09/12/2013 Midlands Today


09/12/2013

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 09/12/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

the north and west. That's all from the BBC news at six.

:00:00.:00:00.

Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight. More savings

:00:00.:00:12.

needed. Another 1,000 jobs to go at Birmingham City Council. It is very

:00:13.:00:19.

sad and I am sorry for this but there is no alternative because the

:00:20.:00:21.

money is not there to keep those people in employment. We'll be

:00:22.:00:28.

asking how these cuts will affect those who use the services. Ten

:00:29.:00:32.

years down the road, claims the M6 Toll is a benefit to no one and

:00:33.:00:36.

shunned by most drivers. Pulling in bumper crowds but has Birmingham's

:00:37.:00:38.

German Christmas market become too popular? It feels like a connection

:00:39.:00:48.

of sheds. I have nicknamed it Shedville. Storm clouds over manager

:00:49.:00:55.

Steve Clarke as West Bromwich Albion suffer another home defeat. And you

:00:56.:00:59.

would be surprised at the weather this week, it is not quite as cold

:01:00.:01:06.

as you would expect others. `` expect for December. All the details

:01:07.:01:22.

coming up. Good evening. Hundreds more jobs are being lost at the

:01:23.:01:25.

region's biggest local authority. The leader of Birmingham City

:01:26.:01:28.

Council is warning tonight of the most severe cuts in its history.

:01:29.:01:31.

He's blamed a reduction in Government funding amounting to ?149

:01:32.:01:33.

for every person in Birmingham. Today's announcement means 1080 jobs

:01:34.:01:37.

are to go in the next two years. And the amount the council needs to save

:01:38.:01:41.

by 2017 has increased from ?615 million to ?840 million. Three years

:01:42.:01:44.

ago, the council employed 21,000. That's now down to 14,000 ` a

:01:45.:01:47.

reduction of a third. Bob Hockenhull reports. One year ago, Birmingham's

:01:48.:01:53.

council leader said that the city was staring individual is a doom.

:01:54.:01:57.

Today, he said those jaws had widened. More than 1000 posts will

:01:58.:02:03.

go by April 2000 and Dean. It is not just those who have been made

:02:04.:02:08.

redundant who will be losing out. Advice activities, and that things

:02:09.:02:14.

are residents are very much in need, so there is a range of cuts for

:02:15.:02:19.

different categories of people, residents and indeed businesses.

:02:20.:02:23.

Post from Park keepers to pest controllers, from librarians to

:02:24.:02:27.

leisure centre managers are under threat from this latest round of

:02:28.:02:31.

cuts. Only those working in children's services will be

:02:32.:02:37.

protected. The council says that a 40% reduction in government funding

:02:38.:02:40.

is to blame for the cuts, but the Government insists it has delivered

:02:41.:02:43.

a fair deal which protects front line services. Opposition party

:02:44.:02:47.

leaders on the council believed Labour has got it spending

:02:48.:02:52.

priorities wrong and Birmingham. Why are they not willing to reduce

:02:53.:02:56.

services and back office, things like the human resources Department

:02:57.:02:59.

on legal department, or consult this? They spend a huge amount on

:03:00.:03:04.

consultants. The council should be managing its budgets better, cutting

:03:05.:03:09.

out vanity projects. We cannot afford them at the moment, and using

:03:10.:03:15.

its lenses. The unions have described today's announcement as

:03:16.:03:20.

horrendous but inevitable. It does not come as a shock but it will come

:03:21.:03:23.

as a shock to the people of Birmingham that their services are

:03:24.:03:27.

being wrecked by central government. The council was that services that

:03:28.:03:32.

are currently protected Mike also face cuts in future years. `` might

:03:33.:03:44.

also. The council said that volunteers could step in to take up

:03:45.:03:49.

the slack. But will that work, and what do community stand to lose if

:03:50.:03:56.

it doesn't? Standing up for Birmingham, they called it, an event

:03:57.:04:00.

organised by the council intended to inspire volunteers to step up as

:04:01.:04:04.

they step back. People like Roger, who wants to buy local playing

:04:05.:04:07.

fields to provide sporting facilities. It opens up the door for

:04:08.:04:12.

community and voluntary sector groups to step up to the plate and

:04:13.:04:16.

say, we can get involved and we can do stuff on behalf of the local

:04:17.:04:21.

community. How much can we expect from volunteers like Emma, who

:04:22.:04:25.

devotes hundreds of unpaid hours to running their neighbourhood park? If

:04:26.:04:30.

it is maintained it has no insurance impact. Cuts today would mean more

:04:31.:04:36.

park rangers and keepers losing their jobs, but she says they cannot

:04:37.:04:39.

do it all on their own. You cannot mothball a park, you cannot not look

:04:40.:04:46.

after it. It will go back to being the field that it once was. I am not

:04:47.:04:51.

quite sure what the answer is. The answer is getting volunteers to

:04:52.:04:55.

help, but volunteers cannot do it with no infrastructure behind them.

:04:56.:04:59.

Up the road, a swimming pool and gymnasium that could be mothballed.

:05:00.:05:03.

It is one of nine slated for closure. The council says it will

:05:04.:05:10.

build six new leisure centres. It is fair to blame the local authority

:05:11.:05:13.

that was voted in recently on the basis of defending public services.

:05:14.:05:17.

What they have done is the luck `` the exact opposite, not standing up

:05:18.:05:22.

to central government, whatsoever. These cuts are affecting ordinary

:05:23.:05:26.

people, the working class, not the middle`class. Around the corner, one

:05:27.:05:31.

of 39 libraries in the city that could face closure or transferred to

:05:32.:05:37.

local community groups. It might be about handing overhaul services to

:05:38.:05:40.

communities and using that as an opportunity to get people control

:05:41.:05:43.

over something that matters to them in their lives. There are some

:05:44.:05:47.

positives to come out of this. It is not all negative. Sunset, or new

:05:48.:05:54.

dawn? One way or another, the landscape of local government is

:05:55.:06:00.

changing. John Hemming is the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham

:06:01.:06:03.

Yardley and a former city councillor. A little earlier I asked

:06:04.:06:07.

him if, as a member of the coalition, he agreed with these

:06:08.:06:10.

cuts. If the country wanted to not be in a mess in 2010, it would have

:06:11.:06:16.

required different policies from 2005`8. Giving those policies

:06:17.:06:24.

between 2005`8, which Tony Blair himself said were wrong, inevitably,

:06:25.:06:28.

we face cuts across the country and I think now the Labour Party

:06:29.:06:32.

nationally accepts that they will go at least with the first year after

:06:33.:06:37.

the general election if they were to end up in government. You cannot

:06:38.:06:42.

keep naming the previous government. The workforce has been cut by

:06:43.:06:47.

21,000, to 14,000, in the last three years. Your government is keen to

:06:48.:06:52.

stress that the recovery is under way, but that is not the case if you

:06:53.:06:56.

work in the public sector or relying on council services as many of your

:06:57.:07:02.

constituents do. We have to bring the deficit under control. The

:07:03.:07:05.

government spending more money than it in, in tax, every year, and we

:07:06.:07:10.

are gradually reducing the difference but we will not be in

:07:11.:07:15.

balance until the year, 2018. How will you explain these cuts to your

:07:16.:07:19.

constituents? There is an inevitability to all of this.

:07:20.:07:22.

Whoever is in government nationally will have to have an austerity

:07:23.:07:27.

policy. The only way we could have avoided it is by having different

:07:28.:07:31.

policies between 2005`8. Those having been set, we are stuck. We

:07:32.:07:37.

are doing better than places like Greece Spain that have had much more

:07:38.:07:43.

serious cuts. Are you comparing us to Greece? Are you saying, tough,

:07:44.:07:48.

this is the situation, we're going to have to get on with it. Your

:07:49.:07:51.

constituents will be affected by this. The point is, the deficit, the

:07:52.:07:57.

amount of money that the Government spent that it did not get, in

:07:58.:08:01.

income, as a proportion of gross domestic product, was the same order

:08:02.:08:05.

of magnitude as that in Greece, it was that big a problem. How can you

:08:06.:08:11.

maintain services when the budget needs to be cut by the amount it

:08:12.:08:14.

means to be cut by, which you have acknowledged? At the end of the day

:08:15.:08:19.

you have to be more efficient in the way that you do things. We haven't

:08:20.:08:23.

used staffing levels and libraries whilst keeping them open. That is

:08:24.:08:28.

not an unreasonable thing to do. We're talking about losing a further

:08:29.:08:33.

1000 jobs. Lots of jobs have been lost over time. There was nothing

:08:34.:08:35.

particularly new in all of this. Plenty more to come tonight,

:08:36.:08:45.

including: why the only thing traders in one riverside town want

:08:46.:08:48.

for Christmas is an end to over`running bridge repairs. We

:08:49.:08:52.

cannot carry on. We are losing money every month, and one just cant carry

:08:53.:09:04.

on like this. `` can't carry on. Ten years ago to the day, the

:09:05.:09:07.

controversial M6 toll road was opened. Many expected it to help

:09:08.:09:11.

relieve congestion on the existing M6, but a decade later traffic

:09:12.:09:14.

levels and congestion is virtually the same. That's partly because the

:09:15.:09:22.

M6 Toll has never managed to attract the number of vehicles it was

:09:23.:09:26.

forecast to carry. It's also lost millions of pounds for its owners,

:09:27.:09:29.

Midland Expressway Limited. A recent report by the Campaign for Better

:09:30.:09:31.

Transport claims that the pay`as`you`go motorway is of

:09:32.:09:34.

"benefit to no one". However, the roads bosses say, after a long

:09:35.:09:37.

recession, more drivers ARE now beginning to use it. Here's our

:09:38.:09:40.

Transport correspondent Peter Plisner. The M6 Toll this morning `

:09:41.:09:43.

still one of the UK's quietest motorways. Dissy Tonks was on it

:09:44.:09:46.

today. She likes it, but... It is expensive. It was better when it

:09:47.:09:49.

first started. It was slightly cheaper. And even drivers who do not

:09:50.:09:51.

pay the tolls themselves have similar views. Why do you use it as

:09:52.:09:54.

opposed to a free road? Because somebody else pays the expenses. It

:09:55.:09:56.

is expensive but the company are paying the way. And its high cost is

:09:57.:10:02.

part of the reason many drivers have voted with their wheels and stayed

:10:03.:10:05.

away. 75,000 vehicles were supposed to use it every day. But in reality

:10:06.:10:09.

traffic levels are much lower. It is not just traffic that is missing.

:10:10.:10:12.

Profits are missing for the company that runs the M6 Toll. Accounts

:10:13.:10:16.

submitted over the last ten years show that this road has lost nearly

:10:17.:10:22.

?300 million. Despite that, the man who runs the road is adamant that

:10:23.:10:27.

the business is sustainable. I certainly think it is. We have the

:10:28.:10:31.

continued support of the banks. The rah another 40 years ago. This will

:10:32.:10:34.

prove to be a good long`term investment. Eco`warriors and

:10:35.:10:40.

environmentalists did their best to stop the road being built. Not

:10:41.:10:43.

surprisingly, ten years on, those involved haven't changed their view.

:10:44.:10:45.

Expectations were always far too high for the M6 Toll. There was no

:10:46.:10:51.

silver bullet for congestion in the West Midlands. We need to get on

:10:52.:10:55.

with investing in public on sport. But what's it like living close to

:10:56.:10:59.

the M6 Toll? This couple's home is just yards away. It is quite loud,

:11:00.:11:03.

and it is more prevalent when it is wet. You get a continuous hissing

:11:04.:11:11.

noise from the wet road. When it opened, the M6 Toll was a

:11:12.:11:14.

trailblazer for a future network of toll roads. But ten years on, to the

:11:15.:11:18.

delight of many drivers, the prospect of further pay`as`you`go

:11:19.:11:26.

motorways seems as far away as ever. Peter Plisner is at the M6 Toll for

:11:27.:11:30.

us now. So what's gone wrong with the toll road ideal? Many drivers

:11:31.:11:36.

just don't like toll roads. We had the petition a few years ago where

:11:37.:11:39.

millions of people signed a Downing Street petition opposing the idea.

:11:40.:11:44.

Drivers say that they pay a tax already. As far as the M6 Toll is

:11:45.:11:49.

concerned, it has been hit by the recession although traffic numbers

:11:50.:11:52.

are coming back, but it is seen as a luxury by some and luxuries are the

:11:53.:11:56.

first thing to go into recession, and some simply cannot afford it. It

:11:57.:12:01.

must be galling for people struggling on the congested M6 to

:12:02.:12:05.

see another motorway running almost empty at times, nearby. It must be.

:12:06.:12:12.

And even at the busiest times this road is free`flowing, and it will

:12:13.:12:15.

always be like that because the M6 Toll has the ability to increase the

:12:16.:12:20.

tolls the joke of traffic if they want. The tolls are not regulated by

:12:21.:12:25.

the Government, so the management can set whatever tolls they want.

:12:26.:12:29.

There are measures being taken on the existing M6 to make things

:12:30.:12:34.

easier. Smart motorways are being introduced on many sections so they

:12:35.:12:38.

are using the hard shoulder and controlling the speed of traffic.

:12:39.:12:40.

That helps ease congestion in places and improves journey time

:12:41.:12:45.

reliability, so that you know, moron less, when you are going to reach

:12:46.:12:59.

your destination. `` more or less. A headteacher has spoken of his

:13:00.:13:02.

school's "immense loss" after a member of staff and two pupils were

:13:03.:13:06.

killed in a car accident on Friday. Maggie Stewart, who was a technician

:13:07.:13:09.

at Kingsbury School, near Tamworth, died with her sixteen year`old son

:13:10.:13:12.

Damian and 15`year`old nephew Dion Walker`Smith. In a statement,

:13:13.:13:14.

headteacher Simon Cotton said all three had been respected and loved

:13:15.:13:18.

by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing them. Two Birmingham women

:13:19.:13:21.

have been jailed for a total of 24 years for starting a house fire in

:13:22.:13:25.

which a woman died as she slept. 39`year`old Nussrat Khatoon was

:13:26.:13:28.

sentenced to 14 years for manslaughter and arson after she set

:13:29.:13:31.

fire to her ex`husband's home. Her co`defendant, 30`year`old Tina

:13:32.:13:33.

Andrews, was sentenced to ten years. A woman's body found in woodland two

:13:34.:13:40.

months ago has been identified as a 27`year`old from Redditch. Police

:13:41.:13:45.

found her body in Bolton and release pictures of jewellery and confirm

:13:46.:13:50.

her identity. They have issued a fresh appeal for information. Our

:13:51.:13:56.

top story tonight: More cuts needed, another one thousand jobs to go at

:13:57.:14:00.

Birmingham City Council. Your detailed weather forecast to come

:14:01.:14:02.

shortly. Also in tonight's programme: A first league win over

:14:03.:14:07.

Chelsea in almost 40 years. Has Mark Hughes's Stoke side begun to turn

:14:08.:14:13.

the corner? And non`league Kidderminster Harriers boost the

:14:14.:14:16.

coffers with a place in the third round of the FA Cup, but not the big

:14:17.:14:28.

draw they'd hoped for. An estimated four million shoppers will visit

:14:29.:14:30.

Birmingham's German market this year. But is it becoming a victim of

:14:31.:14:34.

its own success? On the busiest weekends, parts of the city centre

:14:35.:14:37.

have become virtually impassable, with a one`way system to try to keep

:14:38.:14:40.

pedestrians moving. Our reporter Kevin Reide has been investigating.

:14:41.:14:48.

Birmingham's Frankfurt market is an ever popular attraction every

:14:49.:14:53.

Christmas. But local journalist Graham Long is questioning its

:14:54.:14:56.

existence. He believes it has become same old same old, . It feels like a

:14:57.:15:05.

collection of sheds. I have nicked named it Shedville. Even of the

:15:06.:15:11.

sheds were designed in a more theatrical way, it would just create

:15:12.:15:18.

a more Christmassy experience. If they just changed it a little bit

:15:19.:15:23.

every year, change the layout, or have the Victorian market one year,

:15:24.:15:26.

you would remember it, but 13 years the same, it just blends into one.

:15:27.:15:36.

This is the city of 1000 trades, the city of invention, but when you walk

:15:37.:15:39.

around the market you cannot really see that. And it just dominates the

:15:40.:15:43.

city. You don't get a flavour of what the real city is. They are

:15:44.:15:50.

concerned about the Christmas nativity no longer being

:15:51.:15:56.

centrestage. It feels as if we are ashamed of what Christmas is about

:15:57.:16:04.

at the beginning. It gives people a trail to explore the city from new

:16:05.:16:09.

Street, up to the square, and that night time it looks so beautiful. We

:16:10.:16:18.

have had a lot of media coverage from the likes of New York travel

:16:19.:16:22.

magazines, from overseas publications, and from broadcasters

:16:23.:16:28.

saying how great the market is and highlighting it is a thing to do

:16:29.:16:33.

when you come to this country. We have seen record numbers of people

:16:34.:16:36.

booking trips to Birmingham and citing this market as a reason for

:16:37.:16:43.

doing that. According to social media it is certainly attracting the

:16:44.:16:47.

crowds. These pictures were captured at new Street station with a one in,

:16:48.:16:51.

one out, barrier system in operation. What do those who run

:16:52.:16:58.

nearby businesses think? People do spill into the arcade looking for

:16:59.:17:05.

relief from it and find the best shopping in Birmingham, so it can be

:17:06.:17:09.

to our advantage. Do you like it? Yes, I like the pancake stall. We

:17:10.:17:14.

have lots of people from different cities coming to Birmingham to

:17:15.:17:17.

experience the market. We are very busy. And perhaps Dan Graham should

:17:18.:17:25.

have the final say. We had a comedian in Germany saying thank

:17:26.:17:29.

goodness of the German markets are over here, because they are glad to

:17:30.:17:34.

get Germany back to how it ought to be, which is not full of German

:17:35.:17:37.

markets, they are tired of them too, so that is why they are

:17:38.:17:44.

exporting them here. You have been getting in touch with your

:17:45.:17:47.

experiences. We have had some divided opinions.

:17:48.:18:16.

Steve Prescott took his children there on Saturday. He said.

:18:17.:18:27.

And Larry Ashworth wrote on Facebook. He paid ?16 50 for three

:18:28.:18:38.

hotdogs. I was there yesterday with my goddaughter and their family and

:18:39.:18:41.

it was very 28 miles south of Birmingham, the

:18:42.:18:52.

town of Evesham on the banks of the River Avon would love some of those

:18:53.:18:55.

visitors this Christmas. Repairs to a bridge have over`run, shoppers

:18:56.:18:58.

have been going elsewhere and some businesses fear for their future.

:18:59.:19:00.

Sarah Falkland reports. Construction of the new bridge has been described

:19:01.:19:03.

by one Evesham resident as being such a saga, it makes the Lord of

:19:04.:19:07.

the rings seem concise. With the main road closed, passing trade has

:19:08.:19:10.

vanished. This garage has laid off two staff, and next door they are

:19:11.:19:16.

shutting up shop. We have not been able to make the mortgage payments

:19:17.:19:21.

at home, and I have just resigned myself to the fact that we cannot

:19:22.:19:25.

carry on. We are losing money every month. Contractors say they have

:19:26.:19:30.

encountered all kinds of unexpected challenges building this bridge,

:19:31.:19:33.

everything from high winds to high river levels, and have apologised

:19:34.:19:37.

for missing the latest deadline. They point out they have offered

:19:38.:19:40.

free Christmas advertising to some businesses affected. The one thing

:19:41.:19:45.

they don't mention is that when this is going to be finished. We

:19:46.:19:52.

understand the difficulties. It is a very complicated structure they are

:19:53.:19:54.

trying to replace. We understand all of that, but we are getting quite

:19:55.:20:00.

stroppy with them, that is the right ascription. When do you think the

:20:01.:20:07.

road will be open? We think it will be open in early February. Early

:20:08.:20:11.

February, then, things will be back to normal. But maybe not, says the

:20:12.:20:19.

town mayor. They say it is not going to open until the middle of next

:20:20.:20:23.

year, but you never know how much of that is real inside information or

:20:24.:20:26.

people just shooting them out after having a few beers. He says that

:20:27.:20:32.

Evesham is coping and that the Christmas market is bringing people

:20:33.:20:35.

in. Maybe everyone is that adopt the attitude of this cafe owner, look

:20:36.:20:46.

what is in her window. Sports news, and it is time that football

:20:47.:20:55.

managers start to get vulnerable. At the end of November seven football

:20:56.:20:58.

managers were sacked in the space of just eight days. It was a harsh

:20:59.:21:02.

reminder of how much pressure there is to achieve instant success. But

:21:03.:21:05.

as the bosses of Aston Villa, Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion can

:21:06.:21:08.

all tell you that success doesn't come easily in the Premier League.

:21:09.:21:12.

Nick Clitheroe reports. This was the highlight of Mark Hughes's Stoke

:21:13.:21:14.

City career so far. Oussama Assaidi's thunderous winner against

:21:15.:21:17.

Chelsea brought the house down at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

:21:18.:21:20.

But it was relief as much as anything. Since Hughes took over in

:21:21.:21:27.

the summer with the additional task of improving the team's style of

:21:28.:21:30.

play his was just their fourth win in 15 games. We have not won as many

:21:31.:21:34.

games as possibly we deserve, but everybody understands that we are

:21:35.:21:36.

barely into what we are trying to do, and we are trying to change the

:21:37.:21:39.

way we play, and a lot of people have said that the meat. Overall

:21:40.:21:45.

that means he's taken 17 points from a possible 45. 37.7% of the rewards

:21:46.:21:58.

on offer at this early stage. So how does that contrast with Paul Lambert

:21:59.:22:02.

at Aston Villa. Lambert has been in charge for an extra season. His

:22:03.:22:08.

brief was restoring the club's fortunes while slashing the budget

:22:09.:22:11.

for players' wages. That's led to the inconsistency which saw them

:22:12.:22:13.

beaten 2`nil by struggling Fulham yesterday. Overall though Lambert

:22:14.:22:16.

has secured 60 points from a possible 159. Exactly the same

:22:17.:22:29.

return as Mark Hughes at 37.7%. And that leaves Steve Clarke at West

:22:30.:22:32.

Bromwich Albion. They were booed off following the 2`nil home defeat by

:22:33.:22:35.

Norwich and Clarke has been criticised by some fans recently.

:22:36.:22:39.

Overall though his record bears comparison. Like Lambert he's been

:22:40.:22:43.

in charge for 53 games but Clarke has a slightly higher points tally

:22:44.:22:46.

of 64 to give an overall success rate of just over 40 per cent. Those

:22:47.:22:50.

statistics are quite revealing. It seems like Steve Clarke at West

:22:51.:22:52.

Bromwich Albion has got the biggest task. December is a tough month.

:22:53.:22:55.

West Bromwich Albion have lost three games in a week. They are away at

:22:56.:23:02.

Cardiff city, then I wait to hold. Then I wait to Spurs on Boxing Day,

:23:03.:23:06.

and 48 hours later, away to West Ham. Difficult times. Kidderminster

:23:07.:23:18.

Harriers fancied up home draw against Premier League giant in

:23:19.:23:22.

round three, but instead, they drew Peterborough, and they are pleased

:23:23.:23:28.

as punch. Steve Bird woke up today, with working on his mind, because

:23:29.:23:31.

tomorrow, that is where Kidderminster are hoping to close

:23:32.:23:35.

the gap on conference leaders, Cambridge. On Saturday, the Harriers

:23:36.:23:41.

held a minute applause for Nelson Mandela and it seemed to inspire

:23:42.:23:55.

striker, Michael Gash. Like I said, I am very happy with it. It was a

:23:56.:23:59.

good goal. The Harriers were outstanding in the first half, and

:24:00.:24:06.

when Callum Givens scored, Newport County knew they were well beaten.

:24:07.:24:15.

Then Michael Gash made it 4`0 and Kidderminster were able to celebrate

:24:16.:24:18.

a cup victory against a team who pipped them for promotion last year.

:24:19.:24:22.

Kidderminster were fired up for a possible home tie Iron Man three

:24:23.:24:25.

against someone like Arsenal, Liverpool or United. Peterborough

:24:26.:24:31.

United. Obviously not the draw we wanted, but it is a chance to

:24:32.:24:36.

progress, that is the thing. There was no joy for the other non`league

:24:37.:24:39.

teams, with Stourbridge crashing away to Stevenage, and at Tamworth,

:24:40.:24:47.

Andy Todd's last`minute consolation goal could not present `` prevent

:24:48.:24:53.

Bristol city going through, 2`1. Those ties among the first week of

:24:54.:24:59.

January, on the fourth and fifth. I saw snowplough on the motorway

:25:00.:25:02.

today. Is there something we should know? Shefali Has got the weather

:25:03.:25:11.

forecast. This week is going to be milder. We have a wonderful wodge of

:25:12.:25:18.

warm air in Central Europe at keeping temperatures up instead of

:25:19.:25:24.

down this week, and on top of that, giving way slightly to low pressure

:25:25.:25:30.

by Thursday and Friday. That high pressure will still exert some

:25:31.:25:31.

influence. Taking a look at tonight. We start this evening and the first

:25:32.:25:41.

part of the night with clear skies. So this is when temperatures are

:25:42.:25:44.

going to drop to their lowest point, so they could see a slight frost

:25:45.:25:50.

developing and remote spots. That's the side of midnight. After that,

:25:51.:25:54.

cloud increases from the West, which will keep temperatures from falling

:25:55.:25:59.

below four Celsius. We could get a bit of missed developing towards the

:26:00.:26:04.

end of the night. Lots of this cloud is going to linger through the day

:26:05.:26:07.

tomorrow. The best chance of any sunshine is in the East. In spite of

:26:08.:26:15.

the cloud, it is going to be mild, temperatures between 9`10dC. And it

:26:16.:26:18.

is going to be dry as well. Tomorrow night, cloud again into making us.

:26:19.:26:23.

Not exactly warm, but not desperately cold, and later in the

:26:24.:26:28.

night we could see some cloud breaks developing across the southeastern

:26:29.:26:30.

corner of the region, with some missed developing. And then looking

:26:31.:26:39.

ahead, it looks like Wednesday is going to be a fine, dry day with

:26:40.:26:42.

plenty of wintry, sparkling sunshine. I temperatures of nine

:26:43.:26:49.

Celsius, but on Thursday, we have a frontal system slipping down from

:26:50.:26:52.

the North West, making it cloudy but milder, the possibility of some

:26:53.:26:55.

patchy rain. The headlines. Amazon convert admits

:26:56.:27:06.

killing a British soldier, Lee Rigby, in London and tells the Old

:27:07.:27:10.

Bailey, this is a war. And more cuts needed. Another 1000 jobs to go at

:27:11.:27:15.

Birmingham City Council. And you might remember seeing Sean Conway

:27:16.:27:18.

from Cheltenham last week. He has become the first person to swim the

:27:19.:27:24.

length of Britain. He most from the sea, looking like Neptune. He grew a

:27:25.:27:29.

beard while swimming to protect him from jellyfish stings. Today, he

:27:30.:27:34.

gave it a chop, and donated the money raised to the BBC Children In

:27:35.:27:42.

Need fun. `` fund. I'll be back later with more on those job cuts at

:27:43.:27:46.

Birmingham City Council. Join me for that

:27:47.:27:47.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS