:00:00. > :00:00.the north and west. That's all from the BBC news at six.
:00:00. > :00:12.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight. More savings
:00:13. > :00:19.needed. Another 1,000 jobs to go at Birmingham City Council. It is very
:00:20. > :00:21.sad and I am sorry for this but there is no alternative because the
:00:22. > :00:28.money is not there to keep those people in employment. We'll be
:00:29. > :00:32.asking how these cuts will affect those who use the services. Ten
:00:33. > :00:36.years down the road, claims the M6 Toll is a benefit to no one and
:00:37. > :00:38.shunned by most drivers. Pulling in bumper crowds but has Birmingham's
:00:39. > :00:48.German Christmas market become too popular? It feels like a connection
:00:49. > :00:55.of sheds. I have nicknamed it Shedville. Storm clouds over manager
:00:56. > :00:59.Steve Clarke as West Bromwich Albion suffer another home defeat. And you
:01:00. > :01:06.would be surprised at the weather this week, it is not quite as cold
:01:07. > :01:22.as you would expect others. `` expect for December. All the details
:01:23. > :01:25.coming up. Good evening. Hundreds more jobs are being lost at the
:01:26. > :01:28.region's biggest local authority. The leader of Birmingham City
:01:29. > :01:31.Council is warning tonight of the most severe cuts in its history.
:01:32. > :01:33.He's blamed a reduction in Government funding amounting to ?149
:01:34. > :01:37.for every person in Birmingham. Today's announcement means 1080 jobs
:01:38. > :01:41.are to go in the next two years. And the amount the council needs to save
:01:42. > :01:44.by 2017 has increased from ?615 million to ?840 million. Three years
:01:45. > :01:47.ago, the council employed 21,000. That's now down to 14,000 ` a
:01:48. > :01:53.reduction of a third. Bob Hockenhull reports. One year ago, Birmingham's
:01:54. > :01:57.council leader said that the city was staring individual is a doom.
:01:58. > :02:03.Today, he said those jaws had widened. More than 1000 posts will
:02:04. > :02:08.go by April 2000 and Dean. It is not just those who have been made
:02:09. > :02:14.redundant who will be losing out. Advice activities, and that things
:02:15. > :02:19.are residents are very much in need, so there is a range of cuts for
:02:20. > :02:23.different categories of people, residents and indeed businesses.
:02:24. > :02:27.Post from Park keepers to pest controllers, from librarians to
:02:28. > :02:31.leisure centre managers are under threat from this latest round of
:02:32. > :02:37.cuts. Only those working in children's services will be
:02:38. > :02:40.protected. The council says that a 40% reduction in government funding
:02:41. > :02:43.is to blame for the cuts, but the Government insists it has delivered
:02:44. > :02:47.a fair deal which protects front line services. Opposition party
:02:48. > :02:52.leaders on the council believed Labour has got it spending
:02:53. > :02:56.priorities wrong and Birmingham. Why are they not willing to reduce
:02:57. > :02:59.services and back office, things like the human resources Department
:03:00. > :03:04.on legal department, or consult this? They spend a huge amount on
:03:05. > :03:09.consultants. The council should be managing its budgets better, cutting
:03:10. > :03:15.out vanity projects. We cannot afford them at the moment, and using
:03:16. > :03:20.its lenses. The unions have described today's announcement as
:03:21. > :03:23.horrendous but inevitable. It does not come as a shock but it will come
:03:24. > :03:27.as a shock to the people of Birmingham that their services are
:03:28. > :03:32.being wrecked by central government. The council was that services that
:03:33. > :03:44.are currently protected Mike also face cuts in future years. `` might
:03:45. > :03:49.also. The council said that volunteers could step in to take up
:03:50. > :03:56.the slack. But will that work, and what do community stand to lose if
:03:57. > :04:00.it doesn't? Standing up for Birmingham, they called it, an event
:04:01. > :04:04.organised by the council intended to inspire volunteers to step up as
:04:05. > :04:07.they step back. People like Roger, who wants to buy local playing
:04:08. > :04:12.fields to provide sporting facilities. It opens up the door for
:04:13. > :04:16.community and voluntary sector groups to step up to the plate and
:04:17. > :04:21.say, we can get involved and we can do stuff on behalf of the local
:04:22. > :04:25.community. How much can we expect from volunteers like Emma, who
:04:26. > :04:30.devotes hundreds of unpaid hours to running their neighbourhood park? If
:04:31. > :04:36.it is maintained it has no insurance impact. Cuts today would mean more
:04:37. > :04:39.park rangers and keepers losing their jobs, but she says they cannot
:04:40. > :04:46.do it all on their own. You cannot mothball a park, you cannot not look
:04:47. > :04:51.after it. It will go back to being the field that it once was. I am not
:04:52. > :04:55.quite sure what the answer is. The answer is getting volunteers to
:04:56. > :04:59.help, but volunteers cannot do it with no infrastructure behind them.
:05:00. > :05:03.Up the road, a swimming pool and gymnasium that could be mothballed.
:05:04. > :05:10.It is one of nine slated for closure. The council says it will
:05:11. > :05:13.build six new leisure centres. It is fair to blame the local authority
:05:14. > :05:17.that was voted in recently on the basis of defending public services.
:05:18. > :05:22.What they have done is the luck `` the exact opposite, not standing up
:05:23. > :05:26.to central government, whatsoever. These cuts are affecting ordinary
:05:27. > :05:31.people, the working class, not the middle`class. Around the corner, one
:05:32. > :05:37.of 39 libraries in the city that could face closure or transferred to
:05:38. > :05:40.local community groups. It might be about handing overhaul services to
:05:41. > :05:43.communities and using that as an opportunity to get people control
:05:44. > :05:47.over something that matters to them in their lives. There are some
:05:48. > :05:54.positives to come out of this. It is not all negative. Sunset, or new
:05:55. > :06:00.dawn? One way or another, the landscape of local government is
:06:01. > :06:03.changing. John Hemming is the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham
:06:04. > :06:07.Yardley and a former city councillor. A little earlier I asked
:06:08. > :06:10.him if, as a member of the coalition, he agreed with these
:06:11. > :06:16.cuts. If the country wanted to not be in a mess in 2010, it would have
:06:17. > :06:24.required different policies from 2005`8. Giving those policies
:06:25. > :06:28.between 2005`8, which Tony Blair himself said were wrong, inevitably,
:06:29. > :06:32.we face cuts across the country and I think now the Labour Party
:06:33. > :06:37.nationally accepts that they will go at least with the first year after
:06:38. > :06:42.the general election if they were to end up in government. You cannot
:06:43. > :06:47.keep naming the previous government. The workforce has been cut by
:06:48. > :06:52.21,000, to 14,000, in the last three years. Your government is keen to
:06:53. > :06:56.stress that the recovery is under way, but that is not the case if you
:06:57. > :07:02.work in the public sector or relying on council services as many of your
:07:03. > :07:05.constituents do. We have to bring the deficit under control. The
:07:06. > :07:10.government spending more money than it in, in tax, every year, and we
:07:11. > :07:15.are gradually reducing the difference but we will not be in
:07:16. > :07:19.balance until the year, 2018. How will you explain these cuts to your
:07:20. > :07:22.constituents? There is an inevitability to all of this.
:07:23. > :07:27.Whoever is in government nationally will have to have an austerity
:07:28. > :07:31.policy. The only way we could have avoided it is by having different
:07:32. > :07:37.policies between 2005`8. Those having been set, we are stuck. We
:07:38. > :07:43.are doing better than places like Greece Spain that have had much more
:07:44. > :07:48.serious cuts. Are you comparing us to Greece? Are you saying, tough,
:07:49. > :07:51.this is the situation, we're going to have to get on with it. Your
:07:52. > :07:57.constituents will be affected by this. The point is, the deficit, the
:07:58. > :08:01.amount of money that the Government spent that it did not get, in
:08:02. > :08:05.income, as a proportion of gross domestic product, was the same order
:08:06. > :08:11.of magnitude as that in Greece, it was that big a problem. How can you
:08:12. > :08:14.maintain services when the budget needs to be cut by the amount it
:08:15. > :08:19.means to be cut by, which you have acknowledged? At the end of the day
:08:20. > :08:23.you have to be more efficient in the way that you do things. We haven't
:08:24. > :08:28.used staffing levels and libraries whilst keeping them open. That is
:08:29. > :08:33.not an unreasonable thing to do. We're talking about losing a further
:08:34. > :08:35.1000 jobs. Lots of jobs have been lost over time. There was nothing
:08:36. > :08:45.particularly new in all of this. Plenty more to come tonight,
:08:46. > :08:48.including: why the only thing traders in one riverside town want
:08:49. > :08:52.for Christmas is an end to over`running bridge repairs. We
:08:53. > :09:04.cannot carry on. We are losing money every month, and one just cant carry
:09:05. > :09:07.on like this. `` can't carry on. Ten years ago to the day, the
:09:08. > :09:11.controversial M6 toll road was opened. Many expected it to help
:09:12. > :09:14.relieve congestion on the existing M6, but a decade later traffic
:09:15. > :09:22.levels and congestion is virtually the same. That's partly because the
:09:23. > :09:26.M6 Toll has never managed to attract the number of vehicles it was
:09:27. > :09:29.forecast to carry. It's also lost millions of pounds for its owners,
:09:30. > :09:31.Midland Expressway Limited. A recent report by the Campaign for Better
:09:32. > :09:34.Transport claims that the pay`as`you`go motorway is of
:09:35. > :09:37."benefit to no one". However, the roads bosses say, after a long
:09:38. > :09:40.recession, more drivers ARE now beginning to use it. Here's our
:09:41. > :09:43.Transport correspondent Peter Plisner. The M6 Toll this morning `
:09:44. > :09:46.still one of the UK's quietest motorways. Dissy Tonks was on it
:09:47. > :09:49.today. She likes it, but... It is expensive. It was better when it
:09:50. > :09:51.first started. It was slightly cheaper. And even drivers who do not
:09:52. > :09:54.pay the tolls themselves have similar views. Why do you use it as
:09:55. > :09:56.opposed to a free road? Because somebody else pays the expenses. It
:09:57. > :10:02.is expensive but the company are paying the way. And its high cost is
:10:03. > :10:05.part of the reason many drivers have voted with their wheels and stayed
:10:06. > :10:09.away. 75,000 vehicles were supposed to use it every day. But in reality
:10:10. > :10:12.traffic levels are much lower. It is not just traffic that is missing.
:10:13. > :10:16.Profits are missing for the company that runs the M6 Toll. Accounts
:10:17. > :10:22.submitted over the last ten years show that this road has lost nearly
:10:23. > :10:27.?300 million. Despite that, the man who runs the road is adamant that
:10:28. > :10:31.the business is sustainable. I certainly think it is. We have the
:10:32. > :10:34.continued support of the banks. The rah another 40 years ago. This will
:10:35. > :10:40.prove to be a good long`term investment. Eco`warriors and
:10:41. > :10:43.environmentalists did their best to stop the road being built. Not
:10:44. > :10:45.surprisingly, ten years on, those involved haven't changed their view.
:10:46. > :10:51.Expectations were always far too high for the M6 Toll. There was no
:10:52. > :10:55.silver bullet for congestion in the West Midlands. We need to get on
:10:56. > :10:59.with investing in public on sport. But what's it like living close to
:11:00. > :11:03.the M6 Toll? This couple's home is just yards away. It is quite loud,
:11:04. > :11:11.and it is more prevalent when it is wet. You get a continuous hissing
:11:12. > :11:14.noise from the wet road. When it opened, the M6 Toll was a
:11:15. > :11:18.trailblazer for a future network of toll roads. But ten years on, to the
:11:19. > :11:26.delight of many drivers, the prospect of further pay`as`you`go
:11:27. > :11:30.motorways seems as far away as ever. Peter Plisner is at the M6 Toll for
:11:31. > :11:36.us now. So what's gone wrong with the toll road ideal? Many drivers
:11:37. > :11:39.just don't like toll roads. We had the petition a few years ago where
:11:40. > :11:44.millions of people signed a Downing Street petition opposing the idea.
:11:45. > :11:49.Drivers say that they pay a tax already. As far as the M6 Toll is
:11:50. > :11:52.concerned, it has been hit by the recession although traffic numbers
:11:53. > :11:56.are coming back, but it is seen as a luxury by some and luxuries are the
:11:57. > :12:01.first thing to go into recession, and some simply cannot afford it. It
:12:02. > :12:05.must be galling for people struggling on the congested M6 to
:12:06. > :12:12.see another motorway running almost empty at times, nearby. It must be.
:12:13. > :12:15.And even at the busiest times this road is free`flowing, and it will
:12:16. > :12:20.always be like that because the M6 Toll has the ability to increase the
:12:21. > :12:25.tolls the joke of traffic if they want. The tolls are not regulated by
:12:26. > :12:29.the Government, so the management can set whatever tolls they want.
:12:30. > :12:34.There are measures being taken on the existing M6 to make things
:12:35. > :12:38.easier. Smart motorways are being introduced on many sections so they
:12:39. > :12:40.are using the hard shoulder and controlling the speed of traffic.
:12:41. > :12:45.That helps ease congestion in places and improves journey time
:12:46. > :12:59.reliability, so that you know, moron less, when you are going to reach
:13:00. > :13:02.your destination. `` more or less. A headteacher has spoken of his
:13:03. > :13:06.school's "immense loss" after a member of staff and two pupils were
:13:07. > :13:09.killed in a car accident on Friday. Maggie Stewart, who was a technician
:13:10. > :13:12.at Kingsbury School, near Tamworth, died with her sixteen year`old son
:13:13. > :13:14.Damian and 15`year`old nephew Dion Walker`Smith. In a statement,
:13:15. > :13:18.headteacher Simon Cotton said all three had been respected and loved
:13:19. > :13:21.by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing them. Two Birmingham women
:13:22. > :13:25.have been jailed for a total of 24 years for starting a house fire in
:13:26. > :13:28.which a woman died as she slept. 39`year`old Nussrat Khatoon was
:13:29. > :13:31.sentenced to 14 years for manslaughter and arson after she set
:13:32. > :13:33.fire to her ex`husband's home. Her co`defendant, 30`year`old Tina
:13:34. > :13:40.Andrews, was sentenced to ten years. A woman's body found in woodland two
:13:41. > :13:45.months ago has been identified as a 27`year`old from Redditch. Police
:13:46. > :13:50.found her body in Bolton and release pictures of jewellery and confirm
:13:51. > :13:56.her identity. They have issued a fresh appeal for information. Our
:13:57. > :14:00.top story tonight: More cuts needed, another one thousand jobs to go at
:14:01. > :14:02.Birmingham City Council. Your detailed weather forecast to come
:14:03. > :14:07.shortly. Also in tonight's programme: A first league win over
:14:08. > :14:13.Chelsea in almost 40 years. Has Mark Hughes's Stoke side begun to turn
:14:14. > :14:16.the corner? And non`league Kidderminster Harriers boost the
:14:17. > :14:28.coffers with a place in the third round of the FA Cup, but not the big
:14:29. > :14:30.draw they'd hoped for. An estimated four million shoppers will visit
:14:31. > :14:34.Birmingham's German market this year. But is it becoming a victim of
:14:35. > :14:37.its own success? On the busiest weekends, parts of the city centre
:14:38. > :14:40.have become virtually impassable, with a one`way system to try to keep
:14:41. > :14:48.pedestrians moving. Our reporter Kevin Reide has been investigating.
:14:49. > :14:53.Birmingham's Frankfurt market is an ever popular attraction every
:14:54. > :14:56.Christmas. But local journalist Graham Long is questioning its
:14:57. > :15:05.existence. He believes it has become same old same old, . It feels like a
:15:06. > :15:11.collection of sheds. I have nicked named it Shedville. Even of the
:15:12. > :15:18.sheds were designed in a more theatrical way, it would just create
:15:19. > :15:23.a more Christmassy experience. If they just changed it a little bit
:15:24. > :15:26.every year, change the layout, or have the Victorian market one year,
:15:27. > :15:36.you would remember it, but 13 years the same, it just blends into one.
:15:37. > :15:39.This is the city of 1000 trades, the city of invention, but when you walk
:15:40. > :15:43.around the market you cannot really see that. And it just dominates the
:15:44. > :15:50.city. You don't get a flavour of what the real city is. They are
:15:51. > :15:56.concerned about the Christmas nativity no longer being
:15:57. > :16:04.centrestage. It feels as if we are ashamed of what Christmas is about
:16:05. > :16:09.at the beginning. It gives people a trail to explore the city from new
:16:10. > :16:18.Street, up to the square, and that night time it looks so beautiful. We
:16:19. > :16:22.have had a lot of media coverage from the likes of New York travel
:16:23. > :16:28.magazines, from overseas publications, and from broadcasters
:16:29. > :16:33.saying how great the market is and highlighting it is a thing to do
:16:34. > :16:36.when you come to this country. We have seen record numbers of people
:16:37. > :16:43.booking trips to Birmingham and citing this market as a reason for
:16:44. > :16:47.doing that. According to social media it is certainly attracting the
:16:48. > :16:51.crowds. These pictures were captured at new Street station with a one in,
:16:52. > :16:58.one out, barrier system in operation. What do those who run
:16:59. > :17:05.nearby businesses think? People do spill into the arcade looking for
:17:06. > :17:09.relief from it and find the best shopping in Birmingham, so it can be
:17:10. > :17:14.to our advantage. Do you like it? Yes, I like the pancake stall. We
:17:15. > :17:17.have lots of people from different cities coming to Birmingham to
:17:18. > :17:25.experience the market. We are very busy. And perhaps Dan Graham should
:17:26. > :17:29.have the final say. We had a comedian in Germany saying thank
:17:30. > :17:34.goodness of the German markets are over here, because they are glad to
:17:35. > :17:37.get Germany back to how it ought to be, which is not full of German
:17:38. > :17:44.markets, they are tired of them too, so that is why they are
:17:45. > :17:47.exporting them here. You have been getting in touch with your
:17:48. > :18:16.experiences. We have had some divided opinions.
:18:17. > :18:27.Steve Prescott took his children there on Saturday. He said.
:18:28. > :18:38.And Larry Ashworth wrote on Facebook. He paid ?16 50 for three
:18:39. > :18:41.hotdogs. I was there yesterday with my goddaughter and their family and
:18:42. > :18:52.it was very 28 miles south of Birmingham, the
:18:53. > :18:55.town of Evesham on the banks of the River Avon would love some of those
:18:56. > :18:58.visitors this Christmas. Repairs to a bridge have over`run, shoppers
:18:59. > :19:00.have been going elsewhere and some businesses fear for their future.
:19:01. > :19:03.Sarah Falkland reports. Construction of the new bridge has been described
:19:04. > :19:07.by one Evesham resident as being such a saga, it makes the Lord of
:19:08. > :19:10.the rings seem concise. With the main road closed, passing trade has
:19:11. > :19:16.vanished. This garage has laid off two staff, and next door they are
:19:17. > :19:21.shutting up shop. We have not been able to make the mortgage payments
:19:22. > :19:25.at home, and I have just resigned myself to the fact that we cannot
:19:26. > :19:30.carry on. We are losing money every month. Contractors say they have
:19:31. > :19:33.encountered all kinds of unexpected challenges building this bridge,
:19:34. > :19:37.everything from high winds to high river levels, and have apologised
:19:38. > :19:40.for missing the latest deadline. They point out they have offered
:19:41. > :19:45.free Christmas advertising to some businesses affected. The one thing
:19:46. > :19:52.they don't mention is that when this is going to be finished. We
:19:53. > :19:54.understand the difficulties. It is a very complicated structure they are
:19:55. > :20:00.trying to replace. We understand all of that, but we are getting quite
:20:01. > :20:07.stroppy with them, that is the right ascription. When do you think the
:20:08. > :20:11.road will be open? We think it will be open in early February. Early
:20:12. > :20:19.February, then, things will be back to normal. But maybe not, says the
:20:20. > :20:23.town mayor. They say it is not going to open until the middle of next
:20:24. > :20:26.year, but you never know how much of that is real inside information or
:20:27. > :20:32.people just shooting them out after having a few beers. He says that
:20:33. > :20:35.Evesham is coping and that the Christmas market is bringing people
:20:36. > :20:46.in. Maybe everyone is that adopt the attitude of this cafe owner, look
:20:47. > :20:55.what is in her window. Sports news, and it is time that football
:20:56. > :20:58.managers start to get vulnerable. At the end of November seven football
:20:59. > :21:02.managers were sacked in the space of just eight days. It was a harsh
:21:03. > :21:05.reminder of how much pressure there is to achieve instant success. But
:21:06. > :21:08.as the bosses of Aston Villa, Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion can
:21:09. > :21:12.all tell you that success doesn't come easily in the Premier League.
:21:13. > :21:14.Nick Clitheroe reports. This was the highlight of Mark Hughes's Stoke
:21:15. > :21:17.City career so far. Oussama Assaidi's thunderous winner against
:21:18. > :21:20.Chelsea brought the house down at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
:21:21. > :21:27.But it was relief as much as anything. Since Hughes took over in
:21:28. > :21:30.the summer with the additional task of improving the team's style of
:21:31. > :21:34.play his was just their fourth win in 15 games. We have not won as many
:21:35. > :21:36.games as possibly we deserve, but everybody understands that we are
:21:37. > :21:39.barely into what we are trying to do, and we are trying to change the
:21:40. > :21:45.way we play, and a lot of people have said that the meat. Overall
:21:46. > :21:58.that means he's taken 17 points from a possible 45. 37.7% of the rewards
:21:59. > :22:02.on offer at this early stage. So how does that contrast with Paul Lambert
:22:03. > :22:08.at Aston Villa. Lambert has been in charge for an extra season. His
:22:09. > :22:11.brief was restoring the club's fortunes while slashing the budget
:22:12. > :22:13.for players' wages. That's led to the inconsistency which saw them
:22:14. > :22:16.beaten 2`nil by struggling Fulham yesterday. Overall though Lambert
:22:17. > :22:29.has secured 60 points from a possible 159. Exactly the same
:22:30. > :22:32.return as Mark Hughes at 37.7%. And that leaves Steve Clarke at West
:22:33. > :22:35.Bromwich Albion. They were booed off following the 2`nil home defeat by
:22:36. > :22:39.Norwich and Clarke has been criticised by some fans recently.
:22:40. > :22:43.Overall though his record bears comparison. Like Lambert he's been
:22:44. > :22:46.in charge for 53 games but Clarke has a slightly higher points tally
:22:47. > :22:50.of 64 to give an overall success rate of just over 40 per cent. Those
:22:51. > :22:52.statistics are quite revealing. It seems like Steve Clarke at West
:22:53. > :22:55.Bromwich Albion has got the biggest task. December is a tough month.
:22:56. > :23:02.West Bromwich Albion have lost three games in a week. They are away at
:23:03. > :23:06.Cardiff city, then I wait to hold. Then I wait to Spurs on Boxing Day,
:23:07. > :23:18.and 48 hours later, away to West Ham. Difficult times. Kidderminster
:23:19. > :23:22.Harriers fancied up home draw against Premier League giant in
:23:23. > :23:28.round three, but instead, they drew Peterborough, and they are pleased
:23:29. > :23:31.as punch. Steve Bird woke up today, with working on his mind, because
:23:32. > :23:35.tomorrow, that is where Kidderminster are hoping to close
:23:36. > :23:41.the gap on conference leaders, Cambridge. On Saturday, the Harriers
:23:42. > :23:55.held a minute applause for Nelson Mandela and it seemed to inspire
:23:56. > :23:59.striker, Michael Gash. Like I said, I am very happy with it. It was a
:24:00. > :24:06.good goal. The Harriers were outstanding in the first half, and
:24:07. > :24:15.when Callum Givens scored, Newport County knew they were well beaten.
:24:16. > :24:18.Then Michael Gash made it 4`0 and Kidderminster were able to celebrate
:24:19. > :24:22.a cup victory against a team who pipped them for promotion last year.
:24:23. > :24:25.Kidderminster were fired up for a possible home tie Iron Man three
:24:26. > :24:31.against someone like Arsenal, Liverpool or United. Peterborough
:24:32. > :24:36.United. Obviously not the draw we wanted, but it is a chance to
:24:37. > :24:39.progress, that is the thing. There was no joy for the other non`league
:24:40. > :24:47.teams, with Stourbridge crashing away to Stevenage, and at Tamworth,
:24:48. > :24:53.Andy Todd's last`minute consolation goal could not present `` prevent
:24:54. > :24:59.Bristol city going through, 2`1. Those ties among the first week of
:25:00. > :25:02.January, on the fourth and fifth. I saw snowplough on the motorway
:25:03. > :25:11.today. Is there something we should know? Shefali Has got the weather
:25:12. > :25:18.forecast. This week is going to be milder. We have a wonderful wodge of
:25:19. > :25:24.warm air in Central Europe at keeping temperatures up instead of
:25:25. > :25:30.down this week, and on top of that, giving way slightly to low pressure
:25:31. > :25:31.by Thursday and Friday. That high pressure will still exert some
:25:32. > :25:41.influence. Taking a look at tonight. We start this evening and the first
:25:42. > :25:44.part of the night with clear skies. So this is when temperatures are
:25:45. > :25:50.going to drop to their lowest point, so they could see a slight frost
:25:51. > :25:54.developing and remote spots. That's the side of midnight. After that,
:25:55. > :25:59.cloud increases from the West, which will keep temperatures from falling
:26:00. > :26:04.below four Celsius. We could get a bit of missed developing towards the
:26:05. > :26:07.end of the night. Lots of this cloud is going to linger through the day
:26:08. > :26:15.tomorrow. The best chance of any sunshine is in the East. In spite of
:26:16. > :26:18.the cloud, it is going to be mild, temperatures between 9`10dC. And it
:26:19. > :26:23.is going to be dry as well. Tomorrow night, cloud again into making us.
:26:24. > :26:28.Not exactly warm, but not desperately cold, and later in the
:26:29. > :26:30.night we could see some cloud breaks developing across the southeastern
:26:31. > :26:39.corner of the region, with some missed developing. And then looking
:26:40. > :26:42.ahead, it looks like Wednesday is going to be a fine, dry day with
:26:43. > :26:49.plenty of wintry, sparkling sunshine. I temperatures of nine
:26:50. > :26:52.Celsius, but on Thursday, we have a frontal system slipping down from
:26:53. > :26:55.the North West, making it cloudy but milder, the possibility of some
:26:56. > :27:06.patchy rain. The headlines. Amazon convert admits
:27:07. > :27:10.killing a British soldier, Lee Rigby, in London and tells the Old
:27:11. > :27:15.Bailey, this is a war. And more cuts needed. Another 1000 jobs to go at
:27:16. > :27:18.Birmingham City Council. And you might remember seeing Sean Conway
:27:19. > :27:24.from Cheltenham last week. He has become the first person to swim the
:27:25. > :27:29.length of Britain. He most from the sea, looking like Neptune. He grew a
:27:30. > :27:34.beard while swimming to protect him from jellyfish stings. Today, he
:27:35. > :27:42.gave it a chop, and donated the money raised to the BBC Children In
:27:43. > :27:46.Need fun. `` fund. I'll be back later with more on those job cuts at
:27:47. > :27:47.Birmingham City Council. Join me for that