:00:00. > :00:07.Hello, welcome to Midlands Today with Joanne Malin and Nick Owen. The
:00:07. > :00:17.headlines tonight: Shock for the staff at Wolverhampton City Council
:00:17. > :00:22.— a thousand jobs must go. I am extremely angry we are in this
:00:22. > :00:25.position and I know the workforce shows that anger and sadness. On the
:00:25. > :00:28.day the latest jobless figures are released, we'll be assessing if
:00:28. > :00:31.growth is returning to the West Midlands. Also tonight: A six figure
:00:31. > :00:38.pay—out for a Stafford Hospital patient — after a botched caesarean
:00:38. > :00:44.left her with permanent injuries. I remembered the nurse asking the
:00:44. > :00:50.Doctor, what shall I do? He said, just give her a shot. She gave me a
:00:50. > :00:53.shot of morphine and that stopped me screaming. Remembering the glider
:00:53. > :00:55.pilots of World War II — as their bravery's finally recognised.
:00:56. > :01:01.Razor blades in their peaked caps — the story behind the Peaky Blinders
:01:01. > :01:04.— a new TV drama set in Birmingham. And if days like today are on the
:01:05. > :01:18.up, then you'd better be prepared. Keep in touch with the forecast
:01:18. > :01:22.later. Good evening, a thousand jobs are to be lost at Wolverhampton City
:01:22. > :01:26.council in the next 18 months. It's part of a range of measures to try
:01:26. > :01:29.to save nearly 89 million pounds. Workers were called to a series of
:01:29. > :01:33.special meetings today to hear the news. The announcement was made on
:01:33. > :01:36.the same day that new figures show that unemployment in the West
:01:36. > :01:40.Midlands is still higher than the national average. We'll have more on
:01:40. > :01:43.that later, but first BBC WM's Political Reporter Susana Mendonca,
:01:43. > :01:50.has the latest on the Wolverhampton job cuts.
:01:50. > :01:56.They piled into this building severance times today to find out
:01:56. > :02:04.how many of them the City Council plans to axe. The figure, 1000 jobs
:02:04. > :02:11.to go by 2015. How do you feel as somebody who might lose your job? It
:02:11. > :02:18.is gutting but we will have to wait and see. We did not realise it was
:02:18. > :02:25.so many. It is part of the way the government want things to go. The
:02:25. > :02:30.council are between a rock and hard place. For the people leading this
:02:30. > :02:36.meeting it was the news they did not want to hear but councils are facing
:02:36. > :02:41.difficult times. The man at the helm of that decision says his hands are
:02:41. > :02:45.tied because the City Council has to find £89 million in savings by 2019
:02:45. > :02:51.because of cuts in central government funding. We are talking
:02:51. > :02:56.about potentially 50 families in every ward in the city losing
:02:57. > :03:02.income. We have spent a lot of time in the last two or three years
:03:02. > :03:07.working with colleagues in Staffordshire to secure the inward
:03:07. > :03:13.investment of Jaguar Land Rover with 1400 new jobs. What we had to do
:03:13. > :03:16.here could negate that. But the local Conservative group says it is
:03:16. > :03:22.the Labour run council and not the government that is to blame. We were
:03:22. > :03:28.the first to freeze council tax without cutting anything and we have
:03:28. > :03:33.done that and saved money. Labour are back up to what they are good at
:03:33. > :03:38.doing, spending the money but not looking to see what the consequences
:03:39. > :03:44.are. The argument over spending versus cuts has seen protests across
:03:44. > :03:50.the Midlands. But unions have criticised the way Wolverhampton has
:03:50. > :03:54.dealt this blow. There has been no consultation on this at the council
:03:54. > :04:00.at all and the first the unions knew about this was from telephone calls
:04:00. > :04:04.from the council yesterday. There was more uncertainty ahead as staff
:04:04. > :04:08.still have a long way to find out which of them will go.
:04:08. > :04:11.So a worrying time for public sector workers, but a different story in
:04:11. > :04:16.some areas of the private sector, especially at companies in the
:04:16. > :04:19.automotive industry. But they're facing their own challenges, as they
:04:19. > :04:28.struggle to find enough skilled engineers to fill their job
:04:29. > :04:34.vacancies. Joanne Writtle reports. Specialised work to supply parts for
:04:34. > :04:38.the motor industry requires skilled engineers and therein lies the
:04:38. > :04:43.problem. There are not enough of them. Doug started this firm nearly
:04:43. > :04:47.30 years ago. The last six months he has had vacancies for three
:04:47. > :04:53.engineers and JLR announced yesterday they would create 1700
:04:53. > :05:05.jobs. It keeps us on our toes because we do not want to lose
:05:05. > :05:16.people to J L. We have to hang on to what we have got in way of labour.
:05:16. > :05:20.Fair is a skilled problem. As the economy recovers we need to make
:05:20. > :05:26.sure that it is not throttled via the lack of skilled people. This
:05:26. > :05:29.training company specialises in engineering. The number of
:05:29. > :05:36.apprentices they to cheer in Coventry and Redding —— Redditch has
:05:36. > :05:41.been rising to 90 annually. Buses here say the shortage is a national
:05:41. > :05:45.problem even though a maintenance engineer is paid around £40,000 a
:05:45. > :05:53.year and senior engineers up to 60,000. The skilled shortage is
:05:53. > :06:05.significant and growing. Not only is our industry having a real issue, it
:06:05. > :06:14.is ourselves having difficulty in recruiting young engineers. Rachel
:06:14. > :06:22.is rare then. Not only a woman engineer in a male world but now a
:06:22. > :06:29.trainer. Finding this job, I had my hand in the engineering environment
:06:30. > :06:33.as well as improving my skills. Drew decided against university opting
:06:33. > :06:38.for a four—year engineering apprenticeship. With employers
:06:38. > :06:45.looking to push and invest in more engineers, hopefully I can make a
:06:45. > :06:49.better career for myself. While some engineers may be lowered to small
:06:49. > :06:53.and firms, some in the industry say it could work in the opposite way
:06:53. > :06:56.also. Well, joining us now is our Business
:06:56. > :07:00.correspondent Peter Plisner. Let's start with the skills gap, Peter.
:07:00. > :07:03.Companies wanting to employ people, people looking for jobs.Surely
:07:03. > :07:06.people can be retrained or more young people encouraged down the
:07:06. > :07:13.engineering route with the lure of a good job? They can and lots of
:07:13. > :07:19.people are but less explain what the skills gap is. There are lots of
:07:19. > :07:25.older workers but they are not being replaced by younger people to learn
:07:25. > :07:29.those same skills. More young people are becoming engineers, there is no
:07:29. > :07:34.doubt about that, but it takes three or four years to train an apprentice
:07:34. > :07:41.and that is the time when we want have a skills gap. It is not always
:07:41. > :07:47.attractive to young people either. Things are improving but they are
:07:47. > :07:51.improving slowly. We still have one of the highest unemployment figures
:07:51. > :08:00.in the country. Is it as bad as it seems? 9.8% of the population out of
:08:00. > :08:04.work. It may be levelling off because the official figures suggest
:08:04. > :08:10.it is rising 7000 in the last quarter, but this data is gathered
:08:10. > :08:15.by a survey, there is a margin for error. The claimant count, the
:08:15. > :08:20.number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance, that felt
:08:20. > :08:25.this month. There are jobs being created but not everyone is skilled
:08:25. > :08:30.enough to take those jobs. We heard about the thousand jobs going at
:08:30. > :08:36.Wolverhampton council. Can the private sector take up the slack? It
:08:37. > :08:42.can but we are still seeing lots of jobs lost in the public sector.
:08:42. > :08:48.Yesterday, Jaguar Land Rover created 1700 jobs. But service sector is
:08:48. > :08:57.growing quite fast and that is a good area where some of these public
:08:57. > :09:01.sector workers could go. And the Sunday Politics will be discussing
:09:01. > :09:04.the skills gap and the job losses at Wolverhampton City Council with two
:09:04. > :09:09.of the city's MPs this coming Sunday.
:09:09. > :09:17.Coming up later in the programme The collapse of a re—cycling firm after
:09:17. > :09:20.a series of fires. A mother who was permanently harmed
:09:20. > :09:24.by Stafford Hospital in 2008 when the hospital was at its worst, has
:09:24. > :09:30.received a six figure payment for her injuries. Candi Kaya suffered
:09:30. > :09:33.major complications following a caesarean section. Staff failed to
:09:33. > :09:42.notice her bladder had been damaged by the operation. Here's our health
:09:42. > :09:48.correspondent, Michele Paduano. Since her injury in 2008, Candi Kaya
:09:48. > :09:55.has suffered severe depression. The trauma led to the break—up of her
:09:55. > :10:05.marriage. I am not the same person. I do not want to go out. Not just
:10:05. > :10:12.practically, it is like you cannot, my freedom has gone. During a
:10:12. > :10:18.Caesarian, Candy's bladder was ruptured. Her ongoing treatment has
:10:18. > :10:23.been tough on her family. Staff failed to notice the UN leaking.
:10:23. > :10:29.Twice she had part of her bowel removed and twice suffered blood
:10:29. > :10:42.clots. She was always tired and always needing the toilet and she
:10:42. > :10:45.was never the same. You miss your baby's babyhood. Stabbing pain
:10:45. > :10:51.one—minute, then it would be burning, then it would feel like
:10:52. > :10:55.there was a bomb going off inside my stomach. Stafford Hospital has
:10:55. > :11:03.admitted failure by solicitors say the hospital was slow to accept the
:11:03. > :11:08.extent of the issues. We were having to fight for issues that we felt
:11:08. > :11:14.were evident. The quality of care in the maternity unit at Stafford
:11:14. > :11:18.Hospital has never really been an issue and today its figures are as
:11:18. > :11:19.good as anywhere in the West Midlands. The Trust has apologised
:11:19. > :11:35.saying that following this case... Candy is trying to get her life
:11:35. > :11:39.back. She recognises the staff shortages and staff attitudes
:11:39. > :11:42.experienced why others at Stafford. Campaigners fighting the cull of
:11:42. > :11:47.badgers in Gloucestershire have accused the police of harassing
:11:47. > :11:50.them. Four arrests were made on Monday night and some protestors say
:11:50. > :11:53.they are being stopped for no reason, claiming officers are being
:11:53. > :11:55.heavy handed. But Gloucestershire police say they've received no
:11:55. > :12:04.formal complaints and say protestors should speak to liaison officers
:12:05. > :12:09.based in the cull zone. A Birmingham singer has been
:12:09. > :12:14.nominated for the Mercury music award. She is one of 12 finalists
:12:14. > :12:23.and has been nominated for her debut album, but she is up against tough
:12:23. > :12:26.competition included David Bowie. A Worcestershire —based recycling
:12:26. > :12:33.business has gone into administration. The administrators
:12:33. > :12:39.KPMG have confirmed Lawrence Skip hire is no longer trading. Linseed
:12:39. > :12:45.oil is that the company site. What has happened today? Today it has
:12:45. > :12:51.been confirmed that the administrators were called in last
:12:51. > :12:55.week. This long established company has dealt with waste from both the
:12:55. > :13:01.commercial and residential sector for many years but two fires in six
:13:01. > :13:06.months have meant they had become insolvent. KPMG have said they have
:13:06. > :13:11.had to make 24 employees redundant, H will be kept on in the
:13:11. > :13:18.short—term. They will also now deal with the sale of the site and are
:13:18. > :13:25.calling for enquiries. How did the company get into this situation?
:13:25. > :13:31.Fundamentally it was down to the fires. Two in six months. At the
:13:31. > :13:37.height of the fire, there were 80 firefighters here. That blaze was
:13:37. > :13:40.dealt with relatively quickly but a second problem occurred. It
:13:41. > :13:46.smouldered for weeks and weeks and huge stores of plastics and paper.
:13:46. > :13:50.Local residents had to keep doors and windows closed during the
:13:51. > :13:56.heatwave and the damage ran into hundreds and thousands of pounds,
:13:56. > :14:06.making it untenable for the company to continue, hence the insolvency.
:14:06. > :14:11.Workers at Wolverhampton City Council told 1000 jobs are to go.
:14:11. > :14:18.Your detailed weather forecast to come.
:14:18. > :14:21.They were notorious and violent gang ruling the streets of inner—city
:14:21. > :14:28.Birmingham 100 years ago. Now they are back on screen. And why it is
:14:28. > :14:37.Christmas already in one part of the Midlands, we meet the team gearing
:14:37. > :14:40.up for panto. A Birmingham consultant's beginning a hunger
:14:40. > :14:43.strike today to draw attention to the plight of the last British
:14:43. > :14:45.resident to be held in Guantanamo Bay.
:14:45. > :14:50.Dr David Nicholl says the man — Shaker Aamer — is not a threat to US
:14:50. > :14:58.or UK security and should be freed immediately. Kevin Reide reports.
:14:58. > :15:03.911, a day 12 years ago today when the world 's most powerful nation
:15:03. > :15:08.came under terrifying attack. Hijacked airliners were flown into
:15:08. > :15:13.high—profile targets. Nearly 3000 people were killed and it led to
:15:13. > :15:17.America's war on terror. Suspects were arrested all over the world
:15:17. > :15:25.including British resident Shaker Aamer. He is now at Guant?namo Bay
:15:25. > :15:29.but has never been charged and is on hunger strike. Now Birmingham
:15:29. > :15:38.consultant neurologist Dave to David Nicholl is joining him. I have
:15:38. > :15:41.written to my MP and both the US and UK governments have said for the
:15:41. > :15:49.last six years he can be released but he is still there. His five—day
:15:49. > :15:53.fast is purely symbolic and follows other protests like running the
:15:53. > :16:08.London Marathon dressed in an inmate 's suit. All of us think back on
:16:08. > :16:15.that day. Those are things Shaker Aamer is not able to do. His son was
:16:15. > :16:19.born while he was in captive. The protest is been supported by a
:16:20. > :16:24.former won tonne of Bay detainee Mozambique. He was arrested with a
:16:24. > :16:34.shocker, but released eight years ago. He has not been released
:16:34. > :16:39.because there is a belief shack was physically present when British
:16:39. > :16:43.intelligence agents and the Americans were all complicit and
:16:43. > :16:48.involved in his physical torture. They are quite concerned about that
:16:48. > :16:54.hitting the headlines again. Dr Nicholl insists patients will not be
:16:54. > :16:59.put at risk. He is off work for the last two days of his fast and
:16:59. > :17:06.hospitals say plans are in place to ensure his safety. The heroism of
:17:06. > :17:09.the wooden glider pilots of World War Two has been marked at the
:17:09. > :17:11.National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
:17:11. > :17:14.Hundreds of them took part in a series of operations to liberate
:17:14. > :17:20.Europe from the Nazis and now their contribution is being formally
:17:20. > :17:26.recognised. Liz Copper reports. An airborne arrival in tribute for the
:17:26. > :17:34.men who flew over a mini skies. This service honours the pilots. Among
:17:34. > :17:42.the congregation, 92—year—old Denzel Cooper. A veteran of D—day and are
:17:42. > :17:47.known. We loaded and unloaded the gliders after D—day 16 times and we
:17:47. > :17:51.were getting cheesed off with it. When an opportunity came to do an
:17:51. > :18:00.opportunity, they were there like a rocket. Worrying about what might
:18:00. > :18:06.happen just didn't exist. They were special people. Very obstinate and
:18:06. > :18:15.independent. Go for it. With total self—confidence. Gliders were made
:18:16. > :18:21.of wood and wire on armed. Often under fire, landings were dangerous
:18:21. > :18:24.and frequently fatal. Many of the glider pilots were volunteers and in
:18:24. > :18:29.the early years of the Second World War, some of the craft they flew
:18:29. > :18:33.were donated. Their mission is required immense bravery and that
:18:33. > :18:38.bravery was marked at today's ceremony. Nearly half the pilots
:18:38. > :18:43.died either in the course of training or in action. To put people
:18:43. > :18:48.down where they are required and then participate in the battle on
:18:48. > :18:56.the ground makes them a unique bunch of men. Baranowski of than 100 and
:18:56. > :19:00.70 glider pilots still alive. This tribute to ensure their skills and
:19:00. > :19:04.valour are still remembered. A brand new BBC drama series based
:19:04. > :19:07.on the exploits of a Birmingham gang around a hundred years ago starts
:19:07. > :19:16.tomorrow night. Peaky Blinders was partially filmed in the city and
:19:16. > :19:21.written by a local man. These are just some of the gang members known
:19:21. > :19:26.as the peaky blinders, who ruled Birmingham streets in the late 18
:19:26. > :19:33.hundredths. These details are sat in a museum at spa kill police station
:19:33. > :19:41.for over 100 years but the story of the mob has been resurrected by the
:19:41. > :19:44.BBC. The ruthless gang whose violent empire was built on protection
:19:44. > :19:49.rackets and illegal gambling got their name from sewing razor blades
:19:49. > :20:01.into the peak of their caps to inflict horrific injuries on their
:20:01. > :20:09.rivals. The peaky blinders is a chilling story of violence and
:20:09. > :20:17.terror. With us is the writer of the series, Stephen Knight. A rough old
:20:17. > :20:25.lot. How did you let your imagination get captured? My parents
:20:25. > :20:31.who grew up in small Heath told me little snapshots of life in those
:20:31. > :20:37.days in the 20s and my mum was a bookies run as a kid. It gave me an
:20:37. > :20:43.insight into a world, because all betting was illegal, so I lot of
:20:43. > :20:47.money was generated and it gave me an insight into a world where there
:20:47. > :20:53.was nothing written about it. It felt like a secret history and then
:20:53. > :21:01.when I research did, it was even more fascinating. My mother was
:21:02. > :21:06.about nine. They're rather lot of people who lived in poverty and
:21:06. > :21:13.gambling was a way of relieving the monotony. Those streets were
:21:13. > :21:19.dangerous places. They were. A gang ran a territory and as long as you
:21:19. > :21:27.were OK with the gang it was OK. You filmed some of it in Birmingham.
:21:27. > :21:30.Widely due go elsewhere? We use the Black Country Museum but the Second
:21:30. > :21:35.World War and the planners took away a lot of old Birmingham and we
:21:35. > :21:42.needed a streetwear of the code really take it over for a period of
:21:42. > :21:47.time, so we found somewhere in Liverpool. What about the accents in
:21:47. > :21:54.the film? How difficult were they for the actors to master? It was one
:21:54. > :21:57.of the things I wanted to get right because historically, the Birmingham
:21:57. > :22:07.accent is mangled and never done correctly. I took Killian who plays
:22:07. > :22:14.Tommy, he is the lead gangster. We went to a pub called the Galveston
:22:14. > :22:18.and we sat around with the people I grew up with and he recorded the
:22:18. > :22:24.conversation and he's worked and worked and got the hardness and the
:22:24. > :22:31.speed of the accident. There is almost a feel of a Western in it.
:22:31. > :22:42.There was an element of the wild West about those days. These men
:22:42. > :22:46.came back very damaged. There was a lawlessness for at least a decade
:22:47. > :22:54.after that and the sensibility of a Western is very appropriate. You can
:22:54. > :22:57.watch the first episode on BBC Two at nine o'clock tomorrow night.
:22:57. > :23:00.There are just 104 days left until Christmas.I've already started my
:23:00. > :23:06.shopping, but many of you may not have even thought about it yet. For
:23:06. > :23:10.some though, the festive season is already in full swing. Costumes need
:23:10. > :23:13.to be made for Pantomimes up and down the country and our Arts
:23:13. > :23:21.Reporter Satnam Rana has been to meet one team of busy sewing bees.
:23:21. > :23:27.It may be September but this Staffordshire costume maker has one
:23:27. > :23:34.thing on his mind. Christmas panto. Around May, when I have been
:23:34. > :23:42.designing for a while, I have been known to run round and seeing. Don
:23:42. > :23:50.is a task with designing 84 costumes for Snow White. This frock, the
:23:50. > :23:57.wicked Queen has to change into a horrible which so we are having to
:23:57. > :24:02.develop ways how we can transform her on stage. This is the first part
:24:03. > :24:08.of it. The second part we have not worked out yet but it will be lots
:24:08. > :24:13.of magic with silk. From designing costumes to sourcing fabric to
:24:13. > :24:26.sewing it all up. The work is carried out here in Cheadle. It also
:24:26. > :24:36.includes a hat for David Hasselhoff. And one for Jimmy wasn't and a cloak
:24:36. > :24:44.for John Barron men. We have a piece on this design which becomes this
:24:44. > :24:50.big. It is starting to come together. For ages it has been lots
:24:50. > :24:55.of little bits. Eventually we will have one big piece. All these
:24:55. > :24:59.questions will be ready by mid—November so while most of us
:24:59. > :25:04.robot before Christmas, John and his team will be putting down their
:25:04. > :25:15.needles until January when it all begins again.
:25:15. > :25:19.Onto cricket and the weather. It was not very good for the International
:25:19. > :25:30.at Edgbaston. Let's hope it will get better. That is the rescue one with
:25:30. > :25:35.one—day international. There is a clearance on the way and it will
:25:36. > :25:42.still be fairly warm. It was not one today but tonight, it will be warm.
:25:42. > :25:47.We have a frontal attack from quite a number of fronts over the next few
:25:47. > :25:49.days. This one clears through tonight then we have another coming
:25:49. > :25:53.on Thursday. days. This one clears through
:25:53. > :25:58.tonight then we have This low pressure dominates and by the
:25:58. > :26:02.weekend, a very intense area of low pressure starting to move in from
:26:02. > :26:05.off the Atlantic. This will bring in a very intense area of low pressure
:26:05. > :26:09.starting to move in from off the Atlantic. This will bring in strong
:26:09. > :26:15.winds. Very active over the next few days. Right now we have this cloud
:26:15. > :26:21.over us and this is packed with rain which will move south eastwards.
:26:21. > :26:27.Once it has, it will be much drier towards the tail end of tonight.
:26:27. > :26:31.Cloud around and a lot of debris from that rain and the moisture and
:26:31. > :26:44.warmth will mingle to give us hill fog. Temperatures only down on
:26:44. > :26:50.today. Down to 12 or 13 Celsius. For the morning tomorrow, that resource
:26:50. > :26:53.should fade away. There will be some affecting eastern parts but
:26:53. > :26:59.brightness breaking through the middle part of the morning. You can
:26:59. > :27:07.just start to see the first signs of the next band of rain moving in from
:27:07. > :27:13.the west. Temperatures will rise to 19 — 21 Celsius. Fairly humid.
:27:13. > :27:17.Continuing humid through the course of tomorrow night. The rain should
:27:17. > :27:25.clear and then we have some missed due to the moisture. Let's recap
:27:25. > :27:30.tonight 's top stories: The latest in the UK is recovering economy. The
:27:30. > :27:35.number of people out of work nationally falls again. But here
:27:35. > :27:43.1000 jobs are to go at Wolverhampton council as they try to save £89
:27:43. > :27:44.million. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.