Browse content similar to 23/10/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: Police | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
officers from Warwickshire, West Mercia and the West Midlands on the | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
rack before MPs over the plebgate affair. Can I say that we have found | :00:11. | :00:21. | |
your evidence most unsatisfactory? We'll be live in Westminster trying | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
to get to the bottom of this extraordinary affair all because of | :00:26. | :00:27. | |
a four letter word. A medical breakthrough as a patient | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
here becomes the first in the world to undergo pioneering new treatment | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
for prostate cancer. This is a wonderful opportunity for Birmingham | :00:38. | :00:44. | |
University, the hospital here and for our prostate cancer patients. | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
A species at risk ` how 25,000 eels have been released into the River | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
Teme in Shropshire. A day at work Chloe will never | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
forget as a top rapper turns up to say well done. | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
And battered by the rain and winds then soothed by the sun. Whatever | :00:59. | :01:00. | |
next? Find out later. Good evening. There were more twists | :01:01. | :01:14. | |
and turns in the so`called plebgate affair today. It may have started | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
with Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell's ill`tempered comments to | :01:19. | :01:21. | |
police officers in Downing Street. But it's now become a major issue, | :01:22. | :01:29. | |
pitting police against politicians. There were apologies for Mr Mitchell | :01:30. | :01:42. | |
as chief constables from the forces and officers from three of our | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
forces, West Midlands, West Mercia and Warwickshire, faced tough | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
questions this afternoon. We'll be going live to Westminster in just a | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
moment, but first, Giles Latcham on the background to the story and | :01:52. | :01:53. | |
today's developments. Happy birthday, plebgate. Yes, it's | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
over a year now since an MP tried to wheel his bike out of Downing | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
Street, police officers told him to use the side gate. They say he | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
called them plebs, he says he didn't. What was or wasn't said that | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
night is the subject of another inquiry. At stake, public image and | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
reputation. Under questioning from NPs, it was the police on the back | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
foot. Has this damaged the reputation of the forces? The fact | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
that we are all here, we have to say, yes, it has had an impact. And | :02:22. | :02:28. | |
here's the police's problem. Three representatives of the coppers' | :02:29. | :02:30. | |
union, the Police Federation, from the West Midlands, Warwickshire and | :02:31. | :02:33. | |
West Mercia, telling reporters last October that Mr Mitchell had refused | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
to give them an account of what happened in Downing Street. It is | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
the fact that what the officers recorded at the time Mr Mitchell | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
says he did not say. Someone is not telling the truth. Unknown to them | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
Mr Mitchell had recorded that meeting and is heard clearly stating | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
that he swore but did not use the word "plebs". Those three officers | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
have since apologised for their conduct, an apology they came under | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
pressure today to extend to Mr Mitchell himself. I don't think I | :03:06. | :03:14. | |
can give an apology. I'd suggest you can pour spinning a yarn to the | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
press that afternoon to get someone out of high public office because | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
that is clearly what you were motivated to do. There was no | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
intention to mislead. I do not feel I lied about what went on in the | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
meeting. We may have said things that could be interpreted as being | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
misleading but we certainly did not intend to do that. We certainly did | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
not lie intentionally. A police report found there was no case for | :03:43. | :03:45. | |
misconduct charges against the officers. In the past hour, the | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
chief constable has revealed he has asked another force to review the | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
decision and he said he has offered Andrew Mitchell and unreserved | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
apology. Confusion on the streets and wariness prevail. I think it | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
might be a bit hard done by `` he might be. It all seems a bit | :04:05. | :04:14. | |
extreme. I do not understand what he said. Costing too much money. It | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
should have been sorted out straight, as soon as possible. The | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
man at the eye of the original storm, Andrew Mitchell is staying | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
quiet. Our political editor Patrick Burns | :04:32. | :04:34. | |
has been following events at Westminster. This has been a | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
desperate day for the police. That is possibly the one and only thing | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
on which all of the people in the very dramatic committee hearing | :04:47. | :04:49. | |
would agree on. A day in which three chief constables with varying | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
degrees of contrition apologised particularly to Andrew Mitchell. As | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
we have just heard, this is more than a year after the event itself. | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
Keith Vaz the chairman was obviously bemused about questioning all three | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
of them. If you are apologising, to paraphrase, why has it taken you so | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
long? I think it was the Chief Constable of West Murcia who | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
probably had the toughest grilling. He had to endure dear initial `` in | :05:21. | :05:27. | |
due at the initial suffering because his force conducted the initial | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
investigation into the meeting in Andrew Mitchell's constituency | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
office on the 12th of October of last year between Mr Mitchell | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
himself and three representatives of the Police Federation. The | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
investigating officer who gave evidence this afternoon, his | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
recommendation was that those individuals should be disciplined | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
RIBA should face a hearing `` or should face a hearing. The | :06:01. | :06:02. | |
Independent Police Complaints Commission up to it to gross | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
misconduct. The investigating officer was asked why the Chief | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
Constable had said they should not have any case to answer at all. He | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
said it was because of the floor in the decision`making process that he | :06:19. | :06:20. | |
now thought the whole issue should be referred via the Inspectorate of | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
Constabulary to another chief constable. That would add further | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
time and expense to the whole process. We will leave it there. | :06:30. | :06:38. | |
Thank you. Coming up later in the programme: | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
Bringing men together in the battle to beat loneliness ` a new role for | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
the humble shed. A Birmingham man has become the | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
first in the world to undergo a new gene therapy for prostate cancer. In | :06:52. | :06:54. | |
tests, the treatment developed from a cold virus has had startling | :06:55. | :06:57. | |
results in animals, completely eradicating the cancer. But | :06:58. | :06:59. | |
68`year`old Bernard Ward was the first human guinea pig. Our health | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
correspondent Michele Paduano was there to see him. | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
Meet Bernard, the first person to benefit from decades of research by | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
hundreds of scientists. But Bernard who has prostate cancer has more | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
immediate worries. As far as I am aware, this trial is virtually my | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
only option. You did not have any qualms about giving it a go? Not | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
when you have no choice. It is this all nothing. `` this or nothing. The | :07:29. | :07:36. | |
trial at this stage is just to test whether the treatment's safe. This | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
is a new organism, so the cold virus must be handled by chemists with | :07:41. | :07:43. | |
precision. But doctors are excited by what it might do. The protein | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
which stimulates the community came from our animal work. We saw amazing | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
results when the tumour just disappeared on mice who were | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
impregnated with cancer cells and treated with this virus which we are | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
trialling now. The treatment itself is straightforward. After mapping | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
out the prostate gland, a series of minute pinpoint injections are made | :08:10. | :08:12. | |
with the virus in an operation that takes just ten minutes. But how does | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
it fight the disease? The virus contains a gene which attracts the | :08:19. | :08:21. | |
body's own white blood cells to begin attacking the cancer. The | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
virus also carries an enzyme, a type of protein, which sits inside the | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
cancer cells themselves. After two days, the patient is put on a drip | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
containing a cancer`fighting drug. The drug only works when it reacts | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
with the enzyme killing the cancer cells. For the doctors at University | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
Hospital Birmingham who've lived this for 15 years, it's the | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
equivalent of the moon landings. This must be what it was like all of | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
those years ago in NASA control for the guys who had worked years on a | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
project like this, lots of minutiae in science. The Eagle has landed. | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
Bernard is the first of 20 patients who will be selected. After a couple | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
of hours, he could go home. As this is a trial, he is being kept in | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
isolation just in case, but this treatment is seen as less drastic | :09:11. | :09:22. | |
than other cancer treatments. I was given something beforehand. I don't | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
know. Now all the doctors can do is wait. | :09:28. | :09:30. | |
And Michele is here now. This really is a very exciting breakthrough. You | :09:31. | :09:39. | |
cannot call it a breakthrough yet. We do not know how human beings will | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
react to it. They may react in a different way to mice. It is seen as | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
a building block. There is a feeling that the idea of getting the immune | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
system to work against the cancer is the way forward. `` watches these | :09:52. | :10:00. | |
times a `` what is the timescale? 15 to 20 years before it gets into | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
general use. Something more important is going on. We have been | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
good in Birmingham doing trials for other people. This is a trial made | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
in Birmingham and it could have economic prospects for the future. | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
The Chinese are already interested in tie`ups with the University and | :10:18. | :10:28. | |
the hospital in Birmingham. It's been confirmed the badger cull | :10:29. | :10:30. | |
in Gloucestershire will be extended for a further eight weeks. Natural | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
England says it's granted a licence to resume the cull immediately to | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
try to curb the spread of TB in cattle. Only 30% of the badger | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
population were killed during the original six`week cull which ended | :10:42. | :10:42. | |
last week. A man has appeared before Cannock | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
magistrates charged with two counts of kidnap. It follows an incident at | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
a hotel in Stoke on Trent last Friday. Saleem Tahir was remanded in | :10:50. | :10:57. | |
custody until 11th November. The ambulance service in Shropshire | :10:58. | :11:00. | |
says it's struggling to reach some patients because of a lack of | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
resources. It's apologised after an elderly woman with dementia had to | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
wait for over an hour for a crew to arrive. Managers in charge of | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
funding say they're raising the problem at a national level. | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
MPs have handed in a petition calling for more network BBC radio | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
and television production to be returned to Birmingham. Campaigners | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
estimate the corporation's expenditure in the region is only a | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
tenth of the amount it receives from Midlands licence fee payers. The | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
petition was handed to David Jennings, the head of regional and | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
local programmes. 25,000 eels were released into the | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
River Teme at Ludlow today to boost numbers of the endangered species. | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
The idea is to move the eels upstream, past manmade blockages | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
like weirs. Work is also under way to make our rivers much more eel | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
friendly and to help them make their migration from our rivers the 5,000 | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
kilometres to the Sargasso Sea. Our environment correspondent David | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
Gregory`Kumar reports. In the shadow of Ludlow Castle, the | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
first large`scale Il release in the Midlands. Only about one Il in every | :12:09. | :12:17. | |
box could survive `` the first large`scale release of eels. They | :12:18. | :12:24. | |
were donated by the fishermen enjoying a year like no other. The | :12:25. | :12:31. | |
river turned white with eels. It looked like Ras had covered the | :12:32. | :12:39. | |
River `` it looked like grass. These were some of the ones caught in the | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
River Severn. They will not go just to rivers in the Midlands, they will | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
go to rivers across Europe. The sex is determined by how many eels they | :12:51. | :12:57. | |
are. Putting these in should mean more breeding females. The magic of | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
bringing them from the estuaries all the way up to a spot like this, a | :13:02. | :13:09. | |
wonderful natural river, we hope we can create females in ten to 15 | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
years time that will then swim back down the river in a wonderful wet | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
October night and make their way all of the way, all of the 4000 miles, | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
back to the Sargasso Sea. One of the big problems eels face, a rather | :13:25. | :13:32. | |
picturesque weir. The view is the view that painters have painted for | :13:33. | :13:39. | |
millennia. It is not very friendly for the eels? We are looking to put | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
in the fish pass and alongside that, on the eels itself, we are putting | :13:46. | :13:53. | |
something to allow the eels to slither up the barrier. | :13:54. | :13:55. | |
Conservationists and fishermen working together to reserve one of | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
the Midlands most mysterious creatures. Apologies for Andrew | :14:00. | :14:12. | |
Mitchell in the plebgate affair as MPs face a grilling in the comments | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
`` as officers face a grilling. The full weather forecast. And this goal | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
from Coventry City against the league leaders, was it the best of | :14:24. | :14:31. | |
the night? And sprinkled with stardust as | :14:32. | :14:33. | |
teenager, Chloe's surprised at work by a top rapper and it's all live on | :14:34. | :14:41. | |
Radio 1. If you think you have a story we should be covering on | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
Midlands Today, we would like to hear from you. You can call us or | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
send us an e`mail, contact us on Facebook or Twitter. | :14:51. | :15:06. | |
A recent survey found half of adults in this region experience loneliness | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
at some time or another. Men who've retired or lost their jobs can be | :15:10. | :15:12. | |
amongst those worst affected. So, could an idea imported from | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
Australia help? Called Men's Sheds it creates places to get together, | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
away from the pub. And it's catching on, as Ben Sidwell has been finding | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
out. If a man's home is his castle, his | :15:24. | :15:33. | |
shirt is his... . The shed ` a place for a lifelong | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
hobby, a spot of DIY or just getting away from it all. But this simple | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
wooden structure is changing and becoming the focal point for a new | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
male organisation ` Men's Sheds. Having set one up in Aberdeenshire, | :15:45. | :15:47. | |
Ian Wallace who now lives near Market Drayton is leading a campaign | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
to get a network of Men's Sheds in Shropshire. We have been developing | :15:52. | :15:53. | |
things for ladies. Now women are catching up. Men become less | :15:54. | :16:01. | |
isolated. There is less to freshen. There is less... They become more | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
active. They use their brains more and muscles. That will of course | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
have an impact by reducing the load on the National Health Service. In | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
Stratford`upon`Avon, they call themselves Men In Sheds and actually | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
meet in an empty shop. Each week the group gather to catch up, chat and | :16:22. | :16:30. | |
do the odd bit of woodwork. This is just a bringing together of people | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
so that we can socialise and mix`up and perhaps get involved in doing a | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
few things for the community. Since 1996, almost 1,000 Men's Sheds have | :16:39. | :16:46. | |
been formed in Australia. With many more planned across the West | :16:47. | :16:49. | |
Midlands, Men's Sheds could soon be a very familiar site. | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
Well, earlier we asked for your thoughts and here are a few of them. | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
A viewer calling himself Wolfywolf, clearly an alpha male, says he has a | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
man shed to get away from the Mrs and kids. But he'd love something | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
like this. Tim Smyth says he'd go but only if they served beer and | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
called it a pub. Silly idea, he reckons. But Ken Grinnell disagrees. | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
I would go to a Men's Shed if there was one in my area, he says. Thank | :17:17. | :17:25. | |
you for getting in touch. Onto football and what a brilliant | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
night for our teams in League One. Four wins and a draw, 15 goals | :17:30. | :17:32. | |
scored and plenty of thrills for thousands of fans. The former | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
Coventry City winger Steve Froggatt travelled to Northampton to watch | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
his former club beat the league leaders, Leyton Orient. Ian Winter | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
reports. It breaks my heart because Coventry should be playing in | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
Coventry. They should be back in the city as soon as possible. It is no | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
secret, Steve Froggatt hates seeing Coventry playing in Northampton. But | :17:53. | :17:59. | |
last night he loved watching the young kids at his old club beat the | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
current league leaders and continue the Sky Blues' surge up the table. | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
They played at a really high tempo. Fantastic performance. And Froggy's | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
right. This was the first, a rocket from the Coventry captain Carl | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
Baker. And this was the second. Even better, perhaps. A cheeky chip from | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
Frank Moussa. And the Sky Blues ran out worthy winners, 3`1. You have | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
got to give the credit to the manager and his coaching staff to | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
have got the best out of the players. Coventry's next game should | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
be another cracker. On Saturday, they're off to Walsall who're also | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
on top form. Ashley Hemmings scored twice in last night's 3`1 win at | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
Swindon. And the Saddlers are now in the play`off zone. Just seven points | :18:40. | :18:42. | |
behind Wolves who also enjoyed a good night at Molineux. James Henry | :18:43. | :18:45. | |
tapped in their first against Oldham. And Leigh Griffiths rifled | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
in his ninth goal of the season to seal a 2`0 victory. Port Vale did | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
even better away to Crawley. Ben Williamson scored the pick of the | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
bunch in their 3`0 win at Crawley. And we almost had a clean sweep of | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
five victories. But this goal from Cristian Lopez wasn't quite enough | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
to win the match for Shrewsbury against Colchester. It finished 1`1 | :19:05. | :19:15. | |
on a memorable night in League One. Steve Froggatt is on the BBC WM | :19:16. | :19:21. | |
football phone`in until 7pm. And well done to Burton Albion and | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
Cheltenham Town who both won in League Two. | :19:26. | :19:26. | |
For teenager Chloe Woodward today started like any other, working at a | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
Staffordshire school. Then listeners to BBC Radio 1 heard her get an | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
award live on air for bravely battling mental health issues. And | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
it was all a complete surprise to Chloe. Satnam Rana was there to | :19:41. | :19:48. | |
capture a special moment. There is some flash photography in this | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
report. A normal working day for Chloe until | :19:52. | :20:01. | |
this. Congratulations, you are a team hero for 2013. This was the | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
moment Professor Green revealed she was a BBC Radio 1 team hero. I am | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
shell`shocked, overwhelmed, excited, so happy. What did you think when | :20:15. | :20:22. | |
you saw him? I was just like, no. A look of disbelief. The element it I | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
recognise you and then I was like, my God. And then the excitement | :20:27. | :20:33. | |
continued. You are going to be on the news tonight as well. What is | :20:34. | :20:41. | |
happening? Chloe has had a tough few years. She tried to take her own | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
life over being bullied. Having overcome her mental health problems, | :20:46. | :20:54. | |
she helped a man and prevented him from committing suicide by sharing | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
her story. People can relate to it. It is really important to inspire | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
people. It is an issue close to your heart? It is. My dad committed | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
suicide. I had not seen him for years. But maybe if someone had | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
recognised the signs on him, it would not have happened. It is | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
important to raise awareness. For her mum, Chloe's transformation has | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
been incredible. Every night, I would think, will she be alive | :21:25. | :21:31. | |
tomorrow? I could not sleep. It was awful. Now we see her and... What a | :21:32. | :21:38. | |
change. What a massive change. Today has just been the best day. It has | :21:39. | :21:46. | |
just been the best day ever. Sorry. I am so pleased for her. Chloe will | :21:47. | :21:54. | |
be meeting stars at the BBC Radio 1 awards on the 3rd of November. A | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
sparkling reward for being such a brave and courageous young lady. | :21:59. | :22:07. | |
Well done to Chloe. Warm and sunny today, but is it the | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
calm before yet another storm? Here's Shefali. | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
The weather keeps us on our toes. Drive for now but it will be wetter | :22:17. | :22:26. | |
by Friday. `` dry for now. Once tomorrow is over, we have the next | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
weather system raging up from the south`west. This area of low | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
pressure bringing all of the freakish weather we have been used | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
to so far. Wet, windy, thunderstorms, a lot of lightning. | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
It also opens up the gateway to the succession of fronts whipping | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
through from the West. It could be dry to start on Saturday but that is | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
still open to question depending on the timing of the fronts coming | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
through. Another weather system will be ready in the south`west at the | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
start of next week. Relentless at the moment. Back to this evening, | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
after the blinding sunshine today and the ridge of high pressure | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
building, we are looking at a break from tradition with dry and clear | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
and cooler overnight conditions. Particularly so in the countryside. | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
Temperatures could dip a lot lower than five degrees. We could see some | :23:23. | :23:29. | |
mist patches as well developing particularly in the North Eastern | :23:30. | :23:37. | |
corner of the region. We will have those to start the day tomorrow | :23:38. | :23:39. | |
morning. Other than that, they should dispose quite quickly as the | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
sunshine gets to work. A very pleasant day. Plenty of sunshine. | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
Lots of dry weather. The odd stray shower from the West. Affecting | :23:52. | :23:57. | |
parts of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. In the sunshine, | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
temperatures should rise nicely. A degree or so higher than today. That | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
is in lighter winds. Feeling very pleasant. Even tomorrow evening | :24:08. | :24:14. | |
looks dry. The rain will hold off until the early hours of Friday. The | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
cloud will thicken from the south`west ahead of that. Then this | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
rain will creep up from the south`west, could be very heavy | :24:27. | :24:28. | |
around southwestern parts of the region tomorrow night. And again, | :24:29. | :24:35. | |
temperatures stop to bounce back up because of the cloud and the rain. | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
Looking further ahead, the weekend, or rather, Friday into Saturday, | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
Friday starts with heavy rain, heavy blustery showers. Saturday, perhaps | :24:47. | :24:50. | |
dry until the evening. Tonight's headlines: A shut down at | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
Scotland's biggest industrial site ` 800 jobs are slashed and more under | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
threat at the Grangemouth refinery. The Prime Minister pledges to bring | :24:59. | :25:01. | |
energy bills down by cutting green taxes. | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
Back now to our top story. The plebgate affair started as a spat | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
between Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell and a couple of police | :25:10. | :25:12. | |
officers, but today three of our chief constables trooped before MPs | :25:13. | :25:13. | |
to explain themselves. Our political editor Patrick Burns | :25:14. | :25:24. | |
is at Westminster. This is what the Chief Constable for West Murcia had | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
to say. In the normal process of events, the apology would come at | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
the end. The timing is just as important as what is said. A | :25:33. | :25:38. | |
profound unreserved apology for the impact of what this has had on him. | :25:39. | :25:46. | |
Patrick, a four letter word, not one of the usual suspects. Especially | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
when you consider Andrew Mitchell has so strenuously denied ever using | :25:52. | :25:59. | |
the word. The Crown Prosecution Service is currently deciding | :26:00. | :26:02. | |
whether charges should be brought against police officers who levelled | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
the accusation in the first place. Significantly today one of Andrew | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
Mitchell's" server did colleagues Ava Davis has said that it reopens | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
the question of whether police officers should be equipped with | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
recording devices on their bodies `` Andrew Mitchell's close conservative | :26:21. | :26:27. | |
colleagues. One of the committee members at the hearing today pointed | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
out to the three Police Federation representatives that if Mr | :26:33. | :26:39. | |
Mitchell's assistant had not taken the precaution of recording the | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
conversation, none of them would be sitting in the Home Affairs | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
Committee session today. Where have we got to tonight? ? la macro this | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
will go on for some time. We can be sure of that `` this will go on for | :26:53. | :27:01. | |
some time. Next up, John Gaunt. The Gaunt Brothers handle PR for the | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
Police Federation. He will be questioned next week. | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
Finally, Birmingham's stunning new library sought its 500,000th visitor | :27:12. | :27:20. | |
today. The library opened only seven weeks ago, complete with an | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
amphitheatre and Gardens, it houses hundreds of thousands of books and | :27:26. | :27:28. | |
has become a popular tourist attraction. | :27:29. | :27:34. | |
That was the Midlands Today. We will be back at 10pm with the latest on | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
the plebgate story and an update on the rest of the day's news. Have a | :27:40. | :27:42. | |
good evening. | :27:43. | :27:47. |