Browse content similar to 18/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Midlands Today with Nick Owen and Suzanne Virdee. | :00:04. | :00:07. | |
The headlines tonight: Unemployment is up again in the | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
region to nearly a quarter of a million so why are there more than | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
30,000 job vacancies? Whether these jobs just don't fit the aspirations | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
of the people who live and work in this region, it is very | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
disappointing. Our advice was ignored and the | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
Government's strategy may have harmed people - doctors hit out | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
over the handling of swine flu. can't imagine that the special | :00:27. | :00:34. | |
arrangements saved anybody's life or even saved a day of sickness. | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
Angry teachers threaten to go on strike again over plans to turn a | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
primary school into an academy. And at a time when every penny | :00:41. | :00:51. | |
:00:51. | :00:57. | ||
counts, how you can tell the real Good evening, welcome to | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
Wednesday's Midlands Today. Tonight, business leaders accuse the | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
Government of not acting quickly enough and say confidence is | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
falling as unemployment rises again. The number of people without a job | :01:09. | :01:16. | |
now stands at 243,000. That's up 9,000 on last month's figure. That | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
translates to 9.2% of the workforce which is higher than the national | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
average. At the same time, figures released today by the Department | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
for Work and Pensions show that there are plenty of jobs available | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
with more than 32,500 vacancies being advertised in the region's | :01:29. | :01:39. | |
:01:39. | :01:41. | ||
From frontline to phone line. Gareth Towle was a soldier for ten | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
years serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Back on Civvy Street, he went | :01:45. | :01:53. | |
looking for a job. This was not the first place I came to. It is so | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
hard to find a job coming out. I sent about 30 applications out and | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
nothing came back so I am lucky here. | :02:01. | :02:03. | |
He got lucky at Autonet Insurance in Stoke-on-Trent which employs 500 | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
people. They've come up with a new way of recruiting staff. We started | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
recruitment innings which allowed people the opportunity to come and | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
talk to us -- recruitment evenings. Sell themselves instead of relying | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
on a CV. The irony at a time of growing | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
unemployment is that job centres across the region have around | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
30,000 vacancies. Employers complain of a skills shortage, but | :02:27. | :02:34. | |
getting a foot in the door is still a problem. It's terrible, I have | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
applied for 20 jobs in the last two weeks. Any feedback was back none | :02:39. | :02:45. | |
at all. What are you applying for? Anything really. Cleaning, bar work, | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
shops, factory worker put it seems there is nothing. | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
Just yards away in Worcester city centre, a new retail site's being | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
built. When ASDA advertised 300 jobs here, it was reported that | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
3,500 people applied. The Government's now being urged to | :02:56. | :02:58. | |
kick-start growth by investing in big infrastructure projects to | :02:58. | :03:07. | |
create jobs now. Unemployment is the most serious issue facing the | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
region now. With the eurozone crisis, growing uncertainty and it | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
is likely to get worse for some time to come so if we want to be in | :03:17. | :03:20. | |
a better place next year, and nationally avoid 3 million | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
unemployed, we need to get going now and start soon. This company | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
employs 28 skilled people on the side. | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
What I'm being told is a key issue is confidence, or in this case, | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
lack of it. And it's only when business regains confidence in the | :03:34. | :03:41. | |
economy that they'll start recruiting. What we are reacting to | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
is the news of potential eurozone problems, potential double-dip | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
recessions, the problems of banks' lending to each other and that is | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
affected people's confidence. We do not want to get caught out like in | :03:55. | :04:04. | |
200 wait. -- like in 2000 a date. - - like in 2008. | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
But with key manufacturers like Jaguar Land Rover expanding, and | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
the feel-good factor from the olympics and the Queen's diamond | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
jubilee, business leaders are hoping 2012 will restore faith in | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
the economy. Joining us now is our political | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
editor, Patrick Burns. More disappointing news on the job | :04:16. | :04:22. | |
figures today. What's been the reaction at Westminster? Labour MPs | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
are more than disappointed. Liam Byrne says we are looking at an | :04:26. | :04:33. | |
unemployment emergency. He has a constituency in Birmingham and has | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and it is | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
proof that the Government's measures are not working. But talk | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
to local Conservative MPs and they say that their measures need more | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
time to work through. Things like the work programme, the work | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
experience project and the youth contract. Joining the here at | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
Westminster are a Labour MP for Stoke South, the shadow Justice | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
Secretary and Gammon Williamson, the Conservative MP for South | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
Staffordshire for -- Gavin Williamson. Birmingham Chamber of | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
Commerce who are not usually the sternest critics, say that you | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
should be acted more quickly to arrest this problem. What we are | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
doing is addressing this by putting in place things like | :05:18. | :05:23. | |
apprenticeships, 160,000 subsidised new jobs for young people, getting | :05:23. | :05:29. | |
them off unemployment benefit and getting them into proper work and | :05:29. | :05:31. | |
430,000 new apprenticeships, that is what we are creating. A solid | :05:31. | :05:37. | |
progress that Gavin is talking about? Here we go again, | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
unemployment soars in Conservative Government. This is an emergency | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
and even in Gavin's constituency, it is up again. This government | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
needs to act. But you are saying you would not reverse the cuts so | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
you cannot take too much issue with that. We are not saying that. We | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
are saying we would need to make cuts, because in 2015, the | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
projected date of the next general election, will inherit an appalling | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
situation we will have to act quickly to reverse that. We have | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
also found that there are around 30,000 vacancies. Does that say | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
something about the absence of skills? Should jobseeker's reassess | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
expectations? We are seeing the Government putting in an enormous | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
amount of effort creating new jobs. Jaguar Land Rover announces they | :06:27. | :06:33. | |
will create new jobs in my constituency and Amazon, private | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
sector companies creating jobs. We need to get the right skills and | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
that is what we are doing with apprenticeships. We are not seen | :06:41. | :06:48. | |
those skills, though. It is ridiculous to say these things | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
because what we need to have is a proper programme like we had under | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
Labour where people are trained for those jobs. Thank you to you both. | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
Next week, the growth figures which there is lot of speculation for. It | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
is likely to show that we are contracting as an economy. It will | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
probably not lift the mood but for that, back to you in the studio. | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
Coming up later, the caring owner spending thousands of pounds on a | :07:13. | :07:20. | |
rescue team to find his beloved pet dog, Alfie. | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
The Government strategy to fight swine flu was "excessive and may | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
have harmed people". That's the claim being made by two senior | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
public health doctors in a new report. They also say their advice | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
was ignored after a cluster of cases of the H1N1 virus in | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
Birmingham. The pandemic in 2009 was the largest of its kind in 40 | :07:38. | :07:48. | |
:07:48. | :07:50. | ||
years. Here's our health In 2009, Britain's focus was on | :07:50. | :07:55. | |
Welford Primary School, the first hotspot for swine flu. The | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
Government's focus was on containing the disease. But within | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
four days it had spread through five schools. For public health | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
doctors Andrew Rouse and Jacky Chambers, it became clear that | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
swine flu was a mild disease and the response was excessive. | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
time had come to move to the treatment phase of this pandemic | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
and we basically, our advice was ignored. | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
They claim that a local action plan was overruled. Policies may have | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
led to greater infection and treatment delay. New systems were | :08:22. | :08:31. | |
set up that simply didn't work. They almost brought to a chaotic | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
end, existing hospitals, GPS systems, out of our systems and put | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
lot of people at risk whereas I cannot imagine that the special | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
arrangements saved anyone's life or even a day of sickness. Concerns | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
about Tamiflu were also ignored. Their claim, that there was little | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
scientific evidence for giving it to healthy people and that it was | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
unethical to give it to children because it made them ill, were | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
backed up today in the Cochrane Report. | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
The official report into swine flu was by Dame Deirdre Hine. She told | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
me that she was working quickly but she openly and honestly identified | :09:03. | :09:12. | |
deficiencies and lessons to be learnt. The conclusions of that | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
review were really a bit of a whitewash in terms of what needed | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
to be learned and our view is that we still yet have to learn the | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
lessons of how this country dealt with the swine flu pandemic. | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
Government published a new pandemic flu strategy in November in which | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
more emphasis is placed on local decision-making in the early | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
decisions and just finding out how dangerous a virus is and less on | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
trying to contain it. But our doctors argue that it could | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
be worse in future because legislation being considered would | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
hand more power to the Secretary of State over public health. | :09:47. | :09:56. | |
And our Michele joins us now. Scathing criticisms we heard in | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
your report, have decisions being taken at all? The regional director | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
for public health says that those experiences are not her experiences | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
and NHS West Midlands has also said they do not accept those | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
experiences. They said there was obviously a need of clear control | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
circumstances because this was a pandemic and you have to have some | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
control from the centre but clearly there are issues to do with the way | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
in which these things are directed. And that they do not have power | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
over trust boards to tell them what to do, they can only guide them. | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
are talking about this nearly three years on so why should we care? | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
There are issues about whether people died because of this because | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
people were not taken to hospital because the advice was they may | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
have swine flu which is actually a mild disease and they may have had | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
something far more serious. Beyond that, an issue to do with the | :10:50. | :10:52. | |
future in that the Government has plans to create an organisation | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
called Public Health England which will actually concentrate the | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
powers in a body which is related to government and so it would | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
become an organ of the Civil Service and issues happening then | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
may happen again and they want the flexibility to be able to have a | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
local response to an epidemic. One man has died and another | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
suffered a broken arm in an incident at a cement works in Rugby. | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
Emergency services were called to Cemex UK's plant at Lawford Road | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
just before 2am this morning. The Health and Safety Executive is | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
investigating. Cemex was fined �200,000 over the death of one of | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
its employees in an explosion three years ago. | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
Detectives investigating the murder of a couple in Birmingham say they | :11:32. | :11:39. | |
don't believe the theft of gold was a motive. Avtar and Carole Kolar | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
were discovered at their home in Handsworth Wood a week ago. Last | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
night police were granted a further 36 hours to question a 37-year-old | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
man arrested on Monday. Teachers furious at plans to turn | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
their school into an academy say they're planning to go on strike | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
next week for the second time over the issue. Education Secretary | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
Michael Gove says, to improve standards, under-performing schools | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
should be run by outside sponsors. A number of secondary schools in | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
our region have already made the switch. Critics say the changes are | :12:07. | :12:14. | |
unfair to families and amount to Montgomery Primary in Sparkbrook is | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
a school, which according to Ofsted, is making satisfactory progress. | :12:19. | :12:21. | |
But the Government says that's not good enough - it's under-performing. | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
Education officials came here with a firm message. The school should | :12:27. | :12:34. | |
be an academy, with sponsorship. The fact that schools are being | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
told by the Government they should become an academy has caused much | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
controversy and this school next Wednesday, Thursday teachers will | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
go on strike. We have asked Birmingham City Council for a, and | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
they said it was a matter for the Government. In a statement, the | :12:50. | :12:59. | |
:13:00. | :13:04. | ||
Mohammed Ashraf sympathises with striking teachers. With a daughter | :13:04. | :13:12. | |
in Year 6, he's calling for proper consultation. If the Government | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
wants to see this big society, and empowering people, why do they | :13:18. | :13:28. | |
:13:28. | :13:29. | ||
force people against our wishes or without us having a say? | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
At the Westwood Academy in Coventry, the school cook's been replaced by | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
a former Royal Navy chef. One freedom, the head says, of a | :13:35. | :13:37. | |
comprehensive school becoming an academy last September. A local | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
computer firm is a sponsor and Ofsted has just rated its teaching | :13:40. | :13:46. | |
as "outstanding". Suddenly where money would have been top sliced, | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
all that money comes into the school so we have to be much more | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
careful about how we spend that money and look for improvements in | :13:54. | :14:01. | |
services for the children and the catchment area we serve. | :14:01. | :14:03. | |
Around a dozen primaries in Birmingham alone could become | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
academies. Campaigners say there's no evidence it'll improve standards. | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
There are virtually no primary school academies in existence so | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
there is no academies. The Government cannot 0.2 successful | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
primary academies because it there are not any -- cannot point too | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
successful. Schools that are improving will | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
still be considered under- performing if new targets for | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
English and maths are not met. The Education Secretary is facing a | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
showdown with his critics, who he's described as "enemies of reform". | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
Staff at the BBC's studios at The Mailbox in Birmingham have begun a | :14:37. | :14:44. | |
24-hour strike. About 80 members of the broadcasting union, BECTU, | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
walked out in protest at plans to transfer jobs and production to | :14:47. | :14:49. | |
Bristol. The move would affect programmes currently made in the | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
city including Coast, Countryfile and Hairy Bikers. Protesters claim | :14:54. | :15:03. | |
it will turn Birmingham into a media ghost town. Moving these jobs | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
to Salford or Bristol says no money, it does not make a better plan, | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
there is nothing strategic about it. They have got a 25 Lydia lease and | :15:12. | :15:17. | |
we have no idea what they are going to do with it. -- a 25 year lease. | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
The BBC didn't want to put anybody up for comment but in a statement, | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
a spokesman said: It is disappointing that BECTU members | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
have gone ahead with industrial action and we remain open to | :15:26. | :15:33. | |
We apologise to our audience for any disruption to service. | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
Still to come in tonight's programme, who'll come out on top | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
as Wolves and Blues prepare to meet again in the FA Cup? | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
Yes, let's hope they're not rained off. It's turning wetter and | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
windier, and as for the temperatures, is that it for the | :15:47. | :15:57. | |
:15:57. | :16:00. | ||
mild weather or is there more? Find The price of gold has travelled | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
with investors rushing to buy it as the economy struggles. It has led | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
to a big increase in trying to pass off cheap imitations as the real | :16:08. | :16:15. | |
things. Birmingham's Assay Office is offering courses to pawnbrokers | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
and antique dealers so they do not get ripped off. | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
Buying and selling gold is big business. This firm in Birmingham's | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
Jewellery Quarter has seen turnover increase from �12 million five | :16:27. | :16:32. | |
years ago to �250 million now. But that old saying that "all that | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
glitters is not gold" is ringing truer than ever. One in ten | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
customers are trying to sell fake gold. Five years ago, it was one in | :16:41. | :16:51. | |
:16:51. | :16:54. | ||
a 100. It is really shocking, some of the things. Sometimes they have | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
got nine inside a shank but when you tested, sometimes it is just | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
not gold at all. This box of mixed gold is worth | :17:03. | :17:13. | |
�100,000. These 22-carat gold And �100,000 of precious metal goes | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
into a melting pot, and is poured into a mould to make gold bars. | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
The price of gold is around �34 per gram, compared to �10 five years | :17:24. | :17:30. | |
ago. Nearly 70 tonnes of fine gold was scrapped in the UK and Ireland | :17:30. | :17:40. | |
:17:40. | :17:42. | ||
At Birmingham's Assay Office people are flocking to a one-day course to | :17:42. | :17:52. | |
:17:52. | :17:53. | ||
learn about the trade. It's thought to be the only one of its kind. | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
originally started a because people ask us. The first course sold out | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
in short notice. This will be followed by another course in two | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
weeks which is already sold out and we are looking desperately for more | :18:04. | :18:10. | |
day it. -- Maude date. The British Jewellers' Association | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
is working on plans for guidelines surrounding buying and selling gold. | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
We are putting together a code of conduct so people buying gold work | :18:19. | :18:25. | |
to a common set of standards. They will keep records of the | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
transactions being taken place and if they have CCTV, they will have | :18:28. | :18:30. | |
images. The Birmingham Assay Office tests | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
and hallmarks precious metals. Experts there are passing tips to | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
others in their one-off courses to protect the reputation of the | :18:37. | :18:47. | |
:18:47. | :18:49. | ||
That is fascinating. When John was there and our cameraman, three | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
customers came in with more than �100,000 worth of gold in that time. | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
Astonishing. A dog owner is spending thousands | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
to find his beloved terrier, Alfie, who went missing five days ago. | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
It's thought Alfie is lost in a badger sett but all efforts to find | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
him have failed. Now the worried owner has called in a specialist | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
rescue team whose main task is to find earthquake victims buried in | :19:11. | :19:17. | |
the debris. Joan Cummins reports. Alfie? Alfie? | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
Rod Chivers and his family have been maintaining at a vigil at this | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
disused railway line in Rugby since his pet terrier Alfie disappeared | :19:23. | :19:33. | |
:19:33. | :19:33. | ||
on Saturday. It is the not knowing which is destroying me. It was my | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
wife's dog and she died three years ago. It is my lifeline. | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
Alfie had vanished into an entrance hole of a badger sett, before the | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
family could start searching. They had to gain a licence from Natural | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
England who allowed them to employ a drain expert with an underground | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
camera. Despite probing eight meteres of tunnels, no sign of | :19:49. | :19:56. | |
Alfie. Today, four days after his disappearance, the family called in | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
search experts from West Midlands Fire Service. Specialist listening | :19:59. | :20:01. | |
devices and probes usually used to detect casulaties in earthquakes | :20:01. | :20:11. | |
:20:11. | :20:14. | ||
were used through the undergrowth. If Alfie is detected under | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
legislation, the firefighters have to get permission to disturb the | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
badger sett. Rod agreed to pay �700 an hour to | :20:21. | :20:23. | |
use the services of the search specialists but despite repeatedly | :20:23. | :20:31. | |
testing the area, there was still no sign or sound of Alfie. With the | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
equipment we have, we have done as much of a search as we can of that | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
back as possible. I am confident if Alfie work there, making any sort | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
of indication, we would have located him. Unfortunately that has | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
not been the case. When you have to accept the inevitable? No, no. He | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
is out there somewhere. We will find him. | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
It's said that dogs are man's best friend. Today demonstrated | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
perfectly by a man determined to stop at nothing to find his best | :20:58. | :21:08. | |
:21:08. | :21:12. | ||
We would love to give you some good news, but we cannot yet. | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
And the search for Alfie is continuing tonight. Still no news | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
on his whereabouts at the moment. There's a Midlands derby in the FA | :21:20. | :21:27. | |
Cup tonight. But Wolves against Birmingham City isn't exactly a | :21:27. | :21:33. | |
sell-out. Ian Winter is live at Molineux. A bit quiet for a match | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
night but that is not because it has at 8 o'clock kick-off. Or | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
because it's live on TV. It's typical of a growing trend. Just | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
look at the facts. In 1954, 36,000 were here to see Blues beat Wolves | :21:45. | :21:51. | |
in the FA Cup. Tonight, the crowd could be around one third of that | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
figure. But there's one player who doesn't mind a bit. | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
Coming in from the cold. The nightmare is finally over for | :21:57. | :22:04. | |
Michael Kightly. The Wolves winger has battled back from the same | :22:04. | :22:06. | |
career-threatening injury as Owen Hargreaves, patella tendonitis. | :22:06. | :22:13. | |
That's baffled top surgeons across Europe and beyond. You were such a | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
huge favourite with the bull fans before injury and a lot of them | :22:17. | :22:23. | |
have feared that they would never see playing in a shirt again -- a | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
favourite with the Wolves fans. Happily... I know I am through that | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
and I can hopefully show them that I am still the player I was. | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
COMMENTATOR: And here is Michael Kightly. | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
Kightly's loan spell with Watford proved a huge success. He scored | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
three goals, was Man of the Match half a dozen times, and now he's | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
played the last two games for Wolves. Don't be surprised if he's | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
left out tonight, to be fresh to face Aston Villa on Saturday. And | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
judging from the goalless bore at St Andrew's, it could be a good one | :22:55. | :23:02. | |
to miss. Why it is on TV after the first game, I don't know, after the | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
first game. It was a fairly flat affair pulled up lightning cannot | :23:06. | :23:16. | |
:23:16. | :23:21. | ||
10 days ago, fewer than 15,000 fans saw the game at St Andrew's and | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
tonight, the crowd could be even smaller. For those who watched the | :23:25. | :23:31. | |
first one, probably won't come back. At 14,000 not coming already put up | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
the difference is, let me tell you, it will be a barnstorming, rip- | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
roaring Cup tie. Put more pressure on off to win it, they are the home | :23:40. | :23:47. | |
team. -- put more pressure on Wolves to win it. I'm quite looking | :23:47. | :23:49. | |
forward to it. Last season in the Premier League | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
at Molinuex, Wolves beat Birmingham 1-0. No-one would be shocked if | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
You can see the full interview with Michael Kightly on the Midlands | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
Today Facebook page. So, could the clubs do more to encourage fans not | :24:03. | :24:11. | |
to abandon the FA Cup? Jez Moxey is the Wolves chief executive. There's | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
a lot more football today than there was in 1934. It is 24 hour | :24:18. | :24:24. | |
media coverage of the sport. We had to pitch it right, ticket prices, | :24:24. | :24:29. | |
and we have done that tonight. Above all else, we need to play | :24:29. | :24:34. | |
attractive football and win games and they will come. Is there a case | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
for scrapping FA Cup replays altogether? I think if you're not | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
careful, you can dilute the competition too much and I do not | :24:41. | :24:47. | |
think that is an agenda at the moment. We have to make sure that | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
we win and don't have a replay. have slashed the ticket prices. | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
Mick McCarthy has promised an attacking formation. Are you going | :24:56. | :25:02. | |
for it tonight? We have won the FA Cup four times in our history. 4th | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
round for nine consecutive years and we were like to do that again. | :25:05. | :25:10. | |
This time around with Sheffield United, a special club, faced in | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
the next round. Thank you, may the best team win. | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
Don't forget BBC WM has full coverage on tonight's game. And on | :25:17. | :25:20. | |
Friday, we'll have a special profile on Robbie Keane, by his | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
best pal, Matt Murray, before Wolves play Villa in the Premier | :25:22. | :25:32. | |
:25:32. | :25:34. | ||
Mick McCarthy is a man who gets things off his mind. He does not | :25:34. | :25:36. | |
sit on the fence! Here's Shefali with the weather | :25:36. | :25:46. | |
:25:46. | :25:46. | ||
We have got some cloud and a bit of light, drizzly rain but that will | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
be over and done with before the heavier stuff piled in. It will be | :25:50. | :25:58. | |
a mild night. The mild conditions are from today and these were our a | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
maximum temperatures. Hereford was the warmest place with highs of | :26:02. | :26:09. | |
around pole Celsius and that is way above the average -- around 12 | :26:09. | :26:17. | |
Celsius. This is what we have across us right now. Drizzly rain | :26:17. | :26:25. | |
and cloud. The main band of rain comes in from the West. It will be | :26:25. | :26:32. | |
heavy in places to. The north of the region will be drier than | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
elsewhere and and all of this, feeling mild with lows of around | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
seven Celsius. Hill fog and the breeze will pick up as the rain | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
heads in soap tomorrow morning, quite windy and it will be fairly | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
wet as well. This whole band moves to the south so much drier across | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
all parts by the afternoon. Sunshine as well in between is the | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
cloud breaks up. Temperatures tomorrow with highs of nine Celsius | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
in central and southern parts but as cold ANA's into the North, | :27:03. | :27:13. | |
:27:13. | :27:14. | ||
temperatures a bit lower. -- but as cold moves into the North. A warm | :27:14. | :27:20. | |
front moves in through on Friday and we will be into warm sectors | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
are temporarily temperatures pick up on Saturday and showers through | :27:23. | :27:29. | |
A look at tonight's main headlines: UK unemployment hits a 17-year high. | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
Figures for the three months to November show the jobless total hit | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
nearly 2.7 million. And figures for the West Midlands | :27:35. | :27:37. |