:00:00. > :00:09.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today, with Nick Owen and Mary Rhodes.
:00:09. > :00:12.Joy for thousands of A—level students across the region, but what
:00:12. > :00:16.hope for teenagers where youth unemployment's a major problem?
:00:16. > :00:20.We'll be finding out what's being done in a town with one of the
:00:20. > :00:23.highest numbers of young jobless people in the country.
:00:23. > :00:26.Also tonight, a startling admission from the new boss of Birmingham's
:00:26. > :00:30.Children's Services — "children are unsafe in our care".
:00:30. > :00:35.Testing how we'd react in the face of a terrorist attack — for research
:00:35. > :00:39.purposes only. On the eve of the new Premier League
:00:39. > :00:47.season, new boss Mark Hughes on his hopes for Stoke City. People will
:00:47. > :00:50.possibly be nervous about what is ahead of us but I think we should
:00:50. > :00:54.enjoy and embrace it. And however wet it's been so far
:00:54. > :00:56.this week, it's tame in comparison with what's to come. Join me later
:00:56. > :01:09.for all the details. Good evening. Councillors in one of
:01:10. > :01:12.the UK's worst youth unemployment blackspots have promised a brighter
:01:12. > :01:17.future for the hundreds of A—level students who received their results
:01:17. > :01:20.today. More than one in four young people in Telford and Wrekin are
:01:20. > :01:26.unemployed. That's around 3,500 still waiting to launch their
:01:26. > :01:28.careers. Now the Borough Council is working towards guaranteed
:01:28. > :01:36.education, training or employment for all 16 to 24—year—olds. From
:01:36. > :01:39.Telford, here's Joanne Writtle. Joining us now from Telford is
:01:39. > :01:43.Councillor Shaun Davies, who's responsible for employment and
:01:43. > :01:47.skills. Emotional scenes as students at colleges in Wellington get their
:01:47. > :01:52.A—level results. In line with national trends, those getting top
:01:52. > :02:00.grades dipped by 5% compared to last year but there was still plenty of
:02:00. > :02:11.success. I got an A* grade, A, A. Much better than I'd expected. I got
:02:11. > :02:15.three a star grades and an A. I am going to Oxford. Someone making
:02:15. > :02:20.decisions depending on finance. I wanted to raise the money getting a
:02:20. > :02:28.job to go to university next year. The tuition fees are putting me off.
:02:28. > :02:33.In myself, I'm not ready to go out into the big world at the minute so
:02:33. > :02:38.I am just going to stay at home. It is a bit cheaper as well. We're not
:02:38. > :02:42.seeing fewer students going to university but what we are seeing is
:02:42. > :02:49.that they are staying more locally in terms of transport links. Just a
:02:49. > :02:53.short drive, £250 million is being spent here developing part of
:02:53. > :03:02.Telford town centre. It will create hundreds of new jobs, but
:03:02. > :03:07.nevertheless, youth unemployment stands stubbornly at 27%. That is
:03:07. > :03:14.higher than the West Midlands figure of 23% and higher than the national
:03:14. > :03:20.level of 21%. Amy Spruce is one of 140 apprentices recruited by Telford
:03:20. > :03:25.Council. Last year, she decided against higher education. University
:03:25. > :03:30.is a big pick—up —— big commitment. I didn't want to get into debt as
:03:30. > :03:36.well. I've decided I've wanted a more work —based experience. Amy has
:03:36. > :03:41.a one—year apprenticeship. After that, she is hoping her work
:03:41. > :03:50.experience and her NVQ will help her gain permanent employment. Joining
:03:50. > :03:53.us now is the minister responsible for employment and skills. Great
:03:54. > :03:57.news for the students who studied hard to get great results, but if
:03:57. > :04:01.they're not off to University, what are the chances of them getting a
:04:01. > :04:06.job locally? Well, we really need to work with that forgotten 50% who
:04:06. > :04:11.aren't going to university. We need to work with colleges for further
:04:11. > :04:15.education colleges —— courses. But we need to give our young people a
:04:15. > :04:19.chance of employment. Youth unemployment is a problem in
:04:19. > :04:27.Telford, as one in four is out of work. What are you doing to tackle
:04:27. > :04:30.it? It is a massive problem and it is regrettable the Government didn't
:04:30. > :04:35.put anything into their Comprehensive Spending Review to
:04:35. > :04:42.tackle the issue across the country. We are working now with colleges and
:04:42. > :04:45.with the private sector here to offer a jobs guarantee and jobs
:04:45. > :04:53.charter and unemployment and training guarantee of to every 16 to
:04:53. > :04:56.24—year—old. It is the biggest aspiration the council has put
:04:57. > :05:01.forward in a generation, I would argue. It is not going to take a
:05:01. > :05:04.quick fix and the council cannot do it by itself. We have to give our
:05:04. > :05:08.young people a chance working with the community. We've heard in the
:05:08. > :05:11.last couple of days that exports are rising. Firms in the region are
:05:12. > :05:19.recruiting but they can't find people with the right skills. How
:05:19. > :05:25.can you change that? We need to prepare our young people to have the
:05:25. > :05:28.qualifications and skills and confidence to apply for jobs and get
:05:28. > :05:34.through assessment, so we have this to track approach. There is much
:05:34. > :05:37.more we can do and this will be the number one priority for this
:05:37. > :05:46.Administration in Telford over the next two years. Thank you.
:05:46. > :05:50.Still to come: join me later to find out how innovative designs like this
:05:50. > :05:54.could help boost manufacturing in the West Midlands.
:05:54. > :06:00.Police have been called to an incident in Alvechurch. A cordon has
:06:00. > :06:03.been set up around a white van. It's believed to be part of a wider
:06:03. > :06:06.operation involving West Mercia Police and surrounding forces, and
:06:06. > :06:09.we'll have more in our news from 10pm.
:06:09. > :06:12.The new head of Children's Services at Birmingham City Council has
:06:12. > :06:15.described the current service as unsafe for children and needing
:06:15. > :06:18.immediate action. Peter Hay's comments come just weeks before the
:06:18. > :06:23.results of a Serious Case Review into the death of two—year—old Keanu
:06:23. > :06:26.Williams are due to be released. Our political reporter, Liz Roberts,
:06:26. > :06:31.joins us now. What else did he have to say? The comments from Peter Hay
:06:31. > :06:34.were made to councillors on the scrutiny committee, who's job it is
:06:34. > :06:38.to hold officers in Children's Services to account. He's reported
:06:38. > :06:44.as saying the council is standing near the exit of the last—chance
:06:44. > :06:47.saloon. I've spoken to the chair of that committee, Labour Councillor
:06:47. > :06:50.Anita Ward, who said this is the most honest anybody has been with
:06:50. > :06:56.members of scrutiny in the last year. She says they've had serious
:06:56. > :07:02.concerns about the service since the Ofsted report last October described
:07:02. > :07:05.it as "inadequate". And despite in their monthly meetings being told
:07:05. > :07:09.that things are improving, it's only now that the person in charge is
:07:09. > :07:13.saying things as they are. And he's only a temporary boss? Yes, it's
:07:13. > :07:17.less than a month he's been in charge. He's become the interim boss
:07:17. > :07:21.since Peter Duxbury stepped down in the aftermath of the Keanu Williams
:07:22. > :07:25.case. He's the little boy from Ward End in Birmingham who died aged two
:07:25. > :07:29.in January 2011 after being found with 37 injuries. His mother,
:07:29. > :07:36.Rebecca Shuttleworth, was convicted of his murder in June. What reaction
:07:36. > :07:39.has there been to the comments? A short time ago, we spoke to the
:07:39. > :07:47.British Association of Social Workers, who welcomed Mr Hay's
:07:47. > :07:51.straight talking. I think it will be very hard for people to hear that
:07:51. > :07:56.because we all want children to be safe. It is very, very uncomfortable
:07:56. > :08:01.for us to hear that they aren't. At if you don't start with the reality
:08:01. > :08:05.of what is going on, then you can't change things. —— but. Hopefully,
:08:05. > :08:10.having made these comments, now people around the city, not just in
:08:10. > :08:14.local authorities or social work, will be able to say, what can we all
:08:14. > :08:17.do to try to change the situation for the children? Another Ofsed
:08:17. > :08:25.inspection is due any day now and I'm told there are serious concerns
:08:25. > :08:28.those inspectors won't be satisfied. Thank you.
:08:28. > :08:33.How do you think you would respond in the event of a serious incident
:08:33. > :08:37.such as a terrorist attack? That question was put to the test today
:08:37. > :08:39.in a simulated exercise. A chemical was released inside the
:08:39. > :08:42.International Convention Centre, where 150 volunteers were taking
:08:42. > :08:48.part in a European research project, as Kevin Reide reports.
:08:48. > :08:51.Birmingham's International Convention Centre and an evacuation
:08:51. > :08:57.after a terrorist discharges poisonous gas in one of the halls.
:08:57. > :09:05.But it wasn't for real. All these people are volunteers being used as
:09:05. > :09:09.part of a mock exercise. Several people collapsed so it did seem as
:09:10. > :09:13.if it was a natural thing. We did realise the exercise had started. We
:09:13. > :09:17.thought people were genuinely ill. It's designed to be as realistic as
:09:17. > :09:24.possible. There are observers from universities in the UK and from
:09:24. > :09:27.security agencies from the EU. They'll collate the information and
:09:27. > :09:31.make sure if this ever happens for real, the response will be the right
:09:31. > :09:35.one. There were elso European film crews here, capturing every minute.
:09:35. > :09:41.Isn't there a danger you could alarm people? We have done expense ——
:09:41. > :09:45.extensive work around communication to let people know what is
:09:45. > :09:49.happening. These events are extremely rare but because they are
:09:49. > :09:52.it is important we exercise regularly to make sure we are
:09:52. > :09:55.prepared for them, that we have officers who are skilled with the
:09:55. > :09:59.right kit and the right training to deal with these things in our
:09:59. > :10:02.communities. It also provided the opportunity to try out as yet unused
:10:02. > :10:07.equipment, with the volunteers having to wear specialist chemical
:10:07. > :10:11.attack suits. What these resources are designed for is for a mass
:10:11. > :10:17.decontamination of people, so say a gas has been released or an acid,
:10:17. > :10:21.what we can do is decontaminate and clean people up and clean a lot of
:10:21. > :10:24.people up very quickly. There's people lying on the floor but I
:10:24. > :10:28.don't know... ! The exercise was funded by the European Union and the
:10:28. > :10:31.results will be analysed over the next few months. Then there are two
:10:31. > :10:35.further terror exercises in Poland and Sweden.
:10:35. > :10:38.I'm joined now by Dr Brooke Rogers, senior lecturer in risk and terror
:10:38. > :10:42.at King's College, London, who has been gathering information from
:10:42. > :10:50.today's event. It sounds absolutely fascinating. What have you learned?
:10:50. > :10:53.We have a lot of data to analyse and we'll so have what we have seen and
:10:53. > :10:56.some numbers we have been collecting, and we have very much
:10:56. > :11:03.seen behaviour from members of the public that was very calm and
:11:03. > :11:07.cooperative and I think they enjoyed the event overall, which is what we
:11:07. > :11:11.would expect to see with our theories, and that contradicts what
:11:11. > :11:14.emergency planning assumptions quite often assume they will see when
:11:14. > :11:17.members of the public respond. These events were obviously staged and
:11:17. > :11:27.those taking part had some idea what was about to happen, so how reliable
:11:27. > :11:31.will the data be? We are incredibly confident because this brings these
:11:31. > :11:37.things to life with the practitioners, who are engaged with
:11:37. > :11:41.the public response. We are putting real members of the public through
:11:41. > :11:48.so they can engage with them and we'll so go out and collect data
:11:48. > :11:54.during real events. —— we also. Some of my colleagues were involved with
:11:54. > :12:05.the Alexander Lipton Inc oh incident in London as well. Once your
:12:05. > :12:13.research is complete, what happens to it? We basically say, you can
:12:13. > :12:17.engage with members of the public, you can help them to help themselves
:12:17. > :12:22.and their families and this is what you can do in order to give them
:12:22. > :12:26.some tools they can use as well. This is fascinating. Thank you.
:12:27. > :12:29.This is our top story tonight — as thousands of students receive their
:12:30. > :12:33.A—level results, a pledge to offer more support in one of the region's
:12:33. > :12:36.youth unemployment blackspots. Your detailed weather forecast to
:12:36. > :12:40.come shortly from Shefali. Also tonight, the Premier League is
:12:40. > :12:43.back, and it's all—change at Stoke City, as Mark Hughes launches a new
:12:43. > :12:45.era. And remembering World War II's
:12:46. > :12:47.forgotten army, with a special bronze statue to honour the
:12:47. > :12:59.Chindits. The Midlands has been famous for
:12:59. > :13:03.developing prestigious cars over the years, such as the Aston Martin, the
:13:03. > :13:07.Morgan, the E—Type Jag and many other hugely successful vehicles.
:13:07. > :13:16.Now a rather different type of vehicle is being developed here. It
:13:16. > :13:19.goes a bit slower! It only has a top speed of 25 miles—an—hour. But
:13:19. > :13:23.designers hope the Raptor electric bike will be a major success. Orders
:13:23. > :13:27.are already coming in from Australia and America, with the promise of new
:13:27. > :13:29.jobs as a result, as Bob Hockenhull reports.
:13:29. > :13:33.Brothers Paul and David Loomes have spent three years developing the
:13:33. > :13:37.Raptor. The electric bike can be used on the roads. And the
:13:37. > :13:44.production line in Dudley expects to be making at least 2,000 a year by
:13:44. > :13:50.2015. It's primarily aimed at security, professional users,
:13:50. > :13:55.shopping malls, the police. We are looking to sell in excess of 300
:13:55. > :13:58.vehicles this year, which is a little over £1.5 million turnover.
:13:58. > :14:02.The rear—wheel—drive vehicle is already creating jobs on a small
:14:02. > :14:05.scale. 18 people are working on designing and assembling the
:14:05. > :14:08.machine. The brothers have teamed up with an established design company
:14:08. > :14:16.to help realise their dreams of mass production. This area is obviously
:14:16. > :14:20.renowned over the years with locomotive companies but there has
:14:20. > :14:24.been nothing lately, really, and I think this is one of the new
:14:24. > :14:30.innovations that has come from this area. Nobody could be sure how
:14:30. > :14:34.popular the bike will become but at least it is 100% designed and
:14:34. > :14:37.manufactured here in the Midlands. The question is, are innovative
:14:37. > :14:43.products like this getting the backing they need? We don't think
:14:43. > :14:47.there is enough government backing for this sort of thing. We are
:14:47. > :14:51.exporting 100% of our product. You would think they would come in to
:14:51. > :14:55.help us. One organisation has helped, though. The Manufacturing
:14:55. > :15:01.Advisory Service has given money to around 50 innovators in the region,
:15:01. > :15:04.including Ecospin. We look at the innovation itself, we understand
:15:04. > :15:08.what the product is trying to achieve and we look to see where the
:15:08. > :15:11.marketplace will be, because to commercialise is the own game and
:15:11. > :15:17.without that, all the investment is for nothing. It may be a long road
:15:17. > :15:20.to success. But if inventions like the Raptor can capture the attention
:15:20. > :15:25.of the world's markets, it'll mean more jobs for this region.
:15:25. > :15:29.The West Midlands is one of the most diverse parts of the country in
:15:29. > :15:33.terms of population, but for the first time, we have a real picture
:15:33. > :15:35.of just who makes up our region. The details have been revealed by Oxford
:15:35. > :15:41.University. More than 5.6 million people live
:15:41. > :15:46.here in the West Midlands, and 630,000, or 11%, were born outside
:15:47. > :15:50.the UK. Birmingham has had the biggest
:15:50. > :15:56.increase in migrants over a ten—year period — up by 77,000 to 238,000.
:15:56. > :15:58.While Stoke—on—Trent had the largest percentage increase in its
:15:59. > :16:06.foreign—born population — up 131% to nearly 21,000.
:16:07. > :16:10.The biggest migrant group in the West Midlands is Indian, at nearly
:16:10. > :16:11.100,000, followed by people born in Pakistan, Poland, Ireland and
:16:11. > :16:18.Jamaica. We're joined now by Rob McNeil, from
:16:18. > :16:24.the Migration Observatory at Oxford University. Good evening.
:16:24. > :16:31.Significant increases in the region's migrant population. What's
:16:31. > :16:35.the attraction? There are an awful lot of people who go to the West
:16:35. > :16:40.Midlands to study and many who go to work, and as you said earlier, it is
:16:40. > :16:44.an area with an established migrant population, so people will go to
:16:44. > :16:49.areas where there are family connections or other networks where
:16:49. > :16:53.they can feel comfortable and find work, find ways of doing things that
:16:53. > :16:59.they might otherwise struggle with if they were somewhere with a
:16:59. > :17:02.smaller migrant population. You talk about work. We have big problems
:17:02. > :17:05.with unemployment here in the West Midlands so it seems surprising the
:17:05. > :17:08.region still seems a popular destination. As we were saying,
:17:08. > :17:12.there are other areas apart from work that attract people, but the
:17:12. > :17:18.other thing is, migrants to the West Midlands, while they are obviously
:17:18. > :17:25.still proportionately a large part of the population, they are now
:17:25. > :17:29.smaller as a group than in other parts of the country. For example,
:17:29. > :17:32.London, the south—east and east of England have a larger migrant
:17:32. > :17:38.population. How much of a challenge are these growing numbers to local
:17:38. > :17:41.authorities? Clearly, it is extremely important local
:17:41. > :17:46.authorities have local data to allow them to plan and make sure there are
:17:46. > :17:49.adequate places at schools and hospitals for the growing
:17:49. > :17:57.population. So it is important there is local information popular. ——
:17:57. > :18:04.available. We have been seeing the increased numbers potentially coming
:18:04. > :18:08.from remaining and Bulgaria. What do you say about that? The numbers from
:18:08. > :18:11.those countries have been increasing for several years now regardless of
:18:11. > :18:19.the labour market restrictions preventing them from doing several
:18:19. > :18:22.things. There will be a larger number —— whether there will be a
:18:22. > :18:26.larger number of people coming or not is hard to know. We have to plan
:18:26. > :18:29.for uncertainty because even if we had a precise number of people, we
:18:29. > :18:35.would not know whether they were going to go to London, the West
:18:35. > :18:39.Midlands or elsewhere. Thank you. And if you want to find out more,
:18:40. > :18:42.we've put the full report on West Midlands migration on our Facebook
:18:42. > :18:45.page. The richest football league in the
:18:45. > :18:49.world kicks off on Saturday, with the return of the Premier League,
:18:49. > :18:52.and the first game involves Stoke City. The Potters travel up the M6
:18:53. > :18:55.to Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime with new manager Mark Hughes,
:18:55. > :18:59.looking to rebuild his own reputation and that of his new club.
:18:59. > :19:02.Today he's been talking to Laura May McMullan.
:19:02. > :19:05.It's a new era at Stoke City Football club and a challenge new
:19:05. > :19:14.manager Mark Hughes is determined to make a success of. You have to work
:19:14. > :19:18.exceptionally hard to make sure you remain a Premier League manager. I
:19:18. > :19:24.know to my own cost it is not easy but I think there is a quality of
:19:24. > :19:28.people they have found here and brought here that means I think we
:19:28. > :19:32.can be successful. Hughes knows the pressure is on to climb the ranks of
:19:32. > :19:40.the Premier League. He's confident the squad can adapt to his style of
:19:40. > :19:48.play. I would say my stylist setting up a team that is dynamic, that
:19:48. > :19:53.wants to be on the front foot and dictate. —— I would say my style is.
:19:53. > :19:57.It'll be welcome news to Stoke City supporters, who've made no secret
:19:57. > :20:00.during the last couple of seasons of their desire to have more
:20:00. > :20:04.entertaining football. And they want a top—ten finish. After the Potters'
:20:04. > :20:05.first season in the Premier League under former manager Tony Pulis, the
:20:05. > :20:13.club finished 12th. The next three seasons, they
:20:13. > :20:17.established themselves in the top flight but finished in the lower
:20:17. > :20:19.half of the table. And the theme continued last season again, with a
:20:19. > :20:25.13th—placed finished. Hughes has brought in an experienced
:20:25. > :20:28.backroom staff. His assistant manager, Mark Bowen, and first team
:20:28. > :20:36.coach, Eddie Niedzwicki, have also worked with him at Blackburn,
:20:36. > :20:42.Manchester City, Fulham and QPR. Would you say a top ten finishes
:20:42. > :20:46.realistic? We know long—term that is certainly where we want to be.
:20:46. > :20:50.Whether it happens this year or not, time will tell. But the
:20:50. > :20:55.intention is to be a successful Premier League side in the top half.
:20:55. > :20:59.The manager's aim is to bring in a striker before the transfer window
:20:59. > :21:02.closes in two weeks. He knows it's imperative to make a strong start
:21:02. > :21:10.and he'll be backed by more than 3,000 fans at Anfield on Saturday.
:21:10. > :21:13.And one of those fans is Martin Smith, editor of the Stoke City
:21:14. > :21:17.fanzine The Oatcake, who joins us now. Martin, how are Stoke fans
:21:17. > :21:27.feeling as the new season approaches? Good evening. I think
:21:27. > :21:32.everyone's feeling excited and maybe a bit anxious because it is a big
:21:32. > :21:36.step into the unknown, but, yeah, I think everybody is really looking
:21:36. > :21:39.forward to it. It's the new chapter in the Stoke City story and we are
:21:39. > :21:43.kind of ready to embrace what we hope is a new era for the club.
:21:43. > :21:47.What's the feeling among fans about Mark Hughes. Is it fair to say he
:21:47. > :21:56.wasn't universally welcomed when appointed? Has that changed? I think
:21:56. > :22:00.so. Everybody had their idea of who they wanted to see at the club but
:22:00. > :22:04.in the cold light of day, the board knew what kind of manager we could
:22:04. > :22:11.get. What really is a proven track record apart from one spell at QPR,
:22:11. > :22:16.means he will be a good fit for the club and many fans have realised
:22:16. > :22:19.that. You've made a couple of signings over the summer and Hughes
:22:20. > :22:22.says he wants to sign a striker before the transfer window closes.
:22:23. > :22:26.Is there anything else on your shopping list? We are thinking along
:22:26. > :22:32.the same lines. A striker! I think it is known that we have struggled
:22:32. > :22:36.to score goals most seasons, especially the last two, and it has
:22:36. > :22:39.held us back. We must resolve that and we might be able to do that
:22:39. > :22:44.through a different style of playing or, in all likelihood, we will
:22:44. > :22:48.problem you need a fresh face or two to invigorate the team. And, you
:22:48. > :22:52.know, we have until the 2nd of September, but the sooner the
:22:52. > :22:59.better. Have a good season and enjoy it.
:22:59. > :23:02.Do you know who the Chindits were? They were the largest of the allied
:23:02. > :23:06.Special Forces of the Second World War, operating deep behind enemy
:23:06. > :23:10.lines in North Burma in the war against Japan. For many months, they
:23:10. > :23:18.lived in and fought the enemy in the jungles of Japanese occupied Burma.
:23:19. > :23:26.ARCHIVE: You've heard of these men before. Their origin goes back to
:23:26. > :23:30.the late Colonel. Their history has captured the imagination of the
:23:30. > :23:35.Allied world. Here they are in close up for the first time. The
:23:35. > :23:39.Chindits. Take a good look. Not that it will help you to recognise any of
:23:39. > :23:45.them. Their own mother couldn't. But now, more than 60 years later, the
:23:45. > :23:48.Chindits are not forgotten. At the National Memorial Arboretum in
:23:48. > :23:50.Staffordshire today, Burma veterans attended a special service which was
:23:50. > :23:52.especially poignant for one Birmingham man, as Sarah Falkland
:23:52. > :24:03.reports. The statue is of a Chinthe. You find
:24:03. > :24:07.them guarding the entrances to the temples. And it was from this
:24:07. > :24:11.creature the Chindits took their name. This bronze has been moulded
:24:11. > :24:14.from a wooden statue created by computer repair man Roger Neal. He'd
:24:15. > :24:21.never carved anything before. It took him two and half years. I see
:24:21. > :24:30.this stone being just that thing. The sole of all Chindits. —— the
:24:30. > :24:35.sore. Roger's father, Ted, was alongside the Chindits in Burma. The
:24:35. > :24:37.special force was formed to put into effect a new guerilla warfare
:24:37. > :24:45.tactic, operating long distances behind enemy lines.
:24:45. > :24:49.ARCHIVE: Approaching the village, they prepare for action. They look
:24:49. > :24:52.casual. It is the Japanese who are worried.
:24:52. > :24:57.Veterans came to a consecration ceremony for Roger's Chinthe at the
:24:57. > :25:01.National Memorial Arboretum today. The fight against the Japanese may
:25:01. > :25:12.have been 70 years ago, but for them, Burma has never gone away. I
:25:12. > :25:24.was a 12 stone young man of 19 and I came out at eight stone for. ——
:25:24. > :25:28.four. Plenty of marching, walking. Bad memories? Yes.Of the 20,000
:25:28. > :25:34.Chindits in Burma, 3,000 were killed and the same number injured. And of
:25:34. > :25:37.those who survived, many have to spend weeks and even months in
:25:37. > :25:44.hospital that they were —— because they were so starved and disease
:25:44. > :25:48.ridden. Roger's own father never lived to see the Chinthe complete.
:25:48. > :25:53.This labour of love wasn't for his dad, but for all those lost their
:25:53. > :25:56.lives in Burma. Goodness. How very moving.
:25:56. > :25:59.It's time for the weather forecast, with Shefali.
:25:59. > :26:12.it was nice to see the warmth return today. What we are hoping to match
:26:12. > :26:15.tomorrow is today's temperatures, which reached 24 degrees, but
:26:15. > :26:20.generally speaking, temperatures were into the low 20s. However, if I
:26:20. > :26:25.was going to highlight anything this week, the wettest of periods is
:26:25. > :26:30.likely to be tonight and Saturday. Tonight, we have an active front
:26:30. > :26:34.pushing in from the West and once that is cleared by the weekend, we
:26:34. > :26:38.then have a very deep area of low pressure pushing in from the
:26:38. > :26:43.Atlantic. This will not only dumped a whole lot of rain over us, but it
:26:43. > :26:47.will also turn things very windy. This evening, we have this lump of
:26:47. > :26:52.cloud over us which will produce fairly heavy rain through the night,
:26:52. > :26:57.through this evening and overnight. It has already started over parts of
:26:57. > :27:01.Shropshire. It will be a wet night and cloudy with mist and Merck
:27:01. > :27:09.developing over the northern part of the region once the rain clears over
:27:09. > :27:15.the region in the early hours. Quite warm and muggy tonight. Tomorrow, a
:27:15. > :27:18.reasonable day once the rain has cleared this southeastern corner and
:27:19. > :27:22.we are looking at a largely dry picture with decent spells of
:27:22. > :27:29.sunshine, and hoping to match today's values. As I've said, on
:27:29. > :27:35.Saturday, wet and windy and dryer on Sunday.
:27:35. > :27:44.Two men have been arrested after a robbery at services on the motorway.
:27:44. > :27:46.West mercy of police say one man was detained in Alf Church and another
:27:46. > :27:46.in Birmingham. More detailed