investigation. How deep should that inquiry be and who

should run it? There should be an inquiry led by a

judge and it should be set up quickly. The Government is

hesitating and dragging its feet. I don't think they want the box of

worms to be opened. I think there has to be an inquiry because the

public's got to be reassured, we've got to know what went on, who was

responsible for it and those people have to be brought to justice.

There must be an inquiry and also a moratorium on the Murdoch take-over

of Sky. I think that's the exact reason that it's closed down, the

News of the World, he wants to show himself respectable in doing

something about it so that the take-over of Sky can go ahead

because that's going to be a cash cow for the Murdoch international

newspapers. Very briefly, who do you think led to this decision? Was

it the companies, the advertisers losing money or people power?

think it's Murdoch making himself respectable so the take-over of Sky

can go ahead and that's what he's intended. I think this company is

not fit and proper people, they wouldn't be able to run a London

cab company, they shouldn't be allowed to run a monopoly, a huge

monopoly, the second biggest television system in Britain and

the first most profitable. Thank you.

Also on the programme tonight: On the tenth anniversary of the

Bradford riots, there's concerns that schools in the city are still

too racially segregated. Less than a quarter of schools are mixed and

that's despite calls from the man who wrote the report into the riots

for integration. Our reporter is live for us in Bradford tonight.

Spencer, there, the scene tonight so very different from ten years

ago? Yes, I was here at the bottom of this street ten years ago around

about now exactly on white Abbey Road at the bottom of this road and

rioters were here making their way up, hundreds of them dismantling

walls, taking bricks and stones from the walls and hurling them at

police. A report into the riot found out that one of the possible

causes was segregation in Bradford schools. In many cases, that

segregation continues. This is Springwood Community Primary and it

has 99.4% of its children coming from an ethnic minority group. Some

people say that's a problem, others disagree. The figures have been

changing in different schools over the years. That's what I've been

finding out today on the anniversary of the riots.

A world record attempt in a Bradford park. Hundreds of children

trying to get into the Guinness Book Of Records for the largest

number of people singing, If You're Happy and you know it Clap Your

Hands. This is unusual because these children are from different

cultures and communities. In schools, on a day-to-day basis,

that isn't always happening. Efforts are being made to overcome

the divide. At this business and enterprise college, 9% of students

are Asian. They have cultural lessons but that doesn't routinely

involve mixing with children from those different backgrounds. That

becomes logistically very difficult and that's also unrequired, I don't

see a need to do that. The culture here is one that we should be proud

of and the students are proud of their own heritage. An official

report into what caused the riots saw the need for more integration.

It's said schools should aim to be mixed and suggested a mixed school

is where no more than three quarters of pupils are from one

ethnic background. In Bradford today, 24% of schools fit that

criteria. That's a change from ten years ago when the figure was just

14%. But the author of the report into

the riots says more needs to be done.

It is clearly a very segregated community on whatever score you use.

There's clearly a very high number of segregated schools and local

communities. By confast in Oldham, they've atefplted to merge all

Asian and all white schools as a more drastic measure of bringing,

not just the children, but the parents and the communities

together. Bradford as a twinning programme involving 100 schools,

but the idea of forcing schools to integrate is rejected by the

council. Integration is a word I wouldn't even use. I think people

should be encouraged to understand people from every cultural heritage,

every social and economic background so that we live in a

community where everyone is respected. People live where they

live often as a result of economic necessity and therefore the schools

in a particular area reflect the people who live in it. Ten years on,

there's still a fares debate about how far communities and schools in

particular should be encouraged to integrate.

The pictures we saw there were of white Abbey Road a decade ago. This

is the road tonight, an extremely peaceful street in Bradford.

Despite the debates about integration and segregation,

Bradford's maintained its peace and has been riot free.

Back to you. Joining us now in the studio to

discuss this are Jenny Pearce, the author of a book and the former

Mayor of Bradford, Mohammed aJeep. You were the first Asian Lord Mayor.

Jerny, you first, how much of a problem is it in Bradford that

there is still this segregation? Well, there is de facto segregation,

but I think we have a problem in how we frame this. People tend to

talk about the issue as if it's about different ethnic communities,

we have to remember it's also about class. So if we look at people in

Ilkley who are very wealthy, they're living in a distinct part

of Bradford and often turn their back on the inner city and think

they don't belong to it. So we have to think, how are we talking about

this and why. The second point I would make is that Bradford's in a

catch-22 because I think evidence suggests that with economic

progress, communities move and they move to wherever they can find a

nice house and the social mobility. But without the economic mobility,

clearly it does matter that people are still living in poverty and

living in places perhaps with just the people like them and in that

sense, I think there is an issue and we have to start talking. I

don't like integration, but I like interaction. So it's about social

background in many ways, is what you are saying. Mohammed, you

talked about bussing people around, as a way to get further integration.

Do you still go along with that? think so. I think the reason being

that we have waited nearly half a century and if we wait another 25

or 30 years, before the minority communities improve their economic

situations whereby they're probably moving to bad areas of housing in

Ilkley, then we assume that the children will get into mixed

schools. That hasn't happened, doesn't seem that it will happen

within the next decade or so. Therefore, I think there is now an

acute and pressing need to consider very seriously how we can try to

improve the situation in our schools where the children at an

early age actually have the opportunity to interact

meaningfully with each other, understanding each other's culture

and then we can probably expect a better future. There's been

progress, but has that been sufficient? We are looking at

Spencer's piece there, and there has been some progress? Still the

situation is the same as it was ten years ago, but the area of

education for me still remains the greatest worry as for the future of

peace and harmony. A final thought. Could this happen again what we saw

back ten years ago? I think Bradford's moved on from having a

riot and it came together around an effort to provoke the young men

into rioting in August of last year when the EDL came. I also want to

say that actually, yes, we want more interaction, but there are

schools in Bradford that are quite all Asian and that do very well.

It's not just an issue of bringing people together, but also of

putting resources into education and enabling people to meet with

others perhaps in a more organic way.

Thank you both very much. Stay with us. Later tonight: A new

chapter - we meet the village which went to the pub to find out how to

run its library. This is a story that shocked a lot

of us. Campers are warned about the dangers of using charcoal barbecues

in enclosed spaces after a civilian police worker from Yorkshire died

from carbon dioxide poisoning. The body of Hazel was found near Great

Yarmouth in Norfolk. Her boyfriend is still being treated in hospital.

It was meant to be an enjoyable few days staying at this campsite near

the Norfolk coast. But Hazel's trip to Great Yarmouth ended in tragedy.

The 30-year-old from Huddersfield is thought to have died from fumes

caused by a charcoal barbecue which had been taken inside her tent. She

was filmed by Look North a few weeks ago, working as civilian

Scenes of Crimes officer for West Yorkshire police in Leeds. Her 40-

year-old partner, an academic at Cranfield university in

Bedfordshire, is being treated in hospital in Norfolk. Tonight, his

condition is described as stable. It's believed they've been using a

disposable charcoal barbecue similar to this one unaware of the

possible dangers. Even on a day like today when it's raining, these

things are hot and dangerous. You wouldn't want to put this inside

your tent. But what about when it seems to have gone out. What do you

think? A lot of people use these instant barbecues even when they

appear to have gone out and they're smouldering there and are quite

warm to touch. You can smell it now. There's still carbon dioxide and

vapours and fumes coming from them. So should we not be cooking inside

tents? It's safe to cook inside with the proper camping equipment

and the gas and stoves. Stacey lost her son to the so-called silent

killer. Despite high profile campaigns to make people aware of

carbon dioxide, she says tragedies still happen. You will go to

different towns and you will get the odd person say I've never heard

of carbon dioxide and it saddens me sometimes because if I'd have known

about it, Dominic might have been here today and it's just, you've

got to keep reminding people. Basically you don't think that it

can happen to you. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody.

police investigations continue into Hazel's death, campers are advised

to take extra care and carry carbon dioxide detectors with them on

holiday. Let's have a look at other news

now: The much anticipated return of the Flying Scotsman which was

expected back at York's National Railway Museum in August has been

delayed. It was due to undergo steam tests and economiesing runs

later this month which will be carried out now in the autumn. The

delay's been caused by cracks which have been found in the chassis and

it won't return to the museum until later this year.

Beached was cancelled after a Yorkshire prime can I school took

300 pupils out of the project because of the use of the word

"queer". The writer who created Billy Elliott has agreed to change

the script and it will be performed at the Bridlington Spa. The council

suggested the local library would close and now a group from Leeds is

looking at taking it over. The only problem is, they have little

knowledge about how to begin. Look North gave them a chance to visit a

pub near Richmond which was taken over by a community a year ago.

Looking at the crumbling whams and decor, it's easy to think, no,

there's no way the community could take over this library, but

residents are made of sterner stuff. They want a library and by jof,

they'll find a way to keep it. arranged public meetings at which

it was made clear that the local community did want to keep the

library open. So we are trying to help them to achieve just that.

Armed with a promise from Leeds City Council that a building and

the books could be transferred lock stock under a community asset

scheme, the group are in search of ideas of how to make this project a

success. A pub might seem like a strange

place to viz it for inspiration, but this isn't a typical pub, in

fact it's not just a pub at all, it's a community owned pub, shop

and library all under one roof. County Council were keen about

having this, when they heard about the pub re-opening and about it

being a community pub, they suggested it, so we jumped at the

idea. 201 people own a stake in the George & Dragon, which has just

announced it made a profit this year. Was it easy to get the

community involved in this? We were very anxious about that. When we

first met as a small group of people, we wondered whether it was

a mad idea or whether anyone else would think it was viable. When we

got the pub, we had 20-30 people turning up doing work and that

continued up until it opened. successful has the venture been,

they've made it into the last ten of Yorkshire's favourite pub awards

and the diverse business plans inspire the group who'll put their

ideas to a public meeting later this month.

Sport now. Nice to see you. I've had a busy day. Have you been doing

that barefoot running? Not quite. I shall explain all. Yorkshire is to

have a team at this year's Clipper round the world yacht race, it's

England's only entry in the 40,000 mile event which starts later this

month. The 68 foot yacht will be called Welcome to Yorkshire and

will aim to promote the region around the globe. Castleford Tigers

pushed Wigan very close in last night's match, but not quite close

enough. Injury problems meant it was a largely unfamiliar Tigers

line up, but they produced a great first half and led at the break.

The Warriors came back and the second half was Wigan's. The Tigers

ended up on the wrong side of a 26- 16 final score but played extremely

well. How many of you have gone into a

sports shop to be surrounded by hi- tech running shoes that promise the

earth? No more - a new craze is sweeping through the world of

running, going barefoot or at least a lot closer to it. I checked it

out. Feet - we put lots of different things on them and, when

it comes to running, it's a multi- million pound business. In sheft

though, they are trying to make us think differently, less is

apparently more -- in Sheffield. The different is all the

engineering we find has been stripped out -- difference. The

other big difference is the heel height is graelgt greatly reduced.

This has been driven by people that believe that natural is better and

that we shouldn't have all this support and guidance within a shoe.

We have even now got people going completely barefoot and that's the

extreme of it. Jerry thinks nothing of running barefoot through

Sheffield. I started it just over a year ago and from the moment I

started just felt a real connection with the naturalness. Doesn't it

hurt? Not at all, tames a bit of time to get your feet used to the

feeling of standing on things other than soles of shoes. Wasn't

entirely soled if you will excuse the pun! But it was time to get my

running style analysed in my normal shoes. The shoe is probably too

supportive and the way you are running is making heavy heel

contact. The weight comes on to the outside and the weight is staying

over there, so that will create the tension through the knee, up into

the hip. So to the minimalist trainers, the difference was clear.

The main difference that we are hearing is it's a quieter contact

position. When we do the video recording, we'll find the push off

position is more stable. Armed with my new shoes, it was time for

action! Why aren't you barefoot? still worry about the odd bramble

bush. I think for me it's just a step too far. You are staying with

no shoes? Staying with no shoes all the way. Do people get evangelical

about this? Yes. I think I'll stick to shoes!

What if you trod on a slug or something worse? It was quite

difficult because I didn't run very far, but if I do well in those, I

graduate to these and they've got individual little toes. I tried

putting them on in the car and it took me about five minutes to get

the toes into the right places. Must my size. But they are really

strange. How much would these set you back? I don't know, they're

going back, but very interesting and very different feeling about

the running. I walk round the office with nothing on my feet

so.... A fashion accessory for the summer holidays! This is great

Yorkshire show is proving a record beater almost a week before the

three day vent opens. More than 5,000 animals have been entered for

the event that starts on Tuesday. There's a waiting list. Two of the

show's most unusual entries arrived by crane rather than truck. This

giant hear is one of two works from the Yorkshire sculpture park --

hare. They're being exhibited at the show for the very first time.

They're two great sculptures from the sculpture park near Wakefield.

I think it's the first time sculptures of this standing have

ever been in an agricultural show, so we are thrilled to have them and

our visitors will be thrilled to see them and he cause a lot of

interest and people will be really enthuse castic about it. Look

North's coverage of the show, now the country's largest agricultural

show starts on Monday with Harry, show starts on Monday with Harry,

Paul and Christa there. How is it looking for the show?

Early indications suggest... What, go on? That it's not all that bad.

We will still be in a sunshine and scattered showers set up, but

probably more in the way of sunshine. Was sharing a Winnebago

with Christa? No, we are in a tent! Are you staying over in a tent

honestly? I might be! Can't wait for that. The first picture was

sent from Ferrybridge and the second one, Sands End, a panoramic

view even though it says it's York, I think she's from York, but the

picture is definitely not. The headline for the next 24 hours,

unsettled with showers and longer spells of rain to come, especially

tomorrow morning with low pressure sat there. I think the weekend will

be more straightforward with sunny spells and scattered showers but

longer spells of rain seem unlikely. You can see clumps of cloud. We

have had thunder storms. Other areas have been fine with sunshine.

That's how it goes with these set ups. Still one or two heavy showers

around. They're few and far between. Many parts will be fine this

evening with some sunshine and any showers that are still rumbling

around will fizzle out before cloud thickens. South Yorkshire could see

some patchy rain toward the end of More northern and eastern areas

will get off to a dry, bright start. Cloud thickening in south and West

Yorkshire. Through the afternoon, It may well be Doncaster, Sheffield,

Worksop that gets the highest temperatures.

At the weekend, it's a traditional April mixture of sunny intervals

and scattered showers, one or two will be heavy, but there will be

one or two drier, decent spells. So who's sharing a tent with you on...